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monotony. It only means that by familiarity with the best literature of the day we come to recognize the limits within which liberty is not license, and so are enabled to conform to the requirements of a somewhat variable and vaguely defined "cultivated taste.” Individual taste must of course take the place of this in all cases of doubt. When we use the word taste we imply, what has been so well brought out by Professor Barrett Wendell in his lectures on English Composition, that the question here is always one of better or worse, not of right or wrong. Instead of asking whether a certain expression is correct or otherwise, we ask whether it is as clear as it might be, or as vigorous, or as beautiful. Thus composition is removed from the exact sciences to a place among the arts.

We have spoken of the importance of clearness. It is perhaps not too much to say that almost everything else should be sacrificed to this. Certainly it should always be made the first consideration, for that which is obscure, however good it may be otherwise, will find no readers until they are assured of its merit, and even then is likely to find but few. It is not only a duty that every writer owes to his readers, to express himself in the plainest terms possible, but it is the only safeguard against misinterpretation and would therefore seem to be dictated by the instinct of self-defense.

After clearness seek strength. A vigorous style of writing is bound to move more effectually than a feeble one, and to move many readers who would not be moved at all by a weak appeal. Strength usually goes with rapidity and is therefore obtained by elimination. and condensation. Diffuseness and prolixity are fatal

faults. As a rule, omit everything that is not strictly pertinent to the subject in hand and then abbreviate in form what still remains, stopping short always of the brevity which gives a sense of incompleteness or which leads to obscurity. Sometimes however force seems to be best gained by fullness and judicious repetition.

Beauty is not found in every phase of life, nor shall we expect to find it in every form of literature. Still its presence is rarely resented, and even among the practical, plain, and homely things with which life and literature alike must deal, touches of genuine beauty will not seem obtrusive. But least of all is this element to be sought, for least of all will it come for the seeking. Like loveliness of form and face, grace of pen and eloquence of speech do not hold themselves subject to our command. Partly they come, if at all, as a natural inheritance, and partly as the reward of long and patient wooing. And if they are not already ours, we can do no better than pursue our straightforward course, lured by no false glitter, turning aside for no meretricious ornament, and perhaps in the end we too shall find some share of these elusive charms.

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To expose or expound is to set forth, to lay open. Exposition then is the act of setting forth or laying open to view, the act of unfolding, defining, explaining, interpreting. And whenever this act concerns itself with terms, which denote objects of thought, or with propositions, which express relations between objects of thought, we have rhetorical or literary exposition.

We shall have to go a step further and say that rhetorical exposition concerns itself, not with singular terms, which denote single objects only, but with general terms, which stand for any one of a number of objects having certain qualities in common; and the same is true of propositions. For example, you cannot expound James White. You can describe him. You can say that he is a tall man with dark eyes and well chiseled features; and this is description. But it is not exposition. Now notice that in this description a great deal is taken for granted. There is the general term man

which is not explained. To an intelligence which should know nothing of the meaning of the word man, the description would be unintelligible until that word were explained. Such explanation would be technically called exposition.

How shall we set about expounding general terms? Take the term man. We should not say, as we said of James White, that a man has dark eyes, for that is true of some men only. But we should say, among other things, that a man is a creature with two eyes. That is, we should select only those qualities that are possessed by every normal individual of the class comprehended by the general term. Description deals with individuals, pointing out the features that distinguish one individual from all others; exposition deals with generals, with classes, pointing out the features that are common to all individuals of the class. The need of exposition in the above case may not be so obvious because the term is well understood, but if I say "Paradise Lost is a sublime epic," many readers will want the meaning of the term epic expounded.

Of course, from another point of view, these class features are distinctive. That is, the class is only one among other classes, and to be distinguished from them. The possession of two eyes marks off men at once from all creatures possessing more eyes or fewer. Man is but one division of a more comprehensive class,animal. On the other hand classes may be subdivided, and features that are not common to the whole class may be common to the members of one of the subdivisions. For example, while we cannot say that men are dark-eyed, we may fairly say that Italians are so.

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