United States Barque Belease.}

Lievely, Isle of Disco, Greenland, July 9, 1855.

SIR: I have the honor to inform you of the arrival of the Arctic Expedition here on the 5th inst. after a most boisterous passage, during most of which we were enveloped in dense fogs.

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* ** * * * * In conclusion, it affords me much pleasure to state that we are all well and in full spirits.

Very respectfully, &c., your obedient servant,

"To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield;

"My Lord,

"I have been lately informed by the proprietor of "The World," that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished is an honor which, being very little accustomed to favors from the great, I know not well how to receive or in what terms to acknowledge.

"When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself, Le vainquer du vainquer de la terre; that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending. But I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your lordship in public, I exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.

"Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it at last to the verge of publication without one act of assistance, or one word of encouragement, or one smile of favor. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before.

"The Shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks.

"Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached the ground, encumbers with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed until I am indifferent, and can not enjoy it; till I am solitary,

and can not impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity, not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received; or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself.

"Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favor of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, on which I once boasted with so much exultation. "My Lord, your lordship's most humble, "Most obedient servant,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

5. Historical Writings are accounts of past events and transactions. They include National History, Biography, Annals, Voyages, and Travels.

a. National History, or History should comprise a true and impartial statement of occurrences whether considered as causes, or as effects; a description of persons, and of characters; and correct statements of times and places. (Chap. VI.) It admits all the styles of writing; the dry, the plain, the neat, and the elegant. Read Botta's, Robertson's, Prescott's, Hume's, and Bancroft's Histories.

b. Biography is the history of an individual. If given by himself, it is called Autobiography. If given in connection with a notice of the individual's decease, it is called an Obituary. Care should be taken not to disgust the reader by an undue, or over-wrought praise of the person described; in short, tell the truth. See Boswell's Life of Johnson;

Abbott's Napoleon.

NOTE. The best history is that, which enables us to understand both national and individual matters, by a happy blending of National History and Biography. Several such works have been written; among which we recur with pleasure to Bancroft's History of the United States, Macaulay's History of England, D’Aubigne's History of the Reformation, and last, but not least, the Bible, which, for the variety of characters presented, and for truthfulness of statement, is beyond comparison.

c. Annals are records of facts, or events in the order of occurrence, or chronological tables. They differ from history in omitting the place, and causes, or motives of actions. Very much, that is taught in the schools as history, is simply annals.

d. Voyages are journeys on water, and Travels are journeys on land. Their chief excellence is in the correctness of their descriptions of people, places, and objects. The writer should describe these so naturally.

496

PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS-FICTITIOUS.

that the reader may be enabled to form an imaginary picture of them. These writings should receive a larger share of attention, than is now given to them, especially by the young. While reading voyages, or travels, the map should be open at the reader's side, and the traveller's route should be traced very carefully. Read Humboldt's Travels, MacKenzie's and Columbus' Voyages, Ross' and Kane's Arctic Expeditions, Fremont's Travels; and the many others, which you will find. In connection with the reading, try to recall what events transpired in the country visited. (See Ch, VI,)

6. Philosophical Writings include all compositions belonging to the sciences, and all investigations for the purpose of finding the truth. Its style should be the plain, or the neat; and the utmost attention should be given to the order of the subjects, and to the arrangement of their parts. According to a German definition, "Philosophy is a systematic arrangement of facts." (Chapter VI.)

7. Philosophical writings include Essays, Treatises, Reviews, Dissertations, or Disquisitions, Tracts, Theses.

a. Treatise is applied to a complete or entire work on any subject. Thus, we have a Treatise on Surveying, Geometry, etc.

b. An Essay is a short treatise, and is often applied to a production, which the author supposes may be incorrect.

c. A Review is a statement of the plan, and style, of a written production, together with specimen extracts and a criticism of it.

d. A Dissertation or Disquisition is a short treatise, setting before the reader the different views entertained concerning a disputed subject.

e. A Tract is a short treatise on some special point, to which it is entirely devoted.

f. A Thesis is a proposition or statement, concerning which the writer challenges a discussion. It is also applied to short essays, written to test the knowledge and skill of the writer.

8. Fictitious, or Imaginative Writings include those, in which all the scenes, persons, and events, are purely the result of the imagination; and also those, which are founded on real events, and in which the persons, and conversations only are fictitious.

No species of composition has been so popular as the Fictitious, for, strange as it may appear, it includes by far the greater portion of all that has ever been written. It is alike useful for instruction, for admoni tion, for reproof, and for amusement. By its aid, character may be exhibited more truly; human emotions and passions represented more vividly; and the consequences of virtue, or of vice portrayed more effectively, than by any presentation of the reality, except the writer be inspired. It admits all varieties of style, every degree of ornament, and is equally suitable for poetry, or for prose.

9. Fictitious Writings include Novels, Allegories, Tales, Parables, Fables, &c. A particular description of which is not needed.

10. Dramatic Writing is a species of Fictitious composition, in which the whole narrative is told by different characters, who are represented as acting and speaking, and are called the Dramatis Persona.

When written in poetry, it differs from an Epic poem, in that the author does not appear in it as a narrator, as he partly does in an epic.

The Drama has always been a favorite kind of composition, but it has never been productive of good results in any degree commensurate with its capacity to produce them. It is now a great power perverted; when it shall be restored to its true office- to teach men wisdom, and virtue-it will be one of the most effective modes of teaching.

11. Dramatic Writings are of two kinds; Tragedy and Comedy.

a. Tragedy represents great characters and events, and terminates in some fatal catastrophe, creating grief, and terror in the mind of the beholder.

b. Comedy represents some pleasing, or amusing characters and events, and always terminates happily.

12. Dramas are subdivided into Acts, of which, as a general rule, there should not be less than three, or more than five.

a. The Acts are divided into scenes, which assist in producing in the mind of the spectator, what is called, The three Unities; first, Unity of action, or an impression that only one leading or great transaction is presented; second, Unity of time, or the impression that the events all

occurred about the same time; and, third, Unity of place, or an impression that all the events occurred in the same vicinity. Like the Epic, the Drama has its plot, management, machinery, and completion.

b. A little Drama, mainly intended as an opportunity to exhibit scenes, and to entertain with fine music, is called a Melodrama; if of a comic character, it is called a Burletta; if it mix things high and low, & Burlesque.

c. A short comedy is called a Farce. It is presented after a tragedy, and hence, is often called an Afterpiece.

13. A part of a drama, in which only one actor appears and speaks, is called a Monologue, or Soliloquy. If it be spoken as introductory to the play, it is called a Prologue; if spoken at the close of the play, an Epilogue.

A conversation between two persons is called a Dialogue.

14. Oratorical Compositions include such as are designed to be spoken or read before assemblies, and are generally known as, Orations, Addresses, Lectures, Pleas, Sermons, Discourses, &c.

a. The ancients divided Oratorical compositions into three kinds; the Demonstrative, the Deliberative, and the Judicial. The moderns divide them into Eloquence of Popular Assemblies, of the Bar, and of the Pulpit. We see no natural reason for any of these divisions.

15. A regular Oratorical effort may be considered in six parts; first, the Exordium or Introduction; second, the Statement and the Division of the subject; third, the Narration or Explication; fourth, the Reasoning or Arguments; fifth, the Pathetic Part; and sixth, the Conclusion or Peroration.

This order of arranging the parts is not always followed; nor are all the parts themselves used in every address.

First. The Introduction or Exordium is mainly designed to secure the good-will, to excite the attention, and to remove any prejudices, which may exist in the minds of those addressed.