the end, then an impassioned burst at the beginning may be allowed; but all these conditions are rarely fulfilled in any one case.

§ 431. V. A speaker should not, in his exordium, anticipate any material division of his subject. Particularly should he guard against letting an argument peep out in the introduction that he intends to produce in all its power in the fourth general head.

§ 432. VI. The exordium should be, both in length and character, suited to the subject, and the discourse that is to follow.

II. THE DIVISION, OR ARRANGEMENT.

§ 433. This is that part of a discourse in which the speaker makes known what plan he intends to pursue. Of course it always supposes more or less of preparation for the occasion. It is quite frequently the case that a discourse would be injured by introducing a division in it. If the plan of it is extremely simple, if the arguments are only one or two in number, or if, for any reason, the speaker does not wish to show beforehand what direction his remarks will take, it would be better to have no formal division.

When the division is employed, the following rules for it should be observed.

§ 434. I. The several parts into which the subject is divided should be really distinct; no one should include another.

§ 435. II. The heads taken should be those into which the subject naturally divides itself.

§ 436. III. The several heads should exhaust the subject.

§ 437. IV. There should be no unnecessary multiplication of heads, to distract and weary the hearer.

§ 438. V. A natural order should be followed; the sim

plest parts should be first discussed, and afterward the more difficult ones that are founded on them.

§ 439. VI. The terms in which the division is expressed should be as concise as possible; there should be no redundancy, or circumlocution, or figurative expression.

III. THE STATEMENT.

§ 440. In this division the facts connected with the subject are set forth. This forms a very important part of legal or forensic speeches. In stating the facts, the orator must present them in simple and forcible style; he must keep strictly within the bounds of truth, and yet in the light most favorable to his cause; bringing forth into prominence every circumstance that bears to his advantage, and explaining away, as far as possible, every thing that makes against him.

IV. THE REASONING, OR ARGUMENTATION.

As this has been made the subject of a previous chapter, nothing further need be said about it.

V. THE APPEAL TO THE FEELINGS.

This is sometimes called the Pathetic part. The following rules apply to it.

§ 441. I. Consider whether the subject properly admits it; if it does, whether it is better to postpone it until after the Reasoning, or blend it with the several arguments. Different orators pursue different plans in this regard, and both with equal success. The young orator should be guided by his own taste, and the nature of the subject and of the arguments.

§ 442. II. Never formally set apart one head of a discourse for the pathetic, or give warning of your intention to the hearers. Bear in mind that the proper way to excite any particular feeling is to present the appropriate

object of it or occasion for it vividly before the mind: not to belabor the audience with an exhortation to their duty to feel thus or so.

§ 433. III. Be careful to use language appropriate to passion; not high-sounding declamation, but unaffected and simple diction. All digressions and formal comparisons should be avoided.

§ 444. IV. The Appeal to the Feelings should not be too long or too elaborate.

VI. THE CONCLUSION.

§ 445. In many cases no additional part is necessary, the Appeal to the Feelings constituting the best conclusion that the oration could have. At other times, a resume or recapitulation of the whole argument is good. The close should not be abrupt; neither should it be protracted beyond the time when the speaker, by his manner or other indications, has led his audience to expect a conclusion. The last sentence should be dignified, graceful, without affectation.

It was the custom in the ancient schools of rhetoric to require the pupils to compose and deliver orations adapted to supposed occasions, such as fictitious trials for grave offenses, and important state measures for hypothetical emergencies. It is left with the teacher to decide whether he shall pursue that course with the pupils using this book. If he adopt it, he must, of course, invent for his pupils the hypothetical cases in which they shall exercise their powers.

It is always a good plan, when there happen to be practical questions before the public mind, either of the particular section, or of the country at large, to propose these as proper themes for orations by the pupils. The issues of a political canvass in which measures and not men are pending, important trials awaiting adjudication, railroad projects, or any scheme of public improvement, benevolent enterprises, and mooted questions of social reform, are all favorable occasions for rhetorical effort, which no teacher having pupils sufficiently advanced should allow to pass unimproved.

Should it be objected to the use of political canvasses as above

recommended, that it would give the pupils a taste for the immoral and degrading practices of politicians, it is replied that the measure here recommended is one of the very means for the correction of those immoralities. Our country being republican, the people must be interested in politics. Our young men should be prepared, while yet in school, to take their part in this field, intelligently, and in accordance with good morals. They must be trained to discuss measures on their own merits; they must be early inspired with an honorable loathing toward all vituperation, calumny, sophistry, and the like, which so largely disgrace the world of American politics. They must be taught to use, without abusing, the great privileges of free discussion and the elective franchise. Unto this end, no better means can be suggested than the writing and, after revision by the teacher, the delivery of orations on the political issues of the day.

PART FOURTH..

EXPRESSION-RESUMED.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE ORNAMENTATION OF STYLE.

§ 446. All the preceding chapters that have treated of Expression, have been occupied with the Essential Qualities of Style; the successful cultivation of which will exonerate a writer from all blame. But this is not enough. High and rare as is the excellence which the rules of Purity, Propriety, Precision, Clearness, etc., demand, the imagination and the heart call for more; Style must be ornamented.

§ 447. The ornaments of Style imparted by the imagination and the passions are generally called Figures. They have been defined as deviations from the plain and ordinary mode of discourse, in order to give it greater effect. They are thus seen to be more closely allied to Strength and Harmony than any of the other essential qualities of Style.

Though Figures are defined to be departures from the simple and plain modes of expression, it must not be concluded that they are rare or difficult. On the contrary, they are used equally by all classes, and in all stages of society. If there be any difference in this respect, it is the barbarian, the child, and the plebeian that are figurative in their language, rather than the enlightened, the mature, and the cultivated. It will be found on examination that the great bulk of our words, especially nouns, adjectives; and verbs, are not only capable of being used in a figurative sense, but are actually so used; in some cases, more frequently as figures than literally.

Take for example the word hard. For every instance of its literal use, as in the phrases hard wood, hard stone, etc., other passages can