the world does not care. Consider the amount of scandal it has been forced to hear in its time, and how weary and blasé it must be to that kind of intelligence. You are taken to prison, and fancy yourself indelibly disgraced? You are bankrupt under odd circumstances? You drive a queer bargain with your friends, and are found out, and imagine the world will punish you? Psha! Your shame is only vanity. Go and talk to the world as if nothing had happened, and nothing has happened. Tumble down; brush the mud off your clothes; appear with a smiling countenance, and nobody cares. Do you suppose society is going to take out its pocket-handkerchief and be inconsolable when you die? Why should it care very much, then, whether your worship graces yourself or disgraces yourself? Whatever happens, it talks, meets, jokes, yarns, has its dinner pretty much as before."

A GREAT MIND IS FORMED BY A FEW GREAT IDEAS, NOT BY AN INFINITY OF LOOSE DETAILS.

"What is needed to elevate the soul is, not that a man should know all that has been thought and written in regard to the spiritual nature—not that a man should become an encyclopædia; but that the great ideas in which all discoveries terminate, which sum up all sciences, which the philosopher extracts from the infinite details, may be comprehended and felt. It is not the quantity, but the quality of knowledge which determines the mind's dignity. A man of immense information may, through the want of large and comprehensive ideas, be far inferior in intellect to a labourer, who with little knowledge, has yet seized on great truths. For example, I do not expect the labourer to study theology in the ancient languages, in the writings of the Fathers, in the history of sects; nor is this needful. All theology, scattered as it is through countless volumes, is summed up in the idea of God; and let this idea shine right and clear in the labourer's soul, and he has the essence of theological libraries, and a far higher light than has visited thousands of renowned divines. A

great mind is formed by a few great ideas, not by an infinity of loose details.

The use of the paragraph in description is admirably illustrated by the following extract from Adam Bede. Note the skill with which the descriptive details in the first paragraph are all centred round the gate, and the naturalness of the transition to the description of the house itself in the second paragraph:

"Evidently the gate is never opened: for the long grass and the great hemlocks grow close against it; and if it were opened, it is so rusty, that the force necessary to turn it on its hinges would be likely to pull down the square stone-built pillars, to the detriment of the two stone lionesses, which grin with a carnivorous affability above a coat-of-arms surmounting each of the pillars. It would be easy enough, by the aid of the nicks in the stone pillars, to climb over the brick wall with its smooth stone coping; but by putting our eyes close to the rusty bars of the gate, we can see the house well enough, and all but the very corners of the grassy enclosure.

"It is a very fine old place, of red brick, softened by a pale powdery lichen, which has dispersed itself with a happy irregularity, so as to bring the red brick into terms of friendly companionship with the limestone ornaments surrounding the three gables, the windows, and the door-place. But the windows are patched with wooden panes, and the door, I think, is like the gateit is never opened; how it would groan and grate against the stone floor if it were! For it is a solid, heavy, handsome door, and must once have been in the habit of shutting with a sonorous bang behind a liveried lackey, who had just seen his master and mistress off the grounds in a carriage and pair.”

The details in a well-formed paragraph should be connected with the central topic by some relation of thought, or time, or place. Each of these relations has been illustrated in the examples already given.

Connecting Link between Paragraphs.—It is of the first importance to link the paragraphs of our essay to

gether, by some grammatical connecting word at least, if not by the subtler bond of thought-development. The unity of the essay requires this. Examples of grammatical connectives are such words as but, yet, still, on the other hand, or what may be called argumentative links, such as accordingly, as a consequence, it follows, hence, therefore. These words need not be obtruded at the opening of each paragraph, for such an arangement would produce an unduly formal effect. They can be introduced after the opening words, or elsewhere, with better results. Thus the sentence, "However, the fullest expression of Johnson's feelings is undoubtedly to be found in Rasselas," might with advantage be written, "The fullest expression, however, of Johnson's feelings," etc. In Macaulay's essay on "Machiavelli," the following connectives are used in succeeding paragraphs. "It is indeed scarcely possible for any person," etc.; "It is not strange that ordinary readers should regard the author of such a book as the most depraved," etc.; "One hypothesis is that Machiavelli," etc.; "After this, it may seem ridiculous," etc.; "This is strange and yet the strangest is behind". It is evident that there is no lack of variety in the possible manners of marking the transition from one paragraph to another. Different styles of writing require a different emphasis to be placed on the connecting links. In the development of a closely reasoned argument or the exposition of an involved subject, it is often necessary to use the most obvious finger-posts: e.g., "in the first place," "secondly,' come to my last point," etc.,-to mark the stages of the composition. On the other hand, in descriptive or narrative passages, the more subtly the connection is implied, the more the writing will be free from a categorical stiffness, which is not pleasing in such styles of writing. Here, again, the student will find the study of good models the best means of quickening his appreciation of the niceties and minor graces which lend distinction to style.

"" to

Newspaper Paragraphs.-In this matter of paragraph-structure—a subject the importance of which is

not to be measured by the necessary brevity of the present chapter-the study of the editorial writing in the newspapers (a study, so far at least as literary style is concerned, not usually to be prescribed) may be commended. The necessities of journalism force the leaderwriter to become an adept at paragraph-writing, and the structure of his paragraphs is generally worthy of attention. It is this attention to form and arrangement, and the consequent lucidity attained, that made a well-known Professor of English say, "The focus of prose is now in the newspapers

CHAPTER V.

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION.

"TRUE ease in writing comes from art, not chance."

So far we have been dealing with the elements of composition; with the materials which the student must have at hand when he sets to work to construct an essay on any given theme. The rules and restrictions that have been already laid down need not, indeed, be present consciously to his mind in the moment of composition. Any undue effort to keep them literally in view in the act of writing would have the effect of checking the flow of thought, and even of taking away from the naturalness of the writing. The accomplished violinist does not occupy himself with scales and exercises when he is interpreting the work of some master; all his powers are devoted to the artistic rendering of the theme. Scales and exercises are most necessary, even for the accomplished violinist, but they should be practised apart. In like manner, he who aspires to write with ease and beauty should have a ready command of the resources of diction, and of sentence and paragraph-structure, without the conscious effort of search. Hence the constant need of exercise in the preparatory stages of composition which have been dealt with in the preceding sections. Robert Louis Stevenson-an excellent model for the student of style -has told us that his readiness in the choice of happy words was not attained without a long and patient discipline. From boyhood it was his habit to carry about with him a note-book and pencil, and to seize every favourable opportunity of describing objects that surrounded him. Hence his wonderful facility and felicity