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A SUGGESTED METHOD OF STUDY

FIRST, read rapidly the India and the British in India in the Introduction and glance at the map when names of places occur. Second, read the essay through as one would a story, simply for the story; afterward, it may be studied as a biography and an essay.

Macaulay has allowed the periods of Hastings' life to govern the divisions of the essay. These parts are readily seen on a second reading; and form the main sections into which the outline falls. Take up the first paragraphs and examine them to see whether they belong under the first division or go to form an introduction to the whole essay. As the introduction and the conclusion are considered the most difficult parts of writing to the young essayist it may be well to notice how simply and naturally Macaulay begins and ends his essays.

After the introduction is examined, each part may be taken up as a unit. Find what the author proposed to tell in each division and discuss his method of telling it by settling definitely the function of each paragraph in carrying on the story.

While studying the purpose of the author, his style of expression may be studied also; but the more natural and interesting method seems to be to study the whole essay, division by division, to get

A SUGGESTED METHOD OF STUDY lxxvii

at the author's mind, then to return for comment on the devices he used in presenting his subject. It is impossible to read the essay twice without noticing his wealth of words and his exact use of them; and without recognizing the value of his figures, allusions, balanced structures, climaxes, repetitions, and the many other arts used to make his meaning clear and his work inviting. So the passages best adapted to intensive study will be forechosen.

Those who have written on Macaulay's style have given to us a variety of verdicts. Critics say of his style that it is pointed, epigrammatic, rapid, clear, harsh, vigorous, animated, simple, concrete, picturesque. They say he is fond of balanced structure, repetition, climax, the short sentence, enumeration of particulars, antithesis; that he has great erudition, splendor of imagery, the power of selection that seizes upon what is striking, the art of persuasion, taste, melody, harmony, pathos. They say of him, too, that he is a master of the mechanical art of putting words together; that is, of clear sentence structure and logical paragraph building. Trying to prove or disprove the justness of these various estimates is an interesting and profitable way to form one's own opinion.

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WARREN HASTINGS

(1841)

Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, First Governor-General of Bengal. Compiled from Original Papers, by the Rev. G. R. GLEIG, M. A. 3 vols. 8vo. London: 1841.

WE are inclined to think that we shall best meet the wishes of our readers, if, instead of minutely examining this book, we attempt to give, in a way necessarily hasty and imperfect, our own view of the life and character of Mr. Hastings. Our feeling towards him is not 5 exactly that of the House of Commons which impeached him in 1787; neither is it that of the House of Commons which uncovered and stood up to receive him in 1813. He had great qualities, and he rendered great services to the state. But to represent him as a man 10 of stainless virtue is to make him ridiculous; and from a regard for his memory, if from no other feeling, his friends would have done well to lend no countenance to such adulation. We believe that, if he were now living, he would have sufficient judgment and sufficient 15 greatness of mind to wish to be shown as he was.

He

must have known that there were dark spots on his fame. He might also have felt with pride that the splendor of his fame would bear many spots. He would have wished posterity to have a likeness of 5 him, though an unfavorable likeness, rather than a daub at once insipid and unnatural, resembling neither him nor any body else. "Paint me as I am," said Oliver Cromwell, while sitting to young Lely. "If you leave out the scars and wrinkles, I will not pay you a shil10 ling." Even in such a trifle, the great Protector showed both his good sense and his magnanimity. He did not wish all that was characteristic in his countenance to be lost, in the vain attempt to give him the regular features and smooth blooming cheeks of the curl-pated 15 minions of James the First. He was content that his

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face should go forth marked with all the blemishes which had been put on it by time, by war, by sleepless nights, by anxiety, perhaps by remorse; but with valor, policy, authority, and public care written in all its princely lines. If men truly great knew their own interest, it is thus that they would wish their minds to be portrayed.

Warren Hastings sprang from an ancient and illustrious race. It has been affirmed that his pedigree can 25 be traced back to the great Danish sea-king, whose sails

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