GNA. How could it be otherwise?

PAR. (apart,) Ye Gods, by our trust in you! a lost and miserable fellow the one, and the other a scoundrel.

THRA. Well then, about that matter, Gnatho, the way which I touched up the Rhodian at a banquetdid I never tell you?

GNA. Never; but pray, do tell me. (Aside.) I've heard it more than a thousand times already.

THRA. There was in my company at a banquet, this young man of Rhodes, whom I'm speaking of. By chance I had a mistress there; he began to toy with her, and to annoy me. "What are you doing, sir impudence?" said I to the fellow; and looking out for game?"

66

a hare yourself,

GIA. (pretending to laugh very heartily.) Ha, ha, THRA. What's the matter?

[ha!

GNA. How apt, how smart, how clever; nothing could be more excellent. Prithee, was this a saying of yours? I fancied it was an old one.

THRA. Did you ever hear it before?

GNA. Many a time; and it is mentioned among the first-rate ones.

THRA. It's my own.

GNA. I am sorry though that it was said to a thoughtless young man, and one of respectability. PAR. (apart.) May the Gods confound you. GNA. Pray, what did he do?

TMRA. Quite disconcerted. All who were present were dying with laughter; in short, they were all quite afraid of me.

GNA. Not without reason.

I.-EXERCISE.

Make a critical examination of some epic Poem, either wholly or in part. Examine how the general and particular qualities of the epic poem have been observed by the author.

II.-EXERCISE.

Make a similar examination of a novel, or ro

mance.

III. EXERCISE.

Read some dramatic composition; analyze and criticise it in a similar manner, both with respect to its general and particular qualities.

NOTE.-Examples of poems, novels, and dramas for analysis, may easily be obtained from well known authors; Rhetorical Readers are generally well supplied with them; for selections, in prose and poetry, of the latest national writers, see Swett's Common School Readings.

PART V.

OF DESCRIPTIONS.

We shall divide this Part into two articles. In the first, we shall treat of the Definition, Division, Subject, Object, Qualities, and Rules of Descriptions; in the second, we shall give the Praxis of writing a Description.

ARTICLE I.

DEFINITION, SUBJECT, DIVISION, OBJECT, QUALITIES, AND RULES OF DESCRIPTIONS.

1. A Description, as a species of composition, is "an ample exposition in language of the properties and adjuncts of a thing.”

2. Since everything that exists, admits of being described, it follows, that the subjects of description are numberless; and consequently the division of descriptions into classes, is a difficult matter.

3. Descriptions, however, may be divided into

(1.) What is a Description?

(2.) Is a division of the subjects of description easy?

(3.) Into how many classes may the descriptive subjects be divided?

three main comprehensive branches, to-wit: FIRST, Descriptions of time; SECOND, Descriptions of places; THIRD, Descriptions of persons, and other objects.

4. The principal aim of a writer, or speaker, in describing an object, is generally information; as, in descriptions which regard history, science, and art. The object, however, may frequently be persuasion, as in oratorical descriptions; and it may be pleasure, as in poetical, or fictitious descriptions. Hence,

5. The particular qualities, or requisites of a description, must be inferred from the design, or objects of the writer, or speaker. Thus, if the object be to inform, as stated in history; the description must embrace all the particulars, calculated to impart a clear idea of the subject; and, in that case, the style must be simple. If the main object be to persuade, as in orations; the descriptions must embrace those particulars only that will produce conviction; and the style may be simple, or middle, or mixed. If the main object be to please, as in poems and romances; the description must dwell more at length on those adjuncts which delight the imagination, and then the style must be invariably adorned.

(4.) What may be the object of a writer of a description? (5.) What qualities must a description have?

6. When a description, although graphic, is short, and refers chiefly to inanimate objects, it is a rhetorical figure, called hypotyposis; when it relates to the representation of the habits and qualities of a person, is called ethopæia; when it refers to the outline of his person, particularly the face, is termed prosopography; of which figures we shall speak in the third book.

7. In order to describe accurately a person, place, or other object, with its adjuncts, the student must at first endeavor to obtain a correct, clear, and full idea of the same, by diligently examining the object, if possible; or else by gathering such accurate information of it, as it is in his power. He then may allow his imagination to supply vivid pictures; not, however, incompatible with the object of description; and he may use all the ornaments of language, which may appear suitable to the subject, and the object of pleasing the hearer, or reader.

8. We deem it superfluous to furnish the student-as some authors do-with a catalogue

(6.) When is a description called Hypotyposis, when Ethopeia, and when Prosopography?

(7.) What must a student do, in order to describe a thing accurately?

(8.) Is it necessary to give to the student a catalogue of descriptive subjects?