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Knowledge is indeed as necessary as light, and in this coming age most fairly promises to be as common as water and as free as air. But as it has been wisely ordained that light should have no color, water no taste, and air no odor, so knowledge also should be equally pure and without admixture."

"Too close a contiguity is as inimical to distinct vision, as too great a distance; and hence it happens that a man often knows the least of that which is most near him-even his own heart."

8. Legal Allusions.

"When we apply to the conduct of the ancient Romans the pure and unbending principles of Christianity, we try those noble delinquents unjustly, inasmuch as we condemn them by the severe sentence of an 'ex post facto' law "

9. Allusions to Natural History.

"In another publication I have quoted an old writer, who observes, That we fatten a sheep with grass, not in order to obtain a crop of hay from his back, but in the hope that he will feed us with mutton and clothe us with wool.' We may apply this to the sciences," &c.

10. Commercial Allusions.

"The excesses of our youth are drafts upon our old age, payable with interest about thirty years after date."

From the above quotations it will be seen that allusions may be drawn from a great variety of sources from the sciences and the arts from books ancient and modern, and from Nature-and that they serve, like various figures of speech, to enliven discourse and adorn style. To be able to excel in the use of them, our knowledge can not be too extensive and exact, nor our taste too well cultivated and judgment too well improved, to determine when, and how, and what to introduce, by way of allusion.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

OF WIT.

THE term wit is appropriated to such thoughts and expressions as are ludicrous, and also occasion some surprise by their singularity.

Wit in the thought consists of a junction of things by distant and fanciful relations, which surprise be cause they are unexpected. For example:

"We grant, although he had much wit,
He was very shy of using it,
As being loth to wear it out;
And therefore bore it not about,
Unless on holydays or so,

As men their best apparel do."

The unexpected discovery of resemblance between things supposed to be unlike, when it is clearly expressed in few words, constitutes what is commonly called wit, and is a very copious source of pleasantry. Such is that comparison in Hudibras, of the dawn of the morning to a boiled lobster:

"Like a lobster boil'd, the morn

From black to red began to turn."

At first there seems to be no resemblance at all; but when we recollect that the lobster's color is, by boiling, changed from dark to red, we recognize a likeness to that change of color in the sky which happens at daybreak.

Wit, as distinguished from humor, may consist of a single brilliant thought; but humor runs in a vein; it is not a striking, but an equable and pleasing flow of wit. Addison is a fine example of the latter. Satire and irony are personal and censorious kinds of wit, the first of which openly points at the object, and the second in a covert manner takes its aim. Burlesque is rather a species of humor than direct wit, which consists in an assemblage of ideas extravagantly discordant. The quality of humor belongs to a writer who, affecting to be grave and serious, paints his objects in such colors as to provoke mirth and laughter.

I. Wit in the expression, commonly called a play of words, is a low sort of wit, of which Lord Kames has exhibited many examples, some of them, however, not remarkable for their delicacy.

This sort of wit depends, for the most part, upon choosing a word that has different significations, and using it so as to produce amusement; a kind of amuse

K

ment relished most, however, by those whose literary taste is not much improved. It was in high repute during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., as would appear from the frequency of this play upon words in the writings not only of Shakspeare, but of grave and learned divines.

Lord Kames has distinguished it into several classes: (1.) Where there is a seeming resemblance from the double meaning of a word.

"Beneath this stone my wife doth lie.

She's now at rest, and so am I."

(2.) A seeming contrast from the same cause, termed a verbal antithesis.

"When Nelson fought his battle in the Sound, it was the result alone that decided whether he was to kiss a hand at court, or a rod at a court-martial."

(3.) Other seeming connections from the same

cause.

"To whom the knight with comely grace

Put off his hat, to put his case."

"Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tea." "This general (Prince Eugene) is a great taker of snuff as well as of towns."

(4.) A seeming opposition from the same cause.

"Cold is that breast which warm'd the world before."

Playing with words is not ludicrous when the subject is really grave, and should not be employed in such a case at all.

A parody enlivens a gay subject by imitating some important incident that is serious. It is ludicrous, but ridicule is not a necessary ingredient, though sometimes employed in it.

II. In regard to the other branch of wit-wit in the thought-it consists, first, of ludicrous images: secondly, of ludicrous combinations and oppositions. Of the latter,

(1.) Fanciful causes are assigned that have no natural relation to the effects produced.

"The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty,
For want of fighting was grown rusty,

And ate into itself, for lack

Of somebody to hew and hack."

To account for effects by tracing them to a fanciful cause, is highly improper in any serious composition. (2.) Ludicrous junction of small things with great, as of equal importance.

"Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend the affrighted skies.
Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast,

When husbands, or when lap-dogs breathe their last." (3.) Premises that promise much and perform nothing.

"With money enough in his purse, such a man would win any woman in the world, if he could get her good-will.”

CHAPTER XXXIX.

CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF PASSAGES CONTAINING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.

BLAIR'S Critical Lectures on Addison should here be read to the class; and when compositions are criticised before, or by, the class, the errors and the beauties in the use of figurative language should be pointed out.

The teacher should also direct the attention of his pupils to the figures which occur in their ordinary reading lessons, and elicit remarks upon them.

CHAPTER XL.

OF THE MORE GENERAL RULES FOR COMPOSITION. Q. On what, from all that has been said, do you consider accurate composition to depend?

A. On the selection and arrangement of words proper for expressing the thoughts which we intend to communicate.

Q. On what, again, do these depend?

A. On a knowledge of grammar in all its branches, and an intimate acquaintance with the meaning of words.

Q. What renders these so essential?

A. The circumstance that, without the one, we can not select, nor, without the other, arrange with propriety.

Q. And how are these to be obtained?

A. Only by reading and study, combined with constant attention to the mode in which we express our thoughts, as compared with that of good writers and speakers.

Q. What is farther requisite ?

A. An intimate knowledge of the subject on which we desire either to speak or write.

Q. How comes this to be so necessary?

A. Because no man, whatever be his knowledge of language, can either speak or write well on a subject of which he is totally ignorant.

Q. How is this knowledge to be obtained?

A. To all knowledge there is but one path, and that is, constant study and attentive observation.

Q. Is any thing farther necessary?

A. Yes; for, in addition to the requisite knowledge, we must have great practice before we can compose well.

Q. What proof have you of this?

A. Men, possessing extensive information, can often speak well upon a variety of subjects, but yet, from want of practice, can write well upon none.

Q. On what subjects should a person write in order to gain this practice?

A. Such subjects as he perfectly understands; beginning with the more simple, and proceeding gradually to those of greater difficulty, according to the extent of his information.

Q. What will be the consequence of a person writing upon what he does not properly understand?

A. He will write in a stiff, affected, and unnatural style, such as no person will either hear or read with any pleasure.

Q. What are requisite for attaining eminence in composition? A. Genius and taste; the former to prompt, the latter to correct and polish.

Q. How is ease in composition best attained?

A. By writing fearlessly and boldly; but, at the same time, guarding against every thing like extravagance either of sentiment or manner.