with disgust; yet the novelty of the scene amused, and the vicissitudes of the game excited him.

Passing that way on the following day, he felt inclined to repeat his visit: yet he paused on the threshold, and began to question his own firmness. "What!" said he, "can I not depend upon myself? Am I so weak as to fear such a despicable vice? No; let me do myself justice. Were the temptation much greater, I should withstand it." But, alas! Horatius fell. After a few more visits to this den of seduction, he returned to his home, ruined, and heart-broken. Let none imitate his confidence, let all remember, that

"Virtus est vitium fugere, et sapientia prima

Stultitia caruisse

6th RULE. For it has been most truly said

"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien

As to be hated needs but to be seen;

Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

POPE.

7th RULE. To enumerate the various shapes in which temptation assails us, and to bring forward

E'en in our flight from vice some virtue lies;

And free from folly we to wisdom rise.

all the striking arguments that present themselves for avoiding it, would swell an essay to a volume. And if it be granted that the danger is extreme, and, in many instances, may, by a timely retreat, be escaped, it becomes unnecessary to urge a strict compliance with the wise man's counsel. For, surely, those who value their happiness in this life, and eternal welfare in another, will not endanger both, by entering a path, in which, though to stand is possible, to fall is fatal. Let us not suppose it ignoble, or cowardly, to decline the contest with so insidious, and many-headed a foe: turn from it as we may, we shall always have more than enough of temptation to conquer.

Our own evil propensities call for a perpetual struggle to resist them; and instead of giving them new stimulants to rebellion, we shall unquestionably do well to watch against whatever may excite them, in order to "AVOID IT AND PASS AWAY."

I will anticipate your first objection to these rules, namely, that the observance of them would swell your essay quite beyond the regular bounds of a school theme; which is usually comprised in fifteen or twenty lines. But you will observe that the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th rules are entirely op

tional; and that the 2nd need not have been divided under two heads; so that the essential parts of the theme might be brought into much smaller compass, still subject to this sort of arrangement.

I readily admit, however, not only that our seven rules cannot be compressed within such small limits; but, also, that composition under such restrictions, as to quantity, and arrangement, can only be useful to the young writer, who is obliged to make an attempt, and feels at a loss how, and where, to begin. Having, therefore, given one specimen, of the manner in which these rules may be applied, I discard them from the essays contained in the following pages.

When a school-boy has got over the first great difficulty, that of finding something to say; another, scarcely less discouraging, remains behind. That is how to say it in a few words. To remove this, I recommend that you make one subject the theme of several exercises, which may be shewn separately for correction; as it does not signify how many of them go to the completion of an essay. And when finished, it would be an excellent exercise, to copy the whole, with the corrections it may have received; provided you have

leisure to do this attentively; not otherwise: for copying, though a great assistance to the memory, if by close attention you endeavour to render it so, may, on the other hand, be done in a manner so entirely mechanical, that the understanding has no part in it: and, in such a process, there can be neither pleasure nor profit.

LETTER II.

MY DEAR SON,

I OBSERVED to you, in a former letter, that you would find particular rules rather a constraint than an assistance in Composition. In fact, there are very few rules which it is possible to adopt: we are told how to "distribute members of periods," and where to "place capital words," and how to "intermix long and short sentences," as if a discourse were to be built with brick and mortar; but the pen is to be the vehicle of thought, and who did ever yet think by rule? The mind is independent of such trammels: its reasonings are sometimes connected, in close and natural succession, and the ideas flow in a smooth and regular

channel; at others, their transitions are abrupt, and their course impetuous; and he will be the best writer who can, with the greatest ease and fidelity, impart to another the various modifications through which a subject passes in his own mind: this is beyond the reach of rules. But there are some general maxims for avoiding gross errors, which may be attended to with great advantage.

The first object of writing, says Longinus, should be the benefit of those who read*; its first principle, therefore, I need hardly observe, is to be understood. Those who express themselves very ill in speaking, can hardly succeed much better in writing: for although the latter gives them the advantage of pausing to choose the best language, many of their ideas will either vanish entirely, or, at the least, lose much of their force, while they are seeking for terms in which to embody them. If you accustom yourself carefully to attend to your own common modes of expression, you will soon find it impossible to commit an error, either in grammar, pronunciation, or the

* Οὐ πολλὴν ὠφέλειαν, ἧς μάλιστα δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι τὸν γράφοντα, περιποιεῖν τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν.

LONGIN. chap. 1.