their tables, to rummage their old-fashioned wardrobes, to explain the uses of their ponderous furniture, these parts of the duty which properly belongs to the historian have been appropriated by the historical novelist. On the other hand, to extract the philosophy of history, to direct our judgment of events and men, to trace the connection of causes and effects, and to draw from the occurrences of former times general lessons of moral and political wisdom, has become the business of a distinct class of writers." The paragraph succeeding this in the essay carries on the amplification still another step by proposing and detailing the simile of map and picture which has been quoted on p. 78, above. The Preliminary Paragraph, and the Transitional Paragraph. Strictly speaking these are hardly to be regarded as paragraphs, consisting as they generally do of one or two sentences merely; but their office in the whole composition is too important to be omitted from the list of kinds at the writer's disposal. Pointing out the landmarks, the connecting links, they are naturally of greater use as the subject-matter taxes the mind more; they serve, in fact, like the short sentence in the paragraph, as points of definition and departure. By a preliminary paragraph is meant a paragraph that in a condensed way lays out what is to be treated in the one or several paragraphs succeeding; this it does either by stating merely the theme, or by giving some main heads of plan. Considered in relation to the type, it may be regarded as singling out for statement merely the bare topic or merely the outline, and leaving all the amplification to be made later. By a transitional paragraph is meant a paragraph introduced between principal divisions of a discourse to mark the close of one and leave the reader ready to take up another. It relates to what has gone before, as the preliminary paragraph relates to what is to come. Not infrequently the two kinds are united in one; sometimes also a transitional paragraph is immediately followed by a preliminary. EXAMPLES. -1. Of preliminary paragraph. The following sentence, printed as a paragraph, lays out a considerable section of discourse : "In explaining to you the proceedings of Parliament which have been complained of, I will state to you, first, the thing that was done; next, the persons who did it; and, lastly, the grounds and reasons upon which the Legislature proceeded in this deliberate act of public justice and public prudence." 1 2. Of transitional paragraph. The following sentence closes one division, while the next paragraph, of which the beginning is here quoted, goes on to the next: "So far as to the first cementing principle. "The second material of cement for their new republic is the superiority of the city of Paris; and this I admit is strongly connected with the other cementing principle of paper circulation and confiscation. It is in this part of the project we must look," 2 etc. 3. The two in one. The following, standing in the middle of a long essay, both marks the end of a preceding treatment and announces the manner of a new one: "We begin, like the priest in Don Quixote's library, to be tired with taking down books one after another for separate judgment, and feel inclined to pass sentence on them in masses. We shall therefore, instead of pointing out the defects and merits of the different modern historians, state generally in what particulars they have surpassed their predecessors, and in what we conceive them to have failed." 3 4. Transitional followed by preliminary : : These illustrations of Aristotle's doctrine may suffice. "Now let us proceed to a fresh position; which, as before, shall first be broadly stated, then modified and explained. How does originality differ from the poetical talent? Without affecting the accuracy of a definition, we may call the latter the originality of right moral feeling. "Originality may perhaps be defined," 4 etc. Alternation of Kinds. By the best writers the same care is taken to secure variety in paragraphs as in sentences; and this variety is obtained by analogous means. Most natural and frequent is the alternation of length; short or medium-sized paragraphs setting off and relieving the longer ones. Closely connected with this is the alternation of thought, by which a 1 BURKE, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, Select British Eloquence, p. 300. 2 BURKE, Reflections on the Revolution in France, p. 232. 8 MACAULAY, Essay on History, Essays, Vol. i, p. 409. 4 NEWMAN, Essays Critical and Historical, Vol. i, p. 20. lighter or more concrete paragraph is made to relieve one of more severe or closely reasoned nature. Making occasional division between propositional paragraphs and paragraphs of detail or amplification is a great help to this; it serves to keep the thought from being too uniformly strenuous. Finally, in proportion to the difficulty of the thought, frequent intermediate paragraphs of summary or transition should be introduced; they furnish the necessary connecting-link between the single paragraphs as a developed topic and the plan of the whole composition. |