LETTERS 653 Concerning the writing of letters no rules can be definitely set down. The tone to be adopted and the style depend entirely on the subject matter, the occasion, and the person addressed. Of course letters should be written in a natural vein, as should all other types of composition, but the naturalness may range between the informality of personal chat and the lofty solemnity of Abraham Lincoln's letter to the mother whom the Civil War had bereaved of her five sons. Under no circumstances should the naturalness of a letter be confused with negligence, even when the personal utterance is freest and fullest. It is even unsafe to say that a letter should not aim at an artistic effect, although there should be no apparent striving after effect. In letters as elsewhere, what is worth communicating at all is worth communicating properly, and in a broad way the principles that apply to other kinds of composition apply also to the art of letter-writing. All the letters should be examined for the adaptation of the manner to the substance and the person addressed. 543. It is worth noticing that the incident here narrated by Swift was utilized by Thackeray in " Henry Esmond." 544. Johnson. See note to p. 15. Chesterfield. See note to p. 210. 545. Charles Lamb to William Wordsworth. This is the second half of a letter the first half of which is composed of observations on the second volume of Wordsworth's "Lyrical Ballads (1800). 546. laughed with dear Joanna. This is Joanna Hutchinson, the sister of Wordsworth's wife. Joanna and her laugh form the subject of the second of the "Poems on the Naming of Places" in the 1800 volume. D., the poet's sister Dorothy. Barbara Lewthwaite. rare," is the heroine of Wordsworth's "The Pet Lamb." "Little Barbara Lewthwaite, a child of beauty my play, Lamb's tragedy of " John Woodvill." Country Churchyard," holds a high place among English poets, though the 551. Lloyd. Lloyd Osborne, Stevenson's step-son. Trelawney, Edward John (1792-1881), the friend of Byron and Shelley, and a sailor with an adventurous career. F., Stevenson's wife. Printed in the United States of America. and Practice BY HENRY SEIDEL CANBY, Ph.D.; FREDERICK ERASTUS PIERCE, of the Department of English Composition in the Sheffield Scientific Cloth, 12mo, 455 pp., $1.25 Extracts from the Preface to the New and Revised Edition The purpose of the authors of this volume has been to combine in one book a set of directions for good writing, based upon sound principles and written, primarily, for the student, with a varied and extensive collection of examples drawn from all the forms of discourse, and inclusive of both brief excerpts and complete essays, arguments, and stories. We have added supplementary material in the several appendices, and a selected list of books, which may be used with this manual, or consulted for parallel discussions of the topics here taken up. Exposition, Argument, Description, and Narrative present differing problems in the teaching of English Composition, and vary in their degree of usefulness with the individual, the course, and the institution. endeavored to give to each the proportionate space and the kind of treatment which the average student requires. The whole composition, the paragraph, We have the sentence, and the word have been discussed in their relation to Exposition, because, for the average student, it is the power to explain clearly which is of primary importance. Thus Exposition has been given a predominant space. The chapter on the Sentence goes into minute detail because the average student, at present, does not understand the structure of the sentence; the chapter on Narrative deals with constructive problems mainly, because it is in learning to construct a story that he can best make Narrative increase his powers of expression; the chapter on Description includes literary and esthetic problems. because one variety of Description can only thus be taught. An order of succession for these various topics has been chosen after experiment with many classes. Nevertheless, except that Exposition must come first, the teacher will find that the plan of this book permits any arrangement of subjects which his own experience may have led him to desire. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York |