INTRODUCTION.

1. Rhetoric is the science which treats of discourse.

2. By Discourse is meant any expression of thought by means of language.

3. Discourse may be either oral or written.

NOTE 1. Rhetoric referred originally to spoken discourse only. This is shown by the etymology of the word, the original Greek pnropikń (rhetorike) meaning the art of speaking, from fńrwp (rhetor), a speaker. But since the invention of printing, and the general diffusion of books, speaking forms only a part of the means by which man discourses, or makes known in language his thoughts to others. While, therefore, for convenience, the term Rhetoric is retained, the science itself is extended in its scope, and is made to embrace every kind of discourse, whether oral or written.

NOTE 2. Rhetoric, as thus defined, includes both Written Composition and Oratory; but the two may with great convenience and propriety be treated of separately. In the present treatise, therefore, all that part of the subject which is peculiar to Oratory, including Vocal Delivery, is omitted, and the work is limited strictly to written discourse. There may be some doubt, perhaps, as to the propriety of retaining the general title, when thus avowedly treating of only one of the component parts of the subject. But Rhetoric, as a common subject of study in schools, has long since practically become thus limited in its scope, while Oratory has branched off into a separate study.

NOTE 3. Rhetoric is closely allied, on the one side, to Grammar, which determines the laws of language, and, on the other, to Logic, which determines the laws of thought.

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NOTE 4. In establishing principles and rules for conducting discourse, Rhetoric assumes as true whatever is determined by the sciences of Grammar and Logic. A discourse, though rhetorical in other respects, will lose much of its effect, if either the expression is ungrammatical, or the thought illogical. On the other hand, however, an expression may violate no rule, either of Grammar or of Logic, and yet be faulty. Rhetoric, in other words, has requirements of its own, in addition to those imposed by Grammar and Logic.

NOTE 5. In treating of discourse, we naturally divide the subject into two parts-that which considers the matter, or thought to be expressed, and that which considers the mode of expression. The former of these is usually treated under the head of Invention, the latter under the head of Style.

NOTE 6. Theoretically, it is, perhaps, more philosophical to treat first of Invention, and then of Style. It seems but natural that we should first find out what to say, and then study how to say it. But there are practical conveniences in following a different order. Invention is the most difficult part of the subject, requiring no little maturity of mind on the part of the learner. Style, on the other hand, connects itself closely with grammatical studies, which always precede the study of Rhetoric, and it has many details of a simple and positive character, about which the judgment of pupils may be exercised, long before they can enter with profit upon the processes of original thought required by Invention. In the present treatise, therefore, the order is reversed, Style being considered first, and Invention afterwards.

NOTE 7. While the general subject of Invention is thus placed last, the simpler kinds of exercises in it are clearly suitable to those who are just beginning the study of Rhetoric. It is, therefore, recommended to the student to take up some of these simpler exercises at the same time that he begins the study of Style, and thus to carry on the study of the two portions of the book contemporaneously; in other words, to practise Invention while studying Style.

4. Rhetoric is divided into two parts; namely, Part I., STYLE; PART II., INVENTION.

1. Style is that part of Rhetoric which treats of the mode of expression.

NOTE 1. Any verbal expression of thought, even in its lowest and plainest forms, brings us within the domain of Grammar. But, beyond the bare expression of the meaning, we can conceive of it as being uttered awkwardly or elegantly, plainly or figuratively, concisely or diffusely, and in a great variety of other ways; and the consideration of these various methods of expression takes us at once beyond the region of Grammar, and brings us into that of Rhetoric.

NOTE 2. Style is sometimes used in a more restricted sense, namely, to indicate certain special kinds of writing and speaking. But there is no necessity for limiting the meaning of the word in this way. Webster very properly defines Style to be the "mode of expressing thought in language, whether oral or written," and in this broad sense the word is used in the present treatise.

NOTE 3. The word Style comes from the Latin stylus, a small steel instrument used by the Romans for writing on waxen tablets. The stylus was to the Roman writer what the pen is to us, and became, by an easy metaphor, the means of expressing any one's method of composition, just as we now, by a like metaphor, speak of a gifted pen, a ready pen, meaning thereby a gifted or a ready author.

NOTE 4. Style is concerned equally with Prose and Poetry, and with the various figures of speech which are common to both; it is coextensive with the whole range of composition and of discourse,

both oral and written. To find out what to say is the business of Invention; but the moulding of the materials thus furnished belongs to Style. It includes in its scope whatever, in the arts and contrivances of speech, can make the expression of thought more effective. In its lower forms, it treats of Punctuation and the use of Capitals, and of other contrivances of a mechanical sort, which help to give clearness to the meaning, while in its higher forms it enters upon the region of the Imagination and the Passions, and deals with questions of Taste and Fancy.

2. The various topics included in Style are discussed under the following heads: 1, PUNCTUATION and CAPITALS; 2, DICTION; 3, SENTENCES; 4, FIGURES; 5, SPECIAL PROPERTIES OF STYLE; 6, VERSIFICATION; 7, POETRY; 8, PROSE COMPOSITION.

CHAPTER I.

PUNCTUATION and CAPITALS.

1. Punctuation is the art of dividing written discourse into sections by means of points, for the purpose of showing the grammatical connection and dependence, and of making the sense more obvious.*

2. Capitals are used for a like purpose, and, therefore, they may with propriety be treated of at the same time with the Points.

NOTE 1. That the sense is made more obvious to the eye by the use of points and capitals will be evident to any one who will make the experiment. Take almost any familiar sentence, and write it as the ancients used to write, that is, unpointed and unspaced, and with the letters either all small or all capital, and it will require no little skill and patience to decipher the meaning. A reader not apprised of what had been done would be apt to mistake the sentence for something in a foreign language. Here is an example, first in capitals, next in small letters, and then in the form now in use:

READINGMAKETHAFULLMANCONFERENCEAREADYMANWRITINGAN

EXACTMAN.

readingmakethafullman conferenceareadymanwritinganexactman.

Reading maketh a full man; conference, a ready man; writing, an exact man.

NOTE 2. The word Punctuation is from the Latin punctum, a point. The points now used in writing were unknown to the ancients. Aristophanes, a grammarian of Alexandria, about two and a half centuries before the Christian era, introduced some

* In the preparation of this chapter, the author has received material assistance, as every writer must receive who writes intelligently on the subject, from the excellent "Treatise on English Punctuation" by John Wilson. That is the most complete and exhaustive treatise extant on this subject. Every teacher should have a copy of it on his desk, if for nothing else, for the admirable collection of classified examples which it contains.