and the sky on which you closed your eye was cloudless. "But-ah! Him! the first great martyr in this great cause! Him, the premature victim of his own self-devoting heart! Him, the head of our councils, and the destined leader of our military bands; whom nothing brought hither but the unquenchable fire of his own spirit! Him, cut off by Providence in the hour of overwhelming anxiety and thick gloom; falling ere he saw the star of his country rise; pouring out his generous blood like water before he knew whether it would fertilize a land of freedom or of bondage! How shall I struggle with the emotions that stifle the utterance of thy name! Our poor work may perish, but thine shall endure! This monument may moulder away; the solid ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the sea; but thy memory shall not fail! Wheresoever among men a heart shall be found that beats to the transports of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit!'" 78. When it should be Employed.-Apostrophe is seldom appropriate except in impassioned oratory and poetry. It should be used sparingly and with dis crimination. pain from the censure of the one, than pleasure from the praise of many." 80. Use of this Figure.-To excel in the use of this figure, requires great skill and mental culture. The principles and directions given in the chapter on Representative Writing are nearly all applicable to it, and should be carefully studied. VISION. 165 CHAPTER XII. VISION. 81. Definition, and Examples.—THE representation of what is past, future, or absent, or of a fancied occurrence, as though it was present, is properly called Vision. Under the influence of a vivid imagination a speaker fancies what he is describing as now passing before him; and if he can succeed in producing the same temporary illusion in his hearers, the impression made by his description is much stronger than it would otherwise be. In the description of a murder, Daniel Webster employed this figure in a passage of great power. After using the simple narrative style in the beginning of the description, as though the event had long since happened, stating that the "deed was executed with self-possession;" "deep sleep had fallen on the victim;" "his sleep was sweet," etc., he immediately changes his narrative into the present tense, as though the thing was happening now, in the presence of the judge and jury, and says: "The assassin enters, through the window already prepared, into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he paces the lonely hall, half lighted by the moon; he winds up the ascent of the stairs, and reaches the door of the chamber." After using the present tense for a few minutes, he returns to the narrative style, and says: "The room was unconsciously open to the admission of light. The face of the innocent sleeper was turned from the murderer," etc. Then he resumes the vision: "The fatal blow is given! and the victim passes, without a struggle or motion, from the repose of sleep to the repose of death !” · How much more impressive is this than the cold narrative style! Frequent transitions from the past to the present are common in excited narrative, as the nature of the events described often require the narrative style, and will not admit of being represented in Vision. In the well-known description of the battle of Waterloo by Byron, this figure is introduced with great effect. We have room only for a few lines of it. It will be perceived that it begins in the historical style, but the last line of the first stanza employs the figure of Vision. "There was a sound of revelry by night, And Belgium's capital had gathered there A thousand hearts beat happily; and when Music arose with its voluptuous swell, Soft eyes looked love to eyes that spoke again, And all went merry as a marriage bell;— But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell." The next stanza describes the consternation of the company, in Vision, as though present, and then the past returns to the narrative style, and does not resume the present tense again in the whole description THE HISTORICAL PRESENT. 167 till the very last, when, in describing the field after the battle, he abruptly brings it before us as though we could see it, saying: "The earth is covered thick with other clay, Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent, Rider and horse-friend, foe-in one red burial blent!" Such a production shows us the power of this fig ure of speech. 82. The Historical Present. So common is it in historical writings, that the use of the present tense of verbs for the past tense is by some grammarians called "the historical present." Modern writers do not use it so frequently as the ancient writers. It should be employed sparingly, and only in excited narratives, or it will soon lose all its effect. To show its frequency and power, we briefly refer to a few examples. Everett, in an oration on the Pilgrims, has a very eloquent passage, beginning with these words: "Methinks I see it now: that one solitary adventurous vessel, the Mayflower of a forlorn hope, freighted with the prospects of a future state, and bound across the unknown sea." The whole passage is one of the sublimest descriptions in the English language. At the close of it the student will observe also an excellent specimen of the apostrophe, beginning: "Tell me, man of military science! in how many months were they all swept off by the thirty savage tribes enumerated within the early limits of New England? Tell me, politician! how long did the shadow of a colony, on which your conventions and treaties had not smiled, languish on the distant coast?" |