son; George Eliot, who shows a Baconian capacity for maxims; Dickens, who draws all the world after him. Such writers as these have set out first with the design to please, but they have added more to this; and by their genius they have raised the novel to the place which once was held by the drama.

In dramatic literature the author's first purpose is also to please. The drama may be defined as a story told by dialogue and by action. It is essential to its success, nay, even to its very existence, that the spectator be entertained; and even when the writer has a higher motive than mere pleasure, he must keep this steadily in view. Hence, while tragedy may be created from various motives, and may show the aim to please only in an inferior way, comedy elevates it to the chief position.

In expository writings, the aim to please is chiefly seen in essays, such as those of Addison, Lamb, and Thackeray. These often belong in part to humorous composition, but the humorous itself may be called an effort to please in a peculiar direction.

$317. THE UNION OF DIFFERENT AIMS.

These various purposes have been considered separately for the sake of convenience, but in reality they do not often exist separately, being generally found in union with one another. This is particularly the case with conviction and persuasion, which are united so frequently that many rhetoricians regard them as inseparable. In order to have a complete view of this subject, it will now be necessary to notice the chief cases in which they are thus united.

1. Where the chief purpose is to instruct, and the subordinate to convince or persuade.

This is most visible in historical works. Every historian has certain views of his own which appear in his writings, and are often urged upon the reader. Thus, while the first aim of history is generally to instruct, there is the subsidiary aim to persuade the reader to adopt the writer's own opinions. In Clarendon's history, the instruction imparted is associated with the author's evident devotion to the Stuart cause. In Gibbon's great work, the information conveyed is often modified and

colored by insinuations against Christianity, made by a writer who has been described by Byron as

Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer,

The lord of irony."

Macaulay, while he instructs us in English history, exhibits his strong Whig sympathies; and Lingard shows his Roman Catholic proclivities while treating of the same subject. Among the numerous histories of Greece, some advocate monarchy, others republicanism. This is the meaning of one-sidedness or partiality in the historian. In the generality of cases he must show this, for an author must needs feel some deep interest in his subject in order to write well, and this interest naturally shows itself in a partisan spirit. It is not every one who can write like Thucydides, and give instruction for all time in such a way that his own personality is sunk, and his personal feelings or sympathies shall be a matter of dispute or conjecture. The bitterness of Tacitus is so intense that he has been charged with exaggeration, and Josephus is accused by De Quincey of treason to his people, and corrupt subserviency to Roman in

terests.

The same union of purposes may be found in oratory, for the speaker often has occasion to indulge in narration or description which is made use of to advocate his own views. Thus Demosthenes, in his oration on the Crown already alluded to, gives very valuable instruction where he goes over the history of his life and policy, while in addition to this he maintains that his policy was right and honorable. In the greater part of Burke's speeches, apart from the argument, there will be found the most valuable information on many subjects.

In science, philosophy, and theology, instruction is given by the statement of the leading truths, doctrines, or facts, while the effort to persuade or convince is seen in the author's advocacy of his own views or theories.

2. Where the chief purpose is to instruct, and the subordinate to please.

These are blended, as a popular way of conveying information. Thus in books of travel we find the narrative of important facts combined with amusing adventures. To this class belong those histories which are told in a lively style and filled

with entertaining anecdotes. Suetonius affords an example of this, and Boswell's Life of Johnson shows the same intermixture of instruction and amusement.

In oratory the modern lecture may be mentioned, if, indeed, it be proper to consider this as oratory. Here knowledge is often imparted, while the aim to please is manifest by the efforts which the lecturer makes to attract and retain the attention of his hearers.

Modern science resorts largely to this as a means of commending itself to the public, and illustrations might be drawn from numerous works with which all are familiar. The leading savans do not disdain the work of giving pleasure, and the writings of Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Proctor, and others, may be mentioned as conspicuous examples of works which please while they instruct.

3. Where the chief aim is to convince or persuade, and the subordinate to please.

In nearly all the narrative works already mentioned, as exhibiting a desire to persuade, an effort to please is also perceptible. For the historian or biographer is generally desirous of affording entertainment to his reader, so as to lead him with him.

In controversial writings the effort to convince or persuade is often associated with entertainment in the shape of ridicule directed against the adversary. To anything like this men always listen with pleasure, and are insensibly affected by it. For ridicule is a potent weapon of offence, and affects the will instantaneously, and often permanently.

4. Where the chief aim is to please, and the subordinate to instruct.

Examples of this are to be found in the works of the imagination. Thus in such poems as the Iliad the first aim is undoubtedly to please; but the poet brings forward so many admirable scenes and characters, and gives utterance to so many pregnant sayings, that no one can avoid receiving valuable lessons. This is also visible in dramatic literature and in prose fiction, in fables, parables, and allegories.

5. Where the chief purpose is to please, and the subordinate to convince or persuade.

This is found in those works of fiction which are designed to

affect the opinions of the reader. In some of these the first aim is manifestly to convince or persuade, and the effort to please is but faint; but in the majority of them the higher purpose is veiled, or kept in a subordinate position. Religious novels, and other stories written, as the saying is, "with a purpose," afford examples. Thus Thackeray makes war on the shams and conventionalisms of modern society; Dickens in his various novels seeks to overthrow some conspicuous abuse; the later works of Lord Lytton show the same tendency; and at the present day a large proportion of works of fiction display an attempt to inculcate certain views of the author.

This is very evident in lyrical poetry. Great songs, such as those of Burns, or the Marseillaise, please by their music, their rhythm, their imagery, yet sway the feelings with irresistible power, and thus exhibit the most effective kind of persuasion.

CHAPTER III.

MODES OF INVENTION.

$318. INVENTION IS OF TWO KINDS.

INVENTION, or the finding of subject-matter, is of two kinds. The first is where the writer gathers the subject-matter from external sources. This may be called accumulative invention. The second is where the writer supplies the subject-matter by the creative faculty of his own mind. This may be called creative invention.

These kinds of invention are quite distinct, and require separate consideration.

$319. ACCUMULATIVE INVENTION.

By accumulative invention is meant the finding of subjectmatter by study, research, testimony, or observation. The subject-matter of the earlier historians, Herodotus and Thucydides, arose from observation and testimony; those of Gibbon and Macaulay from study and research.

Accumulative invention may also be seen in other narra

tives, whether poetry or prose, where the writer lacks originality. Roman writers are conspicuous for this. Plautus and Terence adapted Greek plays, or translated them. Virgil did not create the materials for the Æneid, but took them from existing sources, and presented them with but little change.

Accumulative invention is found, first, in narratives made up of facts of actual occurrence, with which the writer has become acquainted in any way; secondly, in all works of the imagination, where the incidents have not been originated by the writer, but drawn from other sources.

Accumulative invention may also be seen in expository subject-matter.

Ist. In writing intended to instruct, where the subject-matter is the result of research, as in Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory. 2d. Where the reasoning is based upon facts of actual occurrence, as in Burke's speech on the Nabob of Arcot, or Sheridan's speech on Warren Hastings.

In accumulative invention the subject-matter may be immediately furnished by the memory, so that no preliminary labor may be needed; but it is evident that this labor has already taken place in some way from the existence of those very things with which the memory has been supplied.

In accumulative invention the faculties of the mind chiefly employed are reason and memory.

$320. CREATIVE INVENTION.

By this is meant the finding of subject-matter by means of the inventive powers of the mind. The writer doe's not gather his material from external sources, but supplies it from within.

In narrative, creative invention is found in all works of the imagination where the things described have been produced by the author's own conception. For example, Dante's Divina Commedia describes a vast succession of scenes, with a multitude of characters, all of which have been created by the powerful genius of the author. In Milton's Paradise Lost we are introduced to supernatural scenes and superhuman characters, with mould and temper transcending anything that has ever existed in real life. Homer intermingles the natural with the supernatural, and blends his own creations with history or legend. Creative invention may also be shown where real