e. The Songs of Burns: 1. Their characteristics: (a) Heartfelt, honest in spirit. (c) Graceful and true in movement and 2. Their variety and wide range. 3. Their supreme influence, and Burns's nationalizing influence. II. Burns the man. C. Conclusion. 20. Grouping and Climax. Whether topics are arranged by contiguity, cause and effect, or contrast, the writer will also introduce climax into the arrangement wherever this is possible. The general order of topics will be from the less important to the more important. This order will not be allowed in any way to interfere with the arrangement by contiguity, cause and effect, or contrast; it will appear concurrently with those wherever possible. For instance, in Carlyle's arrangement of the five topics under e there is no climax, since the first topic is fundamental and the other topics are derived from this; but why is topic e reserved until the last? Because Carlyle regards the songs as Burns's most important contribution to literaLeft until the last, this topic inherits all of the strength that has been gained by the preceding discussion. Again, on reading the essay, it becomes apparent why Burns the Man is discussed after, rather than before, Burns the Poet. It is because, in Carlyle's ture. 66 view, the man was much more than the poet; his poetry was no more than a poor mutilated fraction of what was in him"; this is the idea underlying the arrangement that we find. An opportunity for introducing climax was missed by the pupil whose plan for an essay on the persecution of the Jews was arranged as follows: (1) Bodily persecutions, including burning and massacre; (2) Banishment; (3) Deprivation of property, by confiscation and by destruction. These topics should have been arranged in the reverse order to bring out the natural climax based on the severity of the persecutions. 21. Overlapping Topics.-One caution is necessary. The topics in a plan should not overlap. The following plan of a pupil's essay on Prejudices against High Schools shows an unusual amount of this overlapping: 1. Prejudices of those who think that all should not be taxed for the education of the few. 2. Prejudice of the rich: 3. Prejudice of those who fear that the young will be educated beyond their station in life. 4. Prejudice of the ignorant. 5. Prejudice of the poor. 6. Prejudice of those who see grave faults in some high schools. 7. Prejudice of some famous men. In this plan (to mention only the clearest cases) topics 1 and 2 overlap, and so do topics 2 and 3, 3 and 4, 3 and 5, 6 and 7, as well as several pairs of topics. Since some prejudices against high schools are shared by rich, poor, ignorant, and famous, it will not do to divide the subject into topics on the principle of wealth, ignorance, or fame. Topics 2, 4, 5, and 7 will have to be dropped, and the principle of topics 1, 3, and 6, which name specific prejudices, will have to be continued, if there are other specific prejudices represented by topics 2, 4, 5, and 7. We see then that the way to prevent overlapping is to adopt but one principle of division in stating the main topics. Plan what you mean to write, before you write it. Arrange the facts in a natural order according to some principle such as cause and effect, contiguity, or contrast. Secure climax by putting the more important facts after the less important. Avoid overlapping topics. (a) In the following tale by Washington Irving discover the plan and write it out fully. What principle of grouping is most often employed in this tale? Can you find cases of cause and effect? Of contrast and antithesis? Upon the same plan write a narrative of some adventure of your own or of an acquaintance. ADVENTURE OF THE LITTLE ANTIQUARY. My friend, the doctor, was a thorough antiquary, — a little rusty, musty old fellow, always groping among ruins. He relished a building as you Englishmen relish a cheese,the more mouldy and crumbling it was, the more it suited his taste. A shell of an old nameless temple, or the cracked walls of a broken-down amphitheatre, would throw him into raptures, and he took more delight in these crusts and cheese-parings of antiquity than in the best-conditioned modern palaces. He was a curious collector of coins also, and had just gained an accession of wealth that almost turned his brain. He had picked up, for instance, several Roman Consulars, half a Roman As, two Punics, which had doubtless belonged to the soldiers of Hannibal, having been found on the very spot where they had encamped among the Apennines. He had, moreover, one Samnite, struck after the Social War, and a Philistis, a queen that never existed; but above all, he valued himself upon a coin, indescribable to any but the initiated in these matters, bearing a cross on one side, and a Pegasus on the other, and which, by some antiquarian logic, the little man adduced as an historical document illustrating the progress of Christianity. All these precious coins he carried about him in a leathern purse, buried deep in a pocket of his little black breeches. The last maggot he had taken into his brain was to hunt after the ancient cities of the Pelasgi, which are said to exist to this day among the mountains of the Abruzzi, but about which a singular degree of obscurity prevails. He had made many discoveries concerning them, and had recorded a great many valuable notes and memorandums on the subject, in a voluminous book which he always carried about with him, either for the purpose of frequent reference, or through fear lest the precious document should fall into the hands of brother antiquaries. He had, therefore, a large pocket in the skirt of his coat, where he bore about this inestimable tome, banging against his rear as he walked. Thus heavily laden with the spoils of antiquity, the good little man, during a sojourn at Terracina, mounted one day the rocky cliffs which overhang the town, to visit the castle of Theodoric. He was groping about the ruins, towards the hour of sunset, buried in his reflections, his wits no doubt woolgathering among the Goths and Romans, when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned, and beheld five or six young fellows, of rough, saucy demeanor, clad in a singular manner, half peasant, half huntsman, with carbines in their hands. Their whole |