tween the university and other institutions dealing with knowledge; in Cardinal Newman's preface, between the university and learned academies, scientific associations, and the like. Thus though Exposition differs decidedly from Description in its subject and in the study that must precede it, we have seen that there is something analogous in this part of its method. Exposition notes those things which separate one general idea from other coördinate ideas. Description notes those things which distinguish one thing from others of the same kind.

Such is the general method of Exposition. I am far from saying either that this method must always be followed or that it is sufficient for all cases. It is an old and wellknown process. My idea of it is that it offers a systematic way of thinking out a subject that gives one a good deal of mental strength. Practice in this sort of thing is not amusing, I admit with readiness; but I have no doubt that it gives the mind a power and flexibility that are necessities to good work, and I think it gives one the best way of getting at the essential points of any general idea that may be presented to us. Practice with simple ideas will enable us to do good work with more complicated subjects, even though we do not proceed in a strictly methodical manner. I am very far from offering the above classifications as good plans for essays. Nor do I offer Definition and Division as a wholly sufficient method of Exposition. What is known as Exposition by Partition may also be employed. But this process so resembles Description that the slight note of it already made will probably be enough for practical purposes.

C. EXPOSITION AS WE FIND IT IN LITERATURE.

28. Different Kinds of Exposition. Exposition is a very common thing in this world; people who never heard

the technical term make use of it constantly, although as in the case of amateur argument, their speculations are often valueless from their not comprehending the application of the principles of common sense to what they are talking about. But whether it be well done or ill done, it is Exposition, or Argument, and of course our desire is to find out how the thing may be done best.

If we turn to Literature to see how it actually has been done we shall find Exposition in great abundance of very different degrees of excellence and of very different kinds. But I incline to think that the following short analysis. will be found to mark at least the most important types, and that, by noting characteristics in a way that will be of value to us.

I. Exposition with a view to the Subject.
A. Scholarly Exposition.

B. Popular Exposition.

II. Exposition with a view to the Reader.
A. Easy-chair Exposition.

B. Pastoral Exposition.

Of course the main divisions are made according to the most obvious tendency. Every sort of Exposition, as every sort of writing, must have a view both to reader and to subject. But there are kinds of discourse where one or the other seems the more important.

To speak of these last forms of Exposition first. Easychair Exposition is the name I give to such expounding as is done by Addison in the Spectator, by Charles Lamb in the Essays of Elia, and by Thackeray in the Roundabout Papers, as well as by thousands of others who have followed their example. In such a case the author need have no very serious desire to gain a clear and full understanding of the extent and meaning of his subject. How could one attempt to grasp the true extent and meaning of the term "Roast Pig," or "Ribands," or "The Whims

of Lottery Adventurers"? There is rarely any especial attempt to treat the subject; the author has a subject for form's sake, but its main use is only to suggest a train of thought which shall be pleasing and agreeable to his reader, with possibly a dash of something more serious. That is the reason why I have put it under the head of Exposition with a view to the Reader. The author is more concerned with amusing and entertaining his reader than in elucidating and illustrating his subject.

Of somewhat the same character is what I call Pastoral Exposition, the difference being that here the writer's desire is rather to improve and benefit his readers than amuse and entertain them. I call it Pastoral because it is common with spiritual shepherds. Of this character is the great bulk of the pulpit discourse of the present day. The real desire in the pastor's mind is to benefit his congregation, not merely to understand the subject of his sermon. That is the reason why so many sermons nowadays have no necessary connection with their texts. But the best examples of such exposition are to be found in the writings of such men as Emerson. One need never go to Emerson to find any definite treatment of some special subject. Emerson used his subjects as pegs on which to hang discussions of those ideas which were of interest to him and which he felt convinced would be good for his hearers or readers. His whole mode of treatment shows that he rarely took a subject for consideration with a view to setting down the results. He took almost any subject, looked in his commonplace-books to see what he had said on the matter, and put his remarks together. For this reason it is that Emerson's Essays rarely have any direct or consecutive train of thought. For this reason also is it that unless you look up at the top of the page now and then, you are apt to forget just what is the subject of the particular essay you happen to be reading; it may be His

tory, it may be Self-reliance, it may be The American Scholar. Hence so far as concerns the particular subjects which he treated I should say Emerson's work was Exposition with a view to the Reader. If we take Emerson's whole work, however, we have a splendid Exposition with the strictest attention to the Subject, i.e., the Emersonian Idea. With what definition and illustration does he present it to us, with what skill he applies it to the various circumstances of life, with what consistency does he keep to the highest plane. Indeed, in so far as his. work may be said to show the place in Emersonian thought of such ideas as History, Circles, Books, Manners, how luminous is his Exposition. Still, as far as his method is concerned, we may say that he writes rather with a view to the reader than to each particular subject.

Theoretically, however, Exposition is a consideration of some general idea and an explaining of its meaning and its connection with other ideas; and when the writer has evidently the desire to see clearly what is the nature of his subject and to express that idea, we may put his work into our first division. But such work is different in character and method according to the audience for which it is designed. At the present day much of the attention. given to general ideas is given with a view to making them familiar to a class of readers who are not already at home in the particular sphere of thought in question. Such we may call Popular Exposition. It is scientific in character in that its aim is to bring the subject in hand into clear comprehension. In its manner of presentation it is popular, and so differs from that more scholarly exposition which may to advantage be employed by a student writing for those who are to some degree familiar with his particular interests. Between the two no hard-and-fast line can well be drawn, but the difference between the extreme examples is very great. There are very many writers who

deal ably with Popular Exposition, but the work of Tyndall and of Huxley is as typical as any. They are distinctly representative of those scientists who hold it their duty, not merely to advance the boundaries of knowledge, but to make the territory thus gained as familiar as may be to the world at large. As to Scholarly Exposition, there are of course unnumbered examples. If we confine our attention to such recent work as may fairly claim a place in Literature, the names of Spencer, Darwin, and Mill would come to mind. Matthew Arnold and Cardinal Newman, fine masters of Exposition with a view to the Subject, would be rather hard to put in either group, for they have much in common on both sides.

Of these four kinds that which will be of most use to us at present is that last mentioned; it is the only one that we shall find it useful at present to practice. I do not in any way mean that it is the only kind of writing we are ever to do; very probably few of us may be ever called on for much work in Scholarly Exposition, outside of examination papers and theses. But this last is really the form that is of the most value as exercise for our power of thought, and as we have it at present for our aim to strengthen our power of thought, to develop the best ways of thinking, rather than anything else, we shall get most from this kind of writing. It will give us a certain mastery over our subject-matter that will be useful in whatever sort of Exposition we may afterwards attempt.

29. Devices of Popular Exposition. Popular Exposition has for its consistent aim the coming to a clear comprehension of the subject. To this end, however, it adds the desire to present the material in such a way as shall be readily understood by those who are not students of the subject under discussion, and to recommend it to their attention. The devices by which different authors accomplish this purpose are worth noting, and, as they lead us to