It is a well known & an established fact that most, if not all
men are very much inclined to be prejudiced against composition writing, and
consider it a difficult matter to sit down and write a few lines on any
subject, however much it may deserve their attention, which is not, in itself,
very attractive or interesting to them, which will not bring from them natural
& impromptu sentiments, and which is not such, that, in treating it, they
can express their ideas with a greater degree of facility & readiness, (on
account of their familiarity with it & the interest they have in it) than
they could, were it a subject of a different character. This spirit of
prejudice not only exists, but also shews itself very plainly in young persons,
& in those who are inexperienced in the art of composing well,—I say
that this spirit is found fully as much, if not more in these, than in, those
who are not advanced in age, & who know more of the toils & fatigues
attending him, whose chief desire is his own improvement in this great Art,
& who would devote his time, his attention, & his talents to it, &
who would sacrifice every thing else for the fulfilment of his desire. But I
must beg leave to say, before proceeding any further, apart from the subject
itself, that, if it is possible for one to be free, in a great measure, from
this feeling of prejudice, I am he who is; for although I feel & know my
insignificance as a composer in a class of forty members, & am very
sensibly conscious of my inability to throw out any very original idea, or to
construe any beautiful sentences, which may adorn the composition & serve
as a varnish to conceal the
rude under work, yet I
do not
Page 2
shrink back from the task (if it may be so
called) with so much dread, as I have seen manifested by some, whom I have
always considered far superior to myself in composition. But we must return to
our subject & attend with more care & assiduity to those rules, which
he, whom we consider high Authority,
3 has instructed us to use & to abide
strictly by, lest we too fall into the very same error about which we have been
speaking, & become as much prejudiced against comp. w.
ourselves as any one can be; for we will
certainly get into difficulties if we go at random writing whatever happens to
come in our way; & here, we may very easily
account
for the fact,
viz why young men are at all prejudiced against writing
comps.—: Why! they can not even converse with any one, with the least
degree of composure, about sitting down two
4 or
three hours at a time, & thinking over some subject, a thought of which,
(they will say) never crossed the mind of any person. Now for the
reason;—if they only had certain rules which might direct them, which
might apply very well in different ways in different cases, & by which they
might question themselves as to the propriety or the impropriety, the
"whys & wherefores" &c &c of their subjects, why! the
mere answers to these questions would enable them to progress some, by all
means, in their compos: taking away thereby all cause of complaint on account
of the lack of subject matter, & consequently taking away as much cause of
prejudice; for we suppose that, if they could compose without an effort of the
mind, if they only were to write down on paper mere words & sentences
without taxing their brains to construe them & to put them in their proper
places giving the correct orthography of their language, they would be
altogether indifferent as to the matter
but for the
writing. This
5 plan
of composing is altogether false; they reject
Page 3
with
scorn our systematic mode, viz by rules; & they go so far as to call it a
humbug; While they indeed are building on a rotten foundation & are writing
according to
false rules (if they write accordig to
any) & rules to
6
which will lead to very unsalutery
consequences in
deed. Some of the consequences are these; It is quite evident that those who
reject these rules will always have to
wait for a
thought instead of deriving any thing from their rules, as we would do;
and it so happens that those who wait for thoughts generally have to wait a
pretty long time; & does
7 not
this, by theway, remind
you of
Menas at
Philippi's
table who, poorfellow! as
Horace expresses
it, said—dicunda tacenda—whatever came into his head.
8 (I
am much of opinion that my quotation comes under the head of tacenda.). But it
is well authenticated by the observation of every one, that
their manner this way—i.e. the above of writing influences the style
of compos. of those who practise it considerably, when they grow up to years of
manhood; for their productions,
instead
far from being terse, argumentative, convincing, are without head or tail &
are generally an incongruous mass mixed up in the most disgusting manner,
without divisions or heads & in short without a subject (so to speak). I
would advise a young man therefore never to allow himself to fall into this
habit of writing loosely; of bringing together and classing under one head
subjects as much different as black & white;
for it is difficult for it is difficult
for a person to do this well & the difficulty or impossibility of the
matter [activates]
9 that
prejudice against comp. writing, which is the subject of our present attempt.
But like almost all other things there is a remedy for these terrible
consequences of which I was speaking & I can, as well as I know how,
express, in a very few words, wherein this remedy consists. To overcome these
difficulties & these consequences one should never take a subject on which
his limited reading would constrain him to say but little.
Page 4
I mean by this that he should always take a familiar subject; and not
only this; but he should also divide his subject into heads, never neglecting
to state the proposition which he intends to prove, at the outset, & to
make every thing else subordinate to this one great head; by practising this
rule, or any one like it, he may make great personal advancement in the art
& may finally shine as one of the most brilliant writers of the age. A few
general remarks & we
are
have done; Composition writing is an art which
differs from every other in one particular & it is this; viz; that,
wecommence with the hardest & as we proceed we find it becoming easier
& easier; in other words, that the principles or elements, as we would call
them, are harder than the actual application of them to practical purposes; I
might have mentioned this in the former part of my comp. as a reason why we are
prejudiced against comp writing; & not have been, by any means wrong as to
my statement. Let one, who would improve by this art, as well as in it,
practise the few rules, the substance of which I have given once or twice in
the course of my comp, & he will succeed in a pursuit which has rendered
the names of not afew men immortal. With these few remarks I submit
10 my
piece to
your inspection & criticism, hoping
that you will correct all mistakes, with a view to my improvement in a thing,
in which I take a good deal of delight.