and the despised princes mingle their dust, and pay down their symbol of mortality, and tell all the world that, when we die, our ashes shall be equal to kings', and our accounts easier, and our pains for our crowns shall be less."

In the eighteenth century men were more interested in society and in general questions of politics and literature than in these problems of ethics and philosophy. Hence the essays of the period were social, critical, or didactic. Thus in 1753 Lady Mary Wortley Montague writes:

"You should encourage your daughter to talk over with you what she reads; . . . take care she does not mistake pert folly for wit and humor, or rhyme for poetry, which are the common errors of young people.... The second caution to be given her . . . is to conceal whatever learning she attains, with as much solicitude as she would hide crookedness or lameness. The parade of it can only serve to draw on her the envy, and consequently the most inveterate hatred, of all he and she fools, which will certainly be at least three parts in four of all her acquaintance."

Earlier in the century Addison expressed the perennially popular complaint against the extravagant dress of "the younger generation":

"To speak truly, the young people of both sexes are so wonderfully apt to shoot out into long swords or sweeping trains, bushy head-dresses or full-bottomed periwigs, with several other encumbrances of dress, that they stand in need of being pruned very frequently, lest they should be oppressed with ornaments and overrun with the luxuriancy of their habits."

These comments are social, tinged, like Polonius's advice to Laertes, with sensible worldliness. The purpose of the essay in the eighteenth century was not to probe serious questions, but to skim safely over the surface,

"to enliven morality with wit and to temper wit with morality." Addison, observing that

"The mind that lies fallow but a single day sprouts up in follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous culture,"

sought to introduce to a shallow people sane, but not profound ideas, to bring

"philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and closets, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and coffee-houses."

In another hundred years, men of the nineteenth century reflected in their essays the awakened love of Nature, the growth of humanitarian interest, the rapid strides of scientific discovery, and the enthusiasm for literature which characterized their age. Coleridge-not foreseeing that another generation would produce a critic like George Bernard Shaw-said:

"The Englishman who without reverence-a proud and affectionate reverence-can utter the name of William Shakespeare, stands disqualified for the office of critic."

And Hazlitt writes a very pean of praise:

"Hamlet is a name; his speeches and sayings but the idle coinage of the poet's brain. What then, are they not real? They are as real as our own thoughts. Their reality is in the reader's mind. It is we who are Hamlet. This play has a prophetic truth, which is above that of history. Whoever has become thoughtful and melancholy through his own mishaps or those of others; whoever has borne about with him the clouded brow of reflection, and thought himself 'too much i' the sun'; whoever has seen the golden lamp of day dimmed by envious mists rising in his own breast, and could find in the world before him only a dull blank with nothing left remarkable in it; whoever has known 'the pangs of despised love, the insolence of office, or the spurns which patient merit of the unworthy takes'; he who has felt his mind sink within him, and sadness cling to his heart like a malady, who has had his hopes blighted and his youth staggered by the apparition of strange things; who cannot be well at ease, while he sees evil hovering near him like a spectre; whose powers of action have been eaten up by thought; he to whom the universe seems infinite, and himself nothing; whose bitterness of soul makes him careless of consequences, and who goes to a play as his best resource to shove off, to a second remove, the

evils of life by a mock representation of them-this is the true Hamlet."

But literature was not the only concern of the essayists. Ruskin was primarily interested in beauty, Carlyle in the dignity of labor, Newman in the problems of faith. History, too, came in for a share of enthusiastic interest. Thus DeQuincey writes of Joan of Arc:

"The shepherd girl that had delivered France-she, from her dungeon, she, from her baiting at the stake, she, from her duel with fire, as she entered her last dream-saw Domrémy, the fountain of Domrémy, saw the pomp of forests in which her childhood had wandered.

This mission had now been fulfilled. The storm was weathered; the skirts even of that mighty storm were drawing off. The blood that she was to reckon for had been exacted; the tears that she was to shed in secret had been paid to the last. And in her last fight upon the scaffold she had triumphed gloriously; victoriously she had tasted the stings of death. For all, except this comfort from her farewell dreams, she had died-died, amidst the tears of ten thousand enemies-died, amidst the drums and trumpets of armies died, amidst peals redoubling upon peals, volleys upon volleys, from the saluting clarions of martyrs."

The essays of Thomas Huxley reflect the scientific interest of the time. Leigh Hunt, William Hazlitt, and Robert Louis Stevenson in their personal essays reflect the varied interests of themselves and their generation. Matthew Arnold developed his ideas on culture, coining such catch phrases as "sweetness and light" and "culture and anarchy."

The twentieth century essay, too, reflects its age. So far the century has been overshadowed by the Great War and its results, which challenge the existing ideas of democracy, of government, of social relationships, of education. The

contemporary essay which we find in magazines, in anthologies, and in individual collections, helps us to understand the age in which we live, an age with keen interest in literature, nature, social, political, ethical, and religious problems, science, art, and history. G. K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Stuart P. Sherman, Stephen Leacock, Samuel McChord Crothers, Christopher Morley, Katherine Fullerton Gerould, Agnes Repplier, Max Beerbohm, are all representative essayists of our own day.

The essay, then, is characterized by a certain incompleteness; it is the expression of a personality and a mood; it is Summary marked by wide variety and freedom of treatment; and it is a more or less accurate reflection of the time in which it is written.

EXERCISES IN THE ESSAY

Exercise 1. THE CENTRAL IDEA OF THE ESSAY

There are four points of view from which an essay may be studied: its central idea, the method of treating that idea, the author's personality, and the spirit of the age as revealed by these three. The central idea is most important. Almost every essay is written to exemplify some one idea. In most of the Sir Roger de Coverly papers the central idea is to be found in some purpose of social reform which the authors wish to impress on their readers. Thus Moll White attempts to discourage the persecution of witches; Will Wimble to point out the absurdity of limiting the younger sons of great families to two or three professions; Whigs and Tories to point out the follies and dangers of the extreme party feeling which existed at that time. The most important thing, then, is to extract the central idea of an essay and, if possible, to sum it up in one sentence. Sometimes this idea is explained definitely and clearly in some paragraph of the essay; sometimes it is only implied; but until you have discovered it and expressed it for yourself, you do not really know what the essay is about. Once having understood this kernel

of the essay, you ought next to consider its truth and significance. Is this a true idea or true only from certain points of view or for certain times and certain people? If you do not agree with it, what do you consider the fallacies of the author's position? Can you make application of the idea to the life around you? If you think it is true, what leads you to think so? Can you explain the idea clearly to other people, giving illustrations within the range of your own experience? Does it suggest parallel or related ideas which you think worthy of attention? A study of the thought of any essay carried out in this way will not only assure you of mastery of the particular idea under consideration, but add to your own powers of observation and interpretation.

Exercise 2. HOW TO STUDY THE METHOD OF TREATMENT OF THE ESSAY

Having mastered the subject matter of the essay, you are free to consider the way in which that subject matter is handled. Notice the author's method of beginning. How does he attract the interest and gain the sympathies of his reader? Has he prejudices to overcome; if he has, how does he overcome them? Does he begin with a story, with a comment that arrests immediate attention, or does he plunge at once into an exposition of his idea? As the essay proceeds do you notice a definite plan of paragraphing, or are the paragraphs arranged without any particular attention to sequence? If there is a plan of paragraphing, by what transitional devices does the writer link paragraphs together? Does he employ topic sentences? Has he a special reason for arranging his paragraphs in the order in which you find them? Does he use concrete details and illustrations to make clear any of his points? Does he use anecdotes or allusions? If so, what purpose do they serve? Are there any figures of speech, especially symbols, images, allegory, similes, or metaphors? Are they used for any particular purpose? From what sources are the figures of speech and the allusions drawn? (i. e. from nature, literature, art, history, politics, religion, personal experience, or what?) Does the author make much use of personal experiences? What forms of discourse does he use chiefly-description, narration, exposition, or argument? Is his essay written in the first, second, or third person? Why was this person chosen? Is the ending effective for any special reasons, such as clearness, emphasis, surprise, emotional power, logical conviction? In what sense is the essay incomplete? Notice the style. Pick out well-chosen words, examples of