etc. Find passages which seem to you especially skillful; others which seem involved, labored, commonplace.

10. Investigate the use which musicians, painters, and poets have made of the Arthurian Legend. What great paintings could be used as illustrations for the Idylls? What great works of music might supply motifs for certain passages? What poems by other authors might be compared with the Idylls?

I. The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers, by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

1. Take any four of these essays and show how they illustrate the four characteristics of the essay as explained in Chapter VI. Make these four essays the basis of a theme of four paragraphs on What the Essay Is.

2. Use the de Coverley Papers as illustrative material for a theme on the subject matter of the eighteenth century essay. Find in them examples of both satirical and serious comment on the follies and vices of society, on political problems, on popular beliefs and superstitions, on education, on contemporary ideals, on animals, on popular literature, on travel, on the theater, etc.

3. Compare an individual essay from The de Coverley Papers with an individual essay of the 19th or 20th century which is similar to it in subject matter but different in style, atmosphere, point of view, treatment, etc. To what extent do these differences show how times, manners, and ways of thinking have changed? comparison reveal some things that have not changed?

Does the

4. Compare Addison's Essay on Westminster Abbey with Washington Irving's in The Sketch Book. Compare also the way both authors deal with the subject of a stage coach journey. Which author's writing do you prefer? What differences in personality do you find? in style? in attitude toward the subject matter? in interests? in purpose? Do you think that Irving's essay could have been written in the time of Queen Anne?

5. If the essay expresses the personality of the author, what sort of man is revealed by the de Coverley papers which Addison wrote? Do they reveal a personality different from Steele's? from Irving's? from Lamb's? Why is the difference between Addison and Steele not more marked in the essays?

6. Find in the essays examples of anecdotes from classical sources

used to illustrate what to the authors were contemporary instances; of classical names used to represent typical 18th century characters; of imaginary characters used to represent a special class of society; of allusions to contemporary celebrities or events; of humor used as a graceful cloak for serious purpose; of evident effort to spare the individual but attack the fault; of impartiality; of frankness so carefully expressed as to hurt no one. Find essays which begin with humorous anecdotes or comments and close with a serious observation. Use these examples as illustrative material in a theme on the method of treatment in the de Coverley papers.

7. Find ten de Coverley papers which show an evident desire for reform. State in one sentence the purpose of each. What is the method of attack used in each case? In what respect were the weapons used particularly adapted to the nature of the warfare?

8. Name some of our contemporary periodicals which carry out the Spectator idea. Take Life as an example. In any issue of Life point out attacks on contemporary abuses, follies, and manners through satire and ridicule rather than through invective. Compare special aspects of Life with special aspects of the Spectator papers, commenting on and accounting for similarities and differences.

9. What aspects of life in the 18th century are revealed in the de Coverley papers? For instance, what do they tell you about men and women of fashion, about popular literature, about gardens and country life, about sports and amusements, about religion, about politics, about superstitions, about classes of society, etc.? Which papers reveal each of these? Write a long theme on the life of the eighteenth century as revealed in the de Coverley papers.

10. Consider the de Coverley papers as examples of prose fiction. What elements possessed by all stories do they show? What do they need to make them examples of prose fiction instead of essays? Can you convert some of the characters, events, or general situations of the papers into a short story of your own?

11. Characterize Sir Roger in detail. What are the chief traits of his character? In which essays are these most strikingly revealed? To what extent does his character account for the enduring charm of the papers?

12. Write a series of Spectator papers of your own, attacking follies of your school or community. Be sure that each one imitates a special de Coverley paper.

J. The Sketch Book, by Washington Irving

1. Make a list of the places, objects, scenes, incidents, and people in The Sketch Book in which Irving seems especially interested. What is the source of his interest in each? Do any of the things in which he is interested reveal definite traits in his character or aspects of his personality? What sort of people interest him most? places? Find evidence of his special interests in literature, of his attitude toward nature, of his ideas of humor or pathos, of his geniality, of his appreciative but somewhat superficial powers of observation.

2. Make a list of the memorable characters of The Sketch Book. Which types of people does Irving describe with special zest? What is his usual method of characterization? Does he ever go far beneath the surface of his characters? Is he fond of regarding them as types (representative of some particular class), or is he interested in them as individuals? In what ways are the people in The Sketch Book similar to such characters in his short stories as Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane? Write an essay on the typical SketchBook character.

3. What qualities make Irving an ideal traveller? What passages in The Sketch Book illustrate these qualities? Write an essay on an ideal travelling companion using Irving as your example.

4. How would Jaques in As You Like It have described the Christmas festivities at Bracebridge Hall? Try to rewrite the Christmas Day essay in the style of Addison, or the Sunday with Sir Roger essay in the style of Irving.

5. Imagine yourself a twentieth century Washington Irving, visiting your city or school; write your experiences and observations, making sure that you notice the things which he would have noticed, and that you express yourself in his style.

6. Study the essay on The Country Church. In what ways is it typical of Irving? Why do the setting and atmosphere of this essay appeal to him? Is the episode one that only a subtle observer would notice? Are the conclusions he draws original or profound?

7. Write an essay on Irving and Shakespeare, naming all the allusions to Shakespeare in The Sketch Book, the plays and characters of which Irving seems especially fond, and the chief reasons why Shakespeare was a favorite with him.

8. Make a study of Irving's descriptions. Notice especially his use of unexpected comparisons, his fondness for emphasizing salient

details, his tendency to exaggerate, his use of specific words, his care to keep his point of view clear in the reader's mind, and his clear cut paragraphing.

9. Analyze Irving's humor; that is, point out the sort of things that seem humorous to him, the particular ways by which he tries to make the reader see the humor, and the special characteristics of his humor. Does it resemble the humor of any other author you know? Compare the humor of Irving with that of Addison, Lamb, Dickens, Hawthorne, George Eliot, Stevenson, Lewis Carroll, Barrie.

10. Study the ideas in The Sketch Book. What are the principal things that Irving has to say? Are they usually true? original? profound? subtle? commonplace? Do they show him as a deep, original thinker like Emerson? or as a somewhat conventional but genial and cultivated gentleman who was content not to go beyond generally accepted truths? Support your statements with examples.

K. Speech on Conciliation with the American Colonies, by Edmund Burke

1. What are the two main divisions of Burke's speech? What are the principal subdivisions under each of these two?

2. Divide the speech as well as you can into an introduction, a statement of the question, a discussion of the issue involved (the main argument), a refutation, and an oratorical close. In which of these parts is the organization most clear and the argument most convincing? Why? Comment on the oratorical close-its length, eloquence, and effectiveness.

3. What are the two principal reasons Burke gives for conciliation? What arguments does he use in support of these?

4. The second part of his argument is given over mainly to a presentation of his own plan, and the answering of objections. What, briefly, was his plan? What were the chief objections he foresaw and tried to answer? Which of his answers to objections seem to you irrefutable?

5. At what point does he present his plan? What are the six propositions upon which it rests? What are the six corollaries to these? Do these corollaries inevitably follow if the propositions are accepted? Explain your answer. State this part of the argument in the form of a geometrical theorem.

6. What was the plan of "the noble lord in the blue ribbon?"

What are Burke's objections to this plan? Analyze closely this part of his argument, pointing out what seem to you its strong and weak points.

7. Did Burke's plan depend as much on the Colonies' acceptance as on Parliament's? What reasons, if any, had Parliament for supposing that the Colonies would accept his plan? Has the plan or any part of it been tried since?

8. How does Burke try to gain the sympathy of his audience at the start? Do you regard his efforts as successful?

9. What comparison does he draw between his own record and that of Parliament on the question of colonial policies? Why does he make such a comparison?

10. Find four statements supported with indisputable evidence. Do any of these form an important part of the argument?

11. Find at least two extremely important theorems that Burke proved beyond the possibility of reasonable doubt. Do you think that these two alone ought to have won his case? Explain.

12. Find three statements for which Burke gives no direct evidence, and explain why no direct evidence is given.

13. Find an example of argument by analogy. What qualities must this form of argument possess to be convincing? Why is Burke's use of this method convincing?

14. Find an example of argument by elimination, by deduction, by antecedent probability, and by sign. Which of these seems to you most forceful? Write a brief argument of your own developed exclusively by one of these methods.

15. State three of his arguments in syllogistic form. What special dangers confront most reasoning in this form? Illustrate by examples.

16. Find examples of climax, contrast, parallel structure, repetition for effect, irony. Write paragraphs of your own either imitating these or using the same devices in your own way.

17. Find examples of Burke's eloquence, of his sincerity, of his learning, of his philosophical turn of mind, of his conservatism, of his moral earnestness, of his imaginative and emotional power.

18. Find five maxims well worth the attention of men in public life.

19. Find evidences of Burke's tendency to consider causes and effects before arriving at conclusions.

20. Find topic sentences, transitional sentences, summaries.

21. What would the Colonies have regarded as the most serious