THOUGHTS ON MANY THEMES.

N.B.-These paragraphs have no necessary connexion with each other. Their brevity sufficiently indicates that they are suggestive, rather than exhaustive, of the subjects upon which they touch; subjects occupying a very wide range, from the purely literary, scientific, or critical, up, through "Society topics," to thoughts of the gravest importance. These latter, the writer desires to handle cautiously, and with reverence.

If the transition from one class of subject to another should sometimes seem to the reader too abrupt, he is invited to consider that the paragraphs are written at different times: for the most part they are not sought for as Themes to write upon; but, whenever an interesting thought occurs to the writer, a "note" is made of it, in the simple hope that it may also interest the readers of the FRIENDS' EXAMINER.

"LITERA SCRIPTA MANET."-The preaching of the pen is, in some respects, more responsible and important than that of the tongue. The sentence which I now write will probably be read by more persons than ever listened to an address from one of our ministers. But, it is not necessary that one who writes sermons to his friends should be supposed to assume any high ground of inspiration, or a tone of authority. Religious writing certainly demands thoughtfulness commensurate with the good or harm it may effect, and should be backed, as indeed ought every important act of our lives, by a certain sense of requirement; but it is a quieter, less conspicuous occupation than speaking, and therefore does not necessarily involve the same amount of impulse. Hence, on the other hand, it is the more in danger of being superficial.

It has the disadvantage of not appealing to some of the sources of emotion which give a speaker no inconsiderable portion of his power over his audience; but it has the very great, and perhaps more than compensating, advantage that

the author can arrange his matter with more system, and can choose and adapt his language with more care and fitness than it is possible for an extempore speaker to do.

We know how largely our early Friends availed themselves of the help of the pen, in times when its applicability was much less than is the case now; and, if I mistake not, some writing has been addressed to us of late which will have more widespread and permanent effect than probably the things of equal import which have fallen from the lips of our ministers, simply because it was written and printed-not spoken and passed into air. The power of the pen for good, even within our own borders, has surely been, for a long period, underestimated. Why should we be so sensitive to the mischief which it can and may do, and not utilize to the utmost the obvious counterpoise?

ESSAY-WRITING. The prominent feature and mainstay of such a magazine as the Examiner is an old and distinct variety of literary composition. It has its rules, requirements, and limits analogous to those of the sonnet in verse. Like the sonnet, too, it has its beauties and defects. My paragraphs, if they are of the nature at all, are mere infants—essaylets— incomplete in their proportions, and imperfect in the scope of their aims-a certain completeness is essential to the modern essay. It has grown to manhood, and more is expected from it than was the case in the days of the Spectator and Gentleman's Magazine.

A large subject may, by dint of skill in handling and great power of expression and compression, be "essayed" in a dozen pages of our magazine; but questions of first magnitude, such as those to which I refer, need to be amplified into octavos in the manner of our best essayists, in order to embrace their collateral bearings; the chief fault of essay-writing being usually the isolation of the subject. The writer, intent upon making the most of his theme in a limited space, too often exaggerates its

true proportions, neglecting to exhibit its comparative and relative phases. Your planet (no doubt a mighty orb) seems to fill the whole heavens, and there is no place left for other orbs and systems which are equally vast and important.

Yet this is more tolerable than if one should blot out the celestial glories by dragging over them the thin, nebulous tail of a comet. Beware, ye men of ready pens, how ye dilute a thought with ink in order to swell it to the dimensions of an essay! Clever things have been said about the advantages of "letting down" concentrated mental food, lest certain weak constitutions should not be able to bear it. But, need you write for the special benefit of these invalids? Rather, I beseech you, cater for people in ordinary health; let both thought and expression be as vigorous and nourishing as you can make it.

The essay certainly differs from the sonnet in this respectit does not require a certain number of lines, whether it treat of matters great or small; and it does not excuse, any more than does another species of composition-the habit which is popularly known as "spinning out."

I confess that I regard the dialogue, when applied to essaywriting, as a form of simple dilution. It is now generally abandoned, in writing even for children. I observe that about one-third of an argument so conducted, is devoted to the requirements of the dialogue; adding nothing whatever to the subject in hand. A subject must be very deep indeed, and the readers of a magazine very feeble, to require so large a dilution of didactic thought!

To write well, needs as much culture and practice as to paint or sing well. It is difficult to over-estimate the value and importance of the accomplishment; my own idea is, that it is the most neglected branch of education.

Writing has two components-thought and expression; and how wonderfully they help each other! If you wish to know whether your own ideas upon a given subject are clear and

definite, try to reduce them to writing. If you cannot express them, it is time for you to doubt your comprehension of them. I do not believe that any clear and powerful thinker need eventually fail in the means of conveying his thoughts to others; but he must work for this facility. Writing verses is admirable practice. A man who can write tolerable verse is almost sure to be "up" to good prose.

It is true that no facility in the use of language can either bestow, or compensate for the want of, originality and power in the thinking faculty. On the contrary, it is a misfortune when a person who has no vigour nor independence of mind. acquires skill in the use of language. Such writing resembles a beautiful face without soul or expression; it beguiles the ear, without informing or stirring the mind. But although Art cannot bestow, it can dress thought, and make it presentable; it can arm it too, and make it powerful.

I am disposed to class perspicuity as the first characteristic of good writing. I cannot think any composition to be really good, unless it be, as far as the subject will admit, easily and clearly intelligible to a careful reader. If a writer will choose for his themes such subtleties and philosophical mysteries as S. T. Coleridge delighted in-even though he could use words as skilfully and appropriately as that great genius did— (which is most unlikely) he must be content to be, as Coleridge is, almost unread. People will not weary themselves beyond a very moderate extent, to puzzle out an author's meaning— and in this matter "people" are in the right. Next, as conducing greatly to comprehensibility, I reckon simplicity of style and diction; I suspect, I dread, grandiloquence. It is only as a writer really feels his power that he can safely indulge in ornament of any kind. Words that aim at sparkling before they are clear, are like fountains of muddy water. My third rule is, beware of redundancy; first, of thought. A sentence may be overloaded by a complexity of ideas; it is like a fruit-tree, which wants sun and air letting into its midst;

T

some, even, of its main branches must, probably, be cut out. The aspirant for literary honours should undergo a process of education analagous to that of a medical student; he must learn to be unflinching with the knife. In composing, endeavour to express your full meaning in as few words as possible; then revise what you have written, and see if you can strike out anything without impairing the sense; spare not a word that can be spared. See if you cannot express in one word what you have written in two. It has been well said "Spend more time upon your composition, that your essay may be the shorter."

DOES THE TURKISH SULTAN read the debates in the British Parliament? If so, and supposing that he knows enough of the civilised world to estimate their political importance, how crushing to him must be the universal admission in the House of Lords that his empire is doomed!

Imagine his Secretary blurting out such a sentence as this from the speech of Earl Grey :-"Turkey is obviously doomed; and I will never consent to do anything to maintain so barbarous a government over some of the finest provinces in Europe;" sentiments to which the Earl of Derby, the Duke of Argyll, and the Earl of Kimberley virtually assented. I know of no analogous instance in which our legislators have foredoomed to speedy dissolution a living sovereign power.

To any one who comprehends even a little of the complications of the Eastern question, it is an announcement of stunning and bewildering import, that Turkey will shortly be dismembered, and that certain of the most interesting portions of the globe are about to change masters. Next to the question which has made Europe tremble for half a century past, and which she has, from time to time, pushed from her into futurity, viz., how, at what expense of the world's peace and of men's lives, will the spoil be divided-Who will have