y \AX^t *•/ f" '- PUBLISHED B\' EMERSON PUBLISHING COMPANY MiLLis, Mass. 1922 C0PYBIGHT\1822O By CHARLES WESLEY EMERSON". « « t « « > » • • >! , e • « « e • • •• « • • • • • • • r ti ^ INDEX. chap. page. Introduction 5 Key to Chapter First 9 I. The Study of Eloquence . . . Cicero . . .11 I. Honor to American Patriots . • Daniel Webster . 15 I. Charles Sumner Carl Schurz . . 18 I. Lucius Junius Brutus' Oration Over THE Body of Lucrbtia . . John Howard Payne 21 I. Literary Attractions of the Bible Dr. Hamilton . . 24 I. Music in Nature Simeon Pease Cheney 27 Key to Chapter Second 33 II. The Cataract of Lodobb . . . Robert Southey . 37 II. The Death of Copernicus . . Edward Everett . 42 II. Exile of the Arcadians . . . H. W. Longfellow . 44 II. The Musicians 50 II. The Story of the Cable . . . James T. Field . . 52 II. The Petrified Fern .... Mary Lydia Bolles . 57 II. Value of the Union .... Daniel Webster . 58 Key to Chapter Third 61 III. Speech in Reply to Hayne . . Daniel Webster . 63 III. Absalom N. P. Willis . . 70 III. Zenobja's Ambition .... William Ware . . 74 III. Columbus First Discovers Land in THE New World .... Washington Irving , Tl III. Catiline and Aukklia . . . O. Croly . . .80 8 INDEX. chap. paok. Key to Chapter Fourth 83 IV. Toussaint's Last Strugqlks for Hayti Wendell Phillips . 85 IV. Birds of Passage .... Mrs. Hemans . , 91 IV. Ecclksiastes XII Bible . . . .93 IV. The Two Hundredth Anniversary OF the Landing of the Pilgrims Daniel Webster . . 94 IV. The Messiah . . , . Alexander Pope . 98 IV. Each Can Bear his Own - . . Joseph Addison . 102 INTRODUCTION. THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. This work is arranged for the purpose of perfecting in oratorical study those who have mastered, both philosophically and practically, the Evolution of Ex- pression, which is now before the public. Like the Evolution of Expression this work is divided into four volumes, and each volume into four chapters. Each chapter illustrates a progressive step in the evolution of the Perfective Laws, to which is prefixed a key which explains the application of the law to oratory, and the method of teaching it. As in the previous work the study is taken up in the logical OjldfiX jof mental evol ution in oratory. The selections in these volumes have been chosen Firsts FOR THEIR LITERARY MERIT. Secondly, BECAUSE THEY ILLUSTRATE THE PER- FECTIVEJ^ AWS OF ART APE LIEIL TO ORATORY._ Thirdly, BECAUSE THEY APPEAL DIRECTLY TO THE ORATORICAL POWERS OP THE MIND. 6 THE SIXTEEN" PERFECTIVE LAWS OP ART. [Vol. I. 1st. No person can develop his oratorical powers \\j\ while using any bujb the noblest models of style. ^ It ^u^/ is a great mistake to practise on poor literature or /n^ upon ^defective lanofua,ffey Those who are studying oratory or >expressivfi, reading cannot be too careiui in this res peij^l'^'^nfer »^cultiy ated and classical habit has been established, the student can accommodate his talents to low comedy and selections containing amus- ing di alect s without harm : but if he does this before he IS thoroughly educated in oratory he will dwarf his powers to the extent of unfitting himself to become an orator or to give high dramatic expression. The great comedians developed their powers for expressing that form of literature which is designed to entertain and amuse, by the severest study and practice of classical styles. 2d. While all of the best forms of literature fulfil the sixteen laws named in this work, each selection emphasizes one law more than it does others. An author in one part of his discourse is likely to em- phasize one law most, and in some other part, another. In such cases the discourse has been divided, and the different parts put under the chapters which they respectively illustrate. 3d. The oratorical element is very strong in all these selections, so strong, indeed, that it arouses the spirit of eloquence in the student as martial music awakens the military spirit in the listener. Greats orators inspire the latent oratorical forces in those who DTTEODUCTIOK. I listen to them, so that in a certain sense oratory may be said to be contagious. The literary production that sprang from the oratorical faculties of one will appeal directly to the oratorical powers of others, just the same as a good musical composition will quicken the musical feeling in the musician. The final perfecting of the orator and expressive reciter or reader comes from moulding his powers in accordance with these laws. The work in Evolution of Expression would ulti- mately develop all the powers required by these Six- teen Perfective Laws; but experience has taught us that after the student has worked with the laws of evolution until he seems to be able to meet, to a reason- able degree, their requirements, he will make more ■capid progress by working directly with the perfective laws. Among other good results, they at once point out to the student those laws of evolution in which he is most deficient. This inspires him with a readiness to work again upon those steps of evolution which he would otherwise forever neglect. He soon discovers for himself that it is impossible to work successfully in the Perfective Laws until he has reached certain criteria in the Evolution of Ex- pression. In these four volumes the sixteen perfective laws of art are adapted to the study of oratory, but they are equally applicable to all forms of art because they are universal laws. These laws first of all define what 8 THE SIXTKBN PEEFECTIVE LAWS OP ART. [Tol.I. _art is ; secondly, when used as criteria determine the rank or value of each work of art; thirdly, they furnish the ideal which the student of art should aim to realize in his work. It will be observed that in paragraphing the selec- tions we have not always followed rhetorical usage. This unusual division is for the purpose of greater convenience in drill work. The keys to the various chapters are not as elaborate as they might be, because they are more valuable in the suggestive than they would be in the didactic' form. KEY TO CHAPTER FIRST. PURITY. Every expression is required to be so clear and so adequate to the thought that the audience shall think ^ along the line of the discourse, in advance of the speaker's words. ■Purity} of expression frests] primaril_y upon ^Rgorof tli u ugli ly A person may fully understand the author, he 'ffiSy' experience the emotions that respond to the thought, and still lack the mental vigor necessary to purity of expression. The emotion may obscure the puri,ty. This is a common 'fault. It is not because tte person is possessed of too emotional a nature, nor because the mind does not act quickly and comprehen- sively. It is possible for the intellect to grasp the thought readily and clearly, and the feelings to respond properly, and yet the expression lack purity, because the entire manifestation is devoted to expressing the feeling caused by the thought. The consequence is that while tlie audience recognize the feelings of the speaker, they fail to perceive the thought that causes the emotion, and therefore do not sympathize with the speaker, and are burdened, if not disgusted by his emotion. 10 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. [Vol. I. There may be great promise in such a speaker, but at present he possesses little power as an orator. The emotion must seem to make the thought that caused it stronger and more brilliant, or it is offensive. The more emotion the better, provided it takes definite and intelligible forms of expression ; otherwise the less the better. A person may think clearly the thought of the author^ and while speaking experience^ and that deeply too^ all the emotions naturally attendant upon such thought^ and yet not only fail of being a good speaker hut prove to he a positively had one. Still, on the other hand, what does not spontaneously flow from the activities of intellect, feeling, and imagi- nation of the speaker, while he is speaking, is not well expressed. No amount of preparation can be successfully sub- stituted for present mental and emotional activity. Previous preparation, if correct, produces greater present activity. All this activity, however, must take definite form in the many uses of the voice, and in the gestures, so that nothing meaningless or with incorrect meaning, will appear in them. In a word, all psychological movements must take definite and communicating forms or the expression will prove ineffective. As Demosthenes said, '* Oratory is action, action, action," but it is action in intelligible forms. , 1" - r l..r CHAPTER K rURITY. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.— St. Matthett v. THE STUDY OF ELOQUENCE. 1. One thing there will certainly be, which those who speak well will exhibit as their own ; a graceful and elegant style, distinguished by a peculiar artifice and polish. But this kind of diction, if there be not matter beneath it clear and intelligible to the speaker, must either amount to nothing, or be received with ridicule by all who hear it. 2. For Avhat savors so much of madness, as the empty sound of words, even the choicest and most elegant, when there is no sense or knowledge contained in them ? Whatever be the subject of a speech, there- fore, in whatever art or branch of science, the orator, if he has made himself master of it, as of his client's cause, will speak on it Tx;tter and more elegantly than even the very originator and author of it can. u 12 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. [Vol. L 3. If, indeed, any one shall say that there are certain trains of thought and reasoning properly belonging to orators, and a knowledge of certain things circum- scribed within the limits of the forum, I will confess that our common speech is employed about these matters chiefly ; but yet there are many things, in these very topics, which those masters of rhetoric, as they are called, neither teach nor understand. 4. For who is ignorant that the highest power of an orator consists in exciting the minds of men to anger, or to hatred, or to grief, or in recalling them from these more violent emotions to gentleness and com- passion, which power will never be able to eifect its object by eloquence, unless in him who has obtained a thorough insight into the nature of mankind, and all the passions of humanity, and those causes by which our minds are either impelled or restramed. 5. But all these are thought to belong to the philosophers, nor will the orator, at least with my consent, ever deny that such is the case ; but when he has conceded to them the knowledge of things, since they are willing to exhaust their labors on that alone, he will assume to himself the treatment of oratoiy, which without that knowledge is nothing. For the proper concern of an orator, as I have already often said, is language of power and elegance accommodated to the feelings and understandings of mankind. 6. Nor does anything seem to me more noble than to be able to fix the attention of assemblies of men Chap. 1.] THS STUDY OF ELOQUENCE. 13 by speaking, to fascinate their minds, to direct their passions to whatever object the orator pleases, and to dissuade them from whatever he desires. This partic- ular art has constantly flourished above all others in every free state, and especially in those which have enjoyed peace and tranquillity, and has ever e'xercised great power. 7. For what is so admirable as that, out of an in- finite multitude of men, there should arise a single individual who can alone, or with only a few others, exert effectually that power which nature has granted to all ? Or what is so pleasant to be heard and under- stood as an oration adorned and polished with wise thoughts and weighty expressions? , 8. Or what is so striking, so astonishing, as that the >, -' tumults of the people, the religious feelings of judges, '-.t^ the gravity of the senate, should be swayed by the ' ^ speech of one man ? Or what, moreover, is so kingly, so liberal, so munificent, as to give assistance to the suppliant, to raise the afflicted, to bestow security, to deliver from danger, to maintain men in the rights of citizenship ? 9. What, also, is so necessary as to keep arms always ready, with which you may either be protected yourself, or defy the malicious, or avenge yourself when provoked? Or consider (that you may not always contemplate the forum, the benches, the rostra, :ind the senate) what can be more delightful in leisure, )r more suited to social intercourse, than elegant con- 14 THE SIXTEEN PEKFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. [VoLL versation, betraying no want of intelligence on any subject ? 10. For it is by this one gift that we are most distinguished from brute animals, that we converse together, and can express our thoughts by speech. Who, therefore, would not justly make this an object of admiration, and think it worthy of his utmost exer- tions, to surpass mankind themselves in that single excellence by which they claim their superiority over brutes ? But, that we may notice the most important point of all, what other power could either have assembled mankind, when dispersed, into one place, or have brought them from wild and savage life to the present humane and civilized state of society; or, when cities were established, have described for them laws, judicial institutions, and rights ? 11. And that I may not mention more examples, which are almost without number, I will conclude the subject in one short sentence ; for I consider, that by the judgment and wisdom of the perfect orator, not only his own honor, but that of many other individuals, and the welfare of the whole state, are principally upheld. Go on, therefore, as you are doing, young men, and apply earnestly to the study in which you are engaged, that you may be an honor to yourselves, an advantage to your friends, and a benefit to the Republic. ClCBBO. Ciiap. 1.] HONOB TO AMERICAN PATBIOTS. 15 HONOR TO AMERICAN PATRIOTS. 1. The eulogium pronounced on the character of the State of South Carolina by the honorable gentle- man, for her Revolutionary and other merits, meets my hearty concurrence. I shall not acknowledge that the honorable member goes before me in regard for what- ever of distinguished talent or distinguished character South Carolina has produced. // 1 claim part of the honor, I partake in the pride of- her great nameo. I claim them for countrj-men, one and aU ; the Laurenses, the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Marions, Americans all, whose fame is no more to be hemmed in by State lines, than their talents and patriotism were capable of being circumscribed within the same narrow Hmits. In their day and generation they served and honored the country, and the whole country; and their renown is of the treasures of the whole country. 9^ Him whose honored name the gentleman himself ^ bears, — does he esteem me less capable of gratitude for his patriotism, or sympathy for his sufferings, than if his eyes had first opened upon the light of Massa- chusetts, instead of South Carolina? vSir, does he suppose it in his power to exhibit a Carolina name 80 bright as to produce envy in my bosom ? No, sir ; increased gratification and deliglit, rather. I thank God that, if 1 ura gifted with little of the spirit which 16 THK SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OP ART. [Vol. L is able to raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I trust, of that other spirit which would drag angels down. 3. When I shall be found. Sir, in my place here in the Senate, or elsewhere, to sneer at public merit be- cause it happens to spring up beyond the little limits of my own State or neighborhood; when I refuse, for any such cause, or for any cause, the homage due to American talent, to elevated patriotism, to sincere devotion to liberty and the country; or, if I see an uncommon endowment of Heaven, if I see extraordi- nary capacity and virtue in any son of the South, and if, moved by local prejudice or gangrened by State jealousy, I get up here to abate the tithe of a hair from his just character and just fame, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ! 4. Sir, let me recur to pleasing recollections ; let me indulge in refreshing remembrance of the past ; let me remind you that, in early times, no States cherished greater harmony, both of principle and feeling, than Massachusetts and South Carolina. Would to God that harmony might again return ! Shoulder to shoulder they went through the Revolution ; hand in hand they stood round the administration of Wash- ington, and felt his own great arm lean on them for support. Unkind feeling, if it exists, alienation and distrust, are the growth, unnatural to such soils, of false principles since sown. They are weeds, the seeds of which that same great arm never scattered. Chap. 1.^ HONOR TO AMERICAX PATRIOTS. 17 5. iMr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts ; she needs none. There she is : behold her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history ; the world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill ; and there they will remain forever. The bones of her sons, falling in the great struggle for Independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every State from New England to Georgia ; and there they will lie forever. And, Sir, where American Liberty raised its first voice, and where its youth was. nurtured and sustained, there it still lives, in the strength of its manhood and full of its original spirit. 6. If discord and disunion shall wound it ; if party strife and blind ambition shall hawk at and tear it: if folly and madness, if uneasiness under salutary and necessary restraint, shall succeed in separating it from that Union by which alone its existence is made sure ; it will stand, in the end, by the side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked ; it Avill stretch forth its arm, with whatever of vigor it may still retain, over the friends who gather round it; and it will fall at last, if fall it must, amidst the proudest monuments of its own glory, and on the very spot of its origin. Daniel Webstek. 18 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ABT. (Vol. L CHARLES SUMNER. 1. There was in Charles Sumner, as a public man, a peculiar power of fascination. It acted much through his eloquence, but not through his eloquence alone. There was still another source from which that fascination sprang. Behind all he said and did there stood a grand manhood, which never failed to make itself felt. What a figure he was, with his tall and stalwart frame, his manly face, topped with his shaggy locks, his noble bearing, the finest type of American senatorship, the tallest oak of the forest ! 2. And how small they appear by his side, the common run of politicians, who spend their days with the laying of pipe, and the setting up of pins, and the pulling of wires ; who barter an office to secure this vote, and procure a contract to get that; who stand always with their ears to the wind to hear how the Administration sneezes, and what their constituents whisper, in mortal trepidation lest they fail in being all things to everybody ! 3. How he stood among them ! he whose very presence made you forget the vulgarities of political life, who dared to differ with any man ever so power- ful, any multitude ever so numerous ; who regarded party as nothing but a means for higher ends, and for those ends defied its power ; to whom the arts of demagogism were so contemptible that he would rather Chap. l.J virV CHARLES SUMNER. 19 have sunk into obscurity and oblivion than descend to them ; to whom the dignity of his office was so sacred that he would not even ask for it for fear of darkening its lustre ! 4. Honor to the people of Massachusetts, who, for twenty-three years, kept in the Senate, and would have kept him there longer, had he lived, a man who never, even to them, conceded a single iota of his convic- tions in order to remain there. 5. And what a life was his ! a life so wholly devoted to what was good and noble ! There he stood in the midst of the grasping materialism of our times, around him the eager chase for the almighty dollar, no thought of opportunity ever entering the smallest corner of his mind, and disturbing his high endeavors ; with a virtue which the possession of power could not even tempt, much less debauch ; from whose presence the very thought of corruption instinctively shrank back; a life so unspotted, an integrity so intact, a character so high, that the most daring eagerness of calumny, the most wanton audacity of insinuation, standing on tip-toe, could not touch the soles of his shoes. 6. They say that he indulged in overweening self- appreciation. Ay, he did have a magnificent pride, a lofty self-esteem. Why should he not ? Let wretches despise themselves, for they have good reason to do so ; not he. But in his self-esteem there was nothing small and mean ; no man lived to whose very nature envy and petty jealousy were more foreign. His pride 20 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. [Vol.1. of self was like his pride of country. He was the proudest American ; he was the proudest New Eng- lander; and yet he was the most cosmopolitan American we have ever seen. 7. He is at rest now, the stalwart, brave old cham- pion, whose face and bearing were so austere, and whose heart was so full of tenderness ; who began his career with a pathetic plea for universal peace and charity, and whose whole life was an arduous, inces- sant, never-resting struggle, which left him all covered with scars. And we can do nothing for him but remember his lofty ideals of liberty, and equality, and justice, and reconciliation, and purity, and the earnest- ness, and courage, and touching fidelity with which he fought for them — so genuine in his sincerity, so single-minded in his zeal, so heroic in his devotion. 8. People of Massachusetts I He was the son of your soil, in which he now sleeps ; but he is not all your own. He belongs to all of us in the North and in the South. Over the grave of him whom so many thought to be their enemy, and found to be their friend, let the hands be clasped which so bitterly warred against each other. Let the youth of America be taught, by the story of his life, that not only genius, power, and success, but more than these, patriotic devotion and virtue, make the greatness of the citizen. 9. If this lesson be understood, more than Charles Sumner's living word could have done for the glory Chap. 1.] LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS' ORATION. 21 of America, will be done by the inspiration of his great example. And it will truly be said, that al- though his body lies mouldering in the earth, yet in the assured rights of all, in the brotherhood of a reunited people, and in a purified Republic, he still lives, and will live forever. Carl Schubz. LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS' ORATION OVER THE BODY OF LUCRETIA. I. Would you know why I have summoned you together: Ask ye what brings me here ? Behold this dagger, Clotted with gore ! Behold that frozen corse ! See where the lost Lucretia sleeps in death ! She was the mark and model of the time, The mould in which each female face was formed, The very shi-ine and sacristy of virtue ! Fairer than-ever was a form created By youthful fancy when the blood strays wild, And never-resting thought is all on fire ! The worthiest of the worthy ! Not the nymph Who met old Numa in his hallowed walks, And whispered in his ear her strains divine, Can I conceive beyond her; — the young choir Of vestal virgins bent to her. 22 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. [Vol. L II. 'Tis wonderful Amid the darnel, hemlock and the base weeds, Which now spring rife from the luxurious compost Spread o'er the realm, how this sweet lily rose — How from the shade of those ill-neighboring plants Iler father sheltered her, that not a leaf Was blighted, but, arrayed in purest grace, She bloomed unsullied beauty. in. Such perfections Might have called back the torpid breast of age To long-forgotten rapture ; such a mind Might have abashed the boldest libertine And turned desire to reverential love And holiest affection ! IV. O my countrymen I You all can witness when that she went forth It was a holiday in Rome ; old age Forgot its crutch, labor its task — all ran, And mothers, turning to tlieir daughters, cried " There, there 's Lucretia ! " Now look ye where she lies ! That beauteous flower, that innocent, sweet rose. Torn up by ruthless violence — gone ! gone ! gone ! ▼. Say, would you seek instruction ! would ye ask What ye should do ? Ask ye yon conscious walls Chap. 1.] LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS' ORATION. 23 Which saw his poisoned brother — Ask yon deserted street, where Tullia drove O'er her dead father's corse, 'twill cry, revenge! Ask yonder senate-house, whose stones are purple With human blood, and it will cry, revenge ! VI. Go to the tomb where lies his murdered wife, And the poor queen, who loved him as her son. Their unappeased ghosts wall shriek, revenge ! The temples of the gods, the all-viewing heavens, The gods themselves, shall justify the cry. And swell the general sound, revenge I revenge ! VII. And we will be revenged, my countrymen, Brutus shall lead you on ; Brutus, a name Which will, when you're revenged, be dearer to him Than all the noblest titles earth can boast. Brutus, your king I — No, fellow-citizens ! If mad ambition in this guilty frame Had strung one kingly fibre, yea, but one — By all the gods, this dagger which I hold Should rip it out, though it entwined my heart. VIII. Now take the body up. Bear it before us To Tarquin's palace ; there we'll light our torches, And in the blazing conflagration rear A pile, for these chaste relics, that shall send Her soul amongst the stars. On I Brutus leads you ! John Howard Paynk. 24 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. [VoM. LITERARY ATTRACTIONS OF THE BIBLE. 1. God made the present earth as the home of man ; but had He meant it as a mere lodging, a world less beautiful would have served the purpose. There was no need for the carpet of verdure, or the ceiling of blue ; no need for the mountains, and cataracts, and forests; no need for the rainbow, no need for the flowers. A big, round island, half of it arable, and half of it pasture, with a clump of trees in one corner, and a magazine of fuel in another, might have held and fed ten millions of people ; and a hundred islands, all made in the same pattern, big and round, might have held and fed the population of the globe. 2. But man is something more than the animal which wants lodging and food. He has a spiritual nature, full of keen perceptions and deep sympathies. He has an eye for the sublime and the beautiful, and his kind Creator has provided man's abode with affluent materials for the nobler tastes. He has built Mont Blanc, and molten the lake in which its image sleeps. He has intoned Niagara's thunder, and has breathed the zephyr which sweeps its spray. He has shagged the steep with its cedars, and besprent the meadow with its king-cups and daisies. He has made it a world of fragrance and music, — a world of brightness and symmetry, — a world where the grand and the Chap. 1.] LITERARY ATTRACTIONS OF THE BIBLE. 25 graceful, the awful and lovely, rejoice together. In fashioning the Home of Man, the Creator had an eye to something more than convenience, and built, not a barrack, but a palace, — not a Union-work -house, but an Alhambra ; something which should not only be very comfortable, but very splendid and very fair ; something which should inspire the soul of its in- habitant, and even draw forth the " very good " of complacent Deity. 3. God also made the Bible as the guide and oracle of man ; but had He meant it as a mere lesson-book of duty, a volume less various and less attractive would have answered every end. But in giving that Bible, its divine Author had regard to the mind of man. He knew that man has more curiosity than piety, more taste than sanctity ; and that more persons are anxious to hear some new, or read some beauteous thing, than to read or hear about God and the great salvation. He knew that few would ever ask, What must I do to be saved? till they came in contact with the Bible itself ; and, therefore. He made the Bible not only an instructive book, but an attractive one, — not only true, but enticing. He fiUed it with marvellous inci- dent and engaging history ; with sunny pictures from Old-World scener}% and affecting anecdotes from the patriarch times. He replenished it with stately argu- ment and thrilling verse, and sprinkled it over with sententious wisdom and proverbial pungency. He made it a book of lofty thoughts and noble images, — 26 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. [VoL I. a book of heavenly doctrine, but withal of earthly- adaptation. In preparing a guide to immortality, Infinite Wisdom gave, not a dictionary, nor a grammar, but a Bible — a book which, in trying to reach the heart of man, should captivate his taste ; and which, in transforming his affections, should also expand^., his intellect. The pearl is of great price ; but even the casket is of exquisite beauty. The sword is of ethereal temper, and nothing cuts so keen as its double edge ; but there are jewels on the hilt, an exquisite inlaying on the scabbard. The shekels are of the purest ore ; but even the scrip which contains them is of a texture more curious than any which the artists of earth can fashion. The apples are gold; but even the basket is silver. 4. The Bible contains no ornamental passages, nothing written for mere display ; its steadfast pur- pose is, " Glory to God in the highest," and the truest blessedness of man ; it abounds in passages of the purest beauty and stateliest grandeur, all the grander and all the more beautiful because they are casual and unsought. The fire which flashes from the iron hoof of the tartar steed as he scours the midnight path is grander than the artificial fu-ework ; for it is the casual effect of speed and power. The clang of ocean as he booms his billows on the rock, dnd the echoing caves give chorus, is more soul-filling and sublime than all the music of the orchestra, for it is the music of that main so mighty that there is a grandeur in all it does, — Chap. 1.] MUSIC IN NATUKE. 27 in its sleep a melody, and in its march a stately psalm. And in the bow which paints the melting cloud there is a beauty which the stained glass or gorgeous drapery emulates in vain ; for it is the glory which gilds benefi- cence, the brightness which bespeaks a double boon, the flush which cannot but come forth when both the sun and shower are there. The style of Scripture has all this glory. It has the gracefulness of a high utility ; it has the majesty of intrinsic power ; it has the charm of its own sanctity : it never labors, never strives, but, instinct with great realities and bent on blessed ends, it has all the translucent beauty and un- studied power which you might expect from its lofty object and all-wise Author. De. Ha]viilton. MUSIC IN NATURE. 1. A MODERN English writer says, " There is no music in Nature, neither melody nor harmony." " No music in Nature " ! The very mice sing ; the toads, too ; and the frogs make " music on the waters." The summer grass about our feet is alive with little musicians. Even inanimate things have their music. Listen to the water dropping from a faucet into a bucket partially filled. 2. I have been delighted with the music of a door as 28 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ABT. [Vol. I. it swung lazily on its hinges, giving out charming tones resembling those of a bugle in the distance, forming pleasing melodic strains, interwoven with graceful slides and artistic touches worthy of study and imita- tion. Awakened by the fierce wind of a winter night, I have heard a common clothes-rack whirl out a wild melody in the purest intervals. . 3. " No music in Nature " ! Surely the elements have never kept silence since this ball was set swing- ing through infinite space in tune with the music of the spheres. Their voices were ever sounding in com- bative strains, through fire and flood, from the equator to the poles, innumerable ages before the monsters of the sea and earth added their bello wings to the chorus of the universe. 4. From the hugest beast down to the smallest insect, each creature with its own peculiar power of sound, we come, in their proper place, upon the birds, not in their present dress of dazzling beauty, and singing their matchless songs, but with immense and uncouth bodies perched on two long, striding legs, with voices to match those of many waters and the roar of the tempest. 5. We know that in those monstrous forms were hidden the springs of sweet song and the germs of beautiful plumage ; but who can form any idea of the slow processes, — of the long, long periods of time that Nature has taken in progressive work from the first rude effort up to the present perfection? So far as Chap. 1.] MUSIC IX NATURE. 29 the song is concerned, the hoarse thunderings of the elements, the bellowings of the monsters of both land and water, the voices of things animate and inanimate, — all must be forced, age on age, through her grand music crucible, and the precious essence given to the birds. 6. Though the birds expressed themselves vocally ages before there were human ears to hear them, it is hardly to be supposed that their early singing bore much resemblance to the bird music of to-day. It is not at all likely that on some fine morning, too far back for reckoning, the world was suddenly and for the first time, flooded with innumerable bird songs, and that ever since, bu-ds have sung as they then sang, and as they sing now. 7. There were no reporters to tell us when the birds began to sing, but the general history of human events chronicles the interest with which birds and bird sing- ing have been regarded by the nations of the past, leaving us to infer that when men and birds became acquainted, the birds were already singing. 8. It would seem, then, that our bird music is a thing of growth, and of very slow growth. The tall walkers and squawkers having gradually acquired the material machinery for song, and the spirit of song being pent up within them, they were ultimately compelled to make music, to sing. 9. Dare we hazard a few ciude conjectures as to the details of this growth ? After the " flight of ages,' 30 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OP ART. [Vol. I. when the birds had emerged from the state of mons- trosity, each raw singer having chanted continuously his individual tonic, there came a time when they must take a long step forward and enter the world of song. In the vast multitude of feathered creatures there must have been an endless variety of forms and sizes, and a proportionate variety in the pitch and quality of their voices. 10. Day to day, year to year, each bird had heard his fellows squall, squawk, screech, or scream their individual tones, till in due time he detected here and there in the tremendous chorus certain tones that had a special affinity for his own. This affinity, strength- ened by endless repetitions, at last made an exchange of tones natural and easy. This accomplished, the bondage of monotony and chaos was broken forever, and progress assured ; the first strain of the marvellous harmony of the future was sounded, the song of the birds was begun. One can almost hear those rude, rising geniuses exercising their voices with increased fervor, pushing on up the glad way of liberty and melody. 11. To say that the music of the birds is similar in structure to our own, is not to say that they use no intervals less than our own. They do this, and I am well aware that not all of their music can be written. Many of their rhythmical and melodic performances are difficult of comprehension, to say nothing of com- Chap. 1.] MUSIC IN NATURE. 31 mitting them to paper. The song of the bobolink is an instance in point. 12. Indeed, one cannot listen to any singing-bird without hearing something inimitable and indescrib- able. Who shall attempt a description of the tremolo in the song of the meadow lark, the graceful shading and sliding of the tones of the thrushes ? But these ornaments, be they never so profuse, are not the sum and substance of bird-songs ; and it is in the solid body of the song that we find the relationship to our own music. 13. The songs of many of the birds may be detected as readily as the melodies of " Ortonville," and "• Rock of Ages." In passing, one morning last summer, I heard a chewink sing the first strain of the beautiful old con- ference-meeting tune last named. Though I have never heard any other chewink sing that strain, it was a chewink that sang then, affording startling proof of the variation in the singing of the same birds. 14. The chickadees sing a few long tones in the most deliberate manner ; and nothing this side of heaven is purer. I do not refer to their chick-a-dee-dee- dee chat, though they sometimes connect that with their singing. The chickadee and the wood-pewee have the most devout of all the bird-songs I liave heard. 15. Conjecture as we may concerning the growth and development of birds and bird-songs, we know that the birds now sing in a wonderful manner, using 32 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ART. [Vol. 1 all the intervals of the major and minor scales in perfection of intonation, with a purity of voice and finish of execuiion, with an exquisiteness of melody, a magnetic and spiritual charm appurtenant to no other music on earth. 16. The horse neighs, the lion roars, the tiger growls, — the world is full of vocal sounds ; only the birds sing. They are Nature's finest artists, whose lives and works are above the earth. They have not learned of us ; it is our delight to learn of them. To no other living things are man's mind and heart so greatly indebted. 17. Myriads of these beautiful creatures, journeying thousands of miles over oceans and continents, much of the way by night — to avoid murderers ! — return, unfailing as the spring, prompt even to the day and hour, to build their cunning nests and rear their young in our orchards and dooryards, to delight us with their beauty and grace of movement, and above, far above all, to pour over the world the glory of their song. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Simeon Pease Cheney. KEY TO CHAPTER SECOND. PROGRESSIVENESS. Every good piece of literary composition is like a river in its flow. The stream deepens as it moves onward, and it deepens in just the ratio of the number and size of its tributaries. So is it with good litera- ture ; as the theme continues, it is enriched by new and added thoughts. As the speaker proceeds, and new thoughts and illustrations enter the mind, the e xpression d eepens. All progress is inward. Progress in speaking. is_ Jiot always shown by increa sed emphasis or a loud er voice ; nor by higher pitch, or more rapid utterance ; nor by lower pitch and graver tones. These and other forms of speech will appear, as the thought varies in its onward course ; but all the forms of expression that appear to the senses in true progressiveness, arise from the fact that each added thought is contemplated, either consciously or unconsciously, on the part of the speaker, in the light ol all the thoughts that Jiaye preceded it. 34 THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OF ABT. [Vol. I. A brief illustration may be taken from the Old Clock, by Longfellow. Without progressiveness each line will be but a repetition, in manner of expression, of all the other lines. I will mark a stanza for inflection of voice, and thereby show how change of pitch alone may manifest progressiveness. Then take into considera- tion that a great number of changes of voice can take place by which to express progressiveness, such as volume, force, quality and form, with their numberless combinations, and it will be seen that the resources of a trained voice and mind for manifesting progressive- ness of thought are measureless. Somewhat back from the village street Stands the old-fashioned cotintry seat. Across its antique portico Tall poplar trees their shadows throw, And from its station in the hall An ancient time-piece says to all : " Forever — never ! Never — forever ! " One may easily get at my meaning if he will simply, after each successive falling inflection which I have marked, allow the voice to continue on a somewhat lower pitch, and notice the effect. He will perceive an inc rease of impressiveness. Then contrast it with bringing the voice back to the same pitch after each inflection. By the latter practice he will discover a KEY TO CHAPTER II. 35 slight " sing-song " or chanting effect in the voice. In this manner each statement is given just like the pre- vious one, and consequently no progress is made. I would not guide expression by inflections, for that would make a very mechanical speaker. Thought s hould guide inflec tion, but inflection should not over- rule thought. Nevertheless, even by mechanics one is enabled to perceive an illustration of the principle of progressiveness. The thought of the " country seat " is contained in the first statement, then the poplar-tree casting its shadow on the portico is viewed in the light of the country seat, from which it derives character and con- sequently added color of expression. The clock in the hall conveys an idea in itself, but this idea is enriched by all that has been said before ; hence, " ancient time- piece " is the most impressive of all the expressions thus far. There would be some value in the thought of an ancient time-piece when taken by itself alone, but it would be little if it were not associated in the mind with the country seat and its belongings, from which it derives its great importance. The thought in the expression " ancient time-piece " is deeper than it is in the previous statements because it contains what has been expressed in them in addition to its own in- trinsic /alue. f i 'juy-^l-^' — I i ]AM^ >K^ "l^ CHAPTER IX. PROGRESSIVENESS. They shall mount up loith wings as eagles ; they shall runt o,nd not 66 toeary ; they shall walk, and not faint. — Isaiah. THE CATARACT OF LODORE. 1. " How does the water ^ Come down at Lodore ? " Mv little boy asked me Thus, once on a time ; And, moreover, he tasked me To tell him in rhyme. ir. Anon at the word, y There first came one daughter, And then came another, To second and third The request of their brother, And to hear how the water Comes down at Lodore, With its rush and its roar, As many a time They had seen it before. " 4 C) 7 f) r. 8S THE SIXTEEN PERFECTIVE LAWS OP ART. IVoL L III. 3o I told them in rhyme — • -a^. For of rhymes I had store ; And 'twas my vocation For their recreation That so I should sing ; Because I was Laureate To them and the king. IV. From its sources, which well In the tarn on the fell ; From its fountains In the mountains, Its rills and its gills ; Through moss and through brake, It runs and it creeps For a while, till it sleeps In its own little lake. V. And thence, at departing, Awakening and starting, It runs through the reeds, And away it proceeds, Through meadow and glade, In sun and in shade, And through the wood-shelter- Among crags in its flurry, Helter-skelter, Hurry-skurrv. Chap. 2.J THE CATARACT OF LODOBK. 39 VI. Here it comes sparkling, / And there it lies darkling ju^ Now smoking and frothiugO In tumult and wrath in, U Till, in this rapid race 1 ' On which it is bent. It reaches the place CL Of its steep descent. iJ VII. ■^^ The cataract strong ^ S Then plunges along, */ Striking and raging, y^ As if a war waging l-Jts caverns and rocks among; / Rising and leaping, ^ Sinking and creeping, ^ Swelling and sweeping, JJ Showering and springing, i Flying and flinging, O Writhing and ringing, VIII. ^ Eddying and whisking, ^ Spouting and frisking, .^ Turning and twisting, 5- Around and around ■^ With endless rel)oun