distinctly, and in order to do this, we must make sure that we are presenting it in logical sequence, in a series of paragraphs which follow in orderly fashion the progress of our thoughts upon the subject under consideration. The formation of paragraphs is not easy; no merely mechanical chopping up of the subject matter into more or less equal portions will suffice. Each paragraph is, as it were, an essay within the essay; it deals with a definite unitary portion of the subject matter, as the essay deals with the subject matter as a whole, and the commencement and conclusion of each paragraph require the most careful consideration. Help in this matter may be obtained by taking one of the essays and writing down a title or side-heading for each paragraph of it. The student will then have before him an analysis of the essay, which will show him how the essay has been planned and developed, and assist him in planning future essays for himself.

By this time the beginner will have realised how necessary it is that he shall think out clearly the method he intends to adopt in his essay before he commences to write it. No essay can hope to succeed which does not follow a well-thought-out plan.

And even when the whole has been planned much remains to be done in the actual writing, if the essay is to prove a success. Good expression may be greatly assisted by the right choice of words, and by the fitting use of figurative language, such as personification, metaphor, and simile. We must not be contented with the first word that comes to mind, but

must seek for that word which will express with the greatest precision the thought we wish to utter. Stevenson somewhere emphasises the importance of an "apt choice and contrast of the words employed," and there are plenty of examples of this in these essays. Consider, for example, the following from the first twenty pages: canting dilettanti (page 9), trot and mince (11), inauspicious (13), epicure (14), mitigated (17), amorous precision (17), audacious word (18), derisive silence of eternity (19), Philistines perspiring after wealth (20), and then take other examples of your own choosing. You may then deal in similar fashion with the use of figures of speech, as in Thomas's Clouds over the Sea, or Jefferies' Pageant of Summer.

Closely allied to this is the employment of quotations and allusions. Some writers are able to add greatly to the charm of their efforts by a happy use of these. But a happy use involves their being apposite and pointed and following naturally the course of the thought; they must never be added for ostentation and vainglory, from a desire to show how learned or widely read the writer is. It is easily possible to abuse this practice; and to allow the essay to degenerate into a string of quotations, or to overload it with unfitting allusions is much to be avoided. Hazlitt is one of the masters of the art of happy quotation, as a reference to his essay On going a Journey will show; but even so, De Quincey, one of the greatest of English essayists, is of opinion that he used them to excess. All our authors make successful use of allusions, as a reference to the annotations will show;

a good instance of their use is to be found in the closing paragraphs of Thoreau's essay on The Pond in Winter.

There is also the question of rhythm in our prose. The phrases and sentences must unfold themselves in a manner that is pleasing to the ear. They must not overstep the bounds of prose and become regularly metrical, that would be bad; but they must contain a rhythm and accentuation of their own, for this adds a charm to their reading. Perhaps the best thing that the beginner can do will be to read his work aloud and judge of its effect upon his own ear, eliminating what seems harsh and unpleasing, and improving those portions which seem to give a rhythmical effect. Take as examples of what is wanted the last two paragraphs of Stevenson's Walking Tours, and when you have thoroughly mastered their contents, read them aloud and listen to the rhythm of their prose.

It is only by carefully attending to points such as have been suggested that we can hope to improve our own compositions, and finally arrive at that elusive something which the critics speak of as an author's style, the something which is peculiar to his writing, the something which enables us at once to recognise his work and marks it off as essentially his and no one's else. Many definitions of style have been attempted; a French writer of the seventeenth century says: "To say what one wishes to say, and to say it as we wish to say it, and finally to produce by our written word exactly the effect we wish; these are the steps;

those who mount them (and they are few) have acquired a style." This style is the goal which we must strive to reach, a goal in truth not easily attained, but in our efforts to reach it we shall probably find that our greatest aids will be the cultivation of naturalness and simplicity.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Seal to Queen Elizabeth, and Anne Cooke, one of three sisters of high intellectual attainments, another of whom became the wife of the great Lord Burghley. From early youth Bacon showed that he possessed more than ordinary intellectual ability, and, after leaving Trinity College, Cambridge, he became a student of the law. with a view to a career in the public service. Here, however, his promotion was checked for a time by the opposition of his uncle, Lord Burghley. Under James I., however, his talents were recognised, and he became in 1618 Lord High Chancellor, Baron Verulam, and finally Viscount St. Albans. In 1621 he was convicted by Parliament of receiving bribes, and was dismissed from office. The rest of his days were spent in retirement.

All through his life he was a zealous student of many subjects, having, as he himself expressed it, "taken all knowledge to be his province." One of his chief titles to fame is that he helped to bring about a change in the methods of scientific study, and so aided in the overthrow of the old Scholastic philosophy. He wrote many works on this and other subjects, but the work of which he himself thought least, his Essays,