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"Mr. Jenkinson moved the previous question upon the first Resolution. Upon this the House divided. . . . Yeas . . . 78, Noes, ... 270. So it passed in the negative. The second, third, fourth and thirteenth Resolutions had also the previous question put on them. The others were negatived."

In American practice the motion "that the previous question be now put," is a well-known device to stop debate, and to force a vote on the main question pending before the assembly. It is made and seconded by persons who hope to carry first it, and then the main question immediately afterwards. If it fails, things are only as they were before. In England, on the contrary, the motion "that the previous question be put," is a device for killing the main question altogether, without coming to any direct vote upon it; is, in fact, a back-handed way of "tabling" it. The motion is made and seconded by persons who mean to vote against it; for, according to English theory, the assembly is not at liberty to consider further any question upon which it has decided that a vote shall not be taken. Thus, in the present instance, the Ministerial party used the "previous question" to get rid of Burke's troublesome array of facts without either admitting or denying them, and then voted down the policy he based upon those facts.

FEB 3 1917

Introduction to Theme-Writing

By J. B. FLETCHER, Harvard University, and Professor G. R. CAR-
PENTER, Columbia College. 16mo, cloth, 136 pages. Price, 60 cents.

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'HE lectures that form the basis of this book were delivered by Mr. Fletcher before the Freshman class at Harvard College in the spring of 1893. These have been rearranged, with additional matter by Professor Carpenter. The result is a text-book for students who have completed the introductory course in rhetoric usually prescribed at the beginning of the Freshman year. The fundamental idea of the book is that in practising any of the various kinds of composition the student must decide: 1. Just what treatment will be most appropriate to the subject-matter in general.

2. What treatment will most clearly bring out his own individual ideas or impressions of this matter.

3. What treatment will make this subject most clear to the particular class of readers or hearers which he has in mind.

Letter-writing, Translation, Description, Criticism, Exposition, and Argument are each treated in a clear and concise manner, and exercises on each subject are freely introduced. Professor John F. Genung, in The School Review for September, 1894: Instead of being directed to grind out these things (compositions), the student is here set at real literary tasks, forms of composition such as the best writers cultivate, methods that obtain in the highest enterprises of literature, ways of working such as, once mastered, will never cease to be practical. In this there is great advantage. If the student must "go through with the motions" of composition, as of course he must, there is great stimulus in his undertaking, from the outset, work that he may recognize as real, and that he may compare at every step with the literature of books and magazines.

Professor James W. Bright, Johns Hopkins University: The subject of the little treatise is handled with such admirable clearness and directness as to give it a genuine attractiveness which no teacher, and, it is to be hoped, few pupils, would fail to perceive.

Professor Fred N. Scott, University of Michigan: Theme-Writing is an admirable little work. It has a breadth of view and a charm of style that are often painfully absent from text-books in English. The book is well adapted to the needs of our students.

Orations and Arguments

Edited by Professor C. B. BRADLEY, University of California. cloth, 385 pages. Price, $1.00.

The following speeches are contained in the book:

BURKE:

On Conciliation with the Colonies, and Speech before the Electors at Bristol.

CHATHAM:

On American Affairs.

ERSKINE:

In the Stockdale Case.

LINCOLN:

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The Gettysburg Address.

WEBSTER:

The Reply to Hayne.

MACAULAY:

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On the Reform Bill of 1832. CALHOUN :

On the Slavery Question.

SEWARD:

On the Irrepressible Conflict.

N making this selection, the test applied to each speech was that it should be in itself memorable, attaining its distinction through the essential qualities of nobility and force of ideas, and that it should be, in topic, so related to the great thoughts, memories, or problems of our own time as to have for us still an inherent and vital interest.

The speeches thus chosen have been printed from the best available texts, without change, save that the spelling has been made uniform throughout, and that three of the speeches those of Webster, Calhoun, and Seward have been shortened somewhat by the omission of matters of merely temporal or local interest. The omitted portions have been summarized for the reader, whenever they bear upon the main argument.

The Notes aim to furnish the reader with whatever help is necessary to the proper appreciation of the speeches; to avoid bewildering him with mere subtleties and display of erudition; and to encourage in him habits of self-help and familiarity with sources of information.

A special feature of this part of the work is a sketch of the English Constitution and Government, intended as a general introduction to the English speeches.

The collection includes material enough to permit of a varied selection for the use of successive classes in the schools.

Studies in English Composition

By HARRIET C. KEELER, High School, Cleveland, Ohio, and EMMA
C. DAVIS, Cleveland, Ohio. 12mo, cloth, 210 pages. Price, 80 cents.

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'HIS book is the outgrowth of experience in teaching composition, and the lessons which it contains have all borne the actual test of the class-room. Intended to meet the wants of those schools which have composition as a weekly exercise in their course of study, it contains an orderly succession of topics adapted to the age and development of high school pupils, together with such lessons in language and rhetoric as are of constant application in class exercises.

The authors believe that too much attention cannot be given to supplying young writers with good models, which not only indicate what is expected, and serve as an ideal toward which to work, but stimulate and encourage the learner in his first efforts. For this reason numerous examples of good writing have been given, and many more have been suggested.

The primal idea of the book is that the pupil learns to write by writing; and therefore that it is of more importance to get him to write than to prevent his making mistakes in writing. Consequently, the pupil is set to writing at the very outset; the idea of producing something is kept constantly uppermost, and the function of criticism is reserved until after something has been done which may be criticised.

J. W. Stearns, Professor of Pedagogy, University of Wisconsin: It strikes me that the author of your "Studies in English Composition" touches the gravest defect in school composition work when she writes in her preface: "One may as well grasp a sea-anemone, and expect it to show its beauty, as ask a child to write from his own experience when he expects every sentence to be dislocated in order to be improved." In order to improve the beauty of the body, we drive out the soul in our extreme formal criticisms of school compositions. She has made a book which teaches children to write by getting them to write often and freely; and if used with the spirit which has presided over the making of it, it will prove a most effective instrument for the reform of school composition work. Albert G. Owen, Superintendent, Afton, Iowa: It is an excellent text. I am highly pleased with it. The best of the kind I have yet seen.

Paragraph-Writing

By Professor F. N. SCOTT, University of Michigan, and Professor J.
V. DENNEY, Ohio State University. 12mo, 304 pages. Price, $1.00.

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'HE principles embodied in this work were developed and put in practice by its authors at the University of Michigan several years ago. Its aim is to make the paragraph the basis of a method of composition, and to present all the important facts of rhetoric in their application to it.

In Part I. the nature and laws of the paragraph are presented; the structure and function of the isolated paragraph are discussed, and considerable space is devoted to related paragraphs ; that is, those which are combined into essays.

Part II. is a chapter on the theory of the paragraph intended for teachers and advanced students.

Part III. contains copious material for class work, selected paragraphs, suggestions to teachers, lists of subjects for compositions (about two thousand), and helpful references of many kinds.

The Revised Edition contains a chapter on the Rhetoric of the Paragraph, in which will be found applications of the paragraphidea to the sentence, and to the constituent parts of the sentence, so far as these demand especial notice. The new material thus provided supplies, in the form of principles and illustrations, as much additional theory as the student of Elementary Rhetoric needs to master and apply, in order to improve the details of his paragraphs in unity, clearness, and force.

Professor J. M. Hart, Cornell University : The style of the writers is admirable for clearness and correctness. . .. They have produced an uncommonly sensible text-book. For college work it will be hard to beat.

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I know of no other book at all comparable to it for freshman drill. Professor Charles Mills Gayley, University of California: ParagraphWriting is the best thing of its kind, - the only systematic and exhaustive effort to present a cardinal feature of rhetorical training to the educational world.

The Dial, March, 1894 : Paragraph-Writing is one of the really practical books on English composition. . . . A book that successfully illustrates the three articles of the rhetorician's creed, - theory, example, and practice.

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