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Bombast.

In the appropriate exercise of the Imagination, the elements of some important and deeply interesting subject lie out with distinctness under the eye of the mind. The Imagination, brooding over these elements, combines and blends them together into forms of beauty, grandeur, and sublimity, according to the leading idea in the light of which they are viewed. Now, when the Intelligence, in any department of the empire of thought energizes upon some subject of deep and glowing interest, it will never throw upon its conceptions the attire of bombast. It may shadow forth figures homely, and in opposition to the laws of good Taste. There will be no forms of expression, however, swollen or bombastic. But this presents the inquiry, What is bombast? There are three forms which this style of writing and speaking assumes.

The first is that in which an individual, without any object of thought before him, attempts to form and shadow forth some vast and sublime conception. Thus the subject attempts to grasp and 66 express some boundless thing," by a simple effort of self-inflation. If anything is generated under such circumstances, it will, of course, be windy, and inflated with 66 great swelling words of vanity."

"O," said a miscalled clergyman, as he rose to address a congregation amidst the solemnities of the Sabbath, “O that this very refined, polite, intelligent, and virtuous audience would soar-and soar-and soar with me-to some unknown-planet." He arose, of course, without thought, excepting the conception that he must say something very fine. In his efforts at self-inflation, the idea of soaring would most naturally suggest itself, and with that, the rhapsody that followed.

The second form is, when an individual endeavors to impart to a thought of trifling importance in itself, a very great interest, by arraying it in the attire of objects of great beauty, grandeur, or sublimity. We are all necessitated, from time to time, to speak of subjects of little or no great importance. We ought, in such circumstances, to show our good sense, by letting such thoughts pass from us "with the naked nature, and living grace," if they have any, which naturally belongs to them. But no. Some individuals can never speak upon any subject, without showing their want of sense, by throwing around it a drapery which subjects really beau

tiful and sublime would be ashamed to wear. I will give a specimen from memory. I will attribute it to no individual, because I do not know that any individual ever said it. I give it as what a son of Erin is reported to have said—an individual who wished to express the simple conception, that he might have stayed in his native country, but chose to emigrate to this, and came accordingly; a conception, surely, which it required but few and very simple words to express. To him, however, it was a conception of vast interest. His Fancy was accordingly sent abroad for figures with which to adorn it, and thus the conception appears:

"Silent in some hermit's grot and lulled to rest on mossy carpets, he might have spent his truant hours. But as he sped his trackless footsteps through the labyrinthian wastes of Fancy's rich, enchanted landscape, a voice re-echoed from the vaulted palace of the skies, and in sounds seraphic dwelt, and hung upon his ear. Obedient to the heavenly call, he bade adieu to fair Hibernia's hills, and with his staff, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, he followed the guiding star, till it shot its sparkling beams, and mingled with its mate around Columbia's banner."

The third form in which the vice we are considering appears, is when an individual has a very meagre, feeble, and faint conception of a subject of great interest in itself, and when he attempts to inflate his conceptions to the vastness of his subject, by swelling words and pompous imagery and illustrations. How often is a great subject marred and defaced, by being daubed over with the "gloss and fustian" of minds who never had an adequate conception of it.

"Poets and painters alike unskilled to trace
The naked nature, and the living grace,
With gloss and fustian cover every part,

And hide with ornament their want of art."

I will not forbear doing myself the pleasure, nor the reader the profit, of the following quotation from the " British Spy," as it presents one of the sources of bombast in public speaking -the conception, that in some part of a discourse an individual must be pathetic:

"This leads me to remark a defect which I have noticed

more than once in this country. Following up too closely the cold conceit of the Roman division of an oration, the speakers set aside a particular part of their discourse, usually the peroration, in which, they take it into their heads that

they will be pathetic. Accordingly, when they reach this part, whether it be prompted by the feelings or not, a mighty bustle commences The speaker pricks up his ears, erects his chest, tosses his arms with hysterical vehemence, and says everything which he supposes ought to affect his hearers; but it is all in vain: for it is obvious that every thing he says is prompted by the head; and, however it may display his ingenuity and fertility, however it may appeal to the admiration of his hearers, it will never strike deeper. The hearts of the audience will refuse all commerce, except with the heart of the speaker; nor, in this commerce, is it possible, by any disguise, however artful, to impose false ware on them. However the speaker may labor to seem to feel, however near he may approach the appearance of the reality, the heart nevertheless possesses a keen unerring sense, which never fails in detecting the imposture. It would seem as if the heart of man stamps a secret mark on all its effusions, which alone can give them currency, and which no ingenuity, however adroit, can successfully counterfeit." *

Burlesque.

Burlesque sustains the same relation to bombast, that wit does to a blunder. Each copies its antithesis from design. The proper, and only proper object of burlesque, is bombast, and faults of a kindred character. To attempt to burlesque that which is in itself deserving of veneration, is to render one's self most criminal.

* When I listen to such an attempt at the pathetic as the above, I am reminded of a fact which an individual used to tell the students, when I was in college-an individual who was accustomed to visit us statedly two or three times a year, and whose visits were not the most welcome to those of us who never were able to pay our bills, and others especially who had had money enough, and could not give a good account of the manner in which they got rid of it. This individual, notwithstanding his unwelcome errands, was accustomed to render himself very agreeable, by amusing anecdotes, which he would relate for the benefit of the students. Among these he was accustomed to relate the following, which he himself had heard: After the death of Washington, a Dutch orator in one of the villages on the Mohawk was appointed to deliver an oration on the character of that great man. The people assembled, and were entertained for about an hour and a half, with a most bathotic eulogy of the hero. At last the speaker came to a sudden and solemn pause. "Boys!" he exlaimed, " be very still now dere in de gallery;-now I be'sh come to de patetic.-Vashington died vidout a grunt, or a groan, or a grumble."

In genuine burlesque, the original will be copied to a certain extent, but yet with such variations as to leave no doubt of the design of the speaker or writer. One of the finest specimens of genuine burlesque, that I recollect to have met with, was given some years since in a foreign review of the works of an Irish orator of some celebrity, especially for what the reviewer termed bombast. He accordingly presents a speech professedly after the style of the orator, a speech designed to show the great advantages which the poor man has over the rich, in respect to happiness. I quote a single paragraph from the speech, as it occurs in memory:

"Happiness, Mr. Speaker, is like a crow seated upon the top of a mountain, which the hunter vainly endeavors to reproach. The hunter looks at the crow, Mr. Speaker, and the crow looks at him. But if he should attempt to reproach him, he banishes away, like the schismatic tints of the rainbow, which it was the sublime, and astonishing genius of Newton that developed and deplored."

Sarcasm.

Analogous to burlesque is sarcasm. Its appropriate sphere is to burlesque false claims to merit-claims which may not be assumed in a bombastic style. It attributes to the individual his claims, but does it in such a manner, that the irony shall be visible. "No doubt ye are the people, and wisdom will die with you."

PROPRIETY OF USING THE IMAGINATION AND FANCY IN WORKS OF FICTION.

I close this protracted chapter with two or three suggestions of a general nature.

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The first is, the propriety of employing the Imagination and Fancy in the production of fictitious composition. Of the propriety of employing such a noble faculty in bringing out such productions, some persons, whose opinions are deserving of respect, have serious doubts. To me it that such doubts have been occasioned exclusively by an abuse of what is in itself proper. Suppose I am contemplating a statue. It presents all the forms almost of grace and beauty that appear in all beautiful human forms. I ask the question, What individual does this statue represent? The

answer is, that it represents no one human form, but the statuary's own Ideal of beauty and grace, as it may be embodied in a human form. Am I offended at the fact contained in the reply? By no means. Why may not an individual as properly embody, in external form, an Ideal in his own mind, as copy an object less beautiful without? The Ideal within is just as much a reality, as the object without, and may as properly be represented with the chisel, the brush, or the pen. To shadow forth conceptions more perfect than the real around, is to lay a foundation for human improvement. But let us suppose, that an individual, gifted with the power of thus blessing his race, employs that power, not in shadowing forth the forms of truth, beauty and perfection, but in throwing such attractions over vice and error, as tend to draw the young, the thoughtless, and the ignorant from the paths of truth, purity, and peace ;--such individuals deserve the deepest reprobation of the universe, as having abused and perverted one of the highest gifts with which any intelligent being has ever been entrusted. The individual also who will familiarize himself with the productions of such authors, subjects himself to an influence of all others, best adapted to sap the foundations of moral character. The maxim of ancient wisdom, "The companions of fools shall be destroyed,' is no more true, than the maxim, that the reader of impure books will himself become impure.

False Idea in respect to the Influence of Familiarity with the popular Fictitious Writings of the Day.

A very common impression exists that familiarity with fictitious writings, especially with the popular fictions of the day, tends to improve the Imagination, and that because they are fictitious. Now this is a grand mistake. It by no means follows, that because a work is fiction, and not sober history, the perusal of it tends to improve the Imagination. It may tend, on the other hand, to no other end, than to vitiate the Fancy, by generating impure associations. For myself, I am persuaded, that the study of such works as Prescott's Conquest of Mexico,' and 'Alison's History of Modern Europe,' tends incomparably more to develop the Imagination than the perusal of the great mass of fictitious works that are floating upon the surface of society. The question whether the perusal of a work tends to improve the Imagination, depends, not upon the fact whether it is fiction, but upon the manner

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