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dat right; now four hand round. You lilly midshipman, set your partner, sir; den twist her round; dat do, now stop. First figure all over." At this time I thought I might venture to talk a little with my partner, and I ventured a remark; to my surprise she answered very sharply, "I come here for dance, sar, and not for chatter; look Massa Johnson, he tap um bowtick," etc.

To one who is familiar with modern fiction the foregoing would seem but a crude attempt to reproduce the speech of the negro. Far more ambitious and detailed is, for instance, the method of Joel Chandler Harris. For example:

"Ole Brer Bull wuz grazin' in de pastur' des like nothin' ain't happen, but he keep on de watch. When he'd see SimmySam anywhars out'n de yard, Brer Bull 'ud sorter feed to'rds 'im, but Simmy-Sam wan't takin' no chances, en he kep❜ close. ter kivver. But creeturs is mo' patient-like dan what foks is, en bimeby it got so Simmy-Sam 'ud go furder en furder fum de house, en one day de 'oman sont 'im out in de woods atter some pine kindlin', en he got ter playin' en foolin' 'roun'. You know how chillun is, en how dey will do: well, dat des de way Simmy-Sam done. He des frolicked 'roun' out dar in de brush, twel bimeby he hear ole Brer Bull come a-rippin' en asnortin' thoo de woods! Hit in about looked like his time wuz up.'

Mr. Harris takes the reproduction of the negro dialect very seriously. He queries whether in the homely words of Uncle Remus we may not trace philological changes from the English of three hundred years ago that would be of interest to the student of linguistics. He suggests that dozens of words such as "hit" for "it" and "ax" for "ask" might open to such a student the whole field of

1 Uncle Remus and His Friends. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

English philology. All of which indicates the modern tendency to submit everything to the test of reality and science. Yet amid all this effort on the part of modern writers to photograph speech, as it were, the student of narrative literature will do well occasionally to recall that there is something more important and more essential than verisimilitude. Upon this very subject, the over-use of dialect, a writer in Macmillan's Magazine in 1897 said:

In the main, the practice of the best writers confirms the rule that dialect should only be used to convey ideas for the expression of which the standard language is inadequate, and should be used only to an extent sufficient to mark the individuality of the speaker. Where the use of dialect is really vitalizing, where it emphasizes a character really worth knowing, it is permissible, but not otherwise. And after all, the experience for which the literary language does not provide sufficient expression is comparatively unimportant. It is a sign of degeneracy in our literature when writers deliberately resort to the grotesque, the archaic, or the vernacular. It is the duty of his countrymen to maintain the credit of the tongue that Shakespeare wrote. We owe far more to it than to any dialect.

c. Characterization by Environment

Character, finally, may be presented by means of environment, which in this connection is to be considered from two opposite points of view actively, as deter

mining character, and passively, as determined by it. In the first of these two aspects, the active, — environment is but a phase of setting, and as such has already been discussed (pp. 79–82). In so far, however, as character works upon environment, modifies it, and by so doing displays its own vigor, it rises superior to attendant circumstance, and the consideration of this phase

of narrative writing belongs not to setting but to the various devices for presenting effectively the personality that possesses the power of modification.

Man's surroundings are in no small degree determined, created by him; circumstances give direction to character, but at the same time they are dominated by character, receive its stamp, and offer concrete evidence of its existence. Just as the prostrate tree gives evidence of the sweep of the hurricane, so some concrete act may give indication of the character that dictates it. The narrative method under discussion would give some impression of the storm by presenting a vivid picture of the havoc; would present a clear conception of the personality by showing definitely not the environment that may have made that personality possible, but the environment that the personality itself has created. For instance, in the exposition of Elizabeth's character, to which reference has been made on page 117, the traits that the Queen drew from Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are indicated as determining elements in Elizabeth's personality. Knowing them, we can better understand the royal character. On the other hand, her favorites, the enemies that she made, the court that she gathered about her, the ministers that she selected to maintain her policies, these also shadow forth the personality of Elizabeth. Or again, in Tess, Angel Clare's environment, as well as the traits that he inherited from his parents, is a strong element in determining the man's personality; but the course of life that he deliberately elected to pursue, the woman whom he chose as his wife, these, which may be called the results of his personality, set forth Angel Clare's character with no less distinctness. Excellent illustration of the same device is presented in A New England Nun:

She had been peacefully sewing at her sitting-room window all the afternoon. Now she quilted her needle carefully into her work, which she folded precisely, and laid in a basket with her thimble and thread and scissors. Louisa Ellis could not remember that ever in her life she had mislaid one of these little feminine appurtenances, which had become, from long use and constant association, a very part of her personality.

Louisa tied a green apron round her waist, and got out a flat straw hat with a green ribbon. Then she went into the garden with a little blue crockery bowl, to pick some currants for her tea. After the currants were picked she sat on the back doorstep and stemmed them, collecting the stems carefully in her apron, and afterwards throwing them into the hen-coop. She looked sharply at the grass beside the step to see if any had fallen there.1

Now this environment of trivial detail "had become by long use and constant association a very part of her personality," and had made her, inevitably what she was; yet we have here an environment that Louisa Ellis had made and was still making for herself; and, being the product of her personality, the result of her own deliberate volition, it is interesting as indicative of her true self.

Allied to this narrative device of expounding character by showing the various influences of that character upon personal environment, is the process of expounding character through contrast, wherein we have the complete rejection of the moulding influence and thereby a revelation of the personality concerned. The pages of true as well as of fictitious narrative abound with instances illustrating the value of a contrasting environment in showing forth character. Queen Elizabeth again

1 Miss Wilkins's A New England Nun. Copyright, 1891. Used by permission of the publishers, Harper and Brothers.

becomes a more definite entity when we view her in contrast to Mary Queen of Scots, with whom she was brought into sharp conflict. As portrayed by Walter Scott in Kenilworth, Leicester is made clearer and more definite by the scenes in which Sussex plays a part, and Tressilian, too, in many ways affords an effective foil in the characterization of the great Earl. George Eliot makes extensive use of this principle of contrast throughout Romola. "The Florentine Lily," in the purity of her life, in her filial devotion, in her loyalty to high ideals, presents a consistent contrast to Tito, who is untrue to his wife, who sacrifices his foster-parent to his own selfish interests, and to whom personal gratification is ever the foremost consideration. Altruism as opposed to self-love is presented with greater vividness than could be secured by the individual presentation of either Romola or Tito. The dramatic effect is greatly increased by the contrast in personalities.

RHETORICAL QUALITIES IN CHARACTERIZATION

Clearness

Characterization, whether of personage or personality, demands a rhetorical quality that hitherto has received little attention: clearness. Like correct spelling and punctuation, grammatical construction, and reputable use of words, clearness of expression has been taken for granted, but at this point it must receive some detailed consideration.

The objective delineation of a personage must first of all be entirely distinct; and in the subjective exposition of character the abstract qualities must be made so clear that the personality in question shall be unmistakable.

The discussion of clearness in this connection at