It is a well known & an established fact that most, if not all men are very much inclined to be prejudiced against composition writing, and consider it a difficult matter to sit down and write a few lines on any subject, however much it may deserve their attention, which is not, in itself, very attractive or interesting to them, which will not bring from them natural & impromptu sentiments, and which is not such, that, in treating it, they can express their ideas with a greater degree of facility & readiness, (on account of their familiarity with it & the interest they have in it) than they could, were it a subject of a different character. This spirit of prejudice not only exists, but also shews itself very plainly in young persons, & in those who are inexperienced in the art of composing well,—I say that this spirit is found fully as much, if not more in these, than in, those who are not advanced in age, & who know more of the toils & fatigues attending him, whose chief desire is his own improvement in this great Art, & who would devote his time, his attention, & his talents to it, & who would sacrifice every thing else for the fulfilment of his desire. But I must beg leave to say, before proceeding any further, apart from the subject itself, that, if it is possible for one to be free, in a great measure, from this feeling of prejudice, I am he who is; for although I feel & know my insignificance as a composer in a class of forty members, & am very sensibly conscious of my inability to throw out any very original idea, or to construe any beautiful sentences, which may adorn the composition & serve as a varnish to conceal the rude under work, yet I do notshrink back from the task (if it may be so called) with so much dread, as I have seen manifested by some, whom I have always considered far superior to myself in composition. But we must return to our subject & attend with more care & assiduity to those rules, which he, whom we consider high Authority,3 has instructed us to use & to abide strictly by, lest we too fall into the very same error about which we have been speaking, & become as much prejudiced against comp. w. ourselves as any one can be; for we will certainly get into difficulties if we go at random writing whatever happens to come in our way; & here, we may very easily account for the fact, viz why young men are at all prejudiced against writing comps.—: Why! they can not even converse with any one, with the least degree of composure, about sitting down two4 or three hours at a time, & thinking over some subject, a thought of which, (they will say) never crossed the mind of any person. Now for the reason;—if they only had certain rules which might direct them, which might apply very well in different ways in different cases, & by which they might question themselves as to the propriety or the impropriety, the "whys & wherefores" &c &c of their subjects, why! the mere answers to these questions would enable them to progress some, by all means, in their compos: taking away thereby all cause of complaint on account of the lack of subject matter, & consequently taking away as much cause of prejudice; for we suppose that, if they could compose without an effort of the mind, if they only were to write down on paper mere words & sentences without taxing their brains to construe them & to put them in their proper places giving the correct orthography of their language, they would be altogether indifferent as to the matter but for the writing. This5 plan of composing is altogether false; they rejectwith scorn our systematic mode, viz by rules; & they go so far as to call it a humbug; While they indeed are building on a rotten foundation & are writing according to false rules (if they write accordig to any) & rules to6 which will lead to very unsalutery consequences in deed. Some of the consequences are these; It is quite evident that those who reject these rules will always have to wait for a thought instead of deriving any thing from their rules, as we would do; and it so happens that those who wait for thoughts generally have to wait a pretty long time; & does7 not this, by theway, remind you of Menas at Philippi's table who, poorfellow! as Horace expresses it, said—dicunda tacenda—whatever came into his head.8 (I am much of opinion that my quotation comes under the head of tacenda.). But it is well authenticated by the observation of every one, that their manner this way—i.e. the above of writing influences the style of compos. of those who practise it considerably, when they grow up to years of manhood; for their productions, instead far from being terse, argumentative, convincing, are without head or tail & are generally an incongruous mass mixed up in the most disgusting manner, without divisions or heads & in short without a subject (so to speak). I would advise a young man therefore never to allow himself to fall into this habit of writing loosely; of bringing together and classing under one head subjects as much different as black & white; for it is difficult for it is difficult for a person to do this well & the difficulty or impossibility of the matter [activates]9 that prejudice against comp. writing, which is the subject of our present attempt. But like almost all other things there is a remedy for these terrible consequences of which I was speaking & I can, as well as I know how, express, in a very few words, wherein this remedy consists. To overcome these difficulties & these consequences one should never take a subject on which his limited reading would constrain him to say but little.I mean by this that he should always take a familiar subject; and not only this; but he should also divide his subject into heads, never neglecting to state the proposition which he intends to prove, at the outset, & to make every thing else subordinate to this one great head; by practising this rule, or any one like it, he may make great personal advancement in the art & may finally shine as one of the most brilliant writers of the age. A few general remarks & we are have done; Composition writing is an art which differs from every other in one particular & it is this; viz; that, wecommence with the hardest & as we proceed we find it becoming easier & easier; in other words, that the principles or elements, as we would call them, are harder than the actual application of them to practical purposes; I might have mentioned this in the former part of my comp. as a reason why we are prejudiced against comp writing; & not have been, by any means wrong as to my statement. Let one, who would improve by this art, as well as in it, practise the few rules, the substance of which I have given once or twice in the course of my comp, & he will succeed in a pursuit which has rendered the names of not afew men immortal. With these few remarks I submit10 my piece to your inspection & criticism, hoping that you will correct all mistakes, with a view to my improvement in a thing, in which I take a good deal of delight.