eration is the arrangement. In order that the parts of a
description may be coherent, hold together, they should be arranged in
the order in which they would naturally be perceived. What strikes the
eye of the beholder as most important, often the general
characteristic of the whole, should be mentioned first; and the
details should follow as they are seen. In a building, the usual way
of observing and describing is from foundation to turret stone. A
landscape may be described by beginning with what is near and
extending the view; this is common. Sometimes the very opposite plan
is pursued; or one may begin on either hand and advance toward the
other. Of a person near by, the face is the first thing observed; for
it is there that his character can be best discovered. Afterward
details of clothing follow as they would naturally be noticed. If a
person be at a distance his pose and carriage would be about all that
could be seen; as he approaches, the other details would be mentioned
as they came into view. To arrange details in the order in which they
are naturally observed will result in an association in the
description of the details that are contiguous in the objects. Jumping
about in a description is a source of confusion. How entirely it may
ruin a paragraph can be estimated by the effect upon this single
sentence, "He was tall, with feet that might have served for shovels,
narrow shoulders, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, long
arms and legs, and his whole frame most loosely hung together." This
rearrangement makes but a disjointed and feeble impression; and the
reason is entirely that an order in which no person ever observed a
man has been substituted for the commonest order,--from head to foot.
Arrange details so that the parts which are contiguous shall be
associated in the description, and proceed in the order in which the
details are naturally observed.

The following is by Irving; he is describing the stage-coachman:--

"He has commonly a broad, full face, curiously mottled with
red, as if the blood had been forced by hard feeding into
every vessel of the skin; he is swelled into jolly
dimensions by frequent potations of malt liquors, and his
bulk is still further increased by a multiplicity of coats,
in which he is buried like a cauliflower, the upper one
reaching to his heels. He wears a broad-brimmed, low-crowned
hat; a huge roll of colored handkerchi