find it. In the essay on "Milton," it is evident from the last
paragraph that Macaulay never intended it to be only a criticism of
his poetry, though he has devoted many pages to this discussion. Here
is just the last sentence: "Nor do we envy the man who can study
either the life or the writings of the great poet and patriot without
aspiring to emulate, not indeed the sublime works with which his
genius has enriched our literature, but the zeal with which he labored
for the public good, the fortitude with which he endured every private
calamity, the lofty disdain with which he looked down on temptations
and dangers, the deadly hatred which he bore to bigots and tyrants,
and the faith which he so sternly kept with his country and his fame."
Notice the last sentence of a delightful essay by George William
Curtis; one could easily guess the contents and the title. "Fear of
yourself, fear of your own rebuke, fear of betraying your
consciousness of your duty and not doing it--that is the fear that
Lovelace loved better than Lucasta; that is the fear which Francis,
having done his duty, saved, and justly called it honor." Examples of
the ending in which the theme of the essay stands in the place of
greatest distinction are so plentiful that there needs no collector to
establish the assertion.

In a single paragraph of exposition not exceeding two or three hundred
words, it is a very safe rule for a beginner always to have the theme
in the last sentence; or if he has stated the theme in the opening, to
have a restatement of it in different form, fuller and more explicit
usually, sometimes a shorter and more epigrammatic form, in the
conclusion.

If the pupil should obey this little rule to have at the end something
worthy of the position, a vast amount of time would be saved both to
teacher and to pupil. It can be safely said that not more than one
half the essays end when the thought ends. Instead of quitting when he
has finished, the writer dribbles on, repeating in diluted fashion
what he has said with some force before, and often introducing matters
that are not within hailing distance of his theme. When one has said
what he started out to say, it is time to stop. If he stops then, he
will have something important in the place of distinction.

The Beginning.

_The position of second importance is the beginning._ If but a
paragraph be written, the topic is usually announced at the opening.
In short essays this is