Express, if you can, in more vigorous language of your own, the thought
of the editorial.
3. Think of some one you have known who has the gift of racy colloquial
utterance. Make a list of offhand, homely, or picturesque expressions you
have heard him employ, and ask yourself what it is in these expressions
that has made them linger in your memory. With them in mind, and with your
knowledge of the man's methods of imparting his ideas vividly, try to make
your version of the editorial more forceful still.
4. Study Appendix 2 (Causes for the American Spirit of Liberty) as an
example of stately and elaborate, yet energetic, discourse. The speech
from which this extract is taken was delivered in Parliament in a vain
effort to stay England from driving her colonies to revolt. Some of
Burke's turns of phrase are extremely bold and original, as "The religion
most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement on the principle
of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent and the Protestantism of
the Protestant religion." Moreover, with all his fulness of diction, Burke
could cleave to the heart of an idea in a few words, as "Freedom is to
them [the southern slave-holders] not only an enjoyment, but a kind of
rank and privilege.
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