IV. THE EXPOSITORY DIALOGUE The influence of Cicero, powerful in affecting the English dialogue from very early times, has made one form of it an instrument by which instruction of all kinds can pleasantly be conveyed from teacher to pupil. When Cicero wished to pass on to the Romans the accumulated wisdom of Greek rhetoricians, he described an agreeable conversation carried on by a group of Roman gentlemen, thus making the dullness of learning shelter itself beneath the grace and genial ease of social intercourse; when Gregory the Great wished to teach patient long-suffering and the blessing that awaits good deeds, he introduced tales of martyrs and saints into a conversation with his faithful deacon; and when the author of the medieval Vices and Virtues wished to instruct an erring soul, he did so by allowing Reason to hold converse with that soul. Later English writers of various periods, but especially of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, expounded theories of government or of the drama, discoursed on ancient coins and medals, or guided eager pupils in the gentle art of angling, through the same medium of expression; and the principle underlying their choice of this medium was always, apparently, the belief that dealing with a subject conversationally would give their treatment of it ease and strength of appeal. In a dialogue a learned subject could be treated without pedantry, written authorities could be avoided, and wisdom could be made to fall lightly in the midst of familiar speech. Or if the subject were slighter in its nature, it might be given significance through its connection with definitely characterized personalities; for a statement to which one might otherwise be indifferent rouses interest when it is the opinion of one whom we know. Thus, under ideal circumstances, a subject seemed to be expounded more freely and easily when set forth in a dialogue. As compared with the philosophical dialogue, the dialogue of didactic tendencies lacks all true clash of opinions. It is not merely that one figure usually dominates it; that is true also of the dialogues which include Socrates as a speaker, and of some of those of the English philosophers. It is that the ultimate aim and object of the expository dialogue is not to elicit truth through argument, but rather to set forth facts or principles or theories already existent in the mind of the writer, or, in the words of Bishop Hurd, to 'insinuate truth'. To one chief speaker the writer usually assigns the task of expounding his views; to the others, the task of urging this person on, whether by questions or comments or objections. Sometimes, it is true, he divides the parts more evenly; but in most cases a protagonist carries the chief burden of the conversation. The strong contrast between the truly philosophical and the expository dialogue may be suggested, again, by the thought of a conversational group gathered about Socrates in the market-place of Athens as compared with such a group gathered about Dr. Johnson in a London coffee-house. One teacher tries to draw out all that those about him are able to contribute to 1 Cf. a discussion of the technique of citation in dialogue by Professor Hendrickson, in Am. Jour. Phil. 27. 184-199. e the discussion, to force his followers to think by making them argue; the other himself lays down the law with a finality that encourages no counter-opinions on the part of lesser men, forcing them to think through the stimulus of his own thought. The expository or didactic dialogue certainly appears in its essence in Boswell's Life. Boswell asks a question, Johnson gives his dictum; Goldsmith asks a question, and Johnson does the same; and the parallel between these reports of actual conversation and their more developed literary analogues suggests very strongly that the didactic dialogue does not run athwart the genius of the English people. The examples of it to be given may perhaps show that it is more of a native product, less purely imitative, than the philosophical dialogue which looked to Plato as its inspiration. In considering these examples, we set aside, for the time being, two groups that are of especial interest because of their subject-matter. The barest type of the expository dialogue is, naturally, the catechism in which question and answer follow in direct succession, with as little attempt at setting or characterization as at any disguising of the evident didactic purpose. From the catechisms of mediæval times grew those of the Reformation, of which the final expression for the English church is that found in the Prayer-book. With the development of Puritanism, new summaries of faith were needed, and they sprang forth abundantly. 'It may be said, without exaggeration, of the catechisms framed on the system of the doctrinal Puritans, and published in England between the years 1600 and 1645, that their name is legion.'1 The popularity of some of these is 1A. F. Mitchell, Catechisms of the Second Reformation, London, 1886, p. IX. evidenced by the numerous editions issued within a few years. It is interesting, too, to find that at least twelve or fourteen members of the Westminster Assembly had published catechisms of their own before their united efforts resulted in the framing of that Shorter Catechism (1643) which one of its admirers calls perhaps the most masterly summary of doctrinal and practical theology ever given to the world'. As dialogues, these catechisms are distinguished from other dialogues of an expository nature by the fact that the teacher is here the questioner, not the. person questioned, and hence that his role is comparatively unimportant. The fact that the pupil's answers evidently proceed from higher authorities takes away from such catechisms all similarity to actual conversation, yet the conventional forms of conversation remain, and make their psychological appeal to the pupil. Furthermore, the question suggests the proper classification of the answer, and enables its doctrine easily and expeditiously to be pigeonholed in the mind. The historical development of these pseudodebates, from the days when a teacher asked a question and told his pupil how to answer it, easily accounts for their form. In the main, merely catechetical dialogues have been restricted to the setting forth of religious doctrine, but Lord Bolingbroke's The Freeholder's Political Catechism, published in 1733, makes use of the method through direct imitation. It often follows even the wordings and rhythm of the Prayer-book catechism, as almost any of its questions would suggest. Thou hast promis'd that in order to preserve this thy Liberty, thou wilt resist to the utmost of thy Power the enemies of our good Constitution; who are those enemies'? Such a question suggests also e 2 the emphasis given to such doctrines through the repetition of what had been stated in a previous an swer. Some other dialogues, not called catechisms, are almost as bare in their plan, and as palpably didactic in intent, as those just spoken of. They are such as are intended to supply definite textbook instruction, and therefore serve the same purpose as the catechism. The manner has survived to the present day, and has been used for many and various subjects; we note here only one or two quaint examples of it. The Surveyors Dialogue, by John Norden (1607), for example, quotes now and again from the Bible, as well as from the Greek, and, like the good old histories which begin with the creation, goes back to the very roots of its subject-matter. The first of its five parts has this heading: 'Book 1, betweene a Farmor [sic] and a Surveyor: wherein is proved, that Surveyes are necessary and profitable both for Lord and Tenant: and wherein is shewed how Tenants ought to behave themselves to their Lords.' By the time we reach the fourth part, theory has advanced to practice, for directions are given, through question and answer, as to the use of scale and 'compasse,' and tables of computation are printed for the learner's use. Still more curious than this is an old textbook in arithmetic, of which an enlarged and emended edition appeared in 1632, entitled The Ground of Arts. Like the author just mentioned, Robert Record, Doctor in Physick, begins by convincing his pupil of the usefulness of the matter with which he purposes to deal. He asks: 'If Number were so vile a thing as you did esteem it, then need it not to be used so much in men's communication. Exclude Number, and answer |