Obverse description.

Fundamental Device .—OBVERSE DE¬SCRIPTION.

By the term obverse description I mean the mentioning of details that are absent. Thus I could describe a picture by telling what it is not.

A.	MODEL.

Those who are in the habit of remarking such matters, must have noticed the passive quiet of an English landscape on Sunday. The clacking of the mill, the regularly recurring stroke of the flail, the din of the blacksmith's hammer, the whistling of the plough¬man, the rattling of the cart, and all other sounds of rural labor are suspended. The very farm dogs bark less frequently, being less disturbed by passing trav¬elers. At such times I have almost fancied the winds sunk into quiet, and that the sunny landscape, with its fresh green tints melting into blue haze, enjoyed the hallowed calm.

—	WASHINGTON IRVING, The Sketch-Book. —	SUGGESTIONS.—What description-motive is used in this model ? What details mentioned carry out the fundamental quality? Show that the last sentence and the first sentence give the fundamental quality directly and the intervening sentences obversely. What is the fundamental quality ? Minor devices used. onomatopceia; metaphor. In the following example from Shakspere's As You Like It, the heroine Rosalind is describing Orlando by proving that in appearance he is not a typical lover. In writing a description using the obverse method the third person should be used instead of the sec¬ond, as here, unless one is describing in dialogue.

B.	EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS.

Rosalind: A lean cheek, which you have not, a -blue eye and sunken, which you have not, an unquestionable spirit, which you have not, a beard neglected, which you have not ; but I pardon you for that, for simply your having in beard is a younger brother's revenue : then your hose should be ungartered, your bonnet unbanded, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied and everything about you demonstrating a careless desolation ; but you are no such man ; you are 'rather point-device in your accoutrements as loving yourself than seeming the lover of any other,

-WILLIAM SHAKSPERE, As You Like It, Act III.,Sc. 2.

SUGGESTIONS.- In this description, what details are mentioned obversely ? Are any details given directly? What description- motive is used in this example ? What is the fundamental quality implied ? - Minor devices used. the repeti¬tion of words and constructions.