THE ESSAYIST.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10786, 13 October 1900, Page 5

THE ESSAYIST.

We live in an age of literary and mutual improvement societies, where the literary aspirant tries his -wings and seeks to write elegantly stud graphically on all sorts of subjects, from Shakespeare's plays to the art of photography, or from the description of a- holiday jaunt to the latest discoveries in astronomy. The literary society, as an institution, does excellent work in checking vanity by its good-natured criticisms. The scribbler who imagines himself an embryo Macaulay finds himself severely handled if he builds up a fabric with "fine writing" without a good, and solidv foundation of.fact and sense. He gets to 2e#rn tblat thorough knowledge of a subject will carry him much further than well-sounding phrases, pretty figures of speech or poetic imagery. These are all well in their way, but people like to hear something new or an assurance of well authenticated facts from someone who has studied his subject. Hence a "plain unvarnished tale" of something which cannot be contradicted tells much more with the general hearer or reader than any amount of flimsy rhetoric. This was recognised by T. Pickup. Esq., Ex-Councillor, Family Hotel, Glenelg. He writes: "It is now five years ago that I suffered from my liver and kidneys. I had -severe pain \ across my loin 3 and under the shouJ-der-blades, which made mc .very depressed and disinclined to attend to business. Doctors failing to relieve mc, I made up my mind to' try Warner's Safe Cure. I gave it a fair trial, taking in all about ten bottles, with the gratifying result that I am perfectly cured."