To deliver a
S/YSTEM\ in conversation, scarcely appears natural; and while the
dialogue-writer desires, by departing from the direct style of
composition, to give a freer air to his performance, and avoid
the appearance of Author and Reader, he is apt to run into a
worse inconvenience, and convey the image of Pedagogue and Pupil.
Or, if he carries on the dispute in the natural spirit of good
company, by throwing in a variety of topics, and preserving a
proper balance among the speakers, he often loses so much time in
preparations and transitions, that the reader will scarcely think
himself compensated, by all the graces of dialogue, for the
order, brevity, and precision, which are sacrificed to them.
There are some subjects, however, to which dialogue-writing
is peculiarly adapted, and where it is still preferable to the
direct and simple method of composition.
Any point of doctrine, which is so obvious that it scarcely
admits of dispute, but at the same time so important that it
cannot be too often inculcated, seems to require some such method
of handling it; where the novelty of the manner may compensate
the triteness of the subject; where the vivacity of conversation
may enforce the precept; and where the variety of lights,
presented by various personages and characters, may appear
neither tedious nor redundant.
Any question of philosophy, on the other hand, which is so
obscure and uncertain, that human reason can reach no fixed
determination with regard to it; if it should be treated at all,
seems to lead us naturally into the style of dialogue and
conversation.
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