Such  a  beginning  is  more  nearly  adequate  to  the  subject.
On  second  thought  you  will  perceive  that  it  is  by  no  means
too  fanciful.  Turn  to  the  last  essay  in  this  volume,  and,
after  reading  three  or  four  pages,  ask  yourself  if  this  in-
troduction is  not  still  enlarging  your  imagination  to  the
measure  of  the  subject.
A  glance  at  several  essays  with  which  you  are  already
familiar  will  show  you  the  effect  that  the  beginning  has  on
the  treatment  and  extent  of  the  subject.  One  may  raise
expectation,  as  Carlyle  does  in  his  essay  on  Scott,  by  asking
a  central  question  that  secures  light  from  each  detail  as
he  proceeds.  Was  Scott  a  great  man  ? — a  question  requiring
obviously  some  definition  of  greatness  in  ambition  and  in
achievement,  and  leading  naturally  to  an  analysis  of  Scott's
life,  which  shows  in  what  ways  Scott  was  or  failed  to  be
great.  Brand  Whitlock  begins  his  little  biography  of
Lincoln  by  saying  that  Lincoln's  story,  rightly  told,  is  the
epic  of  America.  Hutton  begins  his  famous  criticism  of
Shelley  and  his  poetry  with  nine  or  ten  pages  of  seemingly
random  illustration  and  comment,  which  lead  you  to  believe
with  him  that  the  dominant  quality  in  Shelley's  acts  and
in  his  thinking  is  caprice;  the  meaning  of  all  that  follows
in  the  essay  is  modified  and  illuminated  by  this  primary
admission.    A  good  beginning  is  an  impetus  that  lasts.
