If Scientific Socialism is the question, it may be appropriately shown in the exordium that nearly all the objections which are still urged against it apply only to the Utopian Socialism which Socialist literature abandoned half a century ago.
In short, the lecturer usually does in the exordium what a family party does when, having decided to waltz a little in the parlor, they push the table into a corner and set back the chairs—he clears a space.
CHAPTER III
BEGIN WELL
The Shakespearian saying that “all’s well that ends well” is only a half truth. A good lecture must not only end well; it must begin well.
The value of first impressions is universally recognized, and an audience will be much more lenient with flaws that may come later if its appreciation and confidence have been aroused at the commencement.
It is almost impossible to drive a nail properly if it was started wrong, and the skillful workman will draw it out and start it over again. But such a blunder in lecturing cannot be remedied—at least for that occasion. A stale or confused beginning haunts and depresses the mind of the speaker and makes his best work impossible. It also destroys the confidence of the audience, so that what comes later is likely to be underestimated.
This necessity is recognized not only by lecturers, but by all the great masters of poetry, fiction and music. Wilhelm Tell is best known by its overture and what could be more solemn and impressive than the opening bars of “El Miserere” in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.”
The genius of Dickens shines most clearly in his opening pages, and his right to be ranked with Juvenal as a satirist could be easily established by the first chapter of “Martin Chuzzlewit.” Sir Walter Scott would rank as one of the world’s greatest wits if he had never written anything but the exploits of “Dick Pinto,” which serve as an introduction to “The Bride of Lammermoor.”
The opening lines of Keats’ first long poem, “Endymion,” are immortal, and the first line of that passage has become an integral part of the English language: