The text is an excerpt from Sesame and Lilies which consists of two essays, primarily, written for delivery as public lectures in 1864. Identify the features that fit the speech mode. Notice the sentence patterns.

The text was given as a lecture hence it shares the features of a speech. His use of the first person or ‘I’ is the most direct feature. Repetition of certain expressions like “if you could, you would; you would write instead” is characteristic of an interaction and spontaneous explanation. He regularly asks questions like “Perhaps you think no book was ever so written?” which engages another person in a speech.

The sentence patterns are more conversational and fluid. The number of times he uses ‘and’, ‘but’ or ‘so’ shows a spontaneity of thought and explanation rather than the corrected lines of a written text.