"A fall of ten per cent. in the funds is nearly eighty million sterling of value; and railway stock having gone down twenty per cent., makes a dif. ference of sixty millions in the value of the railway property of this country. Add the two-one hundred and forty millions—and take the diminished prosperity and value of manufactures of all kinds during the last few months, and you will understate the actual loss to the country now if you put it down at two hundred million sterling."-JOHN BRIGHT. "He is a king every inch of him, though without the trappings of a king. Presents himself in Spartan simplicity of vesture; no crown but an old military cocked hat-generally old, or kneaded into absolute softness if new; no sceptre, but one like Agamemnon's, a walking-stick cut from the woods, which serves also as a riding-stick (with which he hits the horse 'between the ears,' say authors), and for royal robes a mere soldier's blue coat with red facings-coat likely to be old, and sure to have a good deal of Spanish snuff on the breast of it; rest of the apparel dim, unobtrusive in color or cut, ending in high overknee military boots, which may be brushed (and I hope kept soft with an underhand suspicion of oil), but are not permitted to be blackened or varnished: Day and Martin with their soot-pots forbidden to approach."-THOMAS CARLYLE. In this series of minute details the subject is brought before the mind with wonderful vividness. Carlyle indulges freely and frequently in this elaborate mention of particulars; and this is one of the great characteristics of his descriptions. It is a leading quality in the works of Bunyan and Defoe, through which they were able to throw around their writings that unparalleled verisimilitude by which they are distinguished. § 153. SYNEZEUGMENON. 8. A peculiar kind of accumulation is found where several phrases or thoughts are grouped together and referred by combination to the same word, each of which when used alone would require that word for itself. This is called "synezeugmenon." "The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.”—Gray. "Justice I have now before me, august and pure; where her favorite attitude is to stoop to the unfortunate, to hear their cry and to help them, to rescue and relieve, to succor and to save."-SHERIDAN. § 154. EPEXERGASIA. 9. Sometimes a proposition is amplified by the superabun dant accumulation of examples, illustrations, or proofs. This is called "epexergasia." "All men desire to be immortal. The desire is instinctive, natural, universal. In God's world such a desire implies the satisfaction thereof equally natural and universal. It cannot be that God has given man the universal belief in immortality, and yet made it a mockery. Man loves truth, tells it, rests only on it, yet how much more God, who is the trueness of truth. Bodily senses imply their objects—the eye light; the ear sound; the touch, the taste, the smell, things relative thereto. Spiritual senses likewise foretell their object—are silent prophecies of endless life. The love of justice, beauty, truth, of man and God, points to realities unseen as yet. We are ever hungering after noblest things, and what we feed on makes us hunger more." -THEODORE PARKER. Here the proposition is that desire implies satisfaction. This is illustrated and set forth by numerous familiar cases, both concrete and abstract. "There is scarcely any profession in the commonwealth more necessary, which is so slightly performed. First, young scholars make this calling their refuge, yea, perchance before they have taken their degree in the university, commence schoolmasters in the country, as if nothing else were requisite to set up this profession but only a rod and a ferule. Secondly, others who are able use it only as a passage to better preferment, to patch the rents in their present fortune till they can find a new one, and betake themselves to some more gainful calling. Thirdly, they are disheartened from doing their best with the miserable reward which, in some places, they receive, being masters to the children and slaves to the parents."-THOMAS FULLER. $155. DINUMERATIO. 10. Amplification sometimes is produced by the enumeration of well-known names, which, by force of the associations connected with them, and by expressed or suggested meaning, increase the importance of the subject. This is called "dinumeratio." "It did not because they were Irishmen pay a less sincere, a less willing homage to the glorious memory of a Ponsonby and a Packenham. Castlereagh and Canning fought in the same ranks with Pitt; and Grattan took his place in the great contests of party by the side of Fox."-Sir Robert PEEL. The mention of proper names is always effective on account of their definiteness, a quality the importance of which has already been considered. In this passage, the names thus intro the following passage from Milton, this figure is used to give great exactness in the description of character: "Lords and Commons of England, consider what nation it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the guardians; a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit; acute to invent; subtle and sinewy to discourse; not beneath the reach of any point that human capacity can soar to." Milton exhibits in his prose works not only strictness and vigor in his epithets, but also much of that splendor and resonant harmony which marks his poetry. In the following passage from Carlyle, the epithets are used for the portrayal of the personal features of Oliver Cromwell : "Massive stature; big, massive head, of somewhat leonine aspect; wart above the right eyebrow; nose of considerable, blunt, aquiline proportions; strict, yet copious lips; full of all tremulous sensibilities; and also, if need be, of all fiercenesses and vigors; deep, loving eyes-call them grave, call them stern-looking from under those craggy brows as if in lifelong sorrow, and yet not thinking it sorrow, thinking it only labor and endeavor." Carlyle, like Milton, can make use of epithets which are full of sounding harmony; for example: "Far as the eye reaches, a multitudinous sea of upturned faces, the air deaf with their triumph yell." Burke's style is characterized by abundant epithets. This is due to his affluence of language, copious expression, and rich and fertile imagination. These are often accumulated in rich, but never useless profusion : "Whatever his Grace may think of himself, they look upon him, and everything that belongs to him, with no more regard than they do upon the whiskers of that little, long-tailed animal, that has been long the game of the grave, demure, insidious, spring-nailed, velvet-pawed, green-eyed philosophers, whether going upon two legs or upon four." § 142. FAULTS IN THE USE OF EPITHETS. The chief faults in the use of epithets may be briefly summed up as follows: 1. The commonplace. A large number of terms have been worn out by frequent use, and produce no effect, except to render style tedious. Such are, "briny deep," azure sky," ""silver moon," "golden sun," "gallant warrior," "rolling sea," "winding river," "vault 99 66 ed sky," "shadowy tree," "towering cliff," "lofty summit," and the like. Sometimes a thoroughly commonplace epithet will be used in a vague and indiscriminate way, exhibiting the last degree of imbecility. For example, the word "noble" is sometimes applied by the same writer to a great variety of totally different things; as, "noble character," "noble ship," "noble scene," "noble sentiment," "noble book," "noble cause," "noble style." 2. The use of too many epithets. Except in rare cases, such as the passage above quoted from Burke, the accumulation of epithets gives weakness to style. It is usually accompanied by a total want of precision and applicability. It is one of the chief characteristics of a loose, weak, and verbose writer. 3. Where the epithets are too strong. Extravagance of expression is the result, and this repels the reader. This is visible in much of the political writing of the present day, where personalities are indulged in. It is also often a characteristic of so-called "temperance" literature. Thus an ordinary opponent is called "infamous" or "detestable" or "corrupt" or "traitorous;" and the writer who thus reviles his enemies overpraises his friends equally. This is the abuse of words which destroys their power; for when such strong expressions are lavished where they are not applicable, nothing remains to apply when strong words are actually needed. 4. Where the epithets are too weak. This fault arises when the descriptive terms are quite inadequate to express the character of the subject: as "Waterloo resulted in considerable carnage." 66 Napoleon attained high excellence as a commander." "The great waves rolled up, and thundered on the beach with much noise." 5. Words that are vague or general; as, "considerable," "several," "numerous," "nice." To this class may be applied many words that have no particular meaning, but are used only in a conventional way; as, "able editor," "gallant captain," "enterprising merchant," "good bishop," "learned counsel.” Precision is of the utmost importance in the choice and application of epithets. CHAPTER V. FIGURES OF GRADATION.-AUGMENTATIVE. $143. FIGURES OF GRADATION. THESE include certain forms of expression by which a subject is elevated to a higher degree of importance than usual, or depressed below its ordinary level. Statements when thus put forth naturally attract more notice; and it is a frequent aim. of writers to call attention in this way to propositions of special interest. While one topic may be presented with enlarged dimensions, another, which is opposed to it, may be depreciated; but the augmentation of the one or the diminution of the other tends to the same result. These are called figures of gradation, because they indicate degrees of value, either increasing or diminishing. Figures of gradation are divided into two general classes: first, augmentative; and, secondly, decrementive. $144. AUGMENTATIVE FIGUres. Of these we have to consider in the first place augmentative figures. In this class are included all those figures by which any given subject is expanded before the mind, and invested with more than ordinary importance. They are especially applicable to the leading propositions of arguments, to deductions, and to conclusions. It is evident that these should always be presented in the most striking manner, so that they shall arrest the attention and be retained by the memory. It is necessary to enlarge upon them, so that they may be appreciated at their highest value, and that the reader may feel the full weight that is attached to them by the writer. They are often associated with strong emotion; they are found in all departments of literature; but the best examples exist in oratory. This arises from the fact that the orator is more directly under the influence |