It is the advantage of a book that you can return to the past page if anything in the present depends upon it. But return being impossible in the case of a spoken harangue, where each sentence perishes as soon as it is born, both the speaker and the hearer become aware of a mutual interest in a much looser style, and a perpetual dispensation from the severities of abstract discussion. It is for the benefit of both that the weightier propositions should be detained before the eye a good deal longer than the chastity of taste or the austerity of logic would tolerate in a book."

In private life also, in conversation and in letter-writing, the character is revealed in the style. One is harsh and abrupt, another easy and fluent, a third rapid and impetuous, a fourth genial and attractive, a fifth tedious and garrulous. Thus individuals as well as nations impress their personal peculiarities upon their writings; the form of expression always varies with the writer, and this has given rise to the saying that style is the man himself.

Style, then, belongs to the man himself; it partakes of the characteristics of the individual; and the question of the improvement of this quality becomes the same as the question of the improvement of any other quality. All our powers, whether physical or intellectual, are susceptible of change for the better. Gymnastic exercise develops the muscles; musical practice gives to the fingers the most rapid accuracy of execution; the faculties of the mind may be cultivated to an unusual degree of excellence; even the moral qualities may be strengthened by discipline. As by association with polite society the tone and manners become refined, so by familiarity with the best authors and by imitation of their beauties may the style of a writer be elevated.

5. THE UTILITY OF RULES.

Rhetorical rules are useful but to a limited extent. They themselves have been formed originally not by any creative power or process of argument, but rather from the observation of the best examples and the study of the best authors. Great writers arise and are succeeded by others; they are afterwards followed by the rhetorician, the grammarian, and the critic, by whom the secret of their composition is investigated;

their excellences, their faults, and their failures all noted, and these are studied and compared, until at length it is decided what is to be imitated and what is to be avoided.

...

"Rules," says Quintilian, "are only useful, which not only interpret the law of rhetoric, but also serve to strengthen the faculty of speech. . . . In general, bare treatises on art, through too much affectation of subtlety, break and cut down whatever is noble in eloquence; drink up all the blood of thought, and lay bare the bones, which, while they ought to exist, and to be united by their ligaments, ought still to be covered with flesh."

When rules are followed too exclusively, the young writer is apt to become a mere slave to them, and but rarely attains to any kind of excellence. Their real use is to show in a general way the excellences that are to be followed, and the faults that are to be avoided. After learning these the student is left to himself, and, while he has the benefit of all that he has learned, he must put forth his own strength, and rely chiefly upon this. He must seek to give full play to his own powers, and to exhibit that style which is most in accordance with his own character.

§ 6. THE GENERAL DIVISIONS OF STYLE.

The subject of style may be divided into three general heads, under which may be classified all possible excellences or faults of expression. These are: I. Perspicuity; II. Persuasiveness; III. Harmony.

CHAPTER II.

PERSPICUITY IN WORDS.-SIMPLICITY.

§ 7. PERSPICUITY DEFINED AND EXPLAINED.

PERSPICUITY means clearness of expression, and may be de fined as such a use of words that they may be understood without difficulty by those to whom they are addressed. It may be regarded as the first essential of style, without which all other beauties are of no avail. Indeed, it may be shown that in most cases the so-called beauties of style would be un

attainable unless in the first place the language be clear and intelligible. In order to be perspicuous, however, it is not necessary that the style be understood by all, but that it be understood by those to whom it is addressed. To make style intelligible to all would be impossible. By the ignorant and uneducated many of the most beautiful thoughts and graceful sentiments of a writer like Addison would not be appreciated. In writings connected with science, it is necessary that the reader know something of the elements at least of that science before he can understand what is written. Hugh Miller was commended by Sir Roderick Murchison for his admirable clearness, and justly too, yet to one who knows nothing about geology his "Testimony of the Rocks" would be obscure. ligious works an acquaintance is presupposed not only with the Bible, but also with a large number of theological terms, without which the plainest and clearest expressions will often be simply unintelligible.

§ 8. DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT OF PERSPICUITY.

In re

Perspicuity may be considered, first, with reference to the choice of words; secondly, in their arrangement; and, thirdly, in general composition.

§ 9. SOURCES OF PERSPICUITY IN WORDS.

Some words are clear because they are simple; others because they are precise; and others because they are pure English. In each case we have a distinct source of perspicuity, which requires special attention. The first of these to be considered is simplicity.

§ 10. SIMPLICITY.

By simplicity is meant the choice of simple words, and their presentation in an unaffected manner. This quality is a chief characteristic of the most ancient literatures, and of the oldest writings in any language. It is very perceptible in the narrative portions of the sacred Scriptures. In the Greek Iliad and Odyssey, the German "Nibelungenlied," the Spanish "Cid," the Norman metrical romance, the English ballads, we find early poetry to be above all things simple and natural; and the same is true of early prose, as may be seen in the writings of

the Greek Herodotus, the Italian Boccaccio, the English Mandeville, and the French Froissart. One reason for this is to be found in the condition of language, which in its earlier stages is always fresher and more artless; while in its later developments there is a tendency to elaboration and affecta

tion.

As literature grows, the arts of embellishment are made use of to a continually increasing degree; but there are always many who from their own genius prefer the plain and unaffected manner to the grand and imposing. Such simplicity is often combined with easy grace and tender pathos; and its effect is more striking in times when an artificial diction is in vogue. Thus, while Johnson was composing his sonorous periods, Goldsmith was writing those delightful passages where wit, humor, philosophy, and pathos are all expressed with that charm which belongs to the unconscious grace of childhood. Among prose writers, Bunyan, Defoe, Addison, Steele, Sterne, and Thackeray are conspicuous for this quality; and among poets, Cowper, Burns, and Wordsworth. This subject may be illustrated by the following verses, which are translated from the German of Elizabeth Glück:

"That thy true soul

May wed with mine,
And that I may

Be ever thine,

"I pray, and trust

In God's sole might

To keep us one,

And so-good-night."

The charm of unaffected simplicity is nowhere more touchingly exhibited than in the following lines by Wordsworth:

"She dwelt among the untrodden ways

Beside the springs of Dove,

A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love.

"A violet by the mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star when only one
Is shining in the sky.

B

attainable unless in the first place the language be clear and intelligible. In order to be perspicuous, however, it is not necessary that the style be understood by all, but that it be understood by those to whom it is addressed. To make style intelligible to all would be impossible. By the ignorant and uneducated many of the most beautiful thoughts and graceful sentiments of a writer like Addison would not be appreciated. In writings connected with science, it is necessary that the reader know something of the elements at least of that science before he can understand what is written. Hugh Miller was commended by Sir Roderick Murchison for his admirable clearness, and justly too, yet to one who knows nothing about geology his "Testimony of the Rocks" would be obscure. In religious works an acquaintance is presupposed not only with the Bible, but also with a large number of theological terms, without which the plainest and clearest expressions will often be simply unintelligible.

§ 8. DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT OF PERSPICUITY.

Perspicuity may be considered, first, with reference to the choice of words; secondly, in their arrangement; and, thirdly, in general composition.

$9. SOURCES OF PERSPICUITY IN WORDS.

Some words are clear because they are simple; others because they are precise; and others because they are pure English. In each case we have a distinct source of perspicuity, which requires special attention. The first of these to be considered is simplicity.

§ 10. SIMPLICITY.

By simplicity is meant the choice of simple words, and their presentation in an unaffected manner. This quality is a chief characteristic of the most ancient literatures, and of the oldest writings in any language. It is very perceptible in the narrative portions of the sacred Scriptures. In the Greek Iliad and Odyssey, the German “Nibelungenlied," the Spanish "Cid," the Norman metrical romance, the English ballads, we find early poetry to be above all things simple and natural; and the same is true of early prose, as may be seen in the writings of