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of familiar; sentences balanced by ands, buts, and semicolons; too many precise, emphatic pronouns, as these, those, which, etc., instead of the particles the, a, etc."*

After he had fully formed his style he became less particular. This is natural. The time to be particular is when young, and when habits and powers of perception are both forming for life.

61. Example of De Quincey.-De Quincey, a master of a style which has been highly eulogized, even to the last persisted in revising and even re-writing his productions with great care, before he would allow them to go before the public. Such also is the practice of Victor Hugo and many other eminent writers.

62. Webster as an Example.-The style of Daniel Webster was very terse and vigorous. Generally simple, but occasionally highly ornamented, and remarkable for expressing strong thought and earnest feeling in what seems the best possible manner. Mr. Webster, in a conversation with friends in his old age, while modestly lamenting his own ignorance, as it seemed to him, when he looked out upon the boundless field of thought, expressed a fear that his style would degenerate, and added:

"My style was not formed without great care, and earnest study of the best authors, I have labored hard upon it, for I early felt the importance of expression to thought. I have re-written sentence after sentence, and pondered long upon each alteration. For, depend upon it, it is with our thoughts as with our persons-their intrinsic value is mostly undervalued, unless outwardly expressed in an attractive garb. Longinus tells us that the most sublime passage to be found in any language is this in the Bible: "Let there be

*Life of William Hickling Prescott, by George Ticknor (Boston, 1864), p. 219.

light, and there was light:' the greatest effort of power in the tersest and fewest words-the command and the record one exertion of thought. So should we all aim to express things in words."*

After such examples, it is superfluous to recommend to young writers great care and study in forming their style.

63. A Study of good Authors recommended. - Fa miliarity with the best authors is indispensable. Language and manner are largely learned by unconscious imitation. It is not well to waste time in the society of inferior writers, and listening to inferior speakers, Always choose the best you can command. Prefer the decisions of those whose position entitles them to authority, to your own. A book that pleases you much may be very faulty. The standard English and American authors should be read thoroughly. Read much, rather than many books. Discard inferior and too often illiterate newspapers, and select for your information a single newspaper of high literary merit, and spend the rest of your time devoted to reading with the best books you can command.

64. Translations from one Language into Another.Frequent translation from another language, ancient or modern, into English, or the translation of choice passages in our language into some other language, and then back again into English, with a comparison. of the result with the original, is a good exercise.

65. Frequent Composition.-Write as often as you can, and, if possible, something every day, at least ev

*Harper's New Monthly Magazine (New York), vol. xiii. p. 221. The sentiment of Longinus is not quite accurately stated in the above.

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ery week. Whenever an error is detected, whether from a criticism of another person or by your own increasing familiarity with language and thought, discard it, and never repeat it.

66. Slowness and Rapidity of Composition.-Perhaps the most valuable direction is the favorite motto of Erasmus, "Festina lente"-"HASTEN SLOWLY!" Write slowly at first, studiously, thoughtfully. A good student should write at least one exercise, and it would be well if he would write several exercises, on all the different kinds of composition required, for instance, in Part II. of this book. After such careful exercise it will be proper for him to write rapidly, and with little or no thought about rules of Rhetoric, and with - little revision.

67. Discard Imitation.-Take no writer or speaker for your model. If so, you will be likely to surpass him in his faults, and fall below him in his merits. Intentionally imitate no one, except it may be for a rhetorical pastime, to see what you can do. In your genuine productions, write from your own mind and heart.

Prescott well says on this subject:

“Indeed, it is impossible to separate language from thought in that delicate blending of both which is called style; at least, it is impossible to produce the same effect with the original by any copy, however literal. We may imitate the structure of a sentence, but the ideas which gave it its peculiar propriety we can not imitate."*

Lessing well says that "Every man should have his own style as he has his own nose."

* Biographical and Critical Miscellanies, by William H. Prescott (Boston, 1861), p. 271.

68. Opinion of Carlyle on the Mode of acquiring a good Style.-Carlyle, whose style is very labored, but is very excellent, according to Coleridge's test-" untranslatableness in words of the same language, without injury to the meaning"-has given some excellent advice on rapid writing. He says:

"The adroit, sound-minded man, will endeavor to spend on each business approximately what of pains it deserves; and with a conscience void of offense will dismiss it then.-And yet, on the other hand, it shall not less but more strenuously be inculcated, that in the way of writing, no great thing was ever, or will ever be done with ease, but with difficulty. Let ready writers, with any faculty in them, lay this to heart. Virgil and Tacitus, were they ready writers? The whole Prophecies of Isaiah are not equal in extent to this cobweb of a Review Article. Shakspeare, we may fancy, wrote with rapidity, but not till he had thought with intensity. No easy writer he, or he had never been a Shakspeare. Neither was Milton one of the mob of gentlemen that write with ease; he did not attain Shakspeare's facility, one perceives, of even writing fast after long preparation, but struggled while he wrote. Goethe also tells us ho 'had nothing sent him in his sleep,' no page of his but he knew well how it came there. It is reckoned to be the best prose, accordingly, that has been written by any modern."*

69. Further Advice.-Such also is the opinion of Brougham, and indeed of nearly if not quite all men competent to judge of the subject. Write carefully then. Remember the example of such men as Plato, whose style the ancients thought worthy to be called divine, and who, it is said, wrote the beginning of his "Republic" many times in a great variety of ways before he was satisfied, and yet the words, as they now stand, seem very simple, and their order the most natural that could be chosen.

The best style is like

Critical and Miscellaneous Essays: collected and republished

by Thomas Carlyle (Boston, 1860), vol. iv. p. 242.

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the best glass, so clear as not to be noticed-but how difficult it must be to produce perfectly faultless glass!

70. Interlineations to be Avoided.-After, however, good habits of composition are formed, much interlineation and change of words ought, if possible, to be avoided. Writers who discipline themselves the most severely at first, generally arrive at the habit of ready, and correct, and appropriate writing. The same principles also apply to extemporaneous speaking.

71. Earnestness Necessary.-It should also be remembered that earnestness is a prime excellence in a speaker or writer. Though we have already quoted Carlyle in this chapter, yet his advice is so appropriate on this subject that we present it:

"Sweep away utterly all frothiness and falsehood from your heart; struggle unweariedly to acquire what is possible for every God-created man, a free, open, humble soul: speak not at all, in any wise, till you have somewhat to speak; care not for the reward of your speaking, but simply, and with undivided mind, for the truth of your speaking."*

* Carlyle's Miscellanies, vol. iii. p. 67.