Speaking of Shakspeare. There may remain a suspicion that we overrate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as bodies appear more gigantic on account of their being disproportioned and misshapen.-History of Great Britain, vol. 1. p. 138. This is studying variety in a period where the beauty lies in uniformity. Better thus: There may remain a suspicion that we overrate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as we overrate the greatness of bodies that are disproportioned and misshapen. Next as to the length of the members that signify the resembling objects. To produce a resemblance between such members, they ought not only to be constructed in the same manner, but as nearly as possible be equal in length. By neglecting this circumstance, the following example is defective in neatness. As the performance of all other religious duties will not avail in the sight of God without charity; so neither will the discharge of all other ministerial duties avail in the sight of men, without a faithful discharge of this principal duty.—Dissertation upon Parties, Dedication. In the following passage are accumulated all the errors that a period expressing a resemblance can well admit. Ministers are answerable for every thing done to the prejudice of the constitution, in the same proportion as the preservation of the constitution in its puri ty and vigour, or the perverting and weakening it, are of greater consequence to the nation, than any other instances of good or bad government.-Dissertation upon Parties, Dedication. Next of a comparison where things are opposed to each other. And here it must be obvious, that if resemblance ought to be studied in the words which express two resembling objects, there is equal reason for studying opposition in the words which express contrasted objects. This rule will be best illustrated by examples of deviations from it : A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes.—Spectator, No. 399. Here the opposition in the thought is neglected in the words, which at first view seem to import that the friend and the enemy are employed in different matters, without any relation to each other, whether of resemblance or of opposition. And therefore the contrast or opposition will be better marked by expressing the thought as follows: A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy his crimes. The following are examples of the same kind. The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he recommends himself to the applause of those about him.-Ibid. No. 73. Better: The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he he gains that of others. Sicut in frugibus pecudibusque, non tantum semina ad servandam indolem valent, quantum terræ proprietas cœlique, sub quo aluntur, mutat.-Liry, lib. 38. § 17. We proceed to a rule of a different kind. During the course of a period the scene ought to be continued without variation: the changing from person to person, from subject to subject, or from person to subject, within the bounds of a single period, distracts the mind, and affords no time for a solid impression. I illustrate this rule by giving examples of deviations from it. Honos alit artes, omnesque incenduntur ad studia gloria ; jacentque ca semper quæ apud quosque improbantur.-Cicero, Tuscul. quæst. l. I. Speaking of the distemper contracted by Alexander bathing in the river Cydnus, and of the cure offered by Philip the physician: Inter hæc a Parmenione, fidissimo purpuratorum, literas accipit, quibus ei denunciabat, ne salutem suam Philippo committeret.—Quintus Curtius, l. 3. cap. 6. Hook, in his Roman history, speaking of Eumenes, who had been beat to the ground with a stone, says, After a short time he came to himself; and the next day, they put him on board his ship, which conveyed him first to Corinth, and thence to the island of Ægina. I give another example of a period which is unpleasant, even by a very slight deviation from the rule: That sort of instruction which is acquired by inculcating an important moral truth, &c. This expression includes two persons, one acquiring, and one inculcating; and the scene is changed without necessity. To avoid this blemish, the thought may be expressed thus: That sort of instruction which is afforded by inculcating, &c. The bad effect of such change of person is remarkable in the following passage. The Britons, daily harassed by cruel inroads from the Picts, were forced to call in the Saxons for their defence, who consequently reduced the greatest part of the island to their own power, drove the Britons into the most remote and mountainous parts, and the rest of the country, in customs, religion, and language, became wholly Saxons.-Letter to the Lord High Treasurer. Swift. The following passage has a change from subject to person. This prostitution of praise is not only a deceit upon the gross of mankind, who take their notion of characters from the learned; but also the better sort must by this means lose some part at least of that desire of fame which is the incentive to generous actions, when they find it promiscuously bestowed on the meritori ous and undeserving.-Guardian, No. 4. Even so slight a change as to vary the construction in the same period, is unpleasant: Annibal luce prima, Balearibus levique alia armatura præmissa, transgressus flumen, ut quosque traduxerat, ita in acie locabat; Gallos Hispanosque equites prope ripam lævo in cornu adversus Romanum equitatum; dextrum cornu Numidis equitibus datum.-Tit. Liv. l. 22. § 46. Speaking of Hannibal's elephants drove back by the enemy upon his own army: Eo magis ruere in suos belluæ, tantoque majorem stragem edere quam inter hostes ediderant, quanto acrius pavor consternatam agit, quam insidentis magistri imperio regitur.-Lio. l. 27. § 14. This passage is also faulty in a different respect, that there is no resemblance between the members of the sentence, though they express a simile. The present head, which relates to the choice of materials, shall be closed with a rule concerning the use of copulatives. Longinus observes, that it animates a period to drop the copulatives; and he gives the following example from Xenophon, Closing their shields together, they were push'd, they fought, they slew, they were slain.-Treatise of the Sublime, cap. 16. A continued sound, if not The reason I take to be what follows. loud, tends to lay us asleep; an interrupted sound rouses and animates by its repeated impulses. Thus feet composed of syllables, being pronounced with a sensible interval between each, make more lively impressions than can be made by a continued sound. riod of which the members are connected by copulatives, produceth an effect upon the mind approaching to that of a continued sound; and therefore the suppressing copulatives must animate a description. It produces a different effect akin to that mentioned; the members of a period connected by proper copulatives, glide smoothly and gently along; and are a proof of sedateness and leisure in the speaker; on the other hand, one in the hurry of passion, neglecting copulatives and other particles, expresses the principal image only; and, for that reason, hurry or quick action is best expressed without copulatives: Veni, vidi, vici, -Ite: Ferte citi flammas, date vela, impellite remos.-Æneid. iv. 593. Quis globus, O civis, caligine volvitur atra? In this view Longinus* justly compares copulatives in a period to strait tying, which in a race obstructs the freedom of motion. It follows, that a plurality of copulatives in the same period ought to be avoided; for if the laying aside copulatives gives force and liveliness, a redundancy of them must render the period languid. I appeal to the following instance, though there are but two copulatives. Upon looking over the letters of my female correspondents, I find several from women complaining of jealous husbands; and, at the same time, protesting their own innocence, and desiring my advice upon this occasion.-Spectator, No. 170. I except the case where the words are intended to express the * Treatise of the Sublim cap. 16. coldness of the speaker, for there the redundancy of copulatives is a beauty : Dining one day at an alderman's in the city, Peter observed him expatiating, after the manner of his brethren, in the praises of a sirloin of beef." Beef," said the sage magistrate," is the king of meat: beef comprehends in it the quintessence of partridge, and quail, and venison, and pheasant, and plum-pudding, and custard."-Tale of a Tub, § 4. And the author shews great delicacy of taste by varying the expression in the mouth of Peter, who is represented more animated: "Bread," says he, " dear brothers, is the staff of life; in which bread is con tained, inclusive, the quintessence of beef, mutton, veal, venison, partridges, plum-pudding, and custard." Another case must also be excepted. Copulatives have a good effect where the intention is to give an impression of a great multitude consisting of many divisions: for example, "The army was composed of Grecians, and Carians, and Lycians, and Pamphylians, and Phrygians." The reason is, that a leisurely survey, which is expressed by the copulatives, makes the parts appear more numerous than they would do by a hasty survey: in the latter case the army appears in one group; in the former, we take, as it were, an accurate survey of each nation and of each division.* We proceed to the second kind of beauty, which consists in a due arrangement of words or materials. This branch of the subject is no less nice than extensive; and I despair of setting it in a clear light, except to those who are well acquainted with the general principles that govern the structure or composition of language. In a thought, generally speaking, there is at least one capital object considered as acting or as suffering. This object is expressed by a substantive noun; its action is expressed by an active verb; and the thing affected by the action is expressed by another substantive noun; its suffering or passive state is expressed by a passive verb; and the thing that acts upon it by a substantive noun. Beside these, which are the capital parts of a sentence or period, there are generally underparts; each of the substantives as well as the verb, may be qualified; time, place, purpose, motive, means, instrument, and a thousand other circumstances, may be necessary to complete the thought. And in what manner these several parts are connected in the expression, will appear from what follows. In a complete thought, or mental proposition, all the members and parts are mutually related, some slightly, some intimately. To put such a thought in words, it is not sufficient that the component ideas be clearly expressed; it is also necessary, that all the relations contained in the thought be expressed according to their different degrees of intimacy. To annex a certain meaning to a certain sound or word requires no art; the great nicety in all languages is, to express the various relations that connect the parts of the thought. Could we suppose this branch of language to be still a secret, it would puzzle, I am apt to think, the acutest grammarian, to invent an expeditious method; and yet, by the guidance merely of nature, the rude and illiterate have been led to a method so perfect, as to appear not susceptible of any improvement; and the next step in our progress shall be to explain that method. Words that import a relation must be distinguished from such as do not. Substantives commonly imply no relation; such as animal, man, tree, river. Adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, imply a relation the adjective good must relate to some being possessed of that quality; the verb write is applied to some person who writes; and the adverbs moderately, diligently, have plainly a reference to some action which they modify. When a relative word is introduced, it must be signified by the expression to what word it relates, without which the sense is not complete. For answering that purpose, I observe in Greek and Latin two different methods. Adjectives are declined as well as subtantives and declensions serve to ascertain their connexion; if the word that expresses the subject be, for example, in the nominative case, so also must the word be that expresses its quality; example, vir bonus. Again, verbs are related, on the one hand, to the agent, and on the other, to the subject upon which the action is exerted; and a contrivance similar to that now mentioned, serves to express the double relation; the nominative case is appropriated to the agent, the accusative to the passive subject; and the verb is put in the first, second, or third person, to intimate the connexion with the word that signifies the agent; examples, Ego amo Tulliam; tu amas Semproniam; Brutus amat Portiam. The other method is by juxtaposition; which is necessary with respect to such words only as are not declined, adverbs, for example, articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. In the English language there are few declensions, and, therefore, juxtaposition is our chief resource: adjectives accompany their substantives; an adverb accompanies the word it qualifies; and the verb occupies the middle place between the active and passive subjects to which it relates. It must be obvious, that those terms which have nothing relative in their signification, cannot be connected in so easy a manner. When two substantives happen to be connected, as cause and effect, as principal and accessory, or in any other manner, such connexion cannot be expressed by contiguity solely; for words must often, in a period, be placed together which are not thus related. The relation between substantives, therefore, cannot otherwise be expressed but by particles denoting the relation. Latin, indeed, and Greek, by their declensions, go a certain length to express such relations without the aid of particles. The relation of property, for example, between Cæsar and his horse, is expresssed by * "Taking advantage of a declension to separate an adjective from its substantive, as is commonly practised in Latin, though it detract not from perspicuity, is certainly less neat than the English method of juxtaposition. Contiguity is more expressive of an intimate relation, than resemblance merely of the final syllables. Latin, indeed, has evidently the advantage when the adjective and substantive happen to be connected by contiguity, as well as by resemblance of the Anal syllables. |