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 AWEUNIVER^/a ^lOSANGE
 
 RHETORIC 
 
 ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE
 
 /-/ 2- W 
 
 RHETORIC 
 
 ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 "Enolisb Stsle in public discourse " 
 
 BY 
 
 AUSTIN PHELPS, D.D. 
 
 LATE BARTLET PROFESSOR OF SACRED RHETORIC IN ANDOVER 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 AND 
 
 HENRY ALLYN FRINK, Ph.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF LOGIC, RHETORIC, AND PUBLIC SPEAKING IN AMHERST COLLEGE 
 
 AND FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AND ENGLISH 
 
 IN HAMILTON COLLEGE 
 
 STATENORMAL SCHOOL, 
 
 [JOB AHGBOE. ••-' , a | 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 i3 9 5
 
 Copyright, 1895, by 
 CHARLES SCRIBXER'S SONS 
 
 *%.* Examples are published from Professor Earle's "English Prose," from 
 Hodgson's "Errors of Speech" and from Dr. Abbott's "How to Write 
 Clearly," through the courtesy of Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, Messrs. 
 D. Appleton er 5 Co. , and Messrs. Macmillan &* Co. , respectively. 
 
 TROW DIRECTORY 
 
 PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY 
 
 New YORK
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 One of the most valuable works that we have on the sub- 
 ject which it treats is " English Style in Public Discourse." 
 When these lectures, which were originally delivered by the 
 late lamented Professor Phelps to the students of Andover 
 Theological Seminary, were given to the public, twelve 
 years ago, their rare merit was at once recognized. Nor is 
 " English Style in Public Discourse " to lose its place in the 
 first rank of standard works on the characteristics and use 
 of our language. The philosophical basis on which it rests ; 
 the clear, interesting, and inspiring presentation of the sub- 
 ject ; the wealth of illustrations from the choicest fields of 
 literature ; the fine, discriminating taste of its criticisms and 
 suggestions ; the broad culture and good sense which mark 
 its treatment of disputed points, make the book of perma- 
 nent worth for reference and general reading. For such 
 purposes the book may be still obtained in the form in 
 which it first appeared. The publishers and the writer have 
 thought, however, that these lectures, with alterations and 
 additions, might have a larger usefulness where their influ- 
 ence seems especially to be needed, as a means of rhetor- 
 ical instruction in our schools and colleges. An examina- 
 tion of " English Style in Public Discourse " in its present 
 form will, therefore, show that it is a text-book which has 
 peculiar claims to the consideration of teachers of rhetoric. 
 
 I. It aims with constant directness at the main purpose 
 in the study of rhetoric, which is to give power to present 
 effectively the thought of the writer or speaker to the reader 
 or hearer. These lectures were prepared to teach young
 
 VI PREFACE 
 
 men how to write and to speak, who were almost immedi- 
 ately to put to the test every direction and suggestion made 
 by their teacher, as they spoke on matters the most impor- 
 tant that can command human attention. For this reason, 
 the book does not resemble in its interest and stimulus the 
 conventional text-book. Its instructions, thorough and 
 complete as they are, have not the spirit of the drill ser- 
 geant, but of the officer who would prepare his soldiers to 
 move into instant action. Hence, the book will not seem 
 to the student a treatise on rhetorical terms and processes 
 with which to be acquainted theoretically is enough. It is a 
 book that, as he will soon learn, has for its one purpose to 
 make him the immediate master of these terms and proc- 
 esses, and all other rhetorical resources for a practical end. 
 Recognizing, as the student must, this purpose, and feeling, 
 as he will, its inspiration, he will not share the indifference, 
 and possibly aversion, which so many have to the study of 
 rhetoric ; for he will see the end of its instruction to be too 
 real and vital for him to find in the means no interest. 
 
 II. The point of view from which the student considers 
 the subject is also attractive and invigorating. When style 
 seems to be only a dexterous manipulation of words, and 
 composition mere verbal mechanism, the student is kept 
 from the sources of his power and skill as a writer and 
 speaker, and so from any progressive enjoyment in his work. 
 But at every step this book shows that it is thought which 
 is the basis of style and the source of its power and charm ; 
 and, that only in the conscientious observance of these es- 
 sential relations between thought and style are to be gained 
 clearness, force, and beauty of expression. 
 
 III. This book keeps constantly before the student not 
 only the dependence of style on thought, but also, what is 
 of great practical importance, the true relation of the writer 
 to his reader or the speaker to his hearer. Of two large 
 classes of writers and speakers, one class evidently under-
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 stands the subject, but not the subject in relation to the 
 reader or hearer ; the other class has not simply a full 
 knowledge of the subject, but also of the means by which 
 it is to be made effective with those to whom it is especially 
 addressed. It is unnecessary to say who are the writers 
 and speakers of power. The lectures which form the foun- 
 dation of this book were prepared originally, as has been in- 
 timated, to teach young men the art of oral address. This 
 means that a guiding influence in its instruction are the re- 
 lations between those who write and speak and those who 
 read and hear. 
 
 It is to be remembered, however, that there is a large 
 range of composition not intended to be spoken, yet which, 
 to be effective in its purpose, must have the directness, 
 force, and pointedness of oral address. In fact, nearly all 
 successful composition — except, perhaps, the higher forms 
 of literature, which are not a means, but in themselves an 
 end — is marked by these characteristics of the spoken word. 
 One of the most common mistakes in rhetorical training, is 
 the failure to make the necessary distinction between this 
 kind of composition and that of the purely literary type. 
 Said a well-known professor of sacred rhetoric in one of 
 our most prominent theological seminaries : " It is not 
 often that I find a college graduate who is able, in his writ- 
 ing, to distinguish between composition addressed to the 
 reader and to the hearer. I am, therefore, compelled to 
 undo largely the rhetorical work of the college course be- 
 fore the student can put his sermon into a form which he 
 can deliver, and to which a congregation will listen." 
 
 Literature proper which appeals to the thought, the im- 
 agination, the sensibilities, simply through the eye, is but 
 slightly subject to the rules of rhetoric. The essential ele- 
 ments of literary power and beauty are indefinable, illusive, 
 and are not to be communicated by direct instruction. The 
 formal study of rhetoric will, therefore, be at the most no
 
 Vlll PREFACE 
 
 more than a preliminary step in helping to produce the suc- 
 cessful sketch, story, or literary and critical essay. 
 
 If, however, " the oral," as Professor Earle says in his 
 " English Prose," " is the source and parent of all that is de- 
 veloped in the literary," rhetorical training has a province 
 largely and immediately fruitful in that broad range of 
 practical composition, which, because it is so closely allied 
 to oral address, permits instruction to be definite, positive, 
 and helpful. But while this book perhaps stands alone as a 
 text-book for schools and colleges in its peculiar adaptation 
 to teach oral address, its range of instruction will be found 
 to include all the rhetorical processes that can be directly 
 taught with any degree of clearness and definiteness, and, 
 hence with any measure of profit. 
 
 IV. A fourth claim that this book has to consideration is 
 that indirectly it prepares for the study of English liter- 
 ature. This is not because it attempts to teach how to write 
 a poem, to plan a story, or to portray a character. It is be- 
 cause the book in its original form is the product of a rare 
 culture, and will give unconsciously that invaluable prepara- 
 tion for the study of literature which comes from intimate 
 association with the highest type of literary taste and train- 
 ing. Nor have these lectures simply the literary spirit. 
 They abound also in delightful references to the lives and 
 works of representative writers, as well as draw largely 
 their illustrations from the best that is to be found in lit- 
 erature. If such means fail to help awaken an early in- 
 terest in literary studies and to serve in forming a good 
 literary taste, it may be asked whence is to come the 
 influence ? 
 
 V. Another peculiar advantage which this book offers is 
 the use that may be made of it in recitation and examina- 
 tion. A large practical acquaintance with students in writ- 
 ing and speaking shows me that young men now in college 
 have not the ease and power of expression, oral or written,
 
 PREFACE IX 
 
 which students of the same age had several years ago. 
 This, I believe, is to be accounted for mainly by the pre- 
 vailing methods of instruction. The student, in the class- 
 room, has not the daily drill in standing before his class 
 and making an extended recitation, which formerly was an 
 unconscious means of developing and training his powers 
 of speech. Written examinations as most often conducted 
 are not to be accepted as a substitute for this exercise. 
 Whatever their benefits in other directions, they are, as a 
 rule, not an aid but a hindrance to a command of language. 
 Even increased attention, in secondary schools, to studies 
 in English literature — if we are to judge from the examina- 
 tion papers, recently published by Harvard University, that 
 are presented by students for entrance to college — does not 
 seem as yet to give practical power in the use of English. 
 
 But if " the oral," to repeat Professor Earle's statement, 
 " is the source and parent of all that is developed in the 
 literary," then surely some opportunity ought to be given 
 the student, in a course in rhetoric at least, to develop and 
 train this power of oral expression. What is the value of 
 such training I know from an extended observation. For 
 eight or nine years I made it a feature of an early course 
 in rhetoric with college classes, to have, for a part of each 
 hour, a topical recitation of several minutes from certain 
 members of the class. The student was required to give 
 the substance of the lecture in his words, with the under- 
 standing, that, in this particular exercise, the merit of his 
 work depended as much on the good form of his expression 
 as on the evidence of his knowledge of the especial theme 
 of the day. As the same student, in the later years of his 
 course, stood before me in the extemporaneous work of de- 
 bates, or as he prepared in written form his oration, dis- 
 cussion, or essay, he gave unmistakable proof of the value 
 of that early discipline. Students coming from other insti- 
 tutions who had not been so trained, always acknowledged
 
 X PREFACE 
 
 their disadvantage in competition with men who, in recita- 
 tion, for a year, had been subjected to such rigorous exer- 
 cise in this most practical form of composition. 
 
 We say to the student " speak as you talk ! write as you 
 talk !" But what opportunities do we give him to talk on 
 subjects similar to those on which we expect him to write 
 or to speak ? For the purpose of giving such opportunities, 
 and, therefore, such training, the method of presentation in 
 this book is especially adapted. The orderly plan in the 
 treatment of each division of the subject, and the full am- 
 plification and illustration of every principle and process, 
 with the analysis which I have provided for each chapter, 
 afford opportunity for the best kind of exercise, in repro- 
 ducing the thought of the author in the expression of the 
 student. 
 
 The chapters of the book are also equally well adapted for 
 reproduction in written work. No better exercise in early 
 composition can be required than for the student to repro- 
 duce in the class-room, without the book, one, two, or more 
 chapters, according to the general plan and its various divi- 
 sions, with the examples and illustrations under each divi- 
 sion of the subject of the chapter. 
 
 VI. To make this work complete as a text-book for 
 schools and colleges I have added Part II., which consists 
 mainly of practical examples and exercises that illustrate 
 fully every principle and process of the most important 
 chapters. These examples and exercises in number go into 
 the hundreds, and are of such wide range and variety as to 
 give the student not only adequate practice in each element 
 of style, but also an intimate acquaintance with the promi- 
 nent characteristics of the English language. 
 
 Exercises of a large number have been so arranged that 
 in their preparation the student must consult dictionaries 
 and other works of reference, and by independent inves- 
 tigation and study reach his conclusion, and prepare him-
 
 PREFACE XI 
 
 self to defend it before the teacher and the class. Some of 
 the work in this direction will be found to be of the high- 
 est value ; and none of it, I am sure, will fail to reward well 
 the time and thought which the student and the teacher 
 may give to the exercise. While it is hoped that the 
 method indicated by these exercises will be closely fol- 
 lowed, yet there are examples and exercises in great num- 
 ber which can be prepared by using only the text-book. 
 
 It will be observed, however, that in regard to examples 
 about which critics and general good usage are at variance, 
 I have, as a rule, referred the student to the works where 
 these points are fully discussed. This has been done that 
 the student may early see what is the relative authority of 
 usage and of the laws of language. Moreover, in no other 
 way, at this period of his studies, can he so well learn the 
 characteristics of English speech as by following, with the 
 guidance of his teacher, some of the discussions to which I 
 have referred him. When opinions have been indicated in 
 the exercises on these disputed matters, the decision has 
 not been so much from the arbitrary point of view of the 
 purist, as it has been in accordance with the needs of the 
 language and the usage of good writers and speakers. 
 The student should be kept from license in the use of Eng- 
 lish ; but he should be permitted also to know the full 
 liberty of our noble speech. 
 
 The reason why examples and exercises have not been 
 provided for the chapters on Elegance and Naturalness, is 
 because I think that these elements of style are not to be 
 taught directly by formal application of rule and process. 
 If taught at all beyond the general instruction of the chap- 
 ters, they will be taught by finer methods, which the defects 
 or aptitudes of the individual student must largely deter- 
 mine. 
 
 In adapting to the requirements of a text-book for 
 schools and colleges the lectures of Professor Phelps, I
 
 XU PREFACE 
 
 have reduced them by omissions, condensation, and alter- 
 ations nearly one third. Great care has been taken, how- 
 ever, that the continuity of thought should not be broken, 
 nor the force of its presentation weakened. Not to deprive 
 the book of its original life and interest, a number of illus- 
 trations has been retained that in an ordinary text-book 
 would probably be rejected. If the book is used in recita- 
 tion and examination, as has been suggested, the illustra- 
 tions will not seem too many. Should circumstances not 
 favor this method of work, the book may be successfully 
 used with various other methods. While it may be said 
 that the book is unique in its adaptation to certain kinds of 
 rhetorical work, it is a flexible text-book. In connection 
 with the examples and exercises which go with the first 
 eighteen chapters, it is possible not simply to vary the in- 
 struction from class to class, but to give each student work 
 fitted to his especial needs or gifts at almost every step in 
 the course. 
 
 Henry Allyn Frink. 
 
 Amherst College, September 27, 1894.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 ENGLISH STYLE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Style 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Style defined by Wordsworth, Swift, and Buffon — Style defined by 
 the Author — Popular Conception of Style as Sophistry or Or- 
 nament — Qualities of Style as Qualities of Thought — Classifica- 
 tion of the Fundamental Qualities of Style — Purity and Precision — 
 Individuality — Perspicuity, Energy, Elegance — Naturalness — 
 Reasons why Individuality should not be Studied as a Quality of 
 Style I 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Purity of Style 
 
 Its Definition — Its Standards — The Laws of Language and Usage — 
 Restrictions on Usage — Present Usage — National Usage — Rep- 
 utable Usage, 10 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Violations of Purity of Style 
 
 Obsolete and Obsolescent Words — James Russell Lowell's Test — The 
 Obsolete in Poetry, in Prayer, in Ordinary Discourse — New 
 Words — Absolute Creations — Contractions — Expansions — New 
 Words Formed Facetiously — New Words by Union of Greek 
 Terminations and Old Substantives, by Compounding Old 
 Words, 19
 
 XIV CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Violations of Purity of Style (Continued) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 New Words a Necessity — Six Principles by which to test New Words 
 — Importation of Foreign Words ; often caused by Pedantry, by 
 Undue Regard for Etymology, by the Composite Character of 
 English — Provincialisms — Vulgarisms, 27 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Reasons for the Cultivation of Purity of Style 
 
 Value of Purity of Style — -Purity the Foundation of the Most Effec- 
 tive Style — An Aid to Perspicuity, to Energy, to the Best Re- 
 sults of Public Oral Discourse — Testimony of Literary Authority — 
 Rapid Spread of English — English the Language of Colonization 
 and of Commerce, 37 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Purity of Style (Concluded) 
 
 Reasons for its Cultivation (Continued) — Danger that the English Lan- 
 guage will be Corrupted in this Country ; by Republican Influence, 
 by Extent of Territory ; by Variety of the Immigrants — Means of 
 Acquiring Purity of Style — Classic Conversation — Classic Au- 
 thorship — Use of Treatises on Language — Habits of Composing, 45 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 Precision of Style 
 
 Its Definition — Its Violations by the Omission of Single Words ; by 
 the Wrong Use or the Omission of "It;" by Wrong Use of 
 Moods and Tenses of Verbs ; by Wrong Use of Connectives, . . 54 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Precision of Style (Continued) 
 
 Its Violation by a Confused Use of Literal and Figurative Words ; by 
 Confounding Synonyms and Words Similar in Orthography ; by 
 Defect in the Number of Words ; by Excessive Conciseness ; by 
 Excessive Redundancy ; by Looseness of Construction, .... 60
 
 CONTENTS XV 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Precision of Style (Continued) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Causes of the Formation of a Loose Style — Indiscriminate Thinking — 
 Excessive Care for Expression — Want of Command of Language 
 — Means of Acquiring a Command of Language ; by Power to 
 Select and Reject Words ; by Critical Study and Use of Language ; 
 by Knowledge of the Synonyms of Words, of the Figurative Uses 
 of Words ; by Retentive Control of a Good Vocabulary— Com- 
 mand of Language an Acquisition not a Gift — The Vocabulary 
 of Effective Speech not Voluminous, 68 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Precision of Style (Concluded) 
 
 Popular Idea of a Precise Style— Inducements to the Cultivation of a 
 Precise Style — It is not Pedantic ; it promotes Perspicuity, Energy, 
 Elegance, and Genuineness of Style ; it is approved for Its Own 
 Sake ; it is a Popular Style, 79 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Perspicuity of Style 
 
 Its Foundation in Clearness of Thought — Obscurity from Absence of 
 Thought ; from Vagueness of Thought ; from the Affectation of 
 Profound Thought ; from Real Profoundness of Thought ; from 
 Rapidity in the Succession of Thought, 87 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Perspicuity of Style (Continued) 
 
 Perspicuity as Affected by the Use of Imagery ; by Incongruous 
 Imagery ; by Mixed Imagery ; by Learned Imagery ; by Excess of 
 Imagery ; by Entire Absence of Imagery — Perspicuity as Affected 
 by the Words of Discourse ; by Absence of a Saxon Style ; by Use 
 of Ambiguous Words, of General for Specific Words, of Abstract 
 for Concrete Words ; by Excessive Diffuseness ; by Excessive 
 Conciseness, 96
 
 XVI CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Perspicuity of Style (Continued) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Perspicuity of Construction — Defective Arrangement of Pronouns and 
 Antecedents — Repetition of Pronouns with Different Antece- 
 dents — Defective Arrangement of Adjectives and Adverbs — De- 
 fective Arrangement of Qualifying Clauses, 107 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Perspicuity of Style (Concluded) 
 
 Wrong Order of Thought in the Whole Structure — Excessive or Care- 
 less Use of Ellipsis — Abuse of the Parenthesis — Use of the Ana- 
 coluthon — The Introduction of Irrelevant Matter, 116 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Energy of Style 
 
 Its Definition — Improper Subjects of Energetic Expressions — Unim- 
 portant Thought — Indefinite Thought — Conditions of Forcible 
 Composition — Enthusiasm — An Immediate Object in View — Self- 
 Possession, 124 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Energy and Language 
 
 Energy as Promoted by the Use of Pure Words, of Specific Words, of 
 Short Words, of Words whose Sound is Significant of their Sense 
 — Conciseness as an Element of Energy — Tautology — Verbose- 
 ness— Circumlocution of Thought, 134 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Energy and Language (Continued) 
 
 Exception in which Conciseness is not Favorable to Energy ; in Affec- 
 tation of Conciseness ; in Composition requiring Diffuseness ; in 
 Descriptive Writing ; in Expressing Intense Emotion — Construc- 
 tion of the Sentence an Element of Energy— The Placing of 
 Emphatic Words — The Use and the Omission of Conjunctive Be- 
 ginnings — The Use of the Periodic Structure — Advantages of the 
 Period, 145
 
 CONTENTS XVli 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Energy and Language (Concluded) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Energy as Promoted by Rhetorical Figure — Climax — Anthesis — In- 
 terrogation — Colloquy — Hyperbole — Irony — Exclamation — Vis- 
 ion — Apostrophe, 156 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Elegance of Style 
 
 Its Definition — Elegance of Style Dependent on Delicacy of Thought 
 — Smallness of Object Essential to Beauty — Feminine Qualities 
 of Truth — Prejudice Against an Elegant Style — Intensified by our 
 Temperament — Aggravated by Literary Affectations — Answers to 
 this Prejudice — Means of Acquiring Delicacy of Thought ; by Cul- 
 tivating Refinement of Perception ; by Believing it a Possible At- 
 tainment for Everyone, 164 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Elegance of Style (Continued) 
 
 Offences Against Elegance of Style in Choice and Arrangement of 
 Words ; in Construction ; in Imagery, Inelegant Imagery, Com- 
 monplace Imagery, Unfinished Imagery, Mongrel Imagery — Ele- 
 gance as an Aid to other Qualities of Style — Elegance and 
 Energy — Chief Peril of a Studied Beauty, 171 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Elegance oe Style (Concluded) 
 
 Vividness as an Element of Elegance of Style — Demands of Vividness 
 — Distinctness of Thought — Sensitiveness of Feeling — Simplicity 
 of Language — An Easy Command of Imagery — Variety as an 
 Element of Elegance of Style — Means of Acquiring Variety — Ver- 
 satility of Thought — Varied Means of Presenting a Subject — Va- 
 ried Vocabulary and Constructions — Varied Illustrations — Varied 
 Delivery, 180
 
 XV 111 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 Naturalness of Style 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Its Definition — Relation to all other Qualities of Style — Characteristics 
 of Naturalness — Fitness of Style to Subject — Fitness of Style to 
 the Relations of Hearers — Fitness of Style to the Relations of 
 the Speaker — Characteristics of Unnaturalness — An Apologetic 
 Style — An Apathetic Style — Naturalness Adapted to Oral Discourse 
 — Means of Acquiring Naturalness of Style — Mastery of Subject 
 — Self-forgetfulness in Composing — Absorbing Interest in the 
 Aim of Discourse — Practice of Composition, 192 
 
 PART II 
 
 PRACTICAL EXERCISES IN THE FUNDA- 
 MENTAL QUALITIES OF ENGLISH STYLE 
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 
 
 (CHAPTERS II., III., IV., V., AND VI. OF PART l) 
 
 Obsolete and Obsolescent Words — Contractions and Abbreviations — 
 Expansion of Old Words — New Words — Americanisms — Amer- 
 ican and English Usage of Words — Words Condemned by Verbal 
 Critics — Colloquial Words, Cant, and Slang — Errors in the Use of 
 Prepositions — Miscellaneous Errors, 209 
 
 Exercises Without Reference to Dictionaries and Other 
 
 Books 
 
 Notes by Professor Phelps on Violations of Purity — Exercise in Apply- 
 ing the Criticisms of Professor Phelps, 229 
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 
 
 (CHAPTERS VII., VIII., IX. AND X. OF TART i) 
 
 Errors in the Use of " It " — Errors in Comparison — Errors in the 
 Use of Tenses — Errors in the Use of Verbs from Ellipsis — Errors 
 in the Use of the Subjunctive Mood — Errors in the Use of Con-
 
 CONTENTS XIX 
 
 nectives — Errors in the Use of Synonyms and of Words of 
 Similar Orthography — Blunders in Construction — Synonyms to 
 be prepared from Worcester's Unabridged Dictionary — From 
 Webster's International Dictionary, 24S 
 
 Exercises Without Reference to Dictionaries and Other 
 
 Books 
 
 Notes by Professor Phelps on Violations of Precision, 265 
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 
 
 (CHAPTERS XI., XII., XIII., AND XIV. OF PART i) 
 
 Figurative Language— Saxon-English Words Substituted for Words 
 of Latin or Greek Origin — Generic Words and Specific Words — 
 Abstract Words and Concrete Words — Errors in the Arrange- 
 ment of Pronouns and their Antecedents — Errors in the Use of 
 the Same Pronoun with Different Antecedents — Errors in the 
 Case of Pronouns — Errors in the Number of the Verb when 
 a Pronoun is the Nominative — Errors in the Omission of Relative 
 Pronouns — Errors in the Arrangement of Adjectives and Adverbs 
 — Errors in the Arrangement of Qualifying Clauses — Errors in 
 the Whole Structure of the Sentence — Errors in the Use of Ellip- 
 sis — Errors in the Introduction of Irrelevant Matter, .... 275 
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OF STYLE 
 
 (CHAPTERS XV., XVI., XVII., AND XVIII. OF PART I ) 
 
 Short Words and Long Words — Words having Sounds Significant of 
 their Sense — Examples for Correction in Tautology, in Verbose- 
 ness ; in Circumlocution — Examples of Conciseness for Approval 
 or Criticism — Examples for Correction in Placing Important 
 Words and Parts of the Sentence ; in the Wrong Use, or the 
 Omission of Connectives — The Loose Sentence and the Period — 
 Climax — Antithesis — Interrogation, 292
 
 PART I 
 ENGLISH STYLE
 
 ENGLISH STYLE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 STYLE 
 
 I. — Definition of Style. 
 
 What is style ? One critic answers, " Style relates to the 
 words and sentences of composition." True: but so does 
 grammar ; so does syntax ; so does language. Are these 
 the synonyms of style ? Another declares, " Style is that 
 part of rhetoric which treats of the expression of thought by 
 language." But argument does the same ; grammar also 
 does the same. Are these synonymous with style ? A 
 third defines, " Style is the body of thought;" or, as 
 Wordsworth puts it, " Style is the incarnation of thought." 
 But this is description, not definition. A fourth says, after 
 Dean Swift, "Style is proper words in proper places." 
 But any good composition is that: "Paradise Lost " is 
 that. Have we no conception of style, abstract from its 
 illustrations? A fifth responds, "Style is character." Buf- 
 fon has it, " Style is the man himself." But body and 
 soul are that: are they style? This, again, is descriptive, 
 not definitive. Sometimes it is not true. The chief thing 
 which does not appear in some specimens of style is the 
 person of the writer. Anonymous authorship might be 
 well-nigh impossible if style always disclosed the writer's 
 individuality. Of acknowledged authorship, are we not
 
 4 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 often obliged to confess, in reading a book, that we cannot 
 become acquainted with the man who wrote it ? He remains 
 at the end as much a stranger to the reader as the reader 
 is to him. 
 
 The chief difficulty in framing a definition of style is to 
 distinguish it from the term "language." Let the follow- 
 ing be tested as an experiment : " Style is the expression of 
 the qualities of thought in language." The pith of this for- 
 mula is, that it builds style upon thought, not upon expres- 
 sion alone ; yet not upon thought alone, but upon expres- 
 sion as well. This is probably all that De Quincey means 
 when he calls style "the organ of thinking." 
 
 II. — Two Popular Conceptions of Style. 
 
 Two popular conceptions of style demand notice, how- 
 ever, between which it vibrates. One is that of sophistry, 
 Sophistry— Or- expression used to mislead : the other is that 
 nament. f ornament, expression used for display. 
 
 Both of these assume that style is all outside. It is cun- 
 ning in the use of words. It is the dress, the shell, the husk. 
 A thought is a thought " for a' that." So the good sense of 
 men will reason on any such theory as this. One writer 
 expresses with amusing artlessness this degrading concep- 
 tion by soberly defining style to be "the art of arrange- 
 ment applied to words." Observe it is an art, it is an art 
 of arrangement only, it is an art applied from without, it 
 is concerned with words only. Not a glimpse is visible 
 here of thought, of organic growth, of words created and 
 swayed by things. A comic song is a more respectable 
 product than such a specimen of style. A "negro melody," 
 in which rhythm supplants thought, would fill such a for- 
 mula. A Cherokee war-song is vastly more worthy of 
 scholarly study. If style be such, the study of it is con- 
 temptible.
 
 STYLE 5 
 
 Test the correctness of the principle here advanced by 
 a criticism of a few specimens of striking composition. 
 What can you conceive the style to be, as "Odeonimmor- 
 distinct from the thought, in the first stan- talit y-" 
 za of Wordsworth's "Ode on Immortality?" 
 
 " Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting : 
 
 The soul that riseth with us, our life's star, 
 Hath had elsewhere its setting, 
 
 And cometh from afar. 
 Not in entire forgetfulness, 
 And not in utter nakedness, 
 But trailing clouds of glory, do we come, 
 From God who is our home." 
 
 This we call an imaginative, a figurative, a poetic style. 
 True : but divest it of its imaginative forms, and yet ex- 
 press all the weight it carries, if you can. It is impossible. 
 The very measure is an element in the expression of the 
 ideas. The thought is shorn of somewhat if you change 
 the measure. The style grows to the thought, as the sea- 
 shell to its occupant. Poetic rhythm often is to thought 
 what the down is on the cheek of a peach : without it the 
 peach is something less. But admit that you can transform 
 poetry to prose, then what is the thought as distinct from 
 the prose style ? Change the language ; say something 
 else than "trailing clouds of glory ;" divest the style of 
 figure — and have you not clipped the thought? The figure 
 is the thought, in part : every curve, every indentation of it, 
 every vibration of its winged utterance, is necessary to the 
 full and rounded expression of the idea. 
 
 The Lord's Prayer is, perhaps, the simplest form of 
 speech in any language. It is taught to children. It is 
 used in the precative mood, which, of all The Lord's 
 
 moods, is the least friendly to artifice. Prayer. 
 
 Here, then, if anywhere, mere forms of speech might be
 
 6 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 supposed to be interchangeable, and therefore the choice of 
 forms of no moment. But change the style of the Lord's 
 Prayer, and yet express all the thought, with all its sug- 
 gested and related ideas, if you can. You cannot do it. 
 Even translation does affect this most perfect original of 
 the precative style. It is not equal to itself in all lan- 
 guages. 
 
 III. — Qualities of Style are Qualities of Thought. 
 
 The principle, then, holds good everywhere ; and, the 
 more perfect the style, the more absolute is the principle. 
 Style is thought. Qualities of style are qual- 
 ities of thought. Forms of style are thought 
 in form. In every specimen of perfect style this principle 
 tolerates no question of its authority. Not only is thought 
 primary, and expression secondary : thought is absolute, it 
 is imperial. Expression as an independent entity is words 
 without sense. This principle is the corner-stone of all 
 manly criticism in literature. Every possible excellence in 
 style grows out of it : every possible defect grows out of 
 the neglect or denial of it. A writer of superior mental 
 force, starting with this principle alone, might, in time, 
 work his way, by the sheer force of original thinking, to 
 supreme perfection in literary expression. Yet, starting 
 without it, a lifetime of criticism and experiment could not 
 create a style of tolerable quality. 
 
 IV. — Classification of the Fundamental Qualities 
 
 of Style. 
 
 An important preliminary to our discussion is the classifi- 
 cation of the fundamental qualities of style. Four distinct 
 Four distinct things lie at the basis of these qualities, 
 things. These are thought, language, the speak- 
 
 er, and the hearer. Out of the relations of these four 
 things the fundamental qualities of a good style grow.
 
 STYLE 7 
 
 Out of the relations of thought to language grow Purity 
 and Precision. Purity comprises all those qualities which 
 grow out of the laws of grammar. A good style is con- 
 formed to certain laws of language which are expressed in 
 grammar. Precision includes all that is essential to the ex- 
 pression of no more, no less, and no other, than the mean- 
 ing which the writer purposes to express. 
 
 One quality fundamental to a good style grows out of 
 the relation of thought and language to the writer or 
 speaker. We term it Individuality. It is that quality by 
 which the speaker diffuses himself through his style ; not 
 merely that by which he impresses himself upon his style, 
 but that by which he lives and breathes within and through- 
 out its every variation and sinuosity of expression. It is 
 that which Buffon had in mind when he said, " Style is the 
 man himself," and which others have meant by saying that 
 "style is character." 
 
 Out of the relations of thought and language, and the 
 speaker to the hearer, grow three qualities of a good style. 
 They are perspicuity, energy, and elegance. Perspicuity 
 expresses the clearness of the thought to the perceptions of 
 the hearer. Energy expresses the force of the thought to 
 the sensibilities of the hearer. Elegance expresses the 
 beauty of the thought to the taste of the hearer. All these 
 are relative to the culture of the hearer. 
 
 One quality remains. It results from a fit selection and 
 a due proportioning of the qualities already named. It is 
 Naturalness of style. It is that quality by which thought, 
 as expressed in language, appeals to the sense of fitness in 
 the hearer. 
 
 These seven qualities, and only these, are fundamental in 
 the criticism of style. All other qualities naturally fall into 
 the rank of tributaries to these. These will therefore con- 
 stitute the themes in the ensuing chapters, but with one ex- 
 ception ; viz., that of Individuality of style.
 
 8 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 At the first view it may seem unreasonable to make this 
 
 omission ; but it is made deliberately, after vain attempts to 
 
 discuss this quality in a manner fitted to the 
 
 Whv mdividu- . 
 
 ality is not to be practical uses of a public speaker. As a sub- 
 ject of theoretic criticism only, it can be dis- 
 cussed, of course, ad libitum j but, as a subject of practical 
 use, it is not a proper theme of critical research. The 
 more sedulously a speaker studies and strives to gain it, 
 the less will he have of it. He must be a man of rare 
 genius if he does not fall into servitude to some counter- 
 feit of it. 
 
 When a man sits for his portrait, the surest way of 
 securing upon the canvas another man, not him, is that he 
 A man and his should set himself to work profoundly think- 
 portrait. j n g f himself — how he looks : are his eyes 
 
 upon the right point of the compass ? is his mouth closed 
 with the proper degree of compression ? are wrinkles visi- 
 ble in his forehead ? is the head poised at the right angle ? 
 do the arms hang limp, or stiff ? and so on. The more he 
 thinks thus of himself, the less will he be himself on the 
 canvas. He can defeat the genius of a prince of artists, 
 solely by the conscious intentness of his own mind upon his 
 body. Many of the most perfect likenesses are taken with- 
 out the knowledge of the subjects of them. Portraits of 
 artists painted by themselves are never their best work. 
 The gallery of such portraits in Florence is justly criticised 
 by Hawthorne as abounding with autobiographic peculi- 
 arities which in perfect likenesses would 
 
 Hawthorne. . , 
 
 be invisible. To be himself in a n ything a 
 rna n_m ust not think of being it . An English officer said of 
 the Duke of Wellington that he did not write as well after 
 The Duke of the battle of Waterloo as before ; because 
 Wellington. ne k new that whatever he wrote would be 
 
 printed and he wrote thinking how it would look in 
 print.
 
 STYLE 9 
 
 The principle illustrated in these examples governs the 
 art of acquiring individuality of style. A speaker cannot 
 Wh . be impress his own individuality upon his dis- 
 
 studied and when course consciously. He cannot, therefore, 
 
 not to be studied. . 
 
 study this quality successfully for any practi- 
 cal uses. As a theme of rhetorical science, with frequent 
 incursions into psychological science, it can be studied ; 
 but, as a theme of practical criticism for uses in public 
 speech, the less a man knows of it the better. It is a qual- 
 ity which must come unbidden, as happiness does to the 
 unconscious recipient : it cannot be produced by force of 
 will, nor acquired by studious discipline. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 STYLE. 
 
 I. Definition of Style. 
 
 i. Definition by Wordsworth, Swift, Buff on and others. 
 2. Definition by the Author. 
 
 II. Two Popular Conceptions of Style. 
 
 i. Sophistry. 
 2. Ornament. 
 
 (a) " Ode on Immortality." 
 
 (b) The Lord's Prayer. 
 
 III. Qualities of Style are Qualities of Thought. 
 
 IV. Classification of the Fundamental Qualities of Style. 
 
 i. Relations of Thought and Language — Purity and Precision. 
 
 2. Relations of Thought and Language to the Writer or Speaker 
 
 — Individuality. 
 
 3. Relations of Thought and Language, and the Speaker to the 
 
 Hearer — Perspicuity, Energy, Elegance. 
 
 4. Due proportion of Purity, Precision, Individuality, Perspicuity, 
 
 Energy and Elegance — Naturalness. 
 
 5. Reasons why Individuality should not be studied as a quality 
 
 of style.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 PURITY OF ENGLISH STYLE 
 
 I. — Definition of Purity. 
 
 Purity may be more specifically defined by several mem- 
 oranda, of which the first is, that it relates to three things ; 
 viz., the form of words, the construction of words in con- 
 tinuous discourse, and the meaning of words and phrases. 
 The second, therefore, is that it requires three things ; viz., 
 that the words used should belong to the English lano-uasre. 
 that the construction be accordant with English idiom, and 
 that words and phrases be employed in the senses recog- 
 nized by good English authority. The third is, that there- 
 fore the violations of English purity are offences against the 
 three departments of scientific grammar. In the form of a 
 word, a violation of purity is an offence against the laws of 
 English etymology and their modifications by usage. In 
 the construction of sentences, a violation of purity is an 
 offence against English syntax. In the meaning of words 
 or phrases, a violation of purity is an offence against the 
 authority of lexicography. The fourth is, that the names 
 given to the chief violations of purity are three. In the 
 forms of words, a violation of purity is a barbarism ; in the 
 constructions, a violation of purity is a solecism ; in the 
 meanings of words and phrases, a violation of purity is an 
 impropriety. 
 
 II. — Standard of English Purity of Style. 
 
 A further topic fundamental to the subject is the in- 
 quiry, What is the standard of English purity of style ?
 
 PURITY OF ENGLISH STYLE II 
 
 The history of this question in the rhetorical literature of 
 the language discloses but two opinions which deserve de- 
 bate. They may be represented by the formula, " Usage 
 versus Laws of Language." One opinion gives the ascen- 
 dency to usage, the other to the laws of the language, as 
 the ultimate authority. One class of writers adopts an ex- 
 treme utilitarianism, saying, " If a man makes himself un- 
 derstood by those who use the language, why should he 
 care for a pure style beyond that ? " This is the one ex- 
 treme. At the opposite extreme are the " Purists." They 
 hold in theory, that, be the usage of a people „, 
 
 •" e , Two extremes. 
 
 what it may, the laws of a language must be 
 authoritative to scholars. Purists in the use of language 
 have existed in every country which has had a literature. 
 In the first half of the sixteenth century, Italian scholars 
 would employ none but the purest Augustan Latin. Eras- 
 mus contended that the true rule for a scholarly author 
 was to write as Cicero would have written if _ 
 
 trasmus. 
 
 he' had lived to modern times. He rejected 
 as unscholarly all the languages of modern Europe. It was 
 one of his chief objections to the Reformation, that it em- 
 ployed the language of the German people. The principles 
 of Luther he approved, but he could not admit that Chris- 
 tianity could ever outgrow the Latin tongue. His life was 
 a sacrifice of the Christian religion to the conservatism of 
 literature. All the modern languages of Europe had a 
 similar conflict with the ancient classic Latin. The action 
 was, " The Aristocracy of Learning versus the Democracy of 
 Usage." Usage triumphed, and forced new languages into 
 being. The conclusion was foregone from the beginning. 
 
 Two principles, which practically qualify and limit each other, 
 seem to indicate the true theory on the subject. One is, that the 
 laws of a language are the proximate stand- ' 
 
 & 6 . , , The true theory. 
 
 ard of purity. A language is the production 
 
 of the national mind. In it the national mind has ex-
 
 12 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 pressed its unconscious will. Like every other national 
 growth, it is a thing of law. If exposed to the inroad of 
 alien or mongrel words, or barbarous idioms, the interests 
 of culture require, that, if possible, it should be protected 
 by appeal to its inherent laws. A violation of those laws 
 is to scholarly taste an evil. It is an excrescence on the 
 Lano-uao-e and national tongue, to be excluded if possible ; 
 its laws. t0 k e checked in its growth if it cannot be 
 
 excluded ; to be often only tolerated if it cannot be 
 checked, till the national usage shall possibly right itself, 
 and go back to the purer forms of speech. 
 
 But another principle qualifies and controls this : it is, 
 that usage must be the ultimate standard of purity. Rec- 
 ognizing the conservative authority of 
 
 Why usage is . 
 
 the ultimate scholarly taste as expressed in the laws of 
 
 standar . ^ Q language, we must submit to usage if 
 
 that insists on change. This principle rests on several 
 reasons. One is that of simple necessity. A language is a 
 nation's property. The many make it, not the few. If the 
 many choose to change it, enlarge it, bring importations 
 into it, even load it with absolutely new creations, how 
 shall the few who object on grounds of scholarly taste help 
 themselves ? The nation retains the most absolute of all 
 rights — the rights of creatorship. It is sufficient to say, 
 that scholarly taste must yield because it must. Usage 
 may be tyrannical. It may create words by sheer whim. 
 It may indulge a taste for vulgarisms. This makes no dif- 
 ference. If scholarly authority cannot make itself felt as a 
 conservative influence, it has no power to act as a conser- 
 vative force. 
 
 An amateur in philological studies once found, as he be- 
 lieved, a Norman origin for the word " quiz." But Smart, 
 the author of an English dictionary, gives to 
 
 Origin of quiz. . . . 
 
 the word a more simple and probable origin. 
 He says, that the manager of a theatre in Dublin once
 
 PURITY OF ENGLISH STYLE I 3 
 
 passed an evening with certain amateurs in literature ; and 
 he staked a sum of money on the proposal that he would 
 create a word which should belong to no language on the 
 globe, and should be absolutely void of sense, yet it should 
 become the subject of the common talk of the town in 
 twenty-four hours. The wager was accepted. He then 
 sent his servants through the most densely peopled streets 
 of the city, with directions to chalk in large capitals the 
 letters QUIZ on each alternate door and shop-window. 
 The next day was Sunday. Stores were closed, and the 
 throng in the streets had leisure to read the enigmatical 
 letters. Everyone who saw it repeated it to his neighbor ; 
 and his neighbor responded, " What does ' quiz ' mean ? " It 
 had no meaning. No language owned it. Scholarly taste 
 scouted it. Yet everybody laughed at it, and that gave it 
 a meaning. From that day to this, scholarship has been 
 compelled to recognize the word, and to use it as good 
 sound English. In such a case usage declares its will, and 
 says to scholarship, "What will you do about it ?" 
 
 Further : the principle before us rests on its usefulness. 
 Languages need improvement. The most finished languages 
 admit of improvement. The Greek, the nearest perfect of 
 any medium of human speech the world has known, never 
 saw the time when it could not have been improved. Sixty 
 years ago the Prussian Government published a dictionary, 
 to be used in the public service, restricted to A p russ j an die- 
 words of strictly national origin and then in Nonary. 
 use. It was an attempt, by authority of law, to prevent 
 the introduction of new and foreign words. It was, by the 
 nature of the case, doomed to failure. A national mind 
 grows ; it accumulates a history ; new ideas are born ; new 
 institutions are created ; new wants arise. Language, 
 therefore, must grow, to express these novel facts. We 
 must have new words, new idioms, new constructions, new 
 combinations, and new senses of old words.
 
 14 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Specially is this true of every new epoch in a nation's 
 
 history. Such events as the rise of Greek art, the growth of 
 
 the Roman Empire, the irruption of the north- 
 
 The demand ' 
 
 of every new ern tribes into Italy, the rise of the Papacy, 
 
 epoch- the Reformation, the French Revolution, the 
 
 downfall of American slavery, either create, or are created 
 by, new ideas, which exceed the capacities of language as 
 before organized and fixed. Moreover, one national mind 
 originates ideas not original to another. One language 
 also gives birth to words more felicitously expressive than 
 their synonyms in another of ideas common to both. One, 
 therefore, must borrow from another : there is no shame in 
 that. Our English word " humbug," for instance, is an 
 English original. Good authority states, that it cannot be 
 reproduced in one word in any other living tongue. Yet it 
 is too valuable a word to be excluded from any language. 
 
 In the French language a dictionary is extant containing 
 only the words born into the language since the Revolution 
 a French die- of 1 789. Among the old books in the Brit- 
 tionary. j^ Museum is found a dictionary, of which 
 
 this is the title, " A Dictionary of all words born since 
 1640, in speeches, prayers, and sermons : as well those that 
 An English die- signify something as nothing." These dic- 
 tionary, tionaries were published after periods of pop- 
 ular ferment. The passions of nations had been raging. 
 They had forced national growth, and therefore the expan- 
 sion of languages. Such epochs are sure to create words 
 which " signify something." 
 
 The usefulness of a language, then, necessitates a schol- 
 arly obedience to usage as the authority of last resort. We 
 not only must obey because we must, we must obey in or- 
 der that our language may conform to the national wants, 
 and be an honest expression of the national mind.
 
 PURITY OF ENGLISH STYLE I 5 
 
 III. — Usage as Influenced by the Laws of a Lan- 
 guage. 
 
 The foregoing views suggest the inquiry, To what re- 
 strictions is usage practically subjected by the conservative 
 influence of the laws of a language ? 
 
 In the first place, that which we recognize as our ultimate 
 standard of purity should be the present usage ; not the 
 usage of a past age, not the possible usage of 
 
 s v & ' v & Present usage. 
 
 a future age. The laws of a language protect 
 it, not as it was, not as it may or will or ought to be, but as 
 it is. Conservative presumption always favors the thing 
 that is. The great majority of things in human life prove 
 their right to be by being. 
 
 Again : that which we accept as authority should be the 
 national usage. The laws of a language protect it from the 
 errors of foreign usage ; that is, the usage of 
 
 . . . National usage. 
 
 those to whom it is not vernacular. M. Gui- 
 zot, for instance, wrote and spoke the English language 
 with almost the accuracy of an English scholar, but he 
 was not an authority on a question of English purity. The 
 authoritative use is the vernacular use. The laws of a lan- 
 guage also prescribe the national usage as distinct from any 
 sectional use. The English-speaking world abounds in 
 provincialisms. Scotticisms, Americanisms, Irish idioms, 
 Australian patois, the Chinook dialect of Oregon, are no 
 part of the English language, because they have not the 
 stamp of universal use. The laws of a language further 
 support the national usage as distinct from clannish use. 
 Why is not the lingo of the forecastle pure English ? Win- 
 not the jargon of the thieves of London ? Why not the 
 cant of religious enthusiasts ? Why not the slang of Ameri- 
 can colleges ? Because these are clannish. No national 
 authority supports them.
 
 1 6 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 The third restriction which the laws of a language lay 
 upon the usage to which we appeal for our authority is, that 
 Reputable lt s ^ la11 be re P ut able usage. This principle 
 
 usage. grows out of the obvious and necessary dif- 
 
 ference between the colloquial use of the language by all 
 classes, and the use of it in continuous discourse by public 
 speakers and writers. Every man who uses the language 
 much in both these modes adopts inevitably different styles. 
 Words and constructions which conversation tolerates, per- 
 haps requires, are often unfit for discourse, either written 
 or oral. Not only the book, but the speech, demands 
 elements of diction for which conversation provides no' 
 range. 
 
 A critic in Blackwood's Magazine says, that " at the present 
 
 day, in the English portions of the world — European, Asiatic, 
 
 Australian, African, and American — all edu- 
 
 Three different 7 
 
 kinds of Eng- cated people use three different kinds of Eng- 
 lish : old Saxon English when they go to 
 church, or read good poetry ; vernacular or colloquial English, 
 not altogether free from slang and vulgarity, when they 
 talk to one another in the ordinary intercourse of life ; and 
 literary English when they make speeches or sermons, and 
 write or read articles in reviews or books. This threefold 
 division of the language has always existed ; though the 
 great bulk of the people, up to recent times, may have only 
 been familiar with the first, with its limited range of nouns, 
 verbs, and adjectives." A scholar of thoroughly good taste 
 must demur to this analysis of existing usage in some re- 
 spects , yet a foundation for some similar distinction exists 
 in the necessities of the case. It is obvious, that one who 
 writes or speaks much in public must have a standard of 
 pure English other than the usage of numerical majorities. 
 Majorities use the language only colloquially. We are 
 driven to look above them for a standard of classic purity. 
 We find it in the usage of reputable authors.
 
 PURITY OF ENGLISH STYLE \J 
 
 What do we mean by reputable authors ? We mean those 
 authors, who, by the common consent, have been success- 
 ful in the use of their language. Reputation who are reputa- 
 proves success; not notoriety, but good re- Me authors? 
 pute. Literary fame entitles an author to rank as a standard 
 in literary style, on the same principle on which fame at the 
 bar and on the bench renders a lawyer an authority to his 
 profession. Pope, Dryden, Macaulay, Everett, Irving, are 
 standards of pure English, as Blackstone, Brougham, Mar- 
 shall, Story, are standards in jurisprudence. By unwritten 
 common law, such names have the voice of the nations be- 
 hind them, and speaking in them. Scholarly taste obliges 
 writers and public speakers to acknowledge this standard. 
 It is unscholarly not to do so. Even the common, unedu- 
 cated mind has a dim sense of this claim of pure English 
 on an educated speaker. The common people like to be 
 addressed in sound old English which has the _ _ ,. , 
 
 ° . . Pure English and 
 
 centuries behind it. They desire it to be the common peo- 
 plain, direct, strong, racy, but they never as 
 a body desire it to be low. Marines do not like to be 
 preached to in the dialect of the forecastle. When one 
 preacher of distinction in our metropolis endeavored to 
 preach thus on a man-of-war in Boston harbor, his hearers 
 said, when his back was turned, that " there were two 
 things which he did not understand — religion and naviga- 
 tion." A rabble in the street will often hoot if they are 
 addressed in bad grammar. 
 
 Patrick Henry thought to win the favor of the backwoods- 
 men of Virginia by imitating their colloquial dialect, of 
 which his biographer gives the following 
 
 , r , . . n i. 11 .-, Patrick Henry. 
 
 specimen from one of his speeches : "All the 
 larnin upon the yairth are not to be compared with naiteral 
 pairts." But his hearers, backwoodsmen though they were, 
 knew better than that ; and they knew that a statesman 
 of the Old Dominion ought to speak good English. They
 
 1 8 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 were his severest critics. The common people know good 
 English when they hear it ; they understand it ; men crave 
 it who never use it. In their unconscious criticism of a 
 speaker, his right to their hearing depends on his ability to 
 say something worth their hearing ; and one of the first evi- 
 dences they look for of that ability is that he speaks better 
 English than they do. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PURITY OF STYLE. 
 
 I. Definition. 
 
 i. Purity relates to three things. 
 
 2. Purity requires three things. 
 
 3. Purity violated in three ways. 
 
 4. Barbarism, Solecism, Impropriety, 
 
 II. Standard of Purity. 
 
 1. Two extremes. 
 
 2. Two principles indicate the true theory. 
 
 A. Language as a national growth is a thing of law. 
 
 B. Language a nation's property, and thus usage is the ultimate 
 
 standard, 
 (a) " Quiz." 
 
 C. Languages need improvement. 
 
 (a) A Prussian dictionary. 
 
 (b) A French dictionary. 
 
 (c) An English dictionary. 
 
 III. Usage as Influenced by the Laws of a Language. 
 
 1. Present usage. 
 
 2. National usage. 
 
 3. Reputable usage. 
 
 (a) Three different kinds of English. 
 
 (b) Reputable authors. 
 
 (c) Kind of English desired by the common people.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 VIOLATIONS OF PURITY OF STYLE 
 
 The consideration of the standards of English purity in 
 the last chapter leads us to observe, as the fourth gener- 
 al topic of discussion, the most important violations of a 
 pure style. What are they ? We have observed their well- 
 known names in defining this quality ; viz., the barbarism, 
 the solecism, and the impropriety. 
 
 I. — Obsolete Words. 
 
 We note them now more specifically by observing that 
 purity is violated by the use of the obsolete in language ; 
 that is, by obsolete words, or constructions, or significa- 
 tions. Present usage being the standard, it is not suf- 
 ficient, to authorize the use of a word, a construction, or a 
 signification, that it has once been pure English. Old 
 words are often like old ploughs. They must give way 
 if the national civilization has outlived them. Why may 
 we not now employ the words "peradventure," "for- 
 sooth," "yclept," "whilom"? In Latimer's day it was 
 no violation of good taste to use the word 
 
 Alonely. 
 
 alonely. These words are all barbarisms now, 
 because they are obsolete. Dr. Barrow says, " It is our 
 duty to testify an affectionate resentment to God." " Re- 
 sentment " once signified the act of ac- 
 knowledging a favor, Jeremy Taylor says, 
 " Humility is a duty in great ones no less than in idiots." 
 " Idiot," in his day, meant a private man 
 only, retaining the etymological sense of the 
 original Greek. A writer of the same period speaks of
 
 20 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND TRACTICE 
 
 Lord Bacon as a man of "very wise prejudices." " Preju- 
 dice " then meant only a prejudgment. " Humility " and 
 "pusillanimity" were once synonyms. The 
 history of these words illustrates the con- 
 flict of Christianity with Paganism to make the lowly virtues 
 respectable. The word " painful " has a similar history. It 
 once signified, not "producing pain," but " taking pains.' 
 Richard Baxter was called by his contempo- 
 
 Painful. . , ,. „, 
 
 raries "a most painful preacher. Wren, 
 once Bishop of Ely, was charged by the Puritans with 
 " having banished fifty godly, learned, and painful preach- 
 ers " from the kingdom. 
 
 Several inquiries deserve answer respecting the obsolete 
 in style. When does a word become obsolete ? " Whereof 
 
 the memory of man runneth not to the con- 
 Time when ,,..,. . 
 words become trary is the hint given by Dr. Campbell and 
 
 obsolete. others ; that is, if a word has not been in 
 
 current use within the memory of any man living, it must 
 be considered as lost to the living tongue. This appears rea- 
 sonable : scholarly taste has suggested no better principle. 
 Should obsolescent words be retained ? Critics agree, as 
 a general thing, in the negative. Words usually die, as men 
 Why obsolescent do > because of some infirmity. They are 
 
 words should not ill formed, or difficult of enunciation, or re- 
 be retained. . . 
 
 dundant, or inferior to their synonyms ; or 
 
 that which called them into being has ceased to be. For one 
 reason, or more, the words are not needed ; and the national 
 mind parts with them unconsciously. None but a decadent 
 people will commonly permit a valuable word to die. 
 
 But exceptions to the general rule exist, in which schol- 
 arly effort is needed to keep a good word alive. When the 
 
 Test given bv ^ oss °^ a word would cause an obvious dete- 
 james Russell rioration of a language, then culture should 
 
 Lowell. . n s & ' 
 
 exert its influence to conserve the word. 
 James Russell Lowell says that " an archaism is permissible
 
 VIOLATIONS OF PURITY OF STYLE 21 
 
 when a word has been supplanted by one less apt, and yet has not 
 become unintelligible. An obsolescent word may be neces- 
 sary to the precision of a language. The word "concept" 
 is an old English word, signifying, not the act of conceiving, 
 but the idea conceived. It passed out of use for a time ; 
 and " conception " took its place, and is now used to signify 
 both the act and the thing. But Sir William Hamilton re- 
 vived the more ancient word, because it adds to the philo- 
 sophical precision of the language to have two words to ex- 
 press the two ideas. 
 
 The obsolescence of a word may indicate a moral decay 
 in the language, and may for that reason be wisely arrested. 
 The Italians have permitted the word virtu- 
 
 . Verbal obsoles- 
 
 oso to lose its old element of moral virtue, cence and moral 
 and to decline to the expression of a " con- ecay ' 
 noisseur of art." The French have suffered the word 
 honnetete to lose its original sense of "honesty," and to 
 descend to the idea of " civility." In both these cases the 
 languages would have been the richer if the old significa- 
 tions had been retained. Milton saved some words to our 
 language, which in his day were obsolescent, but which he 
 thought ought not to die. Missionaries in heathen lands 
 are sometimes able to secure a new medium of appeal to 
 the heathen mind by resuscitating obsolescent words 
 which the nations are losing through the decay of their 
 moral sensibilities, and therefore of moral ideas. 
 
 What principle should govern the use of obsolete words 
 in poetry ? The general taste of scholars makes an excep- 
 tion to the rule in behalf of obsolete words obsolete words 
 in poetic style. The necessities of rhythm ln P oetI 7- 
 often require this. A reason for it exists also in the nature 
 of poetry. The distance of an object quickens the play of the 
 imagination toward it. An obsolete phraseology, therefore, 
 is in keeping with the design of poetic expression. The 
 style of Spenser in " The Faerie Queene " is designedly
 
 22 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 archaic. He multiplied obsolete and obsolescent words 
 purposely, in order to throw back the style into a bygone 
 age. Guizot thinks that Shakespeare, in " King Lear," 
 intentionally violated grammatical construction in order 
 to locate the drama in a period in which the language 
 was in its infancy. Dramatic congruity admits of this 
 license. 
 
 What principle should guide us in the use of obsolete 
 words in prayer! Prayer in this respect partakes of the 
 Obsolete words nature of poetry. German critics have sug- 
 m prayer. gested, that, rhetorically considered, prayer 
 
 is poetry. A reverent diction, like the poetic, invites a 
 certain infusion of the antique element. Therefore we 
 retain the obsolete termination of verbs in " th." We say 
 "maketh," "believeth," "saith." This is not pure Eng- 
 lish in oratorical style, but it is such in the precative 
 style. 
 
 It is, however, different when a writer in ordinary dis- 
 course seeks for an obsolete style for effect. Even when 
 ^ this is prompted by a struggle to clothe a 
 
 Obsolete words , . , . . 
 
 in ordinary dis- thought with power, it is objectionable. 
 More power is lost than gained by the ex- 
 pedient. Hearers feel it to be an expedient, and the effect 
 is to attract attention to the style by distracting attention 
 from the thought. One often feels this defect in reading 
 certain productions of De Quincey. It is true that force 
 is sometimes gained by it, but it is an artificial force. 
 Good taste approves only the force gained by the purest 
 and simplest English. 
 
 II. — New Words. 
 
 Passing, now, from the consideration of an obsolete style, 
 we observe another class of violations of purity, in the coin- 
 ing of novelties. Present usage being our standard, novel
 
 VIOLATIONS OF PURITY OF STYLE 2$ 
 
 words, novel constructions, novel significations, do not be- 
 long to the language. The objection is as valid against a 
 possibly future use as against one which time has ejected. 
 A scholarly regard for English purity will act conservatively 
 against new coinage. 
 
 Professor Park of Andover has observed that barbarisms 
 from new coinage occur chiefly in three ways — by the crea- 
 tion of new words, by the enlargement or contraction of 
 old words, and by the compounding of old words. In an 
 early edition of one of our two standard dictionaries, the 
 following words are found : " unwappered," " intersom- 
 nious," "circumbendibus," " jiggumbob," "solumnigate," 
 ''grammatication," " somniative," "scrimption," "soliva* 
 gous," " slubberdegullion," "transmogrification." 
 
 i. These are absolute creations by somebody. They are 
 not English : they never have been. By what authority do 
 they find a place in a dictionary of a civilized Absolute crea- 
 tongue ? Their only becoming place is in tlons - 
 that ancient lexicon in the British Museum to which allu- 
 sion has been made, as compiled, in part, of " words which 
 signify nothing." 
 
 2. Contractions of old words appear chiefly in the form of 
 vulgarisms. Contraction in speech is a most singular de- 
 velopment of the natural inertia of the human contractions of 
 mind. Even the tongue, the most nimble oldwor ds. 
 
 of human organs, will utter only that which it must utter. 
 A syllable, a letter, an accent, which it can slur, it will 
 slur. The contraction "ain't" for " isn't " is a vulgarism 
 which ought not to need criticism. The safe rule re- 
 specting contractions is never to use them in public 
 speech. This is the instinct of a perfect taste. It is said 
 that Edward Everett never employed them, even in episto- 
 lary style. Some critics do not consider it fastidious to 
 avoid them in colloquial usage. 
 
 3. Expansions of old words are more frequent than con-
 
 24 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 tractions. "Preventative" and " intensitive " are exam- 
 ples; the pure forms are "preventive" and "intensive." 
 Expansions of Unauthorized prefixes and suffixes create a 
 old words. multitude of barbarisms. In a standard dic- 
 
 tionary are found the following : " untriumph," " untrussed," 
 " unuplifted," " unwormwooded," " unruinable," "unvulgar- 
 ized," " unquarrelable," " unquaker," " unrenavigable," all 
 coined, chiefly, by the unauthorized prefix " un " to words, 
 which, either in part or in whole, are in good use. Here are 
 found also, " cockneyfy," " dandyize," "dandyling," " inco- 
 herentific," " imperiwigged," " fiddlefaddler," " sapientize," 
 " wegotism," " weism," " perfectionation," " maximize," 
 "pishpash," " fiddle-de-dee," most of which are coined by 
 unwarrantable additions to the end of good words. Such 
 dictionaries are emphatically " dictionaries unabridged." 
 
 4. New words are sometimes created faeetiously. De Quin- 
 cey speaks of Suetonius, the story-teller of antiquity, as a 
 New words ere- " curious collector of anecdotage." Words 
 ated facetiously, originating in a facetious mood of author- 
 ship or oratory sometimes have a vitality to which no real 
 worth in such words should seem to entitle them. It is 
 one of the collateral evidences that man was made to be 
 happy, that the risible faculty has so much power as it has 
 in public speech. Very little is required to make an audi- 
 ence laugh. The same principle it is, probably, which gives 
 ready rootage to words which are coined by the risible 
 emotions. A multitude of such words die ; but, if they ex- 
 press any genuine humor, they have peculiar chances of life. 
 
 5. It deserves remark, that writers coin many words, in 
 the haste of composition, by adding the Greek termination 
 
 "ice" to substantives. A new verb is thus 
 
 New words from . . 
 
 adding " ize " to created, which in not one case in a hundred 
 becomes permanent in the language. "Jeop- 
 ardize," "municipalize," "chartize," "deputize," are found 
 almost at random in one volume.
 
 VIOLATIOXS OF PURITY OF STYLE 2$ 
 
 6. Good words compounded by means of a hyphen, are an- 
 other form of barbarisms from new coinage. The pulpit, 
 from time immemorial, has been in this re- X7 , , 
 
 ' New words from 
 
 spect, if not a " clen of thieves," a nest of compounding 
 counterfeiters. " Heaven-descended," " soul- 
 destroying," " God-forgetting," " God-defying," are among 
 the counterfeit words of this construction for which the 
 pulpit is responsible. Very few of these long-winded, long- 
 waisted, long-tongued, long-tailed, and \ong-eared com- 
 pounds, are authorized English. 
 
 A young writer has no protection against the barbarisms 
 of this class, unless he finds it in his scholarly tastes and 
 his scholarly reading. When once fixed in a writer's style, 
 they form one of the most debilitating features, especially 
 in the style of a public speaker. The taste for them de- 
 stroys the taste for monosyllabic words, on which the force 
 of a spoken style so greatly depends. A subtle sympathy 
 exists between these compounds and long, involuted sen- 
 tences. Be not deceived, if occasionally Effect of 
 they appear to strengthen style. In the pounded words 
 general effect they dilute and flatten it. onstye - 
 They invite a drawl in delivery. They are a drawl in ex- 
 pression. Few forms of mannerism run to such extremes 
 as this, when once the scruples of good taste are broken 
 down. Mrs. Henry Wood, in " Roland Yorke," speaks of 
 the " not-attempted-to-be-concealed care." Another author 
 remarks upon " the-sudden - at-the - moment - though - from- 
 lingering- illness -often -previously -expected death" of the 
 heroine. It does not require scholarly erudition to de- 
 cide that such a tape-worm as this has no proper place 
 above ground. The taste which could tolerate it is hope- 
 less barbarism. The next phase of such culture is cannibal- 
 ism.
 
 26 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 VIOLATIONS OF PURITY. 
 
 I. Obsolete Words. 
 
 i. James Russell Lowell's Test. 
 
 2. Use in Poetry. 
 
 3. Use in Prayer. 
 
 4. Use in Ordinary Discourse. 
 
 II. New Words. 
 
 1. Absolute Creations. 
 
 2. Contractions of Old Words. 
 
 3. Expansions of Old Words. 
 
 4. New Words formed Facetiously. 
 
 5. Union of Greek Terminations and Old Substantives. 
 
 6. New Words by Compounding Old Words.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 VIOLATIONS OF PURITY OF STYLE (CONTINUED) 
 
 We have observed that the growth of a national civiliza- 
 tion necessitates the growth of its language. No other one 
 thing expresses a nation's mind so exactly as its language 
 does. The growth of the language must be, in part, by 
 new coinage. How, then, shall we judge when to reject, 
 and when to employ, new words ? By the common consent 
 of scholars the following principles are recognized. 
 
 I. — Six Principles Which are to Determine the Ac- 
 ceptance or the Rejection of New Words. 
 
 i. One is, that an acknowledged master of a science or 
 of literary acquisitions may coin such new words as, in his 
 judgment, the necessities of the language re- 
 
 ,«- , , • i , -j Men of science. 
 
 quire. Modern physical science has received 
 immense expansion. Its nomenclature is almost wholly 
 new, created by experts in the sciences. Even mental 
 science claims this prerogative. Coleridge 
 claimed the right, as an expert in psychology, ~° en ge ' 
 to introduce into our language the German distinction be- 
 tween the understanding and the reason. That use of 
 these words is thus far technical to the science which has 
 created it. If philosophers generally accept it, by the laws 
 of good taste it becomes authoritative in our dictionaries. 
 Criticism must not condemn it as a novelty or an importa- 
 tion. Mr. Grote, in his " History of Greece," 
 coins the word "dicast." It means nearly, 
 yet not exactly, the same as our word "juryman." Mr.
 
 28 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Grote therefore exercises his literary right as an historian 
 to import the word from the Greek, which is its original. 
 He cannot otherwise express the idea without a cumbrous 
 circumlocution. 
 
 2. Another principle which criticism admits is, that an 
 acknowledged master of the English tongue may coin such 
 Masters of words as, in his judgment, it requires for its 
 En s lish precision or its affluence of expression. 
 Scholarly taste allows this as one of the prerogatives of 
 scholarly authorship. The prerogative is unquestioned in 
 proportion to the critical care of the author who claims it. 
 A new word used by Addison, Swift, Macaulay, Irving, 
 Everett, would have a claim to recognition which a word 
 coined by Carlyle would not have. The writers first named 
 are known to have been scrupulous in their use of good 
 English, and no other. Carlyle is notorious for his reck- 
 Carlyle and lessness of scholarly taste, neither cherish- 
 other writers. m g ft himself, nor respecting it in others. 
 De Quincey advances, as one test of an author's sway over 
 the national mind, how many original words, phrases, idi- 
 oms, significations, does he succeed in ingrafting upon the 
 national tongue ? 
 
 3. Another principle which critics admit with restrictions 
 is, that some novelties in language may be created by au- 
 Writers of only thors of only provincial or local fame. "With 
 local fame. restrictions," it is to be remembered : criti- 
 cism here only conforms to facts. The number of words 
 thus originated is incalculable : the number that live is very 
 small. It is the authors of inferior power and repute who 
 are most free in such coinage : their authority is in inverse 
 proportion to their presumption. Yet a small fraction of 
 the language owes its origin to them. Robert Southey 
 coined the word "deicide." He gave three reasons for it ; 
 that it is in strict analogy with other words in good use — 
 "suicide," "fratricide," "parricide," "regicide;" that its
 
 J'/OLATIOXS OF PURITY OF STYLE 29 
 
 meaning is obvious ; and that no other word in the lan- 
 guage expresses the same idea. Very good reasons these : 
 it would be hard to answer them. Yet the word has not 
 yet found its way into the usage of the first class of au- 
 thors. 
 
 4. A fourth principle is, that it is a doubtful experiment 
 with any man to add a word to his native tongue. The 
 creation of a word is a great assumption over 
 
 . ... The creation of 
 
 human thought. It is a challenge to a na- a word a doubt- 
 tion's mind. It may be an assault on a na- ful ex P eriment - 
 tion's prejudices. It may be resisted by the whole momen- 
 tum of a nation's history. It may be ejected by the force 
 of a nation's whims. The chances are as a thousand to one 
 against its success. Such a word may have every scholarly 
 quality in its favor, and yet it may die of sheer neglect. It 
 dies without so much as a burial. The nation often does 
 not resist it, does not argue about it, but simply says, " We 
 do not want it." Cicero had no superior as 
 an authority in Roman literature, yet he 
 failed more frequently than he succeeded in his attempts to 
 improve the vernacular of his countrymen. The same is 
 true of Milton and of Coleridge, both of whom were stu- 
 dents of the forces of language, masters of racy English, 
 and experimenters in the creation of novel words. 
 
 5. A fifth principle bearing upon the subject grows out 
 of a peculiarity of modern literature : it is, that new coin- 
 age by journalists should be accepted with Words coined 
 great caution. Journalists are a class of by journalists, 
 writers of recent origin. They include in their guild very 
 many rudely educated men. They write much in haste ; 
 they write by shorthand ; they write often in a somnolent 
 state, in the small hours of the morning. The consequence 
 is, that they coin words recklessly. Theirs is not often 
 leisurely and scholarly authorship. Very few of them at- 
 tain to the first rank in literature. Where can be found
 
 30 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 among them the peer of Bryant ? Their suggestions of new 
 words are often crude. One of them, for example, proposes 
 the word " thalagram," to express a message 
 through the Atlantic cable. He coins it 
 from Greek originals. But, so far as is known, no second 
 writer has approved it, and for the very good reason, that 
 nobody needs it. Why do we need any other than the word 
 "telegram?" We say, " A telegram from Chicago," as we 
 say, "A telegram from London." Why do we need a word 
 to remind us that the one came from under the sea, more 
 than a word to remind us that the other came through a 
 line of cedar posts and insulated wires ? Good taste for- 
 bids overloading the language with rubbish. A language 
 should be like a library, well selected, not conglomerated. 
 This new coin, "thalagram," has fallen flat on the national 
 taste, as it is to be hoped will be the fate of the still more 
 wretched medley, " cablegram." Two lan- 
 guages are searched for the rubbish which is 
 patched to make this barbarism. The decisive test of new 
 coinage in a language is the question of necessity. Does 
 the language need it ? If not, no other reason for it can 
 commend it to good taste. 
 
 6. A sixth principle that the usage of good writers prac- 
 tically applies to the subject to be noted is, that authors of 
 New words not the first class, acknowledged by all others as 
 n^be some 1 - literary authorities, may occasionally coin a 
 times coined. word which they would not recommend as 
 good English, and would not introduce into a standard dic- 
 tionary if they could. They may do it as an exception to 
 their general rule. Thus Coleridge writes : " If the reader 
 will pardon an uncouth and new-coined word, there is, I 
 
 _ , ., should say, not seldom, a mattcr-of-fact-ncss in 
 
 Coleridge. ■" J J 
 
 certain poems." Coleridge here coins a 
 word, which, though he was very unequal in his choice of 
 English, he evidently would not recommend. He apolo-
 
 VIOLATIONS OF PARITY OF STYLE 3 1 
 
 gizes for it. He employs it exceptionally. The liberty to 
 do this is a perilous one : a young writer may more wisely 
 refrain from assuming it. The tendency to corruption is 
 so strong, that while one's style is in the process of forma- 
 tion, as it is in the early years of one's practice, the safe 
 course is, not to use any word which writers of the first or- 
 der would not recommend, as well as indulge exceptionally. 
 Yet the indulgence in question must be named because it 
 exists, and it is sometimes indulged by the best writers. 
 We cannot hope to enforce a style which is better than the 
 best. 
 
 James Russell Lowell, for example, is one of the most 
 scholarly critics and authors in our language. A word 
 coined by him with expressed approval would T am es Russell 
 carry all the authority which any one man's Lowell, 
 name can give to a word. But when he coins, as he does, 
 such words as " cloudbergs " and " otherworldliness " and 
 " Dr. Wattsiness," he descends from style to slang. He 
 coins them as an exceptional and rare indulgence. He 
 does not expect to see them in the next edition of Worces- 
 ter's Dictionary. He would be ashamed to see them there 
 with his name as their authority. He would be the last 
 man to authorize such words by scholarly criticism. He 
 knows, and the world of scholars knows, that his own schol- 
 arly reputation will bear such occasional departures from 
 good English, somewhat as a very saintly man can bear to 
 be seen carrying a flask of brandy in the street. That 
 which is a literary peccadillo from James Russell Lowell' s 
 pen may be unscholarly slovenliness from the pen of one 
 unknown to fame. It is due to fact to recognize this excep- 
 tional license in authors of good repute, because it is a 
 fact ; yet we do not thereby commend it as a rule, nor even 
 as an exception. It exists : that is all that we can say of 
 it.
 
 $2 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 II. — Importation of Foreign Words. 
 
 Similar to the effect of unnecessary novelties upon a 
 pure style is that of needless importation of foreign contri- 
 butions to the language. The vernacular tongue is the 
 tongue of a man who means to be understood. We commit 
 a barbarism if we import a foreign word when an English 
 word will express our thought as well. 
 
 i. It deserves mention, first, that this error is often 
 caused by a pedantic attachment to foreign languages. 
 „ , , , . Professors of the Greek language often think 
 
 Greek and Latin. & & 
 
 in Greek. 1 hey use a Greek word, there- 
 fore, when no poverty of the English tongue creates the 
 necessity. In the seventeenth century the taste of English 
 scholars was infected with a morbid preference for the Latin 
 language to their own. This led to the introduction of ex- 
 tremely ungainly words, which good use has never adopted. 
 
 Milton's style is defaced bv such words as 
 Milton. J J 
 
 "ludibundness,' " subsammation," "septem- 
 
 fluous." Even Milton's authority has not forced these 
 
 words into the language : the national good sense has 
 
 been too strong for that. Dr. Samuel Johnson's Latinized 
 
 ^ style is one of the fruits of a similar freak in 
 
 Dr. Johnson. 
 
 the taste of a later age. In him it manifested 
 itself, not only in the use of words not English, but in dis- 
 torting the proportion of words of Latin to those of Saxon 
 derivation, and in an imitation of Latin construction also, 
 which renders his style one of the most foreign to the 
 genius of our language to be found in our literature. Yet 
 his was a mind compact with sturdy and solid English ele- 
 ments, which gave to his literary opinions, as Carlyle says, 
 " a gigantic calmness." They made his conversation the 
 antipodes of his written style. In conversation he was 
 racy, laconic, fleet ; in writing he was ponderous, lumber-
 
 VI0LA7T0NS OF PURITY OF STYLE 33 
 
 ing, logy. In conversation he was an antelope : in his books 
 he was a whale. 
 
 2. Again : an undue regard for the etymology of words 
 often leads to improprieties from foreign importation. A 
 word often has in its Greek or Latin root a 
 
 Etymology. 
 
 meaning which its English form has entirely 
 lost. You find a familiar illustration of this in the word 
 " prevent," which King James's translators of the Bible, 
 following the usage of their age, have retained in its ety- 
 mological meaning — a meaning which later usage has 
 abandoned. Many contested passages in Shakespeare de- 
 pend on the question, whether he adopted , , 
 
 . Shakespeare. 
 
 the pure English, or the etymological Eng- 
 lish, of his times. Meaningless words become rich in sense, 
 and obscure words become clear often, in his plays, by 
 reading them, not as modern English, but with their ety- 
 mology in mind. An affectation of etymological science is 
 apt to infect the style of a writer who reads more in for- 
 eign languages than in his own. De Quincey is often guilty 
 of this. It is the more inexcusable defect in a modern 
 author ; because he has what Shakespeare and Milton had 
 not — a matured language at his command. 
 
 3. Further : the composite character of our English tongue 
 has a twofold bearing upon the question of admitting im- 
 portations. Our language is largely made up composite char- 
 of accretions from abroad. It is, in this re- acter of English, 
 spect, very unlike the ancient Greek and Latin languages 
 and the modern German. Those were, to a great extent, 
 evolved from internal resources. Our own language grows 
 very slowly by such evolution. Its history is a history of 
 innovations. As our national stock is a composite one, 
 made up from many tributary migrations, so our language 
 is a composite product, made up from almost all the civilized 
 languages on the globe. If we want a new word, we instinc- 
 tively go for it to some foreign source. Thus the English 
 
 3
 
 34 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 nomenclature of the natural sciences is almost wholly Greek 
 and Latin. One critic contends that ours is a decadent 
 tongue, because it shows so little power of growth from with- 
 in. This composite character of our language, to repeat, 
 has a twofold bearing on the question of foreign imports. 
 
 It should render our taste tolerant of such imports, when 
 
 they are necessary to the affluence of the language. This 
 
 , . , being- the composite structure of it, an im- 
 
 \\ hv we should & * ' 
 
 be tolerant of portation from abroad is a less evil than it 
 was to the Greek language of the Augustan 
 age. It does less violence to the genius of the English 
 than it did to that of the Augustan Greek. Some importa- 
 tions every language must have. Every finished language 
 has words for ideas which no other language expresses as 
 well. We are already borrowing some philosophical words 
 from Germany. We are obliged to do so, because we bor- 
 row the ideas there. Some French words express ideas 
 which no corresponding English terms express as well. 
 De Quincey asks, How can the idea of a "post-office" be 
 expressed in Greek? or that of a "coquette," in Hebrew? 
 If a language needs the foreign word to give utterance to 
 the foreign thought, it must import the foreign word. 
 Words are made for thought, not thought for words. 
 
 But, on the other hand, the composite structure of our 
 language should make us intolerant of importations when 
 Why we should the y are needless. This dependence on 
 be intolerant of foreign sources for linguistic growth is an 
 
 such imports. ., , ... , , 
 
 evil. Any language will be the more sym- 
 metrical, and free from anomalies, if developed from its 
 native stock. A graft makes a gnarl in a tree : so does an 
 importation make a protuberance in a language. Let the 
 natural resources, therefore, be developed if they can be : 
 let us take the alien tribute only when we must. There 
 was great significance in Caesar's rule of composition : " Al- 
 ways shun, if possible, the insolens verbum."
 
 VIOLATIONS OF PURITY OF STYLE 35 
 
 III. — Provincialisms. 
 
 Purity of style is further impaired by the needless use of 
 provincialisms. National usage being our standard, that is 
 not pure English which has only sectional authority, unless 
 sectional necessities compel its use. 
 
 It should be remarked, however, that words of provincial 
 origin often become good English. Such words may force 
 their way into universal use. All words be- words of provin- 
 gin to be somewhere. They may have at cial ori s in - 
 first a small constituency. Many of the most impressive 
 words in the language had a provincial origin. The word 
 " caucus " is of American birth : it was first used by old 
 Samuel Adams. Now no English dictionary would be com- 
 plete without it. 
 
 Further : words remaining provincial may be good Eng- 
 lish. They may be necessitated by provincial peculiarities 
 — peculiarities of climate, of soil, of produc- words remain- 
 tions, of institutions, of history. American- ing provincial. 
 isms, especially, are very numerous, which must still be ac- 
 cepted on the score of provincial necessity. " Senatorial," 
 "gubernatorial," "mileage," "prairie," "backwoods," 
 "clearings," "pine-barrens," "savannas," "federalist," 
 " nullifiers," " anti-renters," " free-soilers," " pro-slavery," 
 and many others, have been created by peculiarities in our 
 provincial soil, or climate, or institutions, or history. 
 
 IV. — Vulgarisms. 
 
 The most unschoiarly violations of purity consist of 
 vulgarisms. Reputable usage being our standard only that 
 is pure style which has the authority of au- 
 
 ,.1 11 , r „ . Pure style. 
 
 thors and speakers of national fame. Several 
 
 things here deserve attention. One is, that the adoption 
 
 in dignified writings of the usage of the illiterate is the
 
 36 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 chief source of corruption to any language. The language 
 of common life is full of slang : nothing controls it but the 
 taste of scholars. It is intelligible, often forcible : its very 
 Prevalence of vulgarity gives it a rude strength. A large 
 slan S- class of middlemen between the scholars and 
 
 the vulgar do not know enough, or do not care enough, 
 about the principles of taste, to refrain from slang in their 
 own practice. Newspapers constantly seek notoriety by 
 the use of it. A vast amount of the facetiousness of jour- 
 nalists is made up of it. It is, therefore, an ever open door- 
 way for the inroad of corrupt taste into scholarly usage. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 VIOLATIONS OF PURITY OF STYLE (CONTINUED). 
 
 I. Six Principles Determining the Acceptance or Rejection of 
 
 New Words. 
 
 i. As offered by Men of Science. 
 
 2. As offered by Masters of the English Tongue. 
 
 3. As offered by Writers of only Local Fame. 
 
 4. As offered by any man a Doubtful Experiment. 
 
 5. As offered by Journalists. 
 
 6. As offered by Authors when the words are not recommended 
 as Good English. 
 
 (a) Coleridge. 
 
 (b) James Russell Lowell. 
 
 II. Importation of Foreign Words. 
 
 1. From the Study of Greek and Latin. 
 
 2. From the Study of Etymology. 
 
 3. From the Composite Character of English. 
 
 (a) Why we should be Tolerant of such Imports. 
 
 (b) Why we should be Intolerant of such Imports. 
 
 III. Provincialisms. 
 
 I, 
 
 What Provincialisms may be Good English. 
 
 IV. Vulgarisms.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 REASONS FOR THE CULTIVATION OF PURITY OF 
 
 STYLE 
 
 I. — Value of Purity of Style. 
 
 The question is not an unnatural one — probably every 
 public speaker asks it when his attention is first called to 
 the subject — Is the use of scholarly English of sufficient 
 practical value to repay one for the time and labor it will 
 cost to acquire it and to make it habitual ? If I make my- 
 self understood as a public speaker, do I not accomplish 
 the great object of speaking ? Is not a scrupulous regard 
 for a scholarly selection of words the fruit of a squeamish 
 taste ? At the most, is it not an accomplishment of liter- 
 ary leisure rather than a necessity to literary labor ? 
 
 i. Let it be observed, then, that literary authority is uni- 
 form in support of purity as the foundation of the most ef- 
 fective style. Cicero declares this in unquali- Foundati n f 
 fied terms ; and in so doing he speaks the the most effec- 
 
 • i r , i i , 1 tive style. 
 
 judgment of the ablest authors, speakers, 
 critics, of all time. No writer of distinction depreciates it 
 theoretically. Carlyle represents a class of authors who 
 ignore it practically, but I do not know that he has ever 
 written a line decrying it in theory. Liter- 
 
 i • r   . . c Carlyle. 
 
 ary opinion claims for it the rank of a prac- 
 tical necessity. It is not primarily an accomplishment, but 
 a power. Speakers should cultivate it, because they need 
 it. It is the most direct and effective instrument for their 
 purpose. The best style for all the ends of public dis- 
 course is a pure style. This is the ground taken by liter-
 
 38 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 ary opinion on the subject. It ought to be authoritative to 
 any public speaker of sufficient education to enable him to 
 understand the argument. The scholarly judgment of the 
 world would not be thus uniform if it were not true. 
 
 2. But, more specifically, a pure style is tributary to the 
 most perfect perspicuity of expression. When an objector 
 An aid to per- says, " If I make myself understood, let that 
 spicuity. suffice," he begs the question. The surest 
 
 way to be understood is to speak your pure mother-tongue. 
 Perspicuity is relative to the intelligence of hearers, but 
 pure English all hearers understand. The provincial dia- 
 lects of Great Britain are such, that the people of different 
 shires can with difficulty understand each other ; but pure 
 English they all understand. A speaker who employs 
 classic English can go from one end of the kingdom to the 
 _, . _ ,. , other, and be perfectly understood by peo- 
 
 Classic English. r J J * 
 
 ple who can scarcely make themselves intelli- 
 gible to one another. Yet an eminent English critic, 
 speaking of the English peasantry, says that " a rustic lan- 
 guage, purified from all provincialism and grossness, and so 
 far reconstructed as to be consistent with the rules of gram- 
 mar, will not differ from the language of any other man of 
 common sense." That is to say, the popular dialects of 
 Great Britain comprise, for their staple in colloquial use, 
 good English. It requires but a sprinkling of provincial 
 words to make a patois. Pure English in place of these 
 makes a perfect instrument of popular speech. 
 
 The chief reason why the English Bible is so clear, ex- 
 cept where the argument is abstruse, is, that its vocabulary 
 
 The English lii- * s sucn P ure anc * simple English. It is this 
 bie and " Faerie which gives to the English Scriptures their 
 
 Queene." S 6 f 
 
 clearness, prolonged to successive genera- 
 tions. They were published in the same age with Spen- 
 ser's " Faerie Queene." Now the " Faerie Queene " needs 
 a glossary, while the Bible is as intelligible as ever. Two
 
 THE CULTIVATION OF PURITY OF STYLE 39 
 
 hundred and fifty years is a long while for the lifetime of a 
 book. No book can live so long which is not written in the 
 purest vernacular of the people. One of the reasons of the 
 sway of the Bible over the other literature of the English 
 tongue is that its style is so pure. An accomplished ex- 
 pert in English literature says that " our poetry could not 
 have been, as it is, the noblest body of poetry in the world, 
 if the divines and scholars of King James's era had taken 
 it upon themselves to translate the Bible into the polite 
 language of the court, or into any other than that used by 
 the common people." The secret of the sway of the Script- 
 ures over English literature is, that, by using in a scholar- 
 ly way the language of the people, our translators fell back 
 upon the purest vocabulary of their times ; and that vocab- 
 ulary continues to be perspicuous to all classes of mind to 
 this day. The purest style is not only the most perspicu- 
 ous for the time being, but it has the longest heritage of 
 perspicuity to subsequent generations. The purest style 
 has the longest life. 
 
 2. Purity is tributary, also, to the most forcible style. A 
 vernacular tongue carries weight because it is vernacular. 
 Indefinable magnetic threads connect the pure vernacular 
 with the sensibilities of the people who use it. Love of 
 language is more potent than love of country. The native 
 country, men call the fatherAzxvA : the native T ri 
 
 J ' J Love of lan- 
 
 language, they call the mot/ier-tongue. The guage and love 
 
 inj^r , • i-i - v ■%•-,• of country. 
 
 ballads of a nation which move its sensibili- 
 ties most profoundly are written in the purest dialect. 
 That which Milton said of books is more profoundly true 
 of a great nation's language in its untainted purity : 
 " Books are not dead things, but they do carry a potency 
 of life in them." So that style which "carries a potency of 
 life" in it to the hearts of hearers is the style in which they 
 recognize their purest vernacular vocabulary. They feel it 
 as their own. It has roots running under their whole in-
 
 40 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND TRACTICE 
 
 tellectual life, and going back to their infancy. Swiss sol- 
 diers in the Austrian service used to be forbidden to sing 
 their country's songs in their native tongue because it 
 tempted so many to desertion. 
 
 This force of a vernacular style is the more powerful in 
 the English language because of the intrinsic vigor of its 
 chief fundamental element, the Saxon. " Saxon " has be- 
 The Saxon ele- come a synonym of " strong." This is the 
 ment - element most active in the vitality of the 
 
 English Bible, to which I have referred. How long could 
 the Lord's Prayer in English form live if it had been trans- 
 lated into Latinized English like that of Sir Thomas 
 Browne ? Suppose the style of it to have been as technical 
 to religious thought as the following is to the science of 
 medicine. A lady has died suddenly, and the reporter thus 
 describes the event : " An autopsy was held, which revealed 
 extensive cardiac disease, consisting of hypertrophy, with 
 aneurism of the aorta just below its bifurcation, the rupture 
 of which was the proximate cause of dissolution." It re- 
 quires a classical scholar to understand from this that the 
 person died of heart disease. How long would the readers 
 of that rural newspaper continue their use of the Lord's 
 Prayer if it had been taught to them by our translators in 
 such a style as this ? 
 
 4. Moreover, the genius of the English mind has given to 
 the language the resources which specially adapt it to pub- 
 Demanded for lie oral discourse, as distinct from that of 
 inpubli^or 11 ] 43 scholastic research. The English mind is 
 discourse. pre-eminently the practical mind of modern 
 
 times. As the German is the philosophic, and the French 
 the scientific, so the English is the national mind most 
 heartily given to the practical civilization of the age. The 
 English are also a nation of public speakers. The same is 
 true of the American people. In no other countries in the 
 world is language so much used in public oral discourse as
 
 THE CULTIVATION OF PURITY OF STYLE 41 
 
 in these. In the eloquence of the pulpit, of the bar, of the 
 senate, of the platform, our language is the best fitted for 
 use, in part because it is most abundantly used in all these 
 varieties of public speech. Such a language as this, with 
 such a history behind it, and the force of such a history 
 in its structure, deserves to be employed with scholarly 
 care. 
 
 5. Lest the estimate here given of the intrinsic value of 
 our language should seem extravagant, let us observe 
 the testimony of European scholars. The Testimony of 
 first is that of Jacob Grimm, the German lex- J acob Grimm, 
 icographer. From the midst of the most learned etymolog- 
 ical studies of the age he once sent forth this tribute to a 
 language not his own. " The English language," he wrote, 
 " has a veritable power of expression such as, perhaps, 
 never stood at the command of any other language of men. 
 Its spiritual genius, its wonderfully happy development, 
 have been the result of a surprisingly intimate union of 
 the two noblest languages of modern Europe — the Teutonic 
 and the Romanza. In truth, the English tongue, which by 
 no mere accident has produced and upborne the greatest 
 poet of modern times, may with all right be called a world- 
 language. Like the English people, it appears destined to 
 prevail, with a sway more extensive even than its present, 
 over all portions of the globe. For in wealth, good sense, 
 and closeness of structure, no other languages at this day 
 spoken, not even our German, deserve to be compared to 
 it." This is the judgment of a German, who would not need- 
 lessly exalt a foreign tongue at the expense of his own. It 
 is the judgment of a philologist, who would not indulge in 
 declamation on such a theme. It is the judgment of one of 
 the most learned men of the age, who knew whereof he af- 
 firmed. 
 
 The late Baron Humboldt expressed, not long before his 
 decease, substantially the same opinion of the capacities of
 
 42 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND TRACTICE 
 
 the English as compared with the classic languages of an- 
 tiquity. The Academy of Berlin once gave a prize for the 
 best essay on a comparison of fourteen of the ancient and 
 modern tongues. The prize was awarded to Jenisch, and 
 the essay assigned the palm of excellence over 
 
 Guizot. 11 i i T- i • i /". • i • 
 
 all the rest to the English. Guizot claims 
 the superiority, in some respects, for the French tongue; 
 yet he concedes the pre-eminence of Shakespeare over all 
 other modern poets, and affirms that Shakespeare could 
 not have written his unequalled dramas in any other than 
 the English language. No English, no Shakespeare, is the 
 gist of his criticism. The point to which such testimony 
 is to be bent is this, that such a language deserves protec- 
 tion from decadence and corruption. Its purity is its glory. 
 Scholarly taste ought to stand sentinel over such a national 
 treasure in the persons of the authors and public speakers 
 who use the language in dignified discourse. 
 
 II. — Purity Ought to Characterize the Ruling Lan- 
 guage of the World. 
 
 i. Another reason for the scholarly conservation of our 
 language in its purity is the fact that the knowledge and 
 Rapid spread of tne use °f *t are rapidly extending over the 
 Eng-Jsh. nations of the world. It is now the mother- 
 
 tongue of the masters of one-fourth of the civilized globe. 
 De Quincey expresses the opinion that the English and the 
 
 _, _ . Spanish are destined to contest the control 
 
 De Quincey. * 
 
 of the civilization of the future. Why the 
 Spanish should be thought able to engage in such a compe- 
 tition is probably because Spain has been what England 
 is — the great colonizing power of the globe. Its language, 
 therefore, has a lodgment at many commanding points 
 on both continents. A short time ago seventeen differ- 
 ent governments corresponded with the Department of
 
 THE CULTIVATION OF PURITY OF STYLE 43 
 
 State at Washington in Spanish — a larger number, prob- 
 ably, than that of correspondents in any other tongue. 
 Alison the historian gives it as the result of 
 
 Alison. 
 
 his studies of the institutions of Europe, that 
 the language of half the world, for ages, will be our own. 
 Other ethnologists and philologians express the same or a 
 similar opinion. 
 
 2. The fact also deserves more particular notice, that 
 English is the language of colonization and of commerce 
 the world over. Those agencies which are _. , - 
 
 I he language 01 
 
 most effective in extending commerce, and colonization and 
 
 , . . , . 1   ii commerce. 
 
 colonizing new lands, are rooted in the 
 nations to which English speech is vernacular. In these 
 lines of expansion, the French, the Spanish, and the Ger- 
 man — the only tongues which in other respects can com- 
 pete with ours — have no future comparable with that of 
 ours. The absorption of them, wherever they come into 
 rivalship with English on a large scale and on a new soil, is 
 only a question of time. If new and uninhabited lands are 
 to be discovered on the globe, the chances are that the 
 first foot planted on their soil will be that of an English- 
 man or an American, and that the first word of human 
 speech heard there will be from our mother-tongue. Even 
 in Central Europe, English is gaining ground as the lan- 
 guage of culture. The ability to speak it is English in Cen- 
 recognized both as an accomplishment of tral Europe- 
 culture and a necessity of commerce. The old idea of 
 making Latin the dialect of learning is now shut up to the 
 universities. The later fashion, of making French the dia- 
 lect of courts, is also yielding ground. In many German 
 cities English is spoken in every other store one enters. 
 Ask for a hat in broken German, and the chance is, that you 
 will be asked in return, in a dialect as pure as yours, " Can 
 you speak English ?" 
 
 Commerce and colonization have effected such an exten-
 
 44 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AXD PRACTICE 
 
 sion of the use of this language, that an English traveller, 
 
 not long ago, starting from Liverpool, and following the 
 
 sun, travelled on a belt around the globe, and 
 Experience of 
 an English trav- never was for twenty-four hours on land 
 
 out of hearing of his native tongue, spoken 
 by natives of the countries he visited. Dilke's " Greater 
 Britain " is well worth reading, for the conception it gives 
 one of the steadiness and the grandeur with which English 
 speech is marching over the habitable world. It is more 
 sublime than the tramp of an army. Mr. Webster gave ex- 
 pression to a profound fact, prophetic of this world's des- 
 tiny, when he represented the globe as surrounded with 
 one " continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of 
 England." 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 REASONS FOR THE CULTIVATION OF PURITY OF STYLE. 
 
 I. Value of Purity of Style. 
 
 i . Purity the Foundation of the Most Effective Style. 
 
 2. Purity an aid to Clearness or Perspicuity. 
 
 3. Purity an aid to Force or Energy. 
 
 4. Purity demanded for the Best Results of Public Oral Discourse. 
 
 5. Testimony as to the Value of English by European Scholars. 
 
 II. Purity ought to Characterize the Ruling Language of the 
 
 World. 
 
 1. Rapid spread of English. 
 
 2. English the Language of Colonization and of Commerce.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 PURITY OF STYLE (CONCLUDED) 
 
 I. — Why American Writers and Speakers Should use 
 
 Pure English. 
 
 American speakers and writers should cultivate the use 
 of pure English because the language is in special danger 
 of corruption in this country. The danger arises from 
 several causes, which can be but briefly noticed here. 
 
 One is, that republican institutions favor the influence of 
 the illiterate upon the language. Our people are intelli- 
 gent, yet in the main illiterate. Republican- influence of the 
 ism creates a multitude of illiterate speakers. llliter ate. 
 It tends, also, to promote the use of the language in ad- 
 dress to the illiterate. As a nation we have no such knowl- 
 edge as that which extensive reading gives, and no such 
 delicacy of ear for the sounds of the language as the people 
 of Athens had in their better days. Popular influence on 
 the use of the language, therefore, is powerful, and at the 
 same time not subject to good taste. Public speakers of 
 all classes are tempted to speak for sensational effect. 
 Members of the American Senate illustrate the force of this 
 temptation in the prejudice which some of them have ex- 
 pressed in words quite equal to the dignity of the senti- 
 ment, against " literary fellers " among their Stephen A. 
 associates. The late Hon. Stephen A. Doug- Douglas, 
 las once declared it to be a disqualification for the duties 
 of senator, that a man had a classical education.
 
 46 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 2. Again : the extent of our territory favors the forma- 
 tion of provincial dialects. The dialects in the different 
 The extent of shires of England have been mentioned. In 
 our territory. France the same thing abounds. The peas- 
 antry of different departments find it difficult to under- 
 stand each other. Yet France has a territory not so large 
 as Texas. Herodotus tells us, that the dialects of ancient 
 Greece often could not be intelligibly interchanged by those 
 who used them. Yet Greece comprised a landed area less 
 than that of one-half of the State of Pennsylvania. What 
 shall prevent the growth of provincial tongues in a territory 
 measured by thousands of miles from sea to sea, divided by 
 such lines of demarcation as the Rocky Mountains, and^em3_ 
 bracing every variety of climate and production within the 
 temperate zone ? 
 
 What is actually going on on the Pacific coast, the " Chi- 
 nook dialect " in Oregon illustrates. A few years ago that 
 " Chinook dia- dialect was in full play as an infant language 
 lect " by itself. It was originally compounded by 
 
 members and employees of the Hudson's Bay Company to 
 facilitate trade with the Indians. A dictionary of it has 
 been printed, containing about twelve hundred words made 
 up of English, French, and German, with a sprinkling of 
 Indian words. Of forty tribes of Indians, no two use the 
 same language ; but they all understand " Chinook." 
 
 3. Further : the multitude of nations represented in the 
 emigration to this country also fosters the growth of dia- 
 The variety of lects. The Dutch settlers in Eastern New 
 immigrants. York were from the first hemmed in by 
 strong English populations ; yet they have left an impres- 
 sion on the colloquial language of that region which lives 
 
 to this day, and this after the lapse of two 
 
 New York State. , , • , 
 
 hundred years. In some inland villages not 
 far from the Hudson the mixture of Dutch and English 
 words is obvious. It is not long since persons were found
 
 PURITY OF STYLE 47 
 
 there who spoke Dutch alone, yet were natives of the Em- 
 pire State. In Oneida County, a few years ago, you might 
 have travelled for miles, and heard only the Welsh lan- 
 guage. 
 
 If a few Dutch and Welsh immigrants could give to then 
 languages such vitality in the midst of a thickly settled 
 English State, what must be the effect produced by the 
 thousands of Germans, Swedes, and Norwegians, in the 
 Northwestern States ? These have newspapers in their 
 native tongues, and schools in which those 
 
 . _, , , The Northwest. 
 
 tongues are used. Sometimes even the laws 
 of the State have to be printed in a foreign language. In 
 the city of Chicago the gospel is preached in eight different 
 dialects to-day. 
 
 In California the more familiar Spanish terms have be- 
 come ingrafted on our English, so that they never can be 
 detached again. Words from every language 
 
 . , . . . e „. . California. 
 
 on the earth are working in, from Chinese to 
 Kanaka. A shoemaker in San Francisco was asked by a 
 customer, " Can you speak English ? " and he replied, un- 
 hesitatingly, " Si Signor, certainement ! you bet ! ' : There 
 were three languages in one sentence ; and the good man 
 straightened himself up with a look of proud satisfaction at 
 the thought that he could speak English like a native. He 
 was an Italian. 
 
 The effect of this condition of things must subject our 
 language to a very severe process of transition, in which 
 dialects will be almost inevitable. The danger is, that the 
 language will be seriously weakened for the high purposes 
 it has served hitherto, and which have resulted in the no- 
 blest body of literature in the world. 
 
 Good taste, however, does not favor any quixotic enter- 
 prise. Changes cannot be wholly prevented." It is not de- 
 sirable that they should be. But it is desirable and prac- 
 ticable to guard the old English of scholars and public
 
 48 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 speakers from reckless change, from ignorant change, from 
 change fostered by the i ndolence o f authors and the coarse- 
 The way to guard ness of readers. Keep the old English lit- 
 our language. erature within the homely language of the 
 people, as it is now, by keeping the language substan- 
 tially what it is now. Do not allow such a magnificent 
 literature to become obsolete through the obsolescence of 
 the tongue in which it is now treasured. Think of it ! 
 Shall an American a hundred years hence be unable to read 
 " The Pilgrim's Progress " in the original? Shall an Amer- 
 ican child then need a glossary to decipher the present 
 form of " The Lord's Prayer," as we do to read the trans- 
 lation of it by Wickliffe ? It would be a catastrophe to all 
 high culture and to Christianity itself. Yet any language 
 will die out thus, if authors and speakers leave it unguarded 
 to drift with illiterate and vulgar usage. They are its nat- 
 ural conservators. 
 
 II. — Why Educated People Should Use Pure English. 
 
 Indispensable to thorough and refined scholarship is a 
 taste for a pure style. Observe critically the character of 
 educated men, and you will find that their genuine culture 
 . ,. , in other things is proportioned to their taste 
 
 An essential con- & ' l 
 
 dition of genuine for good English in their public speech. 
 The accuracy of a man's learning, the sound- 
 ness of his philosophy, the trustworthiness of his literary 
 judgments, the value of his opinions of books, of educa- 
 tional enterprises and expedients, and the general symme- 
 try of his culture, may be graded by his taste for pure 
 English in his own use of language. The study of this 
 quality of speech lies deeper in the ground-work of culture 
 than at the first view it appears to do. Its roots run into 
 and under the foundation of scholarship. This is the chief 
 reason why so large a space is given here to its discussion.
 
 PURITY OF STYLE 49 
 
 It is not because purity of style is immediately and intrinsi- 
 cally more important than other qualities, but that it lies 
 at the basis of them all. 
 
 III. — Means of Acquiring a Pure Style. 
 
 The only remaining topic in the discussion of the theme 
 before us is the inquiry, What are the most effective means 
 of acquiring a pure style ? These relate to several things. 
 
 1. One of these is our habitual conversation. We should 
 distinguish between colloquial usage and that of continu- 
 ous discourse. Conversation tolerates a freedom which is 
 not authorized in discourse, written or oral. Habitual conver- 
 Colloquial usage admits provincialisms, con- satl on. 
 tractions, even imports from other tongues, more freely 
 than the usage of public speech or of authorship. For in- 
 stance, a scholarly spirit does not recoil at hearing, in the 
 freedom of conversation, such contractions as "don't," 
 "can't," "won't." But, when Daniel Webster used them 
 in the United States Senate, he violated the 
 
 r , . , ,. . , Daniel Webster. 
 
 canons of cultivated taste. He did not do 
 it in the earlier and more vigorous years of his life. His 
 style in this, and in some other respects, deteriorated. We 
 often say of a man's written style, that it needs more of 
 the colloquial elements. That criticism commonly refers, 
 not to vocabulary, but to construction, and specially to the 
 ease and flexibility of structure which conversation creates 
 more readily than written discourse. 
 
 But it is not_kt&tidtous criticism to subject even conver- 
 sation to substantially the same rules respecting a pure 
 vocabulary by which we form the diction of Pure Entr ] ish in 
 discourse. Use pure English in common common talk, 
 talk. This is not "talking like a book." It is using in 
 speech the best elements of the language — the best for 
 clearness, for force, for elegance. Observe for yourself the 
 4
 
 SO RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 conversation of the best class of educated men : you will 
 
 detect an indefinable charm in it, which is due almost 
 
 wholly to its selection of pure words, the predominance of 
 
 Saxon words, the avoidance of slang, of contractions, of 
 
 vulgarisms, of pedantic importations. The colloquial style 
 
 of Edward Everett by the hour together might have been 
 
 transferred to print without an omission or a correction. 
 
 So might that of Washington Irving. One reason why they 
 
 wrote as they did, in pure classic English, was that they 
 
 talked in pure classic English. The habit of the tongue 
 
 became the habit of the pen. 
 
 An educated man should never translate educated speech 
 
 into slang facetiously. A man's jests may be a cause, as 
 
 r , well as a sisrn, of literary decline. The ma- 
 
 Use of slang. & ' J 
 
 jonty of men of culture would be surprised 
 
 to discover how much of such facetiousness exists among 
 them, and how insidious its influence is on refinement both 
 of thought and speech. Some conversationalists seem to 
 know no other way of giving mother-wit to their talk than 
 that of translating pure English into the dialect of low life. 
 The apology for it is, that it is so expressive. But so is 
 profaneness expressive. Vulgarity in all forms is expres- 
 sive. You can command entranced attention in the pul- 
 pit by the utterance of an oath. But neither is a neces- 
 sity to the bold and manly purposes of conversation. The 
 princes in colloquial expression employ a vocabulary of 
 which the most fastidious scholar need not be ashamed. 
 The most forcible elements of common talk are its purest 
 elements. 
 
 The habit of ignoring those elements in favor of their 
 vulgar equivalents is degrading to a man's habits of think- 
 Effectofthe use m S- It n ^ s his mind with coarse expressions 
 of slang. f energy; and, in the haste of dignified 
 
 speech, these will crowd their way in, to the displacement 
 of those refined forms which a scholar's taste prefers, and
 
 PURITY OF STYLE 5 1 
 
 the superiority of which every man feels. Such forms of 
 vulgar force, once rooted in a speaker's vocabulary, may 
 not die out of it in a lifetime. De Quincey, for instance, 
 must first have allowed his colloquial dialect to be cor- 
 rupted, before he could, with his princely command of lan- 
 guage, have indulged himself in writing, as he does, of 
 Greece as having been very proud of having " licked " her 
 enemy "into almighty smash ; " and again, of Apollodorus 
 as being "cock of the walk." An author's pen does not 
 commit such crimes against the mother-tongue if his own 
 tongue has not first been guilty of degrading colloquial 
 liberty into colloquial vulgarity. 
 
 2. A pure style may be fostered by the reading of classic 
 English authors. The most lasting influence which forms 
 a speaker's style is commonly that of the au- ,. f . 
 
 thors of whom he is most fond. The influ- sic English au- 
 
 ., , . , . thors. 
 
 ence is a silent one, and its growth imper- 
 ceptible ; but it is creative. That which an educated man 
 reads with most profound reverence and enjoyment he will 
 most nearly resemble in the end. Delight in pure English, 
 and you will compose in pure English. Let your tastes be 
 formed upon the models of Addison, David Hume, Words- 
 worth, Macaulay, Whately, Washington Irving, Edward 
 Everett, Motley, and Prescott, and you can scarcely fail to 
 write and speak with a pure vocabulary. 
 
 On the other hand, read with scholarly caution authors 
 who by reputation are indifferent to the purity of their lan- 
 guage. Do not accept as authorities Cole- . . 
 
 00 * Authors who are 
 
 ridge, Carlyle, Emerson. Read with critical to be read with 
 
 t, c 1 ,1 critical care. 
 
 care against abuses of languages those au- 
 thors whose culture has been chiefly derived from German 
 literature. We may be unable to assign a reason for it ; but 
 it is a fact, that German writers, when they become the 
 favorites of an American speaker, are more efficient in cor- 
 rupting his English style than those of any other foreign
 
 52 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 tongue. This, probably, was the chief source of the de- 
 generacy of Carlyle's English. It is reported that when he 
 began his literary career, before German studies had be- 
 come ascendant in his reading, he wrote a diction not at all 
 noticeable for unscholarly features. The degradation of his 
 style to the most monstrous contortions that have defaced 
 any modern literature of equal rank seems to have been 
 consciously and voluntarily invited on his part, by the 
 sacrifice of his English to his German masters. 
 
 3. Purity of style may be assisted in its growth by a dis- 
 creet use of dictionaries, grammars, and other treatises 
 Discreet use of upon language. Robert Hall never wrote 
 dictionaries. f or t h e p ress without keeping Johnson's Dic- 
 tionary open before him for reference. Yet he might have 
 been pardoned, if any man might, for writing recklessly ; 
 for he probably never had a painless waking hour in his life 
 after reaching the age of manhood. He lived and died in 
 extreme neuralgic suffering. If Carlyle had been such a 
 sufferer as Hall was, one might pardon his style for howl- 
 ing and growling in outlandish English. 
 
 4. Purity of style may obviously be cultivated by a 
 scholarly care in one's own habits of composing. Never 
 Scholarly care in use a doubtful word without investigation, 
 composition. Generally give the preference to Saxon 
 words. A Saxon style is almost certain to be a pure style. 
 Criticise your own composition after the excitement of the 
 work is over. By directing your own attention consciously 
 to the barbarisms already familiar to your pen, you most 
 easily expel them from your use. Write also with the as- 
 sistance of a manuscript catalogue of words which you de- 
 tect as impure or doubtful English in your reading. For 
 convenience' sake, such a list of words should include also 
 those which are violations of precision, to avoid the neces- 
 sity of constructing two. Words obsolete, words obsoles- 
 cent, words doubtful, words whose structure or sense
 
 PURITY OF STYLE 53 
 
 should not invite their introduction to the language, words 
 not precise as commonly employed, unauthorized com- 
 pounds, words improperly imported — these and similar vio- 
 lations of good style may be accumulated as a ready guide 
 to one's own critical taste. Knowing what to shun is the 
 chief thing in learning what to use. The very writing of 
 such a catalogue will of itself improve one's critical taste. 
 It is also the most effective method of keeping one's self 
 informed of the progress of the language. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PURITY OF STYLE (CONCLUDED). 
 
 I. Why American Writers and Speakers should use Pure English. 
 
 r. Influence of the Illiterate in this Country. 
 
 2. The Extent of Our Country. 
 
 3. The Variety of the Immigrants. 
 
 (a) Foreigners in New York State. 
 
 (b) Foreigners in the Northwest. 
 
 (c) Foreigners in California. 
 
 II. Why Educated People should use Pure English. 
 
 III. Means of Acquiring Pure English. 
 
 1. Habitual Conversation. 
 
 (a) What it is to Use pure English in Common Talk, 
 
 (b) Use of Slang. 
 
 (c) Effect of the Use of Slang. 
 
 2. Reading of Classic English Authors. 
 
 3. A Discreet Use of Dictionaries, Grammars, and Other Treatises 
 
 on Language. 
 
 4. Scholarly Care in Composition.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 
 
 I. — Definition of Precision of Style. 
 
 Precision of style — what is its characteristic idea? 
 This is figuratively suggested by its etymology — -prcecido. 
 To eliminate redundancies, to supply deficiencies, and to 
 remove inaccuracies, is its aim. Precision, then, is the 
 synonym of exactness. More fully, it is that quality by which 
 a writer s style expresses no more, no less, and no other, than the 
 thought which he means to express. 
 
 II. — Precision Distinguished from Other Qualities 
 
 of Style. 
 
 Precision needs to be distinguished from certain other 
 qualities which it resembles. It is distinct from propriety 
 Distinguished °f & ty\e. Propriety, as we have seen, relates 
 from propriety. to the signification of language as fixed by 
 usage : precision relates to the signification of language as 
 demanded by the thought to be expressed. Propriety is 
 satisfied if we write good English ; precision demands such 
 a choice of good English as shall express our meaning. 
 
 Precision is distinct, also, from perspicuity of style. Pre- 
 cision, as above remarked, is satisfied if we express in good 
 Distinguished English our thought, no more, no less, no 
 from perspicuity, other. Perspicuity requires such a selection 
 of good English as shall make our thought clear to the 
 hearer. The thought may be precisely expressed, yet not
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 55 
 
 be understood by the hearer. It may be clothed in unfa- 
 miliar English, yet with no want of precision. You may 
 soliloquize your thought exactly : you do not thereby com- 
 municate it clearly. Perspicuity demands an adjustment 
 of style to the capacity and culture of an audience ; pre- 
 cision, only an adjustment of it to the thought of the 
 speaker. Profound thinkers are not necessarily expert 
 communicators. Style, then, may be precise, and not per- 
 spicuous : it may be perspicuous, and not precise. Con- 
 nection may neutralize the want of precision. It may be 
 clear that a speaker means what he does not say. One 
 may not always easily determine at what point the want of 
 precision passes over into a want of perspicuity. That de- 
 pends on the quality of the hearing. 
 
 To recapitulate these distinctions : propriety requires 
 only good English ; precision requires such a choice of 
 good English as shall express the speaker's mind ; per- 
 spicuity requires such a choice of good English as shall 
 make the speaker's mind clear to the hearer. 
 
 III. — Violations of Precision. 
 
 i. One class of offences against precision concerns the 
 use or omission of single words. The wrong use or omis- 
 sion of a word sometimes affects grammati- Omission of 
 cal construction to the injury of this quality. single words. 
 " Certainly I nor any man has a right," etc., thus writes De 
 Quincey. Ungrammatical structure here is occasioned by 
 the omission of the word " neither." " No writer was 
 ever guilty of so much false and absurd criticism," thus 
 writes Macaulay of Sir Horace Walpole. The omission 
 of the word " other " impairs precision. If no writer was 
 ever thus guilty, then Walpole was not guilty. But Ma- 
 caulay means to say the opposite. Scores of instances of 
 this offence against precision are found in Macaulay's writ-
 
 $6 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 ings. A model of precision as he is in other respects, he 
 seems never to have observed the nice requirement of our 
 syntax in this. 
 
 2. The word " it" is often so used or omitted as to injure 
 exactness of expression. William Cobbett says, " Never 
 Wrong use or P ut an ' lt ' on paper without thinking what 
 omission of it." you are about." Often the thing needs to be 
 expressed to which the impersonal pronoun refers. Some- 
 times the demonstratives " this " or " that " need to be sub- 
 stituted for "it." Your reading, if your attention is di- 
 rected to the fact, will disclose to you the enormous amount 
 of material which this word is made to carry in the usage 
 of authors. The freedom of its use exposes it to abuse. 
 The possessive case of " it " is of recent origin in the lan- 
 guage. Our English translators of the Bible did not recog- 
 nize it. They employed "his" for " its." The impersonal 
 form of the possessive does not occur except by interpola- 
 tion. It was not common in King James's day. 
 
 3. A wrong choice of single words leads often to the loss 
 of precision in the moods and tenses of verbs. " I intended to 
 
 go," "I had intended to go," "I intended to 
 
 Wrong use of & ' & ' 
 
 moods and tenses have gone " — these forms express different 
 s " shades of thought ; yet some writers use 
 
 them interchangeably. De Quincey writes: "With the ex- 
 ception of Wordsworth, no celebrated writer of this day has 
 written a hundred pages consecutively with- 
 
 De Quincey. _ ... 
 
 out some flagrant impropriety of grammar, 
 such as the eternal confusion of the preterite with the past 
 participle, confusion of verbs transitive with verbs intran- 
 sitive, or some violation more or less of the vernacular 
 idiom." This is an extravagant criticism, but it indicates 
 the general impression left by a voluminous range of read- 
 ing upon one of the keenest of modern critics. 
 
 One of the permanent questions of literary criticism is 
 when to use the subjunctive mood. A very difficult ques-
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE $J 
 
 tion it is, except to a writer whose habit of critical obser- 
 vation has been disciplined by extensive reading of the 
 best authors. Hallam says that the use of 
 
 Hallam. 
 
 misplaced inflections was one of the chief 
 things in which the decadence of both the Greek and the 
 Latin languages first showed itself. Teachers of the freed- 
 men of our own country find the similar defect one of the 
 most difficult things to correct in the negro dialect. In 
 that dialect it often extends to the connection of different 
 verbs utterly without sense, as in the phrase "done gone." 
 A singular power is observable, in such corruptions, to 
 migrate from one language to another, apparently through 
 the national blood. Livingstone found, in some of the 
 African dialects, phrases corresponding to this " done 
 gone " in the patois of the Southern plantation. 
 
 The instinct of literary taste is seldom, if ever, sufficient 
 to guide a writer in the use of the verbal moods and tenses. 
 We need elaborate study of them with gram- Means to a right 
 mar in hand, and also a large range of good moJ^a^ 3,1 
 reading behind to determine points which tenses, 
 grammars do not specifically treat. Think on these topics 
 with the pen ; write down errors and their corrections, and 
 fix thus in mind the underlying philosophy of grammar. 
 There is no less elaborate method by which one can become 
 an accomplished scholar in English idioms. The majority 
 of the graduates of American colleges understand the Latin 
 and Greek languages more philosophically than they do the 
 English. The study of our own tongue as the subject of 
 philosophical analysis is a modern addition to our collegiate 
 curriculum. One expedient which facilitates the study of 
 it is to study the English verb in comparison with the 
 Greek verb. 
 
 4. This suggests, further, that the wrong use or omission 
 of connective words is often the occasion of looseness of 
 style. The superior precision of the Greek tongue is said,
 
 58 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 by those who are experts in teaching it, to be in part 
 
 due to the abundance of connectives in its vocabulary. 
 
 For some of its connective particles our 
 
 Wrong use or , * 
 
 omission of con- language has no equivalents ; yet such as we 
 
 have serve often to knit one's style together 
 
 in exact and forcible collocations. Coleridge says that a 
 
 master of our language may be known by his skilful use 
 
 of connectives. This is one secret of the 
 
 Coleridge. . 
 
 vigor of Coleridge s own style. His pro- 
 longed and involuted sentences derive from this source 
 often a wonderful continuity, without which his profound 
 conceptions could not find adequate expression. In order 
 to represent some thoughts, style needs a certain sweep of 
 sustained expression, like the sailing of an eagle on wings 
 of scarcely visible vibration. Such, often, is Coleridge's 
 style ; and his command of it is often due to his precise use 
 of connective words. It is still more abundantly and 
 grandly illustrated in the prose style of Milton. Hence 
 
 arises the independence of both of fragmen- 
 Milton. . , . . ° . 
 
 tary expression such as the majority of writ- 
 ers would think to be all that some thoughts admit of in 
 human speech. Hence their freedom from that which 
 Southey calls the " Anglo-Gallican style, whose cementless 
 periods are understood beforehand, they are so free from 
 all the connections of logic." Dr. Arnold, speaking of this 
 feature in the thinking of Coleridge, says that he would 
 have been more perfectly understood if he had written in 
 classic Greek. 
 
 This which I have termed the " involuted style" is essen- 
 tial to the loftiest flights of eloquence in oral address. No 
 The " involuted man can be supremely eloquent in laconics. 
 st y le -" You cannot express the rising and the ex- 
 
 panding and the sweep, and the circling of eloquent thought 
 borne up on eloquent feeling, in a style resembling that 
 which seamen call " a chopping sea." For such thinking,
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 59 
 
 you must have at command a style of which an oceanic 
 ground-swell, or the Gothic interweaving of forest-trees, is 
 the more becoming symbol. You must have long sen- 
 tences, euphonious sentences, sentences which invite a ro- 
 tund and lofty delivery. This diction is often censured by 
 critics as " fine writing." But you must have such a style 
 for the most exact utterance of certain elevated and im- 
 passioned thoughts. Yet, in the construction of such a 
 style, you must use connective words — links elaborately 
 forged, inserted in the right joints of style, to make them 
 flexible without loss of compactness. One word of such ex- 
 act connective force in the right place, with the right sur- 
 roundings before and after, may make all the difference 
 between a disjointed and a linked style. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE. 
 
 I. Definition. 
 
 II. Precision Distinguished from other Qualities of Style. 
 
 (a) From Propriety. 
 
 (b) From Perspicuity. 
 
 III. Violations of Precision. 
 
 1. Omission of Single Words. 
 
 2. Wrong Use or Omission of It. 
 
 3. Wrong Use of Moods and Tenses of Verbs. 
 
 (a) Statement of De Quincey. 
 
 (b) The Subjunctive Mood. 
 
 (c) Means to a Right Use of Verbal Moods and Tenses. 
 
 4. Wrong Use of Connective Words. 
 
 (a) Remark of Coleridge. 
 
 (b) The Prose Style of Milton. 
 
 (c) The " Involuted Style."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 PRECISION OF STYLE (CONTINUED) 
 
 I. Violations of Precision in the Use of Single 
 
 Words. 
 
 Another class of offences against precision concerns the 
 literal and the figurative uses of the same words. The 
 The literal and style of oral address naturally multiplies the 
 
 the figurative fio-urative uses of words. There is some- 
 use of the same *» 
 word. thing in the correspondence of eyes between 
 
 a speaker and his hearers, which prompts the use of picto- 
 rial language with a freedom not so natural to the style of 
 books. The magnetism of vision invites a speaker to paint 
 his thought to the waiting and eager eyes before him. 
 Good hearers are always good spectators. No man hears 
 perfectly with his eyes shut. 
 
 The connection, whether in oral or written address, does 
 not always determine which of the two uses of a word, the 
 literal and the figurative, an author means. What, for in- 
 stance, does Aristotle mean when he speaks of a " perfect 
 thief"?— a sinless thief, on the principle of Spartan ethics, 
 which made the wrong of theft consist in its detection ? or 
 a thief perfectly trained in the arts of his trade ? What 
 does a celebrated English physician mean, when he de- 
 scribes a " beautiful ulcer " ? 
 
 2. Excessive figure in style obviously exposes it to a loss 
 of precision. The style of some writers is a winged 
 Excessive use of chariot ; it bears up everything into the air, 
 figure in style. soaring on a figurative vocabulary. A 
 reader often doubts how much is figurative, and how much
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 6 1 
 
 literal. Something must be literal in any sensible style. 
 Good sense must have literal expression ; it must often be 
 pedestrian. What is the literal conception is often the 
 vexed question. The style of Ruskin abounds with illus- 
 trations of this. Turn to one of his pages, and you will 
 find a description of the flowing of a brook 
 
 il /-. 11 i 1-r i • Ruskin. 
 
 in summer : Cressed brook, lifted, even in 
 flood, scarcely over its stepping-stones, but through all 
 sweet summer keeping tremulous music with harp-strings 
 of dark water among the silver fingering of the pebbles." 
 A precise reader, accustomed to look for exact ideas, will 
 read this a second time, and perhaps not even then discern 
 its meaning. 
 
 II. — Violations of Precision in Confounding Synonyms. 
 
 i. Another class of offenses against precision of style 
 consists of synonyms confounded. The composite struct- 
 ure of our language has multiplied syn- T he Saxon and 
 onyms immensely. The two great branches the Norman, 
 of the language, the Saxon and the Norman, have spe- 
 cially wrought this result. To illustrate the extent to 
 which these heterogeneous elements have accumulated syn- 
 onyms, let a single example be given, which I take, in part, 
 from Trench. We have the words "trick," "device," 
 "finesse," "artifice," "ruse," "stratagem," 
 
 Trench 
 
 " maneuver," " wile," " intrigue," "fraud "— 
 at least ten words to express a group of ideas all having a 
 common centre. These words are contributions from five 
 different stocks of language. "Trick" and "wile" are 
 Saxon ; "device " and " intrigue " are Italian ; " finesse," 
 " maneuver," " ruse," and " intrigue" also are French ; " arti- 
 fice " and "fraud "are Latin; and " stratagem " is Greek. 
 We have more than thirty words to express different varie- 
 ties of the single passion of anger. It is obvious at a
 
 62 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 glance, that, in this multitude of synonyms, our language 
 presents great facilities for looseness of diction. 
 
 2. Some writers are deceived by the similarity in the 
 orthography of certain words. Such words as " ingenu- 
 Words con- ous " antl " ingenious," •" guile " and "guilt," 
 founded by sim- u fi ct iti us " and " factitious," " genius " and 
 
 llanty of orthog- ' & 
 
 raphy. " genus," " human " and " humane," " de- 
 
 preciate " and " deprecate," " extenuate " and " attenuate," 
 " subtle " and " subtile," " imperative " and " imperious," 
 "healthy" and "healthful," "impassable" and "impas- 
 sible," " conjure " and " conjure," are often confounded. A 
 store-keeper gives notice in his window, " Umbrellas re- 
 covered here." What does he mean ? — " recovered " or 
 " re-covered " ? The two words " healthy " and " health- 
 ful " are so frequently interchanged, that our dictionaries 
 define them, in part, as if they were exact synonyms ; 
 which they are not. The best usage of authors expresses 
 by one of them the state of health, and by the other the 
 Healthy and act °^ producing health. "Health " is "not 
 
 healthful. diseased : " " healthful " is " tending to pro- 
 
 mote health." The physician implied precise English, 
 when, to the inquiry whether oysters were " healthy " at 
 certain seasons, he replied, " I have never heard one com- 
 plain of an ache or an ail." The distinction between these 
 two words is parallel to that of a large group of words in 
 our vocabulary, by which we distinguish between a con- 
 dition, and a tendency to produce it. A man advertises the 
 The " Under- patent for a proprietary medicine for sale and 
 taker." observes, "It can be made very profitable to 
 
 the under taker." Here the confounding of the general with 
 the technical meanings of the last word, through sameness 
 of orthography, gives a very dubious commendation to the 
 drug. 
 
 3. The use and the neglect of the etymology of words are 
 often the occasion of a loss of precision. " Sympathy " and
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 6$ 
 
 " pity " are confounded by neglect of etymology. 2w-7ra#o9, 
 the root of the word " sympathy," indicates words con- 
 a much finer feeling than that of pity. On £^of "£"*" 
 the other hand, more often still, adherence ogy. 
 to the etymological sense of a word when that sense has 
 become obsolete, impairs precision. 
 
 Command of the etymological senses of words is a rare 
 gift, often as valuable as it is rare. Sometimes the etymo- 
 logical idea in a word is so remote from its 
 
 i • r • Choate. 
 
 real meaning, that the use of it amounts to 
 an original figure, as when Mr. Choate in speaking of a dis- 
 appointed candidate for office, said, " The convention ejacu- 
 lated him out of the window." This latent force, which 
 always lies in the etymology of words, tempts writers of 
 classic training to resort to it, to the loss of precision. 
 Thus Bishop Lowth writes, "The Emperor Julian very ju- 
 diciously planned the overthrow of Christianity." Paley 
 speaks of the "judiciousness of God." Guizot writes of 
 the " duplicity " of certain of Shakespeare's Pa]e Guizot 
 plays, meaning only their dual structure. Bancroft, De 
 Bancroft writes of the "versatility" of the 
 English government, meaning its fickleness. De Quincey 
 speaks of "chastity," meaning " chasteness," "of taste." 
 He speaks also of a " licentious " style when he means a 
 style rhetorically loose. 
 
 In all these cases the obsolete etymological significations 
 are recalled, and allowed to displace the later usage. If a 
 writer so keen of eye as De Quincey can commit this error, 
 more feeble or less practised writers must be in constant 
 peril of saying what they do not mean. No other quality of 
 a good style demands such incessant care as this of precis- 
 ion. One's mind must be wide-awake, and always awake, 
 in its choice of vocabulary.
 
 64 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 III. — Violations of Precision by Defect in the Num- 
 ber of Words. 
 
 Not single words only may impair precision, but it is 
 often sacrificed by defect respecting the number of words 
 employed. Two forms of error in this respect lie opposite 
 to each other. 
 
 i. One is the sacrifice of precision through excess of con- 
 ciseness. In the manufacture of bullets, one part of the 
 An excessive process is that of compressing the bulk of 
 
 conciseness. t j ie me t a l without lessening its weight. By 
 
 this means is gained increase of momentum in the dis- 
 charge. This is a pertinent emblem of genuine conciseness 
 in style. Only that is true conciseness which compacts 
 thought without loss to the exactness of its expression. 
 Precision is impaired if words are not numerous enough to 
 express the whole thought. 
 
 Writers who affect conciseness inevitably commit this 
 error. Ralph Waldo Emerson is often guilty of it, through 
 the affectation of laconic style. Dr. South is not always 
 free from it. The different degrees of comparison are 
 often expressed with deficiency of words. " As many and 
 even more hearers were assembled than before." What is 
 the defect here ? The writer should have said, by some 
 reconstruction, "As many as, and even more than," etc. 
 The inflections of verbs, also, are often put into excessively 
 concise forms. " Men always have and always will reject 
 the doctrine of fatalism." What is the error ? The form 
 should have been, " Men always have rejected, and always 
 will reject," etc. The late Rev. Dr. Sears, writing of a 
 certain rule in German grammar, says, " If this rule were 
 established in all languages, this subject would be attended 
 with fewer difficulties than it actually is." He should have 
 said, "than it actually is attended with."
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 65 
 
 2. Some errors of this class arise from hopeless blunder- 
 ing. Says an editor, who still survives the achievement, 
 " Chaffee's majority was thirteen hundred Hopeless blun- 
 and ninety-two— just one hundred less than dering. 
 Christopher Columbus discovered America." A bridge in 
 Denver, a few years ago, contained this record of municipal 
 law : " No vehicle drawn by more than one horse is al- 
 lowed to cross this bridge in opposite directions at the 
 same time." The civil code of California once contained 
 this statute : " All marriages of white persons and negroes 
 and mulattoes are illegal and void." Who were, then, the 
 legally married people of California ? None but the Indians 
 and Chinese. Such errors, or their equals in blundering ex- 
 pression, will occur in every writer's first thoughts of con- 
 struction in composing, and will be paralleled in his written 
 style if he trusts implicitly to first thoughts. They suggest 
 a good general rule, that we should not shrink from repeti- 
 tion of words if that is necessary to precision. The ele- 
 gance of a precise style is often disclosed where the preci- 
 sion is gained by repetition. Macaulay's writings abound 
 with illustrations. 
 
 3. Precision may be sacrificed, not only by excessive con- 
 ciseness, but by its opposite — a redundance in the number 
 of words. Writers — and, still more, speakers An excessive re- 
 — are exposed to this error, who have at dundancy. 
 command a diffuse vocabulary. A voluminous vocabulary 
 by no means insures a full expression. One to whom 
 thought comes in a volume of words may express more, he 
 may express less, he may express other, than his real mean- 
 ing. He to whom words occur with difficulty is the more 
 apt to have a studied expression, and therefore an exact ex- 
 pression. 
 
 Looseness from redundance is specially apt to occur in 
 speaking on difficult themes to the popular mind. Under 
 such conditions, one is apt to explain, to qualify, to repeat, 
 5
 
 66 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 to speak in circumlocutory phrase, to experiment with va- 
 riations. These easily overwhelm the thought with words. 
 Redundancy in One then loses precision in the effort to be 
 popular address, perspicuous. Style moves aslant and askew 
 in the struggle to move at all. Sometimes the very strug- 
 gle to be precise — the mind, in the very act of composing, 
 being intent on precision — may defeat itself. Here, again, 
 thought is overborne by the machinery employed to give 
 it utterance. Writers who pride themselves on philosophi- 
 cal accuracy are apt to multiply qualifications, and cir- 
 Phiiosophicai cumstantial incidents, and secondary clauses, 
 accuracy. an( j parenthetical inclosures, so that no pos- 
 
 sible error shall be affirmed ; but that very strain after accu- 
 racy defeats its aim through the mere expansion of bulk and 
 involution of connections. When a dozen words might have 
 been understood, a dozen dozen may fall dead on the ear. 
 
 Edmund Burke sometimes illustrates this. In one of his 
 elaborated sentences you will sometimes find words and 
 clauses selected and multiplied and arranged 
 and compacted and qualified and defined and 
 repeated, for the very purpose of extending and limiting 
 the truth to its exact and undoubted measure. He obvi- 
 ously labors to say just what he means, no more, no less, 
 no other. Still, on the whole, he fails, because he is so 
 elaborately precise in details. The thought is suffocated 
 by the multitude of words employed to give it life. It is 
 buried alive. To change the figure, you can divide and 
 subdivide a field into so many, so small, so regular, and so 
 exact patches, that the chief impression it shall leave on 
 your eye is that of the fences. Similar is the impression of 
 an excessively precise style. 
 
 Such a style is peculiarly inapt to oral delivery. That 
 Excessive precision which gives a dim idea to the reader may 
 in oral delivery. gj ve none to the hearer. A style which 
 must be critically analyzed to discover its contents has no
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 6"J 
 
 chance in the rapidity of oral speech. Beginning, it may 
 be, with a defect in precision, it ends with a defect in 
 perspicuity. 
 
 4. Precision may be sacrificed further by looseness of 
 construction. This class of errors runs parallel to a similar 
 class, which we shall have occasion to con- Looseness of 
 sider in the study of perspicuity of style. construction. 
 The difference between the two is only a difference of 
 degree. The same peculiarity of construction which in 
 one degree of it is an example of looseness, in a greater 
 degree becomes an example of obscurity. To avoid rep- 
 etition, therefore, illustrations of these offences are deferred 
 till we are led to recall this construction in our discussion 
 of the corresponding class, on the subject of perspicuity. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE (CONTINUED). 
 
 I. Violations of Precision in the Use of Single Words. 
 
 1. Literal and Figurative Use of the Same Word. 
 
 2. Excessive Use of Figure in Style. 
 
 II. Violations of Precision in Confounding Synonyms. 
 
 1. The Saxon and the Norman in our Language. 
 
 (a) Example from Trench. 
 
 2. Certain Words Confounded by Similarity of Orthography. 
 
 3. Certain Words Confounded by Neglect of Etymology. 
 
 (a) Use of Words by Choate, Paley, Guizot, Bancroft and 
 De Quincey. 
 
 III. Violations of Precision by Defect in the Number of Words. 
 
 1. An Excessive Conciseness. 
 
 2. Hopeless Blundering. 
 
 3. An Excessive Redundancy. 
 
 (a) Redundancy in Popular Address. 
 
 (b) Writers of Philosophical Accuracy. 
 
 (c) Some of Burke's Sentences. 
 
 4. Looseness of Construction.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE (CONTINUED) 
 
 The violations of precision in style which we have con- 
 sidered, we may assume to be of such significance as to 
 give importance to a third general inquiry, to which we 
 now proceed ; viz., what are the chief causes of a loose 
 style ? 
 
 I. — Chief Causes of a Loose Style. 
 
 i. Of these, the first and chief is the habit of indiscrimi- 
 nate thinking. Other causes will give way to time if this 
 Indiscriminate one be entirely removed. Let a speaker 
 thinking. habitually think with exactness, and a pre- 
 
 cise style will be at last inevitable. The power will grow 
 to meet the demand of the thinking mind. Such is the 
 subjective relation of language to thought, that the mental 
 force which originates exact thinking will at length com- 
 mand exact expression. 
 
 Coleridge lets us into the secret of much which is called 
 study, and is not such, when, in a letter to Wordsworth, he 
 complains that he loses so much of his time 
 in "leaning back in his chair, and looking up 
 to the ceiling, in the bodily act of contracting the muscles 
 of the brows and the forehead, and unconsciously attending 
 to the sensation." 
 
 Be it remembered, then, that the foundation of precision, 
 as of all other qualities of masterly discourse, lies in one's 
 The foundation habits of thinking ; not in one's thoughts on 
 of precision. a gi ven subject alone, but in one's mental 
 
 habits. Style, like character, is the mirror of habits. The
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 69 
 
 thing needed is that, which, in painting, Ruskin calls the 
 "power of mental grasp." This, he says, " implies strange 
 and sublime qualities of mind." It is a power which must 
 be elaborately gained — gained by thinking on difficult 
 themes, by cultivating mastery of such themes, till they 
 become the easy and natural subjects of one's daily medita- 
 tions, and the joy of one's mental life. 
 
 2. A second cause of the formation of a loose style is the 
 indulgence of excessive care for expression as distinct 
 
 from thought. A writer is often anxious, not Excessive care 
 
 so much to say somewhat as to say it some- for expression. 
 how. Most of the faults of a juvenile style result from this 
 cause. Diffuseness, repetition, bombast, result inevitably 
 from the study of expression as distinct from thought. 
 The temptation is constant to abandon the precise word, 
 known to be the precise word, felt to be the only precise 
 word, and to go roving for a substitute which may have 
 every quality but the necessary one of saying what is meant. 
 Watch the growth of an emphatic sentence _. 
 
 1 he growth of 
 
 in your own mind. Do you never find your an emphatic sen- 
 tentative efforts to frame it following the 
 lead of a favorite turn of expression, which is not the 
 lead of your thought ? Have you never chosen a word 
 which you were conscious did not, so well as another, ex- 
 press your meaning, yet chosen it because it was a novel 
 word, or an odd word, or a strong word, or a euphonious 
 word, or an archaic word ? Yet that is mannerism in style. 
 It is not honest work. 
 
 The most offensive variety of the error in question arises 
 from a morbid -fancy for some one quality of style. Often 
 this form of the defect becomes a servile Servile imita- 
 imitation. An illustrious author who has a tlon ' 
 marked individuality in his style is very apt to have a crowd 
 of imitators. That which is original to him is copy to them. 
 Their own individuality is sacrificed to his.
 
 JO RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 In this way, at one period arose a " Chalmerian " style, 
 
 and again a " Johnsonian " style, and another, which one 
 
 critic has labelled as " Carlylese." Even so manly a man 
 
 as Robert Hall confesses to having fallen in early life into 
 
 subjection to the Johnsonian dialect. His 
 
 Robert Hall. ... , , . ,. .„ . . , 
 
 criticism of himself illustrates with what 
 scorn a robust mind will fling off such a mask as soon as it 
 discovers that there is a mask. He says of himself, " I aped 
 Johnson, I preached Johnson. It was a youthful folly, a 
 very great folly. I might as well have attempted to dance 
 a hornpipe in the dress of Gog and Magog. My puny 
 thoughts could not sustain the load of words in which I 
 tried to clothe them." 
 
 The first lesson to be learned by a young writer, yet 
 often the last that is learned, is, that expression is to 
 thought what countenance is to character. The one cannot 
 exist without the other. Thought is the fixture ; expres- 
 sion should be fluid in its capacity to adapt itself to the 
 Hugh Miller and configuration of the thought. Hugh Miller 
 Cow-per. gives a hint of the truth in his criticism of 
 
 the poet Cowper. He says, " Cowper possessed, above all 
 other modern poets, the power of bending the most stub- 
 born and intractable words in the language around his 
 thinking, so as to fit its every indentation and irregularity of 
 outline, as a ship-carpenter adjusts the planking, grown 
 flexible in his hand, to the exact mould of his vessel." 
 
 3. Precision often suffers from another cause, which is 
 
 not peculiar to this quality, but affects others as well. It is 
 
 the want of a command of language. This 
 
 Want of a com- ° ° 
 
 mandoflan- may result either from natural defect, or 
 
 from the want of studious practice in the use 
 of the language. A speaker cannot express his thought if 
 he cannot command the requisite vocabulary. 

 
 PRECISION OF STYLE J I 
 
 II. — Means of Acquiring a Command of Language. 
 
 How can the want of a command of language be reme- 
 died ? The inquiry is pertinent to all the qualities of a good 
 style, though especially so to the one before us. 
 
 i. In the first place, be it observed with emphasis, that 
 command of language is not attainable by the mere accu- 
 mulation of words in a ready memory. Vo- 
 
 Power to select 
 
 cabulary alone may stifle thought. A true and to reject 
 command of language consists in a command 
 of the forces of expression which the language carries. With 
 emphasis, it is a command of language. It consists in the 
 power of selection and rejection, rather than in that of ac- 
 cumulation. It is the power to use and to lay the spirits, as 
 well as to summon them. Command of words, and command 
 of the linguistic forces, are by no means one thing. Words 
 come in troops at the bidding of one man : they fall into 
 rank at the bidding of another. 
 
 These two varieties of power are illustrated in the styles 
 of Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate. Both were powerful 
 speakers : but Webster was the superior, be- ^ . , ,„ . 
 
 f ' . Daniel Webster 
 
 cause of his superior power of selection, and Rufus 
 
 Choate 
 
 Much as one is dazzled by Choate's marvel- 
 lous command of vocabulary, still one cannot avoid thinking 
 of his style in the reading. That always indicates a defect. 
 An absolutely perfect style attracts no attention to itself. 
 Criticism of it is an after-thought. Members of the Boston 
 bar all alike yielded to the spell of Choate's rhetoric ; yet, 
 in the very act of admiring, they found leisure to note that 
 he "drove the substantive and six," alluding to the multi- 
 tude of adjectives which he harnessed to a noun. Men 
 with tears coursing down their cheeks, in listening to his 
 sonorous periods in his eulogy upon Webster yet slily made 
 a memorandum that they would count the words in some
 
 J 2 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 of those periods when they should be printed, and after- 
 ward remarked, that one of them was the longest but 
 one in the English language. Who ever heard of any such 
 arithmetical criticism of Webster's reply to Hayne of South 
 Carolina ? When Choate spoke, men said, " What a marvel- 
 lous style ! How beautiful ! how grand ! how immense his 
 vocabulary ! how intricate his combinations ! how adroit 
 his sway over the mother-tongue ! " When Webster spoke, 
 men said, " He will gain his case." Webster's vocabulary was 
 much more limited than that of Choate, but he had a much 
 sterner power of selection and rejection. His command of 
 language was like Darwin's law of species in the struggle 
 for existence — only that lived which deserved to live. 
 
 2. The most effective, indeed, the only effective means 
 of obtaining command of the forces of expression which 
 Critical study and the language contains, is the persistent union 
 use of language. f a critical study of the language with its 
 critical use. Language needs to be searched. Words need 
 to be weighed. Then use must make them familiar and 
 ready to the pen or tongue. In oral delivery, words vary 
 in their momentum. We need to graduate their movement 
 by unconscious thought which shall guide selection to the 
 purpose. A speaker makes a great acquisition when he 
 adds to his practicable vocabulary one new word of which 
 he has entire mastery. Mastery of a word means more 
 than is commonly understood by it : it includes knowledge 
 of all the shades of thought which good use attaches to the 
 definition of a word. Look at Noah Webster's definitions 
 of standard words. Are you never surprised, as by a dis- 
 covery, at the secondary senses of a word which you 
 thought you knew by heart ? Do we not all know some- 
 thins; of the experience of which Maurice 
 
 Maurice. 
 
 speaks, when he says that " a light flashes 
 out of a word sometimes which frightens one. If it is a 
 common word . . . one wonders how one has dared to
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 73 
 
 use it so frequently and so carelessly, when there were such 
 meanings hidden in it." 
 
 3. Command of a word implies also knowledge of its 
 synonyms. Words have a science corresponding to that of 
 comparative anatomy. No man knows a 
 
 Knowledge of 
 
 word all around, till he knows in what and the synonyms 
 why it is superior, or not so, to its synonyms. 
 Such knowledge includes, further, perception of the forces 
 of a word in varieties of connection. The life of a word, 
 like that of a tree, is seldom in one tap-root, so that it al- 
 ways signifies the same thing, and carries the same weight, 
 and gives to thought the same momentum in oral speech. 
 It commonly has fibres, by which connection modifies force. 
 Look at the idiomatic phrases in our language, of which 
 the word "come " is the centre — "come at," "come to," 
 " come short," " come off," " come by." See Webster's 
 Dictionary. 
 
 4. Mastery of a word involves, also, knowledge of its pos- 
 sible figurative uses ; not only of those which dictionaries 
 define, but of other forces which a writer may Knowledge of 
 originate by a figurative combination. The Slti^S^S 
 heavy preponderance of the weights of Ian- a word, 
 guage is in the scale of its figurative senses. Analogies 
 connect all words with all words. By means of figurative 
 speech, all departments of thought illumine each other. 
 Originality in style appears chiefly in the discovery of anal- 
 ogies, and fitting them to use. Who but DeQuincey, for 
 instance, would ever have discovered the analogies of 
 thought which enabled him to describe in a breath the style 
 of Dr. Johnson, by calling it the " plethoric tympany of 
 style " ? Yet all language is veined by such analogies, in 
 which every writer may range at will. 
 
 5. Once more : mastery of language includes a retentive 
 control of a vocabulary and of varieties of English construc- 
 tion, by which they shall always be at hand for uncon-
 
 74 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 scious use. Do we not often fret for the right word, which 
 
 is just outside of the closed door of memory ? We know 
 
 , that there is such a word ; we know that it is 
 
 Retentive control 
 
 of a good vocab- precisely the word we want ; no other can fill 
 its place ; we saw it mentally a short half- 
 hour ago : but we beat the air for it now. The power we 
 crave is the power to store words within reach, and hold 
 them in mental reserve till they are wanted, and then to 
 summon them by the unconscious vibration of a thought. 
 Nothing can give it to us but study and use of the language 
 in long-continued and critical practice. It is the slow 
 fruitage of a growing mind. 
 
 Walter Scott, for instance, saunters through the streets 
 
 of Edinburgh, and overhears a word, which, in its colloquial 
 
 connections, expresses a shade of thought 
 
 Walter Scott. , • , • , , • TT f 
 
 which is novel to him. He pauses, and makes 
 a note of it, and walks on, pondering it, till it has made a 
 nest for itself in his brain ; and at length that word reap- 
 pears in one of the most graphic scenes in the " Fortunes 
 of Nigel." 
 
 Washington Irving relates, that he was once riding with 
 Thomas Moore in Paris, when the hackney-coach went sud- 
 denly into a rut, out of which it came with 
 
 Thomas Moore. , . . . , . , . , 
 
 such a jolt as to send their heads bumping 
 against the roof. " By Jove, I've got it ! " cried Moore, 
 clapping his hands with great glee. " Got what ? " said 
 Irving. " Why," said the poet, " that word which I've been 
 hunting for for six weeks to complete my last song. That 
 rascally driver has jolted it out of me." 
 
 The late Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, spent 
 the larger part of his mature life as a member of legislative 
 
 bodies. For years he was the Mentor of the 
 
 Caleb Cushing. T • , • , 
 
 Massachusetts Legislature at a time when 
 his politics put him always in a minority on any political 
 measure. Yet he saved the State from much unconstitu-
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 75 
 
 tional legislation by his power of command over the Eng- 
 lish language. It has been said that no suit at law is known 
 to have been brought into court by any lawyer, in which 
 the success of the suit depended on proving to be unconsti- 
 tutional or defective any statute of which Caleb Cushing 
 had the control in the committee which framed it. He was 
 able to say, and to assist legislators to say, so exactly what 
 was meant, that no clear-headed advocate could misunder- 
 stand the statute, or find a flaw in it by which to sustain a 
 lawsuit. The explanation of that rare power of his, of pre- 
 cise utterance, as given by those who knew him best, is, 
 that he read and conversed in half a dozen languages, and 
 made language the study of his life. In the convention for 
 the settlement of the " Alabama Claims " he was the only 
 man who could converse intelligibly with all the members of 
 the convention in their several vernaculars. 
 
 Reading which covers as broad a range of literature as 
 critical reading can cover, is a necessary adjunct to a 
 speaker's studies. Rufus Choate writes in 
 his diary, " I have long been in the habit of 
 reading daily some first-class English author, chiefly for the 
 copia verborum, to avoid sinking into cheap and bald flu- 
 ency, to give elevation, dignity, sonorousness, and refine- 
 ment to my vocabulary." This hint discloses to us one of 
 the sources of his magnificent and superabundant diction. 
 
 Great importance is, therefore, clearly to be attached to 
 the early favorites of a young man when his style is form- 
 ing. If he does not form a taste for scholarly precision 
 then, he is not likely ever to form it. A certain peculiarity 
 of shadow, it is said by critics of art, is perceptible in all the 
 paintings of Rembrandt. Experts have attributed it to 
 the fact that his father's mill, in which his early studies of 
 his art were practised, received its light through an aperture 
 in the roof. So it is in the kindred art of literary composi- 
 tion. A very insignificant fascination by a very inferior
 
 ?6 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 author may give to a young man's style a monotone which 
 shall last through a lifetime. Precision especially is one 
 of those products of scholarly taste which is not apt to 
 attract a man for the first time in middle life or old age. 
 Youth must plant it, or it will not flourish in mature age. 
 
 III. — Two Facts to Encourage Young Writers and 
 
 Speakers. 
 
 Before closing these remarks on command of language, 
 let two facts be named for the encouragement of young 
 writers and speakers. 
 
 i. One is, that a genuine command of language is an 
 acquisition, never a gift. There is a certain leakage of 
 „ , „ words, which popular slang defines as " the 
 
 Command of ' r ' " 
 
 language an ac- gift of the gab," which may be a gift, but is 
 no sign of control over one's mother-tongue, 
 but the reverse rather. That control is an acquisition by 
 the ablest as by the most feeble writers. We read the 
 writings of De Quincey with a discouraging admiration of 
 his marvellous uses of English. Whatever other excellence 
 he has not, he certainly has this, of the 
 
 De Quincey. 
 
 power to summon and put to use a large 
 and forcible vocabulary. The exuberance of his style is 
 excessive. The growth is rank. Yet he tells us that in 
 early life he labored under a " peculiar penury of words." 
 1 He regarded the infirmity of his mind in that respect as 
   extreme. It gave him, he says, " a distinguished talent for 
 silence." What young writer or speaker does not know 
 the experience of that " distinguished talent for silence ? " 
 De Quincey's acquired power of utterance is finely illus- 
 trated in his subsequent description of his early reticence. 
 He says, " I labored like a Sibyl instinct with prophetic 
 woe, as often as I found myself dealing with any topic in 
 which the understanding combined with deep feelings to
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 
 
 77 
 
 suggest mixed and tangled thoughts." He adds, that 
 Wordsworth also suffered in early manhood from the same 
 cause. In both cases, doubtless, the ultimate affluence of 
 style was an acquisition. It was a laborious acquisition. 
 It grew hardily and thriftily, as an oak does, out of the very 
 toughness of the native soil. 
 
 2. The other fact to be remembered for our encourage- 
 ment is, that the vocabulary which is necessary to effective 
 speech is much less voluminous than is often The vocabulary 
 supposed. Our language, it is estimated, of effective 
 
 rr . o e> 5 > speech not vo- 
 
 contains about one hundred and twenty-five luminous. 
 thousand words ; yet, of this immense number, it is sur- 
 prising how few are in common use. The majority even of 
 educated men, it is believed by careful critics, not only do 
 not use more than one-tenth of them, but would not recog- 
 nize more than that as having been met with in their reading. 
 The obsolete and obsolescent words, the vulgarisms, the pro- 
 vincialisms, the terms technical to the arts and the profes- 
 sions, the imports from other languages, the words of recent 
 coinage which have not acquired naturaliza- Webster's Dic- 
 tion in the language, and the words which a tionary. 
 public speaker would not employ twice in a lifetime, probably 
 comprise by far the larger part of Webster's Dictionary. 
 
 It is stated on scholarly authority, that a child does 
 not commonly use more than a hundred words ; and, un- 
 less he belongs to a cultivated family, he words used by 
 will never habitually employ more than three a child - 
 or four hundred. An eminent American scholar estimates 
 that few practised writers or speakers use as many as ten 
 thousand words in threescore years of public 
 
 J Words used 
 
 life. Speakers employ not so many, by a by practised 
 
 large count, as writers employ. Max Miiller speakers. 
 
 says, that " a well-educated person who has been at a 
 public school in England and at an English university, who 
 reads his Bible and Shakespeare, and all the books in
 
 78 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Mudie's Library, that is, nineteen-twentieths of all the 
 books published in England, seldom uses more than three 
 or four thousand words in actual conversation." Eloquent 
 speakers, he thinks, may rise to a command of ten thou- 
 sand. " Even Milton," writes another critic — " Milton, 
 whose wealth of words seems amazing, and whom Dr. 
 Johnson charges with using a Babylonish dialect, uses only 
 about eight thousand ; and Shakespeare ' the myriad- 
 minded,' only fifteen thousand." The Old Testament 
 contains less by some hundreds than six thousand words. 
 These facts go to show that a scholarly mastery of an Eng- 
 lish vocabulary, large and varied enough for forcible public 
 speech, ought not to be looked upon with awe, as an im- 
 possible or very difficult achievement. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE (CONTINUED). 
 
 I. Chief Causes of a Loose Style. 
 
 i. Indiscriminate Thinking. 
 
 (a) The Foundation of Precision. 
 
 2. Excessive Care for Expression. 
 
 (a) Servile Imitation. 
 
 (b) Robert Hall's Confession. 
 
 3. Want of a Command of Language. 
 
 II. Means of Acquiring a Command of Language. 
 
 1. By Power to select and to reject Words. 
 
 2. By Union of Critical Study and Use of Language. 
 
 3. By Knowledge of the Synonyms of Words. 
 
 4. By Knowledge of the Figurative Uses of Words. 
 
 5. By Retentive Control of a Good Vocabulary. 
 
 (a) Walter Scott, Thomas Moore, and Caleb Cushing as 
 
 Examples. 
 
 (b) The Reading of Good Literature. 
 
 III. Two Facts to encourage Young Writers and Speakers. 
 
 1. Command of Language an Acquisition not a Gift. 
 
 2. The Vocabulary of Effective Speech not Voluminous.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE (CONCLUDED) 
 
 The Inducements to the Cultivation of Precision 
 of Style by a Public Speaker. 
 
 The only branch of the subject before us which remains 
 to be considered is the inquiry, Why should a speaker to a 
 promiscuous assembly be scrupulous to cultivate a precise 
 style ? Scarcely any other quality of speech has been made 
 the object of so much impatient and sarcastic criticism as 
 this of precision. 
 
 I. — Popular Idea of a Precise Style. 
 
 Quintilian said of a certain author, and it has been re- 
 peated of scores of others, for it is the keenest remark that 
 Quintilian ever made, "that his greatest ex- 
 
 , ' fe Quintilian. 
 
 cellence was, that he had no faults ; and his 
 greatest fault, that he had no excellences." This is often 
 nearly the popular idea of a precise style. Preciseness in 
 manners is ranked as its twin-brother. Robust men are 
 not charmed with prigs in oral speech any more than in 
 morals. It is instructive to observe the complacency with 
 which some educated men will express contempt for the 
 class of studies which that of precision represents. When 
 a celebrated preacher was once asked what A popu ] ar 
 principles he followed in regulating his own preacher's rules, 
 style, he answered, " I have but two. One is, have some- 
 thing to say; and the other, say it." A truth was con- 
 tained in the aphorism, but by no means all the truth, or
 
 8b RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AXD PRACTICE 
 
 the best of it. It would be as apt a reply if an architect, 
 when asked on what rules of architecture he constructed a 
 cathedral, had said, " I have had but two : one was to get 
 the job, and the other, to execute it." 
 
 Robert Southey says, with scarcely more discernment of 
 the merits of the question, " I have but three rules of com- 
 position — to write as clearly as I can, to 
 
 Robert Southey. . . , _ J , . ' 
 
 write as concisely as I can, and- to write as 
 impressively as I can." "As clearly as I can" — was the 
 study of precision useless to that ? " As concisely as I 
 can " — had precision no concern with that ? " As impres- 
 sively as I can" — could precision give no aid to that? 
 Southey's neglect of critical study of language had its nat- 
 ural effect on his own style. He is distinguished as a vo- 
 luminous rather than a powerful author. He would have 
 doubled the duration of his influence on English literature 
 if he had published less, and elaborated more. Ralph 
 Waldo Emerson dismisses his name with a sneer — "Who is 
 Southey ?" 
 
 II. — Inducements to the Cultivation of a Precise 
 
 Style. 
 
 i. In opposition to such unscholarly neglect of the study 
 
 of those elements in style which precision represents, let it 
 
 be remarked, first, that this study does not 
 
 It does not imply ' J 
 
 anything necessitate in the result the acquisition of 
 
 any thing pedantic or unpractical. You do 
 not become a mere word-hunter by hunting words. The 
 fact remains unanswered, that the most powerful masters 
 of English speech are those who have studied the resources 
 of the language most critically. The ablest thinkers are 
 they who can put thought into its most exact expression. 
 Those who are most successful in making style the servitor 
 of thought are they who have most thoroughly weighed
 
 PRECISION OF STY IE 8 1 
 
 words. Such authors and speakers command the words 
 they need, and use no more and no other. They are free 
 from the entire class of literary defects which arise from 
 the tyranny of expression over thought. 
 
 2. Precision and the study of it are essential to certain 
 other qualities of a good style ; for instance, they assist 
 clearness of style. A speaker, especially, It promotes 
 who must deal with difficult themes, and in clearness. 
 oral address, and to the popular mind, will often find, that 
 if he would be understood, if he would not be misunder- 
 stood, he must say exactly what he means. He must put 
 into language intelligible to the common mind his ultimate 
 thoughts on the subject in hand. Not a word too many, 
 not a word too few, not an ill-chosen word, not a misplaced 
 word, not a word untruthful in its connections, not a figura- 
 tive word which can be mistaken in a literal sense, not a 
 word exaggerating the shade of his thought — such must his 
 style be if he would express himself at all, on a certain 
 theme, to a promiscuous audience. 
 
 3. Precision and the study of it also promote energy of 
 style. The most intense energy often depends on preci- 
 sion. There is an energy which is created j t promo tes 
 by a voluminous vocabulary, but the supreme energy, 
 energy in speech is from a well-chosen vocabulary. Force 
 of style is specially intensified by the compression which 
 precision tends to secure. Take an example, almost at ran- 
 dom, from John Foster : " The rude faculty 
 
 .... ... John Foster. 
 
 which is not expanded into intelligence may 
 be sharpened into cunning." How otherwise could so 
 forcible an expression be given to his thought in a literal 
 form ? He adds a figurative form of the same idea : " The 
 spirit which cannot grow into an eagle may take the form 
 and action of a snake." 
 
 How could you define lightning to a man who never saw 
 it ? Witness the struggles of blind men to conceive of 
 6
 
 82 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY A. YD PRACTICE 
 
 colors. When one said, " The color of scarlet is like the 
 sound of a trumpet," he illustrated the struggle of the mind 
 to conceive and express an impossible thought by the aid 
 of a simile. Like that is the aid of figure to the precision 
 of all difficult thought. Hyperbole may assist precision, 
 even when it falsifies fact. Said John Randolph, when seek- 
 ing to provoke a duel with Henry Clay, " A hyperbole for 
 John Randolph meanness is an ellipsis for Clay." Though 
 
 "and Henry Clay. f a l se to f act) j t was not so to t h e rea l 
 
 meaning of the speaker. He meant all that he said ; and 
 the reason for his unconscious choice of figurative style 
 was, that in no other way could he approximate the whole 
 of his meaning. We miss the breadth of significance in 
 the term "precision," when we restrict it to the exactness 
 of a philosophical definition and a mathematical demon- 
 stration. 
 
 ' 4. Again : precision promotes elegance of style. This it 
 does by promoting the fitness of style to sentiment. Our 
 it promotes sense of beauty depends largely on our sense 
 
 elegance. f fitness. This we feel, not in words only, 
 
 but in construction as well. What is the defect in the fol- 
 lowing specimen ? A church which was burnt in Saco, Me., 
 was thus discoursed upon by a rural editor : " The church 
 was erected during the ministry of the Rev. Elihu Whit- 
 comb ; and the dedication sermon was preached February 
 12, 1S06. It was ninety feet in length and fifty-four in 
 breadth." We detect in this no want of purity, the words 
 are good English ; no want of energy, the style is as for- 
 cible as the thought is, and no style should be more ; no 
 want of perspicuity, for it is clear that the writer meant 
 what he did not say ; no reader can mistake the sense. 
 The defect is a want of precision of construction. No 
 writer would be guilty of it who was accustomed to study 
 precision as a tribute to elegance. 
 
 5. Further : precision is the most effective test of af-
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE 83 
 
 fected style as distinct from genuine style. In affected 
 style, expression is estranged from thought. Apply the 
 test of precision, and the mask drops. In a It prornote s gen- 
 certain treatise on political economy may be umeness of style, 
 found this declaration : " As much food as a man can buy 
 for as much wages as a man can get for as much work as a 
 man can do, ought to satisfy every citizen of the state." A 
 profound principle of political science ap- . , , 
 
 1 r * * r An example from 
 
 pears here to be expressed in pithy, con- political econo- 
 densed, forcible diction. A world of axio- my ' 
 matic wisdom seems to be packed into this monosyllabic 
 sentence. Probably the writer himself believed, certainly 
 meant that his readers should believe, that this was a mar- 
 vel of laconic force. 
 
 Now analyze it by the inquiry, What exactly does it 
 mean ? Reverse the order of the thoughts, for the sake of 
 clearing it of its deceptive axiomatic forms, and it reads 
 thus : " A good citizen will first do as much work as he can 
 do ; for his work he will ask as much wages as he can get ; 
 and then he will spend it all on food, and be content." He 
 may not possess a hat, or a shoe, or a coat, or a book. Yet 
 he has done his whole duty to the state ; and the state, its 
 duty to him. Even with largest allowance for latent and 
 understood ideas, it amounts only to this : that a man 
 should be content with the best he can do and the best 
 he can get. What concern has this with the elements of 
 political economy ? It reminds one of another notable ex- 
 ample of economic wisdom, in which the author advanced 
 as an elementary principle of population which Malthus had 
 never discovered, " that a large town densely peopled must 
 commonly support a greater number of inhabitants than a 
 small place sparsely settled, especially if it be in the rural 
 districts." Apply to any form of affectation in style the 
 query, " What precisely does the writer mean ? " and the 
 glamour of affected excellence disappears.
 
 84 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 6. Precision is not only auxiliary to other qualities of a 
 good style, but it has an independent virtue of its own. This 
 
 is not easily defined, yet we all feel it. We 
 
 It is astvle ap- . 
 
 proved for its respond approvingly to a precise style, not 
 merely because it is a perspicuous style, not 
 merely because it is a vigorous style, not merely because it 
 is a becoming style. We approve of it for its own sake. 
 That is a keen mind which can say what it means, and all 
 that it means ; and we respect a keen mind. That is an 
 honest mind which does say all that it means ; and we trust 
 an honest mind. That is often a bold mind which does not 
 fear to say all that it means ; and men are attracted always 
 by the bold virtues. "He says what he means" is often 
 the highest encomium which the popular verdict gives to a 
 public speaker. 
 
 7. We often think of precision as one of the peculiarly 
 scholarly virtues. It is that ; but the popular mind is pas- 
 It is a popular sionately fond of it as well. A common 
 st y le - audience often makes a blunt demand for it 
 in an extreme. They silently crowd upon a speaker the 
 mandate : " Say what you think ; out with it ! " Nothing 
 wearies them more quickly than a style which beats about 
 the bush. They never read diplomatic papers. One rea- 
 son for the popular simile, " As dull as a sermon," is, that 
 sermons are so often written in a style indicative of self- 
 restraint — a style which a certain critic has described as 
 one in which "words spend their time in dodging things." 
 
 Men crave a coarse precision, a savage form of truth. 
 
 Yet it is the truth after all. The common mind will not 
 
 long retain a label of a distinguished contem- 
 
 Popular slang. 
 
 porary if it is not true. Popular slang, in 
 such cases, though etymologically loose, is commonly def- 
 inite to the popular ear, and substantially exact. No lan- 
 guage is more so. Thus, when a prince has proved himself 
 bold, quick, decisive, ponderous in character, the popular
 
 PR EC I SI ON OF STYLE 85 
 
 voice has summed up its verdict in one figurative but exact 
 title, " Charles the Hammer." When a military chief has 
 proved himself sanguinary, cruel, ferocious, relentless, the 
 people have told the whole story of his life in the single 
 phrase, " Alva the Butcher." 
 
 The watchwords of political parties again illustrate the 
 same thing. These are often intensely figurative ; yet, if 
 they have great force with the people, they watchwords of 
 are as intensely true. No style can express political parties, 
 the truth with more of that vividness which is often neces- 
 sary to precise ideas in the popular mind. General Harri- 
 son owed his elevation to the presidency of our republic, in 
 large measure, to his supposed sympathy with the simple 
 and rude usages of backwoodsmen ; and this was expressed 
 in the old war-cry of the Whigs of 1840 : " Log Cabin and 
 Hard Cider." General Taylor owed his election to the 
 same office, largely to the sobriquet which his soldiers gave 
 him in the Mexican war, " Old Rough and Ready." Gen- 
 eral Scott was believed to have lost his election because of 
 the nickname by which his enemies ridiculed his well-known 
 fondness for military etiquette, " Old Fuss and Feathers." 
 Thousands of voters'who cared nothing, and knew nothing, 
 about the policies of the contending parties, knew as def- 
 initely as you do what those watchwords meant ; and 
 they voted for and against the things which those words 
 painted to their mental vision. A style in which men said 
 what they meant, and meant what they believed, carried 
 the day, although it was made up of popular slang. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PRECISION OF STYLE (CONTINUED). 
 
 I. Popular Idea of a Precise Style. 
 
 1. A Popular Preacher's Rules. 
 
 2. Robert Southey's Rules.
 
 86 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY A. YD PRACTICE 
 
 II. Inducements to the Cultivation of a Precise Style. 
 
 It does not imply anything Pedantic. 
 It promotes Perspicuity of Style. 
 
 3. It promotes Energy of Style. 
 
 4. It promotes Elegance of Style. 
 
 5. It promotes Genuineness of Style. 
 
 6. It is a Style approved for Its Own Sake. 
 It is a Popular Style.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 
 
 I. — General Divisions of the Subject. 
 
 For the object of the present discussions, perspicuity of 
 style needs to be considered in reference to four things — 
 thoughts, imagery, words, construction. 
 
 II. — Perspicuity as Affected by Thought. 
 
 Perspicuity must, like every other quality of a good 
 style, find its foundation in the thought to be expressed. 
 An important class of the causes of obscurity, therefore, 
 concerns the thoughts of a discourse. 
 
 i. Obscurity may arise from the absence of thought. 
 Dr. Campbell writes : " It hath been said, that in madmen 
 there is as great a variety of character as in ^ 
 
 . Obscuntv ans- 
 
 those who enjoy the use of reason; and in ing from absence 
 
 i-i -j. -u • i r ,1 of thought. 
 
 like manner it may be said of nonsense, that & 
 
 in writing it, there is as great scope for variety of style as 
 there is in writing sense." Men may write nonsense un- 
 consciously. What conception of truth have preachers had 
 in discoursing of " the eternal Now " ? Certain it is, that if 
 the pulpit has meant by this phrase anything more or other 
 than the omniscience of the Divine Mind, they have experi- 
 mented with an inconceivable idea. Lansaiao-e is at a dead- 
 lock at the outset. If the phrase means the absence, from 
 the consciousness of the Divine Mind, of all knowledge of 
 succession in time, it is nonsense, in the sense of being an 
 impossible notion of the Deity.
 
 88 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 A preacher is mentioned also by Dr. Campbell, who once 
 remarked, as evidence of the goodness of God, that to our 
 minds the moments of time come in succession, and not 
 simultaneously ; " for," said he sagely, " if they had been so 
 ordered as to come simultaneously, the result would have 
 been infinite confusion." It reminds one of Southey's crit- 
 „ , icism on a literary production which he 
 
 Southey. 
 
 deemed a monument of folly. He said that 
 " such pure, involuntary, unconscious nonsense is inimit- 
 able by any effort of sense." 
 
 This is, sometimes, the real and only cause of obscure 
 passages in public discourses otherwise intelligible — that 
 the speaker talks on when he has nothing to say. He 
 plays on the keys of the organ, with no wind in the pipes. 
 His mind is vacant of thought; and to fill up time, or to 
 round out the rhythm of a sentence, he speaks words — 
 words — words ! For the moment he belongs to the class 
 
 of authors of whom Whately says, " They 
 
 Whately. . . . , , , 
 
 aim at nothing, and hit it." Patches of such 
 vacuity may be found in compositions which as a whole are 
 thoughtful. 
 
 2. A much more frequent cause of obscure expression is 
 vagueness of thought. Vague thinking necessitates in- 
 definite utterance. Utterance can be no wiser than the 
 .., . thought is. A man cannot say what is not 
 
 Obscurity ans- ° J 
 
 ing from vague- in him to say. The style of vague thinking 
 
 ness of thought. , •/- Ti i • <th_ 
 
 cannot be specific. It has no point. I he 
 thinking is not forceful enough to compel clear expres- 
 sion. 
 
 It used to be said of Napoleon that he did not under- 
 stand diplomacy, and that he never practised the diplomatic 
 Napoleon and style. The statesmen of Europe were per- 
 diplomacy. plexed, because they could always understand 
 
 him ; that is, his style was that obvious style which cannot 
 be misunderstood, if the author has written what he meant.
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 89 
 
 When he left Paris for Waterloo, he declared his purpose to 
 deliver a pitched battle at or near that locality, in language 
 so plain, that his opponents could not believe that he was 
 not deceiving them. They well-nigh lost the battle by not 
 taking him at his word. A certain critic of Napoleon's 
 stvle attributes this clearness of it, so uncommon in the 
 despatches of statesmen, to the uniform intensity of his 
 thinking. His mental working in all things was so intense 
 that his style was illuminated. He could not help saying 
 what he meant, though Europe was in a maze because they 
 could always understand him. This is the kind of mental 
 working which the effective writer or speaker needs — in- 
 tense working, which sets style on fire by the friction of 
 thought and language. 
 
 Fontenelle's rule in composition was this : " I always try 
 first to understand myself." No man will write obscurely 
 who thoroughly understands himself. No 
 
 .„ Fontenelle. 
 
 speaker will speak obscurely in oral address 
 who will first faithfully practise his speech on himself as an 
 imaginary hearer. " Should I understand this discourse if it 
 came first upon me with no preparatory thinking, and in 
 oral form, in the style which I have given to it ? " Apply 
 this test, and the probabilities are that it will never delude 
 you into composition of the nebulous order. 
 
 The remedy, therefore, for obscurity of style arising from 
 vagueness of thought, is either a more thorough discipline 
 or a more thorough furnishing of the mind. _. , , 
 
 & & The remedy for 
 
 In such an exigency one must have a more vagueness of 
 
 .... . thought. 
 
 vigorous thinking power, or certain mate- 
 rials of thought which are absent. Sometimes both are 
 needed. The vital point to be observed is, that no mere 
 study of diction as such can remedy such an evil as this. 
 Study of one's style may disclose the evil, but cannot rem- 
 edy it. The remedy lies back of rhetorical criticism. 
 More power or more knowledge, or both, must fit a man to
 
 90 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 discuss subjects on which his style exhibits such incompe- 
 tence. 
 
 3. Obscurity of style related to the thoughts of discourse 
 may spring also from the affectation of profound thought. 
 Obscuritv aris- It * s one °f the subtle laws of nature, that 
 mg from affecta- nothing which is affected is so clear as that 
 
 Hon of profound & 
 
 thought. which is genuine. In judging men, we call a 
 
 genuine character a transparent character. So, in style, 
 nature is more intelligible than art. 
 
 Let it be observed, that clear thinking may be made 
 
 obscure in the expression by the attempt to clothe it in 
 
 the philosophical forms of profound thinking. 
 
 George Brimley. , , , , , , 
 
 The real thought, the kernel when the husk 
 is off, may be so simple that it is the last thing a hearer 
 would suspect of being so magnificently hidden. Let this 
 be illustrated by an extract from the essays of the late 
 George Brimley, librarian of Trinity College at Cambridge. 
 He is discoursing upon the nature of poetry, and he so- 
 liloquizes thus : " A poetical view of the universe is an 
 exhaustive presentation of all phenomena, as individual 
 phenomenal wholes, of ascending orders of complexity, whose 
 earliest stage is the organization of single coexisting phe- 
 nomena into concrete individuals, and its apotheosis the 
 marvellous picture of the infinite life, no longer conceived 
 as the oceanic pulsation which the understanding called 
 cause and effect." Indeed ! Yet the writer was no fool. 
 His essays show that he had some thoughts. Probably one 
 is struggling, like Milton's half-created lion, to see the light 
 in this fathomless and boundless revery. The kernel of 
 it was probably a very simple thought, which Dugald Stew- 
 art would have expressed in three lines which an educated 
 man need not have read a second time. Read this of 
 George Brimley's the twenty-second time, and are you the 
 wiser ? 
 
 The fact deserves notice, that, in the study of modern
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 9 1 
 
 philosophy, a professional man needs to be on his guard 
 lest his style of public speech should become infected with 
 the disease of artificial depth. In much of „„. 
 
 . x Effect of the 
 
 the philosophical style of our age there is a study of modem 
 needless multiplication of novel words, odd P hlloso P h >'- 
 words, imported words, archaic words, general words for spe- 
 cific thoughts, and a haziness of general effect, which wearies 
 a reader as a blurred picture wearies the eye. When the 
 writers are charged with obscurity of diction, and they ex- 
 cuse it on the ground of its necessity to that which they 
 call "the higher thinking," we may well be incredulous. 
 Many thoughts which are wrapped up in this style of " the 
 higher thinking " do not look, when one comes at them, 
 to be so inexpressibly lofty. They lie on a plane a long way 
 this side of the third heaven. Often they are very simple 
 thoughts, not novelties in philosophy, but susceptible of 
 expression in very homely English. 
 
 That was a perilous principle which Coleridge advanced 
 respecting the capacity of human language, that it cannot 
 express certain metaphysical ideas, and there- 
 fore that clearness of style in a metaphysical 
 treatise is, prima facie, evidence of superficialness. As Cole- 
 ridge was accustomed to illustrate it, the pool in which you 
 can count the pebbles at the bottom is shallow water : the 
 fathomless depth is that in which you can see only the re- 
 flection of your own face. This would be true if thinking 
 were water. But the principle opens the way to the most 
 stupendous impositions upon speculative science. It tempts 
 authors to the grossest affectations in style. In the study 
 of modern psychology, therefore, a writer needs to be on 
 his guard. We may safely treat as a fiction in philosophy 
 anything which claims to be a discovery, yet cannot make 
 itself understood without huge and unmanageable contor- 
 tions of the English tongue. 
 
 4. Thought may give occasion for obscurity of style by
 
 92 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 its real profoundness. Subjects may be too abstruse for 
 oral discussion. Speculation may be too refined for popular 
 Obscurity aris- comprehension. Argument may be too long- 
 ing from real protracted for the power of attention in a 
 
 profoundness of ' ' 
 
 thought. promiscuous assembly. 
 
 One form of this defect is that of pursuing simple themes 
 into complicated relations. No theme is so simple that it 
 cannot be handled abstrusely. The most simple truths are 
 elemental truths. They are principles. They are founda- 
 tions and pillars on which systems of truth are constructed. 
 Language cannot render all the relations of such truths 
 clear to all minds in oral speech. 
 
 Robert Southey says of Edmund Burke, " Few converts 
 were made by him, because, instead of making difficult 
 Method of Ed- things easy, he made things easy in them- 
 mund Burke. selves difficult to be comprehended, by the 
 manner in which he presented them ; evolving their causes, 
 and involving their consequences, till the reader whose 
 mind was not habituated to metaphysical discussion knew 
 neither in what his argument began, nor in what it ended." 
 
 A caution, however, needs to be observed on this danger ; 
 it is, that we should not underrate the power of language 
 to make difficult things clear to the popular comprehen- 
 sion. 
 
 The most successful speakers to the popular mind on 
 secular themes are, after all, the men of thought. There is 
 a certain tact often witnessed in secular speech which 
 plants itself never below the level of the popular thought, 
 always above that level, yet so near it as to secure popular 
 sympathy, and always to make itself understood. It is 
 doubtful whether this tact is ever consciously chosen as an 
 expedient : it is a gift. But the men who possess it never 
 fail to gain a hearing ; and as a rule they succeed, when 
 demagogues who despise the people, yet truckle to their 
 tastes, fail.
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 93 
 
 When President Lincoln was once inquired of what was 
 the secret of his success as a popular debater, he replied, 
 "I always assume that my audience are in Method of Presi- 
 many things wiser than I am, and I say the dent Lincoln. 
 most sensible thing I can to them. I never found that they 
 did not understand me." Two things here were all that 
 Mr. Lincoln was conscious of, respect for the intellect of 
 his audience, and the effort to say the most sensible thing. 
 He could not know how those two things affected the re- 
 spect of his audience for him, their trust in him as their su- 
 perior, and their inclination to obey him on the instant 
 when they felt the magnetism of his voice. But he saw, 
 that, say what he might in that mood, he got a hearing, he 
 was understood, he was obeyed. 
 
 Good sense can make anything intelligible which good 
 sense will wish to utter to the popular mind, or which good 
 sense will care to hear. We are in more 
 
 , - . , . , Wordsworth. 
 
 danger of suppressing truth which hearers 
 can understand than of attempting to express truth which 
 is above them. "Overshooting" is not so frequent as 
 shooting into the ground. Wordsworth says, " There is no 
 excuse for obscurity in writing ; because, if we would give 
 our whole souls to anything, as a bee does to a flower, 
 there would be little difficulty in any intellectual employ- 
 ment." John Foster was a marvel and a model of patience 
 and of energy in forcing profound thought Method of 
 
 into expression. He often spent hours, as J ohn Foster, 
 
 he tells us, in the labor which he calls "pumping ; " that is, 
 forcing his thoughts up to the surface of a familiar diction. 
 Read his essays ; see what his thoughts were ; then observe 
 the transparency of his style. With such an example in 
 view, one need never despair of discussing intelligibly in 
 public speech any subject which ought ever to be generally 
 discussed. 
 
 5. Thought may lead to obscure expression through ra-
 
 94 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 pidity in the succession of thoughts. The majority of minds 
 require time to take in a difficult thought, and make ac- 
 ~, . . quaintance with it. They need to dwell upon 
 
 Obscurity ans- ^ J 1 
 
 ing from rapid- the point of an argument. They require il- 
 
 ity of thought. , , ' .... . 
 
 lustration, varied statement, repetition. A 
 diffuse style, therefore, the sign of a slow succession of 
 thought, is a necessary style for some subjects and some 
 audiences. 
 
 Rapid succession of disorderly thought is the general 
 infirmity of excited minds. Extemporaneous speakers are 
 often thus embarrassed. The wheel takes fire from the 
 friction of its own revolutions. This is the cause of the 
 majority of the blunders of extemporaneous speaking. Irish 
 "bulls" have their counterparts in some of the phenomena 
 of extemporaneous oratory. They are not expressive of a 
 vacant mind, but of the reverse. They indicate a freshet 
 . , of thought. The speaker in the English Par- 
 
 A speaker in the . 
 
 English Parlia- liament, who, in the tumult of patriotic en- 
 thusiasm, said, " Sir, I would give up half, yes, 
 the whole, of the constitution, to save the other half," had a 
 thought to express, and a valuable one ; but it overslaughed 
 his tongue. The speaker, who, in a paroxysm of tempestu- 
 ous loyalty, said, " Sir, I stand prostrate at the feet of my 
 sovereign," was not affecting any feat of gymnastic agility. 
 His thought formed itself first in the standing posture : the 
 prostration was an after-thought. 
 
 Sir Roche Boyle, whose speeches have so long been a 
 thesaurus to rhetorical writers of illustrations of rheto- 
 Sir Roche ric al blunders, was not void of thought, even 
 
 B °y le - in the well-known instance of his inquiry, 
 
 iv What has posterity done for us ? " He had a thought 
 which was entirely logical to his purpose. It was that of 
 the reasonableness of reciprocity of service. Probably he 
 was driven into a vacuum of thought by the burst of laugh- 
 ter which followed, and which he met by explaining, " By
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 95 
 
 posterity, sir, I do not mean our ancestors, but those who 
 are to come immediately after." One of the aims of con- 
 quest in the mastery of extemporaneous speech is that 
 of beating back the rush and trampling of thoughts which 
 huddle themselves into these bovine forms of style. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE. 
 I. General Divisions of Subject. 
 
 II. Perspicuity as Affected by Thought. 
 
 1. Obscurity arising from Absence of Thought. 
 
 2. Obscurity arising from Vagueness of Thought. 
 
 (a) Napoleon's Diplomacy. 
 
 (b) Fontenelle's Rule. 
 
 (c) The Remedy for Vagueness of Thought. 
 
 3. Obscurity arising from Affectation of Profound Thought. 
 
 (a) Effect of the Study of Modern Philosophy. 
 
 (b) Statement of Coleridge. 
 
 4. Obscurity arising from Real Profoundness of Thought. 
 
 (a) Method of Edmund Burke. 
 
 (b) Method of President Lincoln. 
 
 5. Obscurity arising from Rapidity of Thought. 
 
 (a) A Speaker in the House of Parliament. 
 
 (b) Sir Roche Boyle's Inquiry.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE (CONTINUED) 
 
 I. — Perspicuity as Affected by the Use of Imagery. 
 
 Perspicuity of style, having its foundation in the thoughts 
 to be expressed, is further affected by the use of imagery. 
 
 i. Obscurity may arise from incongruous imagery. Im- 
 agery is painting. The expressiveness of it is measured by 
 incongruous lts congruity. More frequently than other- 
 
 imagery, wise, the incongruity of imagery consists in 
 
 its irrelevance. It may not be contradictory to the truth, 
 but may have no natural concern with it. Lord Shaftes- 
 bury speaks of a " wilderness of mind." What clear idea 
 does one receive from that ? He also writes of an " obscure 
 climate " of the human intellect. What is an obscure cli- 
 mate, what is any " climate " of the intellect ? Make pictures 
 mentally of these attempts at imagery, and what is the look of 
 them ? Such images blur thought by taxing the attention 
 to discover resemblances which do not exist. Congruity is 
 the first requisite and test of a genuine imaginative diction. 
 
 2. Similar is the obscurity caused by the use of mixed 
 
 imagery. The Hon. Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, will be 
 
 immortalized for having executed John 
 
 P4ixed imagery. 
 
 Brown, rather than for perpetrating the fol- 
 lowing before the House of Burgesses : " Virginia has an 
 iron chain of mountains running through her centre, which 
 God has placed there to milk the clouds and to be the 
 
 source of her silver rivers." What, in detail, 
 
 Governor Wise. ... , . . . - . 
 
 is the fact corresponding to a chain of iron 
 drawing milk from the clouds, which flows in rivers of silver ?
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 97 
 
 The juxtaposition, also, of the milk and the river, is quite 
 too suggestive of a less dignified occurrence. Surely the 
 mind of man, when it seriously expresses itself in such in- 
 conceivable compounds, seems fearfully and wonderfully 
 made. 
 
 3. Obscurity, again, may be occasioned by Learned ima- 
 the employment of learned imagery. gery. 
 
 The style of Jeremy Taylor, for the practical uses of 
 preaching, was well-nigh ruined by his excessive use of his 
 classical library. Imagine a man rehearsing 
 the following passage in a sermon anywhere 
 outside of a Latin school : " They thought there was . . . 
 in the shades below no numbering of healths by the nu- 
 meral letters of Philenium's name, no fat mullets, no oys- 
 ters of Lucrinus, no Lesbian or Chian wines. Therefore 
 now enjoy the descending wines distilled through the limbec 
 of thy tongue and larynx ; suck the juices of fishes, and 
 the lard of Apulian swine, and the condited bellies of the 
 scarus : but lose no time, for the sun drives hard, and the 
 shadow is long, and the days of mourning are at hand." 
 Jeremy Taylor preached this gospel to an audience of less 
 than fifty, of whom possibly five remembered dimly some- 
 thing of their studies of Horace at Oxford, and the rest 
 knew no more of what the preacher meant than of the 
 sources of the Nile. 
 
 It has been elsewhere noticed that Charles Sumner ob- 
 scured his oratory by excessive indulgence in classical allu- 
 sions, which, even in the United States Senate, 
 
 ... . . r Charles Sumner. 
 
 belong to the dying reminiscences of collegi- 
 ate life. He used to roll forth from a too faithful memory a 
 string of classical recollections, which his hearers felt to be 
 untimely when the liberty of the nation was trembling in 
 the scale. His opponents could charge upon him senti- 
 ments which he disowned, because the clearness of Ins 
 meaning was obscured through the loss of force occasioned 
 7
 
 98 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 by illustrative materials which were not in keeping with a 
 national emergency. 
 
 4. Another cause of obscurity in the use of imagery is 
 an excess of imagery. This may obscure the meaning by 
 An excess of im- exaggeration. It may produce the same ef- 
 a S er y- feet by overloading a thought. Imagery not 
 needed to illustrate a thought must tend to cover it from 
 the hearer's sight. A hearer's power of perception may be 
 impaired by it through mental weariness. Few things are 
 so wearisome to the brain as a rapid review of a gallery of 
 paintings. Aside from weariness of eye, there is an expen- 
 A gallery of diture of thought in that which the spectator 
 paintings. must supply by his own imagination. An 
 excessively pictorial style makes a similar demand, and pro- 
 duces a similar effect. Mental weariness thus induced 
 diminishes the clearness of a hearer's perception. Such a 
 discourse, therefore, lives in his memory, only as a jumble 
 of pictures. 
 
 The same result may be produced, if weariness is not, by 
 attracting attention to the style for its own sake. Attrac- 
 tion to the style is distraction from the thought. Edmund 
 Burke often obscured an argument by excess of imagery. 
 Byron said of Curran, that he had heard Curran speak more 
 poetry than he had ever seen written. It was no compli- 
 ment to an orator. 
 
 5. Yet a truth lies over against that which has just been 
 named. If excess of imagery may obscure one's meaning, 
 Entire absence on tne other hand, it may be obscured by the 
 of imagery. entire absence of imagery as well. Abstract 
 thought often needs to be made palpable : the senses must 
 be called in to the aid of the intellect. When the meaning 
 is not positively vague, it is not impressively clear without 
 a picture. A certain degree of dulness for the want of 
 imagery amounts to obscurity. A very simple book may be 
 unintelligible to a child for the want of pictures.
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 99 
 
 Military commanders say, that in battle it is the eye which 
 is first vanquished. Similar is the experience of the popular 
 mind under the sway of oral discourse. The The eye in bat- 
 first sign that an audience has fairly taken tle - 
 in a speaker's thought, and the whole of it, may often 
 be seen in a hearer's eye. It is often produced by an illus- 
 tration which has flashed the meaning upon his vision. 
 
 The most successful pleaders before juries are of two 
 classes. The one class achieves success mainly by solid 
 logic ; the other class by pictorial vividness. To the latter 
 class belong nearly all the great criminal lawyers in modern 
 practice. 
 
 Why did Judge Pierrepont, in the trial of Surratt for the 
 assassination of President Lincoln, parade before the jury 
 the maps showing Surratt's line of travel, the Judge Pierre- 
 guns hidden at Lloyd's tavern, the diary of pont - 
 Booth, his eye-glass, and the registers of the hotels at 
 which Surratt lodged ? Not one of these was necessary to 
 a literal statement of the facts, and all could have been 
 proved by testimony. But testimony could not paint the 
 facts to the eye of the jury as this was done by the table 
 on which these mementos were spread out before them. 
 The aim of the prosecution was a purely rhetorical, not a 
 logical one. It was to make the facts more clear by visible 
 symbols. True, it was, in part, to make the facts vivid as 
 well as clear ; but it is impossible to separate the two things. 
 Where the aim at perspicuity ends, and the aim at vividness 
 begins, criticism cannot determine. Perspicuity is insured 
 if vividness is gained. 
 
 Vividness and clearness differ only in degree. Do we 
 not all obtain clearness of conception from the pictorial 
 newspapers ? Why are pictorial illustrations deemed neces- 
 sary to a modern dictionary of the first class as an aid to 
 definition ?
 
 100 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 II. — Perspicuity as Affected by the Words of Dis- 
 course. 
 
 The course of these discussions leads us now to observe 
 the relation of perspicuity of style to the words of a discourse. 
 
 i. Obscurity may be induced by the preponderance in 
 style of other than the Saxon elements of our language. 
 Absence of a With no conscious cultivation of a Saxon 
 Saxon style. style, a writer who is eminently clear will 
 
 possess a style in which the Saxon words outnumber all 
 others. In the English version of the Lord's Prayer not 
 more than one word in eleven are of other than Saxon ori- 
 gin. This is probably a fair index to the proportions of 
 the language as actually used by the masses of an English- 
 speaking people. It does not follow that the same propor- 
 tions are necessary to render discourse intelligible to them 
 from the lips of others ; but it does follow that a style 
 which is pre-eminent for perspicuity will be, in the main, 
 from Saxon roots. Transparent discourse to a popular 
 audience will be largely Saxon in its vocabulary. Discourse 
 not positively obscure may be difficult of comprehension if 
 other than a Saxon vocabulary preponderates. Such a 
 style as the prose style of Milton, even though every word 
 be authorized English, may require in oral address a close- 
 ness of attention by the hearer which few audiences will 
 give. 
 
 Specially should the emphatic words of a sentence, if pos- 
 sible, be Saxon. What is the defect of Edmund Burke's 
 , „ , celebrated diatribe against metaphysicians ? 
 
 Edmund Burke. & r J 
 
 "Their hearts," he says, "are like that of the 
 principle of evil himself — incorporeal, pure, unmixed, de- 
 phlegmated, defecated evil." The use of two unusual and 
 Latinized words obscures the climax of the invective. Few 
 hearers understand them. Journalists especially are often
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 101 
 
 affected in their use of the Latin and Greek elements of 
 the language. One writes of " lethal weapons : " he could 
 not say "deadly weapons," for he would " Lethal weap- 
 have been too easily understood. Another ons -" 
 says, "The water was incarnadined with blood : " he could 
 not say "reddened with blood," for that would have been 
 tame. Other things being equal, it adds much to the trans- 
 parency of style if the resultant words, in which the em- 
 phasis of the idea lies, or the hinges on which the connec- 
 tion turns, be Saxon. The people take in the force of such 
 words easily and quickly. 
 
 The thinking and the reading of the great body of the 
 people are in Saxon dialect. Their conversation is almost 
 entirely Saxon. Hence, as hearers, they feel more at home 
 with Saxon speech than with any other. Note one or two 
 illustrations of a Saxon and a Latin dialect in contrast. 
 When Noah had entered the ark, the sacred narrative, as 
 given by our translators, reads, " The Lord Noah entering 
 shut him in." Suppose they had translated the ark. 
 it, "The Lord incarcerated him." Contrast such a word as 
 "inculpate" with its synonym "blame:" is there any 
 doubt which would be most perspicuous to the popular 
 thought ? Dr. Chalmers once said in the General Assembly 
 of the Church of Scotland, " Mr. Moderator, I desiderate 
 to be informed," etc. Can it be questioned that he would 
 have been more promptly understood if he had been con- 
 tent to say, " I wish to know " ? 
 
 You will often find that a sentence, every word of which 
 may be authorized English, has a sickly haze hanging over 
 it, as you imagine your utterance of it to Means of remov- 
 hearers, which is entirely due to its Latin from^ornpo^ 
 vocabulary. It becomes transparent the in- SItIon - 
 stant that you strike out Norman words from the points of 
 emphasis, and put Saxon words in their place. This sug- 
 gests a means of cultivating a perspicuous style which is of
 
 102 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 special moment to public speakers who, as Wesley used to 
 say to his clergy, " though they think with the learned, 
 must speak with the common people." In oral address to 
 the people, use, as far as possible, their Saxon vernacular. 
 
 2. Perspicuity of style may very obviously be impaired 
 by the habitual use of ambiguous words. Every highly 
 Ambiguous finished language like our own abounds with 
 words, words which have divergent and even con- 
 trasted meanings. We speak, for example, of a " nervous 
 writer," meaning a strong writer ; we speak of a " nervous 
 " Nervous woman," meaning a weak woman. We say, 
 writer and « j_j e overlooked the transaction," meaning 
 
 " Nervous ' ° 
 
 woman." that he gave it his supervision : we say, " He 
 
 overlooked the error," meaning that he neglected to mark it. 
 De Quincey speaks of the " active forces of human nature ; " 
 does he mean those which concern external action, or those 
 which are vigorous, as distinct from sluggish ? The con- 
 fusion arose from the ambiguity of one word. Dean Swift 
 spoke of " the reformation of Luther." His opponent un- 
 The reformation derstood him to mean the personal revolu- 
 of Luther. ^\ on m ^q character of Luther. Ambiguity 
 
 caused by the location of so insignificant a word as the prep- 
 osition " of " clouded a page. In the eighth chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul is represented as saying, 
 " Neither death nor life . . . shall separate us from 
 the love of God." Commentators tell us that this may 
 mean the love of God to his people, or their love to him. 
 Here, again, the insignificant preposition becomes the em- 
 phatic hinge on which the meaning turns. " What I want" 
 said a pompous orator, "is common sense." — "Exactly 
 so ! " said his antagonist. 
 
 3. Obscurity of style may be caused by an excessive use 
 of general and abstract words. Oral discourse especially 
 demands a specific and concrete vocabulary. An inordi- 
 nate use of philosophic terms, however intelligible each one
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STY IE 103 
 
 may be, will often obscure an idea by the number of such 
 terms. Be wary in multiplying such words as " organic," 
 "relations," " proportions," " unison," " cau- General for 
 sality," "potential," "transcendent," "subsid- specific words, 
 iary," "correlative," "objective," "subjective." A style in 
 which such words are the staple of expression may throw 
 a fog over a subject which would otherwise lie in sunlight. 
 
 4. Affectation in style may take the form of an evasion of 
 concrete expression. Simple, homely, specific words, which 
 a man's good sense first suggests to him, are Abstract for 
 then abandoned, and he seeks to lift up his concrete words, 
 thoughts by the leverage of grandiose phraseology. Says 
 one writer of this sort, " There is some subtle essence per- 
 meating the elementary constitution of crime, which so 
 operates, that men become its involuntary followers by the 
 sheer force of attraction, as it were." One can "expis- 
 cate " an idea from this language (to use one of Hugh 
 Miller's ambitious words) ; but we cannot catch it as it flies 
 in oral speech. A recent political writer describes a cele- 
 brated contemporary as a " republican of progressive integ- 
 rity." What does he mean ? If a critic may extort an 
 idea from the language, can a hearer do so on the spur of a 
 moment ? 
 
 5. Another occasion of obscurity in the use of language 
 is an excessive diffusiveness. Ben Jonson speaks aptly of 
 a " corpulent style." Such a style weakens Excessive 
 the momentum of thought. An idea some- diffuseness. 
 times depends for its clearness on the stimulus to attention 
 which springs from quick movement. The corpulent dic- 
 tion is ponderous and'slow. Is your thought abstract, and 
 therefore, not easily comprehended ? Then let it be packed 
 into few words, and discharged upon an audience like the 
 load of a musket. Perspicuity depends on the state of 
 the hearer's thinking as much as on the speaker's thought. 
 Some thoughts we cannot make clearer than they are by the
 
 104 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 mechanism of style : something is needed to quicken the 
 hearer's faculty of perception. Laconic utterance will often 
 do this. You can be hit by a puff-ball and not know it ; 
 not so if you are hit by a bullet. Similar is the difference 
 between the diffuse and the condensed style as a means of 
 stimulus to the hearer's thinking power. 
 
 Preambles, reports of committees, diplomatic resolves, are 
 
 often obscure through mere distention of style. The au- 
 
 . thors beat about the bush in fear of saying; a 
 
 Report of a J & 
 
 street railway thing shortly. A committee on street rail- 
 ways reports to the Legislature of New York 
 in this manner : " It is not to be denied, that any system 
 which demands the propulsion of cars at a rapid rate, at an 
 elevation of fifteen or twenty feet, is not entirely consistent, 
 in the public estimation, with the greatest attainable immu- 
 nity from the dangers of transportation." No style de- 
 serves to be called perspicuous which needs a second read- 
 ing. This specimen does so. What is the sense of it 
 expressed shortly ? Abandon the negative circumlocution, 
 exchange long words for short ones, and speak without in- 
 direction. Then the statement is reduced to this : " It is 
 true that people think that a railway twenty feet above the 
 street is dangerous." That is all that the honorable com- 
 mittee meant. But it does not sound elaborate : therefore, 
 the idea was bloated into the aldermanic diction. 
 
 Herbert Spencer founds the whole theory of style on the 
 principle of economizing the mental force of hearers. Any- 
 Herbert Spen- thing that economizes attention without loss 
 cer - of perception adds to the clearness of an 
 
 idea. Therefore a style which taxes attention by needless 
 circumlocution tends to produce obscurity. The power of 
 attention in the most willing audiences is limited : beyond 
 its limit, speech to them is nothing but words. 
 
 6. A certain cause of obscurity in style is the opposite of 
 the one last named. It is excess of conciseness. In mod-
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 105 
 
 erate degree, as we have observed, conciseness is an aid to 
 precision, but in excess impairs it : so, in moderate degree, 
 conciseness promotes perspicuity, but in ex- An excessive 
 
 cess clouds it. Hence arises the difficulty of conciseness. 
 
 translating sententious authors. In all languages is found 
 a class of authors, who, like Tacitus, lay too heavy a tax 
 upon interpreters by the multitude of their suppressed 
 words. An excessively elliptical style cannot be a very 
 clear style. 
 
 But it should be remarked that in oral speech, the per- 
 spicuity of laconic utterance depends partly on elocution. 
 Aided by an animated delivery, complete thoughts may be 
 conveyed by hints. A shrug of the shoulder may express 
 a thought without words. Pantomime may be made trans- 
 parent. An Italian talks with his fingers. Some speakers 
 can express more by their eyebrows than by their tongues. 
 This effect cannot he put on tame discourse ; but, if the force 
 of thought admits it, delivery becomes the complement of 
 language. The hearer's receptive power is quickened. 
 Tone, look, gesture, attitude, mean as much to him as 
 words. Bold words, unqualified words, extravagant words, 
 the extreme of hyperbole, may not be misunderstood with 
 such a commentary of action. False words may not deceive : 
 contradictions may be true. Of American speakers on the 
 platform, John B. Gough presented a notable example of 
 this tribute of elocution to style. Mr. Gough in pantomime 
 could express more than some public speakers who read 
 without delivery. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE (CONTINUED). 
 
 I. Perspicuity as Affected by the Use of Imagery. 
 
 1. Incongruous Imagery. 
 
 2. Mixed Imagery. 
 
 3. Learned Imagery.
 
 106 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 4. An Excess of Imagery. 
 
 5. Entire Absence of Imagery. 
 
 II. Perspicuity as Affected by the Words of Discourse. 
 
 1. By Absence of a Saxon Style. 
 
 2. By Use of Ambiguous Words. 
 
 3. By Use of General for Specific Words. 
 
 4. By Use of Abstract for Concrete Words. 
 
 5. By Excessive Diffuseness. 
 
 6. By Excessive Conciseness.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE (CONTINUED) 
 
 I. — Perspicuity as Affected by Construction. 
 
 A studious writer, and especially one whose work com- 
 pels a careful adjustment of language to the receptive 
 powers of a mixed assembly, soon learns that the perspi- 
 cuity of style is vitally dependent on clearness of construction. 
 Construction is as vital to style as to architecture. 
 
 i. Monotony of construction tends to obscurity. It 
 lulls the thinking power. It almost necessitates monotone 
 in delivery. 
 
 2. Circumlocution in construction tends to obscurity. 
 Did you never discover the cause of a certain dimness of 
 impression in the want of quick movement of discourse ? 
 The speaker's thought is a stone in a sling from which it is 
 never ejected. He talks around, and around, and around ; 
 yet you do not see the upshot of the business. 
 
 3. Abruptness of construction tends to obscurity. Why 
 is Carlyle's " French Revolution " hard reading ? Mainly 
 because of the jerks in style, by which English syntax is so 
 rudely dealt with that half your mental force is expended in 
 re-adjusting words to sense. Any defect which is pervasive 
 in style tends so far to defeat the object of speech. Yet 
 very little is achieved if criticism ends with such general 
 observations as these. Some specifications in detail are, 
 therefore, necessary to illustrate the kind of criticism to 
 which every man should subject his own productions.
 
 108 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 II. — Special Defects in Perspicuity of Construction. 
 
 i. Recalling the fact observed in a former Chapter, 
 that defects in precision of construction, and defects in 
 perspicuity of construction, are the same in kind, differing 
 only in degree, we may profitably note as one source of 
 Pronouns and obscurity a defective arrangement of pronouns 
 antecedents. an j their antecedents. Alison the historian 
 
 says of the Russian soldiers, upon their entry into Dresden, 
 " They lay down to rest behind their steeds, picketed to the 
 walls, which had accompanied them from the Volga to the 
 Don." " Which " logically refers to " steeds," grammati- 
 cally to the "walls." Immediate proximity 
 does not always decide the natural connec- 
 tion between a pronoun and its antecedent. A distant 
 antecedent sometimes by its prominence may displace the 
 nearer and the true one. Prior, in his " Life of Burke," 
 writes, " The war then exciting attention to 
 the American Colonies as one of the chief 
 points in dispute, they came out in two volumes octavo." 
 Who are " they " ? He means that the chief points in dis- 
 pute were then published ; and so grammatical connection 
 would indicate. But the construction leads one to suppose 
 that the American Colonies were the publishers ; yet the 
 word "colonies " is the more remote antecedent. Proxim- 
 ity, then, cannot always be trusted to determine the ques- 
 tion. Dr. Chalmers, in a speech on Christian 
 
 Dr. Chalmers. . . . 
 
 union, says, " I am not aware of any topics 
 of difference which I do not regard as so many men of 
 straw ; and I shall be delighted if these gentlemen get the 
 heads of the various denominations together, and make a 
 bonfire of them" Bonfire of what, or of whom? — of the 
 " men of straw," or of the " heads of the denominations " ? 
 Here, again, proximity does not settle the question. The 
 more remote antecedent is the true one.
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 109 
 
 2. Sometimes confusion is created by the repetition of 
 the same pronoun with different antecedents. Archbishop 
 Tillotson writes: "Men look with an evil Repetition of the 
 eye upon the good that is in others, and ™ £™ 
 think that their reputation obscures them, and antecedents. 
 that their commendable qualities do stand in their light ; 
 and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over 
 them, that the shining of their virtues may not obscure 
 them." Who are "they"? Who are "them"? What is 
 " their " ? What, who, which, is anything in this round- 
 robin of pronouns ? A burlesque on grammatical antece- 
 dents could not be more adroitly executed. 
 
 Sometimes this defect amounts to a blundering oblivious- 
 ness of all antecedence. The following tearful reproof was 
 given by a judge of the State of New York to a prisoner 
 just convicted : "Prisoner at the bar, nature has endowed 
 you with a good education and respectable A judge's re- 
 family connections, instead of which you go proof. 
 around the country stealing ducks." This is found among 
 the " Humors of the Day." But in what is it essentially 
 less elegant or accurate than the following, from Loring's 
 " Hundred Boston Orators " ? " William Sullivan was 
 grandson of John Sullivan, who came from " Hundred Bos- 
 Ireland in a ship which was driven by stress ton ° rators -" 
 of weather into a port on the coast of Maine, and settled at 
 Berwick." How did John Sullivan's ship reach Berwick ? 
 Is Berwick one of the ports on the coast of Maine ? Again 
 he writes : " His oration produced such a strong impression 
 that it led to his election to the House of Representatives, 
 and was afterwards elected to the Senate." Are orations 
 eligible to the Senate in Massachusetts ? 
 
 This blundering in antecedence is often burlesqued by 
 Dickens. His colloquial pictures of low life are full of 
 it. In the extreme it marks the absolute absence of cult- 
 ure. Bret Harte illustrates this in the " Heathen Chinee."
 
 IIO RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 " Which I wish to remark," says " truthful James ;" and 
 again, "which we had a small game." 
 
 This defect sometimes destroys, not only the finish of an 
 elegant style, but the very substance of the speaker's mean- 
 ing. The following incident in the history of the United 
 States Senate will illustrate this : 
 
 The 7th of March, 1850, was a critical date in the career 
 
 of Daniel Webster. He then delivered his last great speech 
 
 in the Senate. It was in defence of the Fugitive Slave Law. 
 
 The country rang with denunciations and 
 
 Daniel Webster. J & , 
 
 defences of that speech till he died. One of 
 the most effective anathemas upon it depended on the an- 
 tecedent of a pronoun. As reported at first, the speech 
 read thus: " Mr. Mason's bill, with some amendments, which 
 I propose to support to its full extent." This committed 
 Mr. Webster to the bill as it then stood with amendments 
 then before the Senate. Some of those amendments were 
 deemed by antislavery men the most atrocious feature of 
 the bill. "But," said Mr. Webster, " I have been misre- 
 ported. What I said was this, 'Mr. Mason's bill, which, 
 with some amendments, I propose to support in its full ex- 
 tent.' ' This committed him to the bill indeed, but with 
 amendments of his own, which might ameliorate the bill, 
 and render it less objectionable to his constituents. His 
 reputation with them hung for a time upon the syntax of that 
 one sentence. The death of the great statesman two years 
 later was attributed by many -to his loss of the nomination 
 and election to the Presidency. If this was true, his epitaph 
 might have been inscribed, with more truth than is common 
 to epitaphs, " Died of the dislocation of a relative pronoun." 
 Few writers exist who do not sometimes blunder in the 
 adjustment of pronouns to their antecedents. Says Rein- 
 „ . , , hard, in his " Memoirs and Confessions," " I 
 
 Reinhard. 
 
 have always had difficulty in making a proper 
 use of pronouns. Indeed, I have taken great pains so to use
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE III 
 
 them that ambiguity should be impossible, and yet have 
 often failed in the attempt." If a careful writer and a 
 practised critic often failed, what can be expected from a 
 reckless writer, to whom study of style appears contempt- 
 ible ? 
 
 3. A similar source of obscurity in construction is a de- 
 fective arrangement of adjectives and adverbs. Adjectives 
 and adverbs are qualifying words. This is Adjectives and 
 their sole use. What do they qualify ? is adverbs, 
 often a capital inquiry, on which the whole sense depends. 
 " Such was the end of Murat at the premature age of forty- 
 eight : " so writes Alison. His construction does not 
 make sense : Murat's age could not be " premature." Did 
 he reach the fatal age of forty-eight in less time than his 
 contemporaries ? Alison means to say, Such was the pre- 
 mature end of Murat," etc. 
 
 " The command was reluctantly forced upon Prince 
 Eugene," he writes. Did Napoleon, then, act against his 
 own will ? The historian says that, but the 
 
 ,• , 1 Alison. 
 
 connection shows that he did not mean that. 
 He meant to say, that the command was received with re- 
 luctance. Again he writes, in speaking of Napoleon : " He 
 could only live in agitation ; he could only breathe in a 
 volcanic atmosphere." That is to say, in agitation and in a 
 volcanic atmosphere, all that he could do was to live and 
 to breathe. Good sense is this, but just the sense which 
 Alison did not mean. Change the location of the adverb, 
 and you perceive what he did mean, "He could live only in 
 agitation ; he could breathe only in a volcanic atmosphere." 
 Once more : " When Napoleon's system of government be- 
 came unfortunate alone, it was felt to be insupportable." 
 Does he mean that it became insupportable when misfort- 
 une found it without allies ? Not at all. He means to 
 say, " Only when Napoleon's system of government became 
 unfortunate, it was felt to be insupportable."
 
 112 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND TRACTICE 
 
 The location of an adverb is one of the most perplexing 
 details of composition. One must have a very well trained 
 and quick taste to decide upon it intuitively 
 with uniform accuracy. Take, for example 
 the word " only," which is sometimes adverbial, and some- 
 times adjective, in its qualifying force. Notice in Gib- 
 bon's History a sentence of moderate length, which con- 
 tains the word. Observe how many distinct meanings may 
 be obtained by simply sliding it gradually from the begin- 
 ning to the end of the sentence. 
 
 First. " Only they forgot to observe, that, in the first ages 
 
 of society, a successful war against savage animals is one 
 
 of the most beneficial labors of heroism ; " 
 
 Example from . ,. , 
 
 Gibbon's His- that is, they did some things well, but one 
 thing not well — " they forgot to observe," 
 etc. Secondly, " They only forgot to observe," etc., that 
 is, either they were the only persons who did so ; or, 
 thirdly, they did not intentionally neglect the fact, they 
 only forgot it. Fourthly, " They forgot to observe, that 
 only in the first ages of society," etc. ; that is, there is but 
 one period in the history of society in which the fact 
 observed is true. Fifthly, " They forgot to observe, that, 
 in the first ages only of society" etc. ; that is, it is not true 
 in the ages preceding organized social life. Sixthly, 
 "They forgot to observe, that, in the first ages of so- 
 ciety, only a successful war against savage animals," 
 etc. ; that is, not war which is a failure. Seventhly, 
 " They forgot to observe, that, in the first ages of society, 
 a successful war only against savage animals," etc. ; that is, 
 not a war for their preservation. Eighthly, " They forgot 
 to observe, that, in the first ages of society, a successful 
 war against only savage animals," etc. ; that is, not a war 
 against animals of domestic use. Ninthly, " They forgot to 
 observe, etc., war against savage animals is only one of the 
 most beneficial labors ; " that is, there are other such
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE II3 
 
 labors of heroism. Tenthly, " They forgot to observe, etc., 
 a successful war against savage animals is one of only the 
 most beneficial labors of heroism ; " that is, it is not to be 
 deemed a labor of inferior worth ; or, eleventhly, " They 
 forgot to observe, etc., that such a war is one of only the 
 most beneficial labors of heroism ; " that is, it is not to be 
 regarded as a pastime. Twelfthly, " They forgot to ob- 
 serve, that, etc., is one of the most beneficial labors of hero- 
 ism only ; " that is, no virtue inferior to heroism is com- 
 petent to the task. 
 
 Here are no less than twelve distinct shades of thought, 
 not all of them elegantly, not all precisely, but all perspic- 
 uously, expressed, with the aid of emphasis in the reading, 
 by simply sliding one word from point to point from the 
 beginning to the end of a sentence of but twenty-seven 
 words. 
 
 It is said in one of our standard text-books on rhetoric, 
 that it has been proved by experiment, that the line in one 
 of Gray's poems, 
 
 " The plowman homeward plods his weary way," 
 
 can by transposition be read in eighteen different ways 
 without losing good English sense. The Different read . 
 words of the line are susceptible of over ings of a line of 
 five thousand different combinations. One po 
 writer adduces a sentence of which the words are suscept- 
 ible of four hundred and seventy-nine millions of distinct 
 combinations. A curious writer transcrib- D jff ere nt read- 
 ing them at the rate of a thousand a day ings of a single 
 
 sentence 
 
 would complete the record in thirteen hun- 
 dred and twelve years. Irt the same proportion of gram- 
 matical constructions to alphabetic combinations which 
 exists in the possibilities of the line from Gray, the ele- 
 ments of this sentence would admit of more than seventeen
 
 114 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND TRACTICE 
 
 hundred thousand grammatical sentences. This illustrates 
 the degree of peril to which a careless writer is exposed, of 
 saying what he does not mean. It illustrates also, the diffi- 
 culty which a critical writer may experience in saying with 
 perfect perspicuity what he does mean. 
 
 De Quincey confirms this view. In some remarks on the 
 writings of St. Paul he observes : " People who have prac- 
 tised composition as much and with as vigilant an eye as 
 myself know also, by thousands of cases, how infinite is the 
 disturbance caused in the logic of a thought by the mere 
 position of a word so despicable as the word ' even.' . . . 
 The station of a syllable may cloud the judgment of a 
 council." 
 
 4. Obscurity in construction may be caused by a defective 
 arrangement of the qualifying clauses of a sentence. The 
 Qualifying " aws which govern qualifying clauses are the 
 
 clauses. same with those which govern qualifying 
 
 words. The danger of obscurity is therefore the same. 
 " When the foundation of the Pagan mythology gave way 
 the whole superstructure, of necessity, fell to the ground : " 
 thus writes that " vigilant " writer De Quincey, in one of 
 his philosophical essays. Did the Pagan doctrine of " ne- 
 cessity " depend on the Pagan mythology ? and did he 
 mean to say that ? He does say it. " I know not how 
 they can be saved from perishing there by famine, without 
 parliamentary assistance ; " so writes Robert Southey, in 
 one of his letters. Did the absence of parliamentary aid 
 aggravate the evil of death by starvation ? and did he mean 
 to imply that ? He does imply it. An affectionate fare- 
 well was that recorded by an editor in Connecticut, who 
 published the item of local news, that a man down there 
 " blew out his brains, after bidding his wife good-by, with a 
 shot-gun." But enough : such constructions doom them- 
 selves.
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 1 1 5 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE (CONTINUED). 
 
 I. Perspicuity as affected by Construction. 
 
 i. Monotony of Construction. 
 
 2. Circumlocution of Construction. 
 
 3. Abruptness of Construction. 
 
 II. Special Defects in Perspicuity of Construction. 
 
 1. Defective Arrangement of Pronouns and Antecedents. 
 
 (a) Blunders by Alison, Prior, Dr. Chalmers. 
 
 2. Repetition of Pronouns with Different Antecedents. 
 
 (a) Examples from " Hundred Boston Orators." 
 
 (b) Daniel Webster and Mr. Mason's Bill. 
 
 3. Defective Arrangement of Adjectives and Adverbs. 
 
 (a) Alison writing of Murat and Napoleon. 
 
 (b) Use of Only, and Example from Gibbon's History. 
 
 (c) Different Readings of a Line of Poetry and of a Single 
 
 Sentence. 
 
 4. Defective Arrangement of Qualifying Clauses.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE (CONCLUDED) 
 
 I. — Special Defects in Perspicuity of Construction, 
 
 Continued. 
 
 i. Another occasion of obscure construction may be a 
 
 failure to express the true order of thought in the emphatic 
 
 „ Portions of a sentence. We have iust been 
 
 Wrong order of -* _ . J 
 
 thought in the considering obscurity in secondary clauses. 
 
 whole structure. r „, •, c , ' j .1 11 
 
 I he same evil often pervades the whole 
 structure. The order of succession is no order ; it jumbles 
 the sense ; it is chaos. Dr. Johnson writes : " This work 
 in its full extent, being now afflicted with the asthma, he 
 had not the courage to undertake." Who, what, which, had 
 the asthma ? An express company advertises that it " will 
 not be responsible for loss by fire, or the acts of God, or 
 Indians, or other enemies of the government." East Ten- 
 nessee has a tombstone on which is inscribed this epitaph : 
 " She lived a life of virtue, and died of cholera-morbus 
 caused by eating green fruit in the hope of a blessed im- 
 mortality. Go thou and do likewise." On a tombstone in 
 a churchyard in Ulster, Ireland, is the following: "Erected 
 to the memory of John Phillips, accidentally shot, as a 
 mark of affection by his brother." Who can solve the enig- 
 ma, that epitaphs are such a storehouse of rhetorical blun- 
 ders ? Is the world of the living in conspiracy to burlesque 
 the dead ? It is no sufficient apology for such errors that 
 they are detected as soon as seen. That is the acme of the 
 evil : hearers detect them as well. A public speaker needs
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE WJ 
 
 such a habit of mental command of construction, that he 
 shall unconsciously eject such blunders from his style in the 
 heat and swift movement of composition. Style must be as 
 nimble as thought. 
 
 2. Obscure construction is often due to an excessive or 
 careless use of ellipsis. " He must be an irreparable loss to 
 his family : " so writes Dr. Arnold, in a letter _ 
 
 J m \ Excessive or 
 
 of condolence. The error is not infrequent careless use of 
 in the colloquial style of cultivated people. e ipsis ' 
 The ellipsis is unwarrantable, for some such construction as 
 this : " His decease occasions an irreparable loss to his 
 family." " The French Government made great exertions 
 to put their navy on a respectable footing ; but all their ef- 
 forts on that element resulted in disaster." On what ele- 
 ment ? The writer, Alison, has named none in the 
 context. Alison's History abounds with such misconstruc- 
 tions : search for them anywhere ; you cannot go wrong. 
 
 A common instance of a careless use of ellipsis, which 
 calls for reconstruction, is found in certain forms of inverted 
 sentence. "Conscious of his own impor- The i nve rted 
 tance, the aid of others was not solicited." sentence - 
 The biographer of Curran writes of him : " Eminent at the 
 bar, it is in Parliament we see his faculties in full develop- 
 ment." You cannot parse these sentences by the rules of 
 English syntax. When the Rev. Dr. Harris was inaug- 
 urated to the presidency of Bowdoin College, the clergyman 
 appointed to deliver the address of induction began thus : 
 "Rev. Dr. Harris, sir, having been elected An address of in- 
 president by the unanimous vote of the ductlon ' 
 boards of trustees and overseers of Bowdoin College, I 
 come on their behalf to induct you," etc. Grammati- 
 cally this implies that the orator appointed to give the ad- 
 dress was the president-elect. To express the real meaning 
 with grammatical precision, the whole sentence must be re- 
 constructed, or broken into two.
 
 Il8 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 A frequent form of careless use of ellipsis occurs in cases 
 in which the phrases " the one " and " the other," or " the 
 The one and the former" and "the latter," are employed. 
 other. Not always are these forms obscure, but 
 
 they always need to be scrutinized. Specially if they are 
 repeated in a series of antithetic declarations, they need 
 extreme care. 
 
 Another form of ellipsis which may easily degenerate into 
 
 obscure construction is that of a hypothetical expression of 
 
 . , an alternative. An example must explain 
 
 Alternative hy- 
 
 potheticaiiy ex- this.. "If this trade be fostered, we shall 
 pr( gain from one nation ; and if another, from 
 
 another." " If we hold to the faith of the church, we shall 
 have the confidence of the church ; and if not, not." Such 
 ellipses as these carry the idiom to its extreme. The sub- 
 ject must be very simple, and the thought very direct, to 
 render them perspicuous. We cannot, for this reason, ex- 
 clude all extreme ellipses : we can only say that they 
 should be studiously, and not abundantly used. If such a 
 construction suggests a doubt of its clearness, let it be 
 abandoned. 
 
 In Froude's " History of England " we find this sentence : 
 
 " Had Darnley proved the useful Catholic which the Queen 
 
 intended him to be, they would have sent 
 
 Froude. 
 
 him to his account with as small compunc- 
 tion as Jael sent the Canaanite captain ; or they would have 
 blessed the arm that did it, with as much eloquence as Deb- 
 orah." Grant White indicates the excessive omission of 
 needed words in this example by inquiring, " How small 
 compunction did Jael send the Canaanite captain ? What 
 degree of eloquence did the arm attain that did it with as 
 much as Deborah ? What was it? How much eloquence 
 was Deborah ? " Style which suggests such blind queries 
 is slovenly. The connection may prevent obscurity, but not 
 a loss of precision. Style in which such looseness is in-
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 119 
 
 dulged will often degenerate from the loose to the obscure. 
 The step between is not so long as that between the sub- 
 lime and the ridiculous. 
 
 3. A still further cause of obscurity in construction is an 
 abuse of the parenthesis. Parenthesis may cause obscurity 
 by its position. It may be so located as to Abuse of the 
 break the flow of sense. It may separate a parenthesis. 
 verb from its nominative by too large a hiatus. Some 
 writers thus put into an English sentence the peculiarities 
 of Latin syntax. A Roman ear could bear in this respect 
 what an English ear cannot. A parenthesis 
 is a chasm : the hearer must be able to vault 
 over it. Not all hearers are agile enough to do that, if the 
 position of the parenthesis holds asunder vital and emphatic 
 fragments of the thought. 
 
 Parenthesis, again, may cause obscurity by its length. It 
 is a digression. If it be of excessive length, it may impair 
 the recollection of that which went before, 
 
 . . .... r Digression. 
 
 and attention to that which comes after. 
 One of the difficulties in interpreting the style of St. Paul 
 in his Epistle to the Ephesians is the abundance of paren- 
 thetical enclosures of the inspired thought. Parenthesis 
 may also obscure the sense by the form of parenthesis 
 within a parenthesis. An amendment to an amendment, a 
 patch upon a patch, a wheel within a wheel, are bewildering. 
 Rarely is such an involuted style suited to oral speech. 
 
 Abuse of parenthesis is one cause of the obscurity of 
 German constructions. A German sentence is often a 
 conglomeration, rather than an arrangement German con- 
 of materials. It is voluminous rather than structions. 
 lucid. One critic says that there are books in German 
 which consist of one or two enormous, overgrown, plethoric 
 sentences. De Quincey criticises the German sentence as 
 an arch between the rising and the setting sun. He de- 
 clares that a sentence by Kant was once measured by a car-
 
 120 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 penter, and found to be a foot and eight inches long. 
 When not parenthetic in form, a sentence may be so in fact. 
 A reader of it must make it so in order to deliver the sense 
 well. A multiplication of interdependent yet loosely jointed 
 clauses may have the effect of the extreme abuse of paren- 
 thesis. To recur once more to the most affluent source of 
 rhetorical blunders, Alison's History, observe the following, 
 viz.: 
 
 " Nations, like individuals, were not destined for immor- 
 tality." This is the thought in a nutshell. Now observe 
 how he expands it. " In their virtues equally 
 as their vices, their grandeur as their weak- 
 ness, they bear in their bosoms the seeds of mortality ; but 
 in the passions which elevate them to greatness, equally as 
 those which hasten their decay, is to be discerned the un- 
 ceasing operation of those principles at once of corruption 
 and resurrection, which are combined in humanity, and 
 which, universal in communities as in single men, compen- 
 sate the necessary decline of nations by the vital fire which 
 has given an undecaying youth to the human race." This 
 passage has not one mark of parenthetic structure in punct- 
 uation, and it needs none ; but its burden of dependent 
 clauses with suspended sense has the dead weight of pa- 
 renthesis of the most cumbrous form. The thought is 
 obscure. Nothing else gives to English style such a leaden 
 weight of words as this packing of suggested clauses into 
 all the interstices of a sentence. 
 
 4. Obscurity of construction may be caused also by that 
 figure of rhetoric which is technically termed " anacolu- 
 Use of •■ anaco- thon." Says Daniel Webster, in his apostro- 
 luthon " phe to General Warren, in the first oration at 
 
 bunker Hill, "Ah, Him! How shall I struggle with the 
 emotions which stifle the utterance of thy name ? " So in 
 the well-known invective of Cicero, in his oration against 
 Verres : " It is an outrage to bind a Roman citizen, etc.
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 121 
 
 . . . to crucify him — what shall I call it ? " The idioms 
 of all languages permit this figure of rhetoric when the sen- 
 timent calls for it and the speaker means it. The philoso- 
 phy of it is clear. It implies a sudden overflow of emotion 
 beyond the confines of orderly grammatical speech. Elo- 
 quence, in such examples, is like the torrent of the Missis- 
 sippi : it forces for itself abnormal channels. But let the 
 same license of speech be adopted as a grammatical blun- 
 der, and it must pass for that. If no emotion compels its 
 use, no canons of good taste tolerate its use. Few things 
 are so fatal to the transparency of style as the adoption of 
 the impassioned figures of speech when nothing in the 
 thought demands them. Such a style is oratorical abortion. 
 5. Finally rhetorical construction may be made obscure, or 
 if not obscure, not precise, by the combination, in one sen- 
 tence, of materials irrelevant to each other. T . , .. . 
 
 ' Introduction of 
 
 Proximity of thoughts in one sentence implies irrelevant mat- 
 
 tcr 
 
 mutual relationship. If none exists, that in- 
 stinct of good hearing which expects it is balked. It looks 
 for the point of connection, and cannot find one. Through 
 sheer misdirection of attention, the thought escapes. Says 
 a reporter in giving an account of a case of suicide, " His 
 head was supported by a bundle of clothing, but all efforts to 
 revive the vital spark were fruitless." This is ludicrously 
 inconsequent. But is it more so than the following, from 
 a certain historian who shall be nameless ? 
 
 „• „..,, Tillotson. 
 
 "Tillotson was much beloved by King Will- 
 iam and Queen Mary, who appointed Dr. Tennyson to suc- 
 ceed him." Were Tillotson and Tennyson first-cousins? 
 If not, why should the two facts be recorded in the same 
 breath ? A reader instinctively searches for the latent con- 
 nection. 
 
 Artemus Ward burlesques this error by saying, " I am an 
 early riser, but my wife is a Presbyterian." A passable jest 
 is this for Artemus Ward. But is it any more inconse-
 
 122 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 quent than the following ? " Their march was through 
 an uncultivated country, whose savage inhabitants fared 
 hardly, having no other riches than a breed of lean sheep, 
 whose flesh was rank and unsavory by reason of their 
 continual feeding upon seafish." Here we begin with 
 the tramp of an army, and end with the effect of a fish- 
 diet on the quality of mutton. Let an abstract and 
 dignified subject be treated in a public address in a style 
 composed of a succession of such sentences as these, 
 and you can easily imagine the effect on the search of 
 TT , a hearer after latent connections. Herbert 
 
 Herbert Spen- 
 cer's theory of Spencer's theory of style is so far true as 
 
 S t V 1 6 
 
 this, that all attention of the hearer which 
 is absorbed in the search for relations which do not exist is 
 so much abstracted from relations which do exist. The 
 result is a waste of both thought and interest. We are 
 never more sightless than when we are looking at nothing, 
 yet struggling to see something. 
 
 A single remark is suggested by this review of the causes 
 of obscurity in construction. It is that the most laborious 
 Faithful critics of ar, d original thinkers have been the most 
 construction. faithful critics of construction. Profound 
 thought finds such study a necessity to an expression of 
 itself. John Foster used to spend days on one sentence. 
 He wrote, rewrote, enlarged, contracted, transposed, till he 
 satisfied his thought. He often discussed construction in 
 his correspondence with literary friends. He pursued the 
 study of style with an artist's enthusiasm. True, that en- 
 thusiasm was excessive : he injured his style by extreme 
 elaboration. Yet it is doubtful whether much of his think- 
 ing could have found expression otherwise. The more he 
 labored for exact expression, the more thought he found 
 which was worth expression. To this is attributable the 
 marvellous richness of some of his essays. 
 
 On the contrary, negligent critics of construction become
 
 PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 1 23 
 
 by that very negligence indolent thinkers. The habit soon 
 grows of trying to express none but thoughts which can be 
 expressed with ease. One's thinking tends Negligent critics 
 always to the level of one's habit of utter- of construction. 
 ance. First thoughts in first forms become the staple of 
 such a one's productions. That is the very essence of com- 
 monplace. It cannot be too deeply impressed on a youth- 
 ful writer, that style is thought. In the long run, each will 
 be the gauge of the other. The study of style is the 
 study of thought. Original thought demands original style, 
 neither of which will come unbidden to a dormant or an 
 indolent mind. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 PERSPICUITY (CONCLUDED). 
 
 I. Special Defects in Perspicuity of Construction, Continued. 
 
 1. Wrong Order or Thought in the Whole Structure. 
 
 2. Excessive or Careless Use of Ellipsis. 
 
 (a) The One and the Other. 
 
 (b) Alternative Hypothetically Expressed. 
 
 3. Abuse of the Parenthesis. 
 
 (a) The Parenthesis a Chasm. 
 
 (b) The Parenthesis a Digression. 
 
 (c) The Construction of German Sentences. 
 
 4. Use of " Anacoluthon." 
 
 (a) Examples from Daniel Webster and Cicero. 
 
 5. The Introduction of Irrelevant Matter. 
 
 (a) Faithful Critics of Construction. 
 
 (b) Negligent Critics of Construction.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 ENERGY OF STYLE 
 
 Is energy of style susceptible of definition ? Not other- 
 wise than by the use of its synonyms or by illustrative 
 emblems. 
 
 I. — Energy Distinguished from Other Qualities of 
 
 Style. 
 
 i. Energy is not, as Dr. Campbell defines it, vivacity of 
 
 style. A lamb or a kitten may be vivacious, but neither is 
 
 a symbol of energy. There is a style which 
 
 Not vivacity. J ... , 
 
 may aptly be called a frisky style, but that is 
 not a vigorous style. 
 
 2. Again : energy is not merely the superlative of perspi- 
 cuity, as it seems to have been regarded by Dr. Lindley 
 
 Murray. Perspicuity underlies energy as it 
 
 Not perspicuity. . . ... 
 
 underlies other qualities, but it is not the 
 equivalent of energy. The style of the multiplication table 
 is clear, but it is not forcible. Light is the emblem of per- 
 spicuity : lightning is the emblem of energy. 
 
 3. Further : energy is not merely impressiveness of diction. 
 Some writers contend that all eloquence consists in impres- 
 XT , sion. A mathematical demonstration, then, 
 
 Not mere lm- ' 
 
 pressiveness of is eloquent in that it produces an effect. An 
 oration of Demosthenes is its kindred in pro- 
 ducing impression. Starlight, a lily-of-the-valley, the song 
 of a nightingale, an seolian harp, are all eloquent in the 
 same sense that this quality is attributable to a volcano or
 
 ENERGY OF STYLE 125 
 
 an earthquake. Those diversities of diction, therefore, of 
 which these objects are symbols, are all alike. When you 
 have said that they are impressive, you have said all there 
 is to be said of them in the way of definition. 
 
 This theory is either a play upon words, or it is a false 
 conception of things. It leaves no room for distinguishing 
 energy from any other kind of impression produced by 
 language. On such a principle you cannot distinguish an 
 oration from a song, not even a comic song from an elegy. 
 These words, which have their synonyms in all languages — 
 energy, strength, force, vigor — do certainly express an idea 
 not otherwise definable than by interchange of these words. 
 They convey an idea which the common-sense of men never 
 confounds with the impressiveness of a mathematical the- 
 orem, or that of a bird-of-paradise, or that of the tail of a 
 peacock. These words are ultimate in all languages ; so 
 that we cannot add to their significance, except by material 
 emblems. We can only say that energy is a peculiar kind of 
 impressiveness : it is the impressiveness of p ecu iiar kind of 
 strength as distinct from that of clearness ; impressiveness. 
 it is the impressiveness of force as distinct from that of 
 beauty ; it is the impressiveness of vigor as distinct from 
 that of vivacity. Leaving it thus undefined, except by in- 
 terchange of synonyms, we are in no more danger of mis- 
 taking it for either of the impressive qualities from which 
 it differs than we are of mistaking an elephant for a hum- 
 ming-bird. 
 
 *6 
 
 II. — Forcible Composition Dependent on Forcible 
 
 Thought. 
 
 Let it be observed that a forcible writer must have 
 thoughts to which forcible expression is appropriate. Ener- 
 getic expression is not apt to all varieties of thought. 
 
 Some thoughts as existing in the speaker's mind are too
 
 126 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 feebly conceived to be naturally put forth with energy. 
 Words cannot put on them by authority of the dictionary a 
 quality which is not in them. 
 
 i. Unimportant thought, however clear, is not the proper 
 subject of energy of expression. Speakers who ignore this 
 Unimportant create in their style a gap between expression 
 thought. anc i thought which commonly results in bom- 
 
 bast. This is only another mode of putting upon a thought 
 a quality which is not in it. You cannot speak with energy 
 of an infant's rattle or a tuft of thistledown, without utter- 
 ing burlesque. Rufus Choate once poured out an impas- 
 sioned strain of eloquence, in a vocabulary which no other 
 man could equal, in defence of his client's right to a side- 
 saddle. It convulsed the Boston bar with laughter. 
 
 2. Some thoughts are important, and as clear as they can 
 be, and yet are not becoming subjects of an energetic utter- 
 indefinite ance. Some thoughts are necessarily indefi- 
 thoughts. n if e j n an y truthful conception of them by a 
 finite mind. They depend, for all the impressiveness of 
 which they are susceptible, on a certain degree of vagueness. 
 Define them sharply, and they are no longer true. All 
 thoughts suggestive of the infinite in time or space must be 
 clouded to finite vision in order to be truthful. They must 
 be felt, if at all, through a remote perspective — so remote 
 as to create a certain dimness of outline which gives room 
 for the imagination to play. You cannot drag them out of 
 their sublime reserve by the mere enginery of style. 
 
 A French preacher, endeavoring to illustrate the certainty 
 with which death must swallow up all men in oblivion, re- 
 niustration by a marks, in substance, taking the hint probably 
 French preacher. f rom Saurin, "This audience may number 
 about eighteen hundred souls. Between the ages of ten 
 and twenty years, there may be about five hundred and 
 thirty ; between the ages of twenty and thirty years, about 
 six hundred and fifty ; between the ages of thirty and forty
 
 ENERGY OF STYLE \2J 
 
 years, about four hundred and sixty." So he proceeds to 
 classify and count his audience, as if the national census 
 were before him ; and then he goes on to say, "According 
 to the national bills of mortality, only twelve hundred and 
 seventy of my hearers will be living in ten years ; in twenty 
 years only eight hundred and thirty." Thus he reckons 
 the prospect of life, as if he were constructing tables for 
 life-insurance ; and the conclusion of his elaborate compu- 
 tation is, " So you see, my brethren, that human society is 
 in one continual flux." The flatness of the inference is a 
 caustic satire on the rhetorical method of the discourse. It 
 is as eloquent as a table of logarithms. 
 
 Compare the foregoing with a passing hint at the tears of 
 Xerxes at the thought that his army of a million of men 
 would be in the grave in a hundred years. Which of the 
 two is the more impressive ? The fact was once affirmed in 
 a sermon, that if the whole past population „ r 
 
 ' . , . Vastness of the 
 
 ot the globe had been buried in regular order, whole past popu- 
 side by side, its surface would have been 
 twice covered over with graves. That brief hint at the 
 number of the dead produced a powerful effect so long as 
 the truth of it was unquestioned. But unfortunately a 
 hearer of mathematical taste set himself to reckoning the 
 facts geometrically, and found that the highest probable 
 number of the earth's past and present population might 
 have been buried with room to spare, within the area of 
 Worcester County in Massachusetts. So long as the 
 preacher's statement was believed, however, the hearer's 
 imagination gave to it more than the force of demonstra- 
 tion. 
 
 These are specimens of truths which must be left in some 
 indeterminate form, and given over to the hearer's imagi- 
 nation, in order to be forcible. Dwell upon them by an 
 attempt to define them, and the effect is that you flatten 
 them. Milton recognizes this principle in the fact that he
 
 128 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 makes no attempt to describe minutely the angels who ap- 
 pear in the " Paradise Lost." He leaves them in shadowy 
 outline, in which we see their differences enough to know 
 them apart, and no more. 
 
 3. Some thoughts not unimportant, and not necessarily in- 
 definite, are still not the proper subjects of energetic ex- 
 , . , . pression. Thought in which beauty or 
 
 Other kinds of ' & J 
 
 thoughts not pathos is the predominant element does not 
 ut'lner^cuccx- admit of energy in its utterance. Forceful 
 pression. words and metaphors may be thrust upon it, 
 
 but do not express it. 
 
 This suggests the most common defect, in point of en- 
 ergy, in otherwise good composition. It is that the speaker 
 is not content with a style which fits the thought, but must 
 strain to force into it strength which is foreign to the 
 thought. Be it an earthquake or a summer twilight which 
 is to be represented, it must be clothed with strength, like 
 the neck of a war-horse. Evidently, then, the first thing 
 requisite to a genuine energy of speech is the possession 
 and the mastery of materials which demand energy of 
 speech. 
 
 III. — Forcible Composition Dependent on the State of 
 Mind of the Writer while in the Act of Composing. 
 
 In the same line of thought, a second requisite is that 
 one should speak or write with enthusiasm. " Logic set on 
 _ fire " is one of the recorded definitions of 
 
 One must write 
 
 and speak with eloquence. " Heat is life, and cold is death," 
 says a living scientist. The absence of the 
 element of heat in all things tends to stagnation. One 
 may be uplifted by emotional fervor in the abstract con- 
 templation of the work, yet not in the discussion of the 
 present theme. One may be inspired by a present theme 
 as a subject of meditation, yet not inspired by it as a sub-
 
 ENERGY OF STYLE 1 29 
 
 ject of discourse. One may be eloquent on the present 
 subject to some audiences, yet not eloquent in discourse to 
 a present audience. Enthusiasm of communication on a 
 present theme to present hearers is the power of movement in 
 public speech. 
 
 Some who extemporize with fire cannot write with fire. 
 All conditions must be favorable to the generation and the 
 emission of heat in order to secure the superlative force in 
 expression. It is an invaluable mental habit, therefore, to pict- 
 ure an audience in the solitude of one's study. This gives 
 reality to the written discourse as nothing else can. It 
 makes a living thing of it : it turns soliloquy into discourse 
 — two things which are very unlike, and which characterize 
 two very dissimilar styles of composition. 
 
 Nothing else can take the place, or do the work, of this 
 force of feeling. Energy and enthusiasm coexist in char- 
 acter ; they must coexist in style. Men of Energy and 
 science tell us, that the force of the pulsations enthusiasm, 
 of the human heart is measured by the weight of tons in 
 twenty-four hours. If all the beats of your heart in one 
 day of time could be concentrated into one huge throb of 
 vital power, it would suffice to throw a ton An jn ustra tion 
 of iron a hundred and twenty feet into the from science, 
 air. A fitting symbol is this of the spiritual power which a 
 human mind may put forth in its great moods of inspired 
 emotion. Faith then hurls the mountain into the sea. One 
 reason, the chief reason, why some speakers exhibit power 
 on great occasions only, is that their emotive nature is 
 roused by great occasions only. 
 
 2. The materials to which energy of expression is apt, 
 being in possession, and these being projected in the 
 style by the force of personal enthusiasm in one must write 
 the speaker, energy requires still further, ^ d S J^J^£ 
 that, in the act of composing, he shall write object in view, 
 or speak with an immediate object in view. 
 9
 
 130 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Oral discourse is sometimes soliloquy in its nature. If 
 not such as a whole, it often is such in unwary passages. 
 Oral discourse ^ ma y degenerate even into revery, or rise 
 when a soliloquy. on tne wing into rhapsody. Then, the 
 speaker is only thinking aloud. The whole power of his 
 discourse is expended on himself. No audience is pictured 
 in his imagination : therefore no projecting force aims the 
 discourse at an object outside of his own being. Such dis- 
 course is apt to appear to a hearer indolent. Its move- 
 ment is laggard. Time hangs heavy in listening to it. A 
 short discourse thus constructed is tedious, and a long 
 one intolerable. This must be so, for the reason that the 
 hearer is not sensible of being made the object of the ad- 
 dress. Least of all does the discourse create the sense of 
 its having been created for him, and predestined to reach 
 him. 
 
 On the contrary, discourse which has an object — a pal- 
 pable object, an immediate object, an urgent object, an 
 ~ . ,. object incessantly present to the speaker's 
 
 Oral discourse J J r r 
 
 with an object thought, to which he hastens on for the 
 
 in view. u > i • i • i 
 
 hearer s sake — is sure to be in some degree 
 energetic discourse. Why does everybody spring at a cry 
 of " Fire " ? For the same reason, direct writers are almost 
 always energetic speakers. 
 
 Vigorous materials, enthusiasm in composing, and an 
 immediate object in view, will not of necessity and always 
 secure the supremely forcible expression. One other ele- 
 ment is requisite. 
 
 3. It is, that, in the act of composing, a writer or speaker 
 should be self-possessed. A French critic says that eloquence 
 One should be is not delirium. Carlyle adds : " We do not 
 seif-po sed. call a man stron g wno | ias convulsions, though 
 
 in the fit ten men cannot hold him." For superlative force 
 in style a man must be master of his subject, his audience, 
 his occasion. He must not permit them to be master of
 
 ENERGY OF STYLE 131 
 
 him. Enthusiasm must be so under control as to be sus- 
 ceptible of use at the speaker's will. 
 
 Shakespeare had in mind the element of oratory corre- 
 sponding to this when he said, "In the very torrent and 
 tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind, of his 
 
 . \ ' . , , Shakespeare. 
 
 passion, he must acquire and beget a temper- 
 ance that may give it smoothness." Fury in speech is not 
 energy. 
 
 Uncontrolled enthusiasm is founded on a partial mastery 
 of thought. It is necessarily one-sided. So far, it is ig- 
 norant. Absolute mastery of a truth never puts a man out 
 of reason. By seeing a truth all around, we see it as modi- 
 fied by other truth. We see it as balanced by its opposites. 
 The loss of a balanced mind is always the loss of some- 
 thing true. Therefore unbalanced enthusiasm leads to 
 false assertions in style. It prompts to inconsiderate super- 
 latives. Qualifications are ignored. Meta- unbalanced en- 
 phor ceases to be auxiliary to truth : it be- thu siasm. 
 comes intemperance of speech. An intemperate style thus 
 formed invites and is aggravated by an intemperate de- 
 livery. The utterance of such a style demands vociferous 
 tones. A severity of countenance approaching to a scowl 
 is becoming to it. Gesture with the fist becomes instinc- 
 tive in place of gesture with the open palm. The entire 
 physical magnetism of the speaker is perverted to exag- 
 gerated and repellent uses. 
 
 A passionate style, therefore, tends always to defeat it- 
 self. Like anything else that is overwrought, it invites re- 
 action. It disgusts, it shocks, it wearies, it a passionate 
 amuses, according to the mood of the hearer. 
 Practically it is weakness, not strength. Why is it that we 
 are often inclined to laugh at an angry man ? Shrewd 
 politicians understand that one way to defeat an opponent 
 is to fret his good nature, and let him defeat himself. Make 
 a man furious in debate, and you make him harmless. En-
 
 132 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 tice a man into a duel, and he is politically dead, whether 
 the bullet reaches him or not. 
 
 Daniel Webster in middle life was a model of self-posses- 
 sion, and therefore of power. His habit was to restrain 
 himself under the provocations of debate ; 
 
 Daniel Webster. .... , . 
 
 never to be tempted by them into petty skir- 
 mishes with opponents ; to wait till the great principles in- 
 volved could be reached, and then to handle them, rather 
 than the men who denied them. In his old age he lost pres- 
 tige in this respect, and with a corresponding loss of power. 
 The English Parliament used to laugh at Edmund Burke's 
 most solemn adjurations, because they exceeded the dignity 
 of self-collected speech. Lord Brougham was more fre- 
 quently defeated by his own petulance than by the argu- 
 ment of his opponents. 
 
 One of the most remarkable examples of intemperate 
 style among modern essayists is that of De Quincey. His 
 
 is a most fascinating style to young writers : 
 
 De Quincey. „ <% J , J s . 
 
 excellent, therefore, for the purpose of men- 
 tal quickening. But you will find that it will not wear well 
 to your maturer tastes, and that its most serious defect is 
 its want of the dignity of self-possession. The following 
 will illustrate my meaning : " Any man of sound sense 
 might take up the whole academy of modern economists, 
 and throttle them between heaven and earth with his finger 
 and thumb, or bray their fungous heads to powder with a 
 lady's fan." Again: he writes of "a dilemma, the first 
 horn of which would be sufficient to toss and gore any 
 column of patient readers, though drawn up sixteen deep." 
 Fortunate is it for the future of the English language that 
 he did not tax it with a description of the other horn. Yet 
 you will observe that no personal ill-will is expressed in 
 these invectives, no anger, no petulance, no malign hostil- 
 ity. The strain of the style is jocose rather. Still it is in- 
 toxicated style. It is reckless threshing of language, in
 
 ENERGY OF STYLE 1 33 
 
 which you lose the sober thought in its sober truthfulness, 
 and are only astounded at the words. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 ENERGY OF STYLE. 
 
 I. Energy Distinguished from Other Qualities of Style. 
 
 i . Not Vivacity. 
 
 2. Not Perspicuity. 
 
 3. Not Mere Impressiveness of Diction. 
 
 II. Forcible Composition dependent on Forcible Thought. 
 
 1. Unimportant Thought not the Proper Subject of Energetic 
 
 Expression. 
 
 2. Indefinite Thought not the Proper Subject of Energetic Ex- 
 
 pression. 
 
 3. Other Kinds of Thought that are not the Proper Subjects of 
 
 Energetic Expression. 
 
 III. Forcible Composition dependent on the State of Mind of the 
 
 Writer while in the Act of Composing. 
 
 1. One must Write and Speak with Enthusiasm. 
 
 (a) Vital Relations of Energy and Enthusiasm. 
 
 2. One must Write and Speak with an Immediate Object in View. 
 
 (a) Effect of Oral Discourse when a Soliloquy. 
 
 (b) Effect of Oral Discourse with an Object in View. 
 
 3. One should be Self-possessed to Write or to Speak with Force.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 
 
 I. Energy Dependent on the Kind of Words Used. 
 
 We have thus far considered energy of style as having 
 its foundation in the state of a writer's mind in the act of 
 composing. We now advance to regard it as assisted by cer- 
 tain means which are common to the literal and the figurative 
 uses of language. 
 
 i. First, energy is promoted by the use of pure words. 
 Purity of style assists energy, partly because it assists per- 
 spicuity, but more directly because it tends 
 
 Pure words. ,,.„..,,, 
 
 to make style intelligible at the moment of 
 its utterance. Labyrinthine style tends to feeble impres- 
 sion. Slow evolution of the meaning is, for that reason, 
 weak. But rapidity in a hearer's discovery of thought en- 
 livens, and therefore enforces, thought. This is the work- 
 ing of a pure English vocabulary. The force of it is aug- 
 mented by the silent sympathy of a hearer with his ver- 
 nacular tongue. That which energy adds to perspicuity is 
 chiefly movement of the sensibilities of hearers by the aid 
 of their imagination. Of this power vernacular style must 
 be the chief medium ; and the most perfect vernacular is 
 the purest English. 
 
 On a similar principle, energy is augmented by the pre- 
 ponderance of a Saxon vocabulary. The strength of a 
 strength of a Saxon style has become one of the truisms 
 Saxon style. Q f literature. It is worthy of remark, that 
 
 public speakers often talk Saxon who do not write it, nor
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 1 35 
 
 employ it predominantly in public address. A man's collo- 
 quial style often discloses his Saxon birthright, when a Lat- 
 inized dialect prevails in his continuous discourse. This is 
 sometimes the explanation, in part, of the fact that a speaker 
 produces more impression by his extemporaneous than by 
 his written discourses. It is, that, in extern- „ 
 
 7 Extemporaneous 
 
 poraneous discourse, he speaks as he talks ; and written dis- 
 and he talks Saxon. His extemporizing is 
 thus homely, as distinct from stately speech. It is speak- 
 ing home to the sympathies of hearers. A stereotyped 
 criticism on a bookish speaker is, ' You should speak more 
 as you talk." This means, in part, " Use more liberally a 
 Saxon vocabulary." 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable illustration in literary his- 
 tory of the contrast between extemporaneous and written 
 styles is found in Dr. Samuel Johnson. John- Dr Johnson's 
 son the conversationalist and Johnson the tw0 st y les - 
 essayist were two different men. In writing he was a Latin 
 slave : in conversation he was a Saxon prince. Short, 
 crisp, blunt monosyllabic words abounded in his colloquial 
 style ; and such words in our language (those, at least, 
 which are naturally used colloquially) are almost all Saxon. 
 Dr. Johnson ruled English letters in his day mainly by 
 what he talked, not by what he wrote. His fame grew out 
 of what we speak of as the Johnson Club. Goldsmith, Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, and Boswell knew him at 
 his best, because they heard him talk. In our own day his 
 works are little read. If he could have respected his Saxon 
 vocabulary enough to have made it the warp of his written 
 style, his works might have lived another century beyond 
 us. But no ; he could talk Saxon, but he must write Latin. 
 The ghost of Cicero haunted him when he took to his pen. 
 His first conception of a thought was commonly in Saxon 
 forms ; and he then deliberately set to work, as other soph- 
 omores have done, to translate it into an English mimicry
 
 136 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 of the Ciceronian. Macaulay has made you familiar with 
 amusing instances of this. 
 
 Every speaker may find it worth his while to search his 
 own colloquial style, to see if he has not already at his com- 
 A suggestion to niand there resources of Saxon vigor which 
 speakers. j ie j s no j- us j n g i n his public speech, but 
 
 which are perfectly pure, racy English, and therefore as 
 well fitted to public speech as to the table-talk. 
 
 Yet the claims of a Saxon style must be qualified. Lord 
 Brougham lays down the rule, to which in theory he makes 
 no exception, "Always prefer the Saxon word." But in 
 practice he constantly disregarded the rule, as every writer 
 will do who indulges much in contemplative or philosophic 
 thinking. The Greek and Latin importations into our lan- 
 guage are indispensable to such thinking. They are more 
 varied and more precise than the words of Saxon stock. 
 We are safe in saying, that a Saxon vocabulary should be 
 chosen when strength of style is the chief quality which the 
 thought demands. But often the thought requires not so 
 When Saxon much strength as precision. Then the Saxon 
 English is not must give place to the Latin or Greek deriva- 
 
 to be used. ^. rrl1 ... , 
 
 tive. 1 he thought, again, may require beauty 
 or pathos of expression. Then one instinctively chooses the 
 word which is capable of mellifluous utterance ; and that 
 most surely is not the Saxon word. For some conceptions 
 a sensitive writer will long for a liquid dialect like the Tus- 
 can. But such qualifications leave the general principle in- 
 tact, that a Saxon vocabulary is a strong vocabulary. It 
 should, therefore, predominate in the expression of strength 
 of thought. 
 
 2. Energy of style is further augmented by the use of 
 
 specific words. "Thou art my rock," "my fortress," "my 
 
 tower," "my shield," "my buckler." Why 
 
 Specific words. ' J ' J J 
 
 does the Psalmist use these specific emblems, 
 instead of saying, "Thou dost preserve me," "protect me,"
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 1 37 
 
 " befriend me " ? It is because the specific quality of the 
 symbols gives reality to the thought by their appeal to the 
 imagination. In like manner, the Scriptures discourse upon 
 the two future worlds, heaven and hell. Rarely, if ever, 
 does the Bible present these as states of be- 
 
 v . The Bible. 
 
 ing, and never as qualities of character. The 
 inspired thought conceives of them as places : the inspired 
 style therefore paints them as things. It describes persons 
 in them. Heaven is a city, a country, a building, mansions : 
 music is there ; harps are there, crowns, palms, robes, 
 rivers, thrones, gates, walls. So the Bible represents hell 
 as a place of fire, a lake of brimstone, prepared for the 
 Devil. Its population is personal. The scriptural man- 
 ner of speaking of the future worlds is, in the main, not 
 didactic, it is picturesque. The force of it is due largely 
 to the specific element in the style. 
 
 3. Energy is still further promoted by the abundant use of 
 short words. Run over in your minds such synonyms as 
 these : " wish and desire, breadth and lati- 
 
 , . r , . . ,.,,.... Short words. 
 
 tude, joy and felicity, sure and indubitable, 
 height and altitude, law and regulation, guess and conject- 
 ure." Are we not sensible of a difference in the force of 
 these words, which is due almost wholly to their diversity in 
 length ? The chief defect in the vocabulary of Dr. Chal- 
 mers is the preponderance of long over short words. Vigor 
 of expression often depends on surprises in thought, and 
 therefore on quick turns in style. There is said to be even 
 a painful force in the strokes of the wing of The humming 
 a humming-bird, arising from the almost in- bird - 
 conceivable rapidity of their succession. Force in style 
 may be due to a similar cause ; but a style in which long 
 words greatly preponderate can have no quick strokes in 
 utterance. The intent of the author is often disclosed 
 prematurely. The plot of a sentence, if the figure may be 
 used, is detected before it is ripe.
 
 138 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Analyze your own sentences sharply, and you will often 
 find that you have, in the heat of composition, written with 
 Suggestion to unconscious guile. Your style here and there 
 writers. \ % a trap. It is so constructed as to catch 
 
 the listener in surprises : you detect in it a series of ambus- 
 cades. If, then, it be so constructed, by a large prepon- 
 derance of long words, as to give the hearer time to 
 discover the catch prematurely, it defeats itself. An un- 
 wieldy style, through excess of this long-winded structure, 
 resembles the movement of a crocodile in chasing its prey. 
 An agile boy, it is said, can keep himself out of its way by 
 running in a circle. Recall the familiar example which Ma- 
 caulay gives from Dr. Johnson. Said John- 
 son, speaking of "The Rehearsal," a produc- 
 tion then fresh to the critics of London, '"The Rehearsal' 
 has not wit enough to keep it sweet." This is brief, quick, 
 Saxon strength. But, after a pause, he summoned to his 
 aid the dignity of autocratic criticism, and remarked, " I 
 should have said, ' The Rehearsal ' has not vitality sufficient 
 to preserve it from putrefaction." This is the style of the 
 crocodile. 
 
 It needs hardly to be said that the choice of short words 
 may be easily abused. A style made up of monosyllables 
 Exclusive use of would be the extreme of affectation. " Rob- 
 short words, inson Crusoe" was, some years ago, trans- 
 lated into monosyllabic words. But " Robinson Crusoe " is 
 addressed to a juvenile taste. Even children will not long 
 patter through a story of that length in monosyllabic slip- 
 pers. The man must have been a wiseacre who is said to 
 have read fifteen pages of it without discovering that it was 
 not the original. 
 
 4. Energy is also aided by the choice of words whose 
 sound is significant of their sense. " Hiss, rattle, clatter, 
 rumbling, twitch, swing, sullen, strut," are specimens of 
 words not relatively numerous in our language, but very
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 1 39 
 
 forcibly expressive, because their sound reduplicates their 
 sense. Ought onomatopoetic words to be chosen studi- 
 ously ? Will not the deliberate selection of Words whose 
 them cultivate an affected energy? Doubt- sound is signifi- 
 
 . .... .. , cant of sense. 
 
 less it may do so ; but the instinct ot speech 
 has created such words in all languages, and that which the 
 human mind thus sanctions, literary taste may wisely select. 
 Why not, as well as other elements of speech which carry 
 the same authority ? They do not constitute a sufficiently 
 large proportion of any language to form a strong tempta- 
 tion to an affected use. 
 
 II. — Energy Dependent on the Number of Words 
 
 Used. 
 
 One of the means of augmenting energy of expression, 
 which concerns both the literary and figurative uses of lan- 
 guage, relates to the number of words. It is conciseness 
 of style. Conciseness has been already con- Conciseness as 
 sidered as tributary to perspicuity and to an element of 
 
 . . , . force. 
 
 precision : it is more conducive to energy 
 than to either. It has passed into an axiom in criticism, 
 " The more concise, the more forcible." Many years ago 
 Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, in an address in the city 
 of New York, expressed the idea that the time had gone by 
 when the people could be depended on for their own enslave- 
 ment by standing armies. He compressed it into two words. 
 Said he, " Bayonets think." The words caught the popular 
 taste like wildfire. They took rank with the proverbs of the 
 language immediately. The idea was not new but the style 
 of it was. It had been floating in the dialect of political 
 debate ever since the battle of Bunker Hill, but never before 
 had it been condensed into a brace of words. The effect was 
 electric. Millions then, for the first time, felt it as a fact in 
 political history. Within a month the newspapers of Oregon
 
 140 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 had told their readers that bayonets think. Everybody told 
 eyerybody else that bayonets think. In style it was a 
 minie-bullet : everybody who heard it was struck by it. 
 Such is the force of a laconic dialect. 
 
 A. The most important violations of conciseness as affect- 
 ing energy are three. One is tautology. A weak style is some- 
 times due to no other cause than repetition 
 
 Tautology a vio- . . 
 
 lation of concise- of ideas in varied language. This is toil 
 without progress. A tendency to tautology 
 was created in English style by the Norman Conquest of 
 England. As you are aware, from the time of William the 
 Conqueror, the Norman was made by law the dialect of the 
 court, Saxon remaining the vernacular of the people. The 
 usage, therefore, grew up of expressing thought consecu- 
 tively by the use of words from both dialects, and mean- 
 Book of Common in § precisely the same thing. In the Book 
 Prayer. f Common Prayer, which was construct- 
 
 ed for court and people alike, this tautology is still dis- 
 cernible in such phrases as "assemble and meet together," 
 "dissemble and cloak," "pure and holy," "confirm and 
 strengthen," "joy and felicity." Traces of the same feature 
 still exist among us, especially in the dialect of extempo- 
 raneous prayer. Diffuse writers commonly betray their 
 diffuseness in this yoking of Saxon and Norman synonyms 
 together. 
 
 Do you not recognize the following words in couples as 
 having become standard yokes in style of the second and 
 Saxon and Nor- tnird rate ? — " Null and void, clear and ob- 
 man synonyms. v ious, pains and penalties, forms and cere- 
 monies, bounds and limits, peace and quiet, sort or kind, 
 weak and feeble, mild and gentle, just and righteous, rules 
 and regulations, trust and confidence " ? Some of these do 
 not illustrate strictly the contrast of Saxon and Norman 
 roots ; but, of these couples, in every instance one word 
 was familiar to the Saxon mind, and the other to the Nor-
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE HI 
 
 man. In the first blending of the two dialects hundreds of 
 such twins found their way into the usage of writers. For 
 a time they were a necessity. But, now that the two dia- 
 lects are welded into one, such couples are no longer needed. 
 They encumber style by needless synonyms. Yet that 
 usage has infected the entire history of English diction 
 from that day to this. It has led to the duplication of a 
 multitude of words not distinguished by that diversity of 
 origin. One of the first acts of a young writer, therefore, 
 in the criticism of his own discourses, should be to examine 
 the braces of words, and see if they do not comprise need- 
 less synonyms. 
 
 B. Similar to the tautological sacrifice of conciseness, and 
 yet distinct from that, is vcrboscness. This occurs when 
 words are introduced which express unim- .. , 
 
 1 Verboseness a 
 
 portant shades of thought. Sentences, the violation of con- 
 
 ciscncss 
 
 gist of which might be compressed into half 
 their length, are extended to make room for hints which 
 add a little, but not much, to the weight of thought. They 
 do not add enough to compensate for the increase of bulk 
 and the labor of carriage. Complex sentences are need- 
 lessly preferred to simple ones. 
 
 In prose, and specially in inexperienced writers, the error 
 is most frequently committed by piling together qualifying 
 words and clauses. Adjectives, adverbs, and Qualifying words 
 adjective and adverbial clauses, if they do and classes, 
 not add force enough to support them by their intrinsic 
 worth, must of course be carried by the rest of the sen- 
 tence. They may, therefore, make all the difference 
 between heavy and sprightly movement. The more weighty 
 the thought, the less force it may have, if, relatively to the 
 main idea, it is a dead weight. Style, to be forcible, must 
 have celerity of movement. Thought thus borne on words 
 must be capable of quick utterance. Words must be wings. 
 Rapid succession, if coherent, is the token of energetic
 
 142 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 thinking. Thought is a quick process, the most nimble 
 that we know of. " As quick as thought," we say, and we 
 can say no more, to express rapidity. Energy of expression 
 must always convey that quality in thought. Yet to do 
 this it must have buoyancy proportioned to the weight it 
 carries. Without this, we say of style that it drags, no 
 matter how solid the materials. 
 
 Verboseness is often the peril of the scholastic as op- 
 posed to the popular style. A scholar commonly writes 
 Scholastic ver- m retirement and at his leisure. He writes 
 boseness. under the influence of tastes and habits 
 
 which keep him aloof from real life. He is apt, therefore, 
 to take his time for it. The mere sense of leisure will 
 often make a man plod. He involves, he complicates, he 
 twists, he tangles his thought, merely because he has the 
 time to do it. A pressure from without which should 
 crowd him, would create force of style by compelling him 
 ^ . to quicker movement. Dr. Arnold showed a 
 
 Dr. Arnold. .... 
 
 very keen observation of men and things 
 when he said to a friend who urged him to write more for 
 the newspapers, " I cannot write well for the newspapers. 
 A newspaper demands a more condensed style than I am 
 master of, such as only the mingling in the actual shock of 
 opinions can give a man." This is the true ideal of a pop- 
 ular style. 
 
 Observe as a specimen of that kind of force which con- 
 ciseness alone may create in style, the following descrip- 
 Exampie of con- tion of China : " It is a country where roses 
 cise description, have no fragrance, and women no petticoats ; 
 where the laborer has no sabbath, and the magistrate no 
 sense of honor ; where the roads bear no vehicles, and the 
 ships have no keels ; where old men fly kites ; where the 
 needle points to the south, and the sign of being puzzled is 
 to scratch the heel ; where the seat of honor is on the left 
 hand, and the seat of intellect in the stomach ; where to
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 1 43 
 
 take off your hat is an insolent gesture, and to wear white 
 is to put yourself in mourning ; which has a literature with- 
 out an alphabet, and a language without a grammar." This 
 is in style what sketching is in art. The passage contains 
 not one adverb, only one adjective, not one qualifying 
 clause, and nothing expressive of a secondary idea. It re- 
 minds one of national proverbs, which are commonly 
 models of that density of thought which the compressed 
 wisdom of ages deserves. Who ever heard of a long- 
 winded proverb ? 
 
 It is a singular idiosyncrasy sometimes detected in public 
 speakers, that they are verbose in the use of certain favor- 
 ite parts of speech. One has an unconscious peculiarities of 
 favoritism for adjectives, another for ad- public speakers. 
 verbs, another for substantives in apposition. The style of 
 Rufus Choate, magnificent as it was in the affluence of its 
 vocabulary, would still have been invigorated if it had been 
 shorn of one-half its adjectives. 
 
 But the view here suggested should be qualified by the 
 remark, that sometimes the qualifying word imparts a 
 tonic to the style. One such word may con- 
 
 . 111 1 • r 1 A tonic to style. 
 
 dense the whole, emphasis of the utterance. 
 De Quincey, descanting on the falsehoods of Pope as being 
 no indication of recklessness of the feelings of other people, 
 says, " In cases where he had no reason to suspect any 
 lurking hostility, he showed even ^.paralytic benignity." A 
 half-page of description could not so forcibly express the 
 sarcasm which is flung at Pope in this one word. 
 
 C. One other method by which the want of conciseness 
 may impair energy of expression is that of a needless cir- 
 cumlocution of thought. Circumlocution Of Circumlocution 
 
 thought is not necessarily tautological nor olation g of wm- 
 verbose. No more words may be employed ciseness. 
 than are needful to express thought circuitously. The 
 fault lies in multiplying words by a circumlocutory train of
 
 144 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 thinking, when direct thinking is equally good, and, if so, 
 better, because it is direct. Says Mr. Disraeli, in a speech 
 on the hustings, " The national debt is nothing but a flea- 
 bite." But in the House of Commons he scruples to repeat 
 the figure in its strong, homely form, but says, "The na- 
 tional debt is nothing but the incision of the most trouble- 
 some, though not the most unpopular, of insects." Why 
 this polite euphemism? Circumlocutory thought displaced 
 directness, and that made just the difference between weak- 
 ness and energy of diction. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 I. Energy dependent on the Kind of Words Used. 
 
 i. Energy is promoted by the Use of Pure Words. 
 
 (a) Strength of a Saxon Style. 
 
 (b) Why Extemporaneous is more Effective than Written 
 
 Discourse. 
 
 (c) The two Styles of Dr. Johnson. 
 
 2. Energy is promoted by the Use of Specific Words. 
 
 3. Energy is promoted by the Use of Short Words. 
 
 (a) Suggestion to Writers. 
 
 (b) Exclusive Use of Short Words. 
 
 4. Energy sometimes promoted by Words whose Sound is signifi- 
 
 cant of their Sense. 
 
 II. Energy dependent on the Number of Words Used. 
 
 1. Conciseness as an Element of Force. 
 
 A. Tautology a Violation of Conciseness. 
 
 B. Verboseness a Violation of Conciseness. 
 
 C. Circumlocution of Thought a Violation of Conciseness.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE (CONTINUED) 
 
 I. — Exceptions in which Conciseness is not Favorable 
 
 to Energy. 
 
 The last chapter closed with a consideration of concise- 
 ness of style as generally tributary to energy. The view 
 there presented is subject to exceptions in which concise- 
 ness is the reverse of energy. 
 
 i. Exception occurs where conciseness is obviously af- 
 fected. Affectation of anything is never other than a weak- 
 ness. A friend of Dr. Johnson died, and he Conciseness 
 wrote to his widow a note of condolence, affected, 
 thus : " Dear madam, oh ! " In less than a year she married 
 again, and he wrote a note of congratulation thus : " Dear 
 madam, ah ! " This would satisfy Lacedaemonian taste in 
 respect to brevity, but what is the effect of the laconics 
 rhetorically ? Would the first note comfort a disconsolate 
 widow ? Would the second please a comforted widow ? 
 Neither. Both are extremes of affectation, in which the 
 doctor was thinking of his very smart style. No style is 
 impressive which is not sincere. 
 
 2. Again: exception obviously occurs where diffuseness 
 is necessary to perspicuity. For some audiences, on some 
 subjects, as we have seen, perspicuity de- _.„. 
 
 Dirfuseness 
 
 mands diffuseness. In such cases, energy, necessary to 
 
 of course, demands the same. Perspicuity perspicuity. 
 
 always lies back of energy. The form of concise force is 
 delusive if the thought is not clear. It is not entirely fair 
 to criticise an author by fragments of his composition dis-
 
 146 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 located from their connections ; but the following are 
 examples, which, read in their connections, would still 
 represent obscure conciseness. They are taken from the 
 earlier essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson. " The way of life 
 Examples from * s by abandonment." "With the geometry 
 Emerson. f SU nbeams the soul lays the foundation of 
 
 nature." " I, the imperfect, adore my own perfect." " The 
 soul knows only the soul." " The world globes itself in a 
 drop of dew." " The great genius returns to essential 
 man." " Prayer is the spirit of God pronouncing His works 
 good." " The devil is an ass." 
 
 Such aphoristic sentences abound in the style of Emer- 
 son in his early manhood. They are laconic, but they are 
 not forcible. The question is not whether they convey any 
 meaning, but do they convey any such force of meaning as 
 that professed by their extremely laconic form ? Their 
 compactness promises a great deal : does the reader realize 
 the promise ? Who is sure that he understands them ? 
 How many of these sage proverbs, which by their form put 
 themselves by the side of the apothegms of the ages, will 
 you remember in a week ? Probably none but the compli- 
 ment to Satan, and that is asinine in more senses than one. 
 It will cling to your memory rather as a rude jest than as 
 the utterance of an axiomatic truth. 
 
 3. Exception to the principle that conciseness is energy 
 occurs in some examples of descriptive writing. Edmund 
 Descriptive writ- Burke, in his speech on the nabob of Arcot, 
 in e- describes the effects of the war carried on 
 
 by the East India Company in the Carnatic territory. An 
 unimaginative speaker, seeing things in what Bacon calls 
 " dry light," would have said, " The war was a war of ex- 
 termination : " this was the whole of it. An indignant and 
 diffusive speaker, boiling over with his wrath, would have 
 said, "The war was murderous, inhuman, devilish." His 
 invective would have spent itself in epithets. But Burke,
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 1 47 
 
 more forcible than either, compresses his indignation, has 
 not a word to say of the character of the war, but de- 
 scribes the facts, and leaves them to speak 
 
 r 1 1 TT ,, „„ 1 -^ • Edmund Burke. 
 
 for themselves. He says, " When the Brit- 
 ish army traversed, as they did, the Carnatic for hundreds 
 of miles in all directions, through the whole line of their 
 march they did not see one man, not one woman, not one 
 child, not one four-footed beast of any description what- 
 ever." Energy of thought here requires particularity of 
 detail : therefore energy of expression requires many 
 words. 
 
 Sometimes a descriptive speaker needs to gain time for a 
 thought to take hold of an obtuse hearer. Macaulay says 
 of the effects of the French Revolution, Time needed in 
 
 " Down went the old church of France, with description to in- 
 terest. 
 all its pomp and wealth." This is forcible 
 
 fact forcibly put. But he intensifies it by saying, " The 
 
 churches were closed ; the bells were silent ; the shrines 
 
 were plundered ; the silver crucifixes were melted down ; 
 
 buffoons dressed in surplices came dancing the carmagnole, 
 
 even to the bar of the Convention." By these details, time 
 
 is gained for the imagination to realize the main truth that 
 
 the church was destroyed. Longinus illustrates the two 
 
 styles here contrasted by the examples of Demosthenes 
 
 and Cicero. He says, " Demosthenes was Demosthenes 
 
 concisely, Cicero diffusely sublime. Demos- and Clcero - 
 
 thenes was a thunderbolt : Cicero was a conflagration." 
 
 4. Exception to the general principle before us takes 
 
 place, also, in certain momentary utterances of intense 
 
 emotion. Profane men in a fit of passion do Expression of in- 
 
 not swear concisely. Intense emotion may tense emotIon - 
 
 express itself, on the spur of the moment, by a volume of 
 
 words. Passion heaps words on words, piles epithet on 
 
 epithet, repeats itself once and again, and thus creates in 
 
 style that kind of energy which a torrent symbolizes. A
 
 148 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 volley of oaths is the transient utterance of overwhelming 
 wrath. The single tremendous oath of studied force is the 
 expression of cool purpose and self-collection. Dignified 
 discourse sometimes admits a style which transiently re- 
 sembles that of overpowering passion. Style, then, does 
 not condense, but expands thought, pours it forth in a 
 volume of sound. Words at best are but hints. They are 
 but symbols of ideas. The sum total of them is a symbol 
 as well as the units. A flood of words may have the same 
 kind of force as that of a flood of tears. 
 
 But is not this contradictory to the principle we have 
 considered, that energy demands self-possession ? Yes, it 
 Self-possession ls s0 m appearance, but not in fact. Did you 
 as affected by never pause in the street to watch a horse 
 
 this exception. , 
 
 at the top of his speed, when at first you 
 doubted whether he was not a runaway ? And, when 
 you saw that his rider had him well in hand, did not 
 your first thought enhance your sense of power in the 
 second ? There is in style a phenomenon which resembles 
 that. Speech carried to the verge of frenzy, but indulged 
 only for the moment, then reined in, and used for a pur- 
 pose, becomes an evidence, and therefore an instrument, of 
 power. Disorder ruled and utilized is the exponent of 
 superlative power. 
 
 II. — Construction of the Sentence an Element of 
 
 Energy. 
 
 Not only does energy of style concern words considered 
 singly ; not only the number of words ; but there is a class 
 of tributaries to it which concerns the construction of sen- 
 tences. We cannot wisely carry criticism of construction 
 beyond a few simple principles. For the most part, in 
 practice, it must be left to the bidding of the oratorical in- 
 stinct. But in written composition especially, the three
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 1 49 
 
 following principles of rhetorical mechanism may be ap- 
 plied without detriment to freedom in composing. 
 
 1. One is, that emphatic words be so located that their 
 force shall be obvious. Observe, this criticism does not 
 concern the choice of emphatic words : it 
 
 , . m, 7 . , Emphatic words. 
 
 concerns location only. The where is often 
 more significant than the what. The distinction often 
 made between the natural and the inverted order of a sen- 
 tence is fallacious. Any order is natural which makes 
 obvious the full force of the language. The oratorical 
 instinct needs to be so trained, that in practice it will 
 spontaneously choose the natural order, be it inverted or 
 direct Yet one may deliberately apply this as one prin- 
 ciple of mechanism in style, that a sentence should not 
 commonly end or begin with an insignificant word. 
 
 The ending and the beginning of a sentence are the only 
 two localities with which criticism can consciously concern 
 itself, in the act of composing, without loss Rules f th 
 of freedom. But so far, conscious vigilance ending of a sen- 
 
 tcnce. 
 
 may direct the pen. Therefore we should 
 not end a sentence with a little word, unless the connection 
 gives it emphasis. One writer, who probably means no 
 more than this, lays down the rule (so the text-books tell 
 us) that a preposition ought not to close a sentence. The 
 most conclusive answer to such a rule is the Prepositions 
 
 very form in which the rhetorical instinct of ending sen- 
 
 tences 
 
 the critic cast the statement of it. He puts 
 it thus : " A preposition is a feeble word to end a sentence 
 with" This rule, though in more adroit form of statement, 
 has long encumbered the books on rhetoric. It is indefen- 
 sible in any form. A preposition as such is by no means 
 a feeble word. What can be finer than this from Rufus 
 
 Choate ? " What ! Banish the Bible from 
 
 , .. -kt ! 1 • 1 r Rufus Choate. 
 
 our schools ? Never, so long as there is left 
 
 of Plymouth Rock a piece large enough to make a gun-
 
 I50 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 flint off " This is purest idiomatic English. Our Lord's 
 rebuke to His disciples is fashioned, in our translation, on 
 the same model. " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye 
 are of." The old Scotch interrogative, " What for ? " is as 
 pure English in written as in colloquial speech. 
 
 The true principle, and the only one which the oratorical 
 instinct can use in the act of composing, respecting the 
 The true princi- ending of a sentence, is the one already 
 P le - named — that a sentence should not needlessly be 
 
 ended with an unimportant word of any kind. A similar rule 
 holds good, but with more frequent exception, respecting 
 the beginning of a sentence. When energy of expression 
 is required, we should not, if we can avoid it, locate at the 
 beginning insignificant words. Certain declarative phrases, 
 such as " it is," " there is," are employed to start the move- 
 ment of sentences when often they are not emphatic ; they 
 are only mechanical expedients for setting the ball in mo- 
 tion. Among inexperienced writers, the word " and " prob- 
 ably begins more sentences than any other word in the lan- 
 guage. 
 
 2. The mechanism of sentences may assist energy fur- 
 ther by the conscious use or omission of the conjunctive 
 Care in the use beginning. It has just been observed that the 
 
 of d the e c™njun°c n - word " and " P r °bably begins more sentences 
 tive beginning. in the productions of inexperienced writers 
 than any other in the language. This fact gives importance 
 to intelligent criticism of all forms of conjunctive beginning. 
 Let it be noticed, then, that the conjunctive beginning is 
 forcible if the succession of thought requires it. Often it 
 does so. Something is needed to express or to hint the 
 fact of continuity. The idea of inference, or of other 
 sequence, or of qualification, or of contrast, is to the point. 
 Instinctively, then, you link sentence to sentence by begin- 
 ning the second of two with " but " or " and," or an adver- 
 bial term which has a conjunctive effect, like "yet" or
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 151 
 
 " nevertheless." What is the exact force of this conjunc- 
 tive beginning ? It is to bridge over the period preceding. 
 Sometimes energy requires that. 
 
 But, without such demand of thought, the conjunctive 
 beginning is meaningless, and therefore vapid. Did you 
 never hear an inferior conversationalist be- when the con- 
 gin sentence after sentence with the corrupt junctive begm- 
 
 l ning is mean- 
 
 formula "and-er " ? That indicates momen- ingiess. 
 
 tary vacuity of mind. The speaker is on the hunt for 
 something to say. The " and-er " has no conjunctive 
 force. Not once in a score of times does the connection 
 demand a reminder of that which went before. This mon- 
 grel expression is only an interjectional expletive, by which 
 the speaker holds on to the right of utterance while his 
 mind is exploring. To compare it with a thing on a level 
 with it in dignity, it is like the travelling-bag which you 
 leave to represent you when you for a moment leave your 
 seat in a railway-car. Precisely such is the needless use of 
 the conjunctive beginning in written discourse. In the suc- 
 cession of thought it has no conjunctive force. Therefore, 
 style it is not. It is language not freighted with sense. 
 
 Oral delivery may be sadly weakened by the conjunctive 
 beginning. Punctuation may remedy it to the eye in print ; 
 but, orally delivered, such sentences lose oral delivery 
 their only sign of separation. The period is f^cti^begin- 
 bridged over when you do not mean it, and ning. 
 your style runs together. Two, even three, possibly four, 
 short sentences, which for force of utterance ought to be 
 short, and ought to be uttered with crisp delivery, are 
 stretched into one long one ; made long by that most flat- 
 tering expedient of composition, a mechanical coupling of 
 ideas. The conjunctive beginning, therefore, should be in- 
 telligently used. Use it when you mean it. Drop it when 
 it is only the sign of vacuum. Common etiquette requires 
 you to conceal a yawn.
 
 152 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 3. Again : energy may be expressed in the mechanical 
 
 construction of style by the skilful use of the periodic 
 
 structure. What is meant by a rhetorical 
 
 of periodic period ? The period is a structure in which 
 
 structures. ^ ie com pi e fi on j f} ie sense is suspended till the 
 
 close. The ancient rhetoricians compared it to a sling, 
 
 from which the stone is ejected after many circuits. A 
 
 loose sentence is one in which the end might 
 
 Period and loose . 01 
 
 sentence de- grammatically occur before the close, bucli 
 a sentence is a chain, from which a link 
 may be dropped from the end, and it will still be a chain, 
 and will have an end. The periodic sentence is a glass 
 ball ; to part with a fragment of it is to ruin the whole. 
 
 (a) One effect of the periodic structure is to throw for- 
 
 ward emphasis upon the end. Also, by the 
 
 Advantages of ..... 
 
 the periodic suspense of the sense, attention is claimed 
 
 structure. . M1 ,, 1 
 
 till the close. 
 
 (b) Further : the period satisfies all the expectation it 
 excites. In the act of attending to discourse, the mind of 
 a hearer always gravitates. Its instinct is to seek a state 
 of rest, and to rest at the first point at which rest is gram- 
 matically possible. In listening to the period, it finds but 
 one such point ; in listening to the loose construction, it may 
 find many. 
 
 (c) Besides, the period permits the disclosure, to the 
 hearer, of the growth of a thought. Here lies its chief ad- 
 vantage. A loose sentence can grow, only as the tail of a 
 kite grows. A period has symmetry : its parts do more 
 than cohere ; they are interdependent and interlocked. 
 The construction furnishes scope for that visible evolution 
 and involution of thought which constitute the charm of 
 the most powerful style. Critical description of this is very 
 tame. But look, for examples, at the style of Jeremy 
 Taylor, of Milton's prose-works, and of Edmund Burke. 
 Those passages which will strike you as the most eloquent
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 1 53 
 
 are the passages of sustained, prolonged intercurrence of 
 ideas by means of the periodic mechanism. 
 
 (d) In the most perfect examples of extemporaneous 
 style, thought actually grows thus in the mind of the 
 speaker. He does not know the whole of „,, 
 
 The period in 
 
 it when he commences a sentence. Yet, by extemporaneous 
 oratorical instinct, he chooses the broad, cir- speec ' 
 cular, periodic inclosure ; and in it his mind careers around 
 and across, gathering its materials as it goes. To the hearer 
 that process of inventing thought is made visible, yet with- 
 out suggesting the weakness of after-thought. A certain 
 loftiness of imaginative thinking cannot be expressed with- 
 out a skilful and free use of the periodic structure. Short, 
 dense, antithetic sentences will not do for it. Many are 
 masters of these who cannot command the other. -Dr. 
 South could not. If he had been able to do it, he would 
 have been a more genial critic of Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 (e) Once more : the periodic style assists energy of ex- 
 pression by a certain roundness of construction which is 
 favorable to dignity of delivery. Difficult of „,, 
 
 ° J J The period 
 
 execution though it be, and requiring certain effective in 
 
 physical resources which few possess in their 
 perfection, when well matched by a grand physique, in per- 
 son, voice, attitude, and gesture, it carries everything 
 before it. The Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D., of Brooklyn, is an 
 example of a speaker whose physique and elocution invite 
 the use of the periodic style ; and he often employs it with 
 great power. 
 
 But it should be observed, as a balance to Abuse of the 
 the view here given, that the periodic struct- period, 
 
 ure may be abused. 
 
 The point of this criticism cannot be more briefly ex- 
 pressed than by recalling to you a familiar one from De Quin- 
 cey on the defectiveness of German construction. The 
 construction which is indigenous to the German mind is the
 
 154 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 ideal realized of this abuse of the period. De Quincey 
 
 writes of it thus : " Every German regards a sentence in 
 
 ^ . the liffht of a package . . . into which his 
 
 De Quincey on ° . 
 
 German con- privilege is to crowd as much as he possibly 
 can. Having framed a sentence, therefore, 
 he next proceeds to pack it ; which is effected partly by 
 unwieldy tails and codicils, but chiefly by enormous paren- 
 thetic involutions. Qualifications, limitations, exceptions, 
 illustrations, are stuffed and violently rammed into the 
 bowels of the principal proposition. That all this equipage 
 of accessories is not so arranged as to assist its own orderly 
 development, no more occurs to a German as any fault than 
 that in a package of carpets the colors and patterns are not 
 fully displayed. To him it is sufficient that they are there." 
 You doubtless recognize the original, in this caricature, of 
 many sentences in the writings of Kant. 
 
 Abuse of the period, furthermore, impairs energy in oral 
 address by rendering a forcible delivery impossible. In 
 Abuse of the pe- either form, that of excessive stateliness or 
 forcibfe^deHv- a tnat °f slovenly crowding, impressive elocu- 
 er y- tion is beyond the reach of art. Try it. 
 
 Could you deliver well three pages of Sir Thomas Browne ? 
 Could you pronounce impressively one of Kant's sentences, 
 covering an octavo page, and packed at that ? You must 
 chant the one, and mouth the other. In adopting the res- 
 onant periodic structure, a speaker should see to it that 
 the passage be so adjusted as to deliver well. We must 
 sacrifice an excellence in written style, if it is not also an 
 excellence in oral speech. A daring exploit is it, under 
 some conditions, to speak the period at all. A double- 
 bass voice in an auditorium whose acoustic proportions 
 put in a claim for a hearing of its own will doom any speci- 
 men of the periodic style to ridicule.
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE I 55 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE (CONTINUED). 
 
 I. Exceptions in which Conciseness is not Favorable to Energy. 
 
 1. Where Conciseness is Affected. 
 
 2. Where Diff useness is a means of Perspicuity. 
 
 3. Sometimes in Descriptive Writing. 
 
 4. Sometimes in Expressing intense Emotion. 
 
 II. Construction of the Sentence an Element of Energy. 
 
 1. Emphatic Words to be placed so that their force shall be ob- 
 
 vious. 
 
 2. Care to be observed in the Use and the Omission of Conjunctive 
 
 Beginnings. 
 
 3. Skill in the Use of the Periodic Structure. 
 
 A. The Period and the Loose Sentence defined. 
 
 B. Advantages of the Period. 
 
 (a) Throws Emphasis upon End of the Sentence. 
 
 (b) Fully satisfies Expectation. 
 
 (c) Permits the disclosure to the Hearer of the Growth of 
 
 Thought. 
 
 (d) The Form of the Finest Examples of Extemporaneous 
 
 Speech. 
 
 (e) An Aid to the Highest Eloquence in Delivery. 
 
 (f ) Abuse of the Period.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE (CONCLUDED) 
 
 Thus far, energy of style has been treated as depending 
 on the state of a writer's mind in the act of composing, and 
 as depending on certain tributaries which are common to 
 both the literal and the figurative uses of language. 
 
 I. — Figurative Language an Element of Energy of 
 
 Style. 
 
 It remains now to consider it as related to certain means 
 which are peculiar to figurative speech. 
 
 Of these should be first recalled those principles concern- 
 ing imagery which were named as essential to perspicuity. 
 In treating that branch of our general subject, the chief 
 causes of obscurity in style were mentioned, and discussed 
 at length. They were, incongruous imagery, mixed imagery, 
 learned imagery, excess of imagery, and the absence of im- 
 agery. We need not traverse the same ground again any 
 farther than to observe that the same causes may render 
 style feeble which render it obscure. Indeed, they may do 
 so, by making it obscure. Anything that blurs a thought 
 deadens its force. Good taste is even more sensitive to the 
 force of imagery than to its clearness. 
 
 Two preliminaries here will prevent misconception. One 
 is, that figure in speech is not confined to imagery strictly 
 Two pre- so called. Construction in style admits of 
 
 hminanes. figure. This is what the books mean when 
 
 they enumerate "figures of rhetoric." A sentence by its
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE I 57 
 
 very structure may be figurative when its words are not so. 
 By an occult sense, style may be made figurative when its 
 words are as literal as the alphabet. Irony, for instance, is 
 one of the " figures of rhetoric." 
 
 The other preliminary is, that the object of naming these 
 " figures of rhetoric " is not to facilitate a mechanical use 
 of them. The use of them ought not to be mechanical. 
 Criticism which should make them so would be worse than 
 useless. Moreover, criticism is useless in assisting the in- 
 vention of these figures of speech. The invention must 
 come from the instinct of an excited mind, or it cannot be 
 at all. The most that criticism can do is to confirm the 
 oratorical instinct in the use of such resources, and to 
 guard against abuses of them. 
 
 i. The instinct of oratory numbers among its simplest 
 figures of rhetoric the climax. It is a symbol of cumula- 
 tion, and cumulation of thought is force. In few expedi- 
 ents is the skill of a writer more constantly put in uncon- 
 scious requisition than in this of the pertinent use of the 
 cumulative structure. In the order of adjectives, of ad- 
 verbs, of verbs, of substantives, of clauses, a choice is prac- 
 ticable, which commonly climax should determine. You 
 are heedless of the instinct of oratory, if you say, " he was 
 beloved and respected," instead of saying, " he was re- 
 spected and beloved," unless the " respect " in question is 
 the point which needs enforcement. Would Effect of the re- 
 you say, " he had a good conscience and a verse of chmax - 
 Roman nose " ? Why, then, reverse the order of climax in 
 any energetic speech ? Climax reversed is one form of 
 burlesque. A succession of tapering sentences, advancing 
 from the greater to the less, makes one feel as if one were 
 sitting on an inclined plane. By confusion of order, pro- 
 ceeding from greater to less and from less to greater 
 in succession, style may seem to make a zigzag move- 
 ment.
 
 158 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTI.CE 
 
 2. The instinct of forcible utterance recognizes the en- 
 ergy of antithesis in style. Antithetic structure expresses 
 
 an idea — that of contrast. Contrast itself is 
 
 Antithesis. , . , 
 
 force. De Quincey supposes the whole 
 structure of the " Paradise Lost " to rest, as a work of art, 
 on a designed multiplication of contrasts. That which some 
 "Paradise have charged to the pedantry of Milton he 
 
 Lost - " claims to be the effect of a lurking antagonism 
 
 of effects. The introduction of architecture into pandemo- 
 nium, and again into paradise, he vindicates, not by any law 
 of historic probability, but simply by the law of imagination, 
 which invents and delights in reciprocal collision of ideas. 
 
 It is this intrinsic energy of contrast which inclines deep 
 feeling to express itself in contradictions. St. Paul, with 
 
 no oratorical theory about it, pours out his 
 St. Paul. . , . 3 . , ' l 
 
 profound experience in forms which are false, 
 
 yet which deceive nobody : " Sorrowing, yet always rejoic- 
 ing ; dying yet we live ; having nothing, yet possessing all 
 things." What is the secret of this language from De Bray, 
 
 the Huguenot martyr? — "These shackles 
 
 De Bra y- 1 , , 
 
 are more honorable to me than golden rings : 
 
 when I hear their clank, methinks I listen to the music of 
 
 sweet voices and the' tinkling of lutes." Contrast promotes 
 
 force, also, by augmenting conciseness. Contrast saves 
 
 words. Of two contrasted ideas, each is a mirror to the 
 
 other ; and a mirror gives you vision, instead of words. 
 
 Pithy, condensed sayings, which, because of their force, 
 
 pass into proverbs, and live forever, commonly take the 
 
 antithetic form. The majority of the proverbs of Solomon 
 
 are of the antithetic structure. 
 
 3. The intuition of the orator recognizes the interrogation 
 as a tribute to energy in style. Few expedients of speech so 
 
 simple as this are so effective in giving vigor 
 
 Interrogation. l . . • f f „ 
 
 to style. Composition comparatively dull 
 may be made comparatively vivacious, and so far forcible,
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE I 59 
 
 by a liberal sprinkling of interrogatives. Is a declarative 
 utterance of a truth tame ? Put it as an inquiry. Ask a 
 question which implies it, and the silent answer may be 
 more impressive to the hearer than any words of yours. 
 Does an antithetic expression disappoint you ? Try the 
 mark of interrogation. Put it to the hearer as if he must 
 sharpen it by a response. It is not meant that this is to be 
 put on mechanically, but that you should throw your own 
 mind into the mood of colloquy. Single out one man in 
 your audience, and talk with him. Jeremiah Mason, who 
 contested with Daniel Webster the head- Method of jere- 
 ship of the Boston bar, used, in addressing miah Mason - 
 juries, to single out one man in the jury-box, the man of 
 dullest look, of immobile countenance, who went to sleep 
 most easily, and then directed his whole plea to him, keep- 
 ing his eye upon him till the man felt that he was watched, 
 and that the counsel had business with him. That kind of 
 impression can often be wrought into your style, and made 
 to come out of it again to the one hearer whom it is aimed 
 at. The effect of that mental change in you will be magi- 
 cal. The style which was humdrum becomes alive, because 
 you have come to life. The thought springs, because you 
 spring. There is no mechanism about it : it is an honest 
 expression of a new force within you. 
 
 Observe briefly the philosophy of the interrogative. It 
 makes a hearer active in the reception of a truth. An 
 interrogation is an appeal : an appeal invites philosophy of the 
 silent rejoinder. Did you never see a hear- interrogative, 
 er's lips move, or his head nod or shake, in answer to an in- 
 terrogation from the speaker ? Again : interrogation is an 
 expression of confidence. It is a bold utterance, and there- 
 fore forceful. The instinct of earnest speech does not put 
 doubtful opinions into the interrogative style. Confidence of the 
 If we doubt, we do not give the hearer a interrogative. 
 chance to reply, even silently : therefore we say our say, but
 
 l6o RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 ask no questions. This is the instinct of keen oratory. In- 
 terrogation is the electric wire which carries from speaker 
 to hearer the sign of vivid conviction. Hence arises the 
 popularity of interrogatives among earnest talkers. The 
 common people, when roused, spring to the interrogative. 
 Men scold in interrogatives. This is only the vulgar 
 counterpart of the same feature in the philippics of De- 
 mosthenes. 
 
 Further : the interrogative style invites, yes, commands, 
 an animated delivery. He must be a remarkable speaker 
 Effect in deiiv- wno f° r an hour in succession can deliver 
 er y- well declarative sentences without an inter- 
 
 rogative break. No matter how weighty nor how skilfully 
 constructed, a speech gets nothing if it asks nothing. The 
 elocution natural to it flattens it. On the contrary, he 
 must be fearfully and wonderfully made who cannot in 
 public speech put life into a question. Can you drawl a 
 question ? Can you sing a question ? Can you make hum- 
 drum of question ? Can you deliver a series of questions 
 without a quickening of your elocution ? Try it. Experi- 
 ment on Shylock's talk with Salarino : " I am a Jew. Hath 
 not a Jew eyes ? Hath not a Jew hands ? If you prick us, 
 do we not bleed ? If you tickle us, do we not laugh ? If 
 you poison us, do we not die ? And, if you wrong us, shall 
 we not revenge ? " If the interrogative could do nothing else 
 than to energize delivery it would be indispensable to a forcible 
 style for that. 
 
 4. A modification of this figure is found in the colloquy. 
 
 This was formerly employed in public speech more freely 
 
 „ than now. Question and answer, with ques- 
 
 Colloquy. . , . . . 
 
 tion again and rejoinder, have often given an 
 energetic presentation of argument. This form of discussion 
 by disputation, as you are are aware, was abundantly used 
 by the ancient philosophers. Some of the most impassioned 
 passages of the Bible are in this style.
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE l6l 
 
 5. It scarcely needs a reminder XhsX hyperbole is a favorite 
 figure of rhetoric among"energetic writers.' Anything adds 
 force to style which expresses 'strength of 
 conviction in the speaker. This hyperbole >PC 
 obviously does. It needs only the caution that the speaker 
 should not allow it to pass for reckless assertion. 
 
 6. The forcibleness of irony needs no illustration. It 
 needs, rather, to be flanked with cautions, of which one is, 
 that it should not be a favorite with a public 
 
 speaker. As an instrument of serious speech, 
 it is corrosive. In itself it repels good feeling. 
 
 7. The figure of exclamation deserves a caution rather 
 than commendation. It is very easy composition ; it is a 
 facile way of beginning a sentence : therefore 
 
 . . , - . . , . Exclamation. 
 
 we employ it excessively. It is a sign of in- 
 dolent composing. Our inquiry, therefore, should be, When 
 may we omit it ? and our rule to dispense with it whenever 
 we can. Dean Swift commends a reader who said it was 
 his rule to pass over every paragraph in reading, at the end 
 of which his eye detected the note of exclamation. Home 
 Tooke denied that exclamations belong to language : he 
 said they were involuntary nervous affections, like sneezing, 
 coughing, yawning. 
 
 8. A speaker who is perfect master of his imagination 
 will sometimes instinctively choose the figure of vision to 
 express his most powerful conceptions. The 
 
 Vision. 
 
 life which it gives to style is splendidly illus- 
 trated in some of the prophecies. The strictly prophetic 
 state was a state of vision of the distant future. Yet note 
 how instinctively secular oratory adopts the same expedient. 
 Napoleon, to his soldiers in Italy, says, " You will soon re- 
 turn to your homes ; and your fellow-citizens will say of 
 you, as you pass, ' He was a soldier in the army of Italy.' " 
 So the inspired writer says, " Of Zion it shall be said, This 
 and that man was born in her." But, because it is so pow- 
 11
 
 1 62 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 erful, it needs a master of speech to execute it well. It is 
 one of the expedients of style which lie on the border-line 
 between the sublime and the ridiculous. Less than the pro- 
 verbial " step " separates them. 
 
 9. The most passionate forms of eloquence employ the 
 
 apostrophe with power. The most notable 
 
 example of this figure in secular literature is 
 
 Mark Antony's apostrophe, as represented by Shakespeare 
 
 over the dead body of Csesar. 
 
 Is the exclamatory use of the name of God to be vindi- 
 cated as rhetorical apostrophe ? " My God ! " " O God ! " 
 " Good God ! " " In God's Name ! " — are 
 
 Use of the name 
 
 ofGodasapos- these apostrophes ? I he Rev. Dr. Nott, the 
 trophe. celebrated president of Union College, de- 
 
 fended and used them. The piety of the American Con- 
 gress often utters its devout aspirations in this form. But 
 these expressions are exclamatory, not apostrophic. The 
 use of them in oratory is of pagan origin. Greek poetry is 
 full of them : we owe them primarily to Homer. They 
 were in perfect keeping with the Greek idea of the gods : 
 rhetorically, therefore, they were not a blemish in Greek 
 oratory. Christian theism, however, condemns them moral- 
 ly, and therefore Christian taste condemns them rhetori- 
 cally. 
 
 These are the chief of the figures of rhetoric which the 
 oratorical instinct has originated to assist its most forcible 
 The charm of utterances. The charm of them lies in their 
 these figures. variety : no one should be a favorite with a 
 writer or speaker. The thing needed is the cultivated in- 
 stinct, which shall choose them wisely. But the chief ob- 
 servation which criticism has to make upon them is, that 
 The power of they a ?i imply force of emotion on the part of 
 these figures. t j u s p ea ] ier _ Manufacture them, and they 
 are but wooden playthings. They reflect significance back 
 upon the principle with which these discussions began —
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE 1 63 
 
 that a writer must write, and a speaker must speak, from 
 the honest state of his own mind. That state must be such 
 that he can write, and can speak, with honest enthusiasm. 
 Nothing is powerful in speech which is not sincere. The 
 inspiration which shall command and use these expedients 
 of style must be, as one critic has expressed it, "not put on 
 from without, but put out from within." 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 ENERGY AND LANGUAGE (CONCLUDED). 
 
 I. Figurative Language an Element of Energy of Style. 
 
 A. Two Preliminaries to the Discussion of Figurative Lan- 
 guage. 
 
 II. Kinds of Figurative Language. 
 
 1. Climax. 
 
 2. Antithesis. 
 
 3. Interrogation. 
 
 4. Colloquy. 
 
 5. Hyperbole. 
 
 6. Irony. 
 
 7. Exclamation. 
 
 8. Vision. 
 
 9. Apostrophe.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 
 
 I. — Definition of Elegance of Style. 
 
 A very vital quality, which is in many respects the op- 
 posite of energy, is elegance of style. It may be concisely 
 defined as the quality by which thought as expressed in language 
 appeals to our sense of the beautiful. 
 
 Beauty, like strength, is one of our ultimate conceptions. 
 We cannot define it but by the use of synonyms, which, in 
 An ultimate return fall back upon it for their own mean- 
 
 conception. m g_ Ruskin says, that the question why 
 
 some material objects seem beautiful to us, and others not, 
 is " no more to be asked than why we like sugar, and dis- 
 like wormwood." Sir Joshua Reynolds declares, that, if an 
 African artist were to paint his ideal of beauty, he would 
 produce a person of black glossy skin, flat nose, thick lips, 
 and woolly hair. He also affirms that the artist would be 
 right : so greatly does the conception of beauty depend on 
 association. 
 
 Beauty in style, however, admits of partial analysis. In it 
 are found three distinct elements, one or more of which exist 
 A partial m a ll elegant composition, and all of which 
 
 analysis. are discoveraole in the most perfect forms of 
 
 elegant speech. These elements are delicacy, vividness, and 
 variety. 
 
 II. — Delicacy an Element of Elegance of Style. 
 
 Elegance of style, then, may be first considered as de- 
 pendent on the element of delicacy.
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 165 
 
 1. And, first, it has its foundation in delicacy of thought. 
 In "The Essay on the Sublime and the Beautiful," Edmund 
 Burke approaches this view by claiming that Smaiiness of 
 smallness in an object is essential to its object, 
 beauty. He observes, " When nature would make anything 
 specially rare and beautiful, she makes it little. Everybody 
 calls that little which they love best on earth." An affec- 
 tionate husband is apt to call his wife little, though she may 
 weigh two hundred pounds. Dr. Johnson's wife was of 
 nearly twice his own age at the time of their marriage ; she 
 was coarse and stout in person ; she was affected in man- 
 ners, and petulant in disposition ; and he was far from 
 being a man of refined feeling : yet he used to speak of 
 her as his " dear Letty," as a child might speak of a pet 
 kitten. The diminutive he coined out of her name, " Eliza- 
 beth." 
 
 2. Of beauty in style, that element which most nearly re- 
 sembles this of smallness in Burke's analysis is delicacy. It 
 
 is, if it may be so called, the feminine quality ^ ,. 
 
 ' J ... Delicacy the 
 
 in thought. Is there not a diversity in truth feminine quai- 
 
 ,. ,• .. c i it v in thought. 
 
 corresponding to diversity of sex in human ' 
 character? Truths are masculine and feminine in their 
 affinities. Woman originates certain conceptions more 
 readily than man, and appreciates them more keenly. 
 Other conceptions the masculine mind grasps the more pro- 
 foundly. The literature produced by the two sexes will 
 bear traces of this diversity, except in sporadic cases in 
 which the one sex is rabid with the craving to be the other. 
 Certain discoveries in science, certain works of art, certain 
 truths of religion, woman will not naturally originate, any 
 more than she will naturally be a drummer, or choose a 
 trombone as the accompaniment of her songs. 
 
 Elegance of style, to repeat, groups within its range of 
 expression these feminine qualities of thought. No genuine 
 beauty can exist in literary expression without them. Can
 
 1 66 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 you by any description of it in language make chain-light- 
 ning beautiful ? Can you so describe in words the boom of 
 Diversities in a cannon that it shall appear in gentle undu- 
 st y le - lations of beauty ? But can you, in descrip- 
 
 tive style, so represent a moss-rose, or the airs of a flute, 
 that they shall seem other than beautiful ? 
 
 III. — Prejudices Against an Elegant Style. 
 
 The principle in question refutes a certain prejudice 
 against an elegant style. Elegant taste in anything lives 
 __ . ,. at the risk of being despised. Even among 
 
 Prejudice . 
 
 against an ele- able writers, elegance and effeminacy are 
 often treated as synonyms. The Jewish 
 prayer of thanksgiving, " Lord, I thank thee that I was not 
 born a woman ! " finds its kindred among literary tastes 
 and canons of criticism. Such is the reverence often felt 
 for Gothic strength in speech, that elegance of diction is 
 condemned without a hearing. We study to be perspicu- 
 ous, because we must be understood. We study precision, 
 purity, and, above all, force in style, because these add 
 power to clearness. But of an elegant style we are apt to 
 think as Wesley did of the manners of a gentleman, when 
 he told his youthful preachers that they "had no more busi- 
 ness to be gentlemen than to be dancing-masters." 
 
 i. This prejudice is intensified by our English temperament. 
 The English mind, and, as an offshoot of it, the American 
 Our tempera- mind as well, are not partial to the elegant 
 ment " qualities, specially in public oral address. We 
 
 are jealous for our strength. We are proud of our Saxon 
 stock. We are, therefore, morbidly afraid of imposing on 
 ourselves by elegant literary forms. We are in this respect 
 what our language is, hardy, rough, careless of ease. The 
 languages and temperaments of Southern Europe are in this
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 67 
 
 respect our opposites. We have cultivated learning at the 
 expense of taste ; they, taste at the expense of learning. 
 
 2. This prejudice, moreover, is often aggravated by affecta- 
 tions of the beautiful in literary expression. Affectations cre- 
 ate caricatures of beauty : these repel taste, Literary affecta- 
 as they repel good sense. tlons - 
 
 3. All this, and more, might be said in defence of the 
 prejudice against elegant discourse. Still, what is to be said 
 in view of the immense preponderance of beautiful thought 
 within the compass of language. Does not the material 
 world present an obvious ascendency of Answers to this 
 beauty over force, over sublimity even ? The prejudice, 
 profusion of creative energy is nowhere else seen so clearly 
 as in the sportive production of objects beautiful to the eye. 
 So far as we know, many of them have no other reason for 
 their creation than their passive beauty. Naturalists have 
 conjectured that the more gorgeous species The beautiful in 
 of the butterfly have a sense of beauty which nature - 
 enables them to enjoy the variegated coloring of their own 
 forms. They are believed to rest from their foraging ex- 
 peditions, on the cool surface of a leaf, in silent and tran- 
 quil joy at the magnificence of their expanded wings. So 
 lavish is Nature in its creation of the beautiful, and its pro- 
 vision of the sense of beauty to respond to it through the 
 sentient universe. Is not this emblematic of a similar profu- 
 sion in the spiritual world ? How is it with perfected forms 
 of human character ? Which is there in the The beautifu] in 
 ascendent — beauty, or strength ? To ask this human charac- 
 question is to answer it. Energy we find in 
 
 savage mind. The ultimate fruitage of culture we sum up 
 under the title of the " refinements of civilization." A ripe 
 mind of evenly balanced sensibilities will discover in tin- 
 world of thought, which is its mental atmosphere, more of 
 beauty than of any other single quality. 
 
 The dependence of elegance on delicacy of thought sug-
 
 1 68 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 gests, further, the true reply to that theoretic error which 
 restricts elegance to ornament. Beauty in discourse inter- 
 ests in proportion to its expression of charac- 
 
 Elegance not * . * 
 
 simply orna- ter. That is not beauty of high order which 
 
 is not full of character of high order. Often, 
 therefore, the thing which juvenile discourse chiefly needs 
 is to diminish its adornment. Its elegance needs to be 
 brought down to a level with its real character as the herald 
 of thought. Some passages in Wordsworth's poetry, in 
 Poetry of which he dwells fondly on natural scenery, 
 
 Wordsworth. are dull. They are true to fact; they are 
 polished in form ; they are melodious on the lips. A good 
 rehearser of them, on a calm summer's day, would give them 
 in tranquil recitative, which would soothe a tired hearer ; but 
 they would not interest an alert one. To such a one they 
 are dull. Why ? Because they lack thought proportioned 
 to their elaborateness of form. They fondle commonplaces 
 in the works of Nature : they make as much of an apple- 
 blossom as of a tropical garden. Nothing in literary forms 
 makes the impression of beauty which does not carry 
 thought enough to constitute a certain ballast to the form. 
 Ornament achieves nothing above its own weight in 
 thought. 
 
 Nevertheless, profusion of ornament is beautiful if de- 
 manded by thought. If the nature of a subject be such 
 Ornament beau- that the most characteristic expression of it 
 mandied by e requires elaborate adornment, that elaborate 
 thought. adornment is beauty. As the material world 
 
 abounds with such forms of beauty, and as the fine arts are 
 immortalized by them, so does style often express them in 
 language. 
 
 Again : that is not an elegant style in which beauty of 
 form is excessive in degree. Often, as has been before re- 
 marked, a speaker's thought is not weighty enough to sus- 
 tain elaborated style of any kind, and, least of all, elab-
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 69 
 
 orated imagery. Architects tells us, that a small specimen 
 of the Gothic architecture is of necessity in bad taste. 
 No matter how perfectly finished, it cannot ,, 
 
 XjVCCSSIVC DCT.11- 
 
 be good art. The reason they give is, that ty of style not an 
 the profusion of ornament which the Gothic elegant style - 
 order requires cannot be compressed into a small area. 
 It must have vast spaces, massive pillars, huge vaults in 
 the ceiling, immense windows, prolonged distances in nave 
 and transept. Everything about it must be congruous with 
 the grand and the magnificent. Therefore a Gothic cathe- 
 dral in miniature is a contradiction. So it is often with 
 the expression of thought in language. 
 
 IV. — Means of Acquiring Delicacy of Thought. 
 
 The foundation of elegance in delicacy of thought sug- 
 gests, further, that we must find the fundamental means of 
 cultivating this quality in the cultivation of Refinement of 
 refinement of perception. Refinement in our perception to 
 habits of t/iinki/ig, the habit of dwelling upon for delicacy in 
 the beautiful in literature, distinguishing va- thou & ht - 
 rieties of beauty, studying illustrations of beauty in external 
 nature, observing analogies between the beautiful in nature and 
 art and the beautiful in language, genial criticism of the best 
 poetry, studious enjoyment of the best imagery in prose, attention 
 to minuticB of style in which elegance of construction chiefly ap- 
 pears : in short, any and every exercise of mind which 
 brings into chastened play that sensibility to the beautiful 
 which every mind possesses, will refine our taste, and make 
 our perceptions of beauty truthful and prompt. 
 
 This leads us to observe, that all writers and speakers 
 may possess it. It is a growth of that of which the germ 
 exists in every mind. No man can escape it who aims per- 
 sistently at anything like concinnity of culture. That is 
 a fiction which some youthful writers entertain, that their
 
 170 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 minds are not fitted to the cultivation of those qualities 
 
 which beauty in style represents. Clear writers they may 
 
 become, forcible writers, precise writers, pro- 
 All may have .' ' l ' r 
 
 this delicacy of lific writers perhaps, but not elegant writers. 
 " The graces of rhetoric," says such an 
 one, "are not for me." He narrows his culture, and con- 
 tracts the range of his power in public speech immensely, 
 who subjects himself to any such restriction. The ele- 
 ments which refined taste imparts to oral speech are no 
 more " the graces of rhetoric " than those which energy 
 imparts are the forces of rhetoric. They are graces of 
 mind, innate in every mind, susceptible of growth in every 
 mental life, inevitable to any mind which is disciplined by 
 prolonged and symmetrical culture. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE. 
 
 I. Definition. 
 
 A. An Ultimate Conception. 
 
 B. A Partial Analysis. 
 
 II. Delicacy an Element of Elegance of Style. 
 
 1. Smallness of Object Essential to Beauty. 
 
 2. Delicacy the Feminine Quality in Thought. 
 
 III. Prejudice against an Elegant Style. 
 
 1. Prejudice Intensified by Our Temperament. 
 
 2. Prejudice often Aggravated by Literary Affectations. 
 
 3. Answers to this Prejudice. 
 
 (a) Perfected Forms of Nature. 
 
 (b) Perfected Forms of Human Character. 
 
 (c) Elegance not Simply Ornament. 
 
 (d) Excessive Beauty of Form not an Elegant Style. 
 
 IV. Means of Acquiring Delicacy of Thought. 
 
 1. By Cultivating Refinement of Perception. 
 
 2. By Believing it a Possible Attainment for Everyone.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE (CONTINUED) 
 
 The dependence of elegance of style on delicacy gives 
 rise also to a second demand — that of delicacy of expres- 
 sion in the utterance of thought. Beauty in thought is 
 more difficult of expression than energy in thought : it re- 
 quires a more sensitive discrimination of the significance 
 of language. 
 
 I. — Offences Against Elegance of Style in Choice 
 and Arrangement of Words. 
 
 An elegant style, therefore, demands a more choice se- 
 lection and arrangement of words. This obvious principle 
 has also significant corollaries. 
 
 It suggests, in the first place, a large class of offences 
 against elegance of style. They are that class which re- 
 sults, not from unfitness of thought, but IT 
 
 ' Uncouth words. 
 
 from inelegant language. The choice of a 
 vocabulary may disclose these defects. Words have their 
 aristocracy. Some have a noble birth ; a magnificent his- 
 tory lies behind them ; they were born amidst the swelling 
 and the bursting into life of great ideas. On the contrary, 
 there are words which have plebeian associations. Some 
 are difficult of enunciation ; and, by a secret sympathy, the 
 mind attaches to them the distortion, perhaps the pain, of 
 the vocal organs in their utterance. A single uncouth 
 word may be to style what an uncontrollable grimace is to 
 the countenance. Neither is a thing of beauty. Words
 
 172 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 not inelegant in themselves become so through pedestrian 
 associations which colloquial usage affixes to them. Our 
 Yankee favorite "guess" is a perfectly good word, pure 
 
 " Guess " English, of good stock, and long standing in 
 the language. A better word, in itself consid- 
 ered, we have not in English use. But because it is a col- 
 loquial favorite, used by everybody, on every variety of 
 subject and occasion, and often in a degraded sense, as in 
 the compound "guess-work," it has become vulgar in the 
 sense of " common ; " so that in many connections in which 
 the real meaning of it would be entirely pertinent, the word 
 would be inelegant. " Conjecture," or some equivalent, 
 must take its place. 
 
 Wordsworth's poetry, again, is not wholly defensible from 
 the charge of using in poetic measure an inelegant vocabu- 
 
 The vocabulary ^'^ He believed in the poetry of common 
 of Wordsworth's things, common thoughts, common people, 
 
 poetry. . . . . 
 
 and their common affairs. It was the aim of 
 his life to lift up into the atmosphere of romance things 
 lowly and obscure. But, in his attempt to effect that revo- 
 lution, he did lean to an extreme. Even his regal imagina- 
 tion could not dignify such lines as these, viz. : — 
 
 " A household tub, like one of those 
 Which women use to wash their clothes." 
 
 But an objector inquires, and perhaps with half-sup- 
 pressed indignation, " Is it not good English ? and, if so, must 
 we drop it because it is not elegant ? " The answer is, yes 
 Good English t0 both Queries. It is good English, yet not 
 but not good good poetry. If the idea is to be expressed 
 at all in poetry — and it is not to be denied 
 that it may be so expressed as to escape criticism — it must 
 be by such a choice of language as shall conceal the steam 
 and the soap of a washtub under some euphemism which
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 73 
 
 shall be to the idea what the rainbow, which is sometimes 
 seen over a washtub, is to that very necessary but homely 
 article of household use. When beauty is to be expressed, 
 we must have a choice vocabulary. If Thomas Hood could, 
 by " The Song of the Shirt," throw a poetic halo over a very 
 humble article of his daily toilet, why may not his equal do 
 the same service for the weekly laundry ? But not by the 
 extreme literalism of Wordsworth's vocabulary. 
 
 II. — Offences against Elegance of Style in Con- 
 struction. 
 
 Constructions, also, are exposed to peril of inelegance. 
 Certain varieties of them impress us, first and last and al- 
 ways, with their want of ease ; and, no ease, no beauty. It 
 is as difficult to define them as to create them, yet illustra- 
 tion by examples would tax your patience beyond endurance. 
 Few things are so unutterably dull as specimens of faulty 
 construction in discourse, unless they are of the comic 
 sort ; and those would not be to the present purpose. Per- 
 haps the following hints will be sufficient to recall them to 
 you in your reading. 
 
 One is the bungling construction of dependent clauses. 
 These are huddled together, and seem to tumble over each 
 other. Mellifluous utterance of them is im- Dependent 
 
 practicable. They are the despair of the clauses, 
 
 elocutionist. They seem as if the sole ambition of the 
 writer had been to be able to say, as De Quincey said of the 
 German sentence, "They are all there." Another is the 
 military sentence. The materials march out as if on drill. 
 They drop into rank too knowingly to be lively. Excess of 
 order is never beautiful, because never life-like. Another 
 is the misplaced or excessive inversion of structure. The 
 thoughts appear to move like a crab ; are dragged forth — 
 the first last, and the last first, and all looking the wrong
 
 174 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 way — after the manner of the stolen oxen backing into the 
 cave of Cacus. Another is the dislocated structure. Con- 
 nectives are either absent, or misplaced, or meaningless. 
 The style jolts, like an uneasy vehicle on corduroy 
 roads. 
 
 These constructions may be sufficiently perspicuous. 
 They are often consistent with a good degree of energy. 
 Cromwell's speeches are full of them. Yet 
 he made himself understood, and so well un- 
 derstood that the English Parliament did not care to ask 
 him what he meant a second time. But such constructions 
 are not elegant. There is no comeliness in them. It would 
 be a hard task to set Cromwell's speeches to the measure of 
 a chant, or even to make an Italian, with vocal organs 
 trained to the most euphonious language in the world, re- 
 hearse them at all. 
 
 III. — Offences Against Elegance of Style in Imagery. 
 
 i. A similar defect betrays itself in inelegance of imagery. 
 Imagery is painting in words : any blemish impairs its 
 inelegance of beauty. Therefore coarse imagery cannot 
 imagery. express beauty in thought. Imagery the 
 
 picture of which disgusts the mind's eye degrades the 
 thought it represents. This is sometimes the designed 
 effect. Macaulav designs it when he says, 
 
 Macaulay. J & ' ' 
 
 " after the Restoration, peerages were sold at 
 Whitehall scarcely less openly than asparagus at Covent 
 Garden, or herrings at Billingsgate." The image of an 
 English coronet side by side with a bunch of asparagus and 
 a red herring paints the degradation of the peerage as no 
 literal description could. But Jeremy Taylor wrought the 
 same effect, though undesignedly, when he compared the 
 sufferings of Christ to " an umbrella," because " men used 
 them to shelter unholy living."
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 75 
 
 2. For the same reason, commonplace in imagery cannot 
 express, and still less can it impress, the beautiful in 
 thought. A metaphor elegantly impressive Commonplace 
 when it was new may degrade an idea now imagery. 
 because of its excessive use. Imagery wears out, as the 
 gloss of silk does. The metaphor of the pebble, which 
 creates ever-widening rings when dropped into the water, is 
 an example. Few figures of speech bear criticism better 
 than this. When it was original, it can scarcely have had 
 its superior for beauty or suggestiveness. But does the 
 memory of man go back to the time when it was original ? 
 It is exhausted : it needs to be allowed to slumber in obliv- 
 ion. It should be disused till a future age shall re-invent 
 it. So powerful is originality in pictured speech, that it 
 will often ennoble a commonplace thought. A conception 
 which we had ceased to feel the force of because of our 
 monotonous familiarity with it, an original figure will often 
 uplift, somewhat as death hallows in our memory a com- 
 monplace character. 
 
 3. Again : unfinished imagery cannot express beauty in 
 thought. A metaphor unsustained, and therefore incom- 
 plete, conveys no impression of elegance. Unfinished 
 Yet, on the other hand, finical imagery is imagery, 
 equally powerless. To be overwrought changes imagery to 
 finery. The impression is that of pettiness, not of beauty. 
 What is the defect in the message of the martyr Ridley to 
 his fellow-sufferer Hooper as they were going to the stake ? 
 — " We have been two in white : let us be one in red ! " It 
 speaks something for the nerve of a man, that he can crack 
 his joke within sight of the pile which will soon shrivel his 
 tongue to a cinder. But what can we say for the good 
 taste of a man who can so treat such a death ? We might 
 expect it from a hunter in the backwoods, in view of In- 
 dian torture, but not from a bishop of the Church of Eng- 
 land.
 
 176 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 4. Further : mongrel imagery does not express beauty. 
 Above all things else, beauty is self-consistent. Incongru- 
 Mongrel ity is death to it. At an international exhib- 
 
 lmagery. ition of the industrial arts in Vienna, was 
 
 seen the figure of a kneeling Samuel, of the size of life, 
 moulded of castile - soap. Why was it not " a thing of 
 beauty " ? Yet is Bishop Heber more successful in his at- 
 tempt to improve the magnificent imagery of Milton ? Mil- 
 ton sees in poetic vision " the gates of heaven on golden 
 hinges turning." Why is it that Heber fails, when he at- 
 tempts to save himself from plagiarism by representing the 
 gates of heaven as " rolling back on their starry hinges " ? 
 
 IV. — Elegance an Aid to Other Qualities of Style. 
 
 Before leaving this class of offences against elegance in 
 style, it is worthy of remark, that, by avoiding them, a cer- 
 Eiegance and tam degree of beauty may be infused into 
 energy. other qualities of style. The polish of a steel 
 
 blade contributes to the keenness of its edge ; so elegance 
 may enhance perspicuity, or precision, or energy of lan- 
 guage. True, in such a combination, elegance is subordi- 
 nate. The style is not constructed for it ; the blade is not 
 made for the polish : but, as a tributary, it serves the pur- 
 poses of other qualities of style. An air of elegance may be 
 imparted to the most forcible style by the choice of a select 
 vocabulary, by finish of construction, and by a delicate con- 
 gruity of imagery. Energy is not always convulsive. 
 What was the defect of the style of an eminent preacher in 
 Maine, who, speaking of men's rejection of Christ, said that 
 " they treated him as they would a rotten apple " ? It 
 surely was not obscurity ; it was not weakness : it was a 
 want of that sensitive taste which ought to breathe its deli- 
 cate sense of fitness into the plainest phraseology and the 
 roughest imagery.
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 77 
 
 In the works of nature, it is remarkable how often force 
 and beauty are ranged side by side. In their impression 
 on the beholder, they often intermingle. Flowers skirt 
 the bases of volcanoes ; rainbows grace the 
 
 ... ,, , T.i t, „ r Falls of Niagara. 
 
 retiring thunder-storms. In the Falls of 
 Niagara, the predominance of beauty or of sublimity de- 
 pends on the mood of the spectator, both are so affluent in 
 their display. Charles Dickens expressed the experience of 
 the majority of thoughtful travellers in looking upon them, 
 when he said, after giving utterance to his overpowering 
 sense of their sublimity, that the final and permanent im- 
 pression of them, which would live in his memory, was that 
 of their beauty. Would not this be almost the sole impres- 
 sion made by them upon the mind of a deaf man, to whom 
 they would present a picture only, not modified by the 
 sound of mighty waters ? 
 
 Similar combinations of energy and elegance are found 
 in human character. The choicest characters always con- 
 tain them. The world's perfect ideal of a „ 
 
 r - , Force and 
 
 man is that of a ge?itle-?nan. Coleridge re- beauty in human 
 marked, that he had never met with a truly 
 great man who had not a large infusion of feminine quali- 
 ties. One is impressed by the truth of the sentiment in 
 reading the memoir of Daniel Webster. The ideal which 
 history gives us of a military character is one in which 
 gentleness adorns the heroic graces. The Christian ideal 
 of manly force is that of executive power wreathed with 
 passive virtues. That which we call the "force of truth" 
 is often the more forceful for being tempered and adorned 
 with the feminine qualities of thought, and therefore with 
 the elegant graces of expression. They are best expressed 
 by a select vocabulary, by finished constructions, and by 
 congruous imagery. 
 
 The views here presented of the value of a refined taste 
 to the style of public speech need to be balanced by a notice 
 \z
 
 178 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 of the fact that luxuriousness of taste results in languor of 
 
 style. This is the chief peril of a studied beauty in the 
 
 , . , ., forms of language. Composition is an art. 
 
 The chief peril . . . 
 
 of a studied Elegant composition is a fine art. But it 
 
 is liable to this abuse : a fastidious taste 
 attenuates thought. The style which grows out of it tends 
 to elaborate feebleness through its expression of morbid 
 sensibilities. 
 
 National literatures, so far as we can trace the stages of 
 their decline, die first at this point of effeminate taste. 
 „,,,,. r Softening of the national brain begins in the 
 
 The decline of ° ° 
 
 national litera- organ of ideality. Violent death never 
 comes upon a great literature in its adult 
 strength. Barbarian irruptions, usurpations in government, 
 and the conflagration of libraries, have come upon nations 
 after literary decline has begun to show itself. The fatal 
 and often the first clear sign that a nation deserves and is 
 doomed to receive such visitations appears in the breaking- 
 out of a diseased luxuriousness of taste in its literature, 
 after a period of high culture. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE (CONTINUED). 
 
 I. Offences against Elegance of Style in Choice and Arrange- 
 
 ment of Words. 
 
 1. Uncouth Words. 
 
 2. Words Made Inelegant from Vulgar Usage. 
 
 II. Offences Against Elegance of Style in Constructions. 
 
 1. Dependent Clauses. 
 
 (a) In Disorder. 
 
 (b) In too Rigid Order. 
 
 (c) In too Inverted Order. 
 
 III. Offences against Elegance of Style in Imagery. 
 I. Inelegant Imagery.
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 79 
 
 2. Commonplace Imagery. 
 
 3. Unfinished Imagery. 
 
 4. Mongrel Imagery. 
 
 IV. Elegance an Aid to other Qualities of Style. 
 
 1. Elegance and Energy. 
 
 (a) Force and Beauty in Nature. 
 
 (b) Force and Beauty in Human Character. 
 
 2. Chief Peril of a Studied Beauty. 
 
 (a) Decline of National Literatures.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE (CONCLUDED) 
 
 The analysis of beauty in a previous chapter leads us to 
 consider elegance of style as dependent, in the second place, 
 on the element of vividness. 
 
 I. — Vividness an Element of Elegance of Style. 
 
 Is vagueness of impression ever desirable in the ex- 
 pression of thought by language ? Yes, it is sometimes a 
 necessity, but never where beauty of impression is the 
 chief aim of the discourse. Always a greater or less degree 
 Vividness essen- °f vividness enters into our sense of the 
 tial to beauty. beautiful. Why is a diamond the most beau- 
 tiful of gems ? Dealers in precious stones say that the pop- 
 ular taste for it never wavers. It is always salable, and is 
 the standard by which the value of other gems is estimated. 
 Yet the diamond has no beauty but its brilliancy. The 
 human eye is the most vital organ in producing the impres- 
 sion of beauty in a human countenance, because it is the most 
 vivid object in the countenance. Poets describe the sun as 
 the " golden eye " of the heavens. The eye suggests life : 
 it is life. All varieties of beauty in the eye possess this 
 quality. The languid eye with drooping eyelash, if it ex- 
 presses beauty, is never dull. It may represent life in re- 
 pose, but still, life : no beauty of countenance fascinates if 
 it is blurred by a dull eye. A corresponding principle ap- 
 pertains to thought as expressed in language. Vividness, 
 in degree less or greater, is essential to all expression of 
 beauty in human speech.
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE l8l 
 
 Perhaps a sufficiently definite qualification of the vivid- 
 ness which beauty demands is to say, that it must be such 
 as shall consist with that delicacy of impres- vividness and 
 sion which we have seen to be an equal ele- delicacy, 
 ment of beauty in discourse. In the most overpowering 
 beauty we shall find something which tempers vividness 
 with refinement. In a tropical flower of high-wrought color- 
 ing we shall find refinement of texture, or gracefulness of 
 outline, or delicacy in the shading of colors, or prismatic 
 reflection of tints in the sunlight : otherwise we do not call 
 it beautiful, but gaudy. The same combination of princi- 
 ples holds good in style. Vividness of thought in high 
 degree, yet such degree as shall consist with delicate im- 
 pression on the whole, is the requisite of beauty. The 
 bearing of these principles upon elegance of style will be 
 seen in several inferences. 
 
 II. — The Demands of Vividness. 
 
 i. We infer the obvious truth that elegance demands 
 distinctness of thought. To some minds, whose conception 
 of force is adequate to a strong style, the Distinctness of 
 whole idea of beauty is hazy. It comes to thought. 
 their consciousness through an uncultivated instinct. 
 Hence it is, that juvenile attempts at the beautiful in lan- 
 guage often result in crowded symbols which suggest only 
 general ideas, and these diffusely, perhaps tautologically. 
 Similes and metaphors, and rotund words, and rythmical 
 constructions, are heaped into a page without stint, not be- 
 cause a definite beauty of conception is so refracted and 
 multiplied to the mind's eye as- to demand such a variety of 
 elegant forms, but because a misty notion of that beauty is 
 in the writer's mind, and he hastens t<> give it shape by the 
 patches of finery which lie has on hand. It is one of the 
 thousand deformities of style in which form alone is made
 
 1 82 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 to do the work of thought. The hollowness of it rings in the 
 ear of a discerning critic. The only adequate corrective of 
 such a defect is nothing more nor less than intenser think- 
 ing. The writer is not yet master of his work. He has 
 not discovered the original of the image which has charmed 
 him in his dream. He does not know whether it is an 
 angel, or a woman, or a mermaid. 
 
 2. From the necessity of vividness to beauty in speech, 
 we infer further the necessity of sensitiveness of feeling to 
 Sensitiveness of those varieties of eloquence in which the 
 feeling. beautiful predominates. As energy in style 
 
 demands force of feeling, elegance demands sensitiveness 
 of feeling. Both are founded on the same principle. The 
 thing expressed must find its kindred in the emotive con- 
 dition of the writer. No man can write vividly who does 
 not write with feeling of some kind. But there is a vast 
 difference between the feeling of one who is tormented by 
 a truth, and that of one who broods over a truth affec- 
 tionately, or carries on a mental play with it. 
 
 Are there not some writers who impress you chiefly with 
 a sense of the hardness of their natures ? Their discourses 
 impression made ma y be solid, packed with thought, loaded 
 by some writers. w j t h i ate nt force ; yet they seem to grind 
 like a millstone. The defect in such writers is in their 
 emotive nature. They have no play of sensibility, no 
 wavelets of feeling, none of the tell-tale of a mobile coun- 
 tenance. Their style betrays all this on the principle of 
 Buffon, that the style of a man is the man himself. 
 
 Men of this mould are seldom or never great orators. 
 They may be great as men of affairs, wise on committees, 
 forceful in executive miscellanies ; but they have too much 
 wisdom, and too little of emotive spontaneousness, to be 
 great orators. Men noted for their reticence are not often 
 mighty in eloquence. Certain powers which enter into all 
 eloquence are reticent in them there. Close reasoners they
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 83 
 
 may be in argumentative discourse, but for the want of 
 mobile sensibilities, which express themselves in pictorial 
 forms of speech, they are doomed to be uninteresting, and 
 therefore their argument cannot get a hearing. Delicate 
 and winsome discourse is not possible to such men in their 
 present state of culture. 
 
 3. From the necessity of vividness as an element of 
 beauty, we infer further, as a general fact, the necessity of 
 simplicity of language to an elegant style. No simplicity of 
 other quality than beauty makes such an language, 
 imperative demand for transparency. One of the most 
 invariable concomitants of beauty in language is the ab- 
 sence of all appearance of effort. It is the production of a 
 mind at ease Why are the biblical narratives such perfect 
 specimens of elegance in historic style ? The fact is often 
 observed, that the evangelists, in their reminiscences of 
 our Lord, never employ a commendatory epithet in descrip- 
 tion of his person. Contrast, in this respect, St j ohn and 
 St. John with Homer. Beauty is the off- Homer, 
 spring of leisure. The writer seems not to go in search of, 
 or to struggle for, anything : he takes and gives what 
 comes to him. 
 
 But the necessity of simplicity to elegant expression is a 
 general principle : it has exceptions. Profusion and intri- 
 cacy of beauty in thought have their correlatives in style. 
 The usual canons of criticism respecting simplicity must be 
 accepted with qualifications. A cultivated taste recoils so 
 sensitively from an affected style, that it often expresses its 
 demand for a simple diction in hyperbole. 
 
 4. From the dependence of beauty on vividness of style, 
 we infer, yet again, the importance of an easy command of 
 imagery to an elegant style. The origin of 
 
 ...... & An easy com- 
 
 alphabetic writing suggests the necessity of mami of ima- 
 
 imagery to vivid speech. The first form of 
 
 written language known to history was the hieroglyph. So
 
 1 84 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 the vividness of written language at present depends very 
 much upon the relics of the hieroglyphic element which 
 still remains in every language, and upon the imitations of 
 it originated by authors in the form of more elaborate im- 
 agery. Write in pictures, and you cannot fail to write 
 vividly. Imagery is essential to vivid expression, specially 
 because the vividness of beauty must be felt intuitively, not 
 derived by reflective process. It must reach the mind, as 
 vision does, by a process which gives no sense of duration. 
 
 III. — Variety an Element of Elegance of Style. 
 
 The third element named in our analysis of beauty leads 
 us to consider elegance of style as dependent on variety. 
 
 Hogarth's theory of the " line of beauty " depended 
 largely upon this element of variety. In what does the 
 ,. ., beauty of a curve consist ? You can discern in 
 
 Variety essential J 
 
 to beauty in it nothing definable, other than variety and 
 
 proportion. A straight line may have pro'- 
 portion, but it is monotonous. The curve adds variety, 
 and this results in the elementary figure which artists de- 
 clare to be inherent in all beauty of form. A serpentine 
 path, the careering of a bird in the air, Connecticut River 
 as seen from Mount Holyoke, the Rhine as seen from the 
 Castle of Godesberg — these, as examples of figure and 
 motion, are all emblems of beauty to which the rudest 
 nature responds. The rainbow, the shifting of clouds at 
 sunset, the plumage of a peacock, a mobile countenance — 
 these, as specimens of color, are emblems of beauty ; yet 
 not one of them would excite our sense of the beautiful 
 without its variety. Music also, as an example of beauty in 
 sound, cannot exist without variety. A drum has none 
 except in time ; and how much beauty does a drum suggest? 
 The same principle governs style. Monotony, even of 
 that which is in itself an excellence, destroys the beauty of
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 85 
 
 it. One critic defines the whole art of composing as the 
 art of varying thought skilfully. Cutlers tell us, that the 
 keenest razor will lose its temper, or what- , T . 
 
 1 Variety essential 
 
 ever that is which gives it the susceptibility to beauty of 
 of taking an edge, if it is never allowed a sty e ' 
 period of disuse. No sharpening process will perfect it for 
 use till it has for a while been at rest. Hair-dressers ob- 
 serve the phenomenon, and describe it by saying that razors 
 get tired, as the hand does which wields them. So is it 
 with the rarest and keenest excellence in style : sameness 
 blunts it, in spite of the ingenuity expended upon repairs. 
 
 IV. — Means of Acquiring Variety. 
 
 1. How can variety of style be most readily acquired as 
 a habit of the pen ? The answer is, first, in sympathy with 
 what has been already said, that variety of Versatility of 
 style must have its foundation in versatility of thought. 
 thought. Thought in a versatile mind may compel variety 
 in its utterance. On the contrary, thought in a common- 
 place mind may be so monotonous that no art can create 
 variety in its expression. Utterance must be what the 
 mind is which thinks it. 
 
 May it not have been one cause of the beauty of the 
 Greek language and literature, that they grew up among a 
 people who were passionately fond of the drama ? " They 
 left," says one critic, "for the world's admiration, theatres, 
 while the Romans left amphitheatres." The love of the 
 drama permeated the very structure of the Greek tongue, 
 as did the Greek taste. 
 
 2. The elegance of a discourse as a unique structure 
 is promoted by variety in the method of discussion, by va- 
 riety of divisions in form and substance, by variety in re- 
 capitulations of argument, by variety in applications. Any 
 prolonged discourse requires variation in the keynote of
 
 1 86 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AMD PRACTICE 
 
 the thought. Argument unmixed with illustration, poetic 
 aspects of truth in unbroken succession, declamation un- 
 Frequent mingled with didactic remark, are too weari- 
 
 change of means some t please the sense of beauty. Thought 
 
 in presenting a I jo 
 
 subject. in the most brilliant pictures, unrelieved by 
 
 passages of repose, satiates the sense of beauty. A traveller 
 in Europe soon grows weary, and therefore undiscerning, in 
 exploring rapidly a choice gallery of art. Its profusion of 
 beauty becomes monotonous, and therefore antagonistic to 
 its own meaning. Mind sympathizes with the weariness of 
 the eye. Similar is the effect of that style of discourse of 
 which a gallery of pictures is the emblem. 
 
 3. That variety which elegance requires demands, also, a 
 
 varied vocabulary and construction. In this respect the most 
 
 . . . essential requisite is a thorough command of 
 
 A varied vocab- n ° 
 
 ulary and con- the synonyms of the language, and the his- 
 tory of its literature. Good taste revolts 
 from the constant yet needless recurrence of the same word 
 or the same collocation of words. Inelegances of construc- 
 tion are easily corrected if attention is given to them : they 
 are the fruit of heedless composing. The following are the 
 chief of them ; viz., monotony in the length of sentences, in the 
 manner of beginning and ending sentences, in the connections of 
 the emphatic and dependent clauses of sentences, in transitions, in 
 the use of affirmative, negative, interrogative, and antithetic 
 structures, in the use of personal and impersonal pronouns, in the 
 use of the direct and the inverted orders of sentences, in the use 
 of some favorite peculiarity of construction not easily definable 
 by criticism. 
 
 One form of favorite mechanism in construction is that 
 in which a regular succession occurs, like the swing of a 
 pendulum. In other instances in which one feels the sense 
 of monotony, but cannot at once detect the cause, it is 
 found, on a closer scrutiny, that the sentences have more 
 than two variations, but they occur in one invariable order,
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 87 
 
 with the sameness of a treadmill. Dr. Johnson's style some- 
 times falls into this monotone in mechanism. Hazlitt criti- 
 cises it, saying that to read or hear such TT ... 
 
 ' J to Hazlitt s criti- 
 
 passages from Johnson's writings is as bad as cism of Dr. John- 
 being at sea in a calm, in which one feels the 
 everlasting monotony of the ground-swell. Charles Dick- 
 ens sometimes falls under the tyranny of his ear in compos- 
 ing ; and then his style assumes an arbitrary succession of 
 a few constructions, in which thought is subordinated to 
 euphony of expression. A roll and a swell and a return, in 
 the boom of the style, if we may speak so incongruously, de- 
 stroy the sense of everything but the sound. One is tempted 
 to chant the passage. 
 
 4. Furthermore : that variety which beauty of style re- 
 quires involves variety of illustration. This suggestion 
 opens a boundless field of criticism. We can variety of nius- 
 traverse it but very rapidly, noting only the tratlon - 
 most essential principles. Generally, repetition of the same 
 illustration in similar connections should be avoided. If 
 the illustration be a bad one, or an indifferent one, it does 
 not deserve repetition : if it be a good one, repetition be- 
 trays the author's estimate of it as such, and has the look 
 of vanity. In either case, an elegant taste is offended. 
 Write rather as if you were unconscious of the quality of 
 your style, and as if your mind were rich in its abundance 
 of illustrative stores. 
 
 Some speakers plod in commonplaces by confining them- 
 selves, for illustrations, to the most common objects and 
 phenomena of nature — such as the sun, the imagery of dif- 
 moon, the stars, rivers, mountains, forests, ferent writers, 
 storms, clouds. Others limit their range of choice to prin- 
 ciples in science ; others, to the mechanic arts ; a few, to 
 the fine arts ; a larger number, to civil government ; many, 
 to historical allusions, to mythology, to literary fiction, to 
 military art and history.
 
 1 88 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Cultivate a liberal acquaintance with the mechanic arts, 
 the natural sciences, history, biography, the liberal profes- 
 sions, the trades, the fine arts, mythology, fiction, civil and 
 social life. Be at home wherever you can lead the interest 
 of your hearers for new analogies. 
 
 Again : for variety's sake, illustrations should not be re- 
 stricted to any one rhetorical form. Do not commonly re- 
 sort to the boldest of figures, nor always to the mildest. 
 Illustration should rarely predominate over declarative or 
 argumentative discussion ; yet it should not be limited to 
 pictorial words. Elegance requires diversity in proportion, 
 as in rhetorical form. The extent to which a prolific and 
 inventive mind can execute illustrative variety is seen in 
 the fact, that in sixty-four volumes of the works of Paul 
 Richter, one of the most imaginative of German prose- 
 writers, it is said that only two or three illustrations are 
 repeated. 
 
 5. The variety which an elegant taste requires is assisted 
 by variety of delivery. By this is meant, not only that a ver- 
 Varietyofde- satile delivery is the natural expression of a 
 hvery. versatile style, but that it is a powerful aux- 
 
 iliary to the forming of such a style. 
 
 A very broad theme is this of the reciprocal effect of style 
 and elocution. A monotonous elocution insensibly yet in- 
 _ . , „. evitablv s;ives character to the style of one 
 
 Reciprocal effect J ° 
 
 of style and de- who speaks much in public. A drowsy, drawl- 
 ing, nasal delivery, if such be a speaker's 
 habit, will brood over and suffocate his writing. A brisk, 
 energetic, versatile delivery is an inspiration to the pen. 
 Unconsciously, we form our sentences, choose our colloca- 
 tions of words, adjust the length of our periods, select our 
 rhetorical forms, and even manipulate our vocabulary, as we 
 feel intuitively that we shall utter them in the act of delivery. 
 You will detect before long, if you care to do so, this silent 
 infusion of the genius of your elocution into your written style.
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 1 89 
 
 You may first observe it in the proportion of long to short 
 sentences ; but no feature of style escapes affinity with deliv- 
 ery. Other things being equal, your style will become what 
 your manner is. Each will grow into fitness to the other. 
 
 Therefore variety in delivery will promote variety in style. 
 A flexible voice, various intonation, gesture, and position, 
 will aid the growth of a varied command of oral expression. 
 Home Tooke even goes so far as to say that no man can 
 write a good style in prose who is not a good conversationalist. 
 Mr. Hazlitt adds, " No style is worth a farthing which will 
 not bear comparison with spirited colloquy." 
 
 It is true that instances occur which seem to contradict 
 this view. Rapid speakers sometimes write for the press in 
 a crawling style. This is said to have been a seeming con- 
 true of Fox, the English statesman. Drawl- tradiction. 
 ing speakers also sometimes write vivaciously. But such 
 writers do not write much for the purpose of oral delivery. 
 They do not write enough to give their delivery a chance 
 to permeate their style. They either speak extemporane- 
 ously, and therefore do not write well for the platform or 
 they do not speak at all, and therefore do not write well for 
 oral utterance. Elocution and written style do not come in 
 contact frequently enough to create the reciprocal sympa- 
 thy of which mention has been made. 
 
 An amusing account is given by Lord Macaulay of a criti- 
 cism by Sheridan upon the style and manner of Fox and 
 Lord Stormont in the British Parliament. Fox and L ort i 
 Sheridan had returned one morning from the stormont. 
 meeting of Parliament, and a friend asked him for the news 
 of the day. He replied that he had enjoyed a laugh over 
 the speeches of those two men. He said that Lord Stor- 
 mont began by declaring in a slow, solemn, nasal monotone, 
 that " when — he — considered — the enormity — and the — un- 
 constitutional — tendency — of the measures — just — pro- 
 posed, he was — hurried — away in a — torrent — of passion —
 
 190 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 and a — whirlwind — of im-pet-u-os-i-ty." Fox he described 
 as rising with a spring to his feet, and beginning with 
 the rapidity of lightning, thus : " Mr. Speaker, such is the 
 magnitude such the importance such the vital interest of the 
 question that I cannot but implore I cannot but adjure the 
 House to come to it with the utmost calmness the utmost 
 coolness the utmost deliberation." 
 
 This surely does not look much like reciprocal sympathy 
 
 between manner and style. But scrutinize it carefully, and 
 
 . you will find even in this rare extreme, that 
 
 An analysis oi J _ ' 
 
 the case of such a sympathy is struggling to unite them. 
 
 What is the fact with Lord Stormont's case ? 
 Is it his drawling manner which gives him time to say in 
 what a tempestuous passion he is. He is uttering what 
 he knows to be untrue : a man in a genuine passion 
 does not stop to tell of it. Such a blunder is in perfect 
 keeping with the monotonous, crawling elocution. Note, 
 also, the florid, figurative style in which he speaks of the 
 torrent and the whirlwind, and the carefulness with which 
 he supplies all necessary connectives. These are both ex- 
 actly the mistakes which one is likely to make who affects 
 the utterance of passion which has no existence. His style 
 and his professed sentiments are inconsistent, but his style 
 and manner are in conspiracy to betray the falseness of the 
 sentiment. 
 
 What is the case rhetorically with Fox ? Precisely the 
 same. He is, in fact, anxious and impatient : his style 
 An analysis of an d manner combine to reveal this, though 
 the case of Fox. tne sen timent exhorts the House to be just 
 the reverse. Observe his pithy, literal vocabulary. He 
 does not know whether he is in a whirlwind or not. Lord 
 Stormont did know. Note Fox's compact syntax, indicating 
 his nervous haste by the absence of connectives : " Such is 
 the importance such the magnitude such the vital interest," 
 etc. The style gallops furiously to its goal. Lord Stor-
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE 191 
 
 mont ambled along, sporting with torrents and whirlwinds 
 by the way. Few examples can illustrate a more active 
 affinity between style and manner. Both are more truth- 
 fully significant than the sentiment is, of the real state of 
 the writer's mind. Let us not contemn, then, the graces 
 and forces of delivery as mere externals. Some of the sub- 
 tle influences which give character to discourse have their 
 origin there. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 ELEGANCE OF STYLE (CONCLUDED). 
 
 I. Vividness an Element of Elegance of Style. 
 
 1. Vividness Essential to Beauty. 
 
 2. Vividness Compatible with Delicacy. 
 
 II. The Demands of Vividness. 
 
 1. Distinctness of Thought. 
 
 2. Sensitiveness of Feeling. 
 
 3. Simplicity of Language. 
 
 4. An Easy Command of Imagery. 
 
 III. Variety an Element of Elegance of Style. 
 
 1. In general, Variety Essential to Beauty. 
 
 2. In particular, Variety Essential to Beauty of Style. 
 
 IV. Means of Acquiring Variety. 
 
 1. By Versatility of Thought. 
 
 2. By Frequent Change of Means in Presenting a Subject. 
 
 3. By a Varied Vocabulary and Construction. 
 
 4. By Varied Illustrations. 
 
 (a) 1 st Rule. Have no Favorite Illustrations. 
 
 (b) 2d Rule. Have no Favorite Rhetorical Form of Illus- 
 tration. 
 
 5. By Variety of Delivery. 
 
 A. Reciprocal Influence of Style and Delivery. 
 
 B. Seeming Contradiction of this Reciprocal Influence. 
 
 (a) Fox and Lord Stormont, as Speakers in the House of 
 Parliament. 
 
 (b) The Characteristics of these Speakers Analyzed.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 NATURALNESS OF STYLE 
 
 I Relation of Naturalness to all Other Qual- 
 ities of Style. 
 
 The philosophical idea of the " fitness of things " is, in 
 some relations of it, an ultimate idea. We cannot carry 
 Fitness of things analysis beyond it. For some of our con- 
 an ultimate idea, victions we can give no reason other than 
 this — that a thing is, or is not, becoming. It does, or does 
 not, fit into the nature and demands of other things. Style 
 has a quality which expresses this relation of thought as 
 clothed in language. It suggests the interlocking of cog- 
 wheels in machinery. 
 
 More specifically, naturalness is that quality by which 
 
 style expresses the fitness of language to thought, of both 
 
 thought and language to the speaker, and of 
 
 Naturalness and 6 , , , , 
 
 other qualities of thought, language, and speaker to the nearer. 
 
 sty In any complete example of it, it is thus 
 
 complicated. It extends to all the fundamental elements 
 out of which style grows. It stands related to them as 
 proportion does to architecture. We respond to it, not by 
 saying, " That is forcible, this is beautiful, the other is 
 clear ; " but we say, " It is becoming, it fits, the cogs inter- 
 lock : therefore the movement is without jar or needless 
 friction." Such a quality must obviously depend for its 
 recognition entirely upon the intuitions of good taste. 
 Primarily we do not reason about it : we feel it or we feel 
 the absence of it. Being, as it is, the resultant of qualities
 
 NATURALNESS OF STYLE 1 93 
 
 of style already discussed, the discussion of it as distinct 
 from those must necessarily involve some repetition. 
 
 II. — Characteristics of Naturalness. 
 
 In what forms chiefly does naturalness of style become 
 perceptible to good taste ? 
 
 1. In answer, be it first observed, that good taste ap- 
 proves naturalness of style in a certain fitness of expression 
 
 to the subject of discourse. Style has a certain 
 
 i-ii r it , Fitness of ex- 
 
 temper, like that of steel. It pervades every pression to sub- 
 particle. This may or may not be becoming; ject of discourse - 
 and the question whether it is so, or not, depends often on 
 the simple relations of style to subject. Why is not a vola- 
 tile style suited to a discourse on immortality ? Why is 
 a ponderous style unsuited to a comic song ? To ask these 
 questions is to answer them. The jests of the French revo- 
 lutionists under the knife of the guillotine 
 
 . . ii- ' Subjects which 
 
 shock us, and the seriousness of a parody suggest their 
 pleases us, for the same reason— the unfitness treatment - 
 of things to things. " The Marriage-Ring," the title of one 
 of Jeremy Taylor's sermons, suggests immediately the ele- 
 gance of style which ought to characterize its treatment. 
 The forty-seventh proposition of Euclid suggests the neces- 
 sary absence of the qualities of style which "The Marriage- 
 Ring " demands. Do not the opposite subjects " Heaven " 
 and "Hell " compel us, by stress of subject only, to asso- 
 ciate with them certain opposites in the style of their dis- 
 cussion? Ruskin contends for the same distinction as 
 fundamental to good painting. He says, " Greatness of 
 style consists first in the habitual choice of subjects which 
 involve profound passions. The habitual choice of sacred 
 subjects constitutes a painter, so far forth, one of the high- 
 estorder." 
 
 2. Naturalness of style becomes perceptible to good taste 
 
 13
 
 194 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 also, in a certain fitness of thought and expression to the relations 
 
 of hearers to the subject. A painting attributed to Michael 
 
 Angelo, in one of the galleries of Italy, rep- 
 
 I- ltness of o 7 <=> j ■> r 
 
 thought and ex- resents the Virgin Mary standing erect and 
 refadons of hear- calm at the foot of the cross, without a tear 
 ers to the subject. or ther trace of sorrow on her countenance. 
 Artists defend the painting by the theory that the mother 
 of our Lord was supposed to be divinely instructed in the 
 meaning of the crucifixion and the mystery of atonement, 
 and that inspired exaltation overpowered her maternal 
 sorrow. But critics say, in reply, that this theory of the 
 Michael Anglo's P ainter was true only to him. The painting 
 Virgin Mary. ,j oes not explain it to the perplexed specta- 
 tor. Spectators cannot be supposed to originate it. They 
 must look at the artist's work from their position, not from 
 his. A Protestant observer especially, who sees in the Vir- 
 gin mother only a woman, not superior, perhaps not equal, 
 to some others of her sex, cannot be supposed to divine the 
 secret of the painter's theology. 
 
 This may serve to illustrate one of the limitations which 
 good taste imposes upon the style of discourse — that it 
 should be adjusted to the relations of the audience to the 
 subject in hand. It must express truth to their range and 
 quality of conception : otherwise, it is an unnatural style, 
 as much so as if it expressed a falsehood. Indeed, unnat- 
 uralness in this form may amount to falseness of impres- 
 sion. Refraction of truth may be equivalent to untruth. 
 When no untruth is uttered, the impression of truth may be 
 a failure, through the speaker's failure to appreciate the 
 prepossessions, or prejudices, or ignorance of his hearers. 
 
 3. Further : naturalness of style becomes perceptible to 
 good taste in a certain fitness of discourse to the relations of the 
 speaker to his subject. The principle here in view may be 
 best illustrated by a few examples of its violation. It is 
 violated, for instance, by the dogmatic style. Not often by
 
 NATURALNESS OF STYLE 195 
 
 a glaring conscious usurpation of authority, but by an in- 
 definite undertone of discourse, a speaker may give to it 
 a magisterial sound. He dictates when he ~ f dj 
 
 ought only to instruct. He assumes what he course to the 
 
 , _.,.,. relations of the 
 
 ought to prove. Sometimes the evil consists speaker to his 
 not so much in what is said as in how it is sub J ect - 
 said. A certain gait in the style betrays a swagger or a 
 lordliness of stride which awakens resistance. Franklin, 
 in criticising one of the appeals of the American Colonies 
 to the king for a redress of grievances, advised a more 
 manly style. Said he, " Firmness carries weight : a strut 
 never does." When we detect the " strut " in discourse, we 
 are instinctively aroused to cavil and to criticise. 
 
 III. — Characteristics of Unnaturalness. 
 
 i. Over against the form of unnaturalness just observed, 
 is another, which may be termed the apologetic style. The 
 tone of discourse in this case is apologetic, The apologetic 
 not for the subject, but for the speaker. style - 
 By explicit or implied confessions of incompetence, by dep- 
 recations of criticism, by the want of positive opinions, 
 by the intimation of doubts, by a style which marks the 
 want of mastery, a speaker may betray a want of confidence 
 in his own ability, and therefore in his own right, to speak 
 on the subject in hand. In the public speech, ability and 
 authority are proportioned to each other. Might makes 
 right. If, therefore, standing in the place of an instructor, 
 the speaker shrinks from the prerogatives and responsibili- 
 ties of an instructor, his style will disclose this. He will 
 not rise to the level of his theme, and handle it as one who 
 knows. A downcast air is given to his discussion which 
 tempts a cold-blooded hearer to ask him by what authority 
 he assumes to speak at all. Style is susceptible of a quality 
 corresponding to the blush of a diffident man.
 
 196 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 It deserves note, that audiences are not flattered by this 
 apologetic treatment. They may give to it their pity, but 
 „,, .. not their respect. They bear with less im- 
 
 The audience . ... 
 
 and the apolo- patience the dogmatic diction. Men love to 
 be addressed confidently, respectfully indeed* 
 but fearlessly. We would rather be browbeaten than to 
 be fawned upon. We feel more respect for impudence than 
 we do for imbecility. We respect a pugilist more than a 
 coward. 
 
 2. One other form of this kind of unnatural discourse 
 may be termed the apathetic style. The best description 
 The apathetic which can be given of some speakers is that 
 st y le - they are apathetic as opposed to sympathetic. 
 
 They manifest no sense of personal subjection to the truths 
 the declare. They seem to feel no sense of the power of 
 truth, and therefore no sympathy with hearers of quickened 
 sensibilities. They speak it as a being from a superior 
 world might speak. 
 
 The verdict of an audience upon such discourse is the 
 most severe retribution that can fall on the head of a living 
 man. They say to the speaker, " You have no heart. 
 Your very fidelity in speech is grounded on your want of 
 sympathy with us in feeling." 
 
 In opposition to all these forms of discourse a natural 
 style requires a just, temperate, manly appreciation, on the 
 speaker's part, of his own personal relations to the truth 
 he utters. If he has this in living force, it will make itself 
 felt in his discourse. He will not express it by conscious 
 effort and in chosen words : it will express itself. His style 
 will breathe it forth, like the exhalation of a spice-plant. 
 
 IV. — Adaptation of Naturalness to Oral Discourse. 
 
 Naturalness of style, again, becomes perceptible to good 
 taste in a certain fitness of expression to oral discourse. The
 
 NATURALNESS OF STYLE 1 97 
 
 oral style of continuous discourse is distinct from that 
 of the press on the one hand, and from that of conver- 
 sation on the other. Precisely what it is which con- 
 stitutes the peculiarity of the oral style, criticism can- 
 not easily define. But in any striking example of it we 
 detect several features. 
 
 i. One is tJie predominance of concrete over abstract 
 words in its vocabulary. Oral discourse is essentially pic- 
 torial in its nature. It abounds in words _ , . 
 
 Predominance of 
 
 which are images, in words which are things, concrete expres- 
 It is opposed to that style which throws the 
 whole burden of speech upon the literal truthfulness of ab- 
 stract phraseology. It denies the necessity of this in the 
 discussion of any subjects which are proper themes of oral 
 discourse. It is specially hostile to that predilection for ab- 
 stract phrase which leads a speaker, and more frequently a 
 writer, to fear obvious expression. 
 
 An eminent German philosopher is said to have rewritten 
 some pages of his manuscript in the revision of it for the 
 press, because, upon reading them to a com- . _ 
 
 v ' ' v & ... Affectation of the 
 
 pany of friends, he found them intelligible German phiioso- 
 at a single hearing. He recast those pages 
 into a more recondite diction, on the ground, that, if his 
 meaning were so obvious as to be understood by a hearer, 
 the class of readers whom he aimed to reach would not 
 deem his work worthy of their notice. Does not this de- 
 serve to be ranked with those affectations which have been 
 elsewhere denominated the cant of literature ? The style 
 of nature in oral speech is very simple in its aims. It re- 
 pudiates all forms of affectation. It betrays no fear of being 
 understood. It shows no reluctance to being childlike in 
 its love for pictures. The more that a style spoken to the 
 ear can have of the resources which make thought visible 
 to the eye, the more potently does it achieve the objects of 
 oral utterance.
 
 198 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 2. Again : the oral style inclines to a large excess of 
 simplicity ore?- involution in the construction of sentences. 
 „ We are all sensible of the difference, in this 
 
 Simplicity in 
 
 construction of respect, between the style of the press and 
 the style of speech, when we compare our 
 own styles constructed by the two methods. The very 
 same materials, in the two methods of expression, we 
 throw into totally different constructions. We extemporize 
 in shorter sentences than we use in printed discourse, in 
 more simply framed sentences, with less of inversion and 
 introversion, and suspension of the sense. The difference 
 is so great, that it affects the organs of speech. These are 
 commonly less wearied by extemporaneous speech than by 
 the delivery of a written address. Physicians well under- 
 stand this. For the relief of bronchitis they often advise 
 preachers to abandon their manuscripts in the pulpit. 
 
 3. One other feature in the style natural to oral discourse 
 is the dramatic quality, which makes the hearer active in 
 rr,, , . the discussion of a subject. This partakes 
 
 The dramatic J J r 
 
 quality of oral of the nature of colloquy in effect, though 
 not colloquy in form. You have doubtless 
 witnessed, perhaps experienced, the power of this feature 
 of style upon an audience. Did you never feel in listening 
 to a speech as if the speaker were questioning you, and you 
 were involuntarily responding ? Did you never seem to be 
 yourself the questioner, and he the respondent ? Did you 
 never carry on a silent dispute with a speaker through a 
 whole discourse which commanded in you the interest of 
 dissent. 
 
 These effects of powerful discourse in genuine oral style 
 may be often witnessed, and sometimes evinced by visible 
 Whitefieid and signs. The sailor, who in listening to White- 
 the sailor. field's description of a wreck forgot himself, 
 
 and in response to the preacher's impassioned cry, " What 
 more can he do ?" answered, " For God's sake take to the
 
 NATURALNESS OF STYLE 1 99 
 
 life-boat ! " illustrated that which we have probably all of 
 us felt, in less degree, when speakers have made us parties 
 in their discussion, and thrown upon us the responsibility 
 of its application. The illusions of the stage never gave to 
 Garrick and Kean such advantage for moving an audience 
 to the responsive mood as some speakers have found in 
 their mastery of a dramatic diction. In this variety of 
 their success, we pronounce such speakers natural orators. 
 It is only, that, in obeying the natural intuitions of an 
 orator, they practise as well the canons of criticism and 
 the laws of good taste in adjusting style to the object of 
 oral speech. 
 
 V. — Means of Acquiring Naturalness of Style. 
 
 The views we have considered respecting the cognizance 
 of naturalness of style by good taste suggest further the 
 inquiry, By what means may a natural style be most effect- 
 ually acquired ? These may, for the most part, be named 
 with brief remark, because they are not recondite, and they 
 are found chiefly in certain things which lie back of the 
 study of style as such. They are not greatly involved in 
 the minutioz of criticism. 
 
 1. You will anticipate me in mentioning as the first of 
 these means of gaining naturalness of style the habit of mas- 
 tering subjects of discourse. Let the word The habit of 
 "habit" be emphasized in this statement. mastering sub- 
 
 r jects 01 dis- 
 
 Style depends more upon the permanent state course. 
 of a writer's mind than upon any expedients of discipline, 
 or moods of composition. It has always its foundation in a 
 speaker's character. What the man is, his style will be. 
 Naturalness especially is a fruit and a sign of a certain state 
 of mental discipline and a certain habit of mental action, 
 which will not permit a man to write or speak upon a sub- 
 ject which is not well mastered. We do not walk naturally
 
 200 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 in utter darkness. Neither do we speak naturally of that 
 of which the chief thing we are thoroughly conscious of 
 is our ignorance, or our bungling knowledge. Mastery is 
 needed to create ease of movement. Style must have the 
 movement of conquest, not of struggle. Says Ruskin, 
 " Without absolute grasp of the whole subject, there is no 
 good painting." Partial conception is no conception. 
 
 2. Another tributary to this quality of style is se/f-forget- 
 f ulness in the act of composing. Unnaturalness in almost any 
 
 form of it may spring from a want of com- 
 ness in the act posure. A speaker may be master of his 
 
 theme, yet not master of himself, and there- 
 fore not at ease about himself. In such a mood he speaks 
 nervously. A constant strain is manifest in his style. 
 He speaks as if he were constantly thinking of his style. 
 Its movement is like that of one walking on tiptoe. The 
 remedy is the habit of self-forgetfulness in composing, 
 whether with pen or tongue. That state and habit of mind 
 which led Isocrates to spend fifteen years in adjusting the 
 sentences of his Panegyric could not fail to drill all nature 
 out of it. One might as well hope to acquire natural vision 
 by twisting and straining for fifteen years to get a sight 
 of one's own eyeballs. 
 
 3. A natural style is assisted by an absorbing interest in 
 the aim of a discourse. Note briefly a distinction between 
 An absorbing interest in the details of a discourse and in- 
 
 interest in the •. • a 1 r <• 
 
 aim of a dis- terest in its aim. An example of one of 
 course - these will best illustrate both. In a speech 
 
 delivered in the American Congress by the elder Josiah 
 Quincy, on the repeal of the embargo laid upon our com- 
 merce with Great Britain before the war of 1812, we find 
 the following passage, viz.: 
 
 " An embargo liberty was never cradled in Massachusetts. 
 Our liberty was not so much a mountain- as a sea-nymph. 
 She was free as air. She could swim, or she could run.
 
 NATURALNESS OF STYLE 201 
 
 The ocean was her cradle. Our fathers met her as she 
 came like a goddess of beauty from the waves. They caught 
 her as she was sporting on the beach. They courted her as 
 she was spreading her nets upon the rocks." In this strain 
 the orator proceeds. Mark now the quality of this style as 
 related to the professed aim of the whole speech. What 
 was that aim ? The ships of the merchants of Boston and 
 Salem and Newburyport and New London and New York 
 were rotting in their harbors. The aim of the legislation 
 advocated by Mr. Quincy was to remove the embargo, and 
 send those ships to sea. Was his mind intent on that in 
 the passage here quoted ? Did this passage assist that aim, 
 or could it naturally do so? Not at all. The paragraph is 
 vivacious ; its metaphors are novel ; its diction is compact 
 and clear ; it is a specimen of what passed in those days 
 for fine oratory. But it was quite too fine for the sober 
 and rather rough work which the orator had before him. 
 His interest just then, all the enthusiasm of his mind in the 
 business, was expended on the embellishment of his style. 
 He was thinking of the beauty of it as a work of art. He 
 was speaking to Harvard College and its environs, not to 
 the Southern Congressmen whom it was his business to win 
 over to the commercial interests of New England. If his 
 own fortune had been embarked in one of those rotting 
 ships, and he was intent with his whole soul on saving it by 
 a vote of the Congress, he would have found something to 
 say more to the purpose than courting a sea-nymph on the 
 rocks. 
 
 This illustrates the importance to natural discourse of an 
 absorbing interest in the aim of it as distinct from the de- 
 velopment and embellishment of its details. Keep always 
 the practical object of the discourse in sight; keep it close a f 
 hand ; let the shadow of it cover the whole structure from 
 beginning to end. This unity of aim is itself nature. It 
 will often s;ive to an author the most essential element of
 
 202 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 power, when many other elements are wanting. Again we 
 involuntarily disclose the secret of its power when we call 
 it natural eloquence. 
 
 4. One additional means of acquiring a natural style 
 remains to be noticed : it is practice in composition. Did you 
 Practice in com- ever observe that a young man's chirogra- 
 position. phy^ or iginally stiff, awkward, angular, bear- 
 
 ing every mark of juvenility, becomes often, in the process 
 of time, flowing and business-like, through mere practice in 
 rapid writing? Though it may not gain the kind of finish 
 which belongs to the engraving of the copy-book, yet you 
 pronounce it superior to that, because it is a natural hand. 
 It expresses somewhat of the individuality of the writer. 
 
 Similar to this is the indefinable elegance which style may 
 receive from large practice in composing. In the history of 
 the fine arts, the most illustrious painters are those who have 
 painted most abundantly. Ruskin says, " Of two touches 
 as nearly as possible alike in other respects, the quickest 
 will invariably be the best." Of perfect execution, velocity 
 is an invariable quality. This is, in part, the explanation 
 of the fact that large practice in composing tends to create 
 a perfect style : it is because much composing necessarily 
 involves rapid composing. It does not follow that the 
 most voluminous writers will necessarily be the most per- 
 fect writers. But it does follow that practice in this, as in 
 other arts, will re-act upon natural genius, and develop it 
 in natural work. 
 
 Other things being equal, the most prolific writer will 
 be the most natural writer. The man who writes the larg- 
 er, ,. r est quantity with critical care will write most 
 
 The prolific M J 
 
 writer the natu- naturally. In many instances in which other 
 
 ral writer. . . , , . , 
 
 requisites to a natural style exist, writers 
 fail in this quality for no reason other than that they have 
 not written enough to write naturally. They have not be- 
 come acquainted with nature. Composing was a drudgery,
 
 NATURALNESS OF STYLE 203 
 
 and they allowed it to remain such by avoiding it when it 
 was not compulsory. 
 
 Izaak Walton wrote for the love of writing. Charles 
 Lamb wrote all his works for recreation in the intervals of 
 leisure from his clerkly toil in the East India T , „. „ 
 
 J Izaak Walton. 
 
 House. Probably not a page that he ever Charles Lamb. 
 
 \\t 1* Q +f 
 
 wrote was a drudgery to him. Walter Scott, 
 till his brain gave way, composed always in a glee of enthu- 
 siasm. His daily contributions to the press he captured 
 with the ardor of a sportsman. He often hesitated between 
 the two — whether to sit down at his desk, or to go out 
 among the hills with his dog and gun ; for he enjoyed both 
 his pen and his gun with equal zest. He gained this pleas- 
 urable ease in composition by long and constant practice. 
 He used to involve himself in literary engagements pur- 
 posely, that they might crowd him. He said that he 
 " never wrote so well, or felt so well, as when the press was 
 thundering at his heels with the demand for more copy." 
 
 The same phenomenon is seen in the history of Shake- 
 speare's authorship. Scarcely any other feature in his pro- 
 fessional life is so marvellous as the amount 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 of his work and its rapidity. His working 
 life was compressed into about twenty-three years. During 
 that time he gave to the English stage an average of two 
 dramas a year. This, for such productions as his, and con- 
 tinued through a series of years, was a miracle of intellect- 
 ual fertility. From the age of thirty years to that of fifty- 
 three, Shakespeare's mind must have lived in a state of 
 habitual production. 
 
 This prolific state, so far from degrading the quality of 
 production, elevates and enriches it. As the force of a can- 
 non-ball is augmented by its velocity, so the mental power 
 of composition is reduplicated by rapidity of creation, if 
 regulated by good taste. This mental condition, in which 
 composition becomes a delight, a necessity, a demand of
 
 204 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 nature upon a full mind, is a habit which you cannot ac- 
 quire but by large practice. Thinking will never give it to 
 you. Study of rhetorical treatises will never create it. 
 General reading will never do it. Criticism of the works 
 of others or of your own is powerless of itself to meet the 
 necessity. You must write and speak, speak and write, till 
 pen and tongue move spontaneously and joyously. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 NATURALNESS OF STYLE. 
 
 I. Relation of Naturalness to all Other Qualities of Style. 
 
 II. Characteristics of Naturalness. 
 
 i. Expression fitted to the Subject of Discourse. 
 
 2. Thought and Expression fitted to the Relations of Hearers to 
 
 the Subject. 
 
 3. Discourse fitted to the Relations of the Speaker to his Subject. 
 
 III. Characteristics of Unnaturalness. 
 
 1. An Apologetic Style. 
 
 2. An Apathetic Style. 
 
 IV. Adaptation of Naturalness to Oral Discourse. 
 
 1. Predominance of Concrete Expression. 
 
 2. Simplicity of Construction of Sentences. 
 
 3. The Dramatic Quality in Oral Discourse. 
 
 V. Means of Acquiring Naturalness of Style. 
 
 1. By the Habit of Mastering Subjects of Discourse. 
 
 2. By Self-forgetfulness in the Act of Composing. 
 
 3. By an Absorbing Interest in the Aim of a Discourse. 
 
 4. By Practice in Composition.
 
 PART II 
 PRACTICAL EXERCISES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FUNDAMENTAL OUALITIES OF 
 ENGLISH STYLE
 
 PRACTICAL EXERCISES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FUNDAMENTAL OUALITIES OF 
 ENGLISH STYLE 
 
 In this Part of the text-book, exercises, illustrating every 
 important suggestion and direction of the Chapters on 
 Purity, Precision, Perspicuity, and Energy in the First Part, 
 are provided as a help to the practical mastery of these 
 qualities of English style. Some of the exercises, without 
 any assigned preparation,' can be used in the class-room for 
 immediate illustration of the subject of the hour. Others 
 can be prepared by the text-book alone. The larger num- 
 ber and most valuable part of the exercises, however, is 
 arranged, as is said in the preface, to lead the student to 
 something like independent study in his work in English. 
 This supposes a daily examination of the dictionaries — 
 Webster and Worcester especially, because the most acces- 
 sible to the larger number of students — and a frequent ex- 
 amination of other books of reference. In this way the 
 student is expected to form his judgments, for which he is 
 to give good reasons when tested by other members of his 
 class and by his teacher. 
 
 It is hoped that not only with the study of Precision, but 
 with each lesson assigned in the text-book throughout the 
 course, the student will be required to prepare at least a 
 number of synonyms by reference to the dictionaries. The
 
 208 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 value of this work as an aid to Precision and Energy of 
 Style, has been elsewhere suggested. But provided the 
 class is not able to do much work outside of the text-book, 
 the exercise in synonyms, or something of a kindred nature, 
 should be required that the student may be helped to form 
 the habit of consulting the dictionaries and other books 
 of recognized authority on matters of speech.
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE* 
 
 CHAPTERS II., III., IV., V., AND VI. 
 
 Obsolete and Obsolescent Words. 
 
 The student will apply the test which James Russell 
 Lowell gives, page 20, to see whether or not the following 
 words, marked obsolete or obsolescent in Webster's Interna- 
 tional Dictionary, are permissible archaisms : 
 
 Abscond, to 
 
 Addict, to 
 
 Admire, to 
 
 Advantage, to 
 
 Buckle, to 
 
 Collide, to 
 
 Commodity 
 
 Concealment 
 
 Conceited 
 
 Delineature 
 
 Disremember, to 
 
 Discord, to 
 
 Down, to 
 
 Divers 
 
 Drave 
 
 Eat (et) 
 
 Ecstasy 
 
 Example, to 
 
 Exploit, to 
 
 Famoused 
 
 Fartherance 
 
 Farthermore 
 
 * For Exercises in Purity of 
 other books, see pages 229-247. 
 
 (used transitively). 
 (to make suitable), 
 (to wonder at), 
 (to avail one's self of), 
 (to yield, give way), 
 (used transitively). 
 (a quantity of goods), 
 (a secret), 
 (fanciful), 
 (delineation), 
 (to forget), 
 (to disagree), 
 (to bring down), 
 (diverse). 
 
 (imperfect of drive), 
 (ate). 
 
 (madness), 
 (to instance), 
 (to achieve), 
 (renowned), 
 (furtherance), 
 (furthermore). 
 Style, without reference to dictionaries and
 
 2IO RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Figured 
 
 Forbiddance 
 
 Great-hearted 
 
 Habited 
 
 Imbursement 
 
 Incidently 
 
 Indefensive 
 
 Inexpected 
 
 Justiceable 
 
 Kind 
 
 Leany 
 
 Lowlily 
 
 Lug, to 
 
 Mid 
 
 Misdeem, to 
 
 Mockish 
 
 Musculosity 
 
 Naught 
 
 Neighbor, to 
 
 Outerly 
 
 Overmore 
 
 Overmost 
 
 Prenticeship 
 
 Profanate, to 
 
 Rejournment 
 
 Requitement 
 
 Restiff 
 
 Southren 
 
 Suspensely 
 
 Thereto 
 
 Unactive 
 
 Unvaluable 
 
 (figurative), 
 (prohibition), 
 (high-spirited), 
 (accustomed), 
 (act of imbursing). 
 (incidentally), 
 (defenseless), 
 (unexpected). 
 
 (belonging to a court of jus- 
 tice), 
 (natural instinct), 
 (lean), 
 (humbly). 
 (to move slowly), 
 (middle), 
 (to misjudge), 
 (mock), 
 (muscularity), 
 (vile). 
 
 (used intransitively), 
 (utterly), 
 (moreover), 
 (above all others), 
 (apprenticeship), 
 (to profane), 
 (adjournment), 
 (requital), 
 (restive). 
 (Southern), 
 (in suspense), 
 (besides), 
 (inactive), 
 (invaluable). 
 
 Contractions and Abbreviations. 
 
 Examine the following list, and point out which of the 
 words or phrases are vulgarisms, and which in certain
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 
 
 21 I 
 
 forms of composition and speech have the countenance of 
 reputable writers and speakers. 
 
 Daily for 
 
 Editorial 
 Elective 
 
 Electric " 
 
 Freight 
 Governments 
 Obituary- 
 Optional 
 Postal 
 
 Day before yesterday " 
 Democracy 
 Honorable 
 Photo 
 Prof. 
 
 Reverend 
 
 Sensation " 
 
 Cotemporary 
 Captain, to 
 Clerk, to 
 Electrocute, to 
 Lotion, to 
 Referee, to 
 Suicide, to 
 Umpire, to 
 E'en, e'er, ere, o'er, oft, 'gan, 
 doesn't, exams, gents, gym, hain't 
 
 daily paper. 
 
 editorial article. 
 
 elective study, 
 
 electric car. 
 
 freight car. 
 
 government securities. 
 
 obituary article. 
 
 optional course of study. 
 
 postal card. 
 
 the day before yesterday. 
 
 democratic party. 
 
 the Honorable. 
 
 photograph. 
 
 Professor. 
 
 the Reverend. 
 
 a noteworthy event. 
 
 (contemporary). 
 
 (to be the captain). 
 
 (to work as a clerk). 
 
 (to put to death by electricity). 
 
 (to apply a lotion). 
 
 (to be the referee). 
 
 (to commit suicide). 
 
 (to be the umpire), 
 'neath, ne'er, 'twixt, ain't, don't, 
 ma'am, pants, wa'rn't. 
 
 Expansion of Old Words. 
 
 Apply to these examples of expansion of old words the 
 test which was applied to contractions and abbreviations. 
 
 Agriculturalist 
 
 Casuality 
 
 Confiiction 
 
 for 
 
 agriculturist. 
 
 casualty. 
 
 conflict.
 
 212 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Clarionet 
 
 for clarinet. 
 
 Deputize, to 
 
 to depute. 
 
 Dentrifrice 
 
 dentifrice. 
 
 Downwards 
 
 downward. 
 
 Effectuate, to 
 
 to effect. 
 
 Experimentalize, 
 
 to " to experiment 
 
 Forehanded 
 
 forehand. 
 
 Forwards 
 
 " forward. 
 
 Grieviance 
 
 " grievance. 
 
 Illy 
 
 ill. 
 
 Issuance 
 
 " issue. 
 
 Jeopardize, to 
 
 to jeopard. 
 
 Leniency 
 
 " lenity. 
 
 Towards 
 
 toward. 
 
 Unbeknown 
 
 " unknown. 
 
 Underhanded 
 
 " underhand. 
 
 Upwards 
 
 " upward. 
 
 Admit of, to 
 
 " to admit. 
 
 Ascend up, to 
 
 " to ascend. 
 
 Crushed out 
 
 " crushed. 
 
 End up, to 
 
 to end. 
 
 Fall down, to 
 
 to fall. 
 
 Open up, to 
 
 to open. 
 
 Remember of, to 
 
 " to remember. 
 
 Rise up, to 
 
 to rise. 
 
 Sink down, to 
 
 " to sink. 
 
 Smell of, to 
 
 to smell. 
 
 
 New Words. 
 
 Professor Earle in his " English Prose " gives, with other 
 words, the following list, which has been issued as he says 
 "mostly in the time of the last generation." 
 
 Test each of these words by applying the six principles 
 given in Chapter IV. and decide whether or not the word is 
 to be accepted as good English. Answer also Professor 
 Whitney's three questions : " is the word called for ? is it
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 
 
 213 
 
 accordant with the analogies of the language ? is it offered 
 or backed by good authority ? " 
 
 Appointee 
 
 Artistry 
 
 Ashamedness 
 
 Belieffulness 
 
 Carnalization 
 
 Criticaster 
 
 Dampen, to 
 
 Dispeace 
 
 Expertise 
 
 Fad 
 
 Featureliness 
 
 Finality 
 
 Intellectualist 
 
 International 
 
 Jural 
 
 Kaleidoscopic 
 
 Knowingness 
 
 Lovingness 
 
 Loveable 
 
 Mannerist 
 
 Millionaire 
 
 Neolithic 
 
 Northness 
 
 Objective 
 
 Open-mindedness 
 
 Optimism 
 
 Palmary 
 
 Pedantocracy 
 
 Prigdom 
 
 Quietude 
 
 Racial 
 
 Rascaldom 
 
 Rationalistic 
 
 Realism 
 
 Ritualist 
 
 Walter Bagehot. 
 
 P. G. Hamerton. 
 
 S. Wilberforce. 
 
 Arthur Hugh Clough, 1853. 
 
 Frances Power Cobbe. 
 
 James Payn. 
 
 Mark Twain. 
 
 The London Times, 1878. 
 
 The London Times, 1 876. 
 
 Walter Bagehot. 
 The Guardian, 1851. 
 James Baldwin Brown. 
 
 Sir H. S. Maine. 
 
 The Spectator, 1874. 
 
 George Eliot. 
 
 Alexander Ewing. 
 
 The London Times, 1885. 
 
 The Saturday Review, 1 874. 
 
 The Spectator, 1873. 
 
 Sir John Lubbock. 
 
 Dr. I. I. Hayes. 
 
 The opposite of subjective. 
 
 S. T. Coleridge. 
 The Daily News, 1876. 
 The Spectator, 1874. 
 F. C. Cook. 
 Professor Bain. 
 Walter Besant. 
 The London Times, 1 877. 
 Nineteenth Century, 1878. 
 J. A. Froude. 
 H. Parker, 1885. 
 A. C. Swinburne, 1888. 
 E. B. Pusey, 1874.
 
 214 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Sacerdotalism Earl Russell. 
 
 Sanitation 1S77. 
 
 Saxon-dom Carlyle. 
 
 Scientist Blackwood's Magazine, 1 874. 
 
 Scoundreldom J. A. Froude. 
 
 Seamy The London Times, 1884. 
 
 Seascape Macmillan's Magazine, 1876. 
 
 Settledness James Bryce, 1877. 
 
 Solidarity George P. Marsh, i860. 
 
 Storiologist The Academy, 1886. 
 
 Transliteration F. \V. Farrar. 
 
 Unknowable The Church Quarterly Re- 
 view, 1875. 
 
 Unyieldingness T. A. Trollope. 
 
 Uphillward F. W. Farrar. 
 
 Vaticanism The Hour, 187$. 
 
 Apply the same principles to the following words which 
 Webster's International Dictionary marks recent : 
 
 Eliminate, to (to obtain by separating, to 
 
 deduce). 
 Entrain, to (to put aboard, or to go 
 
 aboard). 
 Exploit, to (to utilize, or to make the 
 
 means of illegitimate gain). 
 Humanitarian (a philanthropist). 
 
 Outsider (a person not belonging to the 
 
 party mentioned). 
 
 By reference to standard dictionaries see whether or not 
 the critics are right who call these words recent : 
 
 Acquests, Immigrant. 
 
 E volute, Proclivity. 
 
 Productivity. 
 
 Americanisms. 
 
 The following words, which Webster's International Dic- 
 tionary gives as Americanisms, are to be examined that it
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OE STYLE 
 
 215 
 
 may be seen whether they are of American or of English 
 birth, and, if of American birth, whether or not they are a 
 provincial necessity, and, therefore, good English words. 
 
 Some of these words the student will do well to examine 
 by reference not only to other standard dictionaries, but 
 also to De Vere's "Americanisms," Bartlett's " Dictionary of 
 Americanisms," and the Glossary of James Russell Lowell's 
 " Biglow Papers." 
 
 Appreciate 
 
 (to raise in value). 
 
 Arctic 
 
 (a warm overshoe). 
 
 Barge 
 
 (a large omnibus). 
 
 Blatherskite 
 
 (a blusterer). 
 
 Boggle, to 
 
 (to make a botch of). 
 
 Book-store 
 
 (a bookseller's shop, Eng.). 
 
 Bunk 
 
 (a wooden bed). 
 
 Bureau 
 
 (a chest of drawers for 
 
 
 clothes). 
 
 Caption 
 
 (a heading). 
 
 Carry 
 
 (a portage). 
 
 Cinch 
 
 (a strong saddle-girth). 
 
 Claim, a or the 
 
 (the thing claimed). 
 
 Clerk 
 
 (an assistant in a shop or 
 
 
 store). 
 
 Coast, to 
 
 (to slide down hill). 
 
 Comforter 
 
 (a woollen tippet). 
 
 Conduct, to 
 
 (to behave). 
 
 Conductor 
 
 (a person having charge of a 
 
 
 public conveyance). 
 
 Cook-book 
 
 (a cookery book). 
 
 Corn-dodger 
 
 (a cake made of the meal of 
 
 
 Indian corn and baked un- 
 
 
 der the embers). 
 
 Dicker, to 
 
 (to barter). 
 
 Dime 
 
 (the tenth of a dollar). 
 
 Domestics 
 
 (cotton goods of home manu- 
 
 
 facture). 
 
 Dump, to 
 
 (to unload by tilting the cart). 
 
 Eagle 
 
 (a gold coin).
 
 2l6 RHETOR IC, ITS THEORY AKD PRACTICE 
 
 Emptyings 
 
 Firkin 
 
 Forehanded 
 
 Gums 
 
 Help 
 
 Hoosier 
 
 Inaugural 
 Inflationist 
 
 Jayhawker 
 Kuklux 
 
 Lobby, to 
 
 Lobbyist 
 Local 
 
 Location 
 
 Logy 
 
 Northerner 
 
 Praise meeting 
 Raider 
 
 Renewedly 
 Rily 
 Rooster 
 Scrimp 
 Settle, to 
 
 Set-back 
 Sidewalk 
 Slip 
 Southerner 
 
 Veteranize 
 
 (yeast). 
 
 (a small wooden vessel). 
 
 (in easy circumstances). 
 
 (overshoes). 
 
 (a domestic servant). 
 
 (a nickname of an inhabitant 
 
 of Indiana), 
 (an address). 
 
 (a person who favors a very 
 large issue of paper money), 
 (a guerilla). 
 
 (a secret political organiza- 
 tion in the South after the 
 civil war), 
 (to influence the votes of mem- 
 bers of a legislative body). 
 (a member of the lobby). 
 (a train accommodating a cer- 
 tain district), 
 (that which is located), 
 (heavy in motion or thought), 
 (an inhabitant of the North- 
 ern States). 
 (a religious service of song). 
 (a person who engages in a 
 
 raid). 
 (once more), 
 (roily), 
 (a cock). 
 (a miser), 
 (to establish in the pastoral 
 
 office). 
 (a counter current), 
 (a foot pavement), 
 (a pew in a church). 
 (an inhabitant of the South- 
 ern States). 
 (to re-enlist for service as a 
 soldier).
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 
 
 217 
 
 American and English Usage of Words. 
 
 The following words which American usage largely sub- 
 stitutes for words in use in England, the student is to ex- 
 amine for approval or criticism by reference to the diction- 
 aries, and to Richard Grant White's " Words and their 
 Uses," and De Vere's "Americanisms." 
 
 Baggage 
 
 for 
 
 luggage. 
 
 Bring 
 
 a 
 
 fetch. 
 
 Backward 
 
 
 forward 
 
 and 
 
 tt 
 
 and 
 
 Forward 
 
 
 forth. 
 
 Crackers 
 
 a 
 
 biscuit. 
 
 Elevator 
 
 tt 
 
 lift. 
 
 Fleshy 
 
 tt 
 
 stout. 
 
 Loan, to 
 
 a 
 
 to lend. 
 
 Mail, to 
 
 tt 
 
 to post. 
 
 Pitcher 
 
 a 
 
 jug- 
 
 Preserves 
 
 tt 
 
 sweets. 
 
 Railroad 
 
 it 
 
 railway. 
 
 Raise, to 
 
 tt 
 
 to grow. 
 
 (corn, wheat, etc.) 
 
 
 
 Sick 
 
 a 
 
 ill. 
 
 Stage 
 
 tt 
 
 coach. 
 
 Store 
 
 it 
 
 shop. 
 
 Street railroad 
 
 tt 
 
 tramway. 
 
 Stylish 
 
 a 
 
 smart. 
 
 Words Condemned by Verbal Critics. 
 
 These words deserve especial attention. As many of 
 them are used by reputable writers and speakers, the stu- 
 dent will learn by the careful consideration of these words 
 something more important than which of them offends 
 purity of style. He will come to know as in no other way, 
 at this period in his rhetorical training, the relative force of
 
 2l8 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 usage and of the laws of the language. In the examina- 
 tion of these words he should, therefore, consult, besides 
 the dictionary, such works as Gould's " Good English," Al- 
 ford's " The Queen's English," Moon's " The Dean's Eng- 
 lish," Hodgson's "Errors in the use of English," Earle's 
 "English Prose," and especially White's "Words and their 
 Uses," " Everyday English," and Fitzedward Hall's " Mod- 
 ern English." 
 
 It will be a profitable exercise to make the propriety of 
 the use of some of these words or forms — as reliable, stand- 
 point, is being done, etc. — the subject of a written discussion, 
 in which members of the class shall, according to choice, 
 present the affirmative and the negative side of the question. 
 
 Above 
 
 Advocate 
 
 Allow, to 
 
 Alternatives 
 
 Antiquarian 
 
 Anyhow 
 
 Assemblyman 
 
 Authoress 
 
 Certain, certainly 
 
 Champion 
 
 Commence 
 
 Complete, completely 
 
 Congressman 
 
 Defalcate, to 
 
 Divine 
 
 Dress 
 
 Execute, to 
 
 Experience 
 
 Extempore 
 
 First-rate 
 
 Folks 
 
 Graduates 
 
 Gratuitous 
 
 (as an adverb). 
 
 (as a verb). 
 
 (to accede to an opinion). 
 
 (referring to more than one). 
 
 (for antiquary). 
 
 (for in any manner). 
 
 (for member of assembly). 
 
 (for author). 
 
 (with more or most). 
 
 (as a verb). 
 
 (for begin). 
 
 (with more or most). 
 
 (for member of Congress). 
 
 (to embezzle). 
 
 (a clergyman). 
 
 (gown). 
 
 (to put to death a human 
 
 being), 
 (as a verb), 
 (as an adjective), 
 (of the highest excellence), 
 (folk). 
 
 (is graduated), 
 (without reason, unfounded).
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 
 
 219 
 
 Ice cream 
 
 Ice water 
 
 Infallible 
 
 Is being done 
 
 Juxtapose, to 
 
 Less 
 
 Mistaken be, to 
 
 Now 
 
 Noways 
 
 Official 
 
 Partially 
 
 Poetess 
 
 Present, to 
 
 Progress 
 
 Reliable 
 
 Remit 
 
 Restive 
 
 Spending time 
 
 Standpoint 
 
 Then 
 
 (iced cream). 
 
 (iced water). 
 
 (inevitable). 
 
 (is doing). 
 
 (for to place in juxtaposition). 
 
 (used for number instead of 
 
 fewer), 
 (to mistake), 
 (used as an adjective), 
 (nowise), 
 (officer), 
 (partly), 
 (for poet), 
 (to introduce), 
 (as a verb), 
 (for trustworthy), 
 (to send money in payment), 
 (for restless), 
 (passing time), 
 (for point of view), 
 (used as an adjective). 
 
 Colloquial Words, Cant, and Slang. 
 
 The following words, marked colloquial in Webster's In- 
 ternational Dictionary, are to be examined so that the stu- 
 dent may see which are permissible in informal oral dis- 
 course, and which are always to be avoided as vulgarisms 
 as are the words marked Cant or Slang. 
 
 COLLOQUIAL WORDS. 
 
 Aggravate, to 
 Bosh 
 
 Bounce, to 
 Brassy 
 Breeches 
 Buzz, to 
 
 (to irritate). 
 
 (empty talk). 
 
 (to eject violently). 
 
 (impudent). 
 
 (trousers). 
 
 (to talk incessantly).
 
 220 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Coach, to 
 
 (to train by special instruction) 
 
 Chuck, to 
 
 (to pitch). 
 
 Clip 
 
 (a blow with the hand). 
 
 Cotton, to 
 
 (to make friends with). 
 
 Cracked 
 
 (crack-brained). 
 
 Cute 
 
 (sharp, acute). 
 
 Dangerous 
 
 (in a condition of danger). 
 
 Den 
 
 (a snug retreat). 
 
 Disgruntle, to 
 
 (to anger). 
 
 Doctor, to 
 
 (to repair). 
 
 Downs 
 
 (a state of depression). 
 
 Drummer 
 
 (a commercial traveller). 
 
 Engineer 
 
 (to manage). 
 
 Feminine 
 
 (a woman). 
 
 Fib, to 
 
 (to speak falsely). 
 
 Fight 
 
 (pugnacity). 
 
 Figure, to 
 
 (to scheme). 
 
 Fishy 
 
 (improbable). 
 
 Fizzle 
 
 (a failure). 
 
 Fry 
 
 (a state of excitement). 
 
 Gallowses 
 
 (a pair of braces). 
 
 Getter-up 
 
 (a person who contrives any 
 
 
 thing). 
 
 Gush 
 
 (effusive speech). 
 
 Gusher 
 
 (a person who gushes). 
 
 Happen in, to 
 
 (to happen to come in). 
 
 Headachy 
 
 (afflicted with headache). 
 
 Heft 
 
 (weight). 
 
 Hunk 
 
 (a large piece). 
 
 Kelter 
 
 (proper condition). 
 
 Kinky 
 
 (crotchety). 
 
 Know-all 
 
 (a wiseacre). 
 
 Laze, to 
 
 (to waste time in sloth). 
 
 Locate, to 
 
 (to settle). 
 
 Lot 
 
 (a great deal). 
 
 Miff, to 
 
 (to offend slightly). 
 
 Moonshiny 
 
 (moonlight). 
 
 Muffish 
 
 (awkward). 
 
 Nag, to 
 
 (to tease in a small way).
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 
 
 221 
 
 Natty- 
 Notion 
 Offish 
 Outside 
 Patter, to 
 Peeper 
 Pokerish 
 Pull 
 
 Railroading 
 Rattle, to 
 Rattle, to 
 Reckon, to 
 Right along 
 
 Right away, or right off 
 Roomer 
 Rubbers 
 Rugged 
 Run 
 Run, to 
 Scamp, to 
 Scare 
 Scoot, to 
 Seedy 
 Set back 
 Set out 
 Settle 
 Shaky 
 Shaver 
 Ship, to 
 Shoppy 
 Sight 
 
 Slam-bang 
 Sleeper 
 Snake, to 
 Spin, to 
 Startlish 
 Stem-winder 
 Stop, to 
 Tantrum 
 
 (spruce). 
 
 (an inclination). 
 
 (shy). 
 
 (to the extreme limit). 
 
 (to chatter). 
 
 (the eye). 
 
 (adapted to cause fear). 
 
 (the act of rowing). 
 
 (managing a railway). 
 
 (to disconcert). 
 
 (to talk idly). 
 
 (to think). 
 
 (continuously). 
 
 (at once). 
 
 (lodger). 
 
 (overshoes). 
 
 (vigorous). 
 
 (a trip). 
 
 (to manage). 
 
 (to do work imperfectly). 
 
 (a fright). 
 
 (to go hastily away). 
 
 (shabby looking). 
 
 (a repulse). 
 
 (a display). 
 
 (to pay). 
 
 (easily shaken). 
 
 (a boy). 
 
 (to get rid of). 
 
 (pertaining to shops). 
 
 (a great number). 
 
 (with a slamming noise). 
 
 (a sleeping car). 
 
 (to drag or pull). 
 
 (to move swiftly). 
 
 (skittish). 
 
 (a stem-winding watch). 
 
 (to stay). 
 
 (a fit of ill-humor).
 
 222 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Teeny- 
 
 (tiny). 
 
 Teetotal 
 
 (total). 
 
 Ten-strike 
 
 (a decisive act). 
 
 Thick 
 
 (intimate). 
 
 Thumping 
 
 (heavy). 
 
 Tip 
 
 (a fee). 
 
 Upcountry 
 
 (inland). 
 
 Vim 
 
 (energy). 
 
 Weazeny 
 
 (shrivelled). 
 
 Wire, to 
 
 (to telegraph). 
 
 Yank, to 
 
 (to jerk). 
 
 Younker 
 
 (a young person). 
 
 CANT AND 
 
 SLANG. 
 
 Boodle 
 
 (bribe money). 
 
 Boss, to 
 
 (to act the boss). 
 
 Candidating 
 
 (the preaching of a clergyman 
 
 
 as a candidate). 
 
 Doctor, to 
 
 (to adulterate). 
 
 Enthuse, to 
 
 (to make enthusiastic). 
 
 Glim 
 
 (light). 
 
 Greek 
 
 (a knave). 
 
 Kid 
 
 (a young child). 
 
 Mossback 
 
 (an old partisan). 
 
 Mugwump 
 
 (an Independent). 
 
 Pipelaying 
 
 (making political combina- 
 
 
 tions). 
 
 Plug 
 
 (a worthless horse). 
 
 Pull 
 
 (an advantage). 
 
 Rummy 
 
 (strange). 
 
 Rope in, to 
 
 (to decoy). 
 
 Run into the ground, to 
 
 (to overdo). 
 
 Resurrect, to 
 
 (to disinter or reanimate). 
 
 Retiracy 
 
 (retirement). 
 
 Scalawag 
 
 (a scapegrace). 
 
 Shag-rag 
 
 (the ragged part of the com- 
 
 
 munity). 
 
 Shine 
 
 (a fancy).
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 22$ 
 
 Sockdolager (that which ends a matter). 
 
 Sorehead (a person disaffected by fail- 
 
 ure of some kind). 
 
 Splurge (a great display). 
 
 Sport (a sportsman). 
 
 Swell (a showy person). 
 
 Swell (having characteristics of rank 
 
 and importance). 
 
 Errors in the Use of Prepositions. 
 
 The following examples of the wrong use of prepositions 
 are given that the student may have occasion to consult 
 the valuable catalogue of verbs and the prepositions to be 
 used with them, in the Preface to Worcester's Unabridged 
 Dictionary : 
 
 i. He is accused with a grave offence. 
 
 2. It is not agreeable for him to meet his old acquaintances. 
 
 3. He is angry with his ill-treatment. 
 
 4. I connect this line to that. 
 
 5. The wives of the soldiers were frightened with the announce- 
 ment. 
 
 6. He is too greedy for popularity. 
 
 7. He is destined for high service. 
 
 8. May I ask from you a favor ? 
 
 9. He is yoked to goodness itself. 
 
 10. It is made with good material. 
 
 1 1 . I hope that it is consonant with your wishes. 
 
 12. He has a dislike for his captain. 
 
 13. The child's antipathy for the man is strange. 
 
 14. There is need for more help. 
 
 15. He. sympathizes now for his rival. 
 
 16. He bargained about the property for a long time. 
 
 1 7. The decision is acceptable with most of the heirs. 
 
 18. It is something peculiar with this stream. 
 
 19. What larger incentive for his best efforts could the man have? 
 
 20. Is this disagreeable for you.
 
 224 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 21. He truly repents for his evil influence. 
 
 22. The instruction is not adapted for such pupils. 
 
 23. He is possessed with a large estate. 
 
 24. He is a witness for the truth. 
 
 25. This I know will be a cure for the difficulty. 
 
 26. The child will die from the disease. 
 
 27. Is he emulous for honors ? 
 
 28. The more a man gives for this cause the larger will be his 
 ultimate reward. 
 
 29. He made an apology of what he had done. 
 
 30. One element of the school did not assimilate with the other. 
 
 31. He is descended of a good family. 
 
 32. She is careless with her valuables. 
 
 33. He concedes with my proposition. 
 
 34. The man grappled at him. 
 
 35. He is overwhelmed in trouble. 
 
 36. They mingle in good society. 
 
 37. He does not confide with me. 
 
 Miscellaneous Errors. 
 
 In the following examples, the student will name the error 
 in the use of the italicized word or phrase as a barbarism, 
 a Solecism, or an Impropriety, and substitute for it the proper 
 word or phrase. These examples will be useful as a means 
 to a general review of earlier studies in English. With a 
 large number of common errors in the use of words, the ex- 
 amples include the mistakes in elementary grammar which 
 experience in examining students for admission to college, 
 not to speak of what is often heard later in their extempo- 
 raneous and sometimes even in their prepared work, has 
 shown to need faithful attention until correct habits of 
 speech are formed. 
 
 1. He has tried to resurrect popular feeling, but the people do 
 not enthuse. 
 
 2. In discussing this matter he plead that the change had suc- 
 ceeded elsewhere.
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 225 
 
 3. I would have liked to have asked him about his brother. 
 
 4. You speaking of it, reminds me of the occurrence. 
 
 5. It grows everywheres here. 
 
 6. His manner was some improved after a few weeks in the 
 school. 
 
 7. I maintain, firstly, that it is the safest course for the party. 
 
 8. It is with those sort of plants that he succeeds. 
 
 9. Thusly, it follows from what has been said. 
 
 10. The decision was more unanimous than was expected. 
 
 11. He was treated illy by the other workmen. 
 
 12. His statement is now proven to be false. 
 
 13. Whichever way he lead I followed. 
 
 14. I knew of him succeeding once. 
 
 15. The seldom use of it. 
 
 16. He is not as tall as his brother. 
 
 1 7. I hoped to get quite a number of names. 
 
 18. Among this class you will find some good students. 
 
 19. The catcher 's accident. 
 
 20. It 's success is sure. 
 
 21. He is like a beast of prey who destroys without mercy. 
 
 22. A high spirited girl like her mother was. 
 
 23. I do not remember of saying that he was there. 
 
 24. The severity of all these diseases depend on their early treat- 
 ment. 
 
 25. I promise you that we could not have arranged a better trip for 
 the same time. 
 
 26. After the failure of all other subjects to interest, this nauseat- 
 ing scandal was brought on the carpet. 
 
 27. This philanthropic tendency has interfered with his daily avo- 
 cation. 
 
 28. A capacious hole made the boat useless. 
 
 29. Exercise physical, mental and moral are essential to the best 
 development. 
 
 30. Our country's great territory. 
 
 31. Is this your's ? 
 
 32. I have constantly met him going to town. 
 
 33. At the same time I were speaking to you. 
 
 34. Are you confident that he shall succeed ? 
 
 35. He drunk the water with feverish thirst. 
 
 15
 
 226 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 36. The tornado decimated the orchard leaving scarcely a tree 
 upright. 
 
 37. It is a report that should be wholly discounted. 
 
 38. Judson's the butcher. 
 
 39. A female has often governed England. 
 
 40. What was the. future career of Aaron Burr, we know. 
 
 41. I have a limited acquaintance. 
 
 42. For a lengthened period in the latter part of his life he was a 
 helpless invalid. 
 
 43. He partook of his dinner alone. 
 
 44. Prolific hailstones have visited us this season. 
 
 45. Since competition began in that line of furniture such articles 
 can be bought at a limited price. 
 
 46. That is the student who I gave the book to. 
 
 47. Why did you adopt that route ? 
 
 48. I was told of him winning the case. 
 
 49. Hardly had that disease left me than this attacked me. 
 
 50. He is now quite well, but hopes to be entirely well before he 
 returns. 
 
 51. My confidence in him is so implicit that I shall make no in- 
 quiries. 
 
 52. He had rode twenty miles to meet me at the train. 
 
 53. Will I see you in the winter ? 
 
 54. Every one of the taxpayers who built this hall have reason to 
 complain. 
 
 55. The balance of the audience remained until the end of the en- 
 tertainment. 
 
 56. I expect it was an expensive experiment. 
 
 57. He handed me a couple of books. 
 
 58. Neither of these authors were men who had to earn their 
 living. 
 
 59. I did not know that it was hers. 
 
 60. With his wealth he may do it easily. 
 
 61. I will be, expected there to-morrow. 
 
 62. Your postal came in time for me to get this electric. 
 
 63. He expects a raise in his salary next year. 
 
 64. It was he who came between you and /, and made this ill- 
 feeling. 
 
 65. Male and female teachers have been engaged.
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 2.2*7 
 
 66. It is one of many storms that has been peculiar to this sea- 
 son. 
 
 67. Our country's great territory. 
 
 68. It was myself who told you. 
 
 69. I knew him when he was a collegiate. 
 
 70. I do not like this party, he seems conceited. 
 
 71. When the kettle was hanged over the newly made fire. 
 
 72. The boy held firmly to a banister of the staircase. 
 
 73. They had a right to compel him to give back the money. 
 
 74. " It is me," I answered. 
 
 75. He denied that he had done it. 
 
 76. I pitied him laying so helpless before me. 
 yj. I left an order at Johnson's the tailor. 
 
 78. His benevolent actions last winter everyone remembers. 
 
 79. He was not able to take part in the observation of the anni- 
 versary. 
 
 80. The ropedancers were seen by a great audience. 
 
 81. Mother-in-laws are the inspiration of much cheap wit. 
 
 82. He enters the house, saw his victim alone, and brutally killed 
 him. 
 
 83. He laid clown for a little rest. 
 
 84. A long cortege followed him to the grave. 
 
 85. She looks beautifully to-night. 
 
 86. Deo volente, I will come Wednesday. 
 
 87. Where was you when he arrived ? 
 
 88. The never-to-be-forgotten description of the death of Helen 
 Pendennis. 
 
 89. He wired him to get ready for a boom in building lots near 
 the river. 
 
 90. The curricula of our college is too large for our faculty. 
 
 91. His strength of will and habits of application makes him suc- 
 cessful in whatever he attempts. 
 
 92. A young man don't go to the top in this business because he 
 has friends to boost him. 
 
 93. They were cotemporary. 
 
 94. The democracy has this year in New York State a larger vote 
 than the republican party. 
 
 95. Gents can get pants and kids at a very low price while we 
 are reducing our stock.
 
 228 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 96. Field day will not be changed unless the whole of the 
 students favor the change. 
 
 97. This he suffered for conscience's sake. 
 
 98. The exercise in gym is not long. 
 
 99. The dropping of a few shovelsfuloi earth, and it will all be over. 
 
 100. The news from the strike are conflicting. 
 
 101. It hadn't ought to be such a burden to you. 
 
 102. He set there for more than hour. 
 
 103. Before we agree to this let us ask cut bono ? 
 
 104. The appointment is to be given to whosoever the record of 
 the season shows to be the best man. 
 
 105. Ere we do this let us ponder o'er the matter, 
 
 106. I inaugurated the term with a letter home. 
 
 107. My friend and myself will join you at Antwerp. 
 
 108. Will you try and learn it ? 
 
 109. I met a quantity of friends while in Europe. 
 
 no. The enthusiasm has overflown, and we see the bad result in 
 a sentimental freshet. 
 
 in. Was it her or him who told you ? 
 
 112. A lady stood in the bow window. 
 
 113. Before the guilty man was hung he plead earnestly for a 
 week's respite. 
 
 114. It is difficult to perfectly translate this passage. 
 
 115. He waiteth for the morn but it comcth not. 
 
 116. Who are you calling. 
 
 1 17. One should be ready to do his duty whatever the cost. 
 
 118. Book after book added themselves to the useless pile. 
 
 119. Tell me who he injured. 
 
 1 20. Each of these facts are strong arguments. 
 
 121. I am sure that you shall do this after what has been said. 
 
 122. Will you call on this gentleman whom I have told you is to 
 visit me ? 
 
 123. You are real kind to help me out of this difficulty. 
 
 124. Charles has such a craze for baseball that his friends call him 
 a crank. 
 
 125. Diredly he saw me at the window he came to my room. 
 
 126. He does not live in this section. 
 
 127. The balance of the vacation went quickly. 
 
 128. Have you decided whether or no you will remain ?
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OE STYLE 22C) 
 
 129. He will tell you which of the two roads is the least difficult. 
 
 130. H&flew from the burning building only in time to save his life. 
 
 131. I have every confidence in him. 
 
 132. He is quite a football player as well as quite a musician. 
 
 133. He cannot speak any. 
 
 134. She donates this year a large sum to the hospital. 
 
 135. He loaned the young man a sum sufficient to pay his ex- 
 penses at college. 
 
 136. It was an abortive bonfire. 
 
 137. Whenever such a man talks to me he aggravates me. 
 
 138. I have travelled all over the state. 
 
 139. At length the meeting ended and we left the hall. 
 
 140. She thinks that she has now a sure preventative. 
 
 141. His business has ameliorated. 
 
 142. He has worked above his powers. ' 
 
 143. If you were posted you would not say that. 
 
 144. The prevalence of baseball and football in our schools and 
 colleges have not been without their moral as well as physical ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 145. Several officials were seen on the grounds. 
 
 146. He is one of those men who hopes to be famous some time. 
 
 147. Did you anticipate my arrival to-day? 
 
 148. She has beauty and wealth, and likewise goodness. 
 
 149. Take two spoonsful every hour. 
 
 1 50. My guide and myself were in doubt. 
 
 151. Why don't it come ? 
 
 152. The new manager is a success. 
 
 Exercises Without Reference to Dictionaries and 
 
 Other Books. 
 
 The following notes on violations of Purity are by Pro- 
 fessor Phelps. These notes, with the exercises for correc- 
 tion which come immediately after them, will provide 
 means, without further reference, for applying many of the 
 principles of the chapters on Purity. 
 
 1. Admire is improperly used in the sense of "desire ; " as in the 
 expression " I should admin' to go." In the seventeenth century it
 
 23O RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AA T D PRACTICE 
 
 was used to express wonder alone. Jeremy Taylor wrote, " In man 
 there is nothing admirable but his ignorance and his weakness ; " 
 that is, nothing surprising. Modern usage has added, in its use of 
 the word, to the idea of wonder, that of approval. 
 
 2. Alternative is often used, in improper construction, in the 
 phrase " which of two alternatives." In strict definition, an alterna- 
 tive is a choice between two things. We say, " This was the alter- 
 native," and then specify two things between which the choice must 
 be made. Two alternatives imply four objects of selection. Dr. 
 Chalmers employs the word correctly when he says, " My purpose 
 might have been expressed in the following short alternative : that, 
 if I got my arrangements in the parish of St. John's, I would not take 
 the professorship ; but, if I did not get them, I would think of it." 
 Here are two hypotheses making one alternative. 
 
 3. Anon is now obsolescent. In the phrase " ever and anon " we 
 sometimes hear it, but even there the word is retiring behind the 
 cover of poetic license. 
 
 4. As is improperly used for " that." " I do not know as I shall 
 go " was once good English : now " as " thus employed is a vulgar- 
 ism. 
 
 5. Awful in the sense of " disagreeable " is an impropriety. It 
 is a provincialism of New England. Lambert, in his " American 
 Travels," says, " The country-people of New England speak of 
 everything that creates surprise as being awful : they say an ' awful 
 wind,' ' an awful hole,' ' an awful mouth.' ' Robert Hall, by a singu- 
 lar lapse from his usually pure dialect, employs the word in the same 
 sense. Two travellers at Rome once criticised Michael Angelo's 
 statue of Moses. " Is it not awful ? " said one. " Yes," answered 
 the other : " it is sublime." — " No, no ! " rejoined the other : " I 
 meant awfully ugly." The second speaker used the word in its legit- 
 imate sense of " inspiring awe. " Dr. Barrow speaks of God as an 
 " awful Being." Dr. Watts describes the joys of heaven as involving 
 " awful mirth." This is another sense of the word, that of being 
 " filled with awe," once in good use, but now obsolete. 
 
 6. Base used in the sense of " found : " " He based his argument 
 on testimony." This use, till a very recent period, was condemned 
 by critics ; but it has made its way into the language. Dr. Whately 
 employs it, and he rarely uses a word not good English. 
 
 7. Belittle. — We need this word : we have no exact equivalent.
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 23 I 
 
 Some dictionaries admit it. But at present it is not supported by the 
 best usage. Mr. Bartlett, the author of the most valuable work we 
 have on Americanisms, says that Thomas Jefferson is the only au- 
 thor of distinction who has employed it. He is not sufficient literary 
 authority for the creation of a word. This word is one of a large 
 class of compounds of the word " be " which tempt a loose writer. 
 The fact deserves notice, that more than a hundred of these com- 
 pounds found in one of our standard dictionaries are not good Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 8. Calculate for Think is a provincialism of New England. 
 Its proper meaning is to " reckon." By a singular coincidence, this 
 latter word is also used as a provincialism at the West and at the 
 South for the idea for which " calculate " is employed in New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 9. Can but vs. Can not but. — Which ? Shall we say, " I can 
 not but think," or " I can but think " ? The best usage prefers the 
 former. 
 
 10. Christianization. — We have no such word in classic use, 
 though the dictionaries contain it. The participle " Christianizing " 
 is employed in a substantive sense. Good taste avoids, if possible, 
 words of six syllables. Saxon idiom chooses brevity. 
 
 11. Christless is to be found in dictionaries, but not in the best 
 authors. It is a barbarism of the pulpit. 
 
 12. Communitv should not be used without the article, to express 
 the idea of " population." The article is often omitted when the 
 word expresses the abstract idea, as in the phrase " community of 
 goods." But to indicate the people of a city we should say " the 
 community." 
 
 13. Conditioned, in the sense of "dependent upon." American 
 dictionaries recognize this : but in the best usage, the word is still 
 restricted to its old meaning; that is, " stipulated." 
 
 14. Conduct is often improperly used without tin- reflexive pro- 
 noun ; as in the phrase " he conducts will." It should be " he con- 
 ducts himself well." 
 
 15. Compound Words. — The following memoranda deserve 
 notice : 
 
 (1) The presumption is always against the purity of compounds of 
 great length. The license, in this respect, in which the German mind 
 luxuriates, the English language does not tolerate. The Saxon taste,
 
 232 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 which inclines always to brevity, keeps multitudes of words of this 
 structure at bay. Individual authors coin them, but the national 
 mind rejects them. 
 
 (2) The study of the German language and literature should be 
 conducted with precaution against the use of compounds. German 
 taste manufactures them without restriction. The German language 
 admits them without violence to its structure and its history. Not 
 so the English language. Yet our language suffers from the use of 
 German importations by students of German literature who are not 
 classic in their rhetorical tastes. 
 
 (3) Therefore, whenever a compound word betrays a foreign origin, 
 it should be regarded with suspicion. Some such words have doubt- 
 less become good English, but multitudes of other such have not. 
 
 (4) Compounds which from their signification are likely to be of 
 clannish or technical origin should be suspected. Such words 
 should be presumed to be barbarisms till their right to a place in the 
 language is proved by investigation. 
 
 (5) Compounds which by reason of their construction are odd, or 
 difficult of enunciation, are presumptively not good English. Dr. 
 Orville Dewey coins the word " rich-man-ness " to express pride of 
 purse. The oddity of the word should be enough to condemn it. 
 Scholarly taste never can have coined such a word. A member of 
 the American Congress once said that he was not a good speaker, 
 and that he was obliged to hold on to his desk and steady himself, if 
 he attempted to use the word "eleemosynary." Many of the com- 
 pound words which are lying around loose upon the outskirts of our 
 language, if tried by the same test, would fail of admission. 
 
 (6) Compounds which evidently descend to low or comic style are 
 presumptively not pure English. A writer in our current literature 
 coins the word " go-ahead-a-tive-ness." One need not pause to in- 
 vestigate usage to know that such an abortion as this has no place in 
 classic English. An interesting phase in the history of such com- 
 pounds is witnessed in the history of the Greek literature. In its 
 earliest periods, when the language was in its infancy, as in Homer 
 and Hesiod, compound words abounded. When the language reached 
 its maturity, in the works of the later poets and philosophers, but 
 few such words were used, or recognized by classic authority. They 
 are not favorites with Plato. At that period the large majority of 
 long compounds are found in the comic writers alone. Aristophanes
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 233 
 
 abounds with them. He is reported to have once coined a word of 
 seventy-seven syllables. They were used as an expedient for ex- 
 pressing low or ludicrous ideas. 
 
 A striking similarity to this is seen in the use of such words in our 
 own language. They multiply in number as we descend from se- 
 rious and dignified productions to the comic and the vulgar. Their 
 spawn is in the swampy low grounds of our literature. 
 
 (7) Yet it must be admitted, that, in our language, compounds of 
 two syllables are very numerous. It is an old Saxon usage to coin 
 new words by linking two old ones. Such compounds as " dog-star," 
 " day-labor," " state-rights," are perfectly good, and, scores like 
 them. Why some, and not others, are admitted by the national 
 taste, it is often impossible to say. A cultivated taste and a delicate 
 ear must gradually form one's style till extensive reading has given to 
 it a classic character. Years of unbridled license in the use of com- 
 pounds can only corrupt one's style hopelessly. 
 
 16. Declension is improperly used to signify the act of declining. 
 It is a good word to express the state of decline, or the process of 
 decline. But we cannot say, " He sent in his declension of the of- 
 fice." Webster's Dictionary admits the word in this sense, but it is 
 not found in the works of the first class of English authors. We 
 need a word to express the act in question : we have none but the 
 participle " declining." Somebody was in distress for the right word 
 who reported that a certain officer had sent in his " decleniency." 
 " Declinature " may yet make its way into reputable use. 
 
 17. Deed used as a verb is a technicality of law, not good English 
 elsewhere. 
 
 18. Deity should not be used without the article except to express 
 the abstract quality of divinity. It is not the proper synonym of " God." 
 
 19. Desk for Pulpit, in the phrase "sacred desk," is an 
 Americanism. 
 
 20. Deputize is one of the numerous coinages of verbs by the 
 Greek termination ize. The right word is " depute." 
 
 21. Donate is one of the counterfeit coins of verbs from substan- 
 tives never used by writers of critical taste. The substantives " do- 
 nation " and " donative " are good words. 
 
 22. Don't. — The contraction is noticeable as being often used col- 
 loquially for " doesn't." To say. even conversationally, " he don't," 
 is not grammatical, unless the subjunctive mood is employed.
 
 234 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 23. Doxologize. — It is astonishing that so scholarly a critic as 
 Dr. Worcester should have admitted this word into his dictionary on 
 the obsolete authority of the early editions of an English dictionary 
 from which it was afterwards excluded. 
 
 24. Drouth for Drought. — A relic of Anglo-Saxon orthog- 
 raphy. Used by Lord Bacon, now a vulgarism. 
 
 25. Effectuate. — We have no such word in classic use, though 
 dictionaries contain it. 
 
 26. Energize is improperly used to signify exerting energy : its 
 true meaning is to impart energy. 
 
 27. England for Britain. — The error here is not that of calling 
 the three countries by the name of one : that is politically correct, and 
 sustained by usage. The error is the anachronism of designating the 
 three kingdoms by the single name of England before their union. 
 The most scholarly usage would not authorize us to say that " Caesar 
 invaded England : " he invaded Britain. So Gaul was conquered by 
 the Romans, not France. 
 
 28. Evangelization is one of the long-winded words which 
 more classic use has curtailed to the participial noun " evangel- 
 izing." 
 
 29. Eventuate is a barbarism, like " effectuate," the origin of 
 which is unknown. 
 
 30. Exhumate. — Somebody has coined this verb from the good 
 English noun " exhumation." The true verb is " exhume." 
 
 31. Expect for Think is a vulgarism, probably suggested by the 
 similar use of the word " suspect " as the synonym of " think. " Both 
 are provincial vulgarisms of New England. 
 
 32. Extreme should not be used as if it were the positive form 
 of the adjective : it is the superlative. Good usage, therefore, does 
 not authorize the phrases " more extreme," " most extreme." 
 
 33. Fall for Autumn is not objectionable colloquially ; but, in 
 public discourse, " autumn " is in better taste. It is to be regretted 
 that we have not retained uniformity of Anglo-Saxon titles for the 
 four seasons. We need the word " harvest '* in place of autumn, 
 the old Saxon " hearfest." In the rural districts of England one often 
 hears the seasons indicated by the titles spring, summer, harvest, 
 winter. 
 
 34. Fellowship is improperly used as a verb. This use of it is 
 generally condemned as an Americanism. But it was thus used by
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 235 
 
 Sir Thomas Mallory, in the " History of King Arthur," and published 
 by the celebrated printer Caxton, in 1485. This error is therefore of 
 English origin ; but it has fallen out of good use there, and is prob- 
 ably one of the words retained in this country by the early emigrants 
 from Great Britain. Many words and significations of this class are 
 now supposed to be Americanisms which are really old English, now 
 obsolete in the mother-country, but not so here. 
 
 35. Firstly for First. — " Secondly," " thirdly," etc., are correct ; 
 but " first " is itself an adverbial form. Charles Dickens generally 
 uses " firstly." De Ouincey also employs it. 
 
 36. Fix, in the sense of " to put in order," is incorrect. It is an 
 Americanism which has no authority in scholarly usage. The proper 
 meaning of the word is " to make firm." 
 
 37. Fixity for Fixedness is a barbarism. It is probably im- 
 ported from the French fixitL To illustrate the distress for a bar- 
 baric style which literary men sometimes manifest, the error of Rob- 
 ert Boyle, the Irish philosopher, deserves notice, in coining the word 
 " fixidity." 
 
 38. Gift improperly used as a verb is sometimes heard. We 
 have the participial form " gifted," and probably the verbal use of 
 " gift " has been coined from that. 
 
 39. Gospel. — Improperly employed as an adjective in a host of 
 compounds ; such as, " gospel-light," " gospel-privileges," " gospel- 
 truth," " gospel-preaching," " gospel-sinners," etc. Not one of these 
 is in classic use. 
 
 40. Happify is a barbarism. Even " dictionaries unabridged " do 
 not contain it. 
 
 41. Heaven is improperly used as the synonym of " God." Mil- 
 ton speaks of " the permission of all-ruling Heaven." It must be 
 conceded that old English usage authorizes this, but any impersonal 
 title of God should be generally avoided. 
 
 42. Heavenly-mindedness is one of the cant words for which 
 we are indebted to the Puritan pulpit. " A heavenly mind " ex- 
 presses the idea perfectly. " Heavenly minded " carries the com- 
 pound to its extreme. 
 
 43. Hope is improperly used for " hope for." Dr. Charming, who 
 is not often guilty of unscholarly English, says, " We may hope the 
 blessing of God." 
 
 44. How is often improperly employed interrogatively for some
 
 236 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 such query as, " What did you say, sir? " This is a colloquial vul- 
 garism of New England. Thus used, the word has no meaning 
 to which it can be grammatically applied. A man not accustomed 
 to the dialect of cultivated society, if he has not understood the re- 
 mark of a friend says, " How ? " meaning that he desires a repetition 
 of the remark. Polite usage, in such a case, prescribes the formula, 
 " I beg your pardon," or " Excuse me, sir." These have a meaning 
 pertinent to the case. " How ? " signifies nothing. Such colloquial 
 errors would not deserve a place here, were it not that the indulgence 
 of them in conversational habit inevitably creates similar violations of 
 good taste in written style. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes remarks, 
 that the two signs of ignorance of cultured society are, that a man 
 eats with his knife, and says, " Haow ? " 
 
 45. Illy for III was in good use in Jeremy Taylor's time, but is 
 now obsolete. 
 
 46. Implicit in the sense of " undoubting," as in the phrase " im- 
 plicit trust," is recognized by the dictionaries, but not by the most 
 scholarly authors. Its proper meaning is the opposite of " explicit." 
 "Did he assent to the contract? Not explicitly, but implicitly;" 
 that is, by implication. Etymology still rules the signification of both 
 these words. " Involved "and " evolved " express the contrast of ideas. 
 
 Yet it must be conceded that the word, in the sense here con- 
 demned, is making its way into good use. Only the more scrupulous 
 authors now reject it. De Ouincey makes a concession to it, when 
 he says, that, in all his reading, he had found only two authors, 
 Coleridge and Wordsworth, who uniformly employ it in its old ety- 
 mological meaning. If only two writers within a large range of 
 literature are faithful to its ancient use, it must be far on towards 
 establishment in the language. 
 
 47. Inaugurate in the sense of " introduce " is an impropriety. 
 The proper sense is " to invest with office." It always refers to 
 some official solemnity. The derivation of it from the old Roman 
 augur indicates this ; the augurs being the officers who invested the 
 emperors with office by religious ceremonies. Yet so scholarly an 
 authority as The North American Review says that a certain ship 
 " was only a copy of a model inaugurated by Mr. Collins." Grant 
 White, commenting upon this, suggests that the writer should have 
 added, that " the President of the United States was invented on the 
 4th of March."
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 237 
 
 48. Incident is improperly confounded with " liable." Says a 
 living writer " The work was incident to decay." He should have 
 turned it end for end. Decay may be incident to a work : the work 
 is liable to decay. 
 
 49. Intend. — A very common impropriety is the use of this word 
 as the synonym of " mean." To intend is to purpose, to will. Dean 
 Trench commits this error in his " Study of Words." 
 
 50. Irreligionist is another of the barbarous coinages of recent 
 years. 
 
 51. Jeopardize is an Americanism, coined with the Greek form 
 of termination. The English word is " jeopard." 
 
 52. Lay and Lie. — The preterites of these two verbs are often 
 confounded. Scholarly thoughtfulness is requisite to enable even an 
 educated man always to avoid the error. Says a graduate of Har- 
 vard College, " He laid down." He should have said, either " He 
 lay down," or " He laid himself down." 
 
 53. Lengthy for Long is very common in this country, and is 
 used by some English reviews, and commended by some authorities. 
 But " lengthy " certainly contains an idea which "long" does not 
 contain. It includes the idea of tediousness, and therefore it is not 
 wholly useless. It is employed by Coleridge and Lord Byron. 
 
 54. Lieve for Lief. — The latter is the English word. Shake- 
 speare is classic in saying, " I had as lief the town-crier spoke my 
 lines." The meaning is " willingly." Spenser, in the " Faerie 
 Oueene," employs " lief " as an adjective. That use is obsolete. 
 The word is an old Saxon adverb. 
 
 55. Long used as a noun is a very frequent error in the style of 
 Alison the historian. " He was gone for long," says Alison, mean- 
 ing, " for a long time." 
 
 56. Mean for Means. — Till recently the Scottish writers favored 
 the singular form ; the English, the plural. Since the time of Addi- 
 son, English and American use has adopted the plural. It is now- 
 used with either the plural or the singular pronoun. 
 
 57. Methinks for I think was an old Anglo-Saxon form, but it 
 has become obsolete except in poetry. Yet there are two remarkable 
 authorities for it. One is Edward Everett in his celebrated vision of 
 " The Mayflower : " " Methinks I see it now ! " The other is Haw- 
 thorne. Both are good authorities ; but it is improbable that either 
 would use it if living now.
 
 238 RHETORIC , ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 58. Mighty for Very should not find a place here if it were 
 not used by graduates of colleges. " Mighty small," " mighty 
 weak," etc., are among those improprieties which creep into one's 
 written style if indulged in colloquially. It was in reputable use in 
 England two hundred years ago. 
 
 59. Militate with should be " militate against." We say, 
 " Conflicts with," obeying the etymology of the verb ; but the other 
 phrase has no such defence. 
 
 60. Missionate, in the sense of " to act as a missionary." — It 
 oecurs in The Missionary Herald, and is occasionally heard in 
 sermons. We have no such word in the language. 
 
 61. Moot, improperly employed in the phrase "moot-point." — 
 The word is a technicality of schools of law, in which imaginary 
 courts are held for the disciplinary exercises of students. It has no 
 classic authority. 
 
 62. News. — Is it singular, or plural ? Illiterate usage asks, 
 " What are the news ? " Milton says, " 111 news rides fast." 
 
 63. Nice in the sense of " agreeable " is an Americanism. We 
 speak improperly of a " nice day," a " nice fortune." A common 
 vulgarism in metropolitan society is to designate certain persons as 
 " nice people," meaning that they are agreeable people. The correct 
 meaning of the word is " fastidious." A nice critic is a critic of fas- 
 tidious taste. 
 
 64. No. — The phrase " whether or no " in pure English should 
 be " whether or not.'' 
 
 65. Notify. — Should we " notify " a meeting, or " notify " an au- 
 dience of a meeting ? The English and American usages differ. 
 The English adopt the first ; and the American, the second. The 
 English follow the original Latin etymology, deriving the word from 
 notifico. The Americans follow the secondary derivation of the 
 word, from the French notifier. The English form is the better of 
 the two ; that is, it is in closer affinity with the structure of the lan- 
 guage. To " notify," by the analogy of other words of similar 
 termination, should signify, "to make a thing known." Therefore 
 we should notify the meeting, not the audience. 
 
 66. Obligate for Oblige. — Richardson's Dictionary says that 
 this word "is the more common among the common people." 
 Smart's Dictionary says that it " is never heard among those who 
 conform to the usage of the upper classes." The " British Critic"
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 239 
 
 says, " It is a low, colloquial inaccuracy." Dr. Worcester says, " It 
 is much used in the United States." Webster admits it without ob- 
 jection. The history of the word is indicated in this succession of 
 authorities. Doubtless it was formerly a barbarism, but has been 
 growing toward, if not into, good use. Some critics contend that 
 the derivation of it from the unexceptionable word " obligation " 
 should settle the question. But a speaker in the American Congress 
 once declared, " Mr. Speaker, I hurl the allegation back with scorn 
 upon the head of the allegator." Did the correctness of one word 
 here follow as a necessity from the accuracy of the other ? English 
 usage has no law for coining as a thing of course one word from 
 another closely resembling it. Every word stands on its own merits ; 
 yet not always on its merits, but on the sheer will, even the caprice, 
 of the national mind. 
 
 67. Onto is a vulgarism. The two prepositions " on " and " to " 
 may occur consecutively, but the combination is often used where 
 the second preposition is useless. " He fell onto the rocks." " Upon " 
 would be the better form. 
 
 68. Open up is a phrase recognized as idiomatic English by lexi- 
 cographers, but meaningless in its structure, and not used by the 
 best authors. Why " up," rather than " down " or " out " ? A 
 good general rule in composition is to check one's pen in the writing 
 of any phrase which seems to be redundant, or without obvious sense. 
 
 69. Ought. — -It should not be, but it is, necessary to caution even 
 graduates of American colleges against the use of vulgar inflections 
 of this word ; such as, " hadn't ought," etc. 
 
 70. Plead, used as a preterite form for " pleaded," is a corruption 
 of long standing in the language ; is found in Spenser's " Faerie 
 Queene," but is almost universally avoided by scholars. 
 
 71. Plenty, used as an adjective for " plentiful." — Dr. Webster 
 is almost alone among lexicographers in admitting this. Shake- 
 speare, however, employs it : " If reasons were plenty as black- 
 berries, I would give no man a reason on compulsion." But good 
 use is generally averse to it at present. 
 
 72. Predicate in the sense of " found " is an Americanism, con- 
 fined chiefly to the usage of the bar, as when an advocate says, " I 
 predicate my client's claims upon admitted facts ; " meaning, " I 
 found," etc. This is entirely opposed to the classic English use. 
 " Predicate " means " to assert," nothing else.
 
 240 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 73. Profanity and Profaneness. — Which ? Usage is not uni- 
 form. The latter form is in closer analogy than the former with the 
 structure of the English language. Professor Park says, that, if one 
 says " profanity," one 7>iay be supported by good usage, but that, if 
 one says " profaneness," one is sure to be thus supported ; that is, 
 the first of these forms is of doubtful authority. 
 
 74. Professor, used as the synonym of " communicant " in the 
 church, is an impropriety limited to the dialect of the pulpit and to 
 that of those who take their habits of speech from it. It is never used 
 by secular authors of any rank. 
 
 75. Progress, employed as a verb intransitive, should be marked 
 as doubtful. Dr. Worcester says that the majority of authors of the 
 first class avoid it. Critics commonly condemn it as an Americanism, 
 but it is not such. It is found in the elder English authors, and 
 probably was in good repute two centuries ago. Shakespeare, in King 
 Lear, says, " Let me wipe off this honorable dew, that silverly doth 
 progress on thy cheeks." The pronunciation of the word in Shake- 
 speare's time probably accented the first syllable. If so, the word 
 was one of those forms in which the verb and the noun are distin- 
 guished by difference of accent ; as in the words " twzduct " and 
 " conduct." 
 
 76. Quite in the sense of " very " is not good English ; as in the 
 expression " quite recently," or " the discourse was quite long." The 
 true meaning of " quite " is " entirely." 
 
 77. Raise is improperly employed in two American provincialisms, 
 one used in the Southern States, and the other in the Northern. 
 Southern usage says, " He was raised in Alabama ; " " raise " being 
 used in the sense of " to bring up." Northern usage says, " They 
 raised a committee ; " " raise " being used in the sense of " to ap- 
 point." Classic English admits neither. 
 
 78. Rather, in the phrase " I had rather," should be preceded by 
 "would" instead of "had." "Rather" expresses a preference. 
 " Had rather " is probably a corruption of the phrase " had better," 
 which is a pure English idiom. The translators of the Old Testa- 
 ment into English committed the error in making the Psalmist say, 
 " I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God." 
 
 79. Reluct and Reluctate are both barbarisms, though some 
 dictionaries admit them on the authority of authors of inferior rank. 
 
 80. Remorse should not be employed to express only the sense of
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 24 1 
 
 sin. Remember always, in the use of this word, its etymological 
 meaning, "remordeo" "to bite back." This idea the word has 
 never lost. Remorse is retaliatory, not salutary. It tends to no good. 
 Shakespeare says, " Nero will be tainted with remorse." Penitence 
 and hope should accompany a sense of sin, then remorse ceases. 
 The sense of sin then becomes remedial, as distinct from retributive. 
 It is doubtful whether John Randolph, when on his death-bed he 
 could not speak, but wrote on a card the word " remorse," meant any- 
 thing more than that he felt himself to be a great sinner. 
 
 81. Remove, in the phrase "an infinite remove," is erroneous. 
 Usage limits the use of the word in such connections to a small dis- 
 tance. Addison says, " A freeholder is but one remove from a legis- 
 lator." 
 
 82. Retrospect used as a verb.— It is admitted by some lexicog- 
 raphers, but rarely acknowledged by good writers. 
 
 83. Sang, Spake, Sprang, have, for the most part, yielded to the 
 more modern forms, " sung," " spoke," " sprung." These double 
 forms originally expressed different numbers of the tense. " Sang " 
 was the singular ; and " sung " the plural. The disappearance of this 
 distinction leaves no occasion for the retention of both forms, and 
 the old singular forms are obsolescent. 
 
 84. Save for Except is obsolete, except in poetry and in biblical 
 quotation. 
 
 85. Scripturality is not used by authors of the first class. 
 Yet we have no one word to take its place. 
 
 86. Selfsame is obsolescent, and was never in classic use. 
 " Same " expresses the whole idea. 
 
 87. Shall and Will are improperly interchanged. In Ireland, 
 " will " is frequently employed for " shall ; " and in Scotland the re- 
 verse is common. In the Southern and some of the Western States 
 of this country, the Irish error is frequent. " I will need the means 
 of going," says a native of Virginia. The structure of our language 
 tempts one to this error. In declension we are taught to say, " I 
 will, you shall, he shall ; " but we reverse the forms, and say, " I 
 shall, you will, he will." It is out of this irregularity of declension, 
 probably, that the error has arisen. 
 
 Worcester's Unabridged Dictionary and Webster's International 
 Dictionary should be consulted for further consideration of shall and 
 will.
 
 242 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 88. Shew for Shewed, and pronounced as if it were " shue," 
 is a singular corruption, often heard in the city of Boston among 
 some who call themselves people of culture. " He shew me how to 
 do it." 
 
 89. Shortcomings is authorized by the dictionaries, but when 
 you are tempted to use it, remember that " Cummings " is a not 
 uncommon family name in New England, and that those who bear 
 it differ in stature. De Ouincey condemns the word as a Scotticism. 
 He says that it is " horridly tabernacular," that " no gentleman 
 would touch it without gloves." 
 
 90. Sidehill should give place to the more classic form " hill- 
 side." 
 
 91. Some is improperly used for " somewhat." "Is the patient 
 better ? " — " Some better." " Does it rain ? " — " Yes, some." 
 
 92. Solemnize, in the sense of " to make solemn." — " Solemnize 
 our minds " is often heard in extemporaneous prayer. This and the 
 word " shortcomings " are the potent arguments for a Liturgy. " Sol- 
 emnize," however, is not a barbarism : it is a good and ancient 
 English word. It means " to celebrate a religious ceremony." 
 We properly speak of " solemnizing " a marriage. In Shakespeare's 
 time, even the word " solemn " was employed in similar connec- 
 tions, but without any necessary idea of seriousness. It was em- 
 ployed in reference to any important ceremony. Macbeth, on the 
 occasion of his coronation, says, " To-night we hold a solemn sup- 
 per ; " that is, " a festival of inauguration." From such a history 
 the word " solemnize " has grown. 
 
 93. Soul. — This word has in Webster's Dictionary no less than 
 thirty-five compounds, of which not more than three can be said to 
 be in classic use. All the rest are a burden of barbarism upon the 
 force of the language. 
 
 94. Spiritual-Mindedness. — " A spiritual mind " expresses the 
 whole idea, and is a form which would not repel a scholarly taste. 
 
 95. Station vs. Depot. — Which? By authority of usage, 
 both ; but by that of good taste, " station " is the purer English. It 
 is English in its structure, and is generally used in England. 
 " Depot " is of French origin ; and, in the American use of it, it is 
 diverted from its French signification, which is " a depository for 
 freight." If we follow the French, why not do so in pronunciation 
 of the word ? Our language would be improved by the adoption of
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYIE 243 
 
 both words, retaining severally the English and the French significa- 
 tions. Let passengers be deposited at a "station," and freight at a 
 " depot." 
 
 96. Stricken for Struck is an impropriety, except in the usage 
 of legislative bodies. A clause is spoken of as " stricken " from a 
 legislative bill. In other connections the word is the synonym of 
 " afflicted." 
 
 97. Sundown should give way to the more classic form " sunset." 
 Even the common people of England piefer the latter form. 
 
 98. Systemize. — One of the few cases in which usage has tri- 
 umphed over the Saxon love of brevity in the growth of our lan- 
 guage is, that we must say, not " systemize," but " systematize." 
 
 99. Talent vs. Talents. — Which? Both, but not as syno- 
 nyms. " Talent " should not be employed collectively. We may not 
 say, " a man of talent," but " of talents." 
 
 100. Temper for Anger. — The proper English sense of the word 
 "temper" is just the opposite of anger. It contains the same idea 
 which is in its derivative " temperate." It means moderation or 
 self-possession. Pope writes, " teach me ... to fall with dignity, 
 with temper rise." 
 
 101. Thanks! for the phrase / thank you, is an exclamation in 
 colloquial use, of recent origin. It is criticised by a respectable 
 class of conservators of good English. Yet it is a curious fact that 
 the innovation is practised chiefly by those who profess to be men 
 and women of culture. Rarely do we hear it from the lips of the 
 common people. It is an affectation originated by somebody who 
 mistook eccentricity for smartness. It is, however, one of those af- 
 fectations of urban society which the sturdy good sense of the people 
 will reject. Already protests against it begin to be heard. It is 
 said that one of the most eminent groups of literary men in this 
 country has agreed to avoid it in the interest of Saxon purity of col- 
 loquial English. Tennyson, if report speaks truly, reproved it in one 
 of his own guests by responding to it, " Thanks, yes, or Thanks, 
 no ? — which is it ? " 
 
 It is a safe general rule, never to adopt the colloquial novelties 
 which the society of cities originates, on such authority alone. Met- 
 ropolitan taste, as such, nowhere represents either the most, accom- 
 plished scholarship or the soundest good sense in the use of language. 
 If the backwoods and the low grounds of society corrupt the language
 
 244 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 in their speech, the ruling classes of great cities do the same, with 
 less excuse for their error. The impure English originated by them 
 would make a small dictionary by itself. The multitude of the great 
 middle classes in the social scale, as a rule, speak purer English than 
 either extreme. 
 
 102. Then should not be used adjectively. Edmund Burke, who 
 does not often fall into errors of style, speaks of himself as being 
 " unknown to the then ministry." Had he said " the then existing 
 ministry," he would have used good English. 
 
 103. This or That for Thus. — " This much," " that much," are 
 modern corruptions. They have no hold upon good authority. 
 
 104. Transpire. — What is its meaning? To "happen," or to 
 " become known "? The latter surely : it has no other signification 
 in good English use, the dictionaries to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 This is one of the cases in w T hich the liberty allowed by lexicogra- 
 phers degenerates into license. The idea of this word is very accurate- 
 ly given by the phrase " to leak out." " Transpire " and " perspire " 
 are etymologically nearly identical. They both imply the passing 
 out of something imperceptibly. Usage, therefore, has taken the 
 word " transpire " to express the coming of a secret thing to publicity. 
 If you associate these two words in your minds, the one may assist 
 you to remember the true meaning of the other. A New York jour- 
 nal spoke of the Mexican War as " transpiring in 1847." Grant 
 White, commenting on the style, observes, that, considering the 
 latitude in which the war occurred, the writer might as properly have 
 said that "the war perspired in 1847." 
 
 105. Ugly, in the sense of " ill-natured," is, for the most part, 
 found only in this country. The English sense of the word is " dis- 
 agreeable in personal appearance." In pure English we speak of an 
 ugly countenance, not of an ugly disposition. 
 
 106. Unbeknown is a vulgarism. We have no such word in the 
 language. 
 
 107. UN. — Let this prefix be noted for the sake of observing that 
 one of our standard dictionaries admits nearly three hundred words of 
 compound structure of which this is the initial syllable ; yet scarcely 
 more than one-half of these are probably extant in the writings of 
 eminent English authors, unless they are employed, as so many 
 compounds were in the Greek literature, for comic purposes. 
 
 108. Unwisdom and Unreason are examples of compounds, not
 
 EXERCISES IN PURITY OF STYLE 245 
 
 good English. The style of some writers and speakers seems to be 
 constructed on the theory that any word which is pure English may 
 give birth to its opposite by prefixing the negative prefix " un." 
 
 109. Variate is corrupt English for " vary." In New England 
 may be sometimes heard in prayer the petition, " Do thou variate 
 thy mercies," etc. 
 
 no. Was for Were. — Many cultivated men and women have not 
 learned the simple law of grammar which forbids the phrase " You 
 was," and the interrogative, " Was you ? " 
 
 in. Were for Was is a still more inexcusable corruption, because 
 it is commonly an affectation. People whose aspirations after the 
 name of culture exceed their acquisitions, often have a hazy idea that 
 something is wrong in certain uses of the word " was," and that 
 " were " is at any rate more literary. Therefore one says " When 
 I were in New York ; " and another responds, " I were in Europe 
 then." Probably the error has grown out of a confusion of the in- 
 dicative with the subjunctive mood. Because it is often wrong to 
 say, " If I was," some adopt " I were " for the indicative, when they 
 strain to be very accurate. When they think nothing about their 
 style, they probably talk good English, and say, " I was." 
 
 By the directions of the older grammarians we were required to 
 say, " if I were, if he were," etc., wherever the subjunctive was used ; 
 that is, the " past tense " of the subjunctive was not recognized. 
 Usage broke over that rule long before the grammarians saw the 
 necessity for doing so. 
 
 112. Whole for All is a very frequent corruption in the writing 
 of Alison the historian. He speaks of " the whole citizens of the 
 State." How many fragments of citizens were there ? Alison's 
 History is a splendid thesaurus of illustrations of bad English. 
 
 Apply the criticisms of Professor Phelps to the following 
 sentences. 
 
 1 . I should admire to be present when the prizes are awarded. 
 
 2. I calculate that you are right. 
 
 3. The body was exhumated. 
 
 4. We hope his recovery. 
 
 5. Methinks, I am again in the midst of strife. 
 
 6. He was born in Ireland but raised in this country. 
 
 7. We are to progress only as we improve in character.
 
 246 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 8. Full of temper he struck him a fatal blow. 
 
 9. I will be with you anon, and tell you about this strange event. 
 
 10. Did he conduct properly? 
 
 11. It is a most extreme application of the law. 
 
 12. How? I did not hear what you said. 
 
 13. He is a mighty good scholar. 
 
 14. Four monitors were raised on the basis of scholarship. 
 
 1 5. His shortcomings are as many now as formerly. 
 
 16. This much may be said in favor of the motion. 
 
 17. The position should have a man of talent. 
 
 18. The go-ahead-a-tive-ness of the man you will admire. 
 
 19. In the fall there are two holidays. 
 
 20. He has inaugurated a new play in the game. 
 
 21. This plan militated with all my other plans. 
 
 22. He said that he had rather go home. 
 
 23. The accident came from coasting on the side hill. 
 
 24. He was very ugly because of the opposition, and did not be- 
 come good-natured for a long time. 
 
 25. It has been awful weather for a month. 
 
 26. Has his declension of the call been received. 
 
 27. Ought we to fellowship men so heretical? 
 
 28. All such enterprises are incident to great losses. 
 
 29. He has given himself to missionating. 
 
 30. I greatly reluctate to accept this responsibility. 
 
 31. In one way he is some better, in another he is some worse. 
 
 32. Was this unbeknown to you ? 
 
 33. This was unbeknown to me. 
 
 34. I will deputize him to act for me. 
 
 35. After he announced his firstly, I anticipated his secondly and 
 thirdly. 
 
 36. He has become an irreligionist. 
 
 37. The news are bad to-day. 
 
 38. He is a long remove from his brother in ability and scholar- 
 ship. 
 
 39. It is a soul-inspiring scene. 
 
 40. Why will they follow a man of so much unreason and un- 
 wisdom ? 
 
 41. England in the first century of the Christian era gave little 
 promise of its future greatness.
 
 EXERCISES W PURITY OF STYLE 247 
 
 42. When my room is fixed I shall be glad to have you see it. 
 
 43. So valuable a life ought not to be jeopardized in such a cause. 
 
 44. He is obligated to do it. 
 
 45. As I retrospect I feel a depression of spirits. 
 
 46. The loss of spiritual - mindedness is soon recognized in 
 change of conduct. 
 
 47. To variate our methods is to give new life to our work. 
 
 48. It will eventuate in time. 
 
 49. I am satisfied with its fixity. 
 
 50. He would as lieve be a private as an officer. 
 
 51. The observation of this law will be strictly enforced. 
 
 52. His rugged health did not come wholly from inheritance. 
 
 53. Our train is now at the depot. 
 
 54. Was you there ? I were, but I did not see you. 
 
 55. We cannot have our pay except we work for it. 
 
 56. We ought to give them the gospel-light. 
 
 57. Is he away for long ? 
 
 58. The tree blew over and fell onto me. 
 
 59. While his bearing was not good, he spake well. 
 
 60. Mr. B. was stricken down with paralysis. 
 
 61. The whole of the pupils did not attend the lecture. 
 
 62. It must happify him to have such a welcome. 
 
 63. I love peaches. 
 
 64. He has opened up a suggestive field of thought. 
 
 65. I should not do this save for friendship. 
 
 66. To accomplish more you must systemize more. 
 
 67. A walk along the hill at sundown is always enjoyable. 
 
 68. His heavenly- mindedness is recognized in whatever he says 
 or does. 
 
 69. I like simplicity and purity. 
 
 70. He knew that he hadn't ought to do it. 
 
 71. The selfsame thought came to me. 
 
 72. He has a magnificent arm. 
 
 73. Fruit is so plenty that it is very cheap. 
 
 74. It is the use of the right mean to the end that gives success. 
 
 75. I predicate this statement on facts which are known to me. 
 
 76. His book is full of interesting memories of his eventful life. 
 "jy. It was quite early when we started.
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE* 
 
 CHAPTERS VII., VIII., IX. AND X. 
 
 Examples for Correction or Criticism, 
 errors in the use of the word " it." 
 
 i. It is a country whose laws are made, its government is admin- 
 istered, its chief officers are appointed, and its revenues are disbursed 
 by a foreign state. 
 
 2.f Next to thinking clearly it is useful to speak clearly and what- 
 ever your position in life may hereafter be it cannot be such as not to 
 be improved by this, so that it is worth while making almost any 
 effort to acquire it, if it is not a natural gift : it being an undoubted 
 fact that the effort to acquire it must be successful, to some extent at 
 least, if it be moderately persevered in. 
 
 3. He died in the island of which he was a native, and had lived 
 in it all his life. 
 
 4. To come within easy distance of Rome and not to see it — I 
 could never forgive myself for it. 
 
 5.t The best way in the world for a man to seem to be anything 
 is really to be what he would seem to be. Besides that, it is many 
 times as troublesome to make good the pretence of a good quality as 
 to have it ; and if a man have it not, it is ten to one but he is dis- 
 covered to want it, and then all his pains and labors to seem to have 
 it are lost. 
 
 ERRORS IN COMPARISON. 
 
 6. No general ever had so much devotion shown him as Napoleon. 
 
 7. I know of no book that is so valuable for the student as a 
 good dictionary. 
 
 8. This system of heating is the most economical of all other 
 systems. 
 
 * For Exercises in Precision of Style, without reference to dictionaries and 
 other books, see pages 265-274. 
 
 t To correct 2 and 5 it will he necessary to divide and to recast the sen- 
 tences.
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 249 
 
 9. President Cleveland has done more than any member of his 
 party to accomplish tariff reform. 
 
 10. The success which now came was greater than he had gained 
 in the whole of his eventful life. 
 
 1 1 . The winds at this point are the strongest that are met at any 
 other part of the ascent. 
 
 12. I know of nothing so easily learned as history when it is 
 properly taught. 
 
 13. He was the very man of all others in our party who seemed 
 most unlikely to fail. 
 
 14. In comparing Shakespeare and Milton, we may say that 
 Shakespeare was the greatest dramatic poet and Milton the greatest 
 epic poet. 
 
 15. This king was the only one of his predecessors who had from 
 first to last a peaceful reign. 
 
 16. To William Ewart Gladstone who has just withdrawn from 
 public life England owes more than to any living man. 
 
 17. The task was the most difficult that I ever attempted be- 
 fore. 
 
 18. The task was more difficult than I had ever attempted. 
 
 19. He showed the same spirit in this last act as in every act of 
 his life. 
 
 20. No wonder that we were so moved by the sight, for in the 
 whole world there is no scene that can equal it in sublimity. 
 
 ERRORS IN THE USE OF TENSES. 
 
 21. I shall have great pleasure in accepting your invitation. 
 
 22. I intended to have spoken to you about the matter. 
 
 23. He was proved to be sentenced for a serious offence before 
 this arraignment. 
 
 24. I thought when I came to have visited all my friends. 
 
 25. It was my purpose to have insisted on your staying with me. 
 
 26. I shall be happy to accept your invitation. 
 
 ERRORS IN THE USE OF VERBS FROM ELLIPSIS. 
 
 27. Is it reasonable to expect that to happen which never has ? 
 
 28. But you will endure it as you have so many other trials. 
 
 29. Lincoln and Garfield knew what it was to be born in poverty 
 as almost all our great men have.
 
 250 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 30. We often think that what is, always has, and always will be. 
 
 31. I never have, and never will do for personal advancement 
 what my conscience condemns. 
 
 32. Missing the prize as others have he like others opposes the 
 competitive system. 
 
 ERRORS IN THE USE OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 
 
 33. If the horse was mine I would sell it. 
 
 34. Let a few more dry summers follow in succession, and there 
 would be some movement to protect the forests. 
 
 35. If the landlord were ready to pay the expense, why should 
 the tenant object ? 
 
 36. If ever a man's devotion to the interests of the people deserve 
 recognition, it is the service of our mayor. 
 
 37. Were he willing to do for himself my help shall not be with- 
 held. 
 
 38. If the house were unpromising without, it proved to be com- 
 fortable within. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS ERRORS IN MOOD. 
 
 39. Can I ask you for another favor ? 
 
 40. You can go now, as I promised you. 
 
 41. May I run faster than he, do you think ? 
 
 42. Can I cross these grounds, or do you object ? 
 
 43. May I cross these grounds, or is there no road open ? 
 
 44. If he was here he would put matters right. 
 
 45. When the weather be favorable, when the roads are good, 
 such a trip is always enjoyable. 
 
 46. It ought to make a man miserable, if he have, ruined his 
 friend. 
 
 47. Life would lose its interest for most men so soon as Mr. 
 Bellamy's scheme shall be put in operation. 
 
 48. If his brother were willing to let him have the property, why 
 should he refuse it ? 
 
 49. Were it as you say, and we were to blame, would there be 
 an excuse for such cruel treatment. 
 
 50. Let a few more games be lost and the spirit of the college 
 would be no longer enthusiastic.
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 25 I 
 
 ERRORS IN THE USE OF CONNECTIVES. 
 
 51. Do not come except you find it convenient. 
 
 52. An upright, earnest man like his father was before him. 
 
 53. The Chinese, he said, would never become good American 
 citizens, and that they did not wish to remain in this country. 
 
 54. Directly the game began, the shouting became so loud as to 
 be deafening. 
 
 55. There is no other friendship so helpful than that of an older, 
 wiser person. 
 
 56. It is as high or higher than this mountain. 
 
 57. What man has labored more earnestly or so ceaselessly for 
 the cause as he ? 
 
 58. I prefer not to have your help without you wish to give it. 
 
 59. Fatal injuries seldom or ever occur in the game. 
 
 60. I had scarcely reached the platform than I was called on for 
 a speech. 
 
 61. Hardly had that disease left me than this attacked me. 
 
 62. I have at present no means to help you than that of my rec- 
 ommendation. 
 
 63. This example is of all others the most convincing. 
 
 64. This musician has done more for his art than any musician 
 of this age. 
 
 65. I have a watch and which I highly value because it was my 
 grandfather's. 
 
 66. We are in a time of financial depression and in which many 
 changes of fortune are seen. 
 
 67. Such is the spirit of the man, and which may be seen in his 
 writings, as it has been manifested in his life. 
 
 ERRORS IN THE USE OF SYNONYMS AND OF WORDS SIMILAR 
 
 IN ORTHOGRAPHY. 
 
 68. His grateful acceptation of the gift pleased the congregation. 
 
 69. She gained accession to the home by bribing an old servant. 
 
 70. She showed her oriental tastes in her barbarous ornaments. 
 
 71. His actions of late have been much criticised. 
 
 72. He captivated the book after a struggle.
 
 252 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 73. Thackeray has represented Colonel Newcome as a childish 
 character. 
 
 74. He is a ceremonial man. 
 
 75. He held a deathly weapon. 
 
 76. He was distinctively heard. 
 
 77. Some favored his continuity in the office. 
 
 78. He is a man of such equitable temper that he is rarely moved 
 
 to anger. 
 
 79. I depreciate this bad feeling and hope that it is only tempo- 
 rary. 
 
 80. It is a kind of amusement that weakens character and makes 
 
 it feminine. 
 
 8 1 . The last letter from him came yesterday. 
 
 82. He has prepared a monogram of several pages. 
 
 83. As he has politic ambitions he will not offend the party. 
 
 84. When she paid for the goods she asked for a recipe. 
 
 85. He did not act from principal which ought to be the prin- 
 ciple motive. 
 
 86. Her rendition of the poem was warmly applauded. 
 
 87. I suspect that he will come on the evening train. 
 
 88. The new friendship was a stimulation to better work. 
 
 89. My visitant proved to be a book-agent. 
 
 90. The author is still extant. 
 
 91. The enormousness of the crime calls for the severest punish- 
 ment. 
 
 92. An antiquated castle. 
 
 93. Although poor he is a man of large beneficence. 
 
 94. The argument established positively the prisoner's guilt. 
 
 95. His avocation had demanded all his time and strength for 
 
 many years. 
 
 96. He showed greediness of learning and avidity of wealth. 
 
 97. His character has been injured by these false reports of his 
 
 habits. 
 
 98. Compare them and see in what they differ. 
 
 99. The house is complete but not perfect. 
 
 100. His arrant tendencies have made him a great traveller. 
 
 101. He could not co?ifutc all the personal accusations. 
 
 102. Ought corporeal punishment to be allowed in our schools? 
 
 103. What did the merchant say is the cost of the article ?
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 253 
 
 104. The sentence for his sin is imprisonment for life. 
 
 105. The decay of the empire. 
 
 106. The statue is defaced by the loss of an arm. 
 
 107. His love of circumlocution and detail makes him a diffuse 
 writer. 
 
 108. This peasant girl has the elegance of a princess. 
 
 109. Much of his evidence did not seem to have any connection 
 with the case. 
 
 1 10. She exceeds her sister in music. 
 
 in. We must check the luxuriance of the foliage or it will shut 
 out the view. 
 
 112. You will succeed him in the procession. 
 
 113. The blaze of the candle was unsteady. 
 
 114. This despot governed for many years. 
 
 1 1 5. I saw his imminent danger and warned him in time for his 
 escape. 
 
 116. His fierce temper is inherent. 
 
 1 17. He will learn his brother how to swim. 
 
 118. His uncles were all notorious preachers. 
 
 119. As he could not write he gave me a verbal report. 
 
 1 20. Send him a verbal answer by the messenger. 
 
 121. As this is to be a verbal exercise, you will not need materials 
 for writing. 
 
 122. The commoji course of nature. 
 
 123. The appearance of things was plausible. 
 
 124. His speech had a specious tone but it did not deceive. 
 
 125. Is it true that whatever is possible is practicable? 
 
 1 26. Because it is right he should do it. 
 
 127. This fine product of art. 
 
 128. He is a, prudential man. 
 
 129. It is a charming rustic scene. 
 
 1 30. My safety is such that I am without even apprehension of 
 danger. 
 
 131. In our accidental business every day, I had an opportunity 
 to judge the man. 
 
 132. The painter of these signs is a worthy artist. 
 
 133. He has for many years been addicted to the crime of intem- 
 perance. 
 
 134. Galileo discovered the telescope.
 
 254 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 135. Newton invented the law of gravitation. 
 
 136. This was the decided battle which closed the campaign. 
 
 137. The physician exposes himself as he comes in contact with 
 persons having infectious diseases. 
 
 138. He thinks that he deceives us with his ambiguous statements. 
 
 1 39. The emigrants who arrived this week were all in good con- 
 dition. 
 
 140. He has my high estimation for his moral worth. 
 
 141. I guess I'll see the game this afternoon. 
 
 142. He fractured a. blood-vessel. 
 
 143. He has an odium toward me. 
 
 144. Men are subject to mistakes in political matters. 
 
 145. I enjoyed his ridiculous speech and laughed at it heartily. 
 
 146. He has an easy native manner. 
 
 147. The sewerage for a year has been sold to a contractor. 
 
 148. They gave the Chautauqua salutation. 
 
 143. The robber who stole my coat from the hall has been detected. 
 
 1 50. A voluntary burst of enthusiasm. 
 
 151. This union of feeling promises well. 
 
 152. A tall building. 
 
 153. He is qualified by natural gifts for the position. 
 
 154. He swallowed the venom. 
 
 155. An officious man questioned me about my personal matters 
 and my private affairs. 
 
 156. His depravation is sad for one so young. 
 
 157. These two great men were coeval. 
 
 158. His adhesion to his high purpose is admirable. 
 
 1 59. The meaning is so apparent as to require no study. 
 
 160. His appetite for drink is imperative. 
 
 161. His manner is noxious. 
 
 162. No matter how unpopular he is his vanity sustains him. 
 
 163. Good men ought to have sympathy with this criminal. 
 
 BLUNDERS IN CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 The following examples are taken from Hodgson's " Er- 
 rors in the Use of English." 
 
 164. " One of the combatants was unhurt, and the other sustained 
 a wound in the arm of no importance."
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 255 
 
 165. " A piano for sale by a lady about to cross the Channel in an 
 oak case with carved legs." 
 
 166. " The Moor seizing a bolster, full of rage and jealousy, 
 smothers her." 
 
 167. " The Board of Education has resolved to erect a building 
 large enough to accommodate 500 students three stories high." 
 
 168. " A clever magistrate would see whether a witness was 
 deliberately lying a great deal better than a stupid jury." 
 
 169. " Sir Morton Peto spoke of the notion that the national debt 
 might be repudiated with absolute contempt." 
 
 170. " They followed the advance of the courageous party, step by 
 step, through telescopes." 
 
 Synonyms to be Prepared from Worcester's Un- 
 abridged Dictionary. 
 
 The synonyms in these lists from Worcester's Unabridged 
 Dictionary and Webster's International Dictionary are the 
 words between which there is most often failure to discrim- 
 inate with precision. It is expected that the preparation of 
 these synonyms for oral or written examination will be an 
 important part of the study of rhetoric. If so, the gain 
 will be not simply in precision ; for let pains be taken to 
 express the differences between the words in pointed, anti- 
 thetic clauses or sentences as far as possible, and the exer- 
 cise will be also a valuable training in energy of style. In 
 fact, there is no other exercise in words more profitable as 
 a means of logical and rhetorical training than the study of 
 synonyms. It is, therefore, suggested that the student 
 carefully prepare a number of synonyms from the dictiona- 
 ries, or from the works of Soule, Smith, or Crabb, for each 
 exercise. 
 
 Abstinence and temperance. 
 
 Acquire " obtain. 
 
 Adjacent " adjoining. 
 
 Alarm " apprehension. 
 
 AU_ " every.
 
 256 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Alone 
 
 Alter 
 
 Amuse 
 
 Answer 
 
 Argument 
 
 Argumentation 
 
 Authentic 
 
 Avocation 
 
 Avidity 
 
 Behavior 
 
 Benevolence 
 
 Brothers 
 
 Candid 
 
 Careful 
 
 Cause 
 
 Celebrate 
 
 Celebration 
 
 Certain 
 
 Chance 
 
 Character 
 
 Cheerfulness 
 
 Circumstance 
 
 Clearness 
 
 Coast 
 
 Coerced 
 
 Commission 
 
 Compare 
 
 Complete 
 
 Compunction 
 
 Confute 
 
 Conquer 
 
 Contemplate 
 
 Contemptible 
 
 Continual 
 
 Continuation 
 
 Conviction 
 
 Corporal 
 
 Cost 
 
 Countenance 
 
 and 
 
 only. 
 
 change. 
 
 divert. 
 
 reply. 
 
 proof. 
 
 reasoning. 
 
 genuine. 
 
 vocation. 
 
 greediness. 
 
 conduct. 
 
 beneficence. 
 
 brethren. 
 
 frank. 
 
 cautious. 
 
 reason. 
 
 commemorate. 
 
 celebrity. 
 
 sure. 
 
 accident. 
 
 reputation. 
 
 mirth. 
 
 fact. 
 
 perspicuity. 
 
 shore. 
 
 restrained. 
 
 authorize. 
 
 contrast. 
 
 perfect. 
 
 remorse. 
 
 refute. 
 
 subdue. 
 
 meditate. 
 
 despicable. 
 
 perpetual. 
 
 continuance. 
 
 persuasion. 
 
 corporeal. 
 
 price. 
 
 face.
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 
 
 257 
 
 Courage 
 
 and 
 
 fortitude. 
 
 Crime 
 
 «( 
 
 sin. 
 
 Criminal 
 
 a 
 
 guilty. 
 
 Criterion 
 
 « 
 
 standard. 
 
 Darkness 
 
 « 
 
 obscurity. 
 
 Decay 
 
 11 
 
 decline. 
 
 Deceive 
 
 11 
 
 impose. 
 
 Deception 
 
 11 
 
 deceit. 
 
 Dedicate 
 
 11 
 
 consecrate. 
 
 Deed 
 
 it 
 
 act. 
 
 Defection 
 
 << 
 
 revolt. 
 
 Defective 
 
 11 
 
 deficient. 
 
 Definition 
 
 ii 
 
 explanation. 
 
 Delivered 
 
 << 
 
 saved. 
 
 Deny 
 
 11 
 
 refuse. 
 
 Desperate 
 
 u 
 
 hopeless. 
 
 Diffuse 
 
 II 
 
 prolix. 
 
 Disclaim 
 
 II 
 
 disowned. 
 
 Dismiss 
 
 >< 
 
 discharge. 
 
 Dispense 
 
 II 
 
 distribute. 
 
 Disregard 
 
 II 
 
 slight. 
 
 Distinction 
 
 << 
 
 difference. 
 
 Distinguish 
 
 u 
 
 discriminate. 
 
 Divide 
 
 ii 
 
 separate. 
 
 Doctrine 
 
 II 
 
 dogma. 
 
 Doubt 
 
 II 
 
 hesitation. 
 
 Duty 
 
 II 
 
 obligation. 
 
 Earth 
 
 ii 
 
 world. 
 
 Eat 
 
 ii 
 
 feed. 
 
 Edifice 
 
 ii 
 
 structure. 
 
 Effect 
 
 ii 
 
 consequence 
 
 Elegance 
 
 tl 
 
 grace. 
 
 Elocution 
 
 ii 
 
 eloquence. 
 
 Emphasis 
 
 ii 
 
 stress. 
 
 Enemy 
 
 ii 
 
 foe. 
 
 Enough 
 
 ii 
 
 sufficient. 
 
 Epithet 
 
 ii 
 
 adjective. 
 
 Ethnography 
 
 it 
 
 ethnology. 
 
 Evidence 
 
 li 
 
 testimony. 
 
 17 
 

 
 258 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Example 
 
 and 
 
 pattern. 
 
 Exceed 
 
 (t 
 
 excel. 
 
 Excellence 
 
 « 
 
 superiority. 
 
 Excite 
 
 it 
 
 incite. 
 
 Exist 
 
 ft 
 
 live. 
 
 Expedient 
 
 c< 
 
 resource. 
 
 Expostulate 
 
 it 
 
 remonstrate. 
 
 Exuberant 
 
 it 
 
 luxuriant. 
 
 Famous 
 
 it 
 
 celebrated. 
 
 Fatigue 
 
 if 
 
 weariness. 
 
 Feign 
 
 tt 
 
 pretend. 
 
 Firm 
 
 tt 
 
 fixed. 
 
 Flame 
 
 H 
 
 blaze. 
 
 Flourish 
 
 ft 
 
 thrive. 
 
 Follow 
 
 ff 
 
 succeed. 
 
 Foretell 
 
 ff 
 
 predict. 
 
 Formal 
 
 ff 
 
 ceremonious, 
 
 Foundation 
 
 it 
 
 basis. 
 
 General 
 
 it 
 
 universal. 
 
 Genteel 
 
 11 
 
 polite. 
 
 Gift 
 
 • i 
 
 present. 
 
 Glory 
 
 11 
 
 honor. 
 
 Good 
 
 It 
 
 benefit. 
 
 Govern 
 
 11 
 
 rule. 
 
 Happiness 
 
 11 
 
 felicity. 
 
 Help 
 
 11 
 
 assist. 
 
 Heretic 
 
 11 
 
 dissenter. 
 
 Hinder 
 
 it 
 
 prevent. 
 
 Human 
 
 It 
 
 humane. 
 
 Ideal 
 
 tt 
 
 idea. 
 
 Imminent 
 
 It 
 
 impending. 
 
 Impediment 
 
 tt 
 
 obstruction. 
 
 Impervious 
 
 tt 
 
 impassable. 
 
 Incapable 
 
 it 
 
 incompetent. 
 
 Inconsistent 
 
 ft 
 
 incompatible 
 
 Increase 
 
 ft 
 
 addition. 
 
 Inherent 
 
 ft 
 
 innate. 
 
 Insinuate 
 
 ft 
 
 ingratiate. 
 
 Intercede 
 
 it 
 
 interpose.
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 
 
 259 
 
 Invidious 
 
 and 
 
 envious. 
 
 Knowledge 
 
 ft 
 
 science. 
 
 Lack 
 
 tt 
 
 need. 
 
 Learn 
 
 ff 
 
 teach. 
 
 Literature 
 
 ff 
 
 learning. 
 
 Little 
 
 ff 
 
 small. 
 
 Malicious 
 
 tt 
 
 malevolent, 
 
 Nautical 
 
 ft 
 
 naval. 
 
 Novel 
 
 ff 
 
 new. 
 
 Notorious 
 
 ff 
 
 noted. 
 
 Opposite 
 
 ft 
 
 contrary. 
 
 Oral 
 
 tt 
 
 verbal. 
 
 Ordinary 
 
 tt 
 
 common. 
 
 Orthodox 
 
 It 
 
 evangelical 
 
 Ought 
 
 ft 
 
 should. 
 
 Particular 
 
 ft 
 
 peculiar. 
 
 Penetrate 
 
 ft 
 
 pierce. 
 
 Perceive 
 
 tf 
 
 see. 
 
 Plausible 
 
 ft 
 
 specious. 
 
 Polite 
 
 tt 
 
 civil. 
 
 Possible 
 
 tt 
 
 practicable. 
 
 Poverty- 
 
 tt 
 
 pauperism. 
 
 Prayer 
 
 tt 
 
 petition. 
 
 Principle 
 
 tt 
 
 motive. 
 
 Priority 
 
 tt 
 
 precedence. 
 
 Production 
 
 ft 
 
 product. 
 
 Proposition 
 
 tt 
 
 proposal. 
 
 Prudent 
 
 ft 
 
 prudential. 
 
 Refuse 
 
 ft 
 
 decline. 
 
 Relation 
 
 ft 
 
 relative. 
 
 Respect 
 
 if 
 
 regard. 
 
 Restrain 
 
 ft 
 
 restrict. 
 
 Rural 
 
 ft 
 
 rustic. 
 
 Safety 
 
 ft 
 
 security. 
 
 Science 
 
 it 
 
 art. 
 
 Seem 
 
 ff 
 
 appear. 
 
 Sensation 
 
 ft 
 
 perception. 
 
 Sensible 
 
 ff 
 
 sensitive. 
 
 Site 
 
 ft 
 
 situation.
 
 260 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Shade 
 
 Social 
 
 Slander 
 
 Special 
 
 Strength 
 
 Thankfulness 
 
 Thoughtful 
 
 Timeserver 
 
 Tolerate 
 
 Unavoidable 
 
 Variation 
 
 Visitor 
 
 Wakeful 
 
 Whiten 
 
 Wisdom 
 
 Wit 
 
 and 
 
 shadow. 
 
 sociable. 
 
 calumny. 
 
 particular. 
 
 force. 
 
 gratitude. 
 
 considerate. 
 
 temporizer. 
 
 permit. 
 
 inevitable. 
 
 variety. 
 
 guest. 
 
 watchful. 
 
 blanch. 
 
 prudence. 
 
 humor. 
 
 Synonyms to be Prepared from Webster's Interna- 
 tional Dictionary. 
 
 Abdicate 
 
 Ability 
 
 Absolve 
 
 Absurd 
 
 Abuse 
 
 Accidental 
 
 Accomplish 
 
 Accordingly 
 
 Acquaintance 
 
 Admonition 
 
 Advantage 
 
 Allegiance 
 
 Also 
 
 Amazed 
 
 Animosity 
 
 Announce 
 
 Antagonist 
 
 Anticipate 
 
 Argue 
 
 and 
 
 reign. 
 
 capacity. 
 
 acquit. 
 
 preposterous. 
 
 invective. 
 
 incidental. 
 
 achieve. 
 
 consequently. 
 
 intimacy. 
 
 reproof. 
 
 benefit. 
 
 loyalty. 
 
 likewise. 
 
 astonished. 
 
 enmity. 
 
 publish. 
 
 opponent. 
 
 expect. 
 
 debate.
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 
 
 26l 
 
 Artist 
 
 and 
 
 artisan. 
 
 Bashfulness 
 
 <( 
 
 shyness. 
 
 Be 
 
 «< 
 
 exist. 
 
 Beg 
 
 >t 
 
 ask. 
 
 But 
 
 II 
 
 however. 
 
 Cabal 
 
 II 
 
 faction. 
 
 Care 
 
 ft 
 
 anxiety. 
 
 Choose 
 
 II 
 
 prefer. 
 
 Commit 
 
 II 
 
 consign. 
 
 Contagious 
 
 II 
 
 infectious. 
 
 Contemptuous 
 
 11 
 
 contemptible 
 
 Contest 
 
 tt 
 
 conflict. 
 
 Convene 
 
 tt 
 
 convoke 
 
 Courage 
 
 It 
 
 bravery. 
 
 Crime 
 
 u 
 
 vice. 
 
 Decorum 
 
 II 
 
 dignity. 
 
 Decrease 
 
 It 
 
 diminish, 
 
 Deference 
 
 (( 
 
 respect. 
 
 Depravity 
 
 (< 
 
 depravation. 
 
 Differ with 
 
 It 
 
 differ from. 
 
 Directly 
 
 <( 
 
 immediately. 
 
 Discover 
 
 (( 
 
 invent. 
 
 Disability 
 
 « 
 
 inability. 
 
 Education 
 
 l( 
 
 instruction. 
 
 Efface 
 
 <( 
 
 deface. 
 
 Effect 
 
 (( 
 
 consequence. 
 
 Egoism 
 
 «( 
 
 egotism. 
 
 Emigrant 
 
 (1 
 
 immigrant. 
 
 Emulation 
 
 <( 
 
 rivalry. 
 
 Equivocal 
 
 <I 
 
 ambiguous. 
 
 Evade 
 
 << 
 
 prevaricate. 
 
 Faculty 
 
 II 
 
 expertness. 
 
 Factitious 
 
 «< 
 
 unnatural. 
 
 Fanciful 
 
 II 
 
 fantastical. 
 
 Fallacy 
 
 n 
 
 sophistry. 
 
 Fine 
 
 it 
 
 beautiful. 
 
 Final 
 
 tt 
 
 ultimate. 
 
 Forbid 
 
 II 
 
 prohibit. 
 
 Fracture 
 
 it 
 
 rupture.
 
 262 
 
 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY A. YD PRACTICE 
 
 Gaze 
 Gratify 
 Guess 
 Hatred 
 Haughtiness 
 Help 
 Hint 
 Humility- 
 Idiom 
 Idle 
 
 Ignorance. 
 Impertinent 
 Inconsistent 
 Intrude 
 Kingly 
 Kill 
 
 Laconic 
 Labyrinth 
 Lasting 
 Liable 
 Liberty 
 Liberal 
 Lifeless 
 Ludicrous 
 Marvelous 
 Massacre 
 Mercantile 
 Mercenary 
 Method 
 Midst 
 Natural 
 Negligence 
 Normal 
 Pertinacity 
 Pitiable 
 Pique 
 Pleasant 
 Poison 
 Portion 
 
 and 
 
 stare. 
 
 indulge. 
 
 think. 
 
 odium. 
 
 disdain. 
 
 aid. 
 
 suggestion. 
 
 diffidence. 
 
 dialect. 
 
 indolent. 
 
 illiterate. 
 
 officious. 
 
 incongruous. 
 
 obtrude. 
 
 regal. 
 
 murder. 
 
 concise. 
 
 maze. 
 
 durable. 
 
 subject. 
 
 freedom. 
 
 generous. 
 
 inanimate. 
 
 ridiculous. 
 
 wonderful. 
 
 carnage. 
 
 commercial. 
 
 venal. 
 
 manner. 
 
 middle. 
 
 native. 
 
 neglect. 
 
 abnormal. 
 
 obstinacy. 
 
 piteous. 
 
 grudge. 
 
 agreeable. 
 
 venom. 
 
 part.
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 
 
 26' 
 
 Precarious and uncertain. 
 
 Pretense 
 
 ' pretext. 
 
 Privilege 
 
 prerogative. 
 
 Project 
 
 ' design. 
 
 Preternatural 
 
 supernatural. 
 
 Qualified 
 
 ' competent. 
 
 Quit 
 
 leave. 
 
 Reformation 
 
 ' reform. 
 
 Repentance ' 
 
 ' contrition. 
 
 Resolution ' 
 
 ' decision. 
 
 Sabbath ' 
 
 Sunday. 
 
 Salutation ' 
 
 ' salute. 
 
 Sentimental ' 
 
 romantic. 
 
 Serf 
 
 ' slave. 
 
 Sewerage ' 
 
 ' sewage. 
 
 Sneer ' 
 
 ' scoff. 
 
 Spontaneous ' 
 
 ' voluntary. 
 
 Subsidy ' 
 
 ' tribute. 
 
 Taciturn ' 
 
 1 silent. 
 
 Talkative ' 
 
 1 garrulous. 
 
 Tall 
 
 high. 
 
 Tease ' 
 
 ' vex. 
 
 Temerity ' 
 
 ' rashness. 
 
 Term ' 
 
 ' word. 
 
 Thief 
 
 ' robber. 
 
 Thither 
 
 ' there. 
 
 Unison ' 
 
 ' unity. 
 
 Utility ' 
 
 usefulness. 
 
 Whither 
 
 ' where. 
 
 Words Confounded. 
 Words that are often confounded with each other or that 
 are otherwise misapplied by resemblance of form or sound, 
 or by the prevailing indiscriminate use of abstract and con- 
 crete words from the same root, are — 
 
 Acceptation * and acceptance. 
 
 Accession access. 
 
 * The student will learn by reference to any standard dictionary why each 
 word should not be used for the opposite word.
 
 264 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Advancement and advance. 
 
 Advertise ' 
 
 ' advise. 
 
 Admissible ' 
 
 1 permissible. 
 
 Approbation ' 
 
 ' approval. 
 
 Arrant ' 
 
 ' errant. 
 
 Around ' 
 
 ' round. 
 
 Barbaric ' 
 
 ' barbarous. 
 
 Captivate ' 
 
 1 capture. 
 
 Ceremonious ' 
 
 ' ceremonial. 
 
 Childish ' 
 
 ' childlike. 
 
 Completion ' 
 
 ' completeness. 
 
 Conscience ' 
 
 ' consciousness 
 
 Construe ' 
 
 ' construct. 
 
 Deadly ' 
 
 ' deathly. 
 
 Definite ' 
 
 ' definitive. 
 
 Depreciate ' 
 
 ' deprecate. 
 
 Disclose ' 
 
 1 discover. 
 
 Disposition ' 
 
 ' disposal. 
 
 Distinctly ' 
 
 ' distinctively. 
 
 Distraction ' 
 
 ' abstraction. 
 
 Effeminate ' 
 
 ' feminine. 
 
 Enormousness ' 
 
 ' enormity. 
 
 Equable 
 
 ' equitable. 
 
 Exceptionable 
 
 ' exceptional. 
 
 Extant ' 
 
 ' existing. 
 
 Genii 
 
 ' geniuses. 
 
 Import ' 
 
 ' importance. 
 
 Individual 
 
 ' individuality. 
 
 Incredulous ' 
 
 ' incredible. 
 
 Intention ' 
 
 ' intent. 
 
 Latest ' 
 
 last. 
 
 Limitation ' 
 
 ' limit. 
 
 Masculine ' 
 
 ' manly. 
 
 Merit 
 
 ' demerit. 
 
 Meretricious 
 
 ' meritorious. 
 
 Monogram 
 
 ' monograph. 
 
 Nationality ' 
 
 ' nation. 
 
 Novice 
 
 ' novitiate. 
 
 Needful 
 
 ' needy.
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 
 
 265 
 
 Pitiable 
 
 and 
 
 pitiful. 
 
 Politic 
 
 
 
 political. 
 
 Principal 
 
 
 
 principle. 
 
 Predication 
 
 
 
 prediction. 
 
 Recipe 
 
 
 
 receipt. 
 
 Relation 
 
 
 
 relative. 
 
 Rendition 
 
 
 
 rendering. 
 
 Resort 
 
 
 
 resource. 
 
 State 
 
 
 
 estate. 
 
 Stationary- 
 
 
 
 stationery. 
 
 Stimulation 
 
 
 
 stimulus. 
 
 Suspect 
 
 
 
 expect. 
 
 Unusual 
 
 
 
 uncommon. 
 
 Vacuity 
 
 
 
 vacancy. 
 
 Visitor 
 
 
 
 visitant. 
 
 Womanish 
 
 
 
 womanly. 
 
 Yellow 
 
 
 
 yellowness. 
 
 Exercises without Reference to Dictionaries and 
 
 Other Books. 
 
 The following notes on words which are often improperly 
 used for each other, are by Professor Phelps. If circum- 
 stances do not permit the use of dictionaries and other 
 works on synonyms, this list will be found unusually large 
 and varied for a text-book on rhetoric. 
 
 1. Ability and Capacity are not exact synonyms. The one 
 expresses active power ; the other, receptive power. But the plural 
 " abilities " includes both ideas. 
 
 2. Adherence and Adhesion were once interchangeable. Now 
 the one is restricted to things mental and spiritual ; the other, to 
 things material. We speak properly of adherence to a principle, 
 and of the adhesion of iron. 
 
 3. Alone is improperly used in the sense of " only ; " as in the 
 phrase " the alone God." This word was originally written " all-one." 
 Later usage, it is to be regretted, has abandoned the ancient form, 
 and so lost from the word the ancient idea of unity. 
 
 4. Among and Between are not interchangeable. " Between " is
 
 266 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 the right word when only two are concerned ; " among," when more 
 than two. 
 
 5. Ancient and Antiquated are not synonyms. An antiquated 
 thing is ancient ; an ancient thing may not be antiquated. An an- 
 cient institution may, for that reason, be the more worthy of re- 
 spect ; an antiquated institution has outlived respect. 
 
 6. Apparent is in some connections improperly used as the syn- 
 onym of " obvious." To say that an occurrence is apparent does not 
 necessarily mean that it is real, but may mean the reverse. We speak 
 of an apparent contradiction, which we do not admit to be a real 
 one. The phrase " heir-apparent " suggests the contingency that the 
 heir may not come to the throne. 
 
 7. Apprehend and Comprehend are improperly interchanged. 
 To apprehend a truth is to perceive it, to have some intelligible no- 
 tion of it : to comprehend a truth is to understand it in all its compass. 
 We may represent the mysteries of religion as apprehensible by the 
 human mind, but not as comprehensible. To apprehend them is suffi- 
 cient ground for faith : to comprehend them would be an act of reason. 
 
 8. Apprehensive is improperly employed in the sense of " under- 
 standing." " Apprehend " and " understand " are synonyms : " ap- 
 prehensive " and "understanding" are not. The element of fear 
 enters into the meaning of " apprehensive." We say, " I am appre- 
 hensive that it is too late." It is rarely used now in its etymological 
 sense except as a technicality in philosophy. 
 
 9. Averse from vs. Averse to. — Which is right ? Usage is di- 
 vided. Some cling to the first phrase on etymological grounds. 
 Others contend that the second phrase has vanquished etymology, 
 and is authorized by usage. Noah Webster and Dr. Todd, the edi- 
 tor of Johnson's Dictionary, contend for " averse to : " Dr. Wither- 
 spoon and Sir James Mackintosh prefer " averse from." In the 
 present balance of authorities, either form is allowable ; but it can 
 hardly be doubted that the etymological form will be displaced, and 
 " averse to " will hold ascendency in the language. It is a curious 
 phenomenon, that, when an etymological form has begun to yield its 
 place, it rarely becomes firmly fixed again. The drift of usage is to 
 its exclusion. It is like a loosened tooth. 
 
 10. Beside and Besides are not synonyms, yet are very frequently 
 so used by writers. " Beside " means " by the side of : " " besides " 
 means " in addition to."
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 267 
 
 11. Betrayal vs. Betrayment. — Which? Dr. Whately uses 
 the first ; Thomas Jefferson, the second. Both are condemned by 
 some critics. But we surely must have one of them. " Betrayal " is 
 the more frequently used, but " betrayment " has the more regular 
 English construction. At present either is allowable, but usage in- 
 clines to the first. 
 
 12. Chastity and Chasteness are not synonyms. Dean Swift 
 is eminent for chasteness of style, but not for chastity of thought. As 
 applied to authorship, " chasteness " means rhetorical purity. " Chas- 
 tity " means moral purity. A pure woman has chastity ; a pure style 
 has chasteness ; and both are chaste. Yet De Ouincey improperly 
 speaks of " chastity of style." 
 
 13. Christen for Baptize cannot be condemned as bad Eng- 
 lish so long as the English Church retains it. But it does not at all 
 express the true idea of baptism. In perfect English, " to christen " 
 is to Christianize. A heathen nation is christened when converted 
 to Christianity. An old writer says, " The most part of England 
 was christened in the reign of King Ethelred." From this use, the 
 word was transferred to the rite of baptism ; that, in the sense of 
 baptismal regeneration, being synonymous and the doctrine of the 
 Book of Common Prayer. In Shakespeare's drama " Henry the 
 Eighth," the king is informed of the birth of his daughter Elizabeth, 
 and asks Cranmer to baptize her, saying, " I long to have this young 
 one made a Christian." 
 
 14. Concept and Conception have a history. " Concept " was 
 once good English as the synonym of " conception." Then it fell 
 into disuse, and now is revived again by Sir William Hamilton and 
 others, but not as the synonym of " conception," but to signify the 
 idea conceived. But in any sense " concept " must be as yet re- 
 garded as a technicality of psychological science. 
 
 15. Coeval and Contemporaneous involve a nice distinc- 
 tion, for which etymology furnishes no reason, but which usage au- 
 thorizes. " Coeval " is applied to institutions ; " contemporaneous " 
 to individuals. Authors are contemporaneous, not coeval. 
 
 16. Conform with vs. Conform to. — Which? This is one 
 of the cases in which etymology has given way to usage. The West- 
 minster Catechism obeys the usage of its own day and of ours in 
 saying, "Sin is any want of conformity unto the law of God." 
 
 17. Continual and CONTINUOUS are not exact synonyms.
 
 268 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 " Continual," commonly, not always, means " with constant recur- 
 rence." " Continuous " is the stronger word, and means, " without 
 intermission." We should be correct in saying, " Continual inter- 
 ruptions prevent continuous study." 
 
 1 8. Decided vs. Decisive. — These are not synonyms. A de- 
 cided fact is one which is beyond dispute ; a decisive fact is one 
 which puts an end to dispute. You may have a decided opinion, but 
 it may not be decisive of a controversy. A decided victory may not 
 be decisive of a campaign. 
 
 19. Delicious vs. Delightful.— The first should always be 
 restricted to pleasures of sense. We should not speak of a delicious 
 joy, or peace, or communion. Even the phrase " delicious music " 
 implies the predominance of the sensuous element in the pleasures 
 of song. 
 
 20. Delusion vs. Illusion. — These are not exact synonyms, 
 though the dictionaries interchange them. Coleridge writes, " That 
 illusion, contradistinguished from delusion." Dr. Whately indicates 
 the distinction tersely by recalling the etymology of the two words : 
 illudo, " to make sport of; " dcludo, " to lead astray." Illusion ex- 
 ists in the imagination only : delusion affects conduct in real life. 
 The one is a mental error in a passive state ; the other, a mental 
 error in active working. The same error may be first an illusion, 
 and then a delusion. 
 
 21. Depravity and Depravation are not interchangeable. 
 Depravity expresses the state or the quality ; depravation, the act or 
 the process. 
 
 22. Diction and Style are not exact synonyms. Style refers to 
 thought and language ; diction, to language only. Yet where exact 
 definition is not necessary, these words may be interchanged. 
 
 23. Differ with vs. Differ from. — Which? Dr. Worcester 
 and the last editors of Webster's Dictionary defend the first of these 
 forms as being in good use in England, and gaining ground in this 
 country. They give Lord Brougham and Mr. Canning as authori- 
 ties. These are hardly conclusive authorities. In this country, ob- 
 servation will detect the phrase chiefly in the style of newspapers. 
 If we admit it, we must admit the phrase " differ from " also ; for of 
 that there can be no doubt. " Differ with " we may note as doubtful. 
 
 24. Disbelief and Unbelief involve a distinction of great 
 moment. "Unbelief" expresses less than "disbelief." It may
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 269 
 
 arise from ignorance or the want of evidence. " Disbelief " is more 
 positive : it implies that evidence has been considered and rejected. 
 The folly of an atheist consists in the fact that he affirms the nega- 
 tive of that of which no human mind can know a negative. Yet 
 the distinction is of comparatively recent origin. When our Eng- 
 lish Bible was translated, the distinction was not clearly recognized 
 in the language. Our Lord, therefore, is represented as denouncing 
 the sin of unbelief, when the thing he did denounce was the more 
 positive sin of rejecting evidence. 
 
 25. Endow and Endue have a nice distinction in good English 
 use. " Endow " may be employed in reference to any qualities, 
 mental, moral, or physical ; " endue," to mental and moral qualities 
 only. Solomon was endowed with wealth, and endued with wis- 
 dom. 
 
 26. Enthusiasm vs. Fanaticism. — Formerly both words were 
 employed to signify defects, both being morbid excitements, differing 
 only in degree. Recent usage has rescued the word " enthusiasm " 
 from association with mental disease, and authorizes now its use to 
 signify a healthy and normal excitement. Says a living author, 
 " The Puritans were enthusiasts for religious liberty, not fanatics." 
 Fifty years ago that distinction was unknown. 
 
 27. Epoch and Era should be distinguished. In loose usage 
 they are interchanged, and the principles on which our dictionaries 
 are compiled lead them to recognize this. Yet the distinction is val- 
 uable, and the language is improved in precision by retaining it. An 
 era is a succession of time : an epoch is a point of time. An era 
 commonly begins at an epoch. We live in the Christian era, in the 
 Protestant era, in the era of liberty and letters. The date of the 
 birth of Christ was an epoch : the period of the dawn of the Refor- 
 mation was an epoch. 
 
 28. Eternal and Everlasting are critical words. Modern 
 usage has developed a distinction which did not formerly exist. 
 " Everlasting " means now " without end : " " eternal," without be- 
 ginning or end. Once they were interchangeable. Now we should 
 not designate the past eternity of God by the word " everlasting " 
 except in biblical quotations, as in the phrase " from everlasting 
 to everlasting." On the same principle of conformity to usage, we 
 drop the word " eternal," and substitute " everlasting," in defining 
 the doctrine of future punishment.
 
 270 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 29. Except and Unless are confounded by heedless writers. 
 " You cannot have it except you earn it " should be, " unless you 
 earn it." The one is a preposition ; the other, a conjunction. The 
 improper use of " except " is a Southern provincialism. 
 
 30. Falsehood for Falseness. — The thing for the quality of 
 the thing is not precise. The lie is the falsehood : the untruthful- 
 ness of it is the falseness. 
 
 31. Genius vs. Talents. — What is the distinction ? Criticism is 
 uniform in admitting a distinction, not so in defining it. The words 
 should be noted as by no means interchangeable. See the word 
 "genius" in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 
 
 32. Habit, Custom, Usage, are improperly confounded. "Hab- 
 it " is commonly, in strict use, limited to the individual ; " custom " 
 implies the consent of numbers ; and " usage " is a long-established 
 custom. Thus Shakespeare says, " How use doth breed a habit in a 
 man ! " And Hooker writes, " Of things once received and con- 
 firmed by use, long usage is a law sufficient." It may not be that 
 these are all the distinctions among these words established in the 
 language, but they are true so far as they go. 
 
 33. Haste and Hurry are not synonyms. The first does not 
 imply confusion : the second does. A man may reasonably be in 
 haste, never in a hurry. Napoleon, after a great defeat, when min- 
 utes of delay might bring the enemy upon his retreat, wrote a pro- 
 posal for an armistice of a few hours ; and when it was suggested, 
 that, to save time, he should seal the document with a wafer, he said, 
 " No : give me the sealing-wax and a candle. A man should never 
 seem to be in a hurry." 
 
 34. Healthy and Healthful. — A valuable distinction has 
 grown up in recent years, which is not yet insisted upon by the lexi- 
 cographers ; but scholarly usage should recognize it. " Healthy " 
 expresses the condition : " healthful " means " producing health." 
 
 35. Imagination and Fancy. — See Wordsworth's Preface to his 
 " Lyrical Ballads." That essay is a fine specimen of literary criti- 
 cism, and a striking example of the power of a great author to 
 evolve from a language a latent distinction which the national mind, 
 as represented by its educated classes, has felt vaguely between 
 words, which, because of their vagueness, have been for generations 
 used loosely. Probably Wordsworth has fixed those two words, 
 with their present meanings, in the language for ever. What is the
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 2J I 
 
 distinction ? Both words express exercises of the mind's creative 
 power ; but " imagination " is the more profound, the more earnest, 
 and the more logical. " Fancy " is the more superficial, the more 
 playful, and often the more capricious. The national mind has for 
 a long time felt this difference, and has expressed it in the words 
 "imaginative" and "fanciful." It did not clearly recognize the 
 same difference between " fancy " and " imagination " till Words- 
 worth disclosed it. 
 
 36. Imperative and Imperious are very far from being syn- 
 onyms. One means " authoritative ; " the other " domineering." 
 God's law is imperative, never imperious. Imperiousness is always 
 offensive. " This imperious man will work us all from princes into 
 pages." — Shakespeare. " His bold, contemptuous, and imperious 
 spirit." — Macaulay. 
 
 37. In spite of is not synonymous with " notwithstanding." It 
 is a surly phrase. Is there no difference in rhetorical effect between 
 saying, " in spite of your argument," and saying, " notwithstanding 
 your argument " ? Does not Shakespeare imply a threat, when he 
 says, " I'll keep mine own in spite of all the world" ? 
 
 38. Learn for Teach was once good English, signifying 
 either to give or receive knowledge. The Book of Common 
 Prayer so employs the word. At present it retains but one of these 
 senses. 
 
 39. Like for Love. — We detect the difference between these 
 words as soon as attention is called to it. Yet it is one of the fre- 
 quent evidences of the want of colloquial culture, that they are em- 
 ployed interchangeably. A man should love the truth, not like it : 
 he may like a leg of mutton, not love it. 
 
 40. Memories for Reminiscences. — " Sunny Memories of For- 
 eign Lands " is the title of a book by Mrs. Stowe. The attractiveness 
 of the title is gained at the expense of pure English. We detect the 
 error by putting the word into the singular. We do not speak of 
 a single reminiscence as a memory. Why not, if the plurals of the 
 two words are synonyms ? 
 
 41. Moment and Minute are not synonyms. The " minute " is 
 the sixtieth part of an hour : the " moment " is the shortest possible 
 measure of time. Says St. Paul, " In a moment, in the twinkling of 
 an eye." The eye does not require a minute for the act of twinkling. 
 
 42. Mutual and Common are confounded in the phrase " mu-
 
 272 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 tual friend : " it should be a " common friend." In the plural, " mu- 
 tual friends " would not be inaccurate, meaning that two persons are 
 friends each to the other. " Common friend " means that a third 
 person is a friend to two or more other persons. " Mutual " implies 
 interchange. 
 
 43. Observation and Observance. — Are they synonyms ? No. 
 The one means the act of " taking notice of : " the other means the 
 act of "performing some duty." We should not say, " The obser- 
 vation of the sabbath," but " The observance," etc. Astronomers 
 have recently taken observations of the transit of Venus. Faithful 
 Christians practise the observance of the Lord's Day. 
 
 44. Paternal and Fatherly. — Which ? Both are good words ; 
 one Latin, the other Saxon. The Latin is the more stately, the 
 Saxon the more cordial, in its associations. The Latin might be the 
 more becoming in a diplomatic paper ; the Saxon, vastly the more 
 effective in a sermon . 
 
 45. Pitiful, Piteous, and Compassionate. — Are these words 
 synonyms ? By the authority of dictionaries, and to some extent by 
 usage, we may answer both Yes and No. That is to say, contra- 
 dictory meanings are attached to them. Thus, " pitiful " is used to 
 express " feeling pity, exciting pity," and " exciting contempt." The 
 same is true of " piteous." Usage will uphold us in saying that 
 God is a pitiful, that is, a compassionate being; and that a cer- 
 tain man is a pitiful, that is, a contemptible being. Usage some- 
 times gives a liberty which good taste condemns as license. As 
 a general rule, we may meet all the necessities of speech by em- 
 ploying the word " compassionate " to express the idea of " ex- 
 ercising pity," " piteous " to express the idea of " exciting pity," 
 and "pitiful" to express the idea of "exciting contempt." Thus, 
 the good Samaritan was a compassionate man ; the man who fell 
 among thieves was in a piteous condition ; the thieves were pitiful 
 fellows. 
 
 46. Pride and Vanity. — It is a popular error that interchanges 
 these words. The sin of pride is denounced when the connection 
 indicates that the thing denounced is not that, but vanity ; not the 
 self-contained vice which despises other men, but the superficial vice 
 which depends for its indulgence on the opinion of other men. The 
 Scriptures are keen in their analysis of human nature, when they 
 condemn pride as the most concentrated of mental vices and the
 
 EXERCISES IN PRECISION OF STYLE 2JI 
 
 most corrosive to upright character. Satan is pride personified. We 
 do not know that he was ever weak enough to be vain. 
 
 47. Rational and Reasonable are not interchangeable. " Ra- 
 tional " refers to the existence of reason ; " reasonable," to its exer- 
 cise. To say that an opinion is irrational is to say that it implies the 
 loss or suspension of reason : to pronounce an opinion unreasonable 
 is only to say that the arguments in support of it are not sufficient. 
 One may hold unreasonable opinions which are not irrational : the 
 deficiency may be in a perverted use of reason, not in the loss of it. 
 
 48. Ride and Drive. — English usage makes a distinction be- 
 tween these words which is not commonly recognized in this coun- 
 try, but is a valuable one, and it augments the precision of the 
 language. ' A " ride " is in the saddle : a " drive " is in a carriage. 
 
 49. Rugged and Hardy are not synonyms. " Rugged " is 
 " rough." We should not speak of " rugged health." 
 
 50. Security and Safety are often interchanged, yet are not 
 synonyms ; and the distinction between them is one which it is de- 
 sirable to retain. " Security " retains somewhat of its etymolog- 
 ical meaning of " freedom from care." 
 
 51. Self-love and Selfishness have a very marked distinction 
 which ever since Bishop Butler's day has been established. He 
 says, " Men would be much better than they are if they had more 
 self-love." Self-love is a legitimate and unavoidable exercise of 
 intelligent beings : selfishness is not such. The one is innocent ; the 
 other, a sin. 
 
 52. Sensual and Sensuous are liable to confusion. The former 
 always involves moral wrong : the latter is only a philosophical term. 
 All men are sensuous beings : only bad men are sensual beings. 
 
 53. Sympathy and Pity are not exact synonyms. " Sympathy " 
 has never lost entirely its etymological sense of feeling iuith another. 
 It is a finer exercise of benevolence than " pity." We may pity one 
 whom we despise : we cannot sympathize with such a one. 
 
 54. The. — This article is noted for the sake of observing the error 
 of omitting it from a variety of words for which precision requires it. 
 We have observed its omission from the word " community." Other 
 words are subjected to the same decapitation. " Opposition," " min- 
 istry," "presbytery," "council," "congress," are examples. We 
 say, " The Senate, the House of Representatives : " why not " the 
 Congress " as well? This was the usage of the most scholarly men 
 
 iS
 
 274 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 among the statesmen of the first age of the republic. It is said to 
 have been revived by President Arthur. The most unscholarly 
 omission of the article, in which the error is open to the charge of 
 irreverence, is in the use, without the article, of the titles of the divine 
 Trinity in the formula of baptism and the closing ascription in 
 prayer: " In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ! " Is not the 
 use of the article before each title more reverent ? By the more de- 
 liberate utterance which it compels, the sentiment of reverence gains 
 time to express itself. A hearer said that a certain preacher's rapid 
 utterance of the trinitarian formula without the article reminded him 
 of the title of a mercantile firm, like " Smith, Jones, & Robinson."
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 
 
 CHAPTERS XI., XII., XIII., AND XIV. 
 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. 
 
 In examining figurative language, especially the meta- 
 phor, the student should apply the rule given by Dr. Blair. 
 The rule is, in substance, that we are to test the propriety 
 of the figure by forming from it a picture. If the parts 
 are so incongruous as to make when put together " a mon- 
 strous image," as Dr. Blair says, the figure is bad. If the 
 parts so agree as to present the subject " in one natural 
 and consistent point of view," the figure is good. 
 
 According to this test, make a mental picture of each of 
 the following examples, and name the good and the bad 
 figures. 
 
 i. "How terrified should we have been had one of these lack- 
 lustre eyes but rolled in its orb, or opened its leathern jaws." 
 
 2. " You with nice ear on tiptoe strains pervade." 
 
 3. " Speech is silver, silence is gold." 
 
 4. " A heroine as wild, fascinating, romantic, and extravagant as 
 ever trod the stage of theatre or page of romance." 
 
 5. " Long aisles of oaks returned the silver sound. 
 
 And amorous echoes talked along the ground." 
 
 6. " I'd be a butterfly ; living a rover, 
 
 Dying when fair things are fading away." 
 
 7. " Seemed washing his hands with invisible soap, 
 
 In imperceptible water." 
 
 8. " We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag 
 and keep step to the music of the Union." 
 
 9. " John Brown, God bless you ! You have struck a noble 
 blow ; you have done a mighty work ; God was with you ; your
 
 2J6 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 heart was in the right place. I send you across five hundred miles 
 the pulse of a woman's gratitude." 
 
 10. " Arrest Simoom amid his waste of sand, 
 
 The poisoned javelin balanced in his hand ; 
 Fierce on blue streams he rides the tainted air, 
 Points his keen eye and waves his whistling hair ; 
 While, as he turns, the undulating soil, 
 Rolls in red waves and billowy deserts boil." 
 
 11. " Sir, She (Bulgaria) was man enough to resist Russia." 
 
 12. "The voice of England which sounded so clearly at the 
 last general election, would be lost sight of." 
 
 13. " The germ, the dawn of a new vein in literature lies there." 
 
 14. " When another commits a fault, it is a great dead tree bare 
 and hideous ; but when we do it, think of the reasons climbing 
 around it like a thousand clinging vines, and turning it into a beauti- 
 ful object." 
 
 1 5. " Every heart is like a theatre in one respect ; there are 
 certain effects produced, but you do not want every one to see all 
 the ropes and pulleys." 
 
 16. " He speaks the voice of Boston, the home of Sam Adams, 
 in this glorious hour." 
 
 17. "He launched the ship of state on seas white with the fervor 
 of the Revolutionary love of liberty." 
 
 18. " The old vices that shipwrecked him all through his old 
 life, leavens this production." 
 
 19. " From the throats of three hundred cannon poured a shower 
 of balls which winnowed the English ranks." 
 
 20. " We will burn all our ships, and with every sail unfurled 
 steer boldly out into the ocean of freedom." 
 
 21. "Do not dare to be so absorbed in your own life, so wrapped 
 up in listening to the sound of your own hurrying wheels, that all 
 this vast pathetic music made up of the mingled joy and sorrow of 
 your fellow-men shall not make you rejoice to give yourself for them. " 
 
 22. " The mountains to the Hebrew were always full of mystery 
 and awe. They stood around the sunlit level of his daily life robed 
 in deep clouds, the home of wandering winds, flowing down with 
 waters, trembling as it seemed, with the awful footsteps of God." 
 
 23. " Opposite in the blue vault stood the moon like a silver 
 shield raining her bright arrows on the sea."
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 2^] 
 
 24. " We congratulate ourselves on having torn off Cobbett's 
 mask and revealed his cloven hoof." 
 
 25. " Throw open the flood-gates of democracy, and you pave 
 the way for a general conflagration." 
 
 26. " Suffering, like work, strengthens the capacity for happiness. 
 It sees on the steep paths which it makes you climb, sweet, smiling 
 flowers which the profane have never known." 
 
 27. " We must put our soul less and less into books and speeches. 
 Let us lay our hand to the clay, let us take the spade, the hammer, 
 the goad, the whip, and in place of tracing characters on paper, let 
 us grave them on living hearts. Instead of crying, ' Forward ! Fire ! ' 
 let us be ourselves the first to attack." 
 
 28. " The German army at Austerlitz had muscle enough ; at 
 Sedan brain enough." 
 
 29. " In the last analysis, it will be found that Caesar was Rome's 
 escape from communism ; the rich were being plundered by the poor. 
 They lifted up their voices in wild alarm, and the avenging eagles 
 hastened across the Rubicon." 
 
 30. " From dome to dome, when flames infuriate climb, 
 
 Sweep the long street, invest the tower sublime, 
 
 • • •   • • • 
 
 While with vast strides and bristling hair aloof. 
 Pale danger glides along the falling roof ; 
 
 • •••••• 
 
 Nymphs ! you first taught the gelid wave to rise, 
 Hurled in resplendent arches to the skies ; 
 In iron cells condensed the airy spring, 
 And imp'd the torrent with unfailing wing ; 
 On the fierce flames the stream impetuous falls, 
 And sudden darkness shrouds the shattered walls ; 
 Steam, smoke, and dust in blinded volume roll, 
 And night and silence repossess the pole." 
 
 31. " Ideas rejected at the time often rankle, and bear fruit by 
 and by." 
 
 32. " Out of the dark regions of philosophical problems, the poet 
 suddenly lets swarms of song dive up carrying far-flashing pearls of 
 thought in their beaks." 
 
 33. " The chariot of the revolution is rolling along, and gnashing 
 its teeth as it rolls."
 
 278 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 34. " Once Europe was peopled only here and there by men who 
 beat at the door of nature, and upon the heads of one another with 
 sharp flints." 
 
 35. " The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, 
 
 Lets in new light thro' chinks that time has made." 
 
 36. " It is the theory that God made a little of this human clay 
 into porcelain vases to hold the dizzy wine of exclusive power, but 
 the most of it into common crockery for base uses." 
 
 37. " Yes, the long-awaited client had come at last. Scarred, 
 scorned, and forsaken, that cowering and friendless client was 
 wronged and degraded humanity." 
 
 38. " The spark that was kindled at Fort Sumter fell upon the 
 North like the fire upon the autumnal prairies." 
 
 39. " The South had builded herself upon the rock of slavery. It 
 lay in the very channels of civilization, like some Flood rock lying 
 sullen off Hell Gate." 
 
 40. " Our treasure did not melt away in the fiery furnace of 
 French tribulation and German triumph." 
 
 41. " The sad faces and joyous music formed an incongruous 
 sight." 
 
 42. " The fruits of our present are to be the stepping-stones into 
 our future." 
 
 43. " No Austria, no Prussia, one only Germany, such are the 
 words that your Imperial Majesty has always in his eye." 
 
 44. " One effect of the Irish Union would be that the barren hills 
 would become fertile valleys." 
 
 45. " When God means to make a great man He does not fling 
 His hero like an aerolite out of the sky. He bids him grow like an 
 oak out of the earth." 
 
 46. " Down the crack which some transgression makes in the fair 
 face of a smooth and blooming life, we can see waiting for God's 
 judgment-word, the fire before which that life shall be at last con- 
 sumed with fervent heat." 
 
 47. " The will is the helmsman of the ship ; when it wavers and is 
 at a loss, fear shipwreck." 
 
 48. " Spires whose silent finger point to heaven." 
 
 49. " I am as a weed, 
 
 Flung from the rock, on ocean's foam to sail, 
 
 Where'er the surge may sweep, the tempest's breath prevail."
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 279 
 
 50. " A man passes for what he is worth. Concealment avails 
 him nothing, boasting nothing. His vice glasses his eye, cuts lines 
 of mean expression in his cheek, pinches his nose, sets the mark of 
 the beast on the back of his head, and writes O fool ! fool ! on the 
 forehead of a king." 
 
 Saxon-English Words Substituted for Words of 
 Latin or Greek Origin. 
 
 The student will, by reference to any standard dictionary, 
 give a Saxon-English substitute for each word in the fol- 
 lowing list : 
 
 (1) abundance, (2) accident, (3) accommodate, (4) alleviate, (5) an- 
 ticipate, (6) anterior, (7) appropriate, (8) apprehend, (9) archaic, (10) 
 alternate, (1 1) attract, (12) audacity, (13) benediction, (14) belligerent, 
 (15) cachinnation, (16) calligraphy, (17) cinerary, (18) conflagration, 
 (19) conflict, (20) conjecture, (21) consternation, (22) corpulent, (23) 
 criminality, (24) decadence, (25) demolition, (26) demented, (27) 
 desperate, (28) detriment, (29) development, (30) division, (31) dis- 
 ruption, (32) desolation, (33) domiciliary, (34) donation, (35) efful- 
 gent, (36) emaciated, (37) emancipated, (38) epidemical, (39) exten- 
 sive, (40) extenuate, (41) fascinate, (42) flagellation, (43) formidable, 
 (44) gradient, (45) gratitude, (46) gregarious, (47) habitude, (48) hir- 
 sute, (49) horizontal, (50) hostility, (51) inane, (52) increment, (53) 
 indignation, (54) ingenuous, (55) infraction, (56) inhabit, (57) inge- 
 nuity, (58) inopportune, (59) intimidate, (60) invest, (61) irritate, (62) 
 janitor, (63) jocularity, (64) labyrinth, (65) liberality, (66) licentious, 
 (67) magnitude, (68) margin, (69) mendacious, (70) mercenary, (71) 
 merit, (72) monotony, (73) moribund, (74) negotiation, (75) abjurga- 
 tion, (76) obtuse, (77) operose, (78) parental, (79) parsimonious, (80) 
 penetration, (81) perpetual, (82) population, (83) potation, (84) pre- 
 cipitate, (85) proceed, (86) propel, (87) prosecute, (88) radiance, (89) 
 ramification, (90) remuneration, (91) respiration, (92) reticence, (93) 
 saccharine, (94) salutation, (95) signification, (96) similitude, (97) 
 select, (98) solicit, (99) stentorian, (100) strident, (101) sudorific, (102) 
 sufficient, (103) superintendent, (104) temptation, (105) termination, 
 (106) tortuous, (107) translucent, (108) tremulous, (109) turbid, (no) 
 vacant, (111) vagary, (112) valedictory, (113) valetudinarian, (1 14) 
 vegetation, (115) velocity, (116) vernal, (117) verisimilitude.
 
 2 8o 
 
 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Generic Words and Specific Words. 
 
 By reference to Webster's International Dictionary, the 
 differences in meaning between each generic word and each 
 of the specific words opposite to it, are to be given. 
 
 GENERIC 
 
 SPECIFIC 
 
 Acquaintance 
 
 familiarity, intimacy. 
 
 Ask 
 
 request, beg, petition, solicit, 
 
 
 entreat, implore, beseech, 
 
 
 supplicate. 
 
 Attack 
 
 assail, assault, invade. 
 
 Choose 
 
 prefer, elect. 
 
 Cloister 
 
 monastery, abbey, priory. 
 
 Commit 
 
 intrust, consign. 
 
 Communicate 
 
 impart, reveal. 
 
 Company 
 
 group, concourse, meeting, 
 
 
 convention, assembly. 
 
 Contemn 
 
 despise, scorn, disdain. 
 
 Contest 
 
 conflict, combat, encounter. 
 
 Danger 
 
 peril, hazard, risk, jeopardy. 
 
 Deceive 
 
 delude, mislead. 
 
 Disease 
 
 disorder, distemper, malady, 
 
 
 affection. 
 
 Dislike 
 
 aversion, reluctance, repug- 
 
 
 nance, disgust, antipathy. 
 
 Effect 
 
 consequence, result. 
 
 Get 
 
 obtain, gain, earn, acquire. 
 
 Gratify 
 
 indulge, humor. 
 
 Greeting 
 
 salutation, salute. 
 
 Hate 
 
 abhor, detest, abominate, 
 
 
 loathe. 
 
 Hide 
 
 conceal, disguise, dissemble, 
 
 
 secrete. 
 
 Insanity 
 
 lunacy, madness, derange- 
 
 
 ment, delirium, mania, mon- 
 
 
 omania, dementia. 
 
 Language 
 
 speech, tongue, idiom, dialect.
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 28 1 
 
 GENERIC. SPECIFIC. 
 
 Laughable droil, comical. 
 
 Leave quit, abandon, relinquish, for- 
 
 sake, depart from. 
 
 Memory remembrance, recollection, 
 
 reminiscence. 
 
 Overcome conquer, vanquish, subdue, 
 
 subjugate. 
 
 Renounce adjure, recant. 
 
 Say allude, remark, utter, pro- 
 
 nounce, proclaim, assert. 
 
 Sign emblem, symbol, type. 
 
 State situation, condition. 
 
 Think expect, believe, guess, antici- 
 
 pate. 
 
 The student is to give all the specific meanings which he 
 can learn have been assigned to any of the following words, 
 and also the specific words which can be substituted for 
 each word in the list. Jevons's " Lessons in Logic," Chap- 
 ters IV. and V., Whitney's "Study of Language," Lecture 
 III., Trench's "Study of Words," as well as the dictionaries, 
 will be found useful in this exercise. 
 
 Animal. Law. 
 
 Board. Metal. 
 
 Church. Move, to. 
 
 Crime. Post. 
 
 Flower. Round. 
 
 Fish. See, to. 
 
 Foot. Smith. 
 
 Fowl. Sound. 
 
 Government. Stock. 
 
 Hear, to. Strike, to. 
 
 Implement. Take, to. 
 
 Insect. Vehicle. 
 
 In the following list, the generic word in each group of 
 words is to be selected, and the specific words of the group
 
 282 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 arranged in a series, each term of a more general meaning 
 being placed before one of the next specific meaning. 
 
 i. Road, elevated steam railway, means of communication, steam 
 railway, railway, New York's elevated steam railway. 
 
 2. Duruy's History of Modern Times, European History, book, 
 printed book, history of modern Europe, history. 
 
 3. Purple, color, red. 
 
 4. Rectilineal figure, triangle, figure, isosceles triangle. 
 
 5. Man, Episcopalian, animal, Protestant, mammal, christian, 
 biped, being. 
 
 Arrange the following group of clauses so as to give a 
 description of the coming of spring in an oriental country. 
 In this description the most general statement is, " The 
 winter is past." To this statement is to be added in a 
 series the other clauses, as each gives in order the next 
 specific sign of the approach of spring. 
 
 The winter is past — and the vines with the tender grape perfume 
 the air, — the rain is over and gone, — and the voice of the turtle is 
 heard in our land, — the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, — the 
 flowers appear on the earth, — the time of the singing birds is 
 come. 
 
 The student before leaving the subject of general and 
 specific language, should study the speech of Mark Antony 
 in Shakespeare's play of Julius Caesar, Act III., Scene II. 
 Beginning with Antony's first and most general reference to 
 Caesar, the student should follow the series of specific ref- 
 erences, observing not only their careful gradation, but 
 also the change in the feelings of the mob as the descrip- 
 tion of Caesar's character and wrongs grows more and more 
 particular.
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 283 
 
 Abstract Words and Concrete Words. 
 
 Give, as far as possible, the concrete expression corre- 
 sponding to each of the following abstract words. 
 
 Action, animality, beauty, corporeity, equality, hardness, gratitude, 
 individuality, intention, length, nationality, rationality, relation, rev- 
 erence, shrubbiness, substantiality, usefulness. 
 
 Give the abstract word corresponding to each of the 
 following concrete words. 
 
 Aged, author, bookish, ether, grateful, ink, mute, nation, natural, 
 relatives, soap, speed, stone, stupid, timorous, wood, wool, vacuous, 
 vain. 
 
 Examples for Correction or Criticism. 
 
 errors in the arrangement of pronouns and their 
 
 antecedents. 
 
 i. There are many things to be said against the state's control- 
 ling the sale of liquor with which we are all familiar. 
 
 2. He removed the cords from her hands with which she was 
 bound. 
 
 3. He had to defend himself from a ceaseless opposition by an 
 equally constant watchfulness that was unjust. 
 
 4. While he held this office he gave much time to feeble attempts 
 at writing poetry which was not his. 
 
 5. He now lives in a larger house but he has not any yard 
 which is built of brick. 
 
 6. This is an instance of a man fearing to show himself the ad- 
 mirer of a most amiable woman who had fought many battles. 
 
 7. It is not wise to provide for a rainy day by robbing all the 
 other days which may never come. 
 
 8. The knight made a solemn vow to his king never to dishonor 
 by word or deed his bright fame.
 
 284 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 ERRORS IN THE USE OF THE SAME PRONOUN WITH DIFFER- 
 ENT ANTECEDENTS. 
 
 9. The monkey picked up the book and laid it on the table, and 
 then opened it and turned its leaves as it had seen its master do. 
 
 10. The workmen wished to follow their leaders, but were 
 forced by the sufferings of their families and their fears that worse 
 troubles might come to decide against their inclinations. 
 
 11. When men become envious of others they seem to think that 
 in some way their gain is their loss. 
 
 12. Mr. A. met his friend and told him what was his plan ; and 
 further that if he would get for him the influence of his uncle, he 
 should have a certain share of the profits. 
 
 ERRORS IN FAILURE TO EXPRESS DIRECTLY, IF IN ANY WAY, 
 THE ANTECEDENT OF THE PRONOUN. 
 
 13. I was delighted at my success in riding my friend's bicycle, 
 and promised myself to do it again. 
 
 14. It is our purpose to make the bridge strong whatever may be 
 the opposition, for it is expected of us. 
 
 15. While as a man he had only contempt for such methods, as 
 a politician he did not show it. 
 
 16. Such surroundings have a sad influence on his mind who 
 knows that there is no escape from them. 
 
 17. He first bought a coat and then changed it for a silver watch, 
 and afterward in another trade got for it some cigars. 
 
 1 8. The game to-day was as interesting as it usually is. 
 
 xQ. A few men of the team are doing well, but most of them are 
 too indifferent. 
 
 20. He soon saw that the moral qualities of the young man were 
 not to be judged by those of his diffident speech and awkward bearing. 
 
 21. These seemingly useless parts of the human body were not 
 understood until the evolutionists explained them by those in the 
 lower animals. 
 
 ERRORS IN THE CASE OF THE PRONOUN. 
 
 22. The man whom they thought was a clergyman, and who made 
 the first speech, proved to be a layman.
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 285 
 
 23. When did we ever find an Anglo-Saxon, whether Englishman 
 or American, who had any doubt of their right to rule the world. 
 
 24. These were the men whom he believed were able to carry out 
 the project. 
 
 25. His decision remained unchanged, although numberless but 
 not successful reasons to change them were given. 
 
 ERRORS IN THE NUMBER OF THE VERB WHEN A PRONOUN IS 
 
 THE NOMINATIVE. 
 
 26. His lecture was one of the most suggestive and stimulating of 
 the lectures that was given last season. 
 
 27. The course of the reformer at this critical time was one of 
 the bravest that has been taken in like circumstances. 
 
 28. There is not one of his public acts which do not show hon- 
 esty of purpose. 
 
 ERRORS FROM OMISSION OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS WHEN THE 
 GOVERNMENT IS CHANGED. 
 
 29. It was at the lower end of the athletic field with which I am 
 not familiar, and have not even visited. 
 
 30. He took his political views from an old leader with whom 
 he was intimate, and succeeded in office. 
 
 31. It was a cause to which he had early given himself, and 
 sacrificed everything. 
 
 32. The friend from whom he had received so much help, and so 
 warmly admired and loved, had been taken from him. 
 
 33. The great end toward which we are always striving, and con- 
 stantly beckons us on, seems to recede steadily from us as we think 
 we are approaching it. 
 
 ERRORS IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS. 
 
 34. They were very much elated at their success as they nearly 
 caught one hundred fish. 
 
 35. She only lived for her child. 
 
 36. He did this while he had all these men at his command 
 alone.
 
 286 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 37. He is considered generally intelligent. 
 
 38. Not only the father but all the family were taken prisoners. 
 
 39. What do you mean by saying that John was there when you 
 just said, that James and John were not there ? 
 
 40. It is probably thought that he will succeed. 
 
 41. She has a very small income, as she nearly lost all her prop- 
 erty. 
 
 42. Where there are so many competitors one can only excel by 
 specializing. 
 
 43. Whatever may be our other qualities, it is goodness alone 
 that can satisfy the conscience. 
 
 44. He spoke to the young men who had been intoxicated most 
 earnestly. 
 
 45. She reads the novels of George Meredith as they appear 
 eagerly. 
 
 46. I only speak of what I have seen, not of what I have heard. 
 
 47. He won the game as he caught the ball which came from the 
 second baseman's hand quickly. 
 
 48. He will only wear well fitting clothes. 
 
 49. He only pays for his breakfast. 
 
 50. She has been all over the house. 
 
 5 1 . Not merely this book but all the books which he had collected 
 were destroyed. 
 
 52. We never remember to have seen the river so high. 
 
 53. She simply said that she desired a comfortable home. 
 
 54. The boy solely writes about the games of the school. 
 
 55. I never remember to have spoken to this man. 
 
 56. He merely talks of books. 
 
 57. I scarcely ever remember to have known a warmer day. 
 
 58. The result is not agreeable to us only because it is what we 
 asked for, but because it is what we need. 
 
 59. He is neither inclined to favor high protection nor absolute 
 free trade. 
 
 60. She was neither qualified by early training nor by later as- 
 sociations to govern a country like Scotland. 
 
 61. His career is neither like that of his father nor that of any of 
 his ancestors.
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 287 
 
 ERRORS IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF QUALIFYING CLAUSES. 
 
 62. The steamer was swiftly bearing him to seek his fortune 
 where he did not know what might happen to him in another world. 
 
 63. He went to his evening service after he had led in family 
 worship with a quick step. 
 
 64. Struggling for a career that was more than life to him his 
 hope and faith kept strong to the end. 
 
 65. This man will not miss his reward ultimately, because he is 
 unjustly kept from it now. 
 
 66. An old man was at the door cutting wood with a pipe in his 
 mouth. 
 
 67. The boy evidently received my lecture on the wickedness of 
 stealing fruit with a good spirit. 
 
 68. Being one of the best schools in the country, it was natural 
 for the boys to pride themselves on its training. 
 
 69. Amazed at the anger of the man, every word that had passed 
 between us was quickly reviewed to detect the cause. 
 
 70. While playing ball one Sunday a pious old man spoke to 
 him. 
 
 7 1 . He has said that the country is to prosper only by every man 
 doing his duty in one of his ablest speeches. 
 
 72. When he struck me I knocked him down, but I do not think 
 I hurt him for which I am sorry. 
 
 73. I learned what an inefficient woman I was later in life. 
 
 74. Sometimes disturbances arise, but they are usually checked 
 before much harm is done by the policemen. 
 
 75. He has written a story about a remarkable courtship that is to 
 appear next month. 
 
 76. Working for his daily support and yet developing his noble 
 philanthropic plan, is it any wonder that there came in time com- 
 plete prostration of body and spirit ? 
 
 77. This is the spot about which I will tell you when we come to 
 that part of the story where stood the house of the murderer. 
 
 78. There will be two new courses, if the number choosing them 
 is sufficiently large, to cover the remaining parts of the subject. 
 
 79. He said that his travelling bag had been stolen while sleeping 
 in the car.
 
 288 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 80. Riding quickly to the other end of the line, the command of 
 the officer came sharp and clear. 
 
 81. The preacher spoke of the evils of gambling without manu- 
 script or note. 
 
 82. He is in the country when business permits fishing, reading 
 and idling. 
 
 Errors in the Order of Thought in the whole Struct- 
 ure of the Sentence. 
 
 Examples of these errors, with an explanation of the ex- 
 ercises and the directions how to use them, are taken from 
 Abbott's " How to Write Clearly." 
 
 " The following exercises consist of extracts from Bur- 
 net, . . . , and Clarendon, modernized and altered with 
 a view to remove obscurity and ambiguity. The modernized 
 version will necessarily be inferior to the original in unity 
 and style, and in some other respects. The charm of the 
 author's individuality, and the pleasant ring of the old- 
 fashioned English, are lost. It is highly necessary that the 
 student should recognize this, and should bear in mind that 
 the sole object is to show how the meaning in each case 
 might have been more clearly expressed. . . . These 
 exercises can be used in two ways. The pupil may either 
 have his book open and be questioned on the reasons for 
 each alteration, or, after studying the two versions, he may 
 have the original version dictated to him, and then he may 
 reproduce the parallel version, or something like it, on 
 paper." 
 
 Burnet. 
 
 " The principal faults in Burnet's style are the use of het- 
 erogeneous sentences ; the want of suspense ; the ambig- 
 uous use of pronouns ; the omission of connecting adverbs 
 and conjunctions, and the excessive use of "and ; " and an
 
 EXERCISES TV PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 
 
 2S9 
 
 abruptness in passing from one topic to another. The cor- 
 rection of these faults necessarily lengthens the altered 
 version." 
 
 83. ORIGINAL VERSION. 
 
 "And his maintaining the honor 
 of the nation in all foreign coun- 
 tries gratified the vanity which 
 is very natural to Englishmen ; 
 of which he was so careful that, 
 though he was not a crowned 
 head, yet his ambassadors had 
 all the respects paid them which 
 our kings' ambassadors ever had : 
 he said the dignity of the crown 
 was upon the account of the na- 
 tion, of which the king was only 
 the representative head ; so, the 
 nation being the same, he would 
 have the same regards paid to 
 his ministers." 
 
 PARALLEL VERSION. 
 
 " He also gratified the English 
 feeling of self-respect by main- 
 taining the honor of the nation 
 in all foreign countries. So jeal- 
 ous was he on this point that, 
 though he was not a crowned 
 head, he yet secured for his am- 
 bassadors all the respect that 
 had been paid to the ambassa- 
 dors of our kings. The king, 
 he said, received respect simply 
 as the nation's representative 
 head, and, since the nation was 
 the same, the same respect should 
 be paid to the nation's ministers." 
 
 Lord Clarendon. 
 
 " The principal faults in this style are, long heteroge- 
 neous sentences, use of phrases for words, ambiguous use 
 of pronouns, excessive separation of words grammatically 
 connected together." 
 
 84. original version. 
 
 " It will not be impertinent nor 
 unnatural to this present dis- 
 course, to set down in this place 
 the present temper and constitu- 
 tion of both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, and of the court itself, and 
 // may be the less wondered at, 
 that so prodigious an alteration 
 should be made in so short a 
 l 9 
 
 PARALLEL VERSION. 
 
 " And now, in order to explain 
 as far as possible, how so pro- 
 digious an alteration could take 
 place in so short a time, and how 
 the royal power could fall so low 
 as to be unable to support itself, 
 its dignity, or its faithful servants, 
 it will be of use to set down here, 
 where it comes most naturally,
 
 2QO RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND TRACTIVE 
 
 time, and the crown fallen so some account of the present 
 
 low, that it could neither support temper and composition not only 
 
 itself nor its own majesty, nor of both Houses of Parliament, 
 
 I 'hose who would appear faithful but also of the court itself." 
 to it. 
 
 ERRORS IN THE USE OF ELLIPSIS. 
 
 85. Every good man ought to battle against municipal corrup- 
 tion as earnestly as Dr. Parkhurst. 
 
 86. The captain in his indignation was not less determined to 
 humiliate the rival team than the other members of the home eleven. 
 
 87. He did not more resemble his brother than his father his 
 brother. 
 
 88. Rising from obscurity, and obtaining his position by force of 
 genius and industry, the obstacles that disheartened other men had 
 for him no intimidation. 
 
 89. We dislike to see drunkards as much as prohibitionists. 
 
 90. Look at my brother's sketch book, and tell me what you 
 think of them. 
 
 91. The Secretary and Treasurer of the company. 
 
 92. I was so unfortunate as to have to ride for an hour with a 
 rogue and fool. 
 
 93. When he said the pitcher and catcher of the nine, I wondered 
 what he meant. 
 
 94. The feeling in the game is intense, and serious injuries have 
 occurred. 
 
 95. Duty no less than pleasure will have my faithful performance. 
 
 96. If a pupil is fond of learning he needs no stimulus, and if the 
 opposite is true no stimulus will be of any avail ; but as he is either 
 fond of learning or dislikes it, the effect of stimulus must be the one 
 or the other so that stimulus should not be applied. 
 
 97. The ends of a divine and human ruler are no more the same 
 than time and eternity are the same. 
 
 98. A captain on a White Star and Anchor Line Steamship are 
 paid very different salaries. 
 
 99. He was disciplined for doing and for not doing what he ought 
 not and what he ought. 
 
 100. A good heart and a good head feel and know what is the 
 right thing to be done.
 
 EXERCISES IN PERSPICUITY OF STYLE 2<pi 
 
 ERRORS IN THE INTRODUCTION OF IRRELEVANT MATTER 
 
 INTO THE SENTENCE. 
 
 " To this succeeded that licentiousness which entered with the 
 restoration, and from infecting our religion and morals, fell to cor- 
 rupt our language ; which last was not likely to be much improved 
 by those, who at that time made up the court of King Charles the 
 Second ; either such as had followed him in his banishment, or bad 
 been altogether conversant in the dialect of these fanatic times ; or 
 young men who had been educated in the same country ; so that the 
 court, which used to be the standard of correctness and propriety of 
 speech, was then, and I think has ever since continued, the worst 
 school in England for that accomplishment ; and will so remain, till 
 better care be taken in the education of our nobility, that they may 
 set out into the world with some foundation of literature, in order to 
 qualify them for patterns of politeness." — Swift. 
 
 " It is asserted, as a general affection of human nature, that it is 
 impossible to read a book with satisfaction until one has ascertained 
 whether the author of it be tall or short, corpulent or thin ; and, as 
 to complexion, whether he be a ' black ' man (which in the ' Specta- 
 tor's ' time, was the absurd expression for a swarthy man), or a fair 
 man, or a sallow man, or perhaps a green man, which Southey af- 
 firmed to be the proper description of many stout artificers in Bir- 
 mingham too much given to work in metallic fumes ; on which 
 account the name of Southey is an abomination to this day in certain 
 furnaces of Warwickshire." — De Qiuncey. 
 
 " There are extant numberless books, wherein the wisest and most 
 ingenious of men have laid open their hearts, and exposed their most 
 secret cogitations unto us ; in pursuing them we may sufficiently 
 busy ourselves, and let our idle hours pass gratefully ; we may med- 
 dle with ourselves, studying our own dispositions, examining >ur 
 own principles and purposes, reflecting on our own thoughts, words, 
 and actions, striving thoughtfully to understand ourselves ; to do 
 this we have an unquestionable right, and by it we shall obtain vast 
 benefit." — Barrow. 
 
 " Sir, to borrow the words of one of your own poets, whose acad- 
 emic sojourn was in the. building in which we are now assembled, 
 (and in what language but that of Milton, can I hope to do justice to 
 Bacon and Newton ?) if their star should ever for a period go down, 
 it must be to rise again with new splendor."
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OF STYLE 
 
 CHAPTERS XV., XVI., XVII. AND XVIII. 
 
 Short Words and Long Words. 
 
 In the following sentences substitute a short or simple 
 word of like meaning for the word which is italicized. 
 
 1. Will you accord him this favor ? 
 
 2. The young scion is a promising juvenile. 
 
 3. See that the apartment is ventilated. 
 
 4. Such penurious tendencies are not to be extirpated. 
 
 5. The trouble is a membranaceous covering, 
 
 6. This is to be his domicile. 
 
 7. Let there be an interstice between the two parts. 
 
 8. The termination of his career does not fulfil the promise of 
 its commencement. 
 
 9. She does not speak even her vernacular with propriety. 
 
 10. You had better put an impediment on his rashness. 
 
 1 1 . We shall have a collation before the ride. 
 
 12. To effectuate your purpose, get his influence. 
 
 13. Mr. C. donated the organ, 
 
 14. The school-room is palatial. 
 
 1 5. The new training field will enhance athletics. 
 
 16. He manipulates the mandolin well. 
 
 17. The architect will make good use of all the potentialities of 
 the old building. 
 
 18. He is to inaugurate the new drill to-morrow. 
 
 19. The cicerone was an old woman who took her husband's 
 place. 
 
 20. My companion seemed lost in his cogitations. 
 
 21. To approximate to such a standard, is better than to reach a 
 lower one. 
 
 22. He has precipitated his return to this country.
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OF STYLE 2Q$ 
 
 23. The lecturer is a fine looking personage but not an interesting 
 speaker. 
 
 24. This fact alone ought not to invalidate his argument. 
 
 25. Why does he take cognizance of mere trifles ? 
 
 26. The celerity and the dexterity of his movements are remark- 
 able. 
 
 27. The singer has a captivating manner. 
 
 28. His constant sternutation is very disagreeable. 
 
 29. How insensate is such conduct. 
 
 30. The mendacity of this report is shameful. 
 
 31. It is a fine locality. 
 
 Rewrite the following sentences using short words and a 
 simple style. 
 
 1. Not even the sacred desk could be rescued from the devouring 
 element. 
 
 2. He evinces too great diversification of purpose to succeed. 
 
 3. The thief will be apprehended as he has but an inconsiderable 
 advantage of the officer who is in pursuit. 
 
 4. The concatenation of circumstances which surrounds him is 
 not to be escaped. 
 
 5. I shall not animadvert on his conduct although it has event- 
 uated in our being in this melancholy predicament. 
 
 6. So much ostentation is not becoming in the sanctuary. 
 
 7. He was engaged in making a series of excavations for his 
 long proposed fence. 
 
 8. The enterprise which has this magnificent culmination was in- 
 itiated on a diminutive scale. 
 
 9. He has recuperated sufficiently from the disease to partake of 
 his customary food. 
 
 10. Before retiring he proceeded to the culinary department to 
 give orders for his morning banquet. 
 
 1 1. Will you permit me to transmit this epistle by you ? 
 
 12. He was impervious to the vituperations of individual indigna- 
 tion but felt most bitterly the opprobrium of the populace. 
 
 13. It was not his own predilection but fortuitous circumstances 
 entirely beyond his jurisdiction that made him an instrument for the 
 persecution uf his persuasion.
 
 294 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 14. She has been the recipient of many attentions, and the brill- 
 iancy of her achievements this season eclipses all the antecedent 
 successes of her professional experience. 
 
 15. Public taste has suffered decadence, so that in the vicissitudes 
 of a long artistic career, his former popularity is passing into ob- 
 solescence. 
 
 16. I extend to the individual an invitation to my apartments. 
 
 Words having Sound Significant of their Sense. 
 
 Give words which in their sound suggest sounds made by 
 the wind, by insects, serpents, by falling water or falling 
 timber, by the opening of gates on smooth or on harsh 
 hinges, by the music of the flute, the violin, by the noise of 
 the drum and of the trumpet. The following sentence 
 from Edward Everett's description of the voyage of the 
 Mayflower illustrates the power of words to convey mean- 
 ing by their sound. 
 
 "The awful voice of the storm howls through the rigging: the 
 laboring masts seem straining from their base : the dismal sound of 
 the pumps is heard : the ship leaps, as it were, madly from billow to 
 billow : the ocean breaks and settles with ingulfing floods over the 
 floating deck, and beats with deadening, shivering weight, against 
 the staggered vessel." 
 
 Some of the sentences in Henry Ward Beecher's " Loss of 
 the Arctic" get their finest effect from the use of words 
 similarly suggestive. From a like use of words comes 
 largely the power of Victor Hugo's description of the strug- 
 gle of the gun and the gunner, in " Ninety-three," and of 
 the battle of Waterloo in " Les Miserables." Instances of 
 the oratorical effect of such words may be found in the 
 speeches of John Bright, as also in the speeches of Burke, 
 and of other great orators. Examination will show that the 
 words which produce this effect are as a rule Saxon-Eng- 
 lish, and, therefore, most often comparatively short words.
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OF STYLE 295 
 
 Number of Words, 
 examples for correction or criticism in tautology. 
 
 1 . Then came a clangor and a harsh ringing sound that startled 
 the waiting multitude. 
 
 2. In this secret and clandestine marriage began the troubles of 
 her life. 
 
 3. He came out of this danger and peril a sadder but a wiser 
 man. 
 
 4. The society is without outward sign, symbol, or emblem. 
 
 5. He surprised his victim by an inaudible and a noiseless ap- 
 proach. 
 
 6. With his purpose and strength of will, he can vanquish and 
 overcome every inherited tendency to vice. 
 
 7. It stands on the border and outskirts of the village. 
 
 8. We shall be supplied with all that is needful and necessary. 
 
 9. The reason is plain and evident why the paper should be 
 given up. 
 
 10. No wonder that he trembled and quaked when he did not 
 know the cause of the explosion. 
 
 11. The Italian tried and experimented in every way to explain 
 and represent to us what he wanted. 
 
 12. He has been a joy and delight to us and has brought to our 
 home a new and larger happiness and felicity. 
 
 13. What sad and doleful music that organist plays ! 
 
 14. The young man was enticed and decoyed to the place of his 
 death and murder. 
 
 15. By pushing and pressing and urging we made our way 
 through the crowd. 
 
 16. He delays, pauses, and dwells too long on each minute subdi- 
 vision to be interesting. 
 
 17. The poor animal since the accident has been dwindling and 
 wasting away. 
 
 18. No more impudent and shameless conduct has been seen here 
 this season. 
 
 19. I was sorry to blame and censure him. 
 
 20. A brave, bold and resolute boy, he has made a noble man.
 
 296 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 21. This is all that we can do with our limited and finite powers. 
 
 22. She is ill from care, anxiety, and solicitude. 
 
 23. Then our little plans will all be extinguished and annihilated. 
 
 24. Why not be sanguine and hopeful until you know the result ? 
 
 25. I fear anything so infectious and pestilential. 
 
 EXAMPLES FOR CORRECTION OR CRITICISM IN VERBOSENESS. 
 
 26. The reason why she came home was on account of her ill- 
 ness. 
 
 27. The best explanation of his conduct is to be attributed to his 
 early associations. 
 
 28. I shall go from thence to Boston. 
 
 29. From whence did it come ? 
 
 30. You can do it equally as well. 
 
 31. She is a widow woman with several children. 
 
 32. It has ragged extremities at both ends. 
 
 33. From hence where will you go ? 
 
 34. They both came to see me to-day. 
 
 35. It is owing to an old hatred which has actuated him to seize 
 the property. 
 
 36. You and I both agree in this instance. 
 
 37. In the universal patriotism of all our people is the nation's 
 bulwark. 
 
 38. You have my grateful thanks and sincere gratitude for this 
 favor. 
 
 39. All my friends without exception are invited. 
 
 40. For two men to have precisely the same name is a great in- 
 convenience to both of them. 
 
 41. Our own littleness and insignificance seem never so evident 
 as when in a great crowd of many other persons who know nothing 
 of us and who care nothing for us. 
 
 42. This is an original recipe of his own. 
 
 43. He bears this with great equanimity of mind. 
 
 44. We ought to respect an old veteran who has fought for us. 
 
 45. This has been thought to be a universal panacea for every 
 political evil. 
 
 46. The wrong was too intolerable to be borne. 
 
 47. He has returned again to us.
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OF STYLE 29/ 
 
 48. They all unanimously consented to the change. 
 
 49. A gale of wind took off the unfinished roof of his prison 
 house. 
 
 50. There is a fortune in a new discovery. 
 
 51. " Network is anything reticulated or decussated at equal dis- 
 tances with interstices between the intersections." 
 
 52. The different branches of study in this course mutually re- 
 flect light on each other. 
 
 53. He has been heard to reiterate again and again the story in 
 which he gives an account of the impediments and hinderances that 
 obstructed his way to the final success in which he at last won his 
 wealth and reward. 
 
 54. The wealth of this man in its rich accumulations has hidden 
 and obscured from the public gaze the unscrupulous and unworthy 
 means by which it was gathered and acquired. 
 
 55. In his habitual silence on this subject which comes from his 
 taciturn disposition, he simply reveals a characteristic unwillingness 
 to lay open his mind to others. 
 
 56. Our state of mind at any one time is but the result of the 
 different circumstances which just then determine our mental con- 
 dition. 
 
 EXAMPLES FOR CORRECTION OR CRITICISM IN CIRCUMLO- 
 CUTION. 
 
 57. After having dinner at a small edition of a once large hotel 
 which had been burned the year before, near Ausable Chasm, and 
 finding that the boat would not leave Port Kent for several hours, 
 and that the railway train was not much more convenient, probably 
 for the same reason that the boat arrives so late because of the few 
 local passengers, I decided it would be more pleasant to be travel- 
 ling in some way than to remain idle at this uninteresting hotel, and 
 so was taken by horse and carriage in a beautiful ride along Lake 
 Champlain, to Plattsburg. 
 
 58. When many duties crowd upon you which you feel have a 
 claim upon your best efforts, and you are, therefore, in doubt which 
 first to attempt, then choose always that which is not most remote 
 in its interests and associations, but the one which touches most 
 closely your immediate surroundings and your nearest obligations.
 
 298 rhetoric, its theory and practice 
 
 59. He came to me as if something- was troubling him about 
 which he wished to speak, and when, seeing his perplexity, and desir- 
 ing to relieve him from it, I said, " I see that things are not going 
 right with you," he answered in perhaps not these words, but in what 
 meant the same, that while on the train he had taken out his pocket - 
 book to examine a paper which was in it, and in some way he had 
 probably dropped the pocket-book on the floor when he thought he 
 had put it in his pocket, and so would like to borrow from me ten 
 dollars to get home. 
 
 60. An admirable piece of advice to follow is to abstain from in- 
 teresting yourself in the affairs of others when there is not any re- 
 quest or indication that your services are desired ; but to give your 
 earnest attention to what immediately concerns yourself. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF CONCISENESS TO BE APPROVED OR TO BE 
 
 CRITICISED. 
 
 61. " Christianity a failure! Then man is a failure. Then the 
 race is a failure. Then the government of God is a failure. The 
 man whose face is seamed and ridged all over with the fruits of vice 
 says virtue is a failure. The bloated, besotted, drivelling inebriate 
 says temperance is a failure. The highwayman and the murderer 
 say law is a failure. The reckless violators of the laws of health say 
 the science of medicine is a failure. The owl says light is a failure. 
 Is it any wonder that men may be heard to say that Christianity is a 
 failure ? It's an old cry. Every single century since Christ it has 
 sounded out. But somehow this thing we call Christianity does not 
 fail.' ' — Her rick Joh nson . 
 
 62. " All hail, public opinion ! To be sure, it is a dangerous thing 
 under which to live. It rules to-day in the desire to obey all kinds 
 of laws, and takes your life. It rules again in the love of liberty, 
 and rescues Shadrach from Boston Court-House. It rules to-morrow 
 in the manhood of him who loads the musket to shoot down — God 
 be praised ! — the man-hunter, Gorsuch. It rules in Syracuse, and the 
 slave escapes to Canada. It is our interest to educate this people in 
 humanity, and in deep reverence for the rights of the lowest and 
 humblest individual that makes up our numbers. Each man here, 
 in fact, holds his property and his life dependent on the constant 
 presence of an agitation like this of anti-slavery. Eternal vigilance is
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OF STYLE 299 
 
 the price of liberty ; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. 
 The manna of popular liberty is gathered each day, or it is rotten. 
 The living sap of to-day outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. . . . 
 All clouds, it is said, have sunshine behind them, and all evils have 
 some good result ; so slavery, by the necessity of its abolition, has 
 saved the freedom of the white race from being melted in luxury or 
 buried beneath the gold of its own success. Never look, therefore, 
 for an age when the people can be quiet and safe. At such times 
 despotism, like a shrouding mist, steals over the mirror of Freedom." 
 — Wendell Phillips. 
 
 63. " Thousands have reflected on a Diarist's power to cancel our 
 Burial Service. Not alone the cleric's good work is upset by him but 
 the sexton's as well. He howks the graves and transforms the quiet 
 worms, busy on a single poor peaceable body, into winged serpents 
 that disorder sky and earth with a deadly flight of zigzags, like 
 military rockets, among the living. And if these are given to cry too 
 much, to have their tender sentiments considered, it cannot be said 
 that history requires the flaying of them." — George Meredith. 
 
 64. " We are all disgusted by gossip ; yet it is of importance to 
 keep the angels to their proprieties. The smallest insect will draw 
 blood, and gossip is a weapon impossible to exclude from the privat- 
 est, highest, selectest. Nature created a police of many ranks. 
 God has delegated himself to a million deputies. From these low 
 external penalties, the scale ascends. Next come the resentments, 
 the fears, which injustice calls out ; then, the false relations in which 
 the offender is put to other men ; and the reaction of his fault on 
 himself in the solitude and devastation of his own mind." — Emerson. 
 
 65. " To read the reports of the Poor-Law Commissioners, if one 
 has faith enough, would be a pleasure to the friend of humanitv. 
 One sole recipe seems to have been needful for the woes of England 
 — ' refusal of out-door relief.' England lay in sick discontent, writh- 
 ing powerless on its fever-bed, dark, nigh desperate, in the waste- 
 fulness, want, improvidence, and eating care, till, like Hyperion 
 down the eastern steeps, the Poor-Law Commissioners arose, and 
 said, let there be workhouses, and bread of affliction and water of 
 affliction there ! It was a simple invention ; as all truly great inven- 
 tions are. And see, in any quarter, instantly as the walls of the 
 workhouse arise, misery and necessity fly away, out of sight, out of 
 being, as is fondly hoped, dissolve into the inane : industry, frugality,
 
 300 RHETOR IC^ ITS THEORY A AH) PRACTICE 
 
 rise of wages, peace on earth and good-will towards men do — in the 
 Poor-Law Commissioners' reports — infallibly, rapidly or not so rap- 
 idly, to the joy of all parties, supervene." — Carlyle. 
 
 66. " A disbanding army is a thaw. The whole bends, cracks, 
 rolls, crashes, plunges. Mysterious disintegration ; Napoleon gallops 
 along the fugitives, harangues them, urges, threatens, entreats. The 
 mouths which in the morning were crying ' Vive l'Empereur ! ' are 
 now agape. He is barely recognized ; the Prussian cavalry just 
 come up, spring forward, fling themselves upon the enemy. Teams 
 rush off ; the guns are left to take care of themselves ; the soldiers of 
 the train take the horses to escape. Wagons upset with their four 
 wheels in the air, block up the road. They crash, they crowd, they 
 trample upon the living and the dead. Arms are broken. A multi- 
 tude fills roads, bridges, valleys, woods, choked up by the flight of 
 forty thousand men. No more comrades ; no more officers ; no 
 more generals. Inexpressible dismay." — Victor Hugo. 
 
 Examples for Criticism or Correction. 
 
 Clauses and important words of the sentence so placed as 
 to lose their force. 
 
 i. He delights in presenting subjects which he can be most heret- 
 ical in. 
 
 2. Though he was able and even brilliant yet he was far from 
 being one of the leaders of the club, with all his gifts. 
 
 3. He held this office in the church for more than thirty years as 
 if with a divine right to it. 
 
 4. Success in life is in what we are, and not in what we have, as 
 some seem to think. 
 
 5. Why of all matters pertaining to the welfare of the institution 
 should he say of the most important so little ? 
 
 6. This is the most valuable experience which the nation thus far 
 has passed through. 
 
 7. His conduct during all his public career showed him to be not 
 only a politician but a statesman. 
 
 8. He will accomplish the great work which he has been as- 
 signed to.
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OF STYLE 301 
 
 9. But keep this thought in mind and you will ultimately succeed 
 whatever may be the difficulties. 
 
 10. Petty deception is an evil which most persons are sometimes 
 guilty of. 
 
 11. In their prosperity my friends shall never hear of me, but al- 
 ways in their adversity. 
 
 12. At this critical moment he showed great errors of judgment, 
 to say no worse. 
 
 13. What a triumph it was to know that this achievement he had 
 planned and brought about. 
 
 14. Several novels and two or three popular magazines were on 
 the table, and an open writing desk. 
 
 15. It can be done by this man and by only this man. 
 
 16. There is nothing more foolish than envy of the good fortune 
 of others. 
 
 17. It is what you do and not what you say that convinces men of 
 your sincerity. 
 
 1 8. There have been no suffering and privation here. 
 
 19. And this is the man who once was the idol of his party. 
 
 20. It must be indeed wrong for an organization to prevent a boy 
 from learning a trade or a man from working at it because the man 
 and the boy are not members of the organization. 
 
 21. This statement is not so much dependent on as it is involved 
 in what has been said before. 
 
 22. I have often touched on themes kindred to but not immediately 
 connected with my present subject. 
 
 EXAMPLES FOR CORRECTION OR CRITICISiMS IN THE WRONG 
 USE OR THE OMITTED USE OF CONNECTIVES. 
 
 i. Our military school at West Point has a picturesque situation 
 on the Hudson River, and gives a training which proved its value in 
 the Civil War ; and is a place much visited by foreigners and who 
 always seem surprised at the precision and finish of the drill which 
 the cadets display. 
 
 2. I knocked down the man in my haste to escape. I did not wish 
 to do him serious injury. I should not have done so, had I not known 
 that my only chance of life was in freeing myself from him. Others,
 
 302 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 were in pursuit. They, I knew, would not hesitate in their rage to 
 strike the fatal blow. 
 
 3. Hazing is a custom that in its old form has nearly passed out of 
 our larger colleges ; and if it appears now, it is most often in the in- 
 itiations into the secret organizations, and which the student is not 
 compelled to enter, so that one now usually suffers from hazing by 
 choice and not by force. 
 
 4. We came to the river. It was too high for fording. We had 
 then to travel northward several miles. Here was a bridge. It was 
 a bridge with a toll house. The keeper seemed to be one of the 
 Seven Sleepers. At last he was aroused. We then went on our 
 wearisome way. We arrived at our destination at early daybreak. 
 
 5. It was a delightful walk which we took one day in the Adiron- 
 dacks, and what we especially enjoyed was that although we were 
 walking several hours, we never wholly lost sight of the beautiful 
 group of lakes that makes the particular spot where our cottage is so 
 pleasant ; and thus we have come to be very much attached to them, 
 and so like to keep them always in view, and which because 
 we often caught unexpected glimpses of them that day made our 
 walk unusually enjoyable. 
 
 Change the following sentences to the Periodic Struct- 
 ure. 
 
 1. What a number of men is in this degrading business who 
 ought to be able to do something worthy of human beings. 
 
 2. These young men had been trained at home to promptness, 
 diligence, and honesty ; and so when thrown upon their own re- 
 sources in this new country they soon showed in their rise to wealth 
 and influence the value of early discipline. 
 
 3. There are many things taught in these days which we may 
 fail to know without suffering from our ignorance. 
 
 4. He spoke eloquently, and so won over the jury to his side. 
 
 5. Rigorous discipline is essential not only to success but to 
 safety in the Army and the Navy. 
 
 6. She has a sweet, sympathetic voice, and therefore gives pleas- 
 ure to all her hearers who are not critical. 
 
 7. It is impossible for a new man, if at all indolent, to have any 
 success here, because of the scarcity of openings, the close competi- 
 tion, and the energy of the native inhabitants.
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OE ST VIE 303 
 
 8. The fire swept on, and with its advance gained force and 
 range, and left in ashes the town, and in terrible desolation the 
 surrounding country for miles in every direction. 
 
 9. He came now to the crisis of his life, struggled, fell back, 
 got courage again, made another vigorous effort, stood firm and 
 strong against the heavy odds, and finally conquered. 
 
 10. He walks rapidly so as to get the benefit of the exercise. 
 
 1 1. The general was now compelled to take the defensive, having 
 been surprised by the arrival of the fresh troops on the opposite 
 side. 
 
 1 2. I should urge you to come out of your sick room, get the 
 strength of this invigorating air, enjoy this constant sunshine, and 
 know again what it is to live, if you were here. 
 
 1 3. He came upon me suddenly so that I had no time to avoid 
 him or to prepare for him. 
 
 14. We have no opportunity to make money or to spend money. 
 
 1 5. Why should he disgrace himself and his friends by getting 
 money in this way, when he could have whatever he needed by ask- 
 ing for it ? 
 
 16. You must act promptly, taking the risk of mistake, or else 
 you must perhaps let slip the only opportunity that you will have to 
 gain your object. 
 
 17. There are to be accommodations for a larger attendance at the 
 next football game than ever before, I hear. 
 
 18. The number of subjects to be taught multiplies, and so must 
 the means of instruction be increased. 
 
 19. The enemies of the public school are in favor of this measure ; 
 the friends of the school are opposed to it. 
 
 20. He had the years of youth, yet he had the wisdom of age. 
 
 Rearrange the parts of the following sentences, when 
 necessary, in the gradation of a Climax. 
 
 1. It is a hopeless, wearisome, painful undertaking. 
 
 2. Andrew fackson announced, Washington feared and Jefferson 
 foreshadowed the danger of sectional divisions. 
 
 3. All these institutions have been subverted, radically changed 
 and rudely shaken. 
 
 4. He had administered government and war ; he had patronized
 
 304 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 learning ; he had preserved and extended an empire ; he had founded 
 a polity ; he had repurchased the old lands and rebuilt the old dwell- 
 ing. 
 
 5. By whose strong grip has the corpse of a Republic once fallen 
 ever been raised ? Where, in what age and in what clime have the 
 ruins of constitutional freedom renewed their youth and regained 
 their lost estate ? 
 
 6. Intemperance has produced more misery, crime, want, distress, 
 and idleness, than all other causes put together. 
 
 7. He acted out his plans in a suffering, loyal, earnest life. 
 
 8. So great and unsullied a consecration, so signal an illustration 
 of the moral sublime, explains the profound feeling that attended the 
 death of a man of no official position, of no literary, or scientific, or 
 social distinction, and publicly known only as an orator from whose 
 opinions there was often general and strong dissent. 
 
 9. A man whose donations were crowns ; who raised himself 
 from obscurity to a crown ; who broke down the awful barrier of the 
 Alps ; whose will was feared as destiny ; who changed the face of 
 the world ; who was the greatest leader of armies that modern his- 
 tory has known, is a man who has taken out of our hands the ques- 
 tion whether he shall be called great. 
 
 10. They entreated ; they expostulated ; they requested. 
 
 11. The next reckoning day for this world will be set by the Nihilist 
 — not by the Puritan who put his foot on the necks of prostrate kings 
 in the name of the Lord of Hosts, enfranchising conscience and mak- 
 ing an end of star-chambers, who feared God, loved liberty, and 
 hated oppression. 
 
 12. A man learns that on the whole it is safer in the world not to 
 shirk and hes'itate and dodge. 
 
 13. Where else shall we find memorials of patriotism like the 
 corner where the farmers of Middlesex fell with withering fire upon 
 the Britons retreating from that bridge ; the field in which the 
 minute-men gathered ; the farm on which the Revolutionary stores 
 were hidden ; the site of the first church and of the first school. 
 
 14. " The days will grow to weeks, the weeks to months, the 
 months will add themselves and make the years, the years will roll 
 into centuries, and mine will ever be a name of scorn." 
 
 1 5. In our early struggles, John Jay was the conscience, Jefferson 
 was the heart, and Hamilton was the head.
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OE STYLE 305 
 
 16. Victory returned his sword, necessity stained, liberty un- 
 sheathed it. 
 
 Change the following sentences, when necessary, to the 
 Antithetic Structure. 
 
 1. If you regulate your desires according to the standard of nat- 
 ure, you will never be poor ; if according to what men think of you, 
 you will never become a possessor of wealth. 
 
 2. Homer was the greater genius ; Virgil a poet of more artistic 
 merit ; in the one we must admire the man ; in the other what the 
 man did. Homer hurries us with a commanding impetuosity ; Vir- 
 gil with his attractive majesty is more of a leader. Homer scatters 
 with a generous profusion ; Virgil bestows with magnificence and 
 yet with care. 
 
 3. " The Puritans hated bearbaiting, not because it gave pain to 
 the bear but because it gave pleasure to the spectator." 
 
 4. I love the country, but for the town I have even hatred. 
 
 5. The individual is nothing ; the state represents every interest 
 and relation. 
 
 6. We measure genius by quality, not by the amount of it. 
 
 7. Your general never saw an army till he was forty ; my general 
 never saw the smallest part of an army till he was ten years older. 
 
 8. They aimed at the rule, not at the power to destroy their 
 country. 
 
 9. Success evokes applause, but it is silenced by defeat. 
 
 10. Faith inspiring to effort, and doubt which paralyzes action, 
 contend for the mastery. 
 
 1 1 . Man wishes to be happy, and has a constant fear of being 
 miserable. 
 
 12. A writer who had the art of being minute without tediousness, 
 and a general without permitting himself to become confused. 
 
 1 3. A dramatist who seldom pierces the breast, but he always 
 gives delight to the ear, and often adds improvement to the under- 
 standing. 
 
 14 " My w T ay of life 
 
 Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf, 
 And that which should accompany old age, 
 As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, 
 20
 
 306 RHETORIC, ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 I must not look to have ; but, in their stead, 
 Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath, 
 Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not." 
 
 15. "Let your search and criticism always have for its purpose 
 that you may find that which you may believe, not that you may find 
 what you need not believe." 
 
 16. The external part of the church has a charm which the inward 
 has not. 
 
 1 7. " Who is the man who has dared to call into civilized alliance 
 the wild and inhuman inhabitant of the woods ? — to delegate to 
 the merciless Indian the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the 
 horrors of his barbarous war against our brethren ? " 
 
 Change the structure of the following sentences from the 
 declarative form to the interrogative, and from the interrog- 
 ative to the declarative. 
 
 1. You would wish to ruin yourself in public opinion to gratify 
 your resentment. 
 
 2. They shall bend their neck to the cruel yoke, for the want of 
 your help. 
 
 3. With undoubted right on my side, I am to be thus despoiled. 
 
 4. We should suspend our resistance, we should submit to an 
 authority like this. 
 
 5. You believe that the pure system of Christian faith which ap- 
 peared eighteen hundred years ago, in one of the obscurest regions 
 of the Roman empire, at the moment of the highest mental cultiva- 
 tion, and of the lowest moral degeneracy, originated in the unaided 
 reflection of twelve Jewish fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. 
 
 6. Has tyranny thus triumphed ; have the hopes with which we 
 greeted the French Revolution been crushed ; has a usurper plucked 
 up the last roots of the tree of liberty and planted despotism in its 
 place ? 
 
 7. Must I wound his ear with the news of your revolt ; must he 
 hear from me that neither the soldiers raised by himself, nor the 
 veterans who fought under him, are willing to own his authority ? 
 
 8. You are Christians ; and, by upholding duelists, you will de- 
 luge the land with blood, and fill it with widows and orphans. 
 
 9. You will give your suffrage to this man, when you know that 
 by withholding it, you may arrest this deadly end.
 
 EXERCISES IN ENERGY OF STYLE 307 
 
 10. Does he suppose me less capable of gratitude for his patriot- 
 ism, or sympathy for his sufferings, than if his eyes had first opened 
 upon the light of Massachusetts, instead of South Carolina ? 
 
 11. All the wealth of universal commerce, all the achievements of 
 successful heroism, all the establishments of this world's wisdom, 
 cannot secure to the empire the permanency of its possessions. 
 
 12. A title deed like this ought to become the acquisition of the 
 nation. 
 
 13. Was it the winter's storm beating upon the houseless heads of 
 women and children, was it disease, was it the tomahawk, was it the 
 deep malady of a blighted hope, a ruined enterprise and a broken 
 heart aching in its last moments at the recollection of the loved and 
 left beyond the sea, was it some, or all of these united, that hurried 
 this forsaken company to their melancholy fate ? 
 
 14. You are a scholar, and the land of the Muses shall ask your 
 help in vain. 
 
 15. You are a mother, rejoicing in all the charities of domestic 
 life ; you are a daughter rich and safe in conscious innocence and 
 parental love, and thousands among the purest and loveliest of your 
 sex shall glut the markets of the Orient, and be doomed to a fate in- 
 conceivably worse than death. 
 
 16. This is then the genuine fruit of the pious care of our ances- 
 tors for the security and propagation of religion and good manners 
 to the latest posterity. 
 
 17. The miseries of man are in contemplation. 
 
 18. The farmer in cultivating his lands, the mariner navigating his 
 vessel on the ocean, professional men in their various pursuits, con- 
 tribute as really as the statesman in his cabinet to the prosperity of 
 the country.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abbreviations, 210 
 " Ability " and " capacity," 265 
 Abruptness, obscurity from, 107 
 Abstract words used for concrete, 103 ; 
 
 and concrete words, exercises, 283 
 Accuracy, philosophical. 66 
 " Adherence " and " adhesion," 265 
 Adjectives and adverbs, arrangement 
 
 of, in ; errors in use of, examples, 
 
 283 
 " Admire," 229 
 Adverbs and adjectives, arrangement 
 
 of, in ; errors in use of, examples, 
 
 283 
 Affectation of unnaturalness, 197 
 Affectations, literary, 167 
 Aim of discourse, necessity of interest 
 
 in, 200 
 Alison, A., faulty construction, 108, 
 
 in, 120 ; testimony to English 
 
 language, 43 
 "Alone " and " only," 265 
 " Alonely," 19 
 Alternative, hypothetically expressed, 
 
 118 
 " Alternative," 230 
 Ambiguous words, dangers from, 102 
 American and English usage, 217 
 Americanisms, 35 ; exercises on, 214 
 Americans should use pure English, 45 
 " Among " and " between," 265 
 Anacoluthon, 120 
 Analogies, 73 ; variety of, desirable, 
 
 188 
 " Ancient " and " antiquated," 265 
 " And" beginning sentences, 150 
 
 "Anon," 230 
 
 "Antiquated" and "ancient," 265 
 Antithesis, 157 ; exercises in, 305 
 Apathetic style unnatural, 195 
 Aphoristic style obscure, 146 
 Apologetic style unnatural, 195 
 Apostrophe an aid to energy, 162 
 " Apparent " and " obvious," 266 
 "Apprehend" and "comprehend," 
 
 266 
 "Apprehensive," 266 
 Archaisms, to be used, when, 20 
 Arnold, Dr., on popular condensed 
 
 style, 142 
 " As," 230 
 
 Audience in mind when writing, 129 
 " Averse from " vs. " averse to," 266 
 " Awful," 230 
 
 Barbarism of style, 10, 23 
 
 " Base," 230 
 
 " Bayonets think," 139 
 
 Beautiful in nature and in character, 
 
 167 
 Beauty an ultimate conception, 164 
 Beauty, excessive, not elegant, 169 
 " Belittle," 230 
 
 " Beside " and " besides," 266 
 11 Betrayal," vs. " betray ment," 266 
 " Between " and "among," 265 
 Bible, purity of style, 38 ; heaven and 
 
 hell presented specifically in, 137 
 Blundering constructions, 65, 254 
 Boyle, Roche, blunders of, 94 
 Brimley, G , obscurity of, 90 
 Bryant, W. C, 30
 
 3io 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Burke, E., diatribe against metaphy- 
 sicians, ioo ; effective diffusive- 
 ness in description, 146 ; his style 
 made easy things difficult, 92 ; idea 
 of beauty, 165 ; too elaborately 
 precise, 66 
 
 ,l Calculate" for " think," 231 
 California, Spanish words in, 47 
 " Can but " vs. " cannot but," 231 
 Cant and slang, exercises in, 222 
 " Capacity " and " ability," 265 
 Carlyle, degrading effect of German 
 studies on his style, 52 ; reckless- 
 ness as to style, 28 
 " Caucus," 35 
 
 Chalmers, T., faulty construction, 108 
 " Chastity " and " chasteness," 267 
 China, concise description of, 142 
 Chinook dialect, 46 
 Choate, R., command of etymological 
 meaning of word, 63 ; command of 
 language, 71 ; sources of his fine 
 diction, 75 
 " Christen " for " baptize," 267 
 " Christianization," 231 
 " Christless," 231 
 
 Cicero, failure to improve language, 29 
 Circumlocution, examples of, for cor- 
 rection, 297 ; of thought, 143 ; ob- 
 scurity from, 107 
 Climax, 157 ; exercises in use of, 303 
 Cobbett, W., on use of " it," 56 
 "Coeval" and "contemporaneous," 
 
 267 
 Coleridge, S. T., neologisms, 27, 29, 
 30 ; on capacity of language, 91 ; 
 on connectives, 58 ; on empty 
 thought, 68 
 Colloquialisms, 49 ; exercises in, 219 
 Colonization and commerce, English, 
 
 the language of, 43 
 Combinations of words, many pos- 
 sible, 113 
 Command of language, 70, 71 ; an ac- 
 quisition, 76 
 
 " Common " and " mutual," 272 
 Commonplace in imagery, 175 
 " Community,'' 231 
 Comparison, errors in, 248 
 "Compassionate," "pitiful," and 
 
 " piteous," 272 
 Composition, scholarly care in, 52 
 Compound words, 231 ; barbarous, 
 
 25 
 
 "Comprehend" and "apprehend," 
 266 
 
 "Concept," 21; and "conception," 
 267 
 
 Conciseness, affected, 145 ; an element 
 of force, 139; excessive, 64, 104; 
 examples of, 298 
 
 Concrete and abstract words, exer- 
 cises, 283 
 
 Concreteness essential to oral dis- 
 course, 197 
 
 " Conditioned," 231 
 
 " Conduct," 231 
 
 "Conform with" vs. "conform to," 
 267 
 
 Conjunctive beginnings, care in, 150 
 
 Connectives, errors in use of, 57, 251 ; 
 exercises in use of, 301 
 
 Construction, blunders in, 254 ; clear- 
 ness of, 107 ; extreme care in, 122 ; 
 loose, destroys precision, 67 ; of sen- 
 tence and energy, 148 
 
 Constructions, inelegant, 173 
 
 "Contemporaneous" and "coeval," 
 267 
 
 " Continual " and " continuous," 267 
 
 Contractions, 23, 210 
 
 Contrast, usefulness of, 158 
 
 Conversation and public speaking, dif- 
 ferent styles in, 135 ; freedom of 
 style in, 49 
 
 Cowper, H. Miller's criticism of, 70 
 
 Creation of new words, 23 
 
 Critical study of language, 72 
 
 dishing, Caleb, command of English, 
 
 75 
 " Custom," " habit," " usage," 270
 
 INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 " Decided " vs. "decisive," 268 
 
 " Declension," 233 
 
 " Deed," 233 
 
 " Deicide," 28 
 
 " Deity," 233 
 
 Delicacy an element of elegance, 164 ; 
 and vividness, 181 
 
 ■' Delicious " vs. " delightful," 268 
 
 Delight in writing a source of ease, 
 203 
 
 Delivery, period effective in, 153 ; 
 variety of, 188 ; and style, recipro- 
 cal effect of, 188 
 
 " Delusion" vs. " illusion," 268 
 
 Demosthenes and Cicero contrasted, 
 
 147 
 
 Dependent clauses, bungling con- 
 struction of, 173 
 
 "Depravity" and ''depravation," 268 
 
 " Deputize," 233 
 
 DeQuincey, T., early "penury of 
 words," 76 ; on grammatical faults 
 of most writers, 56 ; style injured 
 by archaisms, 22; intemperate 
 style of, 132 ; use of slang, 51 
 
 Description, concise, 142 
 
 Descriptive writing sometimes marred 
 by conciseness, 146 
 
 " Desk " for " pulpit," 233 
 
 Dialects, 46 
 
 " Diction " and " style," 268 
 
 Dictionaries, discreet use of, 52 
 
 " Differ with " vs. " differ from," 268 
 
 Diffuseness, excessive, 103; sometimes 
 required, 145 
 
 Digression, 119 
 
 " Disbelief" and " unbelief," 268 
 
 Discrimination in thinking, 68 
 
 Distention causes obscurity, 104 
 
 Distinctness of thought, 1S1 
 
 Diversities in style, natural, 166 ^ 
 
 Dogmatic style, 194 
 
 " Donate," 233 
 
 "Don't," 233 
 
 Douglas, S. A., on classical education, 
 45 
 
 " Doxologize," 234 
 
 Drama, Greek love of, 185 
 
 Dramatic quality of oral discourse, 198 
 
 " Drouth," 234 
 
 " Drive " and " ride," 273 
 
 " Effectuate," 234 
 
 Effeminacy not elegance, 166; of taste 
 a token of decay, 178 
 
 Elegance of style, 7, 164 ; and energy, 
 176; promoted by precision, 82 
 
 Ellipsis, excessive or careless, 117 ; 
 examples of erroneous, 249, 290 
 
 Emerson, R. W., obscure conciseness 
 of, 146 ; over-conciseness of, 64 
 
 Emphatic clauses, wrong arrangement 
 in, 116 
 
 Emphatic sentence, growth of, 69 
 
 Emphatic words, location of, 149 
 
 " Endow " and " endue," 269 
 
 '' Energize," 234 
 
 Energy of style, 7, 124; means of, 134 ; 
 exercises in, 292 
 
 " England " for " Britain," 234 
 
 English language, excellence of, 41 ; 
 rapid spread, 42 ; three kinds of, 
 16 
 
 English poetry, 39 
 
 English temperament, 166 
 
 Enthusiasm requisite for forcible wilt- 
 ing, 127 ; unbalanced, 131 ; vs. 
 " fanaticism," 269 
 
 Epitaphs, blundering, 116 
 
 " Epoch," and " era," 269 
 
 Erasmus, wedded to Latin, n 
 
 Errors in use of prepositions, 223 ; 
 miscellaneous, exercises on, 224 ; 
 in comparison, exercises on, 24S ; 
 in the use of verbs, from ellipsis, 
 249; in use of tenses, 249; in use 
 of moods, 250; in use of the sub- 
 junctive, 250 ; in use of connec- 
 tives, 251 ; in use of synonyms, 
 251 ; in use of pronouns, 283 ; of 
 adjectives and adverbs, 284 ; of 
 qualifying clauses, 287 ; in order of
 
 312 
 
 INDEX 
 
 thought, 288 ; in use of ellipsis, 
 290 ; in introduction of irrelevant 
 matter, 291 
 " Eternal " and '' everlasting," 269 
 Etymology, misleading, 33 ; neglect 
 
 of, 63 
 " Evangelization," 234 
 " Eventuate," 234 
 
 Everett, E., never employed contrac- 
 tions, 23 ; style in conversation, 50 
 " Everlasting " and '' eternal," 269 
 " Except " and " unless," 270 
 Exclamation an aid to energy, 101 
 " Exhumate," 234 
 Expansions of words, 24 ; exercises, 
 
 211 
 " Expect" for " think," 234 
 Expression, excessive care for, 69 
 Extemporaneous and written dis- 
 course, 135 
 Extemporaneous speech, period in, 
 
 153 
 " Extreme," 234 
 Eye, appeal to, in oratory, 99 
 
 Facetiously coined words, 24 
 
 " Fall" for " autumn," 234 
 
 '■ Falsehood" for " falseness," 270 
 
 " Fancy " and " imagination," 270 
 
 " Fellowship," 234 
 
 Feminine qualities of thought, 165 
 
 Figurative language and energy, 156 ; 
 exercises, 275 
 
 Figurative uses, 73 
 
 Figurative and literal use of same 
 word, 60 
 
 Figure, excessive use of, 60 
 
 Figures of speech, right use of, 162 
 
 Finical imagery, 175 
 
 " Firstly " for " first," 235 
 
 Fitness of expression to subject, 193 
 
 " Fix," 235 
 
 '• Fixity " /or " fixedness," 235 
 
 Fontenelle's rule " to understand my- 
 self," 89 
 
 Force, purity of style imparts, 39 
 
 Forcible composition and thought, 
 
 125 ; conditions of, 128 
 Foreign words, importation of, 32 
 Foster, J., method of, 93; quotation 
 
 from, 81 
 Fox, C. J., speaking in Parliament, 
 
 189 
 Froude, obscurity of style, 118 
 
 General words used for specific, 103 
 Generic and specific words, exercises, 
 
 280 
 " Genius " vs. " talents," 270 
 German writers, corrupting effect on 
 
 English, 51 
 German construction, 119, 154 
 Gibbon, misplacement of " only," 112 
 " Gift" as a verb, 235 
 God, name of, as apostrophe, 162 
 " Gospel" as an adjective, 235 
 Gough, J. B. , power in pantomime, 
 
 105 
 Gray's Elegy, possible transpositions 
 
 of words, 113 
 Grimm, Jacob, on English language, 
 
 4i 
 
 Grote, neologisms, 27 
 
 " Guess," inelegance of, 172 
 
 Guizot, F., testimony to English lan- 
 guage, 42 
 
 " Habit," " custom," " usage," 270 
 Hall, R., subjection to Johnsonian 
 
 dialect, 70 
 Hallam, on misplaced inflections, 57 
 " Happify," 235 
 " Hardy " and " rugged," 273 
 " Haste " and " hurry," 270 
 Heart-beats, power of, if combined, 
 
 129 
 " Heavenly-mindedness," 235 
 " Healthy " and " healthful," 62, 270 
 Hearers, fitness of expression to, 194 
 " Heaven " as synonym of " God," 235 
 Henry, Patrick, and colloquial dia- 
 lect, 17
 
 INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 " Hope " for "hope for," 235 
 " How ? " 235 
 " Humbug," 14 
 " Humility," 20 
 " Hurry " and " haste," 270 
 Hyperbole an aid to energy, 161 ; may 
 assist precision, 82 
 
 " Idiot," 19 
 
 Illiterate, influence of, on speech, 45 
 
 " Illusion " vs. " delusion," 26S 
 
 Illustration, variety in, 187 
 
 "Illy" for "ill," 236 
 
 Imagery, 96, 97 ; and figure not iden- 
 tical, 156 ; commonplace in, 175 ; 
 easy command of, 183 ; inelegance 
 of, 174 
 
 " Imagination " and " fancy," 270 
 
 Imitation, servile, 69 
 
 Immigrants to U. S., effects on lan- 
 guage, 46 
 
 " Imperative " and " imperious," 271 
 
 " Implicit," 236 
 
 Impressiveness and energy, 124 
 
 Impropriety of style, 10 
 
 " In spite of," 271 
 
 " Inaugurate," 236 
 
 " Incident " for " liable," 237 
 
 Indefinite thought, energy not adapted 
 to, 126 
 
 Indiscriminate thinking, 68 
 
 Individuality of style, 7 
 
 Inelegance, Macaulay's effective, 174 
 
 Inelegant constructions, 173 
 
 Inelegant language, 171 
 
 Inflections, misplaced, 57 
 
 Intemperance of style, 131, 132 
 
 " Intend " for " mean," 237 
 
 Intensity may be diffuse, 147 
 
 Interest in aim of discourse, 200 
 
 Interrogation an aid to energy, 158 
 
 Inversion, misplaced or excessive, 173 
 
 Inverted sentence, 117 
 
 Involuted style, 58 
 
 Irony, 161 
 
 " Irreligionist," 237 
 
 Irrelevant matter, introduction of, 121 ; 
 
 examples, 291 
 Irving, W. , style in conversation, 50 
 " It," errors in use of, 56, 248 
 " Ize," words in, 24 
 
 " Jeopardize," 237 
 
 Johnson, Dr., Latinized style, 32 ; on 
 The Rehearsal, 138 ; style, criti- 
 cised by Hazlitt, 187 ; two styles 
 
 of, 135 
 Journalists, new words by, 29 
 
 Kant, long sentence by, 119 
 
 Language, love of, 39 
 
 " Lay " and " lie," 237 
 
 " Learn " for " teach," 271 
 
 " Lengthy," 237 
 
 " Lethal weapons," 101 
 
 " Lieve " for " lief," 237 
 
 " Like'' and "love," 271 
 
 Lincoln, A., method of, in debate, 93 
 
 Literatures, national, decline of, 178 
 
 Long and short words, exercises in 
 
 use of, 292 
 " Long " as a noun, 237 
 Loose style, causes of, 68 
 Lord's Prayer, purity of style, 40 
 Loring, C. G., faulty construction, 
 
 109 
 " Love " and " like,'' 271 
 Lowell, J. R. , neologisms, 30; on 
 
 archaisms, 20 
 Luther, " Reformation of," 102 
 
 Macaulay, T. B. , effective use of de- 
 tailed description, 147 ; omission 
 of words, 55 
 
 Mason, Jeremiah, method with juries, 
 
 159 
 Mastering subjects of discourse, habit 
 
 of, 199 
 Mastery of words, 72 
 Maurice, F. D. , on hidden meanings 
 
 in words, 72
 
 314 
 
 INDEX 
 
 " Mean " for " means," 237 
 "Memories" for "reminiscences," 
 
 271 
 " Methinks," 237 
 Michael Angelo, picture of Virgin 
 
 Mary, 194 
 " Mighty " for " very," 238 
 " Militate with," 238 
 Milton, J., angels not described by, 
 
 127 ; neologisms, 29, 32 ; prose 
 
 style, 58 ; use of antithesis in 
 
 Paradise Lost, 158; vocabulary 
 
 limited, 78 
 " Missionate," 238 
 " Moment " and " minute," 271 
 Mongrel imagery, 176 
 Monotony of construction, 107, 186 
 Moods and tenses of verbs, 56 ; errors 
 
 in use of, 250 
 Moore, Thomas, getting his word, 74 
 " Moot," 238 
 " Mutual " and " common," 272 
 
 Napoleon, intensity of his thinking, 89 
 
 National usage, 15 
 
 Naturalness of style, 7, 192 
 
 Negligence in construction, 123 
 
 Neologisms, dictionaries of, 14 
 
 "Nervous," 102 
 
 New words, exercises with, 212 ; prin- 
 ciples governing, 27 
 
 New York State, Dutch and Welsh 
 in, 46, 47 
 
 " News," 238 
 
 Newspaper, condensed style demand- 
 ed for, 142 
 
 Niagara Falls, beauty and sublimity 
 of, 177 
 
 "Nice," 238 
 
 " No," " whether or," 238 
 
 Noah entering the ark, 101 
 
 Northwestern U. S., foreign languages 
 
 in, 47 
 " Notify," 238 
 Number of words, energy dependent 
 
 on, 139 
 
 Object in view required for forcible 
 style, 129 
 
 " Obligate," 238 
 
 Obscurity from absence of thought, 
 87 ; from vague thought, 88 ; from 
 affectation, 90 ; from profound- 
 ness, 92 ; from rapidity of thought, 
 94 ; how removed, 101 
 
 "Observation" and "observance," 
 272 
 
 Obsolescent words, 20 ; and moral de- 
 cay, 21 
 
 Obsolete words, 19 
 
 Omission of words, 55 
 
 " One, the, and the other," 118 
 
 " Only " and " alone," 265 ; misplace- 
 ment of, 112 
 
 Onomatopoetic style, 138 ; examples, 
 294 
 
 " Onto," 239 
 
 " Open up," 239 
 
 Oral delivery, excessive precision in, 
 66 
 
 Order, excessive, 173 
 
 Order of thought, wrong, 116; ex- 
 amples, 288 
 
 Ornament, elegance not simply, 16C 
 
 Orthography, similar, dangers from, 62 
 
 " Ought," 239 
 
 " Painful," 20 
 
 Parenthesis, abuse of, 119 
 
 Park, Professor, on barbarisms, 23 
 
 Passionate style, 131 
 
 " Paternal " and " fatherly," 272 
 
 Paul, St., antithetical passage from, 
 158 
 
 Periodic structures, 152 ; abuse of, 153 ; 
 exercises in, 302 
 
 Perspicuity, 7, 17 ; purity of style, an 
 aid to, 38 ; distinguished from pre- 
 cision, 54 ; as affected by imagery, 
 96 ; affected by words of discourse, 
 100 ; affected by construction, 107 ; 
 energy not same as, 124 ; exercises 
 in, 275
 
 INDEX 
 
 315 
 
 Philosophy, study of, affects language, 
 
 9i 
 Pierrepont, Judge, in trial of Surratt, 
 
 99 
 "Pitiful," "piteous," and "compas- 
 sionate,'' 272 
 " Pity " and " sympathy," 273 
 " Plead" as preterite, 239 
 " Plenty " for " plentiful," 239 
 " Plowman homeward plods," etc., 18 
 
 ways of reading, 113 
 Poetry, obsolete words in, 21 
 Political parties' watchwords, 85 
 Population of the world, vastness il- 
 lustrated, 127 
 Portrait, unconsciousness essential 
 
 to, 8 
 Position of words, relative, 113, 114 
 Practice in composition, 202 
 Prayer, Book of Common, tautological 
 
 phrases in, 140 
 Prayer, obsolete words in, 22 
 Precision of style, 7 ; defined, 54 ; vio- 
 lations of, 55, 60 ; foundation of, 
 in thought, 68 ; inducements to, 
 79; not pedantic, 80; promotes 
 clearness and energy, 81 ; pro- 
 motes elegance, 82 ; approved for 
 its own sake, 84 ; a popular style, 
 84 ; exercises in, 248 
 " Predicate " for " found," 239 
 " Prejudices," 20 
 Prepositions ending sentence, 149 ; 
 
 errors in use of, 223 
 " Prevent," 33 
 " Pride " and " vanity," 272 
 Prior, M. , faulty construction, 108 
 " Profanity'' and " profaneness," 240 
 " Professor " for " communicant," 
 
 240 
 " Progress" as a verb, 240 
 Prolific writers natural writers, 202 
 Pronouns and antecedents, 108 ; repe- 
 tition with different antecedents, 
 108 ; errors in use, examples of, 
 283 
 
 Propriety distinguished from pre- 
 cision, 54 
 
 Provincialisms, 35 ; English, 38 ; in 
 America, 46 
 
 Prussian dictionary. Government, 13 
 
 Public speakers use limited vocabu- 
 lary, 77 ; successful, 92 
 
 Public speaking, pure English adapted 
 to, 40 
 
 Pure words an aid to energy, 134 
 
 Purism, 11 
 
 Purity of style, 7 ; defined, 10 ; stand- 
 ard of, 11 ; violations of, 19 ; 
 reasons for cultivating, 37 ; an es- 
 sential of culture, 48 ; how ac- 
 quired, 49 ; exercises in, 209 
 
 Qualifying clauses, arrangement of, 
 114 ; examples of errors in use of, 
 287 
 
 Qualifying words, excess of, 141 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, fine-spun oratory, 200 
 
 Quintilian on precision, 79 
 
 " Quite " for " very," 240 
 
 " Quiz," origin of, 12 
 
 " Raise," 240 
 
 Randolph, J., hyperbole of, 82 
 Rapidity of speech, dangers from, 94 
 ■'Rather," "had," or "would" pre- 
 ceding, 240 
 '' Rational" for " reasonable," 273 
 Reading, classic English to be pre- 
 ferred, 51 
 Redundancy, excessive, 65 
 Refinement of perception, 169 
 Reinhard, on use of pronouns, 110 
 " Reluct," " reluctate," 240 
 '' Remorse," 240 
 '' Remove, an infinite," 241 
 Republican institutions favor debase- 
 ment of language, 45 
 " Resentment," 19 
 '' Retrospcet " as a verb, 241 
 Richter, J P., variety of illustrations, 
 188
 
 3i6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 " Ride" and " drive," 273 
 " Rugged " and " hardy," 273 
 
 "Sang," 241 
 
 " Save " for " except," 241 
 
 Saxon and Norman synonyms, 140 
 
 Saxon element in English, 40 
 
 Saxon style, 100 ; strength of, 134 
 
 Saxon words, 52 ; when not to be used, 
 
 136 ; substituted for Latin or Greek 
 
 derivatives, exercises, 279 
 Scott, Walter, use of colloquialism 
 
 new to him, 74 
 " Scripturality," 241 
 " Security " and " safety," 273 
 Self-forgetfulness in composing, 200 
 " Self-love " and " selfishness," 273 
 Self-possession essential to eloquence, 
 
 130 ; consistent with heat of style, 
 
 148 
 " Selfsame," 241 
 Sensitiveness of feeling, 182 
 " Sensual " and " sensuous," 273 
 Sentence, ending of, 149 
 Shakespeare, vocabulary limited, 78 ; 
 
 fertility of his mind, 203 
 " Shall "and " will," 241 
 "Shew" for " shewed," 242 
 Short words an aid to energy, 137 ; 
 
 abuse of, 138 ; and long words, 
 
 exercises in use of, 292 
 " Shortcomings," 242 
 Shylock, example of interrogative 
 
 style, 160 
 "Sidehill," 242 
 Simplicity of language essential to 
 
 vividness, 183 ; in construction of 
 
 sentences, 198 
 Slang, 36, 50 ; popular, 84 ; examples, 
 
 222 
 Smallness not essential to beauty, 165 
 Solecism of style, 10 
 *' Solemnize," 242 
 Soliloquy, oral discourse in, 130 
 " Some " for " somewhat," 242 
 " Soul " compounds with, 242 
 
 Southey, R., and " deicide," 28 ; rules 
 
 of composition, 80 
 " Spake," 241 
 
 Spanish language, prevalence of, 42 
 Specific words an aid to energy, 136 ; 
 
 and generic words, exercises, 280 
 Spencer, H., theory of style, 104, 122 
 Spenser, E. , Faerie Queene, archaic 
 
 style of, 22 ; compared with Bible, 
 
 38 
 
 " Spiritual-mindedness," 242 
 
 " Sprang," 241 
 
 Standards of English usage, 17 
 
 " Station " vs. " depot," 242 
 
 Stormont, Lord, style of, in Parlia- 
 ment, 189 
 
 " Stricken " for " struck," 242 
 
 Strutting in discourse, 195 
 
 Studied beauty, 178 
 
 Style, defined, 3 ; popular concep- 
 tions of, 4 ; is thought, 6 ; quali- 
 ties of, 6, 7 ; and delivery, recipro- 
 cal effect of, 188; and "diction," 
 268 
 
 Subjects of discourse, fitness of ex- 
 pression to, 193 
 
 Subjunctive, use of, 56 ; examples of 
 wrong use, 250 
 
 Sumner, C, classical allusions in 
 speeches, 97 
 
 " Sundown," 243 
 
 " Sympathy," 63 ; and " pity," 273 
 
 Synonyms, confounding of, 60 ; knowl- 
 edge of, necessary, 73 ; errors in 
 use of, 251 ; lists of, 255, 260 
 
 " Systemize," 243 
 
 "Talent" vs. "talents," 243; vs. 
 " genius," 270 
 
 Tautology and conciseness, 140 ; ex- 
 amples of, for correction, 295 
 
 Taylor, Jeremy, learned style of, 97 
 
 " Telegram," 30 
 
 " Temper " for " anger," 243 
 
 Tenses and moods, 56 ; errors in use 
 of, 249
 
 INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 '' Thalagram," 30 
 
 " Thanks ! " 243 
 
 " That'' for " thus," 244 
 
 " The,'' omission of, 273 
 
 " Then " used adjectively, 244 
 
 " This '' for " thus," 244 
 
 Thought, quickness of, 142 
 
 Tonic effect of qualifying word, 143 
 
 " Transpire," 244 
 
 " Ugly " for " ill-natured," 244 
 
 " Un-" 244 
 
 " Unbeknown," 244 
 
 " Unbelief " and " disbelief," 268 
 
 Uncouth words, 171 
 
 " Undertaker," 62 
 
 Unfinished imagery, 175 
 
 Unimportant thought, energy not 
 adapted to, 126 
 
 " Unless " and " except," 270 
 
 " Unreason," 244 
 
 " Unwisdom," 244 
 
 Usage vs. learning, 11 ; the ultimate 
 standard, 12; national, 15 ; as in- 
 fluenced by laws of a language, 
 15 ; must be reputable, 16 ; stand- 
 ards of, 17 ; "habit," "custom," 
 270 
 
 Vagueness, remedy for, 89 
 
 " Vanity " and " pride," 272 
 
 " Variate," 245 
 
 Variety essential to beauty, 184 ; in 
 method of discussion, 185 ; in con- 
 struction, 186; in illustration, 187 
 
 Verboseness and conciseness, 141 ; 
 scholastic, 142 ; as to certain pnrts 
 of speech, 143 ; examples of, 295 
 
 Versatility of thought, 185 
 
 Vision, figure of, an aid to energy, 
 161 
 
 Vivacity and energy, 124 
 
 Vividness an element of elegance, 
 180 
 
 Vocabulary, extensive, not command 
 of language, 70; retentive control 
 of, necessary, 74 ; not necessarily 
 large, 77 ; of children, 77 ; of pub- 
 lic speakers, 77 
 
 Vulgarisms, 35 
 
 " Was " for " were " with " you," 245 
 Webster, D., use of colloquialisms, 49 ; 
 command of language, 71 ; ques- 
 tionable use of relative pronoun, 
 no ; self-possession, 132 
 Wellington, Duke of, style affected by 
 
 fame, 8 
 " Were " for " was," 245 
 Whately on vacuity of style, 88 
 Whitefield and the sailor, 198 
 "Whole "for ''all," 245 
 Wise, H. A., mixed imagery of, 96 
 Words condemned by critics, 217 ; 
 
 confounded, list of, 263 
 Wordsworth, W., on obscurity of 
 style, 93 ; poetry of, elegance in, 
 168 ; inelegancies used by, 172 
 
 Zest in writing, 203
 
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 sible, to all of the works commonly assigned to him. Finally the 
 resulting impression of his individuality is defined as fully and 
 clearly as is possible. 
 
 Contents: I. Introduction — II. The Facts of Shakespere's Life — 
 III. Literature and the Theatre in England until 1587 — IV. The 
 Works of Shakespere — V. Venus and Adonis, and The Rape of 
 Lucrece — VI. The Plays of Shakespere from Titus Andronicus to 
 The Two Gentlemen of Verona — VII. The Plays of Shakespere from 
 A Midsummer-night's Dream to Twelfth Night — VIII. Shakespere's 
 Sonnets — IX. The Plays of Shakespere from Julius Ceesar to Corio- 
 lanus — X. Timon of Athens, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre — XL The 
 Plays of Shakespere from Cymbeline to Henry VIII. — XII. William 
 Shakespere. Authorities, etc. 
 
 THE ART OF EXTEMPORE SPEAKING 
 
 Hints for the Pulpit, the Senate, and the Bar. By M. Bautain, Vicar- 
 General and Professor at the Sorbonne. Edited by a member of the 
 New York Bar. With addition, rules of debate, etc. i2mo, $1.50. 
 
 " This work has no counterpart or rival in the English language. Other works 
 teach how to write ; this contains suggestions on the art of speaking — easily, agree- 
 ably, forcibly." — The Christian Obst>i'e>.
 
 THE SCIENCE OF ENGLISH VERSE 
 
 By Sidney Lanier, late of Johns Hopkins University. i2mo, $2.00. 
 
 Mr. Lanier does not content himself with merely combating vigor- 
 ously the false methods which have become traditional in English 
 prosody, but presents most interesting and valuable suggestions for 
 a truer method ; treating verse almost entirely as analogous with 
 music — and this not figuratively, but as really governed by the same 
 laws, little modified. His forcible and skillful use of the most modern 
 investigations in acoustics in supporting this position makes the book 
 not only a contribution to literature, but, in the best sense, to physi- 
 cal science. 
 
 SELECT POEMS OF SIDNEY LANIER 
 
 Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Morgan Callaway, Jr., 
 Ph.D., Associate Professor of English Philology in the University 
 of Texas, formerly Fellow of the Johns Hopkins University ; 
 author of "The Absolute Participle in Anglo-Saxon." i2mo, 
 $1.00 net. 
 
 "This edition of the 'Select Poems of Sidney Lanier' is issued in the hope of 
 making his poetry known to wider circles than hitherto, especially among the stu- 
 dents of our High Schools and Colleges. To these, as to older people, the poems will, 
 it is believed, prove an inspiration from the standpoint both of literature and of life." 
 
 — From the Preface. 
 
 ESTIMATES OF LANIER'S POETRY. 
 
 " As a master of melodious meter only Tennyson, and he not often, has equaled 
 Lanier. . . . Enough has been said to hint to those personally unacquainted with 
 Lanier's works, that, from an aesthetic view, his career is otie of the most remarkable, 
 if not the most remarkable, yet lived by an American." — William R. Thayer, 
 editor of" Best Elizabethan Plays," etc.. in The. Independent, N. Y. 
 
 " His poems, which have been gathered in a volume, constitute the most charac- 
 teristic specimens of American verse to be found in any similar collection. They are 
 thoroughly and completely American. Thoughtless critics have pronounced them 
 obscure, but other generations will undoubtedly appreciate the splendid exaltation, 
 the subtle suggestions, the glowing thoughts, the wonderful harmonies of an imagina- 
 tion not inferior to Emerson's." — Joel Chandler Harris, author of "Uncle 
 Remus," etc. 
 
 ELOCUTION 
 
 The Sources and Elements of its Power. A Text-book for Schools and 
 
 Colleges, and a book for every Public Speaker and Student of the 
 
 English Language. By Rev. J. H. McIlvaink, D.D. i2mo, $16.75. 
 
 This is an original and thoroughly practical manual, arranged 
 
 with special reference to class-room use and convenience of students. 
 
 Nearly half the work consists in the exhibition of the intellectual, 
 
 moral, asthetical, and physical sources of power in delivery; the other 
 
 part contains several chapters on phonology and treats in detail the 
 
 articulation, accent, and pronunciation, the relation of the vocal 
 
 organs to vocal culture, the qualities and powers of the voice, etc. 
 
 Descriptive Catalogue of Educational Publications sent free. Privileges of 
 Examination, Introductory Prices, Regular A'a/rs to Instructors, to Libraries, and 
 to the Trade, will be cheerfully furnished upon application. 
 
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