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 ,^WEUNIVER5y
 
 MODERN 
 ENGLISH LITERATURE: 
 
 ITS 
 
 ^Ixmisljts ^ ^dcds. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENEY H. BREEN, ESQ. E.S.A. 
 
 ■ La v^rit6 qui blS,me est plus honorable que la v6rit6 qui loue. " 
 
 J. J. Rousseau. 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMAN, BEOWN, GEEEN, & LONGMANS, 
 
 PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 1857.
 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 The few introductory remarks, which I have 
 to offer, have reference chiefly to the Chapters on 
 "Composition," "Blunders," and "Mannerism." 
 
 Being persuaded that imaginary examples of 
 errors seldom make any impression on the 
 reader, I have, in every instance, cited the name 
 of the author, together with the title of the work 
 from which the quotation is made. When prac- 
 ticable or convenient, I have given several 
 examples, and from different writers. The more 
 the reader is convinced of the prevalence of any 
 error, the more likely he will be to guard against 
 the occurrence of it in his own writings. In no 
 case, however, does this prevalence amount to 
 what Quintilian calls the consensus eruditorum. 
 It is admitted that a mode of speech, however 
 faulty when first introduced, ceases to have that 

 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 character as soon as it receives the express 
 sanction of the learned. The errors of which 
 I speak are generally the result of ignorance or 
 inadvertency, neither of which can be said to 
 imply concurrence or consent. Moreover, in 
 every instance where I cite an erroneous locution, 
 I can quote far more numerous examples of 
 the correct form. 
 
 Prom the list of authors quoted, I have 
 excluded — 1st, our poets of every period and 
 degree; deeming it superfluous to quote errors 
 which might be defended or excused on the score 
 of poetical license, rhythm, and even rhyme; 
 2ndly, with three or four exceptions, the writers 
 who flourished before the present century. 
 Errors which are wholly inexcusable at the 
 present day, may well be pardoned in an 
 age when the rules of our syntax were 
 comparatively undetermined. 
 
 The examples are thus confined to the writers 
 of our own time, and among these to our chief 
 historians and essayists. No one is surprised to 
 hear that ungrammatical forms of speech are to 
 be met with, at every page, in that species of 
 literary production, to which we apply the terms
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 " light," " current," " fugitive." It was always so, 
 and will continue so to the end of time. It is 
 so in the same department of literature in other 
 countries, and there is no reason why ours should 
 be an exception to the common lot. But that 
 the grossest solecisms and the most palpable 
 blunders should be of frequent occurrence in 
 those who claim to occupy the highest place 
 in the republic of letters, is what few may be 
 prepared to admit. 
 
 Much has been written in our day on the 
 "English Language;" on the " Hise, Progress, 
 and Present Structure of the English Language ;" 
 on " English Past and Present ;" on the " Study 
 of Language;" on the "Study of Words;" on 
 " English Synonymes ;" and on " English Gram- 
 mar." But of what avail are all those writings, 
 if, when we come to put our words together, to 
 combine them for the main purpose for which 
 they are designed, we show ourselves deficient 
 in artistic skill ? What would be thought of 
 the painter who could expatiate on the pro- 
 perties of colours, yet should be incapable of 
 making a judicious disposition of them on 
 canvass ? What of the architect who could
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 explain the origin and use of his building mate- 
 rials, yet in practice should exhibit ignorance 
 of the laws of symmetry ? 
 
 In recommending for imitation the example 
 of the French, so far as relates to grammatical 
 propriety, I do not wish to be understood as 
 recommending that we should sacrifice any of 
 the advantages of our own mother-tongue to 
 the attainment of that object. French is one 
 of the poorest of modern languages; but its 
 poverty does not arise from its method and 
 propriety. This indeed is so little the case, 
 that, if it were written with no greater atten- 
 tion to grammar than English commonly is, it 
 would soon be reduced to an intolerable jargon. 
 English, on the other hand, is one of the 
 richest of living languages; but its copiousness 
 and vigour would suffer no diminution by being 
 combined with a higher degree of method and 
 propriety. That these qualities are not unat- 
 tainable is sufficiently shown by the examples 
 of such writers as Hazlitt, Southey, and Landor. 
 That they are attainable in an eminent degree, 
 is proved by the fact that the greatest prose 
 writer of the age is indebted for much of his
 
 PREFACE. VU 
 
 fame to the correctness and brilliancy of his 
 diction. Correctness, however, like other merits 
 in a writer, has its relative value. In some, 
 it is the chief recommendation ; in others, its 
 absence is the principal defect. Correctness 
 is not necessary to constitute a great writer; 
 inaccuracy is sufficient to disparage the greatest. 
 
 15th July, 1856.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 EREOKS IN COMPOSITION. 
 
 Prevalence of Inaccuracy Fage 1 
 
 Its causes 2 
 
 Comparison with the French ib. 
 
 Synonymous and Redundant Terms 9 
 
 Singulars and Plurals 12 
 
 Singular misemployed for Plural ib. 
 
 Different Modes of Speech in which it is misemployed ... 15 
 
 Plural misemployed for Singular 17 
 
 Examples in Connexion with the Wobbs — 
 
 "Or" 18 
 
 "Neither" 19 
 
 "No one" , ib. 
 
 "Each" ib. 
 
 "Everyone" 20 
 
 " Everything " ib. 
 
 "As well as" ib. 
 
 "Much" 21 
 
 "More" ib. 
 
 "Less" ib. 
 
 " Many a" il. 
 
 "With" 22 
 
 "Little" 23 
 
 "Nothing" ib. 
 
 Singular and Plural employed in same case 24 
 
 AVant of Perspicuity 28 
 
 Elliptical Modes of Speech 34 
 
 Other ungrammatical Phrases 37
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 Nominative mthout a Verb Page 37 
 
 Yerb without a Nominative 39 
 
 Preposition repeated 40 
 
 Improper use of Pronouns ib. 
 
 Eelative without an Antecedent 44 
 
 " Whose," — Incorrect use of ib- 
 
 "His," as the Antecedent of "who," "whose" 45 
 
 " Than," — Improper use of ib. 
 
 "The," incorrect!}^ used or omitted 48 
 
 " Only,"— Misemployment of 49 
 
 " Only," in the wrong place 50 
 
 " Only," incorrectly put for " alone " 51 
 
 "Wrong Preposition 52 
 
 " Hereafter," " Henceforth," — Erroneous use of 54 
 
 " Whither," " Thither," misemployed 55 
 
 "Equal as" 56 
 
 " Same as," " Same with," — confounded ib- 
 
 Adverbs in the wrong place 57 
 
 Double Superlatives ib. 
 
 "But" instead of "That" 58 
 
 " Or," " Nor," incorrectly used one for the other 59 
 
 " Same," a Pronoun ib. 
 
 "Shall," "Will" 61 
 
 Perfect and Imperfect Tenses 63 
 
 Rules for distinguishing them ib. 
 
 Perfect Tense instead of Imperfect 65 
 
 Other Errors in the use of the Moods and Tenses 66 
 
 Indicative instead of Subjunctive .. ib. 
 
 Subjunctive instead of Indicative ib. 
 
 Past Tense for Future Tense 67 
 
 Infinitive Past for Infinitive Present ib. 
 
 Present Participle for Infinitive Mood 68 
 
 Slang Terras and Poreign Words 69 
 
 Prevalence among English writers 71 
 
 Difiereut practice of the French ib. 
 
 "Milord" 72 
 
 "Bifteck" ib. 
 
 " Partenaire " ib. 
 
 "Redingote" 73
 
 CONTENTS, xi 
 
 BLUNDERS. 
 
 Examples fbom the following Weitees : — 
 
 Smollett Page 77 
 
 Walpole 78 
 
 Leigh Huut ib. 
 
 Cobbett ib. 
 
 Walker 79 
 
 D 'Israeli ib. 
 
 Hallam ib. 
 
 Jerdaa 80 
 
 Wilson ib. 
 
 D'Israeli ib. 
 
 Eoster ib. 
 
 D'Israeli 81 
 
 Lady Morgan ib. 
 
 Kirke White ib. 
 
 D'Israeli 82 
 
 Gilfillan ib. 
 
 Trench 83 
 
 Soaue ib. 
 
 Eoster ib. 
 
 Gratty 84 
 
 Merry weather ib. 
 
 Hallam 85 
 
 D 'Israeli ib. 
 
 Soaue ih. 
 
 Jeffrey 86 
 
 Wordsworth 87 
 
 Alison ib. 
 
 One word incorrectly employed for another 98 
 
 " Deteriorate "—" Detract " ib. 
 
 " Mechanism "—" Machinery " 99 
 
 " Application " — "Applicability " ib. 
 
 " Participate "—" Concur " 100 
 
 " Overspread" — " Pervade" ib.
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 " Bind up "— " Wind up " Page 101 
 
 " Observation" — " Observance" 102 
 
 " Esteem "—" Deem " 103 
 
 "Lay"— "Lie" 104 
 
 " Of all others " 106 
 
 Further Blunders from D'Israeli 107 
 
 D'Israeli's " Bevues " Ill 
 
 Bull on the Pope 114 
 
 Dr. Johnson and Cobbett 117 
 
 Foreign Words — Improper use of 119 
 
 " Soubriquet" ih. 
 
 " Coiite qu'il coute" — " Coiite qui coute " ih. 
 
 "A sous" ih. 
 
 " Philippe the August " ih. 
 
 Junius's French 120 
 
 " J'ai tout perdu que mon honneur " ih. 
 
 " A bas les Traiteurs!" 121 
 
 " Digue tant" 122 
 
 " Esprit " — its misapplication ih. 
 
 " Esprit du corps" ih. 
 
 To dance with "esprit" ih. 
 
 Macaulay on " L' Esprit des Lois " 123 
 
 " Arret "—" Arrete " 125 
 
 Further Examples from Alison ih. 
 
 Blunders of Translators 126 
 
 Latin Terms and Phrases misused 128 
 
 " Valde lacrymable hiatus " ih. 
 
 " Ludovico Magno is multiplied" ih. 
 
 " An Ephemerae " 129 
 
 " A Deo rex, a lege rex " 130 
 
 "Pro pauperes et iudigentes scholares " ih. 
 
 " Phantasmagoria" — a Plural 131 
 
 " Sic transit facetise mundi " ih. 
 
 "Litera scripta"— a Plural 132 
 
 "Trifling Minutiae" 133 
 
 " Mysteries of Arcana" ih. 
 
 " Battles of Logomachy " ih. 
 
 " English Anglomania" ih.
 
 CONTENTS. XUI 
 
 MANNERISM. 
 
 Different Styles Paye 137 
 
 The "Tally-ho" style 138 
 
 Christopher North 139 
 
 The "And" style 140 
 
 Inscription to Lord George Bentinck ib. 
 
 The "Eailway" style 141 
 
 Improper use of the Parenthesis 143 
 
 Charles Lamb's Parentheses 144 
 
 Examples from Sir B. Lytton and others 145 
 
 Punctuation 151 
 
 Dashes ib. 
 
 Use of by Sir B. Lytton and others 162 
 
 Stereotyped Modes of Speech 158 
 
 The "However" style 154 
 
 The "Of aU others" style ib. 
 
 Examples from Sir A. Alison ib. 
 
 The "But" style 156 
 
 Examples from Merry weather ib. 
 
 The " Great as" style 157 
 
 The "If" style 159 
 
 Examples from Sir A. Alison ib. 
 
 Words repeated in close succession 165 
 
 Examples from Sir A. Alison ib. 
 
 Titles of Books 173 
 
 CRITICISM. 
 
 EdinburgJi and Quarterly Reviews 179 
 
 Political Partisanship ib. 
 
 Its Prevalence 180 
 
 Impartiality of Criticism as regards our Elder Writers ... 181 
 
 Its unfairness in reference to living Authors ib.
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Examples of Dickens and Sir B. Lytton Pa/je 182 
 
 Sun Newspaper = 184 
 
 AtlieiicEum ib. 
 
 Authors, not works, reviewed 185 
 
 Sir B. Lytton on Criticism ib. 
 
 The Anonymous 186 
 
 Its Evils ib. 
 
 Junius 187 
 
 Affixing Critic's name 188 
 
 Critical Cant 189 
 
 Hazlitt on Byron 190 
 
 Hazlitton Moore 192 
 
 D' Israeli on lost Treasures of Literature ib. 
 
 Eancy and Truth 194 
 
 Contradictions of Criticism 195 
 
 Wilson and Hazlitt on Sir Walter Scott 196 
 
 Wilson and Jeffrey on Wordsworth ib. 
 
 Wilson and Hazlitt on Rogers 197 
 
 Wilson and Hazlitt on Campbell 198 
 
 Wilson and Hazlitt on Southey ib. 
 
 Wilson and Hazlitt on Joanna Baillie 199 
 
 Sir B. Lytton and Hazlitt on Byron 203 
 
 Byron and Hazlitt on Crabbe ib. 
 
 Wilson and Hazlitt on Moore ib. 
 
 Taylor and Wilson on Wordsworth 204 
 
 Alison and Coleridge on Mackintosh ib. 
 
 Hazlitt on Comparative Merits of Byron and Scott 205 
 
 PLAGIARISM. 
 
 Different kinds of Plagiarism 210 
 
 Originality and Plagiarism 213 
 
 Writings of Nodier and Querard ib. 
 
 Plagiarisms of French Writers ib. 
 
 Montaigne ib, 
 
 Charron and Corneille ib.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Eacine, Moliere, and La Fontaine Page 214 
 
 Pascal ib. 
 
 The Chevalier Eamsay ih. 
 
 Voltaire ih. 
 
 J.- J. liousseau 215 
 
 Langles and others - ih. 
 
 Alexandre Dumas 217 
 
 Richesource and his " School " ih. 
 
 Plagiarisms of English Poets 219 
 
 Pope '. ih. 
 
 Gray 230 
 
 Goldsmith 238 
 
 Young 242 
 
 Cowper 244 
 
 Chatterton 247 
 
 Crabbe 250 
 
 Scott ih. 
 
 Wordsworth 251 
 
 Byron 253 
 
 Shelley 259 
 
 Campbell 261 
 
 Tennyson 267 
 
 E. Montgomery 269 
 
 Plagiarisms of Prose writers 270 
 
 Mrs. Poster's " Handbook of European Literature" 271 
 
 "Idees Napoleonienues " 273 
 
 " Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas " 274 
 
 " La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas " 281 
 
 " La parole n'a ete donnee a I'homme que pour deguiser 
 
 sa pensee" 282 
 
 " The wisdom of our ancestors " 285 
 
 Pascal — La Eochefoucauld 287 
 
 Voltaire— Gibbon 288 
 
 Bevil Higgons — Junius 289 
 
 Eochester — Junius ih. 
 
 Dryden — Junius ih. 
 
 Lemierre — Chenevix 290 
 
 Moore — Hallam ih. 
 
 Macaulay — Carlyle ih.
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 La Eochefoucauld — Pope — D' Arlincourt — Sir Bulwer 
 
 Lytton Fage 292 
 
 Goldsmith— D'Israeli 293 
 
 Burke— Alison 294 
 
 Unconscious Imitation 295 
 
 LITEEAET IMPOSTUEES. 
 
 Chattertou 299 
 
 Macpherson 300 
 
 Marquis de Surville 302 
 
 Henri Beyle ib. 
 
 Count de Courchamps 303 
 
 EEEATA. 
 
 Page 44, before first line read, " Here are some examples of the 
 correct form." 
 
 Page 44, line 18, for " the possessive of widch" read " a pos- 
 sessive for ofwhichy 
 
 Page 54, line 2, for " after," read "before." 
 
 Page 57, line 9, for " Books,'' read " Lifer 
 
 Page 63, line 12, for "as is connected," read "is connected." 
 
 Page 88, lines 13, 15, & 18, for " Bepuhlique" read " Bepublic" 
 
 Page 113, line 14, for " im fil," read " au fil." 
 
 Page 115, line 21, for "latter," read "later." 
 
 Page 138, line 28, for " parentheses," read " of parentheses." 
 
 Page 143, line 13, for "juxtaposition," read " succession."
 
 ^ 
 
 COMPOSITION. 
 
 " Scribendi recto sapere est et principium et fons." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 " Quam parva sajnentid regitiir niundus !" 
 
 OXENSTTRKN. 

 
 COMPOSITION. 
 
 The most striking characteristic of English, 
 literature in the nineteenth century, is the loose 
 and ungrammatical diction that disfigures every 
 species of prose composition. Learning is now 
 more widely diffused, and the number of writers 
 is greater than at any former period, but not the 
 number of correct writers. We have a hundred 
 Alisons for one Macaulay. Nay, I believe it 
 could be shoAvn that, in i:)roportion as the English 
 language has been improved, the art of composi- 
 tion has been neglected. Let the reader take up 
 any of the publications of the day. A mere 
 glance will satisfy him, that, whatever credit may 
 be due to the author for invention of subject or 
 arrangement of materials, he is sadly deficient in 
 the first requisite of authorship,— the art of com- 
 municating his ideas in correct and appropriate 
 language. Everywhere diffuseness and want of 
 method take the place of conciseness and perspi- 
 cuity ; purity of diction and elevation of thought 
 are supplanted by solecisms and common-places ; 
 
 B 2
 
 4 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 and what is wanting in dignity and vigour is 
 supplied in vulgarisms and slang. Instead of 
 guiding or reforming the public taste, our authors 
 yield themselves up to the caprice of the passing 
 hour, making the pursuit of literature subservient 
 to the dissemination of every fashionable frivolity, 
 and reducing its professors to the degrading level 
 of this most mercenary of human epochs. 
 
 Whatever may be the cause, the fact is un- 
 deniable, that modern English prose exhibits 
 more blemislies of style than that of any other 
 language. That this proceeds in a great measure 
 from the character of the language itself, there 
 can be no doubt : for there is no modern lan- 
 guage which, from its simplicity of structure and 
 its expressive copiousness, is so well adapted for 
 communicating men's thoughts without labour 
 or effort. But the main cause must be sought 
 for in one of our national peculiarities ; and here 
 it must be confessed that, while there is no people 
 more remarkable than we are for a correct appre- 
 ciation of method and propriety in all mental 
 productions, there is none that displays a greater 
 impatience of restraint in everything that relates 
 to criticism and grammar. 
 
 This will be better understood by comparison 
 with the Erench. Their language is a science in 
 itself, and the labour bestowed on the acquisition 
 of it, has the effect of vividly impressing on the 
 mind both the faults and the beauties of each
 
 COMPOSITION. 5 
 
 style. Method and perspicuity are its very 
 essence ; and there is no writer of any note who 
 does not attend to these requisites with com- 
 mendable scrupulosity. A fault of style becomes 
 apparent to the commonest reader. " Cela saute 
 aux yeux," as they say themselves. With us the 
 case is totally different : our written language is 
 as irregular as that of the Erench is methodical ; 
 and while they are restricted to fixed and clearly 
 defined forms of speech, we can revel in a wealth 
 of phraseology, from which every one deems him- 
 self at liberty to select whatever is most pleasing 
 to his taste, without regard to grammar or pro- 
 priety. Hence the correctness so remarkable in 
 the style of Erench writers. Hence the looseness 
 so conspicuous in our own. If a Prench writer 
 of distinction were to violate any important rule of 
 grammar, the fact would be laid hold of immedi- 
 ately by the critics, and laughed at from one end 
 of Prance to the other. With us an author may 
 discard grammar, precision, and propriety, and 
 few, if any, will raise their voices against such a 
 proceeding. Of course, a total freedom from 
 blemish is not to be looked for in any author, 
 however great his ability ; and there are modes of 
 expression even in the best Erench writers which 
 would not stand the test of severe criticism : but, 
 in general, their authors are as classical as ours 
 are the reverse. Correctness of style is the rule 
 with them ; with us it is the exception.
 
 6 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 The history of Preiich literature is replete with 
 facts illustrative of these views. All who are 
 familiar with it are aware of the high estimation 
 in which Boileau is held hy his countrymen. 
 But, if there be one characteristic more than 
 another for which he is indebted to his great 
 fame, it is perhaps the correctness of his diction. 
 Among the very few sins against grammar that 
 have been detected in his works, there is one 
 which has obtained particular notice, and which 
 consists in the repetition of the preposition a in 
 the first line of his Ninth Satire : — 
 
 " C'est a vous, mou Esprit, a qui je veux parler." 
 
 A foreigner would find it difficult to estimate the 
 effect of this slip upon the grammatical sensibility 
 of Erencli ears. Since its discovery, it has been 
 quoted by every writer on grammar, and im- 
 pressed on the memory of every schoolboy. Some 
 point to it as one of the few instances of false 
 grammar to be found in the Prench Horace ; 
 but the generality of critics refer to it rather 
 with feelings of surprise, that so correct a writer 
 should have perpetrated so shocking a blunder. 
 Indeed, such is the national fastidiousness on this 
 subject, that I doubt whether there be a single 
 line in Boileau that is so often quoted for its 
 beauty, as this unfortuuate one is for its lack of 
 
 In England we treat these matters in a dif-
 
 COMPOSITION. 7 
 
 ferent fashion. Not only arc faults of style not 
 offensive to our critical ears, but such is our in- 
 difference or insensibility, that we seldom so much 
 as notice them when they fall in our way. " The 
 English," says Ilallam, " have ever been as in- 
 docile in acknowledging the rules of criticism, 
 even those which determine the most ordinary 
 questions of grammar, as the Italians and Prench 
 have been voluntarily obedient." I cannot more 
 appropriately illustrate this fact than by quoting 
 from a popular English writer, an example of a 
 fault similar to that of Boileau. In one of 
 Sydney Smith's articles on " Spring Guns," we 
 read the following sentence : — 
 
 " It is to this last new feature in the supposed Grame Laws 
 io which, on the present occasion, we intend to confine our 
 notice." 
 
 Here we have the preposition to improperly 
 repeated ; and as Boileau' s Erench, to be correct, 
 should have been : " C'est a vous, mon Esprit, 
 que je veux parler" — or, "C'est vous, mon 
 Esprit, a qui je veux parler;" so our English 
 author should have written : " It is to this last 
 new feature in the supposed Game Laws that, on 
 the present occasion, we intend to confine our 
 notice" — or, "It is this last new feature in the 
 supposed Game Laws to which, on the present 
 occasion, we intend to confine our notice." Sydney 
 Smith's article is one of the most popular ever 
 written by that deservedly popular writer, and it
 
 8 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 is included in liis collected essays, which have 
 gone through several editions ; hut while the slip 
 of the French poet is familiarly known to every 
 educated Frenchman, it may be doubted whether 
 that of the English essayist has attracted the 
 notice of a single critic among his countrymen. 
 
 There is nothing that demonstrates the preva- 
 lence of ungrammatical diction so much as the 
 occurrence of it in our critics, grammarians, and 
 compilers of dictionaries ; as, when we meet with 
 a writer professedly descanting upon rules of 
 grammar, and violating those rules in the very 
 comments he makes upon them. Of all our 
 authors the most reprehensible in this respect is 
 Dr. Hugh Blair. His work on " Rhetoric and 
 Belles Lettres " has gone through near twenty 
 editions, and yet, strange to say, there is no rule 
 of grammar that this learned professor has not 
 sinned against ; no fault of style that is not 
 to be found in his remarks. But what is most 
 singular is, that his own fault frequently occurs 
 in the very words he uses in correcting a similar 
 fault in some other writer; as if he designed 
 his Lectures as a practical illustration of the 
 errors and inaccuracies which he passes in 
 review. 
 
 The faults of composition most worthy of notice 
 in modern prose may be classed under the follow- 
 ing heads : — 1. Synonymous or redundant terms ; 
 2. The indiscriminate use of singulars and plurals ;
 
 COMPOSITION. 9 
 
 3. Want of method and perspicuity ; 4. XJngram- 
 matical modes of speech ; 5. Slang terms and 
 foreign words. 
 
 SYNONYMOUS OR EEDUNDANT TEEMS. 
 
 The occurrence of redundant terms is very 
 common. Authorship has become a trade, and 
 themes and topics are handled, not so much with 
 a view to their real importance, as with that of 
 producing a certain number of volumes, a certain 
 quantity of readable matter. To accomplish this 
 object, adjectives and substantives are thrown in, 
 without method or meaning, while conciseness 
 and perspicuity are left to take care of themselves. 
 It would be a waste of time to quote examples of 
 this blemish from the novels and other fashionable 
 literature of the day, where it is to be met with 
 at every page. In works of higher pretension I 
 have found some instances of it, alike palpable 
 and ludicrous, which will better serve the purpose 
 of illustrations : — 
 
 " The cliief mistakes made by the Irish in pronouncing 
 English lie, for tlie viost part, in the sounds of the two first 
 vowels a and e." — Sheridan. Dictionary. 
 
 "Why should Dr. Parr confine the Eulogomania to the 
 literary character of this Island alone^ — Sydney Smith. 
 Essays. 
 
 " His efforts at this juncture were necessarily confined only 
 to remonstrance and exhortation." — EoscoE. Lifis of Leo X.
 
 10 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " These justly entitle Sappho to the lofty title of the tenth 
 muse." — MoiE. Lectures. 
 
 " The toritings of Bucliauau, aud especially his Scottish 
 history, are ivritten with strength, perspicuity, aud ueatness." 
 — Hallam. Literature of Europe. 
 
 " Some writers have confined their attention to trifling 
 minuticB of style." — Whately. lilietoric. 
 
 " Such is the icJiole sum-total of information which the 
 assiduity of commentators has collected." — Caklyle. Jtlis- 
 cellanies. 
 
 " If in ordinary times greater deference be paid to one class 
 of peers more than to another, it is to that which is the 
 most adorned by intellect." — Chenevix. JEssay on National 
 Character. 
 
 " The miracle which genius produced, it may repeat, when- 
 ever the same happy comhination of circumstances and persons 
 shall occur together.''^ — D'Israeli. Curiosities of Literatv/re. 
 
 " The complication of the old laws of France had given rise 
 to a cliaos ofcorfusion.''^ — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 " Though not so extensive in point of superficial surface, 
 Switzerland embraced an extraordinary variety of climate, soil, 
 and occupation." — Lhid. 
 
 " Lord Mahon's history of necessity became, in a great degree, 
 for the most part, a parliamentary one." — Idem. History of 
 Europe from Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 " The ivhole physiological theory of Paracelsus consisted, for 
 the most part, in the application of the Cabbala to the explain- 
 ing of the functions of the body." — Soane. New Curiosities 
 of Literature. 
 
 " It was founded mainly on the entire monopoly of the tvhole 
 trade with the colonies." — Alison. Hist, of Europe from Fall 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 " Hence has ensued an entire change in our ivhole domestic 
 policy." — lhid. 
 
 " Those most entirely in his confidence were not aware of 
 what he intended." — Ibid.
 
 COMPOSITION. 11' 
 
 " The Inquisition arrested the progress of general intel- 
 lectual advancement." — Foster. Handbook of European 
 Literature. 
 
 Henry Kirke White, in the Preface to his 
 poems, describes tliem as, " the javenile efforts of 
 a i/oi(th ;" a fault which will appear the more un- 
 accountable, when it is considered that Mr. White 
 Avas a classical scholar of no mean pretensions. 
 Another sample is the expression, " annual anni- 
 versaries," which occurs in the first sentence of a 
 work entitled, " Eour Years' Residence in the 
 West Indies," and which has run through three 
 editions in about as many years. It is clear that 
 the author does not understand the meaning of 
 the word " anniversary," and that, including 
 "annual" in its signification, it unequivocally 
 expresses the yearly return of a particular season 
 or point of time without the aid of that word. 
 
 Akin to these is the use of " magnanimous " as 
 applied to " mind." Blair has the expression : — 
 
 " The magnanimoios affection of the mind." 
 
 And Macaulay, speaking of the late Lord Holland, 
 describes — 
 
 " The magnanimous credulity of his mind." 
 
 I could fill a chapter with examples of this 
 inaccuracy. Those I have quoted are sufficient 
 to show the various forms which it assumes with 
 different writers.
 
 12 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 SINGULARS AND PLUEALS. 
 
 The second blemish in English prose is the 
 indiscriminate use of singulars and plurals. Al- 
 though we have cultivated literature, in its most 
 important departments, with greater success than 
 any other people, yet there is no people so deficient 
 as we are in the knowledge and application of 
 some of the first principles of grammar. And not 
 only does this deficiency exist, as might be sup- 
 posed, in writers of ordinary ability ; but there are 
 very few of our authors, be their genius what 
 it may, who do not exhibit it in a more or less 
 striking degree. The following are examples of the 
 improper use of the singular ; and, if necessary, 
 hundreds of a similar character might be added : — 
 
 " Botli minister and magistrate is compelled to choose between 
 his duty and his reputation." — Junius. Preface to Letters. 
 
 " The boldness, freedom, and variety of our blank verse is 
 infinitely more favourable than rhyme to all kinds of sublime 
 poetry." — Blair. Lectures. 
 
 " In the extravagant admiration for Grecian costume is to 
 be discerned the effects of Eousseau's dreams on the social 
 contract." — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 " But Ferdinand did not do this, and hence Jias arisen bound- 
 less calamities to his country." — Idem. History of Europe 
 from Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 "The consequences to the much more numerous classes 
 remains to be taken into the account." — Tayloe. Notes from 
 Books.
 
 COMPOSITION. 13 
 
 " The poetry and eloquence of the Augustan age ivas assidu- 
 ously studied in Mercian and Northumbrian monasteries." — 
 Macaulat. History of EncfJand. 
 
 " Few political conspiracies, whenever religion forms a 
 pretext, is without a woman." — D'Israeli. Quarrels of 
 Authors. 
 
 " Few, if any town or village in the south of England, has a 
 name ending in iy." — Harrison. English Language. 
 
 Some writers maintain, that when two or more 
 nouns singular represent a single idea, the verb 
 to which they are the nominative may be put in 
 the singular. This I hold to be a mere quibble ; 
 for, if the nouns express the same idea, one of 
 them is superfluous, and should be omitted ; if 
 different ideas, then they form a plural, and the 
 verb should be made to agree with them as such. 
 
 Another quibble resorted to by this class of 
 grammarians, is the assertion, that in all such 
 cases the verb may be put in the singular with 
 the last noun, and be understood with reference 
 to the others. But they do not tell us how this 
 process of subaudition can go on in the mind of 
 the reader, before he knows what the verb is to be. 
 This might apply to phrases in which the verb 
 precedes the nouns : when it comes after them, the 
 sense and the sound alike require that it should 
 agree with them in number. 
 
 In support of the opposite view, examples have 
 been cited from Shakspeare and Milton; those 
 who quote them forgetting that Shakspeare and 
 Milton were poets, and not grammarians; and
 
 14 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 that, while their authority for the use of similes 
 and sentiments, as Avell as the appropriateness of 
 the language in which these are embodied, is 
 paramount, it carries no more weight with it, 
 on questions of grammar, than that of other men, 
 their inferiors in genius. To suppose that, because 
 a man is a poet or a historian, he must be correct 
 in his grammar, is as unreasonable as to suppose 
 that an architect must be a joiner, or a physician 
 a compounder of medicines. 
 
 In our search after truth, we must never suffer 
 ourselves to be led astray by the occasional lapses 
 of any writer, however high his position. Shaks- 
 peare and Milton, our two greatest poets, have 
 examples of this error ; and so have Gibbon and 
 Macaulay, our two greatest historians. Indeed, 
 it may be conceded that there is scarcely an 
 English author who does not present some in- 
 stances of it. But, on the other hand (and this 
 is the point which it behoves us to keep in view), 
 there is no Eno-lish author whose works do not 
 contain far more numerous instances in which 
 the plural is employed. The use of the plural 
 forms the rule ; that of the singular the excep- 
 tion. The former is supported by that " usage " 
 which Horace describes as the 
 
 " Jus et norma loquendi." 
 
 The latter has nothing to recommend it but the 
 indifference or inadvertency of our writers ; a
 
 COMPOSITION. 15 
 
 rule which, if pushed to its legitimate application, 
 would give currency and weight to any piece of 
 vulgarity or slang. 
 
 The hest proof that this use of the singular is 
 objectionahle, is that it is of rarest occurrence in 
 those writers who are reputed the most correct. 
 Hallam and Macaulay have few examples of it ; 
 Roscoe and Southey fewer still. 
 
 There is another form of phrase in which the 
 singular is often employed, although it would be 
 more consistent with grammar to use the plural. 
 Here is an example : — 
 
 " Yalentia ia one of tlie inoHt delightful cities which is to be 
 found in Europe." — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 To be convinced of the propriety of employing 
 the plural here, we have only to reflect that 
 "which" is the nominative to "is;" and that 
 the direct antecedent of " which " is the plural 
 " cities." Another way of testing the accuracy 
 of all such phrases is to invert the order of the 
 words thus : — 
 
 " Of the most delightful cities which is to be 
 found in Europe, Valentia is one." 
 
 The following are further examples : — 
 
 " Mr. Dodsley this year brought out his ' Preceptor,' one 
 of the most valuable hooJcs for the improvement of young 
 minds that has appeared in any language." — Boswell. Life of 
 Johnson. 
 
 " Sully bought of Monsieur de la Eoche Gruyon one of the 
 finest Spanish horses tliat ever -was seen." — Southey. The 
 Doctor.
 
 16 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " It was ouo of the most important alliances that ever toas 
 formed." — Eoscoe. Life of Leo X. 
 
 " Alexander, emperor of Russia, is one of the sovereigns of 
 modern times who lias left the greatest name in histoiy." — 
 Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 I will go further, and assert of all such phrases, 
 that they contain a contradiction in terms. Take, 
 for example, our last quotation. The writer 
 means to say that the circumstance of leaving the 
 greatest name in history is common to Alexander 
 and other sovereigns ; and yet he affirms that 
 circumstance of Alexander alone. The truth is, 
 the writer is betrayed into this inaccuracy, because 
 the phrase sounds as if he liad said : — 
 
 " Alexander, emperor of Russia, is the sove- 
 reign of modern times who has left the greatest 
 name in history." 
 
 The following sentence contains an error some- 
 what analogous to the foregoing : — 
 
 " Suchet's administration was incomparably the least oppres- 
 sive oftliat of any of the French generals in the Peninsula." — 
 Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 It would have been correct to say : — 
 " Suchet's administration was incomparably less 
 oppressive than that of any of the Prench generals 
 in the Peninsula." 
 
 And that is probably what the writer was 
 thinking of. But (as I shall have occasion to 
 show in the course of this work) the " thinking" 
 and the " writing " of an author arc seldom in
 
 COMPOSITION. 17 
 
 accordance with each other. It never occurs to 
 those who use this expression that the superlative 
 degree cannot be formed with only one thing' as 
 a means of comparison. 
 
 In the foregoing examples, we have the singu- 
 lar improperly put for the plural. The use of the 
 plural instead of the singular is no less common. 
 The following are instances : — 
 
 "The terms in whicli the sale of a patent to Mr. Hine ivere 
 conimnnicated to the public." — Junius. Letters. 
 
 " If Machiavel had not known that an appearance of morals 
 and religion are useful in society." — Ibid. 
 
 " To lieighten the calamity which the loant of these useful 
 labours make every literary man feel." — D'Israeli. Calamities 
 of Authors. 
 
 " It is in such moments of gloom and depression that the 
 immortal superiority of genius and virtue most strongly appear.^'' 
 — Alison. Essay on Chateaubriand. 
 
 "It is refreshing to see those just and manlj^ sentinient.s, 
 after the sickly partiality for Roman Catholic agitators, which, 
 for the purposes of faction, have so long pervaded many of his 
 party." — Alison. Essay on Macaulay. 
 
 " It has already been stated that the difference between the 
 new and the old Grerman, tbe Dutch and the Frisian, the 
 Italian and the Latin, the Eouiaic and the Greek, «re precisely 
 similar." — Latham. The English Lanyuaye. 
 
 " The authority of Addison, in matters of grammar ; of 
 Bentley, who never made the English grammar his study ; of 
 Bolingbroke, Pope, and others, are as nothing." — Haekison. 
 On the English Language. 
 
 In order to show the prevalence of this error, 
 I shall quote some examples of it from Gibbon, 
 who is justly reckoned one of our most correct 
 
 c
 
 18 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 writers. The citations arc all taken from the 
 fifth volume of liis great work, as edited by 
 Dean Milman : — 
 
 " The use of fraud and perfidy, of cruelty and injustice, were 
 often subservient to the propagation of the faith." — Decline 
 and Fall. 
 
 " The richness of her arms and apparel ivere conspicuous in 
 the foremost ranks." — Ihid. 
 
 " The jurisdiction of the presidents, the consulars, and the 
 counts, were superseded by the institution of the themes or 
 military governments." — Ibid. 
 
 " The pronunciation of the two vowels have been nearly the 
 same." — Ibid. 
 
 Such are ordinary instances of the occurrence 
 of this fault ; but there are other forms of it 
 which are quite as incorrect, though not quite 
 so palpable. These arise in connexion with the 
 words or, neither , no one, each, every one, every- 
 thing, as well as, much, more, less, many a, loith, 
 little, nothing. 
 
 Or. 
 
 As the proper office of " and " is to conjoin, so 
 that of " or " is to disjoin. And yet, how com- 
 monly do we meet with "or" performing the func- 
 tion of conjoining nouns singular ! Examples : — 
 
 " Those whose profession or whose reputation regulate public 
 opinion." — D'Isbaelt. Cariosities. 
 
 " "When the helplessness of childhood, or the frailty of woman, 
 ojiaJce an appeal to her generosity." — Jeitret. Essays. 
 
 "Satire, a poem in which wickedness or folly are censured." 
 — AValkeb. Sub voce " Satire."
 
 COMPOSITION. 19 
 
 " Often Caulincourt or Duroc tcere up with liim liard at 
 work all night." — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 " Either a pestilence or a famine, a victory or a defeat, an 
 oracle of the gods or the eloquence of a daring leader, were 
 sufficient to impel the Gothic arms." — Gibbon. Decline and 
 Fall. 
 
 Surely, the writer's meaning is that any one of 
 those causes loas sufficient to impel tlie Gothic 
 arms ; and not (as his use of the plural would 
 imply) that all those causes were sufficient to 
 produce that effect. The same remarks apply to 
 
 Neither. 
 
 " Neither Charles nor his brother loere qualified to support 
 such a system." — Junius. Letters. 
 
 " How happy it is that neither of us tvere ill in the Hebrides ! " 
 — Johnson. Letter to Bosivell, 17th Feb. 1774. 
 
 " In the names of objects which address the sight only, 
 where neither noise nor motion are concerned." — Blaib. 
 Lectures. 
 
 " Neither hear any sign of case at all." — Latham. The 
 Fnglish Language. 
 
 No one. 
 
 " No one can have lost their character by this sort of exer- 
 cise." — D'IsRAELi. Curiosities. 
 
 Each. 
 
 " How far each of the three great Epic poets have distin- 
 guished themselves in this part." — Blair. Lectures. 
 
 " Each of these chimerical personages come from different 
 provinces in the gesticulating land of pantomime." — D'Iseaelt. 
 Curiosities. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " No one can consider their works without perceiving tlie 
 analogy of the place each hold in their respective arts." — 
 Hallam. Literature of Europe. 
 
 " It embraces five great periods, each of which have stamped 
 their own peculiar impress on the character of the people." — 
 Alison. Essay on Karamsin's Biissia. 
 
 "I have known few comrades whose loss I more deeply 
 mourned than those of Lemon, Kempe, Brandreth, and Rosser, 
 each of whom was warm in personal attachment, and valuable 
 contributors iot\\e Literary Gazette."— 3buda:s. Autobiography. 
 
 Mnery one. 
 
 " Every one of this grotesque family ivere the creatures of 
 national genius." — D'Iskaeli. Curiosities. 
 
 " Every one of these polysyllables still I'eej) their groinid." — 
 Lbid. 
 
 Every thing. 
 
 " Everything that painting, music, and even place furnish, 
 were called in to interest the audience." — Alison. Essay on 
 the British Theatre. 
 
 As well as. 
 
 " The honour, as tvell as the genius of De Foe, ivere ques- 
 tioned." — D'IsRAELi. Curiosities of Literature. 
 
 " I cannot so thoroughly admire the ode addressed to sleep, 
 which Bouterwek as well as Sedano ea-tol." — Hallam. 
 Literature of Europe. 
 
 " Foresiglit in preparation, as ivell as energy in action, were 
 necessary to sustain their fortunes." — Alison. History of 
 Europe. 
 
 I was surprised to meet witli this inaccuracy . 
 in so correct a writer as Gibbon. And even 
 Gibbon seems to have no fixed rule on the sub- 
 ject ; for he sometimes employs the plural, and
 
 COMPOSITION. 21 
 
 sometimes the singular. Here are some examples 
 of the former : — 
 
 " The temper, us well as knowledge, of a modern historian, 
 require a more sober and accnrate language." — Decline and Fall. 
 
 " Homer, as well as Virgil, toere transcribed and studied on 
 the banks of the lihine and Danube." — Ibid, 
 
 In the following sentences, of a precisely similar 
 structure, the verb is put in the singular : — 
 
 " The strength, as ivell as the attention, of the defenders, is 
 divided:'— Ibid. 
 
 " America, as well as Europe, Jms received letters from the 
 one and religion from the other." — Ibid. 
 
 " Africa, as well as Gaul, was gradually fashioned to the imi- 
 tation of the capital." — Ibid. 
 
 Much. 
 
 " Prom every eye and soul have disappeared much of the 
 beauty and glory both of nature and life." — Wilson. Recre- 
 ations of C. North. 
 
 " Madame de Stael observes that much of the guilt and the 
 misery which are vulgarly imputed to great talents, really arise 
 from not having talent enough." — Jeffrey. Essays. 
 
 More. 
 
 " More than a century and a half have elapsed since the first 
 publication of ' Grondibert.' " — D'Israeli. Quarrels of Authors. 
 
 Less. 
 
 " At present the trade is thought to be in a depressed state, 
 if less than a million of tons are produced in a year." — Macau- 
 lay. History of England. 
 
 Many a. 
 
 " There sleep many a Homer and Virgil, legitimate heirs of 
 their genius." — D'Israeli. The Literary Character.
 
 22 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 With. 
 
 " Olympus, with its multitude of stately, celestial natures, 
 dwindle before tlie solitary, immutable throne of Jehovah." — 
 GiLriLLAN, Literary Portraits. 
 
 " The duchy of Pomerania, u'itJi the island of Eugen, loere 
 ceded by Sweden to the Danish crown." — Alison. History 
 of Europe. 
 
 In this sentence the writer makes " duchy " 
 and " island " the nominative to " were." But 
 sound grammar requires the verb in the singular : 
 1st. Because the preposition " with " has for its 
 objective case the word "island," which cannot 
 be at the same time both in the nominative and 
 the objective cases. And 2ndly. Because the sen- 
 tence, if transposed, will resolve itself into the 
 following ungrammatical form : — 
 
 " The duchy of Pomerania icere ceded by 
 Sweden to the Danish crown, with the island of 
 Rugen." 
 
 And here let me remark on the strange incon- 
 sistency of certain writers. At one time, disre- 
 garding the proper office of the conjunction 
 " and," they disjoin what it couples, and put the 
 verb in the singular. At another time, over- 
 looking the proper function of the preposition 
 "Avith," they couple the noun which it governs 
 with a nominative, and put the verb in the 
 plural. 
 
 As to the form of phrase in question, the weight 
 of authority is with those who employ the verb in
 
 COMPOSITION. . 23 
 
 the singular. Gibbon does so in every instance ; 
 while Macaulay and other eminent writers inva- 
 riably use the conjunction " and," instead of the 
 preposition "with," especially where the sense 
 requires the plural, as in this example : — 
 
 '•This Thjre, surnamed Boloxe, tvith her twelve children, 
 it'ere notorious robbers." — Tiioupe. Northern Mijtliologij. 
 
 In this place loere is absurd, because, gram- 
 matically speaking, its nominative is the singular 
 "Thyre ;" and teas would be equally so, because 
 it would not include "children." The fact is, 
 all this absurdity arises from the great parent 
 absurdity of employing the preposition " with," 
 instead of the conjunction "and." School- 
 boys, before they are transformed into authors, 
 generally write such sentences in the following 
 unsophisticated fashion : — 
 
 " This Thyre, surnamed Boloxe, and her twelve children 
 loere notorious robbers." 
 
 Little. 
 
 " Concerning some of them little mor-e than the names are 
 to be learned from literary history." — Hallam. Literature 
 of Muroj)e. 
 
 " It is from no want of poetical disposition that there liave 
 been, since the rise of free institutions, so little real poetry 
 in Prance." — Alison. Histori/ of Europe from Fall of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 No tiling. 
 
 " It would be worse than useless to enter into minute dis- 
 quisitions on a subject where nothing but clearness and sim- 
 plicity are desirable." — Maunpek. Enrjlish Scholar^s Guide.
 
 24 ■ MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 There are some who carry this confusion of 
 singulars and plurals so far as to apply both to 
 the same word. Examples : — 
 
 " The Catholic party is by no means inferior in the felicities 
 o^ their style." — D'Iseaeli. Curiosities. 
 
 " In every ward one of the king's council took every man's 
 hook, and sealed tliem, and brought them to Gfuildhall to con- 
 front them with the original. — Ihid. 
 
 "The Roman Saturnalia were latterly prolonged to a week's 
 debauchery and folly." — Ibid. 
 
 "Such icas the Roman Saturnalia, the favourite popular 
 recreations of Paganism." — Ibid. 
 
 Alison has some examples of the same fault : — 
 
 " The study of a single clmracter must, with her, be the work 
 of nearly as much time and thought as their original conception 
 bv the dramatic \)oet."— Essay on the British Theatre. 
 
 " The Spanish government, exhausted by the exertions they 
 had already made, ivas unable to maintain their forces at the 
 former complement." — History of Europe. 
 
 " Seated in their high saddles, witli stirrups so short that 
 their knees are up to their elbows, and the I'eins of a powerful 
 bit in their hands, the Turkish horseman pushes on with fear- 
 less hardihood at the gallop, confident in his sure-footed steed." 
 — History of Europe from Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 Under this head may be classed the following 
 instance, in which the same nominative is put in 
 the plural with one verb, and in the singular with 
 another : — 
 
 " The masterly boldness and precision of his outline, whicb 
 astonish those wlio have trodden parts of the same field, is 
 apt to escape au uiiiiiformed reader." — Hallam. Literature 
 of Europe,
 
 COMPOSITION. 25 
 
 There is anotlier form of phrase in which it 
 shoukl seem that neither the singular nor the 
 plural can he properly employed. This occurs 
 when two adjectives of different import are 
 coupled with a noun singular. Here are some 
 examples : — 
 
 " "We suppose iu England that the abstract and the practical 
 knowledge are at variance." — Sir B. Lttton. England and 
 the Englislt. 
 
 " In the latter also religious and grammatical learning go 
 hand in hand." — Hallam. Literature of Europe. 
 
 " The blessings which political and intellectual freedom have 
 brought in their train."- — Macaulay. History of England. 
 
 " An English and a Erenchwoman are in fact destined to 
 different functions in the system of society." — Chekevix. 
 Essay on National Character. 
 
 " The king was an adept in necromancy, and a male and 
 female devil tvere always in waiting for any emergency." — 
 D'IsRAELi. Curiosities. 
 
 In these sentences the grammar seems to re- 
 quire the verb in the singular. It sounds harsh 
 to say " knowledge are," " learning go," " free- 
 dom have," " woman are," " a devil were." But 
 the sense requires the plural, as this example will 
 show : — 
 
 " The logical and historical analysis of a language generally 
 in some degree coincides." — Latham. The English Language. 
 
 Here the grammar is correct : " analysis " is in 
 the singular, and so is " coincides." But the 
 sense is sacrificed, inasmuch as the singular 
 cannot properly express a " coincidence," which
 
 26 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 always implies two things, at least. In all such 
 sentences, the difficulty is got rid of by repeating 
 the noun which forms the nominative to the verb, 
 as in the following : — 
 
 "Eomau Catholic Europe and Eeformed Europe were 
 struggling for death or life." — Macaulay. History of 
 England. 
 
 This sort of jilural assumes another shape in 
 such sentences as the following : — 
 
 " An officer on European and on Indian service are in very 
 difterent situations." — Sydney Smith. Essays. 
 
 " The praise of the statesman, the warrior, or the orator 
 furnish more splendid topics for ambitious eloquence." — 
 Vebplanck. TJie ScJioolmastcr. 
 
 " The literature of Erance, Germany, and England are at 
 least as necessary for a man born in the nineteenth century as 
 that of Rome and Athens." — Sir B. Lyttok. England and 
 the English. 
 
 In this last example the writer is opposed to 
 himself : for, if he is correct in using the singular 
 " that " with reference to the literature of Home 
 and Athens, then the plural " are " is incorrectly 
 coupled with the same word in the beginning of 
 the sentence. 
 
 To these I shall add an instance of a peculiar 
 kind, which occurs in a speech made by Mr. Cob- 
 den at Manchester, in 1851. It is as follows : — 
 
 " AVe have already made such progress, that some four or 
 five millions of reduction in our expenditure has taken place." 
 
 Here it is intended that " reduction " should 
 be the nominative case to "has;" and so, in
 
 COMPOSITION. 27 
 
 truth, the sense requires it. But the phrase is so 
 constructed that " reduction" is governed by the 
 preposition "of," while the real nominative to 
 " has " is " millions." " Has " is therefore bad ; 
 and " have " would be equally bad, because it is 
 not the "millions" that have taken place, but 
 the " reduction." The sentence should stand 
 thus : — 
 
 " AVe have already made such progress, that a reduction 
 of some four or five millions in our expenditure has taken 
 place." 
 
 Here is another example of the same fault : — 
 
 " A few hours of mutual intercourse dispels the alienation 
 which years of separation may have produced," — Alison. 
 Essay on the Boyal Progress. 
 
 So much for the confounding of singulars and 
 plurals. It is not for me to explain how it comes 
 to pass that a blunder, so offensive to the ear, 
 should be so common even in our most distin- 
 guished writers. There is, however, one circum- 
 stance which obviously tends to its production, 
 and which, as confirming the views already pro- 
 pounded respecting our indifference on the score of 
 grammar, it is incumbent on me to lay before the 
 reader. The mind of an educated Erenchman is 
 so thoroughly alive to the grammatical difficulties 
 of his native tongue, that, however involved a 
 sentence may be, he always keeps in view the 
 relative position of each of its members. Before 
 he writes a verb, he ascertains the number of its
 
 28 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 nominative case, and takes care to make tliem 
 agree, although several nouns of a different num- 
 ber should intervene. Not so the Englishman. 
 With us, generally speaking, the nominative is 
 lost sight of, and the verb made to agree with 
 any noun which, from its position or otlier cir- 
 cumstance, may happen to linger on our ear. 
 
 METHOD AND PEKSPICUITY. 
 
 The third blemish in English prose is occasioned 
 by the little attention that is paid to perspicuity ; 
 in other words, to the relation in which the dif- 
 ferent members of a sentence should stand towards 
 each other. At almost every page the reader 
 meets with some sentence, the form of Avhich 
 suggests a different meaning from that which the 
 writer intended and the sense requires. Not un- 
 frequently, in order to avoid being imposed upon 
 with sheer nonsense, one is compelled to adopt a 
 meaning in direct opposition to the writer's words, 
 and to trust to one's own penetration and good 
 sense for the correction of the author's language 
 and the rectification of his blunders. 
 
 A striking instance of a want of perspicuity is 
 the following sentence in Dr. Blair : — 
 
 " Cliuidian, in a tra<>;mcnt upon tlic wars of the giauts, 1ms 
 coatrivcd to reuder this idea of their throwing the moimtains,
 
 COMPOSITION. 29 
 
 which is in itself so grand, burlesque and ridiculous." — Lectures 
 on Rhetoric. 
 
 Can anything be more burlesque and ridiculous 
 than the jumbling of the grand, the burlesque, 
 and the ridiculous, which this curious sentence 
 presents ? What the writer meant was this : — 
 
 " Claudian, in a fragment upon the wars of the 
 giants, has contrived to render burlesque and 
 ridiculous, this idea of their throwing the moun-. 
 tains, which is in itself so grand." 
 
 Another example occurs in Blair's definition of 
 "precision :" — 
 
 " Precision imports pruning the expression, so as to exhibit 
 neither viore nor less than an exact copy of his idea who 
 uses it." — Lectures. 
 
 Here we have, in two lines, not only the most 
 glaring instance of a want of perspicuity, but also 
 a want of precision, a want of grammar, and a 
 want of truth. The want of perspicuity is apparent 
 both in the words and in the arrangement of them. 
 The want of precision, the very thing which the 
 writer is endeavouring to define, is shown in the 
 terms " neither more nor less," and " exact." 
 Both express the same quality, and the sentence, 
 to be " precise," should have been pruned of one 
 or the other. The want of grammar is manifest 
 in the expression, " Ids idea who uses it." And 
 lastly, the definition is false on the very face of it. 
 An expression may be an exact copy of a man's 
 idea, and yet be deficient in precision. This will
 
 30 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 happen, as Blair himself remarks further on, 
 " when the ideas are not very clear in a man's 
 mind;" when "being loose and general, they 
 cannot be expressed with precision." 
 
 It is somewhat surprising to find a grammarian 
 of the ability of Lindley Murray adopting Blair's 
 definition of "precision," without the slightest 
 attempt to retrench its superfluities or supply its 
 lack of grammar. His words are : — 
 
 " Precision signifies retrenching superfluities, and pruning 
 the expression, so as to exhibit neither more nor less than 
 an exact copy of the person's idea who uses it." — English 
 Grammar. 
 
 The only alteration he makes is to substitute 
 one possessive for another. Blair has " his idea 
 who," and Murray "the person's idea who;" 
 so that, according to these learned teachers of 
 rhetoric and grammar, we must find the ante- 
 cedent of " who" in the word " idea," or accept 
 as correct the expressions "his who," "the 
 person's who." 
 
 Here are some further examples of a want of 
 perspicuity : — 
 
 " The salt-merchants, the grocers, the confectioners con- 
 spired together to adulterate the articles in which they dealt 
 in a thousand ways." — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 This should be : "To adulterate, in a thousand 
 ways, the articles in which they dealt." 
 
 " Hence the despotic state will be generally successful, if a 
 contest occurs, in the outset." — Ibid.
 
 COMPOSITION. 81 
 
 This should he : — 
 
 " Hence, if a contest occurs, the despotic state 
 will he generally successful in the outset." 
 
 " Two municipal officers intimated that tlie people were 
 crowding round the gates of the prisons, and praying for in- 
 structions, but tliey did nothing." 
 
 Who would infer from such a phrase that it 
 was the municipal officers, and not the people, 
 that prayed for instructions ? 
 
 " Shut out by the sterility of the soil and the variable 
 nature of the climate, where storms of rain and snow, attracted 
 by the cold summits of the Atlas, are frequent, from the 
 labours of agriculture, they dwell in the mountains with their 
 flocks and herds only in the winter and spring." — Alison. 
 History of Europe from Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 Here the writer would lead us to helieve that 
 the "frequent storms of rain and snow" are 
 caused hy "the lahours of agriculture." And 
 yet, to prevent so preposterous a conclusion, all 
 he had to do was to place the words, " from the 
 labours of agriculture," immediately after the 
 words " shut out." There is no want of clearness 
 in the ideas ; and nothing hut a rare perversity 
 of taste, or a studied design to write nonsense, 
 can account for the form which is given to them 
 on paper. 
 
 The following samples are from Isaac D' Israeli : 
 
 " I have heard this great student censured for neglecting 
 liis official duties ; but it would be necessary to decide on 
 this accusation to know the character of his accusers." — 
 Guriositlesi.
 
 82 MODERN ENGLISH LTTERATTTRE. 
 
 In this phrase the writer expresses the contrary 
 of what he means. He should have written it : — 
 
 " I have heard this great student censured for 
 neglecting his official duties; but in order to 
 decide on this accusation, it would be necessary 
 to know the character of his accusers." 
 
 " I have written the history of the Mar-Prelate Faction in 
 Quarrels of Authors, which our historians appear not to have 
 known." — Ihid. 
 
 This sentence is so constructed as to leave the 
 reader to infer that what was not known to the 
 historians was the Quarrels of Authors, and not 
 the history of the Mar-Prelate Faction. The 
 correct form is : — 
 
 " I have written, in Quarrels of Authors, the 
 history of the Mar- Prelate Paction, which our 
 historians appear not to have known." 
 
 " The beaux of that day used the abominable ai't of painting 
 their faces, as well as the women." — Ibid. 
 
 This should be : — - 
 
 " The beaux of that day, as well as the women, 
 used the abominable art of painting their faces." 
 
 " That great original, the author of Hudihras, has been cen- 
 sured for exposing to ridicule the Sir Samuel Luke, under 
 whose roof he dwelt, in the grotesque character of his hero." — 
 Ihid. 
 
 The confusion here might have been obviated 
 by placing the last member of the sentence im- 
 mediately after the word " ridicule." As it stands, 
 we are made to believe that Butler personated tlie
 
 COMPOSITION. 33 
 
 grotesque character of his hero, while he dwelt 
 under the roof of Sir Samuel Luke ! 
 
 Here are some instances from Hallam's " Lite- 
 rature of Europe." The punctuation is that of 
 the second edition : — 
 
 " Wolsey left at his death many buildings which he had 
 begun in an unfinished state, and which no one expects to see 
 complete." 
 
 The historian meant to say : — 
 
 "Wolsey left at his death, in an unfinished 
 state, many buildings which he had hegun, and 
 which no one expects to see complete." 
 
 " I have now and then inserted in the text characters of 
 books that I have not read on the faith of my guides." 
 
 To make sense of this we must read : — 
 
 " I have now and then inserted in the text, on 
 
 the faith of my guides, characters of books that 1 
 
 have not read." 
 
 " Leo Baptista Alberti was a man who may claim a place in 
 the temple of glory he has not filled." 
 
 This should be : — 
 
 " Leo Baptista Alberti was a man who may 
 claim, in the temple of glory, a place he has not 
 filled." 
 
 " There is a copy in the British Museum ; and M. Eaynouard 
 has given a short account of one that he had seen in the 
 * Journal des Savans ' for 182G." 
 
 The meaning of this will be made clear by 
 
 D
 
 34 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 restorini? the members of tlie sentence to their 
 natural order : — 
 
 " There is a copy in the British Museum ; and 
 M. E-aynouard, in the ' Journal des Savans ' for 
 1826, has given a short account of one that he 
 had seen." 
 
 There is nothing, whether it he the meaning of 
 a phrase, or the expression of a face, that affecta- 
 tion will not mar. To its debasing influence may 
 be ascribed much of the obscurity that pervades 
 our prose writings. Even the judgment of such 
 a Avriter as Sydney Smith does not always protect 
 him from the infection. In one of his critical 
 Essays we have this sentence : — 
 
 " Mr. Broadhurst is a very good sort of man, who has not 
 written a very bad book, upon a very important subject." 
 
 Here we see that the attempt at quaiutness, in 
 the repetition of the word " very," gives a non- 
 sensical air to the sentence. At first, the reader 
 might infer that the subject, on which Mr. Broad- 
 hurst had written, was not a very important one ; 
 but Avhen he reflects that that subject is nothing 
 less than ''Pemale Education," he is compelled 
 to search for the reviewer's meaning rather in 
 what he intended to say than in what he 
 says. 
 
 Certain phrases are elliptical in their construc- 
 tion, and when this is confined within allowable 
 limits, it adds a degree of vigour to the stjdc. 
 Sometimes, however, the ellipsis is carried beyond
 
 COMPOSITION. 35 
 
 those limits, and renders the sentence unintel- 
 ligible. Examples : — 
 
 " South, as great a wit as a preacher, has separated the 
 superior and the domestic." — D'Iseaeli. Miscellanies. 
 
 The writer intended to say that South was as 
 great a wit, as he loas a preacher ; but, owing to 
 the words " he was " being omitted, the sentence 
 means that " South had all the wit of a preacher." 
 
 " The following facts may, or have been, adduced as reasons 
 on the other side." — Latham. Tlie English Language. 
 
 Here the word " be " has been incorrectly 
 omitted after "may;" for if we leave out the 
 words " or have been," which are merely inci- 
 dental, the remainder will read thus : — 
 
 " The following facts may adduced as reasons 
 on the other side." 
 
 " General Stewart with difficulty made good his retreat, fight- 
 ing all the way, to Alexandria, where he arrived with a thousand 
 fewer men than he had set out." — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 In this sentence, owing to the improper omis- 
 sion of the word " with " at the end, we are left 
 to believe that General Stewart performed the 
 operation (whatever that may be) of setting out 
 his men. 
 
 " The experienced commander will not deem such aids to 
 patriotic ardour of little importance, and willingly fan the 
 harmless vanity of the young aspirant." — Ihid. 
 
 In this phrase the word "will" should have 
 been repeated before " willingly." This would 
 have been unnecessary, if the writer had not 
 
 D 2
 
 36 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 used the negative in the preceding part of the 
 sentence. 
 
 " When the emperor Alexander elevated the standard of the 
 cross, he invoked the only power that ever has, or ever will, 
 arrest the march of temporal revolution."— JJ«V/. 
 
 " It is not worthy of the powers of its author, who can, 
 and has, at other times, o-isen into much loftier ground." — 
 GiLFiLLAK. Literary Portraits. 
 
 If this form of phrase were adopted, it would 
 be correct to say " has arrest " — " can risen." 
 
 " This union shared the fate of nearly all in every rank 
 
 which are formed by parental authority, before the disposition 
 
 has declared itself, the constitution strengthei^ed, or the tastes 
 
 formed.''^ — Alison. History of Europe from Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 Here there is not the word " been " after 
 
 " has ;" neither can that word be understood, 
 
 without making nonsense of the phrase. Its 
 
 subaudition, therefore, before the participles 
 
 " strengthened " and " formed," is inaccurate. 
 
 " If it has been shown that the foundations of our systems 
 of logic are falsely laid, an essential service has been rendered 
 to the future logician, and smoothed his way to what Locke calls 
 ' a very diflferent sort of logic and critic ' from any with which 
 he has hitherto been made acquainted." — Eichaedson. The 
 Study of Language. 
 
 This sentence goes the length of coupling the 
 nominative and objective cases. To make sense 
 of it, it would be necessary to convert the words, 
 " an essential service has been rendered," into 
 *' I have rendered an essential service ;" or, " and 
 smoothed his way " should be — " and his way 
 has been smoothed."
 
 COMPOSITION. 37 
 
 UNGEAMMATICAL MODES OF SPEECH. 
 
 The next blemish that I have to notice arises 
 from the use of ungrammatical modes of speech. 
 The most glaring of these may be stated under 
 the following heads : — 
 
 Nominative icithout a Verb. 
 
 There is no writer so addicted to this blunder 
 as Isaac D'Israeli. Here are some instances from 
 his principal work. 
 
 " The Germans of the present day, although greatly superior 
 to their ancestors, there are wlio opine that they are still 
 distant from that acme of taste which characterizes the finished 
 compositions of the French and the English authors." — 
 Curiosities of Literature. 
 
 " In all their rejoicings the ancients used fires ; but they 
 were intended merely to burn their sacrifices, and ichich, as the 
 generality of them were performed at night, the illuminations 
 served to give light to the ceremonies." — Ihid. 
 
 " The wealth of the great Audley may be considered as the 
 cloudy medium through which a bright genius shone, and 
 wMch, had it been thrown into a nobler sphere of action, the 
 greatness would have been less ambiguous." — Ibid. 
 
 " How fortunate then was James Naylor, wJio, desirous of 
 entering Bristol on an ass, Hume informs us that all Bristol 
 could not afford him one." — Ibid. 
 
 In the first of these examples the writer should 
 have commenced with the word "concerning." 
 In the second and third the "which" should
 
 38 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 have been omitted as redundant. In the fourtli 
 the word "was" should have followed "who," 
 and the word "but" preceded "Hume:" or the 
 sentence might have been formed thus : — 
 
 " How fortunate then was James Naylor, who, 
 desirous of entering Bristol on an ass, was unable, 
 Hume informs us, to procure one in the whole 
 town." 
 
 And yet this is the writer who, while penning 
 these blunders, talks with such insufferable flip- 
 pancy of the " acme of taste," and of " finished 
 compositions." 
 
 " When on tlie eve of departure he desired his wife, who 
 was at the time pregnant, that if she brought him a son, 
 to place a tower on the church." — Thokpe. Northern 
 Mytliology. 
 
 In this example the word that is superfluous, 
 the sentence being complete without it. 
 
 Under this head may be classed the following 
 samples from Sir A. Alison : — 
 
 " The conduct of the king and cabinet evinced that vacilla- 
 tion ivhich, as it is the invariable mark of weakness in presence 
 of danger, so it is the usual precursor of the greatest public 
 calamities." — History of Europe from the Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 "It is owing to his advice that the general plan of the 
 campaign, afterwards so admirably carried into execution by 
 Barclay, is to be ascribed." — History of Europe. 
 
 In the latter example the word " owing " is 
 redundant. To make sense of it, the sentence 
 should conclude with " was adopted," instead of 
 " is to be ascribed."
 
 COMPOSITION. 39 
 
 " It has been already mentioned how Sii' J Louie Popham 
 proceeded from the Cape of Good Hope to Buenos Ayres, and 
 the disastrous issue of that expedition." — Ibid. 
 
 It is by no means clear wlietlier tlie writer 
 intended the word "issue," in this phrase, as a 
 nominative or an objective. As tlie sentence 
 stands, the beginning and the end of it are 
 grammatically irreconcilable. If the first part 
 be retained, it should conclude thus : — 
 
 " It has been already mentioned how Sir Home 
 Popham proceeded from the Cape of Good Hope 
 to Buenos Ayres, and how that expedition had a 
 disastrous issue." 
 
 If the latter part be retained, the phrase should 
 commence as follows : — 
 
 " I have already mentioned how Sir Home 
 Popham proceeded from the Cape of Good Hope 
 to Buenos Ayres, and the disastrous issue of tliat 
 expedition." 
 
 Verb icithout a Nominative. 
 
 I have met with an instance of this fault in 
 Taylor's " Notes from Books :" — 
 
 " Wherein then is to consist the freedom of his heart ? AVe 
 answer, in self-government upon a large scale — in so dealing 
 with his years and months as shall impart a certain orderly 
 liberty to his days and hours." 
 
 In this phrase the preposition " to " should 
 have been put in the place of " shall," or 
 such a manner" been employed for "so." 
 
 ((
 
 40 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 How can "so" be the nominative to "shall 
 impart"? 
 
 Freposition repeated. 
 
 " Alphonsus ordered a great fire to be prepared, mto which, 
 after his majesty and the public had joined in prayer for 
 heavenly assistance in this ordeal, both the rivals were thrown 
 into the flames." — D'Tsraeli. Curiosities. 
 
 Here the writer should have stopped at the 
 word " thrown." 
 
 " To the 365 days in the year he has prefixed to each an 
 epistle dedicatory." — Ihid. 
 
 This should have been : — 
 " To each of the 365 days in the year he has 
 prefixed an epistle dedicatory." 
 
 " It is to this last new feature in the supposed Game Laws 
 to which we intend to confine our notice." — Sydney Smith. 
 Essays. 
 
 " From sheer necessity Congress was driven to lay on a 
 great variety of new taxes on exciseable articles." — Alison. 
 History of Uurojye. 
 
 " The eating in of usury info the vitals of the state." — Ibid. 
 
 These samples speak for themselves. 
 Improper use of the Pronouns. 
 
 " I strike the harp in praise of Bragela, she that I left in the 
 isle of mist." — Maopherson. Ossian. 
 
 "Let me awake the king of Morven, he that smiles in 
 danger; he that is like tlie sun of Heaven rising in a storm." 
 —Ibid. 
 
 In these phrases the pronouns should be in the
 
 COMPOSITION. 41 
 
 same case — the objective — as the nouns to which 
 they refer. 
 
 Here are other instances requiring the objective 
 case : — 
 
 "Let mesee'it'/iodo I know among them." — Southet. The 
 Doctor. 
 
 " Between Alaric "Watts and / no such event ever occurred 
 to be lamented now." — Jeedan. Autobiography. 
 
 " The cherished plan of publication between Sir J. Leicester 
 and /was thus announced." — Ibid. 
 
 In the following the pronouns should be in the 
 nominative case : — 
 
 " What should we gain by it but that we should speedily 
 become as poor as them.'''' — Alison. Essay on Macaulay. 
 
 " The very scullion who cleans the brasses in the kitchen 
 becomes of more consideration and importance than /«'»?." — 
 Fkanklin. Essays. 
 
 " Robert is there, the very out-come of him, and indeed of 
 many generations of such as Am." — Caeltle. Heroes and 
 Sero Worship. 
 
 " Sir Thomas More in general so writes it, although not 
 many others so late as him."" — Trench. English Past and 
 Present. 
 
 Some writers affect to think that in such phrases 
 " than " and " as " may be regarded as preposi- 
 tions, and the pronouns as being correctly put 
 in the objective case. This view of the matter, 
 however, is confined to two or three writers; 
 and so long as it is, we are bound to hold it as 
 erroneous. 
 
 It is a curious circumstance that one of the 
 few errors of style in Cobbett's English Gram-
 
 42 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 mar, arises from the misuse of what he calls 
 "the poor, oppressed little pronoun i^," against 
 which misuse he is always cautioning his " dear 
 James." This affords a fresh illustration of the 
 fact, that it is easier to preach than to practise ; 
 a disadvantage to which we are all more or less 
 suhject. Cohbett, in Letter xvii., inculcates the 
 cautious use of " it " in these words : — 
 
 " Never put an ' it ' upon paper, without thinking well what 
 you are about. AVhen I see many its in a page, I always 
 tremble for the writer." 
 
 And in Letter xxi. he employs this same it as 
 the nominative to a verb, which has its nomina- 
 tive already in the word "logic." 
 
 " The logic, though the religious zeal of its pious, sincere, 
 and benevolent author has led him into the very great eri'or of 
 taking his examples of self-evident propositions from amongst 
 those, many of which great numbers of men think not to be 
 self-evident, it is a work wherein profound learning is con- 
 veyed in a style the most simple, and in a manner the most 
 pleasing." 
 
 Dr. Blair, in a couple of places, employs the 
 words " they are " instead " it is," thus : — 
 
 " Tliey are the ardent sentiments of honour, virtue, mag- 
 nanimity, and public spirit, that only can kindle the fire of 
 genius." — Lectures. 
 
 " They are the wretched attempts towards an art of this kind, 
 which have so often disgraced oratory." — Ibid. 
 
 This use of "they are," instead of "it is," so 
 contrary to grammar and usage, sounds very 
 strange. It looks as if Blair had been aiming
 
 COMPOSITION. 43 
 
 at an innovation, ibunded on the Erench expres- 
 sion, " ce sont." But even in this the Prench do 
 not use the Avord "ils," which corresponds to our 
 "they." "They," like "ils," woukl have refer- 
 ence to something in the preceding sentence ; and 
 it is this want of reference that makes it read so 
 nonsensical in the passages cited from Blair. 
 
 In general Sir A. Alison's sentences, though 
 ill-constructed, afford a sufficient glimpse of his 
 meaning; but Avhen he begins to moralize and 
 draw parallels, the obscurity of his style becomes 
 altogether impenetrable. Por instance, at the 
 end of Chapter Ixiii. of his " History of Europe," 
 he has a parallel about the Duke of Wellington, 
 in which there is a strange confusion of the 
 pronouns : — 
 
 "He thus succeeded in at last combating the revolution 
 with its own weapons, and at the same time detaching from 
 them the moral weakness under which it laboured. He met it 
 with its own forces ; but he rested their efforts on a nobler 
 principle." 
 
 Of a similar character is the following : — 
 
 " ISTo people ever loas more rudely assailed by the sword of 
 conquest than those of this country ; none had its chains, to 
 appearance, more firmly riveted round their necks." — Ihid. 
 
 Another fault which may be noticed in this 
 place is when a relative pronoun is coupled with 
 the possessive case. Examples : — 
 
 " Observe the tortures of a mind, even of so great a mind as 
 that of Warburton'i'." — D'Isbaeli. Quarrels of Authors.
 
 44 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " Nor was tlie style of his speaking at all like that of other 
 men'*." — Brougham. Essay on Windhafn. 
 
 " Those who have explored with strictest scrutiny the secret 
 of their own bosoms, will be least apt to rush with intolerant 
 violence into that of other men's." — Caeltle. 3fiscellanies. 
 
 In the following D' Israeli gives us a relative 
 pronoun without an antecedent : — 
 
 " It is to prevent all this disorder, and to enjoy all the use- 
 fulness and the pleasure of this various knowledge, ivhich has 
 produced the invention of notes in literary history." — Preface 
 to Quarrels of Authors. 
 
 This sentence should be : — 
 
 "It is to prevent all this disorder, and to enjoy- 
 all the usefulness and the pleasure of this various 
 knowledge, that notes were invented in literary- 
 history. " 
 
 Whose. 
 
 The use of lohose, as the possessive of ichich, 
 though at first nothing more than a poetic license, 
 is now to be met with in our correctest prose 
 writers. The one who has given the most decided 
 sanction to this innovation is Gibbon, in whose 
 great work it is of frequent occurrence. Here is 
 an example : — 
 
 " In the centre arose a column of marble, whose height, of 
 one hundred and ten feet, denoted the elevation of the hill that 
 bad been cut away." — Decline and Fall. 
 
 There can be no doubt that this use of " whose " 
 gives terseness and vigour to the language ; and 
 it may be said that the cotisensus eruditormn has
 
 COMPOSITION. 45 
 
 now taken it out of the category of faulty locu- 
 tions. We must be careful, however, lest our 
 familiar use of it betray us into applying loho 
 and lohom to things inanimate or irrational, as 
 Gibbon has done in the following sentence : — 
 
 "The reindeer, that useful animal, from ivhom the savage of 
 the north derives the best comforts of his dreary life." — Ibid. 
 
 Connected with this employment of "whose" 
 is the use of the possessive " his," as the ante- 
 cedent to the relative "who," "whose." Exam- 
 ples : — 
 
 " Precision imports pruning the expression so as to exhibit 
 neither more nor less than an exact copy of Ids idea ivho uses 
 it." — Blair. Lechires. 
 
 " The more accurately we search into the human mind, the 
 .stronger traces we everywhere find of Ms wisdom ivlio made it." 
 — BuKKE. InqyAry into Origin of the Sublime. 
 
 " Dr. Wittman might have brouglit us back not anile con- 
 jecture, but sound evidence of events which must determine 
 his character tvho must determine our fate." — Sydney Smith. 
 Assays. 
 
 " The sight of his blood tvhom they deemed invulnerable, shook 
 the courage of the soldiers." — xA^lison. History of Europe. 
 
 Whatever may be said on the score of poetry, 
 the rules of plain prose require the expression 
 " of him," instead of "his." 
 
 Than. 
 
 Another source of inaccuracy is the use of the 
 word thmii which is constantly usurping the place 
 of other words, while its own proper station is 
 occupied by all sorts of substitutes. Here are
 
 46 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 some instances in Avliieh other expressions arc 
 incorrectly used instead of " than :" — 
 
 " To a mind like yours there is no other road to fame, lut by 
 the destruction of a noble fabric." — Junius. Letters. 
 
 " For this difference no other general cause can be assigned 
 hut culture and education." — Blaib. Lectures. 
 
 " They have no other standard on which to form themselves, 
 excei^t what chances to be fashionable." — Lhicl. 
 
 In these examples the omission of "other" 
 would leave the sense unaltered, and then the 
 " hut " would be correct. In fact, the inaccuracy 
 of "no other huf'' has crept in, because it 
 sounds like "none but." 
 
 In the following, " than " is improperly put for 
 other words : — 
 
 " The old nature returned with double force than formerly, 
 and was in him to his dying day." — GriLriLLAK. Literary 
 Portraits. 
 
 " A history now by a Mr. Hume, or a poem by a Mr. Pope, 
 would be examined with different eyes than had they borne any 
 other name." — D'Iseaeli. Curiosities. 
 
 "To reconstruct such a work in another language were 
 business for a man of different powers than has yet attempted 
 Grerman translation among us." — Carltle. Miscellanies. 
 
 Strange confusion this ! When " other " occurs, 
 we see it followed by " but " or " except," instead 
 of "than;" and where "than" is employed, we 
 find it preceded by "diff'erent," instead of " other." 
 But what is worse, the same writer who makes it 
 " different than," in one place, lias it " different 
 to," in another.
 
 COMPOSITION. 47 
 
 " Indeed, were wo to judge of Grerman reading habits from 
 these volumes of ours, we should draw quite a different con- 
 clusion to Paul's." — Caelyle, Miscellanies. 
 
 And D' Israeli, who, in the sentence above 
 quoted, has it " different than," in another place 
 makes it " different with." 
 
 " The conversations of men of letters are of a different com- 
 plexion loith the talk of men of the world." — The Literari/ 
 Character. 
 
 Here is another example of the improper use 
 of "than:"— 
 
 " The majority of them established another doctrine os false 
 in itself, and, if possible, more pernicious to the constitution, 
 than that on which the Middlesex election was determined." — 
 JuKius. Letters. 
 
 In this sentence "than" is made to do duty 
 in connexion with as and more — correctly, of 
 course, with regard to the latter, but not so as 
 far as the former is concerned. The writer should 
 have said : — 
 
 "The majority of them established another 
 doctrine as false in itself as that on which the 
 Middlesex election was determined, and, if pos- 
 sible, more pernicious to the constitution." 
 
 The following is a somewhat similar instance : — 
 
 " You may infuse the sentiment by a ray of light, no thicJcer, 
 nor one thousand part so thick, «5 the finest needle." — Wilson. 
 Mecreations. 
 
 Here we have the word " than " incorrectly
 
 48 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 omitted after " thicker ;" unless the writer wished 
 to introduce the plirase "no thicker as." 
 
 Another instance of the misuse of " than " 
 occurs in connexion with the verb " prefer," 
 thus : — 
 
 " Above all, it should prefer to leave a point untaught, ilian 
 to teach it in a ^vay that must be unlearned." — Latham. 
 Encjlisli Langua(je. 
 
 Analogous to these is the fault in the fol- 
 lowing sentence, in which the writer substitutes 
 the words "but rather" for the word " as :" — 
 
 " This does not so much seem to be owing to the want of 
 physical powers, hut ratlier to the absence of vehemence." — 
 Alison. Essay on British Theatre. 
 
 Here is another instance : — 
 
 " Scarcely had he uttered the fatal word than the fairy dis- 
 appeared." — SoANE. Neiv Curiosities of Literature. 
 
 In this example, as in most cases of the kind, 
 the error arises from the circumstance that the 
 writer, while conunitting one word to paper, is 
 thiDking of another. ^-Vliat Soane had in his 
 head was the expression "no sooner;" but he 
 forgot that " scarcely " requires " when " after it. 
 
 The article ''the:' 
 
 In certain phrases where the present participle 
 is employed as a noun, the definite article may be 
 used or omitted before it. If used, the participle, 
 like any other noun in the same circumstances,
 
 COMPOSITION. 49 
 
 should be followed by the preposition "of." Hero 
 is a sentence which sins against this rule : — 
 
 " The battle of Eylau should have been the signal for the 
 contracting the closest alliance with the Russian government." 
 — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 If the article be omitted before the participle, 
 the preposition should be omitted also. The fol- 
 lowing sentences are therefore incorrect : — 
 
 " In constructing and depicting o/" characters, Werner indeed 
 is little better than a mannerist." — Caelyle. Essay on 
 Werner. 
 
 " In reading of poetry, above all, what forces, through this 
 ignorance, are lost ! " — Trench. English, Fast and Present. 
 
 Only. 
 
 There is, perhaps, in the English language, no 
 expression that is so frequently misapplied, or 
 that contributes so much to confuse the writer's 
 meaning, as the word only. Its import is oftener 
 determined by the sound than by the sense. It 
 is sometimes placed before, and sometimes after, 
 the word upon which it is intended to bear ; and 
 in the hurry or carelessness of composition, is 
 frequently thrown in between two words, with 
 direct reference to one of them, in the writer's 
 intention, but with equal applicability to the 
 other. Numerous instances might be quoted, 
 from our best writers, of the ambiguity and con- 
 fusion occasioned by a want of attention to the 
 proper place of this word. For the present, 
 
 E
 
 50 MODERN ENGLISH LITEKATUUE. 
 
 however, I shall confine myself to the two chief 
 circumstances in wliich it is misemployed. The 
 first is when only is placed in a different part of 
 the sentence from that in whicli it should he ; the 
 second, when it is put instead of (done. Here 
 are some examples of the former inaccuracy. 
 
 Gifford, speaking of the conduct of the actors 
 towards Charles II., remarks : — 
 
 " One wretched actor onlij deserted the sovereign." 
 
 The writer meant to say that only one actor had 
 deserted the sovereign; but the word only not 
 being in its proper place, the meaning is that the 
 actor only deserted the sovereign, in the sense 
 that his conduct did not amount to an actual 
 betrayal of him. 
 
 " One species of bread, of coarse quality, was onli/ allowed 
 to be baked." — Alison. ILlsforij of Europe. 
 
 The sense of this is, that the bread was only 
 (dloived to be baked, but not ordered to be so. 
 The phrase, to express the writer's meaning, 
 should stand thus : — 
 
 " Only one species of bread, of coarse quality, 
 was allowed to be baked." 
 
 " He found himself at a loss to display his powers of criti- 
 cism, onJi/ by lavishing his praise." — D'Israeli. Curiosities. 
 
 This should be : — 
 
 " It was only by lavishing his praise that he 
 was able to display his powers of criticism."
 
 COMPOSITION. 51 
 
 In the following instances, only is incorrectly 
 put for alone : — 
 
 " No book has beeu published since your departure of which 
 much notice is taken. Faction only fills the town with pam- 
 phlets, and greater subjects are forgotten." — Dr. Johnsok. 
 Letter to Bev. Mr. White. 
 
 The Doctor meant to say that faction alone gave 
 rise to the pamphlets ; but the sentence will admit 
 of the construction that faction did no more than 
 fill the town with pamphlets. 
 
 " The light must not be suffered to conceal from us the real 
 standard, by which onhj his greatness can be determined." — 
 D'IsEAELi. Quarrels of Authors. 
 
 Here the writer, instead of telling us, as he 
 intended, that the standard is the only thing that 
 can determine the greatness, tells us that the 
 greatness is the only thing to be determined by 
 the standard. 
 
 " It is a hereditary aristocracy which alone can be depended 
 upon in such a contest, because it only possesses lasting inter- 
 ests which are liable to be affected by the efforts of tyranny." 
 — Alisok. History of Europe. 
 
 In this example the sense and the vigour of 
 the sentence are alike marred by the use of only 
 instead of alone. 
 
 This use of " only " for " alone " may be allow- 
 able in poetry, as in this line in Dryden : — 
 
 " Death only this mysterious truth unfolds." 
 
 Or this in Lee : — 
 
 " The dead are only happy and the dying." 
 E 2
 
 52 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 But in prose composition, where the writer is 
 unfettered by any coDsiclerations of rhythm, it is 
 altogether inexcusable. 
 
 Wrong Preposition. 
 
 A noticeable error is the use of one preposition 
 for another. Here are some examples : — 
 
 " The Italian universities were forced to send for their 
 professors ^ro??j Spain and France." — Hallam. Literature 
 of Europe. 
 
 " He withdrew to a little distance from the walls, and sent 
 for heavy artillery //'OWi Pampeluna and Bayonne." — Alison. 
 History of Europe. 
 
 " Two of the gixns which had been blown up were found to 
 be still serviceable. Two more were sent fory/-o?ji Waterford." 
 — Macatjlat. History of Enyland. 
 
 This is one of those errors so frequent in mo- 
 dern prose, and which are referable to a common 
 origin. In point of fact, the writers have one 
 phrase in their mind and another on paper. The 
 professors are to come from Spain and Prance, 
 and the artilleiy from Pampeluna, Bayonne, and 
 Waterford ; and hence the word from. But if 
 those great historians had paid attention to the 
 form which their thought was assuming on paper, 
 they would have employed the word to instead of 
 from. We send to a place for a thing : and 
 when we talk of sending from a place for a thing, 
 we mean to speak of the place where we are at 
 the time of sending, and not of the place to which 
 we send. Por instance, Macaulay, speaking of
 
 coMrosiTiON. 53 
 
 an order issued by King William at the siege of 
 Limerick, says : — 
 
 " Two more guns were sent for f ran "Waterford." 
 
 Surely it was from Limerick that the guns 
 were sent for, and to "Waterford where the guns 
 were. 
 
 The following are further examples of the mis- 
 employment of one preposition for another : — 
 
 " The abhorrence of the vast majority of the people to 
 its provisions." — Alisoi^. History of Europe from Fall of 
 NaiJoIeon. 
 
 " Such were the difficulties ivith which the question was 
 involved." — Hid. 
 
 Here again the error is referable to the same 
 cause. In the first sentence the writer is think- 
 ing of " aversion." We say " aversion to a 
 thing " — " abhorrence of a thing." In the second 
 he is thinking of "beset." We say "beset ivith 
 difficulties" — " involved in difficulties." 
 
 " The accounts thej gave of the favourable reception of their 
 writings tcith the public." — Franklij^'. Essays. 
 
 " Napoleon sought to ally himself by marriage with the 
 royal families in Europe, to ingraft himself to an old imperial 
 tree." — CnANNiNa. Essay on Napoleon. 
 
 In the former sentence "with" should be 
 " by ;" in the latter, " to " should be " on." 
 
 " We shall therefore enumerate the principal figures of 
 speech, and give them some explanation. — Muiieat. Appen- 
 dix to English Grammar.
 
 54 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 In this sentence there is a preposition under- 
 stood after "them;" but it is not "to," as the 
 writer intended. " To explain a figure of speech," 
 and "to give it an explanation," are not the 
 same thing. Murray should have said " and give 
 some explanation q/them." 
 
 " Of various natural and acquired excellence it is hard to 
 say whether the British or French soldiers were the most 
 admirable." — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 Here the word "of" is erroneously put instead 
 of " for." It is probable that when the writer 
 commenced the sentence, he intended to close it 
 thus : — 
 
 " Of various natural and acquired excellence it 
 is hard to say whether the British or Erench 
 soldiers afforded the most admirable example.''' 
 
 " Meanwhile the losses sustained ly the partisan warfare in 
 his rear, and the frightful progress of famine and disease, ren- 
 dered it indispensable for tlie French army to move." — Ibid. 
 
 Here the "by" should be "from," or "in 
 consequence of:" otherwise we should have to 
 believe that the partisan warfare sustained the 
 losses, instead of inflicting them. 
 
 Hereafter — Henceforth. 
 
 Can anything be more clear than the difference 
 of meaning between these two words ? And yet, 
 how often do we see them misapplied. Here is 
 an instance from Sir A. Alison : — 
 
 *' It was in this situation of aftairs that Sir Arthur "Wei-
 
 COMPOSITION. 55 
 
 lesley — who shall hereafter be culled Wellington — lauded at 
 Lisbon." — History of Europe. 
 
 " Hereafter " means " at some future period," 
 and it is quite true that tlie title of " "Welling- 
 ton" was not conferred till a future period ; but 
 that is not what the historian intended to ex- 
 press. His meaning is that in future, when 
 speaking of Sir A. Wcllcslcy, he will describe him 
 by the title of "Wellington." "Henceforth," 
 therefore, is the word he should have employed. 
 
 Wliither — TJiither. 
 
 These words also are often confounded or mis- 
 applied. Examples : — 
 
 "Nor are the groans of the father altogether without relief; 
 for they are gone wJiUlier they came." — Wilson. Recreations 
 of a North. 
 
 "Gone" requires "whither," but "came" 
 requires "whence;" and as "whither" is inap- 
 plicable to two terms of such opposite tendency 
 as "go" and "come," the writer should have 
 said : — 
 
 " They are gone to the place whence they 
 came." 
 
 " From that place the Minden was sent to Gibraltar, and 
 tMther the whole fleet arrived on the 9th August." — Alison. 
 History of Europe. 
 
 " Ney marched direct for Lugo, and on the 29th met IMarshal 
 Soult at that place, whither he had arrived on his retreat from 
 Portugal . " — Ibid.
 
 56 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 In these sentences we have "thither," "whi- 
 ther," improperly put for "there," "where." 
 If the word " arrive " presupposes motion, it, at 
 the same time, indicates that the motion is at an 
 end. Hence we say " arrive at," not " arrive 
 to." Now, the preposition contained in such 
 words as " thither," " whither," is to, not at. 
 
 Equal as. 
 
 We sometimes meet with " equal as," instead 
 of " equal to," the word " same " being upper- 
 most in the writer's mind. Here is an example : — 
 
 " For the liistoiy of the Empire uo works exist of equal 
 ability or authority as those regarding the Eevolution." — 
 Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 Same as — Same with. 
 
 These locutions, though of different import, are 
 often confounded. We say " the same as," 
 when we mean to express complete similarity, 
 as: — "Nouns are the same as substantives." 
 And we say " the same with," when we wash 
 to express similarity in some particular point or 
 circumstance, as : — 
 
 " The verb ' to woi-k ' is perfectly regular, for it has ed 
 added to it in order to form the past time. It is the same loith 
 the verb ' to walk,' and many others." — Cobbett. English 
 Grammar. 
 
 The meaning of this is, not that the verbs 
 " to work" and " to walk" are identical ; but that
 
 COMPOSITION. 57 
 
 they are in the same predicament, having this 
 quality in common, that they end in ed. 
 
 The confounding of these expressions has led 
 certain writers to use " same with " where 
 " same as " would have been more correct. 
 Examples : — 
 
 " "Wisdom is not the same with understanding, talents, capa- 
 city, ability, sagacity, sense, or prudence — not the same loith 
 any of these." — Taylor. Notes from Books. 
 
 " Skinner, it is well known, held the same political opinions 
 loith his illustrious friend." — Macatjlat, Essay on Milton. 
 
 " A rhymed essay, with most people, is the same thing with 
 a rhapsody." — Gilfillais^. Literary Portraits. 
 
 " Satan, towering to the sky, was the same with Satan, lurk- 
 ing in the toad." — Ihid. 
 
 Adverbs in the wrong place. 
 
 " The sublime Longinus, in somewhat a later period, pre- 
 served the spirit of ancient Athens." — Gibbon. Decline and 
 Fall. 
 
 " It is the repetition of the period in someiohat a different 
 form." — Blair. Lectures. 
 
 " The French theatre has produced a species of comedy of 
 still a graver turn." — Ihid. 
 
 In these examples the adverbs "somewhat" 
 and "still" should follow, instead of preceding, 
 the article "a." 
 
 Double Superlatives. 
 
 There are certain adjectives which do not admit 
 of degrees of comparison, such as entire , universal,
 
 58 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 and a few others. The folloAving sentences are 
 examples of this inaccuracy : — 
 
 " Money, in a, word, is the most universal incitement of 
 human misery." — Gibbok. Decline and Fall. 
 
 " The most entirely in his confidence were not aware of 
 what he intended." — Alisoit. History of Eurojiefrom Fall of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 True, we have in Holy Writ the expression 
 " the most highest ;" and Shakspeare, in JiiUus 
 CcesaVj speaks of " the most unkindest cut of all." 
 But, while the former expression is remarkable 
 for its vigour, and the latter for its quaintness, 
 there is no reason why we should concede to vul- 
 gar prose, without either quaintness or vigour to 
 recommend it, that license which is the privilege 
 of inspiration, whether in the prophet or the 
 poet. ' ■ 
 
 B2lt, 
 
 A common error even in the most elegant 
 writers, is the use of " but " instead of " that," 
 in phrases where such verbs as " to question," 
 " to doubt," are employed. Examples : — 
 
 " I make no doubt hut you are now safely lodged in your 
 own habitation." — JoHNSOiS". Letter to Boswell, 27th May, 
 1775. 
 
 " I make no doubt hut you, sir, can help him thr-ough his 
 difficulties." — Idem. Letter to Rev. Dr. Edwards, 2nd Nov., 
 
 " I do not question lut they have done what is usually called 
 tlio king's business." — .Junius. Letters.
 
 COMPOSITION. 59 
 
 In tliG following examples the " but " is redun- 
 dant : — 
 
 " There can be no question hut that both the language and 
 the characters must be Hebrew." — Southet. The Doctor. 
 
 " He never doubts hit that he knows their intention." 
 — Teench. English, Past and Present. 
 
 Or and Nor. 
 
 The commonest error with regard to these con- 
 junctions, is the use of "or" instead of "nor." 
 Of this I shall quote some examples : — 
 
 " I demand neither place, pension, exclusive privilege, or 
 any other reward whatever." — Fbajs^klin. Essays. 
 
 " He was neither an object of derision to his enemies, or of 
 melancholy pity to his friends." — Junius. Letters. 
 
 " Neither by them or me would it be regarded as an objec- 
 tion." — Southet. The Doctor. 
 
 The employment of " nor" instead of "or" is 
 not so common. Our old friend, D'Israeli, has 
 this instance : — 
 
 " There are few scenes more affecting, nor which more deeply 
 engage our sympathy." — Calamities of Authors. 
 
 " Same J ^ as a Pronoun. 
 
 Another of these anomalies relates to the word 
 " same." At first, this term, like its represent- 
 atives in other languages, was nothing more than 
 a plain, unpretending adjective. After a time, it 
 came to be used as a pronoun in official phrase- 
 ology, and having found a footing there, it has 
 gradually encroached upon the domain of ordi-
 
 CO MODEEN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 nary prose, usurping the rights of the legitimate 
 pronouns, and displacing them from their here- 
 ditary station in the queen's English, " Same" 
 is now, so to speak, the Paul Pry of literary 
 composition. You meet with it in novels, in 
 plays, in sermons, in speeches, and even in the 
 graver themes of history. You can hardly turn 
 a sentence without falling foul of its prim little 
 figure ; and the more you desire to avoid it, the 
 more obtrusive it becomes. The stoutest sup- 
 porter of this pretender to the rank of a pronoun 
 is Mr. Montgomery Martin, a writer whose accu- 
 racy of style bears no proportion to his pains- 
 taking industry. Of tlie numerous examples 
 that might be adduced from this writer, of the 
 conversion of " same" into a pronoun, the fol- 
 lowing are taken from his " History of the 
 Colonies :" — 
 
 " After iiiucli angry dispute relative to the enormous and 
 illegal exaction of fees, a tariff of the same was fixed." 
 
 " The jealousy of the Spanish monarch led to a renewed 
 discussion of the territorial right of our settlers, wJiicJi the 
 imbecile ministers of Charles II. so far admitted, as to dii'ect 
 the governor of Jamaica to inquire into the same.'" 
 
 Here the word " same" evidently refers to 
 " which ; " but what does " which" refer to ? Not 
 to "jealousy ;" it would be nonsense to say that 
 they admitted the king's jealousy : not to " dis- 
 cussion;" for then it should be "permitted" and 
 not " admitted :" not to " right ;" that would bo
 
 COMPOSITION. 61 
 
 the contrary of the writer's meaning. To discover 
 that meaning we must look for it, less in what is 
 expressed than in what is understood; and in 
 this way we shall find that what the ministers 
 admitted, w^ere " the grounds" of the monarch's 
 jealousy. 
 
 The following are further examples of this 
 fault :— 
 
 " She looked at her own neat white stockings, and thought 
 how glad she should be to cover their poor feet with the 
 same.''^ — Lamb. Essays of Elia. 
 
 " Providence had unspeakably honoured him by revealing 
 this grand truth, saving him from death and darkness. He 
 therefore was bound to make known the same to all creatures." 
 — Caulyle. Heroes and Ilero-WorsJii]). 
 
 " There is no doubt upon liis mind, first as to every part of 
 his creed ; and next as to his individual capacity for expounding 
 the sained — Gilfillak. Literary Portraits. 
 
 " It was also ordered that all persons professing to teach 
 the doctrine of the ancient philosophers, should explain in 
 what respects the same differed from the established faith." — 
 EoscoE. Life of Leo X. 
 
 " How much more to them than to us, so long as we are 
 ignorant of tlie same, would these words have conveyed." — 
 Tkekch. English East and Eresent. 
 
 In these instances both the grammar and the 
 sense would be improved by the use of the pro- 
 nouns instead of same. 
 
 Shall and Will. 
 
 natical inaccurac 
 omit to mention the indiscriminate use of the 
 
 Among grammatical inaccuracies we must not
 
 G2 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 auxiliaries shall and loill. The Irish are confess- 
 edly the greatest blunderers in this respect ; yet, 
 it would be no difficult matter to show that the 
 fault is by no means peculiar to them. Here are 
 some examples in Avhicli will is erroneously put 
 for slictll. 
 
 " We know to what causes our past reverses have been 
 owing, and we u-ill have ourselves to blame, if they are again 
 incurred." — Alison. History of JEurope. 
 
 " If we look within the rough and awkward outside, we will 
 be richly rewarded by its perusal." — Gilfillain^ Literary 
 Portraits. 
 
 In the course of these remarks we have had 
 occasion to cite some inaccuracies from the 
 " Great Cham of Literature." That he was 
 not always attentive to the proper use of his 
 shalls and toillSy is exemplified in the following 
 passage : — 
 
 " You must make haste and gather me all you can, and do 
 it quickly, or I will and sJ/aJl do without it." — JonNSOif. 
 Letter to Bosicell, 1774. 
 
 This is a curious anti-climax. TheDoctor meant 
 to lay a particular stress upon the latter of the 
 auxiliaries ; and if he had employed them in the 
 second or third person, the order in which they 
 stand would have been correct. But *' shall," in 
 the first person, merely announces the intention 
 to do a thing — "will," the resolution to do it. 
 Jolmson should therefore have said : " I shall and 
 will do without it." When he said, " I ivill,'' he
 
 COMPOSITION. 63 
 
 C5^rcsscd a cletermmation to which sludl adds 
 nothing but prepostcrousncss. The case were 
 different if he had begun with shall. The an- 
 nouncement of an intention to do a thing may be 
 followed, without impropriety, by expressing a 
 resolution to do it. 
 
 Perfect and Imperfect Tenses. 
 
 Next to shall and loill there is no point in 
 English composition that presents such a stum- 
 bling-block as the " perfect " and " imperfect " 
 tenses. The general rule I take to be as follows : — 
 When the time spoken of is as connected with the 
 present, in some manner either expressed or im- 
 plied, then the perfect tense should be used. We 
 say, " I have written to him this year, this month, 
 this week, this day;" and not, " I wrote to him 
 this year, this month, this week, this day." When 
 the time spoken of is past, and there is nothing 
 either expressed or implied to connect it with the 
 present, the imperfect tense should be used. Thus, 
 we say " I lorote to him last year, last month, 
 last week, yesterday;" and not, "I have ivritten 
 to him last year, last month, last w'eek, yester- 
 day." As regards the expression " this morn- 
 ing," it admits of either tense, according to the 
 time at which it is employed. If in the forenoon, 
 we say, " I have written to him this morning;" 
 if in the afternoon, we must treat it as a division
 
 64 MODEEN ENGLISH LITERATUHE. 
 
 of time that is past, and say, " I wrote to him 
 this morning." 
 
 The following examples will illustrate the first 
 part of this rule. 
 
 1. " I have written to him twice these ten 
 years." Here the word " these " connects the 
 time with i\iQ present, and it w^ould he incorrect 
 to say " I lorote to him twice these ten years." 
 
 2. "I have loritten to him several times since 
 I received his reply." The meaning here is " from 
 the time of receiving his reply to the present 
 time;" and it would he inaccurate to say "I 
 wrote to him several times since I received his 
 reply." 
 
 In explanation of the second part of the rule, 
 it may he stated that the imperfect tense is em- 
 ployed in the folloAving instances : — 
 
 1. When a particular day or division of time is 
 specified; as, "I wrote to him on i\\Q first of 
 January." 
 
 2. When a specified period of time has elapsed 
 since the thing is stated to have occurred ; as, 
 " I wrote to him ten years «y/o." 
 
 3. When the time, without heing specified, is 
 made to precede an event that is past ; as, " I 
 wrote to him several times hefore I received his 
 reply." 
 
 The hest apology for the triteness of these 
 remarks is the frequency with which the tenses 
 in question are confounded or misapplied. Erom
 
 COMPOSITION. 65 
 
 numerous instances that might be cited from our 
 most approved writers, I have selected the fol- 
 lowing, in which the perfect tense is incorrectly- 
 employed instead of the imperfect. 
 
 " Our club has recommenced last Fi'id.'vy, but I was not there." 
 Johnson. Letter to Boswell, 1777. 
 
 " You may remember I have formerly talked with you 
 about a militaiy dictionary." — Idem. Letter (witliout date) to 
 Mr. Cave. 
 
 " It is now about four hundred years since the art of multi- 
 plying books has been discovered." — D'laBAELi. Curiosities. 
 
 " Many years after this article was written, has appeared the 
 history of English Dramatic Poetry by Mr. Collier." — Lbid. 
 
 "Tou may do what you have done a century ago, made the 
 Catholics worse than Helots." — Sydney Smith. Essays. 
 
 " Formerly we have conversed, together with Pericles, on 
 this extraordinary man." — Savage Landor. Pericles and 
 Aspasia. 
 
 " During the last century no prime minister, however 
 powerful, has become rich in office." — Mac aula Y. History 
 of England. 
 
 " Of this admirable work a subsequent edition has been 
 published in 1822." — Alison. Essay on Humboldt. 
 
 " Out of the walls of Cadiz, in 1810 and 1811, has issued 
 the cloud that now overspreads the world." — Idem. History 
 of Europe. 
 
 In these sentences the words in italics should 
 be repectively " recommenced " — " talked " — 
 " was " — " appeared " — " did " — " conversed " — 
 "became" — "was" — "issued." In every case 
 the time is unconnected with the present, or 
 specified as past, and the imperfect tense should 
 have been employed.
 
 66 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Other Errors in regard to the Moods and 
 Teyises. 
 
 In the following example the indicative is 
 improperly put for the subjunctive. "Writes" 
 should be " write " or " should write :" — 
 
 " "With all these objections (and we only mention tliem in 
 case Mr. Hope writes again) there are few books that con- 
 tain passages of greater power." — Sydney Smith. Essays. 
 
 Sir A. Alison has a passage in which the imper- 
 fect tense of the indicative is used instead of the 
 subjunctive : — 
 
 " If that system loere rigorously carried into execution — 
 if a first imprisonment xvas in every instance made so long 
 as to teach the young novice in crime an honest trade, the 
 continual stream of depravity which now pollutes the Bri- 
 tish islands would be lessened." — History of Etircpe. 
 
 Here the writer, speaking hypothetically, begins 
 very properly with the subjunctive mood ; but in 
 the very next line, which requires the same mood, 
 he abandons it for the indicative, and thus makes 
 nonsense of the sentence. 
 
 Here is another example : — 
 
 " Of Montgomery's prose we might say much that tons 
 favourable." — Gilfillan. Literary Portraits. 
 
 Chenevix has an instance of the opposite fault, 
 where he uses the subjunctive instead of the 
 indicative : — 
 
 "ITcnry V., indeed, if Shakespeare toere well informed,
 
 COMPOSITION. 67 
 
 was a dexterous wooer in his way." — Essay on National Clm- 
 racter. 
 
 In the following example we have one of the 
 greatest of English classics unaccountably em- 
 ploying 2^ past tense to express ^future : — 
 
 " This paper should properly have apigeared to-morrow." — 
 Junius. Private Letter, No. 24. 
 
 There is a misapplication of the verb which is 
 of common occurrence even in some of our ablest 
 writers ; and which consists in the use of the 
 infinitive in the past tense, instead of the infini- 
 tive present. Examples : — 
 
 " Had this been the fate of Tasso, he would have been able 
 to have celebrated the condescension of your majesty in noble 
 language." — Johnson. Dedication of HooWs Tranlation of 
 Tasso. 
 
 " Gray might perhaps have been able to have rendered him 
 more temperate in his political views." — Southet. Tlie 
 Doctor. 
 
 " Byron's modesty was shocked at the sight of waltzing, 
 which he would not have suffered the Guiccioli to have in- 
 dulged in even with her own husband." — Wilson. Becrea- 
 tions of C. North. 
 
 " Swift, but a few months before, was willing to have hazarded 
 all the horrors of a civil war." — Jeffeet. Essays. 
 
 " That he was willing to have made liis peace with Walpole 
 is admitted by Mr. Scott." — Ihid, 
 
 " It was universally expected that his first act, upon being 
 elevated to the oflQce of Prince Eegent, would have been to have 
 sent for Lords Grey and Grenville."— Alison. History of 
 Europe. 
 
 " Those who would gladly have seen the Anglo-Saxon to 
 
 F 2
 
 68 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 have predominated over the Latin element of our language."— 
 Teench. English, Past a)id Present. 
 
 In these examples the words in italics should 
 be " to celebrate," " to render," " to indulge," 
 " to hazard," " to make," to send," " to predo- 
 minate." 
 
 Present Fm^iciple for the Infinitive Mood. 
 
 Of this inaccuracy there are several instances in 
 George Gilfillan, a writer who, whatever may be 
 his defects of style (and they are manifold, espe- 
 cially in his first " Gallery of Literary Portraits "), 
 is generally very attentive to the requirements of 
 grammar. The following are examples : — 
 
 " It is easy distinguishing the rude fragment of a rock from 
 the splinter of a statue." — Literary Portraits. 
 
 " It was great in him promoting one to whom he had done 
 some wrong." — Ihid. 
 
 " It were indeed worth while inquiring how much of this 
 coolness resulted from Crabbe's early practice as a surgeon." 
 —Ihid. 
 
 " How fine sometimes it is accompanying the prattle of a 
 beautiful child." — Ihid. 
 
 " It were not difficult retorting npon many passages of his 
 own writing." — Ihid. 
 
 " It is indeed ludicrous looking back through the vista of 
 forty years." — Ihid. 
 
 " It were worth while contrasting its estimate of Maho- 
 metanism with that of Carlyle." — Ihid. 
 
 " It was fine taking it out and finding in it a conductor to 
 our own surcharged emotions." — Ihid.
 
 COMPOSITION. 69 
 
 SLANG TERMS AND FOREIGN WORDS. 
 
 The fifth hlemish in English prose is the pro- 
 fusion of slang and foreign words by which it is 
 disfigured. For the use of slang we have always 
 shown a growing partiality ; but its prevalence 
 of late years is mainly owing to that quintessence 
 of E-ebellion and Radicalism ; that amalgamation 
 of Socialism and Slavery ; that galaxy of Stars 
 and Stripes ; our encroaching, annexing, inter- 
 meddling, repudiating friend ; our outlandish, 
 off-handish, whole-hoggish, go-a-headish brother, 
 Jonathan Yankee. 
 
 The foreign words may be classed as follows : — 
 1. Words relating to the art of war, most of which 
 we have borrowed from the French. These have 
 been adopted into the laDguage, and are to be 
 found in our dictionaries. 2. Theatrical and 
 musical terms, which we have chiefly received 
 from the Italians and French, and which are to 
 be met with in the newspaper reports of our 
 public entertainments. 3. Words of a technical 
 import, which express matters and modes of being, 
 originally foreign to our national habits, and for 
 which, generally speaking, we have no equivalent 
 terms. My list of these amounts to no less than 
 two hundred and fift}^ 4. Words which express 
 ideas common to the homes and Ijosoms of all
 
 70 MODERN ENGLISH LITEUATURE. 
 
 men, and for which wc possess corresponding 
 terms, or expressions of a nearly similar import. 
 Of this class I have noted upwards of one hun- 
 dred and fifty that are constantly employed, 
 without necessity, by our elegant writers. 5. Latin 
 words which, with or without necessity, have 
 become of daily use. By these I do not mean 
 the words originally derived from the Latin, and 
 which, both as to form and meaning, are now 
 completely incorporated into the language. 
 Neither do I allude to those Latin words and 
 sentences, which enter into, what is called, 
 "legal phraseology." The language of the law 
 is a language apart. Its obscurity, diffuseness, 
 stilted march and childish repetitions, are a dis- 
 grace to our age and country. The lawyers know 
 best how to unravel its intricacies, and to them 
 may be left the congenial task. The Latin words 
 I speak of are those which, whether originally 
 introduced into legal language or not, have now 
 become of common use among our popular 
 authors. The number of such words that has 
 come under my notice exceeds three hundred. 
 
 Among these different classes of foreign words, 
 there are some which the most fastidious stickler 
 for unadulterated English is occasionally com- 
 pelled to employ. This is an evil for which there 
 is now no remedy, and from which indeed no 
 modern language is wholly exempt. But the 
 same cannot be said of the generality of such
 
 COMPOSITION. 71 
 
 expressions ; and Avliile the Prencli and Latin 
 words, for which wc have terms of a nearly cor- 
 responding import, should be sparingly intro- 
 duced, those for which we have acknowledged 
 synonymes, should be discarded by every one 
 who has the slightest pretension to be reckoned 
 a correct writer. 
 
 It is chiefly to our modern novelists that we 
 are indebted for this foreign flippancy and con- 
 ceit. Were we to judge from the profusion of 
 exotics with which those writers are continually 
 embellishing their productions, exchanging the 
 vitality and bloom of their native tongue for the 
 gaudiness and glitter of Italian or Erench, we 
 should be led to form a very unfavourable opinion 
 of the copiousness of the English language. Hap- 
 pily, the use of such expressions bespeaks rather 
 the poverty of the writer's mind than that of our 
 noble mother-tongue. 
 
 In this, as in everything else, our Gallic friends 
 rush into the opposite extreme. They have a 
 rooted dislike to foreign words and idioms, and 
 are very slow in adopting them. Their own 
 language they regard as the most perfect and 
 classical of all modern languages ; and it is only 
 on compulsion, and for want of corresponding 
 terms, that they condescend to borrow from their 
 neighbours. Even when they do adopt a new 
 word, they handle it with such rudeness and so 
 disfigure its spelling, that its parent tongue
 
 72 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 would not know it again. They strip it by 
 degrees of its foreign dress, and make it assume 
 the costume of the country. When sufficiently 
 disguised, they introduce it to their literary 
 societies; and lest it should he said that any 
 countenance or encouragement is given to the 
 " detested foreigner," the Academy is requested 
 to grant it letters of naturalization. There is 
 that plain, John-Bullish, unmistakable, easily- 
 pronounced, little word " lord." Well ! they will 
 not have him in his native simplicity ; but as 
 they generally find him accompanied by a page, 
 in the person of the pronoun "my," they toss 
 the lord and his page in the same blanket, and 
 then turn them adrift in the Siamese character 
 of "milord." It is by this process that our 
 "beefsteak" is battered into a "bifteck," and 
 that "plum-pudding" assumes all the consistency 
 of a "ponding de plomb." 
 
 I remember the time when the Prencli wrote 
 the word "partner" as an English Avord, with 
 all the signs of its foreign extraction. They 
 afterwards altered it to "partnere;" and, as if 
 it was not sufficiently disguised in this dress, 
 they have transformed it at last into " parte- 
 naire," as it is now commonly written. The 
 italics and inverted commas have been dropped, 
 and the spelling is as completely French, as if 
 the word had been in use since the days of 
 Philippe le Bel. Of a still more curious nature
 
 COMPOSITION. 73 
 
 is tlic history of the word " redingote," that word 
 being neither more nor less than our English 
 "riding-coat;" but so artfully appropriated by 
 our ingenious neighbours, as to pass for an article 
 of Erench manufacture. And now our fashion- 
 able tailors advertise their " redingotes," and our 
 fashionable folk purchase them, being uncon- 
 scious the while that they are borrowing an 
 expression which our Gallic friends originally 
 stole from us. 
 
 So much for the dislike of the French to 
 foreign Avords and modes of expression. It is 
 clear that, so far as language is concerned, they 
 will have no partnership with us : and if they 
 sometimes make use of an English word, they do 
 so, like Beranger, only to express their derision 
 or contempt : — 
 
 " G-od damn ! moi j'aime les Anglais."
 
 BLUNDERS. 
 
 " Nonsense often escapes being detected both by the writer 
 and the reader." 
 
 Dr. Campbell. Rhetoric.
 
 BLUNDEES. 
 
 Among the many blemishes that disfigure 
 English prose, not the least noticeable is a want 
 of perspicuity. Of this defect I have cited some 
 examples in the chapter on " Composition." It 
 occurs, however, so frequently in the more offen- 
 sive shape of contradictions, incongruities, and 
 blunders, that I have taken the trouble to collect 
 some samples for the instruction and entertain- 
 ment of the reader. In accountiug for the exist- 
 ence of such things, we are accustomed to assign 
 them to that intellectual " drowsiness," from 
 which even honest Homer was not exempt ; but 
 we do not perceive that this infirmity is daily 
 assuming a more widespread and contagious cha- 
 racter ; and that the drowsiness which was merely 
 occasional among the ancients, has degenerated 
 in our time into habitual torpor. 
 
 Now for our samples : — 
 
 " The robber was confined in an empty garret, three stories 
 high, from which it seemed impossible for him to escape." — 
 Smollett. Roderich Bandom.
 
 78 MODEEN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " A garret three stories liigli," is a contradic- 
 tion in terms. It was the house, and not the 
 garret, that was three stories high. 
 
 " The hack front of the academy is handsome, but, like the 
 other to the street, one cannot stand back enough to see it in 
 any proportion, unless in a barge moored in the middle of the 
 Thames." — H. Walpole. Letter to Mason. 
 
 The incongruity here consists in coupling such 
 terms as " back " and " front." 
 
 " If a young writer should ask, after all, what is the best 
 way of knowing good poets from bad, the best poets from the 
 next best, and so on ? The answer is, the only and twofold 
 way. First, the perusal of the best poets with the greatest 
 attention ; and second, the cultivation of that love of truth, 
 and beauty which made them what they are." — Leigh Htjitt. 
 Imagination and Fancy. 
 
 In this passage the contradiction and al)surdity 
 are quite amusing. Hunt tells us there is hut 
 one way of knowing good poets from had, and 
 that that one way is tioo ways ! He then informs 
 us that this only and twofold way is no way at 
 all. To tell a young writer that the way to know 
 good poets from bad, is ''to peruse the good," is 
 to suppose him already possessed of the very 
 knowledge he is in search of. 
 
 " A working man is more worthy of honour than a titled 
 plunderer who lives in idleness.'''' — Cobbett. English 
 Gramviar. 
 
 In his anxiety to disparage the aristocracy and 
 bespatter them on all occasions, Cobbett is often 
 betrayed into the use of epithets which his cooler
 
 BLUNDERS. 79 
 
 judgment would have rejected. In the example 
 before us he talks of a plunderer who lives in 
 idleness, without perceiving that his words ex- 
 press a glaring contradiction. True, a man may- 
 plunder by means of his agents, as well as in his 
 own person ; but with that we have nothing to 
 do here. The terms used are what we must con- 
 sider ; and it is no more consistent with sense to 
 talk of an " idle plunderer," than of an " idle 
 libeller," or an "idle highway robber." One of 
 the expressions implies a state of being which 
 excludes the other. 
 
 " There is a certain tune in every language, to which the 
 ear of a native is set, and which often decides on the prefer- 
 able pronunciation, though entirely ignorant of the reasons for 
 it." — Walker. Preface to Dictionary. 
 
 In this phrase the writer describes a tune, as 
 being ignorant of the reasons for its decision. 
 
 " It is certain Warburton's iiifidelity was greatly suspected.'''' 
 — D'IsBAELT. Quarrels of Authors. 
 
 Here, as is usual with this writer, w^e have the 
 contrary of what he means. He intended to say 
 that Warburton's belief in Christianity was sus- 
 pected ; or that he was suspected of infidelity. 
 
 " No one as yet had exhibited the structure of the human 
 kidneys, Vesalius having only examined them in dogs." — 
 Hallam. Literature of Europe. 
 
 Human kidneys in dogs ! Talk of Irish bulls 
 after that.
 
 80 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " Of all species of authorship, faithful and satisfactory bio- 
 graphy is the most difficult. The impossibility of being 
 certain of facts is the first stumbling-block ; the risk of 
 drawing right conclusions from those you are fortunate 
 enough to obtain, is the next." — Jerdax. Autobiography. 
 
 When Jerdan wrote risk he was thinking of 
 difficulty. To none but a person intent upon 
 drawing' wrong conclusions, would it ever occur 
 that there could be any risk in drawing right 
 ones. 
 
 " The tumbling down of fragments from the mountain-side 
 by raging torrents or a imrtial earthquake." — Wilson. He- 
 creations of Christopher North. 
 
 We cannot speak of a thing as being partial, 
 unless we know it as a ichole. Now, who ever 
 heard of a ichole earthquake ? We may say " a 
 violent earthquake;" a " slight earthquake;" but 
 not a ^^ partial earthquake." All earthquakes 
 are partial, and mil continue so till the " Crack 
 of Doom." 
 
 " The most ancient treatise by a modern on this subject, is 
 said to be by a French physician." — D'Israeli. Curiosities of 
 Literature. 
 
 This requires no comment. The words " an- 
 cient" and "modern" being commonly used in 
 contradistinction to each other, the application of 
 them to the same object is clearly absurd. 
 
 Mrs. Eoster has a parallel to this, where she 
 remarks : — 
 
 " Dr. Geoi'ge Campbell's ' Philosophy of Rhetoric ' is con-
 
 BLUNDERS. 81 
 
 sidered the best work on the subject, in modern times, since 
 Aristotle.'''' — HandhooTc of European Literature. 
 
 " liiclielieu's portrait was encircled by a crown of forty rays, 
 in each of which was written the name of the celebrated forty 
 academicians^'' — D'Israeli. Curiosities. 
 
 What that name is which was common to the 
 forty academicians, D'Israeli does not explain. 
 Piron would have conjectured that it was " moins 
 que rien." It should be " one of the names," or 
 " tlie name of one," &c. 
 
 " Father Mathew, in Ireland, effected a reform, once deemed 
 impossible by Church or State — the Eeform of Temperance." 
 — Lady Moegax. Letter to Cardinal TVtseman. 
 
 This is simply Hibernian. In the confusion of 
 her ideas, and her hurry to express them. Lady 
 Morgan puts one thing for another, and would 
 have us believe that what Father Mathew 
 reformed was the virtue of temperance. The 
 expression, "the Temperance Heform" (the reform 
 which results in temperance, or lias temperance 
 for its object) would not liave been incorrect ; but 
 the preposition "of" alters the sense, and its 
 objective case can be no other than the thing 
 that is reformed. We reform vices and not 
 virtues. 
 
 " The ills that darken the life of man have their rise in the 
 malevolence and ill-nature of his fellows.'" — Kirke White. 
 Preface to Poems. 
 
 Each individual man has a fellow in every other 
 man; but man, expressing, as in the instance
 
 82 MODEEN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 before us, the whole human race, has no fellows. 
 The phrase should be : — 
 
 " The ills that darken the life of man have 
 their rise in his oion malevolence and ill-nature." 
 
 " James invited Lim to court, and shoioered on him, with a 
 prodigal hand, the cornucopia oi vojiA patronage." — D'Iseaeli. 
 Curiosities. 
 
 This is what invariably happens to D' Israeli, 
 whenever he goes out of his way for a Sam- 
 Johnsonish epithet. " To shower a cornucopia " 
 is not more correct than "to shoot a quiver," 
 the contents in each case being what is showered 
 or shot ; unless we adopt the Latin metaphor 
 of putting for the contents the thing that 
 contains. 
 
 " The age wants a Christendom where the character of 
 Christ — like that of Hamlet — is not omitted by special desire." 
 — GiLFiLLAN. Literary Fortraits. 
 
 What has the character of Hamlet to do with 
 Christendom, so as to be either omitted or 
 included therein ? This is surely to carry the 
 license of an ellipsis a little too far. Other 
 writers, when introducing this simile, speak of 
 the character of Hamlet in the i^lay. 
 
 " Channing's mind was planted as thick with tltotiglits, as a 
 laclcwood of his own magnificent land." — Ibid. 
 
 Here is a discovery worthy of the age : a hack- 
 wood planted with thonghts ! What a glorious 
 harvest for the writers of America ! Who, after
 
 BLUNDERS. 83 
 
 that, will venture to reproach them with poverty 
 of thought ? 
 
 " To one so gifted iu the prodigality of Heaven, can we ap- 
 proach in any other attitude than that of prostration?" — Ihid. 
 
 The writer here combines, in one action, two 
 attitudes which are simultaneously impossible. 
 A man may approach another, and then prostrate 
 himself; but while he is approaching, he cannot 
 be in an attitude of prostration. Such a feat 
 could only be performed by an individual who 
 had learnt to advance on his belly. 
 
 " The separation did not take place till after the language 
 had attained the ripeness of maturity. ''\ — Trench. English, 
 Past and Present. 
 
 As we improve in the " study of words," per- 
 haps some future Trench may be able to point 
 out the difference between *' ripeness" and 
 "maturity." According to our "English, Past 
 and Present," these words are as perfectly syno- 
 nymous as any two in the language. 
 
 " The whole physiological theory of Paracelsus consisted, for 
 the onost part, in the application of the Cahbala to the explain- 
 ing of the functions of the body." — Soaki;. Neiv Curiosities 
 of Literature. 
 
 We sometimes hear of a part being put for the 
 whole ; but here we have the ichole reduced to a 
 part. Of this confusion of loholes and parts the 
 following affords another notable instance : — 
 
 "Cervantes soon gave to the world the first part ofliis 
 G 2
 
 84 MODEUN ENGLISH LITERATUUE. 
 
 inimitable Don Quixote, and the success of tliis part quickly 
 led to the production of the ivlwle.'" — Mhs. Fostek. Hand- 
 hook of Enrojyean Litcrattire. ^ 
 
 To say that the j^art abeady published led to 
 the production of the ichole^ and not of the 
 remainder, as common sense would suggest, is 
 as much as to say that the ^;«r^ led to its oivn 
 production ! 
 
 " William Cobbett was a popular but inconsistent political 
 Avriter, Avho wrote vpon momentary impulse." — Hid. 
 
 A treatise by Cobbett, upon such a theme as 
 " momentary impulse," is a literary curiosity 
 which has not yet been given to the world. 
 
 " I presume that the sentence which the woman underwent 
 was not executed.'''' — Alfred Gatty, in Notes and Queries. 
 
 The blunder hei-e is occasioned by the writer 
 describing the sentence as having been undergone^ 
 when he meant to speak of it only diS> pronounced, 
 or atvarded ; for if the woman underwent the 
 sentence, it is clear that the sentence must have 
 been executed. 
 
 " Sweyn, king of Denmark, and Olauis, king of Norway, 
 invaded England, and s^jreading themselves in bodies over the 
 i^ingdoni, committed many and cruel depredations." — Merrv- 
 WEATHER. HihUomania. 
 
 The writer, of course, though he does not say a 
 word about it, saw with his mind's eye, the two 
 kings, accompanied hy their armies; but if this 
 could justify him in describing the kings alone,
 
 BLUNDERS. 86 
 
 as " spreading themselves in bodies over the 
 kingdom," then there never was an Irish bull 
 that might not be explained on the same cha- 
 ritable principle. 
 
 " The style is uncouth and hard ; but with (freat defects of 
 style, loliich should be the source of peipctual delight, no long 
 poem will be read." — Hallam. Literature of Europe. 
 
 Hallam intended the word "style," and that 
 alone, as the antecedent to " which ;" but if he 
 had taken the trouble to reconsider the phrase, 
 he would have perceived that, as it stands, 
 " great defects of style" is made the antecedent. 
 Upon these words the main stress is laid, so that 
 we are left to infer that the writer reckons 
 " great defects of style" among the sources of 
 " perpetual delight." 
 
 " Hence he considered marriage with a modern political 
 economist, as very dangerous." — D'Israelt. Curiosities. 
 
 The writer meant to say, that the person of 
 whom he speaks, agreed in opinion with a politi- 
 cal economist, that marriage is a very dangerous 
 thing ; but instead of that, he makes the danger 
 to consist in marrying the political economist. 
 
 Soane, in his "New Curiosities of Literature," 
 speaking of the shamrock, has the following 
 remark in a foot-note : — 
 
 " It is not a little singular tliat Spenser, who had such good 
 opportunities of knowing the truth, should have described the 
 shamrock as being synonymous with the water-cress ; when 
 speaking of the distress to which the Irish were reduced by tlie
 
 86 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 wars in Munster, he says : * If they found a plot of water- 
 cresses or sJiamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the 
 time.' " 
 
 Now, I take it that the singularity in this busi- 
 ness is all on the side of Soane himself, who will 
 have it that Spenser intended the particle " or " 
 to express synonymy, instead of what it conveys 
 in its disjunctive capacity. It is obvious that 
 Spenser speaks of hvo different things, just as 
 if he had said : " If they found a plot of turnips 
 or cmi'ots ;" by which no one would suppose him 
 to mean that turnips and carrots are the same 
 thing. 
 
 " It is well known tliat the ancients have stolen most of our 
 briglit thoughts." — Jeffkey, Essays. 
 
 What Jeffrey meant to say was, that the 
 ancients have anticipated, or forestalled, us in 
 most of our bright thoughts. How, indeed, could 
 they steal from us wliat they possessed long before 
 we were in existence ? It was in the same sense 
 that Donatus, some fifteen centuries ago, gave 
 utterance to the words : " Pereant illi qui, ante 
 nos, nostra dixerunt ! " with this difference, that 
 Donatus's imprecation is made in a tone of 
 badinage, and with the full consciousness of its 
 absurdity, as shown by the expression " ante nos 
 nostra;" whereas Jeffrey's remark is .made with 
 the simplicity and good faith of one who did not 
 know what he was saying.
 
 BLUNDERS. 87 
 
 Among the numerous conceits that disfigure 
 the poetry of what is called " the Lake School," 
 I may notice the following passage in AA^ords- 
 worth, where he carries his irreverence so far as 
 to describe as the *' daughter of God," the most 
 diabolical of Hell's progeny : — 
 
 " But thy most dread instrument 
 In working out a pure intent, 
 Is man array'd for mutual s^laugliter : 
 Tea, carnage is thy daughter.'''' 
 
 AAliat does the Peace Congress say to this ? Is 
 it aware that its crusade against war and its hor- 
 rors is, in efi"ect, a crusade against the children of 
 God ? Of course, the poet's disciples are prepared 
 to explain in what sense their great master wished 
 this expression to be understood : but they may 
 spare themselves the trouble. There is no sense, 
 consistent with religion or even common decency, 
 in which carnage can be sai'd to be the daughter 
 of God. If such poetico-philosophical incongrui- 
 ties were encouraged, the next children of God, 
 of whom we should have an account, would be 
 " murder," " rape," and " incest." On such a 
 principle, there is no piece of blasphemy, however 
 monstrous, that might not admit of explanation 
 and excuse. 
 
 Sir A. Alison commences his " Essay on the 
 Fall of Home " with the following blunder : — 
 
 " The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire is by far the 
 most remarkable event which has occurred in the whole history
 
 88 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 of mankind. It is hard to say whether the former or the latter 
 is most worthy of profound study." 
 
 In the first sentence the writer describes the 
 *' Hise and Pall" as one event; while in the 
 second, by using the Avords " former " and 
 " latter," he distinctly represents that oue event 
 as two. 
 
 In the next page of the same Essay we have 
 another sample : — 
 
 " But a little considei'ation must be sufficient to show that 
 these invasions could, without much difficulty, have been with- 
 stood, if the Empire had possessed the strength which it did in 
 the days of the MepuhVuiue.^'' 
 
 How could the Umpire possess strength in the 
 days of the Repuhliquey when it had no existence 
 in those days ? Sir Archibald meant to say : 
 " If the Empire had possessed the strength of 
 the Rep)ubUfp(c,'^ or " which the llepublic pos- 
 sessed." Or he might have avoided this confu- 
 sion by using "people" or "country" instead 
 of " empire." 
 
 Here are some further examples from the same 
 writer : — 
 
 " The vast agency of general causes upon the progress of 
 mankind now became apparent. Unseen powers, like the 
 deities of Homer, in the war of Troy, were seen to mingle 
 at every step with the tide of sublunary affairs." — Essay on 
 Guizot. 
 
 The writer wished to say that the effects of the 
 mingling were seea or felt ; instead of w hich he
 
 BLUNDERS. 89 
 
 tells us that the powers themselves were, at the 
 same time, unseen and seen. 
 
 " Mackintosh's philosopliic mind threw a himinous radiance 
 over that intricate subject, the criminal code." — History of 
 Europe from Fall of Najjoleon. 
 
 Heretofore we have been in the habit of 
 ascribing to "radiance," or light of any kind, 
 the property of clearing up what is obscure ; but 
 it was reserved for Sir Archibald Alison to reveal 
 to the world a luminous radiance, a double- 
 distilled species of light, which has the wonderful 
 eflPect of unravelling what is intricate. 
 
 " Nor was the actual eiEciency of this immense array inferior 
 to its imaginative terrors." — History of Europe. 
 
 The writer is describing the terrors which, on 
 the eve of the Peninsular Avar, the army of Napo- 
 leon, 600,000 strong, was calculated to strike 
 into the public mind ; and wishing to say that 
 such terrors had not produced an exaggerated 
 notion of the actual efficiency of that army, he 
 expresses his meaning in the sentence above 
 quoted ; from which he leaves us to infer that the 
 terrors he speaks of \\Qvefelt by the army, instead 
 of being caused by it ; in other words, that this 
 great army of 000,000 men was no less efficient 
 than it was terrified. 
 
 " The soil and climate of Scotland, even where it is sus- 
 ceptible of cultivation, is incomparably less favoured by nature 
 than that o^ t\xe southern parts of the island." — Ibid.
 
 90 MODEEN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 This sentence contains a twofold blunder ; first, 
 we are told that a climate is susceptible of culti- 
 vation ; and secondly, that soil and climate are 
 the same thing, both being represented by the 
 singular it. 
 
 " This immense empire [Eussia], inhabited by a patient and 
 indomitable race, ever ready to exchange the luxury and adven- 
 ture of the south for the hardships and monotony of the 
 north."— Ji/f?. 
 
 Here the writer says the contrary of what he 
 means. What the Russians are ready to exchange 
 — to give in exchange — are the hardships and 
 monotony of the north for the luxury and adven- 
 ture of the south. The meaning would have 
 been clear, if the writer had said " to receive in 
 exchange." 
 
 " He will have no difficulty in appreciating 130111 the magni- 
 tude of the embarrassment, which this resistance imposed on 
 the sovereign, and of the guilt of those who occasioned it." — 
 lUd. 
 
 Here the word "both" is applied to "mag- 
 nitude " alone. The conjunction " and," which 
 follows, does not couple anything with " magni- 
 tude :" it couples " embarassment" and " guilt ;" 
 and to these, no doubt, the writer intended 
 "both" to apply; but, in that case, he should 
 have placed that word after " magnitude," and 
 not before it. 
 
 We have seen Alison apply the word " both " 
 to one thing. In the following sentence he says
 
 BLUNDERS. 91 
 
 of one coutrast that it is moj^e than oiie 
 contrast. 
 
 " One of the many contrasts which strike a stranger most 
 in tliat extraordinary country, is the strange contra.sls which 
 exist between the nobility and the great body of the people." — 
 History of Europe from Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 In our next quotation there is a strange con- 
 fusion of ideas. The writer is descanting on 
 Thiers' s practical acquaintance with statesman- 
 ship, and by way of contrast he has this remark 
 in reference to Lacretelle, the historian : — 
 
 " Inferior in genius to Thiers, and unacquainted^ like Mm, 
 with the practical duties of a statesman, M. Lacretelle has 
 still considerable merits." — Ihid. 
 
 In this sentence the writer, by using unac- 
 quainted instead of not acquainted, says the 
 contrary of what he means. Considered by 
 themselves, these locutions express the same 
 thing ; but followed, as in the example before us, 
 by the word " like," they convey different mean- 
 ings. " Unacquainted, like Thiers," means that 
 Thiers is also " unacquainted ; " " not acquainted, 
 like Thiers," means that Thiers is acquainted. 
 
 The same writer, speaking of the peasants who 
 flocked into Saragossa at the approach of the 
 French to invest it, has this sentence : — 
 
 " But they brouglit witli them, as intD Athens when 
 besieged by the Lacedemonians, the seeds of a contagious 
 malady." — History of Europe.
 
 92 MODERN ENGLISH LITEHATURE. 
 
 And so, Sir Archibald, you would hare us 
 believe that the peasantry of Aragon were at 
 Athens, when it was besieged by the Lacede- 
 monians ; and that they brought a contagious 
 malady w^ith them into that city ! 
 
 " The feeble parapet of the wall was soon levelled by the 
 IVench cannon ; and the heroic Spanish gunners had no de- 
 fence but hags of earth, which the citizens replaced as fast as 
 they were shattered by the enemy's s\\ot, joined to their own 
 unconquerable courage." — IhUl. 
 
 Any one can understand how the gunners were 
 reduced to use bags of earth as a means of 
 defence; but how those hags of earth were joined 
 to the courage of the gunners, is a problem which 
 Sir A. Alison alone is capable of solving. 
 
 " The increase of these animals is the most extraordinary 
 instance of multiplication which is recorded in the annals af 
 manlcind.'''' — Hid. 
 
 Here the writer is speaking of the horned 
 cattle of South America ; and when he tells us 
 it is in the annals of our oicn species that w'e are 
 to look for instances of the multiplication of such 
 animals, it is hard to say whether he wishes to 
 degrade man to the level of the brute, or exalt 
 the brute to the dignity of man. But perhaps, 
 after all, he meant nothing more than to illus- 
 trate the multiplication of honied cattle, by pre- 
 senting us with a sample of his own production, 
 in the shape of a bidl.
 
 BLUNDERS. 93 
 
 " The noble harbour of the Golden IToru, five miles in length, 
 crowded "svitli all they/fl'ys of Europe lijing in its bosom." — 
 Ibid. 
 
 In this plirase the writer, by an allowable 
 figure of speech, puts a part for the whole, the 
 "flags" for the " ships." But in doing so he 
 should not have coupled with the "flags" the 
 epithet " lying," which is ajiplicable only to the 
 " ships." 
 
 " If we would see what the aborigines of this country origin- 
 ally were ; what, but for foreign intermixture, they icould still 
 have been, we have only to look to the inhabitants of the 
 South and West of Ireland, or of the highlands and islands of 
 Scotland."— 7 J^W. 
 
 Then, but for the foreign intermixture, the 
 aborio-ines of Eno-land Avould have lived till the 
 present time ! The writer, of course, intended 
 to speak of the descendants of those aborigines ; 
 but he takes good care not to say a word about 
 them. 
 
 " The Koman Catholic is the transition faith from heathenism 
 to Christianity, retaining enough of forms to attract tlie illite- 
 rate multitude, embracing as much of reality as may sway 
 more enlightened minds and produce innumerable blessings." — 
 Ibid. 
 
 The sense of this (if indeed it has any sense 
 at all) is that the Roman Catholic religion is a 
 stepping-stone from heathenism to Christianity ; 
 that it holds an intermediate position between 
 them, partaking of the character of both, but
 
 94 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 being neither the one nor the other. Homan 
 Catholicism, then, according to this writer, is 
 not Christianity ! Can the power of blundering 
 go farther than this ? 
 
 " Two great sins — one of omission and one of commission — 
 have been committed by the states of Europe in modern times." 
 — Alison. History of Europe from Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 Whatever may be said as to "committing a 
 sin of commission" (as Sir Archibald will have 
 it in his elegant phraseology), to commit a sin 
 of omission is the height of absurdity. No doubt 
 the writer intended to describe the states of 
 Europe as guilty of a sin of omission, or charge- 
 able with a sin of omission ; instead of which he 
 represents them in the preposterous situation of 
 doing and not doing at the same time. 
 
 " The true mark of the highest cLass of genius is not uni- 
 versality of fame, but xmiversal admiration by the few wlio can 
 really appreciate its highest works." — Ihid. 
 
 "VYho but a universal blunderer would ever 
 think of applying the epithet universal to the 
 admiration which is limited to ^feio ? 
 
 " External events of no liglit weight soon, however, occurred, 
 which convinced the heroic princess that her attempt, for the 
 present at least, had permanenihj failed of all chance of success." 
 —Ihid. 
 
 There would be some sense in this, if " per- 
 manently" had been omitted, or "completely"
 
 BLUNDEHS. 95 
 
 been written in its place. The possibility of 
 future success, implied in the words '' for the 
 present at least ^^ is totally inconsistent with a 
 'permanent failure. 
 
 " To tlie honor of Government it must be added that no 
 capital sentence was pronounced, and that one of the most 
 serious insurrections recorded in French annals was suppressed 
 without the shedding of human llood^ — Ihid. 
 
 The historian is speaking of the insurrection 
 of the 5th June, 1832, on the occasion of the 
 funeral of General Lamarque ; and he describes, 
 among other hloochj conflicts, the desperate one 
 which took place in the cloister of St. Meri, of 
 which he says, " This bloody triumph closed the 
 contest and extingidshed the revolt." He then 
 proceeds to enumerate the killed and wounded 
 on both sides, and complacently winds up by 
 saying that "the insurrection was suppressed 
 ivitliout the shedding of human blood. ^^ Well ! 
 will the reader believe that what Sir Archilmld 
 means by all this is not, that no human blood 
 was shed in suppressing the insurrection, but 
 that no human blood was shed after it was 
 suppressed ? In short, he wishes to say that 
 none of the surviving insurgents were sentenced 
 to death or executed. 
 
 " This is the usual fate of the leaders in such organic 
 changes. They are continually advancinr/ before a devouring 
 fire flaming close in their rear. If they advance before it, they
 
 96 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE . 
 
 for a time save themselves, but they destroy their country ; 
 if iliey halt, they destroy themselves, but they may save their 
 country." — Ihid. 
 
 If the leaders are continually advancing, liow 
 can they do otherwise than advance? how can 
 they halt ? We are aware that the writer puts 
 the matter hypothetically ; but in truth he 
 leaves himself no room for any hypothesis. Had 
 he wdshed to do so, instead of representing the 
 leaders as continually advancing before a devour- 
 ing fire, he should have described them as simply 
 heset by a devouring fire. Then the supposition, 
 " if they advance," might have folloAved with 
 propriety. 
 
 Sir A. Alison is not satisfied wdth making 
 blunders for himself, he sometimes contrives to 
 put them in the mouths of others ; as witness the 
 following instances : — 
 
 The historian is describing the inauguration of 
 the cathedral of Cologne on the 15th October, 
 1841, and he quotes a speech made on the occa- 
 sion by the king of Prussia, w^iicli concludes 
 with these remarks : — 
 
 " May the shameful attempts to relax the bonds of concord 
 which unite the German princes and people, and trouble the 
 peace of persuasions, be shattered against them ; and may tliat 
 spirit which has interrupted the completion of this sacred 
 edifice, the temple of our country, never reappear among us ! 
 That spirit is the same as the one which, nine and twenty 
 years ago, burst asunder our chains, and avenged the insults
 
 BLUNBEKS. 07 
 
 our country liad received under tlie yoke of the stranger. "--- 
 Hid. 
 
 In the first sentence Alison makes the king 
 of Prussia deprecate the spirit of discord which 
 had prevailed for some time among his subjects, 
 especially on matters of religion, and which had 
 prevented the completion of the cathedral of 
 Cologne. So far all is right. But in the next 
 sentence he makes the kino; affirm that the 
 spirit of discord which produced those untoward 
 consequences, is the same as the spirit of con- 
 cord which, nine-and-twenty years before, had 
 been so successfully exerted for the liberation of 
 Germany. 
 
 Speaking of the debates in the French Cham- 
 bers in 1836, on the advantages of retaining the 
 settlement of Algeria, Alison introduces Louis 
 Philippe as giving utterance to the following 
 bull:— 
 
 " I love to listen to the cannon in Algeria ; it is not lieard 
 in Europe." — Ihid. 
 
 If the cannon is not lieard in Europe, how can 
 a man residing in Europe love to tisten to it ? 
 True, one may listen without hearing; but no 
 one in his senses would take pleasure in listening 
 to a thini]^ Avhich he knows he can never liear. 
 It is probable, however, that the words spoken 
 by Louis Philippe do not make him out such a fool 
 as he appears in Alison's translation of them. 
 
 H
 
 98 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 There is a species of blunder which consists in 
 the employment of one noun for another, of one 
 verb for another, and so forth. This happens 
 chiefly in three circumstances : — 1st, when there 
 is some seeming analogy between the words, so 
 as to induce the writer to mistake one of them 
 for the other ; 2ndly, when the analogy is real, 
 but not sufficient to establish a complete syno- 
 nymy between the words ; and 3rdly, when there 
 is confusion in the writer's mind, or ignorance of 
 the proper signification of the terms he employs. 
 I could fill a volume with examples of this fault 
 from our essayists and historians ; but the reader 
 must be satisfied with a few of the most striking 
 instances. 
 
 Deteriorate — Derogate — Detract. 
 
 The literal meaning of "deteriorate" is "to 
 make worse," "to grow worse;" and yet, how 
 often do we find it used in the sense of "to take 
 from." The AthencBum^ one of the foremost lite- 
 rary journals in Britain, in a review of Halli- 
 well's " Popular Pthymes and Tales," has this 
 sentence : — 
 
 " A number of curious memoranda, put together in a 
 careless, slip-slop manner, that greatly deteriorates from their 
 value."— No. 1127. 
 
 Here " deteriorates " is incorrectly put for 
 " derogates," or rather " detracts." Another 
 example occurs in Sir B. Lytton : —
 
 BLUNDERS. 99 
 
 " Tlic immense superficies of the public operates two wa_vs 
 in deirri oral in f/ i\om the profundity of writers." — Englcmd and 
 the English. 
 
 And Parry Gwynne, in the very first sentence 
 of his " AYord to the Wise," has a third in- 
 stance : — 
 
 " Ay, and where much lias been achieved, too, and intellec- 
 tual laurels have been gathered, is it not a reproach that a 
 slatternly mode of expression should sometimes deteriorate 
 from the eloquence of the scholar? " 
 
 Ay, say we, and where one writer is inveighing 
 against slip-slop, and another against slatternly 
 expressions, is it not amusing to find them m.aking 
 use of language which savours of hoth ? 
 
 A correct instance of the use of deteriorate is 
 the following from Chenevix : — 
 
 " There is not one of them, the loss of which would not now 
 essentially deteriorate the geuei'al condition of mankind." — 
 Essay on National Character. 
 
 3Iechanism — Ilachinery. 
 
 " It is not so unwieldy as to make it necessary to have 
 recourse to the complex mechanism of double elections." — 
 Sydney Smith. Essays. 
 
 In this sentence " mechanism " is misemployed 
 for '* machinery." 
 
 Application — App)licabiUty . 
 
 " For my own part, I doubt the application of the Danish 
 rule to the English language." — Latham. English Lanyuaye. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Here we have " applieation " incorrectly put 
 for " apjilicability." What Dr. Latham doubts is 
 that the Danish rule is " applicable," not that it 
 has been actually applied, as his words "\;\'Ould 
 leave us to suppose. 
 
 Participate — Concur. 
 
 " We cannot read a page of Virgil without perceiving wliat 
 lias fascinated the world, without concurring in the fascina- 
 tion." — Alison. History of Europe. 
 
 To concur in the fascination would be to co- 
 operate with Virgil in producing it. It is not to 
 be supposed, however, that the writer would carry 
 his pretensions beyond a simple participatio7i in 
 the thing produced. In this instance, Sir Archi- 
 bald employs " concur " instead of " participate :" 
 in the following he puts " participate" instead of 
 *' concur." 
 
 " The act of accusation abounded in the most severe and 
 cutting invectives against the imperial government, in the 
 justice of which posterity, from the evidence of facts, must 
 
 almost eniivtAj ijarticlpate.'''' — Ihid. 
 
 Overspread — Tervade. 
 
 " The warlike establishments which pervaded the country 
 were admirably calculated to foster the growing enthusiasm." 
 — Alison. Ihid. 
 
 " This arises from the number of nomad tribes, who, in 
 almost all Asiatic states, ^i^rt'^fl'^ every part of its territory." — 
 lUd. 
 
 Who ever heard of " establishments " or
 
 BLUNDERS. 101 
 
 *' tribes " pervading a country ? Docs the writer 
 incau to say that the cstablisliments and the 
 tribes were underground ? 
 
 Curiously enough, the writer who thus eni- 
 " ploys pervade " iiistead of " overspread," has, 
 in another place, " overspread " instead of 
 "pervade :" — 
 
 " It is hardly credible to what an extent this passion for 
 everything English overspread all classes in the uatiou." — 
 Ibid. 
 
 Bind uj) — Wind tip. 
 
 " Frederick AVilliam was well aware that his political exist- 
 ence was thenceforth wound up with the success of Russia in 
 the German war." — Alison. Ibid. 
 
 In this sentence "woundup" is improperly 
 put for " bound up." To " wind up " a thing is 
 to bring it to a close or termination, as when we 
 wdnd up the affairs of a partnership, or an estate. 
 To " bind up " means to unite, to blend. In the 
 phrase above quoted, the writer wished to say that 
 Prederick William's political existence was " inse- 
 parably blended " — "interwoven," with the suc- 
 cess of Russia ; and he should therefore have said 
 " bound up." By using the expression " wound 
 up," he tells us that Prederick William's poli- 
 tical existence was put an end to by the success 
 of Russia ; w liich is the contrary of what he 
 intended. 
 
 That this is no accidental error in Alison, but
 
 102 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 a confirmed blunder, tlie following further in- 
 stances will sliow : — 
 
 " It is evident, on a dispassionate review of the great debate, 
 and the mighty interests which were tvound tip with it, that 
 the repeal of the Orders in Council was a necessary measure." 
 —Ibid. 
 
 " Their interests were wound np with the maintenance of 
 pacific relations with this country." — Ibid. 
 
 " When the important questions, now tvound up with the 
 policy of the East, are considered." — Ibid. 
 
 " Mahmoud, the last of the race of Othmau, with which the 
 existence of the empire was thought to be loound up, became 
 tlie subject of veneration." — Ihid. 
 
 " General causes are there too much loound up with personal 
 agency." — Ibid. 
 
 " Wound up in his own elevation, yet ever identifying it with 
 the glory of France." — Ibid. 
 
 " When great interests are ivound tip with the maintenance 
 of a particular position, it must be maintained at all hazards." 
 —Ibid. 
 
 " Bernadotte's interests were evidently iconnd up with the 
 maintenance of the Russian power in the north of Europe." 
 —Ibid. 
 
 " A true German in his heart, his whole soul was tvound up 
 in the welfare of the Fatherland." — Ibid. 
 
 " Though the passioiis of the people were in favour of 
 France, their interests were indissolubly tvound up with those 
 of England."— /&«?. 
 
 Numerous instances of this absurdity will also 
 be found in Alison's " Essays," and in his "His- 
 tory of Europe from the Eall of Napoleon." 
 
 Observation — Observance. 
 
 " There were but two lines to be taken, eitlier to relax and
 
 BLUNDEllS. 103 
 
 modify the regulations which gave offence, or to enforce a more 
 punctual observation of them." — Hallam. Constitutional 
 Ilisfori/ of England. 
 
 Esteem — Deem. 
 
 Of the erroneous employment of "esteem" 
 instead of "deem," — "consider," — "regard," — 
 numerous instances are to be found in some of 
 our ablest writers. Examples : — 
 
 " The latter pronunciation, though a gross deviation from 
 orthography, will still be esteemed the more elegant." — 
 Walkeb. Preface to Dictionary. 
 
 " The question would hardly have been esteemed dubious, 
 if the bishops had been at all times sufficiently studious to 
 maintain a character of political independence." — Hallam. 
 Constitutional History of England. 
 
 The following are from Sir Walter Scott, in 
 whose writings this inaccuracy is of frequent 
 occurrence : — 
 
 " The nobles and clergy might esteem themselves fortunate, if 
 they could maintain an effectual defence." — Life of Napoleon. 
 
 " The apprehension neither altered his firmness upon points 
 to which he esteemed his conscience was party, nor changed the 
 general quiet placidity of his temper." — Ibid. 
 
 " Through most parts of Prance the king was esteemed the 
 enemy whom the people had most to dread." — Ihid. 
 
 " Such being the case, he would esteem himself but little 
 indebted to any one who should blot the harbour of refuge 
 out of the chart." — Tbid. 
 
 " The true Sans- Culottes were disposed to esteem a taste, 
 which could not generally exist without a previous superior 
 education, as something aristocratic." — Ibid.
 
 101 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " Buonaparte took for granted his good-will towards bis 
 brother-in-law, tbe Emperor of Austria, and esteemed it a crime 
 deserving atonement." — Ibid. 
 
 " "We have elsewhere said that Buonaparte at this time was 
 esteemed SL steady republican." — Ibid. 
 
 " The hopes of a complete and final victory over their natural 
 rival and enemy, as the two nations are but over apt to esteem 
 each other, presented a flattering prospect." — Ibid. 
 
 " Buonaparte esteemed himself strong enough to obtain a 
 decisive victory without resorting to any such obnoxious 
 violence." — Ibid. 
 
 It is surprising to what an extent certain 
 phrases, to the exclusion of more accurate modes 
 of speech, take possession of some writers, and 
 drop, as it were, mechanically/ from them. Sir 
 Walter's use of "esteem" is an instance; and 
 such is his partiality for that word, that he 
 generally discards, or seems to ignore, the verhs 
 "deem," "consider," "regard," "hold," "look 
 upon." Such locutions as "to esteem one's-self 
 happif^ are merely nonsensical; but "to esteem 
 a thing a crime^^ — " to esteem a man an enemy j*^ 
 — border on the ludicrous. 
 
 Lay — Lie. 
 
 A flagrant example of this species of blunder 
 is the use of lay instead of lie. " Lie " makes 
 " lay " in the imperfect tense, and this, to a 
 certain extent, may account for the error. It is 
 customary to say " the ship lays at anchox',"
 
 BLUNDERS. 105 
 
 instead of ^^ lies at anchor;" but the only case 
 in which lay can be correctly used in this sense, 
 is when we say " the ship lay at anchor," — " lay 
 off and on." In these phrases, however, the 
 word lay is no part of the verb lay : it is the 
 imperfect tense of the verb lie. Lay is an active 
 verb ; it makes laid in the imperfect tense ; and 
 " lays " or *' laying " cannot be said of a ship or 
 anything else, unless when followed by the ob- 
 jective case — by something that is laid. Eor 
 instance, we say that a hen lays an egg ; that a 
 mason lays a stone upon the mortar. In the 
 same way, if the word be applied to a ship, we 
 must add what the ship lays, or is laying, as 
 "the ship lays her anchor in the sand;" she is 
 " laying her cargo on the wharf." 
 
 This confounding of lay and lie, more worthy 
 of the days of barbarism and Babel-building, 
 than of the nineteenth century, originated, no 
 doubt, with that uncompromising specimen of 
 humanity, the British tar. His own irregular 
 movements, and those of his skipper, leave him 
 but little leisure to attend to the movements of 
 the irregular verbs. He finds that lay (the im- 
 perfect tense of the neuter verb lie) is applied to 
 a ship in one instance, and, with characteristic 
 straightforwardness, he makes his verb, "lay," 
 "lays," "laying." Erom constant repetition the 
 expression has become familiar to his superiors 
 in the service, and it is now used by our naval
 
 106 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 clironiclcrs, annalists, and historians, as a neuter 
 verb, instead of "lie," "lies," "lying." 
 
 Of all others. 
 
 Add to these the anomaly involved in the ex- 
 pression " of all others," which is becoming very 
 common in our day, but which, like most of the 
 blunders that I have had to notice, arises from 
 the circumstance that the writer is thinking of 
 one mode of expression, while he is committing 
 another to paper. Here is an example from 
 Southey : — 
 
 " Tlie place to which she was going was the very spot wliich, 
 of all others in this wide woi'ld, she had wished most to see." 
 —The Doctor. 
 
 This expression is objectionable not only be- 
 cause it may be omitted altogether, without 
 impairing the meaning, but also because it in- 
 volves a contradiction. How, in the name of 
 common sense, can one thing be another thing ? 
 One thing may be ahove^ beyond other things, or 
 more than other things ; but it cannot be of other 
 things. How, for instance, can the spot which 
 Southey' s woman wished to see, be one of other 
 spots ? What Southey had in his mind was, that 
 the person wished to see the spot in question 
 tno^^e than all other spots. But instead of using 
 other to express " difPerence," " exclusion," as it 
 commonly does, he employs it to express " iden-
 
 BLUNDEHS. 107 
 
 tity." To make the sentence correct, the words, 
 "of all others," should have been omitted, or 
 the word for which "others" stands, should 
 have been used in its stead, thus : — 
 
 "The place to whicli she was going was the 
 very spot which, of all spots in this wide world, 
 she had wished most to see." 
 
 Here are some further examples : — 
 
 " The study of nature in lier animal and vegetable kingdoms, 
 although of all others the most obvious and simple, seems to be 
 one of the last which attracted the attention of mankind." — 
 EoscoE. Life of Leo X. 
 
 " A stain of all otliers the most readily made and the most 
 difficult to expunge." — Lhid. 
 
 " They were of a country which, of all otliers in Europe, 
 has been most familiar with war." — Sie Waltee Scott. 
 Life of Napoleon. 
 
 " But half his heart was in his profession, which, of all 
 others, would require the whole." — Gileillan. Literary 
 Portraits. 
 
 " Astronomy, ' that star-eyed science,' which, of all others, 
 most denotes the grandeur of our destiny."— Ji^V?. 
 
 The writer most addicted to this fault is Sir 
 A. Alison, from whom I shall have occasion to 
 quote several examples of it in the chapter on 
 " Mannerism." 
 
 Among the many curious things that have 
 been given to the world by the author of " Cu- 
 riosities of Literature," those of his own uncon- 
 scious making are not the least amusing. Of 
 these I have already cited a few samples ; and
 
 108 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 I sliall now adduce some further instances, wliicli 
 would make no inconsiderable addition to his 
 chapter on " Literary Blunders." 
 
 " When relics of Saints werejirst introduced, the relic-mania 
 tvas universal." — Curiosities of Literature. 
 
 That the relic-mania became universal " soon 
 after" it was first introduced, is what the writer 
 meant to say ; not that its first introduction and 
 its universal adoption were simultaneous, as he 
 actually says. 
 
 " When a modern bishop was just advanced to a mitre." — 
 Ibid. 
 
 As it is the mitre that makes the bishop, so it 
 is the priest, and not the bishop, that is advanced 
 to the mitre. 
 
 " I have seen an English ass once introduced on our stage, 
 which did not act with this decorum. Our late actors have 
 frequently been leasts — a Dutch taste." — Ibid. 
 
 Erom one part of this quotation the reader is 
 led to believe that our late actors made beasts of 
 themselves ; but the inference from the context 
 is that beasts were brought on the stage as 
 actors. 
 
 " llis successors now only made use of the ' sentences ' as a 
 row of pegs io hang on i\\o\.v fine-spun metaphysical questions." 
 —Ibid. 
 
 Ilcre is another of those phrases, so common 
 in this writer, in wliicli he says the contrary
 
 BLUNDERS. 109 
 
 of what lie means. He means to say tliat the 
 questions were to he hung on tlie " sentences " 
 as on pegs ; hut he actually says that the pegs 
 were to he hung on the questions. It should 
 have heen " on which to hang," instead of " to 
 hang on." 
 
 " On this Abishai vaults on David's horse, and (with an 
 Oriental metaphor) the land of the Philistines leaped to him 
 instantly." — Ibid. 
 
 "What description of metaphor that may be 
 which could leap with the land of the Philistines, 
 is only known to D'Israeli and the Orientals. It 
 has not yet found a place in the European Re- 
 public of Letters. The writer probably meant to 
 say " (to use an Oriental metaphor)." 
 
 In commenting on Bentley's readings of Mil- 
 ton, D'Israeli remarks : — 
 
 " Bentley's canons of criticism are apochryphal." — Ibid. 
 
 It is obvious that D'Israeli does not understand 
 the meaning of " apochryphal." The canons to 
 be apochryphal must have been propounded by 
 another, and appropriated by Bentley. It is his 
 readings of Milton that are apochryphal and not 
 his canons. The canons, whether sound or un- 
 sound, are really and truly Bentley's canons ; 
 but the readings he proposes are not the true 
 readings of Milton. 
 
 Speaking of the Latin verses, sentences and 
 texts of Scripture, written by Prynne on lus
 
 110 MODERN ENGLISn LITERATURE. 
 
 chamber walls, during his imprisonment in the 
 Tower of London, D'Israeli says : — 
 
 " Prynue literally verified Pope's description : — 
 
 " Is there who, lock'd from ink and paper, scrawls 
 With desperate charcoal round his darken'd walls ? " 
 
 The word "verified" is here meant for "anti- 
 cipated." A verification of a thing must come 
 after the thing itself. How could Prynne's 
 scrawling on his prison walls, in 1632, verify 
 a description that was not written by Pope till a 
 hundred years after ? 
 
 " There are three foul corrupters of a language : caprice, 
 affectation, and ignorance. Such fashionable cant terms as 
 ' Theatricals ' and ' Musicals,' invented by the flippant 
 Topham, still survive among his confraternity of frivolity." — 
 Hid. 
 
 In the next article D'Israeli, forgetting that he 
 had described the word "theatricals" as a cant 
 term, uses it in the following sentence : — 
 
 " These proverbs are dramas of a single act, invented by 
 Carmontel, but who designed them only for private theatri- 
 calsy — Ihid. 
 
 " The poems of Chatterton and Ossian are veiled i]i mys- 
 tery."— JZ^/o^. 
 
 The blunder here consists in the coupling of 
 the names. The writer should have said : — " The 
 poems of Rowley and Ossian," or " of Chatterton 
 and Macpherson." 
 
 " It is curious to observe the various siilstilutcs for paper 
 hefore its discovery." — Ihid.
 
 BLUNDERS. Ill 
 
 This sentence requires no comment. It yields 
 not in absurdity to any " Bull," Irish, English, 
 or Scotch, that I have ever met with. 
 
 " The ancestors of tlie human race knew poverty in a partial 
 degree." — Ihid. 
 
 The human race began with Adam and Eve, 
 and includes all their descendants. Who, then, 
 were their ancestors? D'Israeli, of course, meant 
 to speak of the primitive races of man, the early 
 inhabitants of the earth ; and he might have 
 described them as "o?/r ancestors," the "ancestors 
 of the living generation ; " but to say that they 
 were the ancestors of the human race is to say 
 that they were their own ancestors. This blun- 
 der is not, however, without a parallel. What 
 D'Israeli says of the primitive members of the 
 human family, Milton asserts, in a contrary sense, 
 of Adam and Eve, with this difference, that 
 D'Israeli's language implies an unconscious mis- 
 take, while that of Milton is a poetical license, 
 designed to express one of the most beautiful 
 imao;es in the lan2:ua<?e : — 
 
 " So hand in hand they pass'd, the loveliest pair, 
 That ever since in love's embraces met ; 
 Adam, the goodliest man of men since born, 
 His sons ; the fairest of her daughters Eve," 
 
 If we turn from D'Israeli's English blunders 
 to his Erench "bevues," we shall find that ho 
 possessed but a very superficial knowledge of a
 
 112 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 language, from the literary stores of which he 
 has extracted by far the greater proportion of 
 his " Curiosities " and " Anecdotes." In the 
 article headed "Mysteries, Moralities," he quotes 
 from the 3Iystery of St. Denis, and concludes 
 with the following quatrain on the subject of 
 baptism : — 
 
 " Sire, oyez que fait ce fol pretre ; 
 II prend de I'yaue en una escuele, 
 Et gete aux gens sur la cervele, 
 Et dit que partant sont sauves." 
 
 Which he translates thus : — 
 
 " Sir, hear what this mad priest does ; 
 He takes water out of a ladle. 
 And throwing it at people's heads, 
 He says that, when they depart, i\\ej are saved." 
 
 The word "partant" in the original is an 
 adverb, and means "thereupon," "forthwith." 
 This D'Israeli has mistaken for " partant," the 
 participle of " partir," and the nonsense of his 
 translation would only prove that the priest was 
 mad indeed. 
 
 Erom another of these religious farces, called 
 Sotties, D'Israeli cites this couplet : — ■ 
 
 " Tuer les gens pour leurs plaisirs, 
 Jouer le leur, I'autrui saisir." 
 
 Of which he gives the following translation : — 
 
 " Killing people for tlieir pleasures ; 
 Minding their own interests, and seizing on what belongs 
 to another."
 
 BLUNDEllS. 118 
 
 Here we have "jouer Ic leur," to gamble, 
 rendered by " to mind their own interests;" a 
 rather equivocal method, it must be confessed, of 
 accomplishing that object. 
 
 In another place, under the head of " Inqui- 
 sition," we meet with the following passage : — 
 
 " Once all were Turks when they were not Eomanists. Eay- 
 mond, count of Toulouse, was constrained to submit. The 
 inhabitants loere passed on the edge of the sword, without dis- 
 tinction of age or sex." — Ihid. 
 
 D' Israeli must have translated this from some 
 Prench writer ; but being unacquainted with the 
 idiomatic, though common, expression, — " passer 
 un fil de I'epee," which means "to put to the 
 sword," he gives us the words in their literal 
 sense, which in English is no sense at all. 
 
 Earther on, speaking of the feudal custom of 
 the Erench barons, known as the " droit de 
 suzerainete," in virtue of which they were per- 
 mitted to cohabit with the new bride, during 
 the first three nights after marriage, D' Israeli 
 remarks : — 
 
 " Montesquieu is infinitely French when he could turn this 
 shameful species of tyranny into a ion-mot; for he boldly 
 observes on this : — ' C'etait bien ces trois nuits-la qu'il fallait 
 choisir; car pour les autres on n'aurait pas donne beaucoup 
 d'argent.' The legislator in the wit forgot the feelings of his 
 heart." 
 
 It is inconceivable by what mental process 
 D' Israeli could have tortured Montesquieu's 
 
 I
 
 114 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 words into a hon-mot. Not only is there nothing 
 of the kind in what he quotes, but there is not 
 even an attempt at it. Montesquieu merely 
 suggests a reason for the preference given to the 
 first three nights ; and in doing so he expresses 
 the sentiments of the barons, and not his own. 
 And yet, it is upon grounds like these that 
 D'Israeli lays at the door of that illustrious man 
 the silly imputation of being " infinitely Erench," 
 and the grave and offensive charge of forgetting, 
 for the sake of a hon-mot^ the feelings of his 
 heart ! 
 
 These are among the very few instances in 
 which D'Israeli, by quoting the original autho- 
 rities, enables us to test the correctness of his 
 translations; and if he be found inaccurate in 
 these instances, what are we to think of his ac- 
 curacy in the greater proportion of the Curiosities^ 
 where the original sources of information are kept 
 out of view? But his blunders are not confined 
 to his English or to his Erench. The materials 
 with which he has manufactured some of his 
 "Curiosities," are of the most fallacious character. 
 I shall quote one instance which will abundantly 
 bear me out in this assertion. 
 
 It is an article of the Roman Catholic faith, 
 that the Church, as represented by the majority 
 of its bishops in council, is infallible. Upon 
 this point all sections of Catholics are agreed, it 
 being as firmly adhered to by the Jansenists as
 
 BLUNDERS. 115 
 
 by tlie Jesuits, by the Ultramontanes as by their 
 opponents. You cease to be a Homan Catholic 
 the moment you cease to believe in this infalli- 
 bility. But there is another species of infallibility 
 with which, it is alleged, the Pope is endowed, 
 and which has occasioned much controversy 
 among the members of that persuasion. Some 
 are of opinion that the Pope is infallible as a 
 private teacher or expounder of the Christian 
 doctrine; others, that his infallibility attaches 
 only to such teachings as are delivered, so to 
 speak, ex cathedrd ; and others, again, that he 
 is not infallible, in any character or capacity 
 whatsoever. The whole question, as regards the 
 I*ope, is matter of opinion. This opinion was 
 rejected by the Church of Prance, under the 
 guidance of the illustrious Bossuet, in 1688, 
 and by the clergy of Ireland in 1825. It is an 
 opinion which you may adopt or reject, without 
 ceasing to be a Ptoman Catholic ; and few, indeed, 
 in these latter ages, are disposed to place much 
 trust in the infallibility of any mere mortal man. 
 With these facts and opinions D' Israeli was inti- 
 mately acquainted. His frequent mention of the 
 scholastic divines and their disputations, his 
 allusions to the quarrels of the Ultramontanes, 
 and his extensive researches among the dusty 
 tomes of ecclesiastical history, are sufficient evi- 
 dence of this circumstance. What, then, are 
 we to think of a writer who could misrepresent 
 
 I 2
 
 116 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATUHE. 
 
 these matters, and, by confounding two distinct 
 things, make it appear that the infallibility of the 
 Pope is an established point of doctrine in the 
 Etonian Catholic Church ? The passage in which 
 this is done is as follows : — 
 
 " Conceruing the aclmowledged infallihility of the Fopes, it 
 appears that Gregory VII., in couucil, decreed that the Church 
 of Eome never had erred, and never should err. It -n-as thus 
 this prerogative of his Holiness became received till 1313, 
 when John XXII. abrogated decrees made by three Popes, his 
 predecessors, and declared that what had been done amiss by 
 one Pope or Council might be corrected by another; and 
 Gregory XL, 1370, in his will, deprecates ' Si quid in Catho- 
 licafide errasset.'' The University of Vienna protested against 
 it, calling it a contempt of God and an idolatry, if any one in 
 matters of faith appealed from a Council to the Pope, — that is, 
 from God, who presides in Councils, to man. But the infalli- 
 hility was at length established by Leo X., especially after 
 Luther's opposition, because they despaired of defending their 
 indulgences, bulls, &c., by any other method." — Curiosities of 
 Literature. 
 
 I have given the passage with D'Israeli's italics. 
 In the first sentence he puts forth two gross mis- 
 statements. He pretends that the infallibility of 
 the Fopes is " acknowledged," which it is not, 
 and never was ; and he then erroneously asserts 
 that a decree which establishes the infallibility of 
 tlie Church establishes that of the Fopes. lie 
 repeats this error in the third sentence, when he 
 says that this prerogative of his Holiness became 
 received in virtue of a certain decree ; whereas 
 that decree speaks only of tlie infallibility of the 
 Church. The Church, therefore, and not any
 
 BLUNDERS. 117 
 
 individual ]?ope, being held infallible, there is no 
 inconsistency in Pope Gregory XI. deprecating 
 " Si quid in Catholica fide errasset," nor in the 
 protest of the University of Vienna. Both, on 
 the contrary, go to establish a distinction between 
 the l^opes — who, as men, are liable to error — and 
 the Church of God, against which its Divine 
 Founder promised that the gates of Hell should 
 not prevail. *' But," says D'Israeli, "the infalli- 
 bility was at length established by Leo X." This 
 is the crowning error of this most inaccurate 
 paragraph. Leo X., whatever may have been 
 his private opinion^ established no such infalli- 
 bility. He, or rather the Council of Trent, 
 re-asserted the infallibility of the Church ; and 
 as to that of the JPope, every enlightened Roman 
 Catholic is perfectly aware that it remains an 
 open question to this day. 
 
 Although these notices relate chiefly to literary 
 blunders, I cannot help citing an instance, that 
 occurs to me, of a practical kind, especially as it 
 has reference to two of the most remarkable 
 literary characters of the last and present cen- 
 turies. The reader will remember Dr. Johnson's 
 definition of the word "pension." — " Pay given 
 to a state hireling for treason to his country ; " 
 and how cleverly he was entrapped by George III. 
 into accepting a pension for himself. Por this 
 inconsistency Johnson has been sneered at by 
 different writers, and among others by Cobbett,
 
 118 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATTJRE. 
 
 who, ill liis English Grammar, has this example 
 in speaking of Johnson : — 
 
 " Myself, tliau whom few men have been found more base, 
 having in my dictionary described a pensioner as a slave of 
 state, and having afterwards myself become a pensioner." 
 
 Nevertheless, Cohhett, who could thus taunt 
 Johnson with inconsistency and baseness, presents 
 in his person the most remarkable instance on re- 
 cord of similar baseness and inconsistency. In the 
 work from which I have just quoted he is continually 
 railing at the House of Commons, and describing 
 it as the " Thieves' House," " a Den of Thieves," 
 and so forth : and yet, in the face of all this, he, 
 some years afterwards, put himself forward as a 
 candidate for admission into this thievish fra- 
 ternity, and, with no little self-complacency and 
 pride, actually took his place as one of its mem- 
 bers. In all this we have nothing but a new ver- 
 sion of the Pable of " the Pox and the Grapes." 
 When Johnson compiled his Dictionary he had 
 as little hope of ever becoming a favourite with 
 the ministers of the Crown and a recipient of the 
 Government bounty, as Cobbett had, at a subse- 
 quent period, of ever finding his way into the 
 House of Commons. Each was the dupe of his 
 own conceit ; and each, after his fashion, thought 
 he could show his iDdepcndence by sneering at the 
 object which he secretly coveted, but which he 
 imagined to be beyond his reach.
 
 BLUNDERS. 119 
 
 Much of the blundering for which our prose 
 writers are conspicuous, may be traced to their 
 incautious adoption of foreign words and modes of 
 expression. Among these there are few of more 
 frequent occurrence than " sobriquet," commonly 
 written " so?/briquet," a word unknown to the 
 French language; and "coute que coute," which 
 invariably figures in the meaningless form of 
 "coute qui coute," or "coute qu^il coute." 
 
 Every day we meet with the expression " a 
 sous," the persons who employ it not being aware 
 that the final s makes a plural of the word " sou." 
 The use of " a sous," by Englishmen, is analogous 
 to that of " un pence," so common among 
 Erenchmen in those countries where the British 
 currency is established. 
 
 An instance of this kind occurs in Chenevix. 
 Speaking of the misapplication of epithets or sur- 
 names to the kings of Erance, he says : 
 
 " Some of the former kings were indeed misnamed, as Philip 
 the Aiigust, who showed himself so petty in his conduct 
 towards Eichard of England." — Essay on National Character. 
 
 The error here arises from the supposed ana- 
 logy between " Philippe Auguste," and such 
 appellations as " Charles le Tem^raire " and 
 " Philippe le Bel," which has led the writer to 
 mistake a proper name for a sobriquet. But 
 the presence of the article le makes all the 
 difference. The latter names are correctly 
 translated "Charles the Bold," "Philip the
 
 120 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Pair ; " wliile " Philippe Auguste " must be 
 rendered by " Philip Augustus." To warrant 
 the expression " Philip the August," the original 
 should be " Philippe 1' Auguste." 
 
 Chenevix is not the only English writer in 
 whom this blunder occurs. 
 
 I think I have seen it stated somewhere that 
 the author of the " Letters of Junius " was ac- 
 quainted with the Prench language. If he was, 
 the acquaintance must have been exceedingly 
 slight, as the following passage in one of the 
 " Letters " would seem to indicate : — 
 
 " Lewis the Fourteenth had reason when he said, * the 
 Pyrenees are removed.' " 
 
 The use of the expression *' had reason," by so 
 idiomatic a writer as Junius, can only be ac- 
 counted for on the supposition that he had met 
 with some remark in Prench to this effect : 
 " Louis Quatorze avait raison quand il a dit qii'il 
 n'y a plus de Pyrenees;" and that, wishing to 
 translate it into English, he rendered the words, 
 "avait raison," in their literal sense, without 
 being aware that the correct English of them is, 
 " was right." 
 
 " Louis Quatorze tvas right when he said, * the 
 Pyrenees are removed.' " 
 
 Another example is furnished us by no less 
 a personage than the late Duke of Newcastle. 
 Writing to the "Standard" newspaper in March,
 
 BLUNDERS. 121 
 
 1845, liis Grace concludes his letter with the 
 words : — 
 
 " J'ai tout perdu c[ue mon liouneur." 
 
 This is adopted from that remarkable saying 
 of Prancis the Pirst, after the battle of Pavia : 
 " Tout est perdu hormis I'lionneur." The Duke 
 was not particular as to the exact words, and he 
 merely wished to express the same sentiment in 
 good Prench. But see what he has made of it : 
 " I have lost all that my honour." The word que 
 sometimes expresses the English but, as in the 
 phrase, " Je n'ai perdu que mon honneur," and 
 that is what misled tlie Duke ; but it never does 
 so, unless when preceded by some negative par- 
 ticle, and that is what his Grace was probably 
 not aware of. 
 
 An instance of this sort of blunder occurs in 
 Mrs. Sigourney's " Pleasant Memories of Pleasant 
 Lands." She is speaking of the discontent that 
 prevailed in Paris in 1840, and remarks : — 
 
 " Here and there cries were heard among the crowd, of '■ A bas 
 les traiteurs !' " 
 
 There certainly is no lack of traiteurs in the 
 good city of Paris : they are almost as numerous 
 there as traUres ; but it is to be presumed that, 
 on the occasion in question, the public exaspera- 
 tion was directed against the latter, and not 
 against the unoffending " traiteurs."
 
 122 MODERN ENGLISH LITEEATURE. 
 
 Here is a sample from Sir Bulwer Lytton : — 
 
 "A foreign writer has justly observed that Ave may judge of 
 the moral influence of this country by the simple phrase, thac 
 a man is worth so much, or, as he translates the expression, 
 ' digne tant.' " — England and the English. 
 
 I apprehend that the translator here is no 
 other than Sir Bulwer Lytton himself, inasmuch 
 as no French writer, who understood the English 
 words, would have used such an expression as 
 " digne tant," which means " worthy so much," 
 and not " worth so much." The Erench of the 
 latter is " vaut tant." 
 
 There is no word in the French language that 
 requires such cautious handling from a foreigner 
 as the word " esprit." It is as versatile and 
 multifarious as the people whose mental charac- 
 teristic it so aptly represents ; and in proportion 
 to its versatility is the ill-usage to which it is 
 daily suhjected by English writers of every 
 degree. One of the numerous meanings of this 
 word occurs in the phrase " esprit de corps," fre- 
 quently written "esprit du corps;" which, if it 
 means anything, means " the spirit of the body." 
 Lord Byron, in a letter to Moore, after using the 
 Erench expression, asks with characteristic indif- 
 ference : " Is it du or de, for that is more than I 
 know ?" 
 
 A ludicrous application of the word '' esprit " 
 occurs in the following sentence in the " Dublin
 
 BLUNDERS. 123 
 
 University Magazine" for September, 1841, in a 
 review of Carleton's " Traits and Stories :" — 
 
 " Her features are by no means regular ; she dances with 
 much more esprit than elegance." 
 
 The writer no doubt meant to describe the lady 
 as dancing with liveliness, vivacity, animation, 
 and he might have clearly expressed his idea by 
 either of those terms. Instead of which he resorts 
 to a foreign expression, and tells us that the lady 
 had her wit in her heels; for, to dance with 
 esprit has no other meaning. 
 
 Macaulay, in his "Essay on the Athenian 
 Orators," condescends to repeat a pretended^^z^-c/^- 
 mots on the title of Montesquieu's great work : — 
 
 " It was happily said that Montesquieu ought to have changed 
 the name of his book from ' L'Esprit des Lois ' to ' L'Esprit 
 sur les Lois.' " 
 
 I believe it could be shown by numerous in- 
 stances that the temptation of punning has been 
 a stumbling-block to many men of the greatest 
 genius. Eor them, no less than for the inferior 
 aspirant to literary distinction, a quibble has its 
 attractions ; and some have been so far led astray 
 by the false glitter, as to forfeit their reputation 
 for sagacity and wisdom. The excess to which 
 Shakspeare has indulged in this species of trifling 
 is perhaps the greatest blemish in his works. It 
 gives an air of conceit to some of Bacon's finest 
 thoughts ; and here we have that admirable
 
 124j MODEUN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 writer, Macaulay, quoting one of its vilest 
 samples, and, what is worse, characterizing* it as 
 a " happy saying." In point of fact, what is the 
 meaning of " L'Esprit sur les Lois ? " Did it ever 
 occur to the person who proposed it as an ap- 
 propriate title for Montesquieu's work, or to 
 Macaulay, who echoes the suggestion, that this 
 happy saying is sheer nonsense ? 
 
 One of the meanings of " esprit " is " in- 
 geniousness ; " and it is prohahly in that sense 
 tliat Macaulay would have us understand it in 
 " L'Esprit sur les Lois." But he forgets that it 
 ceases to have that signification the moment the 
 article le is prefixed to it. In the title of 
 Montesquieu's work, the words " I'esprit " are 
 employed in the sense of " the scope," the 
 *' guiding principle," "the fundamental idea;" 
 and the substitution of " sur les " for " des " 
 would not afi*ect the meaning of "esprit." The 
 change would only be from one preposition to 
 another, with this material difi'erence, that, 
 while " I'esprit des lois " is perfectly intelligible, 
 "I'esprit sur les lois" has no meaning at all. 
 True, by placing the preposition de before the 
 article, we come across the meaning which is akin 
 to ingeniousness or wit. "De I'esprit sur les 
 lois," however absurd as the title of a book, 
 would be intelligible as part of a sentence. Thus 
 we might say, " Montesquieu a fait de I'esprit sur 
 les lois — en traitant des lois ; " but no one.
 
 BLUNDERS. 125 
 
 with the slightest notion of French, woukl pro- 
 pose as a title for any possible book, a mode of 
 speech so utterly meaningless as " L'Esprit sur 
 les Lois." 
 
 There are two other expressions in French 
 which require to be carefully discriminated by 
 foreign writers ; namely, " arret " and "arrete." 
 The former is applied to the judgments or de- 
 cisions of a court of justice, and is, strictly 
 speaking, a legal term. The latter is employed 
 to express the decrees or orders emanating from 
 legislative or police authorities, and belongs to 
 political phraseology. It is impossible to read 
 three French state-papers without noticing this 
 distinction; and yet. Sir A. Alison, who must 
 have perused almost every document connected 
 with the great revolution, confounds these terms 
 throughout his " History of Europe." He talks 
 of " the arret of the First Consul; " "the arret 
 establishing arms of honour ; " " the aii^et for 
 Fouche's dismissal," &c. ; and by that term, in- 
 stead of " arrete," he commonly describes the 
 orders and regulations of the French Council of 
 State and other political bodies. 
 
 The same writer, speaking of the reception of 
 the Allied Sovereigns in Paris in 1814, says : — 
 
 " The enthusiasm of the multitude knew no bounds. Cries 
 of ' Yive I'Empereur Alexandre ! ' ' Vive lo Rol do Prusse ! ' 
 ' Vivent les Allies ! ' ' Viveut notres Liberateurs ! ' burst from 
 all sides." — Hisforn of FAirope.
 
 126 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Sir A. Alison knows enough of Prencli to be 
 aware that " our deliverer " may be translated 
 into that language, "notre liberateur;" and he 
 fancies that, to put the same words in the plural, 
 he has only to add an s to each ; forgetting that 
 the correct plural of " notre " is " nos." 
 
 Parther on we meet with another sample : — 
 
 '• TurniDg to Bertrand he said, * Tout a present est fiui ! 
 sauvons nous.' " 
 
 Which Alison translates thus : — 
 
 " 'All is now over, let us save ourselves.' " 
 
 The literal meaning of " sauver " is " to save," 
 but it also signifies "to run away" — "to escape;" 
 and it was in the latter sense that Napoleon em- 
 ployed it, when he addressed the above words to 
 Bertrand after the battle of Waterloo. The cor- 
 rect English of the phrase is : " All is now over ; 
 let us be oif." 
 
 So long as this blundering is confined to mere 
 verbal inaccuracy, it is harmless enough ; but it 
 sometimes goes the length of perverting historical 
 truth, and then it becomes peculiarly offensive. 
 The following passage in the same writer is an 
 instance in point. He is describing the efferve- 
 scence caused in Paris by the fliglit of Louis XVI. 
 and the royal family, in June 1791, and con- 
 tinues thus : — 
 
 " Marat announced in liis Journal that a general insurrection 
 was indispensable ; in a few days the sanguinar}- monarch would 
 I'eturn at the head of a numerous army and a lumdred guns, to
 
 BLUNDERS. 127 
 
 destroy tlie city by red-hot shot ; and Frerou thundered in the 
 ' Orateur du Peuple ' against the infamous queen, who united 
 the profligacy of Messalina to the bloodthirstiness of the 
 Medici." 
 
 When we speak of the "Medici" as a family, 
 we allude to the great characters who have 
 rendered that name illustrious ; such as Cosmo, 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent, Leo X., &c. With the 
 wisdom and virtues by which they were distin- 
 guished, we are all familiarly acquainted through 
 the able writings of Hoscoe; but, until Sir A. 
 Alison published his " History of Europe," no one 
 had ever heard of their hloodtldrstiness ! Fortu- 
 nately, however, for their fame, the historian has 
 given in a foot-note the words of Preron, from 
 which I find that the allusion is not to the Medici, 
 as a family, but to one person who bore that 
 name, viz. Catherine de' Medici (or, as the French 
 write it, Medicis), the mother of Charles IX., and 
 the instigator of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
 Freron's words are : — 
 
 " II est parti ce roi imbecile, ce roi parjure, cette reine 
 scelerate qui reunit la lubricite de Messaline a la soif du sang 
 qui devorait Medicis. Femme execrable, Furie de la France, 
 c'est toi qui etais I'ame du complot." — Fkeeon. V Orateur 
 du Feuple, No. 46. 
 
 It is inconceivable to what extent the facts of 
 history are perverted or misstated through the 
 io-norance of translators. If Freron had wished 
 to speak of the Medici, he would have said " les 
 Medicis;" but by using the expression Iledicis,
 
 128 MODEKN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 he showed that he spoke of only one person of the 
 name ; and that person Sir A. Alison should have 
 searched for among his historical recollections, 
 hefore he affixed to the whole race the brand of 
 proverbial bloodthirstiness. 
 
 This misquotation and mistranslation of foreign 
 w^ords and idioms are not confined to the living 
 languages : the Latin also comes in for a share of 
 them. Southey, in one of his Letters^ speaking 
 of the gap which might be found in his posthu- 
 mous works, has these words : — 
 
 " I have planned more poems and more histories ; so that, 
 whenever I am removed to another state of existence, there 
 will be some valde lacrymahile hiatus in some of my posthumous 
 works." — Life and Correspondence. 
 
 In this passage Southey not only misquotes 
 the Latin words, a not very creditable thing for 
 one who is perpetually harping on his retentive 
 memory ; but in doing so he gives us a glaring 
 sample of ungrammatical Latinity — a proceeding 
 which speaks but little for his boasted classical 
 attainments. It is obvious that, in the above 
 quotation, he had in his eye Virgil's well-known 
 hiatus valde dejlendus ; but his memory failing 
 him as to the exact words, he supplies the loss by 
 coupling an adjective of the neuter gender with a 
 noun of the masculine. 
 
 Mrs. Sigourney's Latin is on a par with her 
 Prench. Alluding to the equestrian statue of 
 the Porte St. Denis, she says, " The only inscrip-
 
 BLUNDERS. 129 
 
 tion upon it is * Ludovico Magno ; ' " and thon she 
 adds with reference to Versailles : — 
 
 " Here * Ludovico Magno,' as he was fond of being styled, is 
 multiplied by the pencil in the most imposing forms." 
 
 These quotations from foreign languages are 
 dangerous things in the hands of the uninitiated. 
 Eor one instance in which the writer shows his 
 dexterity in using them, hundreds might be 
 quoted in which he has nothing to show but the 
 folly of one Avho has been playing with edged 
 tools. It is plain that Mrs. Sigourney was not 
 aware that *^ Ludovico Magno " means " To Louis 
 the Great." Otherwise, instead of the barbarism, 
 " Ludovico Magno is multipled," she would have 
 said : " Ludovicus Magnus is multiplied." 
 
 Prom Mrs. Sigourney I shall pass to her illus- 
 trious countryman, Benjamin Pranklin. He says 
 in one of his letters : — 
 
 " We had been shown numberless skeletons of a kind of 
 little fly called an ephemerae." 
 
 And farther on he adds : — 
 
 "But what will fame be to an ephemerae who no longer 
 
 exists ? " 
 
 Had Eranklin said that he had been shown the 
 skeleton of cui asses, or that an asses no longer 
 exists, he w ould not have uttered a more glaring 
 absurdity. And yet this great philosopher, who 
 could not distinguish the singular from the plural 
 in Latin, had the courage and the patriotism, 
 
 K
 
 130 MODERX ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 when speaking of his '* dear country," to exclaim 
 in that language : " Esto pcrpetua ! " 
 
 Hallam, in his " Constitutional History of 
 England," under date of 1687, mentions an 
 address from the henchers of the Middle Temple 
 to James II., in which he makes them say that 
 they are resolved to defend with their lives and 
 fortunes the divine maxim, a Deo rex, a lege rex. 
 
 The benchers of the Middle Temple, in 1687, 
 were the strenuous assertors of prerogative, hold- 
 ing the opinion that, as the kingly office derives 
 its authority from God, so the law derives its 
 authority from the king. Their favourite maxim 
 was ci Deo rex, a rege lex, the reverse of which 
 expresses the political creed of those who think 
 that the kingly office derives its authority hoth 
 from God and from the law. To understand 
 how Hallam put one maxim instead of the other 
 in the mouth of the benchers, we must suppose 
 him to have been weioliins;: the merits of the 
 more liberal sentiment, and while in this mood 
 to have let it slip from his pen in that form. 
 The odd thing is that he should have preserved 
 it in this preposterous form (preposterous as 
 regards the party to whom it is ascribed) through 
 three editions of his work. 
 
 Sir Bulwer Lytton has the following : — 
 
 " The Charter-House, Winchester, King's College, were 
 all founded pro 'paiipereset indigentes scholares,' for poor and 
 indigent scholars." — England and the English.
 
 BLUNDERS. lv)l 
 
 At first I was disposed to take the Latin Avords 
 for a bond fide quotation ; but the palpable 
 blunder of the accusative case after the pre- 
 position "pro," precluded such a supposition. 
 Sir Bulwer is descanting on the condition of the 
 English universities ; and he must have intended 
 this gibberish as a sample of the " little Latin," 
 which he says is acquired in our public schools. 
 
 Sir A. Alison, in two places, employs the word 
 " phantasmagoria " as a plural : — 
 
 " He lias not confined himself to English story, strikingly as 
 its moving phantasmagoria come forth from his magic hand." — 
 Essay on the Historical Romance. 
 
 " Ainsworth, whose talents for description and the drawing 
 of the horrible have led him to make his novels often little 
 more than Y^ctoviol phantasmagoria.'''' — Ihid. 
 
 The following are from Jordan's "Autobio- 
 graphy:" 
 
 " Henry Erskine and Lady "Wallace, and all the racy jests of 
 their gay pastime, are as if they never had been : Sic transit 
 facetiae mundi" 
 
 Surely, Mr. Jordan, whose reminiscences are so 
 vivid upon other points, cannot have forgotten 
 his Latin to the extent here displayed. If he 
 bore in mind that there is such a phrase as ^ic 
 transit gloria mimdi, he should have remembered 
 that a parody of it, with the substitution of the 
 plural " facetiae " for the singular " gloria," is 
 alike opposed to grammar and sense, unless a 
 corresponding change be made in the verb 
 transit. 
 
 K 2
 
 132 MODETIN EXGLTSn LITETIATUIIE. 
 
 " Ifer contributions to tlic Literarij Gazette wore a grateful 
 reward ; but I may, I am sure, dip, witliout oifencc, into less 
 public I'd era seripta., to show liow much the office of kindly, 
 yet impartial, criticism is valued by the most deserving. 
 
 " Of the other luminary I have named, I have not so much 
 to say, in consequence of such litem seripta of his as have 
 escaped my confusion and destruction of MSS. being marked 
 'private.' " 
 
 Tvt these sentences the writer uses the nonn 
 singular, litcra^ as a plural. According to him, 
 therefore, the correct sin":ular is liter imi ! But 
 the recollection of the proverb, " Litera seripta 
 manet^^ should have opened his eyes to this 
 absurdity. And yet here is a gentleman who 
 has presided over the province of criticism for a 
 quarter of a century, and who boasts of having 
 conferred distinction and fame upon most of the 
 writers that have adorned our literature during 
 that period. 
 
 Looking at the numerous blunders, both in 
 English and Erench, which have been cited from 
 Isaac D' Israeli, the reader will not be surprised 
 to learn that Latin and Greek come in for a share 
 of ill-usage at his hands. Indeed, it is a question 
 wdth me whether he possessed any knowledge 
 whatsoever of those languages. He quotes from 
 them occasionally, as any one may do who will 
 be at the trouble of copying ; but when he has to 
 deal with expressions adopted or derived from 
 them, the manner in which he couples with such 
 expressions ndjeclives of the same import, jdainly
 
 BLUNUEKS. VSo 
 
 shows that he is uuacquamtcd with their meaning 
 or derivation. A few short examples will illus- 
 trate this : — 
 
 " These appear trljlmg niinutuey — Curiosities of Literature. 
 " He explained to her the mijsteries of the arcana of alcliymy." 
 —Ihid. 
 
 " These hattlcs o^ logomacJri/, in wliich so much ink has been 
 spilt." — Quarrels of Aulliors. 
 
 The writer who penned such sentences could 
 not be aware that " minutia) " is a Latin word, 
 and means "trifles;" that "arcana" is in the 
 same category, and means " secrets," " myste- 
 ries;" and that "logomachy" is derived from 
 the Greek, and includes in its signification, " to 
 battle," or " to dispute." 
 
 If we are surprised to meet, in D' Israeli, with 
 an expression so palpably tautological as " trifling 
 minutiae," what are we to think of a writer of 
 the ability and ripe scholarship of Archbishop 
 Whately, who has the same fault in the following 
 sentence : — 
 
 " Some writers liave confined their attention to tryiing 
 ijiinutice of style." — Introduction to lihctoric. 
 
 And if we smile at D' Israeli and his " battles 
 of logomachy," can we do otherwise than laugh 
 outright at Sir A. Alison, who, in his "History 
 of Europe from the Fall of Napoleon," talks of 
 representative institutions as having been " re- 
 established in our time by the influence of 
 EmjUsh AiKjlomaula ! "
 
 MANNEEISM. 
 
 " Le style c'est rhonime." 
 
 BurroN.
 
 MANNERISM. 
 
 In the forcgoiDg- chapters I have pointed out 
 some of the defects that seem worthy of notice in 
 our prose writings. It will be seen that, far from 
 improving the art of composition, in proportion 
 to our learning and enlightenment, we have in 
 many respects degraded it from its proper dignity 
 and importance. And not only is the language, 
 as written and spoken, a different language from 
 what it should be : each trade, each profession, 
 each association, each quackery, has a language 
 and style of composition peculiar to itself. There 
 is the mob-orator style invented by O'Connell; 
 the knock-down style by Hobins ; the washy style 
 by Howland ; the unctuous style by Ilolloway ; 
 the glossy style by Day and Martin ; and the 
 patchwork style by Moses and Son. There is, 
 moreover, the naval style, the military style, the 
 theatrical style, the Cockney style, the snob style, 
 and the penny-a-line style. The intelligent reader 
 is sufficiently acquainted with the Protean forms
 
 138 MODEllN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 in which our excellent mother-tongue delights to 
 disguise herself, and it is unnecessary to quote 
 examples. 
 
 But perhaps the most characteristic style of 
 all is the tally-ho, or Nimrodian style. This 
 method of composition consists in starting some 
 fresh idea at the beginning of every paragraph ; 
 in losing sight of it as soon as it is started ; and 
 in pursuing in its stead the first stray conceit 
 that turns up. During the chase the reader gets 
 occasional glimpses of the particular notion with 
 which the writer set out. He sometimes even 
 fancies that he is once more on its track, and on 
 the point of coming up with it. But he soon 
 discovers his error ; for now it appears that the 
 writer had mistaken one idea for another, and 
 had lost sight of the old in his pursuit of the 
 new. At times the reader is hurried on in a 
 straight line. At others he is dragged through 
 apparently interminable windings, and finds him- 
 self, at the winding up, on the exact spot wdience 
 he had taken his departure. The great beauty of 
 this style consists in jumbling in one sentence 
 every form and figure of speech. The longer the 
 sentence, the more rugged its construction, the 
 more intricate its involutions, the more gaps it 
 presents in the way of dashes, the more barriers 
 it opposes in the way parentheses, the more fences 
 it shows in compound epithets ; the more plea- 
 surable will be the reader's f^xcitemcnt, and the
 
 MANNEllISM. 139 
 
 keener his appreciation of the author's dexterity 
 and skill. 
 
 The greatest adept in the tally-ho style, if not 
 its inventor, is the famous Christopher North. 
 Once he gets into his jacket, nothing will get 
 him out of it until he has led his reader through 
 one of his favourite " E.ecreations." Some of his 
 sentences are a page and a half long, and so 
 intricate withal, that the reader often sinks ex- 
 hausted from lack of hreath. This method of 
 composition is to be found at almost every page 
 of the " Recreations." I cannot, however, re- 
 frain from quoting the following sample, which 
 is presented to the reader at the commencement 
 of the first "Eytte," as if to give him a foretaste 
 of the rare sport that is in store for him. 
 
 " All sucli pastimes, whether followed merely as pastimes or 
 as professions, or as the immediate means of sustaining life, 
 require sense, sagacity, and knowledge of Nature and Nature's 
 laws ; nor less, patience, perseverance, courage even, and bodily 
 strength or activity, while the spirit which animates and sup- 
 ports them is a spirit of anxiety, doubt, fear, hope, joy, exult- 
 ation, and triumpli — in the heart of the young a fierce passion 
 — in the heart of tlie old a passion still, but subdued and 
 tamed down, without, however, being much dulled or deadened 
 by various experience of all the mysteries of the calling, and by 
 the gradual subsiding of all impetuous impulses in the frames 
 of all mortal men beyond perhaps threescore, when the blackest 
 head will be becoming grey, the most nervous knee less firmly 
 knit, the most steely-springed instep less elastic, the keenest 
 eye less of a far-keeker, and, above all, the most boiling heart 
 less of a cauldron or a crater — yea, the whole man subject to 
 some dimness or decay, and, coiiscquently, the whole duty of
 
 liO MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 jiian, like tho new edition of a book, from which many passages, 
 that formed tlie cliief glory of the cditio pr'mccps, have been 
 expunged — the whole character of the style corrected without 
 being thereby improved — just like the later editions of the 
 ' Pleasures of Imagination,' which were written by Akenside 
 when he was about twenty-one, and altered by him at forty — 
 to the exclusion or destruction of many most splendida vitia, 
 by which process the poem, in our humble opinion, was shorn 
 of its briglitest beams, and suffered disastrous twilight and 
 eclipse — pei'plexing critics.' ' 
 
 Here is a sentence of thirty lines, beginning 
 with " pastimes " and ending- with " poems," in 
 which upwards of one hundred ideas are throAvn 
 together in one mess of crudity and confusion ; 
 congenial food, I have no doubt, for your true 
 sportsman, but somewhat too massive and mul- 
 tifarious for the digestive organs of ordinary 
 mortals. In regard, however, to mere length, 
 Wilson and all other writers are surpassed by 
 Hazlitt, who, in his notice of Coleridge, has con- 
 trived to spin out a single sentence to one hundred 
 and ten lines! It contains the word "and" 
 ninety-seven times, with only one semicolon, and 
 is probably the longest sentence in any author, 
 ancient or modern. 
 
 In an inscription to the memory of the late 
 Lord George Bentinck, I have discovered a style 
 of composition of an entirely novel character. 
 The inscription was thus put forth in the public 
 prints : — 
 
 " Bentinck Testimonial. — The Committee counected with
 
 MANNERISM. Ill 
 
 tlio Notts Testimonial to tlie lato Lord Goorgo Ecntiiiek, liavo 
 at lengtli decided upon tlie following inscription : — 
 
 " To the memory of Lord George Frederick Cavendish 
 Bentinck, secoi\d surviving son of William Henry Cavendisli 
 Scott, fourth duke of Portland, &c., «'7/osc ardent patriotism and 
 uncompromising lionesty were only equalled by the perse- 
 vering zeal and extraordinary talents, ivliich called forth the 
 grateful homage of tliosc lolio, in erecting this memorial, pay a 
 heartfelt tribute to exertions lohich prematurely brought to 
 the grave one xolio might long have lived the pride of his native 
 country." 
 
 This is a style unknown to any system of 
 rhetoric, ancient or modern. It is peculiar to 
 the nineteenth century, and may, not inappro- 
 priately, be called the raihcay style. It is alike 
 remarkable for the rapidity of its transitions 
 from thought to thought, and for the length of 
 theme the writer may go over without drawing 
 breath. It has no time for colons or semicolons, 
 and bestows but a passing notice on the commas. 
 As to full stops, it admits of only one, and that 
 it calls a terminus. Stops were well enough in 
 the steady, stately, stage-coach phraseology of 
 the Johnsons, but they are unsuited to our days 
 of electricity and steam. Towards the construc- 
 tion of the above " Inscription," it is to be 
 presumed that, as each member of the committee 
 supplied his quota of the funds, so he furnished 
 his share of the phrase, the different verbal con- 
 tributions being afterwards strung together by 
 means of " who's " and " which's." One member 
 suggested his lordship's " ardent patriotism ;" a
 
 142 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 second liis "uncompromising honesty;" a third 
 his "persevering zeal;" a fourth his "extra- 
 ordinary talents ; " a fifth the committee's "grate- 
 ful homage ; " a sixth " their heart-felt tribute ;" 
 a seventh his lordship's "exertions;" and an 
 eighth, " the pride of his country brought to a 
 premature grave." The great advantage of this 
 style consists in the facility v^^ith which the sen- 
 tence may be spun out to any length, without 
 the slightest eifort of memory or understanding, 
 each "who" and "Avhich" suggesting a new 
 thought, conjuring up a fresh idea to the mind's 
 eye, and serving as a cue to what should follow. 
 Had the Notts committee been so advised, they 
 might have continued the inscription thus : — 
 
 " The pride of his native country, which has 
 been sacrificed by the policy of Lord John liussell, 
 who carried the repeal of the Corn Laws, which 
 has proved so injurious to the agriculturists, who 
 are brought to the verge of ruin by the modern 
 doctrines of free trade, lohich is daily becoming 
 more popular w^ith our statesmen, loho are 
 leagued with the Continental democrats for the 
 annihilation of British commerce, lohich is the 
 pride and boast of our country." 
 
 Style, however, must not be confounded with 
 "mannerism." Every writer has a style of his 
 own, a mode of expressing his thoughts peculiar 
 to himself. Style in this sense is as various as 
 the bodilv or the mental characteristics of the
 
 MANNERISM. 113 
 
 writers. Mannerism, on the other hand, consists 
 in some marked peculiarity in the method of 
 composition; being in regard to style what de- 
 formity is in regard to the human features. This 
 peculiarity assumes diflFerent forms with different 
 writers. With some it is mere affectation : with 
 others, and by far the greater number, it is quite 
 involuntary, and is as difficult to lay aside, as it 
 is easy to take up. One writer exhibits it in the 
 copious use of foreign words; another in the 
 unnecessary use of parentheses ; a third in a 
 startling method of punctuation ; a fourth in the 
 repetition of certain words in close juxtaposition ; 
 a fifth in the adoption of strange titles for his 
 works. Having already spoken of the use and 
 abuse of foreign words, I shall now proceed to 
 lay before the reader some samples of the other 
 kinds of mannerism. 
 
 Nothing affords a clearer demonstration of the 
 incapacity of an author to embody his thoughts 
 in intelligible language than the frequent use of 
 the parenthesis. In an able writer it is often the 
 effect of negligence ; in a mediocre one it may be 
 reckoned the consequence of mediocrity ; and if 
 in the correctest composition it is sometimes 
 unavoidable, it must be admitted that there are 
 few sentences, in which it occurs, that might not 
 be improved either by its omission altogether, or 
 by a judicious transposition of some of the mem- 
 bers of the sentence. The prose writers most
 
 lldi MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 free from this blemish arc Gibbon, Ilallam, and 
 Macaulay. The one most tainted by it is Charles 
 Lamb. And after all, one half of Lamb's paren- 
 theses are only so in form. Substitute commas 
 and semicolons, and you will not find the 
 slightest alteration in the sense. No doubt, real, 
 unmistakable parentheses abound, but they are 
 part of his style ; a species of mannerism, charac- 
 teristic of his lighter compositions. He throws 
 them in upon all occasions ; gives them the most 
 fantastic shapes ; plays with them ; tosses them 
 about ; and yet, all the while, the sense is clear, 
 and, in so far as parentheses are concerned, per- 
 fectly intelligible. Lamb uses a parenthesis as 
 the author of " Don Juan " does a digression. 
 Indeed, Byron's digressions are nothing but long 
 parentheses, in which he contrives, as it were by 
 accident, to introduce some of his wittiest and 
 wisest sayings. 
 
 A parenthesis is to literary composition what 
 a police-officer is to the composition of society. 
 Where there is much disorganization, the con- 
 stable's staff is often raised to separate conflicting 
 parties, and maintain order and decorum among 
 the several members of the community. Where 
 the intellectual constitution is defective, the 
 parenthesis is frequently in requisition to mar- 
 shal the jostling ideas, and prevent them from 
 falling foul of each other in their struggles for 
 utterance. Tlie social Ijody that stands least
 
 MANNERISM. 145 
 
 in need of the one, and the mental organization 
 that seldomest requires the other, are those 
 which have made the greatest advances towards 
 perfection. 
 
 Some parentheses are merely useless, being the 
 result of ignorance or carelessness in the writer. 
 Take for example the following from Sir B. 
 Lytton : — 
 
 " Tet, I believe, on the wliole, it would be an aristocracy 
 very much resembling the present one (only without the 
 control which the king's prerogative at present affords him)." 
 
 — England and tlie English. 
 
 A comma here, after the word " one," is all 
 that was required ; instead of which we have a 
 parenthesis, with no other effect than that of 
 shutting out the concluding part of the sentence, 
 which does not require to he separated from that 
 which precedes it. 
 
 In another part of the same work Sir Bulwer 
 has this example : — 
 
 " Our ancestors founded certain great schools (that now 
 rear the nobles, the gentry, and the merchants) for the benefit 
 of the poor." 
 
 Here is a short sentence of only two lines, but 
 put together in such a manner that a parenthesis 
 is resorted to, lest it should be inferred, contrary 
 to the writer's intention, that the nobles, the 
 gentry, and the merchants, are reared for the 
 benefit of the poor ; whereas, if each part of the 
 sentence had been set down in its natural order, 
 
 L
 
 14G MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 the necessity of a parenthesis for the eye, and of 
 a change of tone for the ear, would have been 
 obviated. The sentence should stand thus : — 
 
 " Our ancestors founded, for the benefit of the 
 poor, certain great schools, that now rear the 
 nobles, the gentry, and the merchants." 
 
 Another objectionable form of this figure is 
 where one parenthesis is made to include another. 
 Sir Bulwer Lytton shall again afford an illus- 
 tration : — 
 
 " If it be true that the negligent or evil example of the 
 aristocracy be thus powerfully pernicious, (not, we will 
 acknowledge, from a design on their part, but (we will take 
 the mildest supposition) from a want of attention — from a 
 want of being thoroughly aroused to the nature and extent of 
 their own influence) if this be true, how necessary have been 
 the expositions of this work !" — England and the English. 
 
 But the worst species of parenthesis is that 
 which to its native deformity adds the blemish of 
 false grammar or distorted sense. Here is an 
 instance from Sir A. Alison — the dash being 
 used instead of the ordinary mark : — 
 
 " This wise and hmnane act was accompanied by one com- 
 muting the punishment of death pronounced against Yictor 
 Boirier and Pran9ois Meunier — who had been convicted of an 
 attempt on the king's life by firing into his carriage, though 
 happily without effect, as he was going in state to the Legis- 
 lative Body, on the first day of the session, accompanied by his 
 two sons — into ten years' banishment." — History of Europe 
 from Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 This parenthesis sins by its great length. 
 Before it is closed, the reader has already lost
 
 IVIANNERISM. 147 
 
 sight of the first part of the sentence, and is 
 led to the conclusion that Louis Philippe was 
 accompanied by his two sons, into ten years' 
 banishment. And yet, to make the whole per- 
 fectly intelligible, without the aid of any paren- 
 thesis, all the writer had to do was to insert the 
 words, " into ten years' banishment," after the 
 word " commuting," thus : — 
 
 " This wdse and humane act was accompanied 
 by one commuting, into ten years' banishment, 
 the punishment of death pronounced against 
 Victor Boirier and rran9ois Meunier," &c. 
 
 Under this description of parenthesis may be 
 classed the following from Mrs. Poster's " Hand- 
 Book of European Literature :" — 
 
 "Hume's 'Natural Eeligion' called forth Dr. Seattle's 
 (author of the ' Minstrel ') able work." 
 
 And Bishop Thirlwall, in his reply to Bishop 
 Hall, presents us with another instance : — 
 
 " I can confirm the accuracy of Mr. Evans's (the rural dean) 
 statements with regard to the churches." 
 
 Of faults of style, this is one of the most offen- 
 sive to the ear. Besides the jingle occasioned 
 at the opening of the parenthesis, by bringing 
 together the words, " Beattie's (author " — 
 " Evans's (the rural dean ;" and, at the closing, 
 "Minstrel) able work" — "Dean) statements," 
 we have the obvious inaccuracy of making a noun 
 in the possessive case correspond to another noun 
 
 L 2
 
 148 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 which is not in the same case. Thus, in the first 
 example, "author" corresponds to "Beattie's," 
 — that is, to something helonging to Dr. Beattie, 
 instead of Dr. Beattie himself. 
 
 I am aware that Lindley Murray counte- 
 nances, to some extent, this inaccuracy, where 
 he approves, as correct, such phrases as the 
 following : — 
 
 " These psalms are BavicVs, the king, priest, and prophet of 
 the Jewish people." 
 
 But his mistake arises from supposing that 
 there is no alternative between the adoption of 
 that form of phrase and the placing of the pos- 
 sessive case at the end of the sentence, thus : — 
 
 " These psalms are David, the king, priest, and 
 prophet of the Jewish ^^o^Ze'^." 
 
 Had that able grammarian examined the ques- 
 tion with his usual discrimination, he would have 
 seen that, in order to avoid the impropriety of 
 the latter phrase, it is not necessary to resort 
 to the still greater impropriety of making the 
 possessive " David's " agree with the objective 
 " king," as in the first example. He would have 
 discovered, in the following, a better form than 
 either, and one which is in every way unex- 
 ceptionable : — 
 
 " These psalms are those of David, the king, 
 priest, and prophet of the Jewish people." 
 
 Butler has an amusing example of this sort of
 
 MANNERISM. 149 
 
 parenthesis, ^Ynttc^, no doubt, in derision of all 
 such forms of it : — 
 
 " That proud damo for whom his soul 
 A¥as burnt in 's belly like a coal, 
 Used him so like a base rascalliou, 
 That old Fifg (what d' y' call him) malion, 
 That cut his mistress out of stone, 
 Had not so hard a hearted one." 
 
 Sometimes the parenthesis includes more than 
 the writer intended, or the sense will admit ; so 
 that, if what is included were omitted, the sense 
 would be incomplete. An instance occurs in 
 Latham's " English Language :" — 
 
 " In Ben Jonson's ' Tale of a Tub,' one (and more than one 
 of the characters) speaks thus." 
 
 This parenthesis should have been formed as 
 follows : — 
 
 " In Ben Jonson's * Tale of a Tub,' one (and 
 more than one) of the characters speaks thus." 
 
 Another instance occurs in Barley's " Greek 
 Drama :" — 
 
 " In the ' Iphigenia,' Orestes, after having discovered his 
 sister, discovers himself to her. She, indeed, is discovered by 
 the latter ; but Orestes by (verbal proofs :) and these are such 
 as the poet chooses to make him produce." 
 
 It is not easy to conceive for what purpose the 
 parenthesis is here introduced : its presence is 
 contrary to all the known rules of composition. 
 
 Dr. Whately, in his treatise on '' Logic," con- 
 taining one hundred and seven pages, has no
 
 150 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 fewer than four hundred parentheses, three- 
 fourths of which seem to be introduced for no 
 other purpose than to perplex the reader by vio- 
 lating the ordinary principles of punctuation. 
 For a logician, this method of proceeding is, to 
 say the least of it, very illogical. Doubtless, 
 in a work of that character, the parenthesis 
 is often unavoidable ; but what, may we ask, 
 can be the use of it in such sentences as the 
 following ? — ■ 
 
 " The supposed argument may be reduced (without any 
 alteration of its meaning) into the syllogistic form." 
 
 " An infinitive (though it often comes last in the sentence) 
 is never the predicate." 
 
 " Generalisation (as has been remarked) implies abstraction." 
 
 " The distribution of the predicate depends (not on the 
 quantity, but) on the quality of the proposition." 
 
 " That premiss (wherever placed) is the major which contains 
 tlie ninjor term." 
 
 " If it were true, the consequent (which is granted to be 
 false) would be true also." 
 
 " In these two examples (as well as very many others) it is 
 implied." 
 
 " Any two circumstances (not naturally connected) are more 
 rarely to be met with." 
 
 " The induction (in this last sense) has been sufficiently 
 ample." 
 
 " The truth, (such as it is) of such propositions, is necessary 
 and eternal." 
 
 In these sentences a comma would have 
 satisfied all the requirements of punctuation ;
 
 MANNERISM. 151 
 
 while the more the character of the work im- 
 posed upon the writer the frequent introduction 
 of the parenthesis, the more sparing he should 
 have hcen of its use when it was wholly un- 
 necessary. 
 
 As none but a careless or inaccurate writer 
 will make use of a parenthesis where it may 
 be avoided, so none but a writer of that character 
 will omit it wliere the sense absolutely requires 
 it. The following sentence is an example of such 
 improper omission : — 
 
 " Almost all these castles have their legends or romantic 
 incidents, many of them connected icith tlie Holy Wars, which 
 are fondly dwelt on by the inhabitants." — Alison. History 
 of Europe. 
 
 Here the words in italics should form a 
 parenthesis, in order to make the reader under- 
 stand that what the inhabitants fondly dwelt 
 upon were the legends or romantic incidents, 
 and not the Iloly Wars. 
 
 The method of punctuation which consists in 
 " dashes " is quite a modern invention. It was 
 first used in the sentimental poetry that came 
 into vogue in the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century; and thence it passed into the senti- 
 mental novels by which that poetry has been 
 supplanted. It is a species of punctuation pecu- 
 liarly suited to the delineation of the mock- 
 heroic ; of that kind of intellectual abortion which 
 we call *' bathos," and which the French appro-
 
 152 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 priately style " la morgue de la litterature."* No 
 author wlio values his reputation will consent 
 to have his works disfigured by this affectation ; 
 and one is therefore surprised and shocked to 
 see it adopted by writers of such ability as Sir 
 Bulwer Lytton, Charles Lamb, John Wilson, 
 and Thomas Carlyle. A single specimen will be 
 sufficient to convince the reader of the absurdity 
 of this system of punctuation; and that speci- 
 men I shall take from Sir B. Lytton. The writer 
 is describing the causes of the prevalence of 
 suicide in England, and he sums up in these 
 words : — 
 
 " The loss of fortune is the general cause of the voluntary 
 loss of life. "Wounded pride, — disappointment, — the schemes 
 of an existence laid in the dust, — the insulting pity of friends, 
 — the humbled despair of all our dearest connexions, for whom 
 perhaps we toiled and wrought, — the height from which we 
 have fallen,— the impossibility of regaining what we have 
 lost, — the searching curiosity of the public, — the petty annoy- 
 ance added to the great woe, — all rushing upon a man's 
 mind in the sudden convulsion and turbulence of its elements, 
 what wonder that he welcomes the only escape from the 
 abyss into which he has been hurled." — Ilngland and the 
 English. 
 
 Here we have a double punctuation ; the one 
 ordinary and formed by the comma, such as 
 
 * The reader is requested not to confound " la morgue de 
 la litterature" with "la morgue litteraire." The former 
 means "the sink of literature ;" the latter "the surliness 
 and pride of the man of letters."
 
 MANNERISM. 153 
 
 Macaulay or any other great writer would be 
 content to use ; the other extraordinary and indi- 
 cated by the significant — , such as is resorted to 
 by writers who would have us believe that their 
 words carry with them some uncommon imj)ort. 
 It is as if the writer said to the reader : " Perhaps 
 you fancy you are reading some commonplace 
 composition, to be glanced at and thrown aside 
 like the run of modern books ; but you are mis- 
 taken. Here each word claims a peculiar empha- 
 sis ; and to facilitate the weighing and leisurely 
 digesting of our ideas, we have separated each 
 member of the sentence by its proper dash." Of 
 itself this species of punctuation is silly enough ; 
 but it ceases to be merely silly, when, as in the 
 instance before us, it gives significance and weight 
 to that frightfullest of all unchristian doctrines, 
 namely, that, in certain circumstances, a man 
 may "welcome suicide" as the only escape from 
 the abyss into which he may have been hurled 
 by the loss of his fortune : in other words, that 
 the abyss created by a temporary loss is more to 
 be avoided than that darkest and deepest of all 
 abysses, into which a man hurls himself by the 
 damning deed of self-destruction. 
 
 The mannerism which consists in the repetition 
 of certain words may be appropriately classed 
 under the peculiar expressions by which it is 
 characterized; such as Hoioever, Of all others^ 
 But, Iff and so forth. The following samples of
 
 IM MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 the However style are from Alison's " History of 
 Europe during tlie Prencli Hevolution :" — 
 
 " Augereau vv'as soon, Jiotoever, dismissed the corps for a 
 serious offence, and returned to Paris, penniless and in dis- 
 grace. There, hoivever, his lofty stature and military air 
 again attracted the attention of the recruiting sergeants, and 
 he was enrolled in the regiment of Carabineers, commanded by 
 the Marquis Poyanua. There, Jtoivcver, his mischievous dispo- 
 sition a second time broke out, and he was expelled from his 
 new corps for carrying off his captain's horses to sell them in 
 Switzerland." 
 
 " The Grand Vizier, hoivever, alarmed for a fortress of such 
 importance, at length recrossed the Danube and detached 
 fifteen thousand men to beat up the enemy's quarters in its 
 vicinity, in the end of October, Bagrathion advanced against 
 this body, and an action, with no decisive results, ensued at 
 Tartaritza, in which, hoivever, it soon appeared that the Russians 
 had been worsted ; for Bagrathion immediately recrossed the 
 Danube, and raised the blockade. Ismael, hoivever, which had 
 been long blockaded, surrendered on the 21st September." 
 
 Among the " blunders" which I have had occa- 
 sion to notice in the preceding chapter, is the 
 expression " Of all others." Of rare occurrence 
 in the generality of writers, and never to be met 
 with in the most correct, this locution has become 
 a " household word " with Sir A. Alison. The 
 following examples of it are taken from his 
 " History of Europe during the Erench Revolu- 
 tion." In his other works the instances of it are 
 also very numerous : — 
 
 " The quality o/'aZZ others, by which distinction is acquired." 
 " The event of all others which the Orleans party most 
 ardently desired to avoid."
 
 MANNERISM. 155 
 
 " A project of all others the most unpopular in the central 
 city of Paris." 
 
 " The general of all others the least qualified to combat the 
 fire and energy of a revolution." 
 
 " A state of affairs of all others the most calamitous." 
 
 " The general of all others who approached the nearest to 
 the standard of ideal perfection." 
 
 " The act of all others which most certainly leads to its own 
 punishment." 
 
 " A period of all others the most conducive to general 
 happiness." 
 
 " Circumstances of all others the best calculated to enable 
 the inhabitants to oppose a formidable resistance." 
 
 " The lesson of all others the most strongly illustrated by 
 the events of the war." 
 
 " A situation of all others the most favourable for half- 
 disciplined troops." 
 
 " A feeling which is of all others the most effectual 
 extinguisher to the utility of any public officer." 
 
 " Circumstances of all others the most favourable for the 
 development of the principles of freedom." 
 
 " The language of all others the most calculated to rouse 
 national efforts." 
 
 " The means of all others the least fitted to carry it into 
 effect." 
 
 " The troops were scattered in a way of all others the most 
 favoui'able for being cut up in detail." 
 
 " The plan of invasion of all others the best calculated to 
 concentrate the whole forces of the Alliance." 
 
 " The people of all others where at once general progress is 
 the greatest and private discontent the most universal." 
 
 " A situation of all others the most favourable for carrying 
 on intritrues with both countries."
 
 156 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " A consideration of all others the best calculated to inspire 
 forbearance and moderation." 
 
 " The circumstance of all others the most prejudicial to the 
 interests of France." 
 
 " The circumstance of all others which had the greatest 
 influence in inducing that state of society." 
 
 " The circumstance of all others which chiefly contributed to 
 this turn of the public mind." 
 
 In the following quotations the word " But" 
 is ludicrously repeated at almost every line : — 
 
 " But, absorbed as he was with his studies, "Whethamstede 
 was not a mere 
 
 ' — Bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, 
 With loads of learned lumber in his head.' 
 
 It is true, he was an inveterate reader, amorously inclined 
 towards vellum tomes and illuminated parchments, hut he did 
 not covet them, like some collectors, for the mere pride of 
 possessing them ; hut gloried in feasting on their intellectual 
 charms and delectable wisdom, and sought in their attractive 
 pages the means of becoming a better Christian and a wiser 
 man. Bid he was so excessively fond of books, and became so 
 deeply engrossed with his book-collecting pursuits, that it is 
 said some of the monks shewed a little dissatisfaction at his 
 consequent neglect of the aflairs of the monastery ; hut these 
 are faults I cannot find the heart to blame him for ; hut am 
 inclined to consider his conduct fully redeemed by the valuable 
 encouragement he gave to literature and learning." 
 
 A few pages farther on the but recurs in the 
 following passage : — 
 
 " But with all these high qualities our notions of propriety 
 are somewhat shocked at the open manner in which he kept 
 his mistress Eleanor Cobham ; hut we can scarcely agree in the 
 condemnation of the generality of historians for his marrying
 
 MANNERISM. 157 
 
 her afterwards, lut regard it rather as the action of an honorable 
 man, desirous of making every reparation in his power. But 
 the ' pride of birth' was sorely wounded by the espousals." 
 
 These passages are extracted from Merry- 
 weather's " Bihliomania in the Middle Ages," 
 a book Avhich, though purporting to treat of the 
 " love of books," is lamentably deficient in that 
 which constitutes an essential quality of every 
 good book — correct composition. In almost 
 every instance the sentences are strung together 
 by conjunctions and expletives, in the manner of 
 the passages above quoted. The author seems 
 to have formed his style upon that of poor John 
 Bunyan, who presents us with this curious 
 sample of the species But : — 
 
 " I saw simple Slowth and Presumption lie asleep, a little 
 out of the way, as I came, with irons upon their heels ; hut do 
 you think I could awake them ? I also saw Formality and 
 Hypocrisy come tumbling over the wall, to go (as they pre- 
 tended) to Zion ; hut they were quickly lost, even as I myself 
 did tell them ; hut they would not believe ; hut above all, I 
 found it hard work to get up this hill, and as hard to come 
 by the lions' mouths ; and truly if it had not been for the 
 good man the Porter that stands at the gate, I do not know 
 hut that, after all, I might have gone back again ; hit now, 
 I thank God, I am here, and I thank you for receiving me." — 
 Pilgrim's Progress. 
 
 The greatest promoter, however, of this sloven- 
 liness is Sir Archibald Alison. In his " History 
 of Europe from the Pall of Napoleon," the 
 attentive reader must have remarked the con- 
 stant recurrence of the expression " Great as,"
 
 158 MODERN ENGLISH LITEEATUIIE. 
 
 at the beginning of a sentence. Of this I have 
 noted the following instances in the first volume 
 of that work ; but the expression occurs in the 
 same form with other adjectives in the place 
 of "great:"— 
 
 " G7'eat and important as were tlie results of the social con- 
 vulsions of I'rance and England, they sank into insignificance 
 compared with those that followed." 
 
 " Great as ivere these results to the growth of Eussia, still 
 more important were those which followed its intestine 
 convulsions." 
 
 " Great as tlie acqicisitions of the Muscovite poiver have heen, 
 during the last thirty years, they have almost been rivalled by 
 those of the British in India." 
 
 " Great as teas Ms influence, unbounded his patronage, 
 immense his revenue, it yet fell short of the wants of his 
 needy supporters." 
 
 " Great and unprecedented as is this simultaneous growth 
 of ojianJcind, it is yet outstripped by the increase of their 
 industry." 
 
 " Great as are the tilings which the steam-engine has done for 
 manJcind, it may be doubted whether what it has left undone, 
 are not still more important to human happiness." 
 
 " Great as mag he the tveight of external evils, it is as 
 nothing to the sting of the secret mental reproach of having 
 induced them." 
 
 " Great as had heen the enthusiasm in 1789, it was equalled 
 now by the unanimous burst of indignation at the same 
 conquerors." 
 
 " Great as the dangers were ichich must have heset the legis- 
 lature, they were much aggravated by the peculiar situation of 
 the provinces." 
 
 " Great as is the reputation of that nohic poem, that of his 
 lyrical pieces is still greater."
 
 MANNERISM. 159 
 
 This, for a grave historian, is bad enough ; but 
 it is reduced to insignificance by another sample 
 with which Sir Archibald has embellished the 
 same work. In volume I., chapter V., headed 
 '' Progress of Literature, Science, the Arts and 
 Manners, in Great Britain after the War," con- 
 taining less than one hundred pages, there 
 are as many as tioenty-tico paragraphs, each of 
 which begins with the same form of phrase. 
 As a literary curiosity this is worth preserving ; 
 while, as a sample of old-womanish twaddle, it 
 has no parallel in any language. I give the 
 sentences in the order in which they occur : — 
 
 " If the period succeeding the war is one which is not rich 
 in great events, it is fruitful in great men." 
 
 " If the triumphs of British art and industry have been 
 great during this memorable period, those of its genius and 
 thought have not been less remarkable." 
 
 " If the wide spread of his fame and deep impression pro- 
 duced by his poems is to be taken as the test of excellence, 
 Campbell is the greatest lyric poet of England." 
 
 " If the Pleasures of Hope, to the end of time, will fascinate 
 the young and the ardent, those of Memory will have equal 
 charms for the advanced in years and the reflecting." 
 
 " If e^ev two poets arose in striking contrast to each other, 
 Rogers and Southey are the men." 
 
 " If Southey's knowledge as a historian has impeded his 
 success as a poet, his fancy as a poet has not less seriously 
 marred his fame as a historian." 
 
 " If Scotland in Brown gave token of its national cha- 
 racter, by exhibiting the combination of poetic genius with 
 metaphysical acuteness, the practical and sagacious turn of the 
 Anglo-Saxon mind was not less clearly evinced in Paley."
 
 160 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " If original views were awantiug in this accomplished 
 writer, they were not so in the great political philosopher of 
 the age, Mr. Malthus." 
 
 " If Malthus cast a broad and lasting light on political 
 affairs, Davy gave an impulse almost as great to physical 
 science." 
 
 " If the Qiiarterly Bevieio cannot exhibit such a splendid 
 series of essays from one individual, as those of Macaulay in 
 the Edinburgli, it has not tlie less taken a memorable part in 
 English literature." 
 
 " If Lord Mahon has left a chasm between the termination 
 of Hume's and the commencement of his own narrative, 
 that important period of English history was not long of 
 being adequately illustrated." 
 
 " If the reader of the splendid history of Macaulay some- 
 times regrets the want of the impartial charge of the judge, in 
 the brilliant oratory of the barrister, the student of Miss 
 Strickland meets with excellencies and deficiencies of a 
 somewhat similar character." 
 
 " If Mitford is sometimes open to the reproach of having 
 too keenly asserted the conservative, it is fortunate for the 
 cause of truth that another distinguished writer has illustrated 
 Grecian history on the opposite side." 
 
 " If the political events and anxieties of the time have 
 caused the history of Greece to be learned in a very different 
 spirit, a similar effect has appeared in regard to the history of 
 Eome." 
 
 " i^rthe historians of England exhibit in a clear light the 
 important influence of political convulsions on national litera- 
 ture, the working of the same causes is still more strikingly 
 evinced in our writers of romance." 
 
 " 7/" the romances of Mr. James are deficient in the delinea- 
 tion of the secret feelings of the heart, the same cannot be 
 said of the next great novelist whose genius has adorned English 
 literature." 
 
 " //"some of his other works are not of equal merit, it is
 
 MANNERISM. 161 
 
 only the usual fate of genius to be more happy in some concep- 
 tions than in others." 
 
 " If^ great work has been wanting to the fame of Ilazlitt 
 and Croly, the same may with still more justice be said of a 
 very eminent man who has illustrated the age by his profound 
 and original thoughts." 
 
 " 7/" the house of mourning in real life ever adjoins the 
 house of joy, the same vicissitude is not less conspicuous in 
 literature." 
 
 " If Landseer has struck out a new vein — the pathetic in 
 animals, Chantrey has equally illustrated himself by opening a 
 fresh mine — the pathetic in sculpture." 
 
 If Kemble overcame many personal disadvantages, by the 
 lofty tone of his mind, Miss O'Neil had every gift of nature to 
 aid a tender and impassioned disposition in melting the hearts 
 of the spectators." 
 
 " If power of the very highest order, united to fascinating 
 beauty, could have arrested the degradation of the stage. Miss 
 Helen Faucit would have done so." 
 
 What is noteworthy in these phrases is not so 
 much the mere if; for ifs will be found in every 
 writer. It is the peculiar structure of the sen- 
 tence, and its constant application to literary 
 and scientific matters, by way of comparison or 
 contrast. When Alison has occasion in a sub- 
 sequent place (vol. iii., chapter xviii.) to speak 
 of the Literature of France during and after tJie 
 Hestoration^ the everlasting if is again called 
 into play : — 
 
 " Your ifvA your only peace- maker ; 
 Much virtue in «/!" 
 
 " If the literature of England after the war gave proof of 
 the animating influence of the contest in drawing forth the 
 
 M
 
 162 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 national talent, the same effect was conspicuous in a still more 
 remarkable degree in the sister kingdom." 
 
 " If the literature of France during the Eestoration was less 
 measured than that of Louis XIV., it was more varied : if 
 it exhibited less of the rules of art, it had more of the origi- 
 nality of nature." 
 
 '^ If this is true of nearly the entire school of modern French 
 novels, what shall be said of its drama?" 
 
 " If the German drama is the glory, the French is the dis- 
 grace of our contemporary European literature." 
 
 " i/'with these many brilliant and noble qualities, Chateau- 
 briand had united an equal amount of strength of mind and 
 solidity of judgment, he would have been one of the most 
 remarkable men that modern Europe over produced." 
 
 " If Chateaubriand, notwithstanding the brUliancy of his 
 genius, or in consequence of that very brilliancy, was little 
 qualified to act in public affairs, the same cannot be said of the 
 next great orator, who rose into greatness with the Restora- 
 tion— M. Guizot." - 
 
 " If Chateaubriand has visited the Holy Sepulchre with the 
 mingled feelings of a classical scholar and a devout pilgrim, 
 Michaud has gone over the same ground with the heroic spirit 
 of a crusader." 
 
 " If ever two great men stood in striking contrast to eaeli 
 other, it was Guizot and liis victorious antagonist in the strife 
 which overturned the throne of Louis Philippe." 
 
 " -TjT the turn of their respective minds is considered, it will 
 not appear surprising that Guizot was the Conservative minis- 
 ter, Lamartine the Democratic leader, on that occasion." 
 
 " If Lamartine's accuracy of research, patience of investi- 
 gation, and sobriety of judgment had been equal to his 
 vividness of fancy, warmth of imagination, and fervour of 
 eloquence, he would have made the greatest and most popular 
 historian of modern times." 
 
 " If the campaign of Wagram has found a wortliy annalist 
 in General Pelet, and those of Austerlitz and Friedland in
 
 MANNERISM. 163 
 
 General Mathieu Dumas, that of 1812 lias called forth the 
 powers of another writer equally suited to its description — 
 Count Segur." 
 
 " If the military histories of France during the Restoration 
 is a striking proof how strongly the public mind had been 
 turned to warlike achievements, the still greater crowd of 
 memoirs is a yet stronger proof how violently the passions 
 of the people had been excited by the Revolution." 
 
 " If any proof were required of the dilBculty of the task 
 which M. Villemain has undertaken in giving a history of 
 literature, and of the skill with which he has surmounted 
 it, it will be found in the great work of M. Ginguene." 
 
 " 7/" Gingueue is in a manner buried under the stores of 
 his own learning, and already forgotten except as a storehouse 
 of erudition, the same charge of want of generalisation cannot 
 be made against the great political philosopher of the nine- 
 teenth century — M. de Tocqueville." 
 
 " If the literature of France during the eighteenth cen- 
 tury may justly pride itself on the compositions of Buffon, 
 that of the nineteenth is equally distinguished by the writings 
 of Cuvier, by far the first of the inquirers into the pristine 
 order of creation." 
 
 " If Delille failed because he was not the man of the age, 
 Berangerhas succeeded because he was." 
 
 " If the love of admiration is ' par excellence ' the great 
 characteristic of French women, Mademoiselle Mars was the 
 incarnation of their temperament." 
 
 " If modern French architecture is remarkable for the 
 imposing effects which it exhibits and the purity of taste 
 by which it is distinguished, the same cannot be said of its 
 painting." 
 
 It was my intention to wind up in this place 
 our long list of Ifs ; but the recent appearance of 
 a fifth volume of the work from which they are 
 taken, enables me to furnish the reader with 
 
 31 2
 
 164 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 some further examples. Those already cited are 
 from the chapters on English and Erench litera- 
 tm^c ; those now presented are from that on Ger- 
 man literature. Sir Archibald seems to reserve 
 this species of jugglery for the exhibition of his 
 views of men of letters, science, and art. He 
 pulls the strings, and the several puppets, each 
 heralded by its proper i/j pass in rapid succession 
 before the reader's bewildered eye. 
 
 " If, in ' Oberon,' Wielaud licas rivalled Ariosto, and fasci- 
 nated the world by the most charming conceptions that were 
 ever formed of the romantic school, in his lesser poems he 
 has rivalled Ovid in the skilful use he has made of classical 
 imagery." 
 
 " -Z/" Goethe's genius was somewhat dimmed by the multitude 
 of objects which it embraced, the same cannot be said of the 
 author who with all obtains tlie second, with some the first, 
 place in German literature." 
 
 " If general and widespread celebrity is to be taken as the 
 test of excellence, the next place must be assigned to the great 
 epic poet of Germany, Klopstock." 
 
 " 7/" celebrity on the stage and temporary theatrical success 
 is to be taken as a test of real dramatic excellence, Kotzebue 
 is to be placed at the very head of the literature of Europe in 
 that department." 
 
 " If ever two branches of literature stood forth in striking 
 contrast to each other, it is the poetry and prose of Ger- 
 many." 
 
 " ijT general and widespread fame, at least among scholars and 
 learned men, is to be taken as the test of real merit, Niebuhr 
 must be placed at the head of the historians of Germany." 
 
 " If Niebuhr's usefulness and fame have been seriously 
 impaired by the want of lucidity in his style, of order in his 
 arrangement, and brevity in his expression, the same cannot be
 
 MANNERISM. 165 
 
 said of tlie next great author wlio lias devoted his energies to 
 the ekieidatiou of ancient story." 
 
 "T/'Heeren lias seldom struck out original thought himself, 
 there is no one who has furnished in greater profusion the 
 materials of it to others." 
 
 " If the Revolution in "France has warmed into life a crowd 
 of memoir-wi'iters, the War of Liberation in Germany has been 
 hardly less efficacious in calling forth a host of writers who 
 have portrayed, with equal felicity, the changes and feelings of 
 that eventful era." 
 
 " If'xt be true, as the wisest men in every age have affirmed, 
 that — 
 
 ' Music hath charms to tame the savage breast,' 
 there is no country which should be so civilized as Germany." 
 
 " ij^ Beethoven is the Michael Angelo of Music, Mozart is 
 its Eaphael." 
 
 Alison has a peculiarity of a still more offen- 
 sive form, which consists in the repetition of 
 certain words in close succession to each other. 
 Of this I have noted the following instances 
 in his "History of Europe during the French 
 Revolution :" — 
 
 " The circumstance which ultimately brought about the con- 
 test was the sitccess v/itli which Cardinal Eichelieu succeeded in 
 destroying the rural influence of the French nobility." 
 
 " It would seeni as if in the very disposition of the seats, 
 it had been intended to point to the intended union of the 
 Orders." 
 
 " Crowds of all classes daily came to Versailles to encourage 
 the members in their courageous resistance to the measures of 
 the court." 
 
 " The able leaders of the popular party, keeping in advance 
 of the movement, advanced steadily in their career of 
 usurpation."
 
 166 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " Lafayette, who was employed on the frontier at the head 
 of the army, employed his immense influence for the same 
 object." 
 
 " Cradled in snowy mountains and Jiahifuated to severe 
 habits, the Swiss peasantry exhibited the same features." 
 
 " The French leaders were not insensible to the danger 
 arising from the attack of so formidable a coalition of foreign 
 powers as was now preparing to attach them." 
 
 " He was at first succcessful, and succeeded in obtaining 
 possession of Breda." 
 
 " The troops which the chiefs commanded were divided into 
 three divisions." 
 
 " To oppose this formidable invasion, the Royalists were 
 divided into four divisions.^' 
 
 " T\\ej Jhrmed the nucleus from which those intrepid bands 
 of Chouans were formed." 
 
 " Another striking proof of the consequences of disorders 
 consequent on popular ambition." 
 
 " Consequences so extraordinary, so unlooked-for to every 
 class of society, from the throne to the cottage, are singularly 
 instructive as to the consequences of revolutions." 
 
 " Contrary to all expectation, and in opposition to what 
 might have been expected from the previous energy of their 
 measures." 
 
 " A compulsory regulation which compelled the shopkeepers 
 to accept of the depreciated French assignats." 
 
 " "We may see in its history what would have been the late 
 of all the northern nations, if their fierce and unbending 
 temper bad not been temfered by the blood of a more advanced 
 civilisation." '^ 
 
 " The cities of Italy have been celebrated since the very 
 infancy of civilisation, from the marvellous celebrity, in arts 
 and arms, which their inhabitants have attained." 
 
 " The Archduke Charles being now assured of the direction 
 which Moreau had taken, directed Latour and the detached 
 parties to join him."
 
 MANNEllISM. 167 
 
 " The secret spring of all Ms actions was a deep and manly 
 feeling of piety which pervaded all his actions.'''' 
 
 " These constituted so many separate republics, who organ- 
 ised themselves after the model of the great French model.'''' 
 
 " Sir Sidney soon experienced the effects of that feeling, 
 from the treatment which he experienced from his enemies on 
 a reverse of fortune." 
 
 " Sir Sidney succeeded in getting off by means of fictitious 
 orders, which his friends procured, purporting to order his 
 transference from the Abbaye to the Temple." 
 
 " In the expectation of what he might expect from 
 the probity of the English Cabinet, Sir Sidney was not 
 mistaken." 
 
 " Those movements were all punctually executed, notwith- 
 standing the excessive rains which impeded the movements of 
 the troops." 
 
 " From the first the disp)osition of its columns, disposed in 
 part in echelon along the road, indicated an intention of 
 retreating in that direction." 
 
 " The same cliaracter has characterised their descendants in 
 modern times." 
 
 " By the Portuguese law every person is lerjally obliged to 
 join the battalions arrayed in defence of the country." 
 
 " The principle of admitting divorce in many cases was too 
 firmly established in the customs and habits of France, to admit 
 of its being shaken." 
 
 " The brave Switzers to the north of the St. Gothard evinced 
 the distingidshing features which in every age have distiu' 
 guished the nations of German or Teutonic descent." 
 
 " This circumstance renders his revelations of the political 
 arrangements which rendered vihGtMxse. all the efforts of the allies, 
 of peculiar value." 
 
 " They do not feel the ardent desire for elevation, which, in 
 free communities, elevates a few to greatness, and consigns 
 many to disappointment."
 
 168 MODERN ENGLISH LITEEATTJRE. 
 
 " Under the injluence of so many concurring causes the 
 French influence rapidly declined." 
 
 " The new ministry introduced at once a total change of 
 system, by the introduction of enlistments for a limited period 
 of service." 
 
 " The Cinca, a moicntain torrent which descends from the 
 mountains on the Catalouian frontier of the Ebro." 
 
 " They are totally incapable of appreciating the merits of a 
 system of defence, in which ultimate success was to be purchased 
 by a cautious system of defe^isive policy." 
 
 " It is impossible to doubt that Lords Grrey and Grenville 
 were right in the conditions which they so firmly insisted on as 
 a condition of their taking office." 
 
 " The high premium on gold was evidently among the poli- 
 tical or natural causes which at that period caused the precious 
 metals to be all drained out of the country." 
 
 " Seduced by these flattering appearances, the monarch 
 appears for a time to have trusted to the pleasing hope that 
 his difficulties were at an end." 
 
 " The contest in Catalonia during the whole Peninsular con- 
 test was of a very peculiar kind." 
 
 " This I'enowned fortress was of the very highest importance, 
 from its great strength and important situation." 
 
 " To assist him in the discharge of his numerous and onerous 
 duties, he was assisted by a great council, styled the Real 
 Audiencia." 
 
 " TlO favor the monopolies established \n favor of the domi- 
 nant I'ace, numerous restrictions were established." 
 
 " Many a gallant breast tliere throbbed for the decisive 
 moment which was to decide this long-continued duel between 
 the two nations." 
 
 " "Wellington was anxious to be relieved from all anxiety in 
 that quarter." 
 
 " Tlic army is kept up by a compulsory levy of so many per 
 hundred or thousand, levied under the authority of an imperial 
 ukase."
 
 MANNERISM. 1G9 
 
 " The delays consequent on the march of so many detached 
 bodies, delayed tlic commencement of the battle till seven." 
 
 " A large supply of mules was obtained to supply the great 
 destruction of those useful animals during the retreat from 
 Burgos." 
 
 " The crowd of camp followers and sutlers vrho followed in 
 their traiu, swept the ground so completely." 
 
 " Notwithstandiug his defeat at Castalla, and the subsequent 
 operations of Sir John Murray, of which an account will sub- 
 sequently be given." 
 
 " On one occasion, in the autumn of 1813, he had occa- 
 sion to pass a place where seventy caissons had been blown 
 up." 
 
 " "With these words he re-entered his cabinet, and remained 
 the whole remainder of the day wrapped in thought." 
 
 " Spalatro was taken the same day, and the entire reduction 
 of the province and eastern shores of the Adriatic effected, by 
 the reduction of the strong fortress of Zara." 
 
 " The strength of the garrison of the latter city, including 
 the marine forces, was twelve thousand strong." 
 
 " The peculiar political situation of their commander-in-chief 
 rendered it very doubtful whether they would render any very 
 efficient service." 
 
 " It is not the points of resemblance between Canada and the 
 United States of America, it is the points of their difference 
 which require to he p>ointed out." 
 
 " The usages of warfare, alike in ancient and modern times, 
 have usually saved from destruction, edifices which are dedi- 
 cated to the purposes of religion." 
 
 " Faihires to any great extent in the American provinces, 
 neyevfail to produce stagnation and distress," 
 
 " Obligations were regarded by the latter as obligatory, though 
 ruinous." 
 
 " The first of these was the establishnent of the Protestant, 
 as the established TcXigxow of Great Britain."
 
 170 MODEEN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 The reader will perceive that this is one of 
 those stereotyped blunders, so common in Sir 
 A. Alison. The following examples are taken 
 from his " History of Europe from the FaU of 
 Napoleon:" — 
 
 " The designs of Providence extend to the extension and dis- 
 persion of the species." 
 
 " The Whigs were fain to obtain the aid of any power which 
 could aid them in gaining a majority." 
 
 " The prejjarations for the grand expedition to South 
 America, which had been so long in preparation, went on 
 without intermission." 
 
 , " Nicholas undertook and successfully carried thr6ugh a still 
 more difficult ^indertaking ^ 
 
 " The concourse of strangers attracted by its celebrity, its 
 monuments, its galleries, its theatres, and its other attrac- 
 tions, was immense." 
 
 " These \Acev?it(i^ feelings arose from disappointed ambition, 
 rather than patriotic yee7z?jy." 
 
 " Ministers had information of their designs from the 
 information of Edwards." 
 
 " One only ray of Iwpe remained to the royal family from 
 the situation of the Duchess de Berri, which gave liopes that 
 an heir might yet be preserved for the monarchy and tlie liopes 
 of the assassin blasted." 
 
 " The Irish or Celtic character has in general been found 
 deficient in that practical turn and intuitive sagacity, which 
 is necessary to turn them to any good purpose." 
 
 " The contraction of the currency and consequent y^ZZ of the 
 prices of agricultural produce fifty per cent., fell with crusliing 
 effect upon the country." 
 
 " Ireland, a purely agricultural state, upon whicli the 
 fall of 50 per cent, in its produce fell with unmitigated 
 severity."
 
 MANNERISM. 171 
 
 " Verona exhibited more thau the usual union of rank, 
 genius, celebrity, and beauty, which are usualli/ attracted by 
 such assemblages," 
 
 " It led to one result of a very important character, and 
 which, in its ultimate results, was very prejudicial to the 
 Government." 
 
 " In addition to these there was superadded a still more fatal 
 and indelible source of discord." 
 
 " On the other side she touches those states divided by the 
 divisions of religion and race." 
 
 " In a few weeks he was at the head of 1,500 troops, chiefly 
 horsemen, at the Jicadoi which he entered Jassy." 
 
 " They consented to maintain such troops in them as might 
 be deemed necessary to maintain their tranquillity." 
 
 " A supplementary vote of 37,000,000 francs was voted to 
 the government without opposition." 
 
 " The foundlings, when they grow v\\),Ji7id they cannot, from 
 the want of considerable proprietors,^?jc? employment in the 
 country." 
 
 " Guizot has embodied in his views a more extensive vieio of 
 human afiairs." 
 
 " It ia not the least of the many attractions which perma- 
 nently attract strangers to the French capital." 
 
 " The grant has produced the magnificent addition which 
 now adds so much to the effect of that noble structure." 
 
 " By these appointments the long-established dominion of 
 the Tories, established by Mr. Pitt in 1784, was subverted." 
 
 " The constituents of the boroughs were persons renting 
 tenements, rented at from £10 to £20." 
 
 " Earl Grey was deluded in regard to the influence which 
 would direct these boroughs, by the ^-JlVliq general delusion \\h.\c\\ 
 was then so general.'''' 
 
 " If QXi.j proof oi it were requisite, it would be proved in 
 the fact that forty-two petitions against returns were pre- 
 sented in 1832."
 
 172 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " They then adopted the following resolution, which w^ith 
 some difficulty was adopted, and sent off to the Duke," 
 
 " So general was the feeling on this siihjecf, that it was made 
 the subject of a distinct pledge to the electors." 
 
 " Two great sins — one of omission, and one of commission — 
 have been committed by the states of Europe." 
 
 " Twelve persons w^ere seized in the cathedral under the 
 most suspicious circumstances, but five onli/ were convicted, 
 and that only of the minor offence of concealing a conspiracy, 
 which was only punishable wnth imprisonment." 
 
 " This act of grace embraced persons of all religious per- 
 suasions, not those only wlio had embraced the Lutheran 
 creed." 
 
 " Important restrictions fettered the powers of the central 
 asseaibly, and almost nullified \t^ iwivers." 
 
 " It was universally found in Germany that there were a 
 dozen applicants for evei'y vacant situation, how humble soever, 
 that fell vacant." 
 
 " Society was seated on as solid a basis, as its external 
 appearance appeared tranquil and unruffl.ed." 
 
 " In many of his works we see a complete acquaintance with 
 the secret springs of evil which are ever springing up in the 
 breast." 
 
 " His inmost soul was filled with the thrilling tliouglits which 
 emerge as it were througli the chinks of tliouglitT 
 
 " At their liead was a large part of the Chamber of Deputies, 
 lieaded by Marshal Clausel." 
 
 " A place not less important in working out moderation of 
 conduct, after the Reform Bill had passed, must be assigned to 
 the conduct of the Government." 
 
 " Such was the pitiable state of weakness to which the 
 British naval force had been reduced by the ceaseless reductions 
 of previous years." 
 
 " It soon appeared that these diplomatic courtesies meant 
 more than appeared on tlie surface."
 
 MANNERISM. 173 
 
 " The terrible War of Successiou liad now arrived at such a 
 ])oint that the royal authority seemed ou tlie point of being 
 destroyed." 
 
 " The Government vfere extremely disconcerted by this 
 acquittal, the more especially as the evidence, especially against 
 the military, was so decisive." 
 
 " The few who regarded them in their true light were 
 regarded aa mere dreamers." 
 
 " T\\\^ proposal was no great violation of the liberties of the 
 subject, for it only proposed to subject military persons to the 
 trial of their military superiors." 
 
 " At the same time a grant of £100,000, which had been 
 granted to the sufferers in St. Vincent, was extended to 
 £1,000,000, and made to extend to the sufferers under the 
 Jamaica insurrection." 
 
 But enough for the present of these plati- 
 tudes ! 
 
 The writer who, next to Sir Archibald, exhibits 
 most examples of this sort of phrase, is Sir Walter 
 Scott, in whose works, especially his " Life of 
 Napoleon," it is of frequent occurrence. 
 
 Among the numerous devices resorted to by 
 authors in our day, in order to secure unmerited 
 popularity and importance, may be reckoned the 
 adoption of mysterious, out-of-the-way "titles" 
 for their works. Some titles are studiously far- 
 fetched ; others are mere pegs to hang a subject 
 upon. Some promise more than they perform ; 
 others less. Your popular author knows enough 
 of his craft to be convinced that the maxim, omne 
 ignotum pro magnifico, holds good even in this
 
 174 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 age of discoveries ; and that a book with a plain, 
 honest name will not sell, while one with a 
 startling title is almost certain to become attrac- 
 tive. " Have you read the new novel ?" inquires 
 young miss of some female friend ; and as we no 
 longer live in an age when the question might be 
 answered without reference to the name of the 
 book, her friend naturally replies : " Which ? " — 
 " Why, Kaloolah, my dear." — " Kaloolah ! pray 
 what is that?" — "Oh, then, you have wo^ read 
 it. Beautiful ! most interesting ! and what a 
 funny name, too ! It was the curiosity to see 
 what might be found under such a strange title 
 that stimulated me to become acquainted with 
 the work ; and right glad I am of my venture. 
 Do get the book and read it : you will really find 
 it most interesting." Where is the young lady 
 that would not be anxious to read an interesting 
 work with a strange title, so as to be able to 
 name it, and talk of it to her companions ? 
 Erom this category, however, I must except 
 the Book of Travels known by the name of 
 "Eothen." The author of that very able work 
 stood in no need of such meretricious aids to 
 popularity. 
 
 It is melancholy to think how honest people 
 are defrauded of their money in consequence of the 
 fallacious titles that are now commonly adopted 
 for the worthless literature of the day. The use of 
 false titles ought to be made punishable at law,
 
 MANNERISM. 175 
 
 like the use of false coins, with this difference, 
 that the imposition in the latter case is less 
 injurious, because more easily detected, than in 
 the former, where you have often to wade through 
 a couple of volumes of sheer trash, before you can 
 discover that you have been duped.
 
 CEITICISM. 
 
 " Nearl}'- all Criticism, at the present day, is the public 
 eflect of private acquaintance." 
 
 SlE BULWEE LtTTON.
 
 CEITICISl. 
 
 Philosophical Criticism was almost unknown 
 in our literature until tlie beginning of the nine- 
 teenth century. At that period a Spirit of 
 Inquiry, engendered by the political doctrines 
 of the day, infused itself into every department 
 of literature and science ; and English Criticism 
 soon became remarkable for the extent of its 
 erudition and the boldness of its strictures. It 
 would have been fortunate for the cause of learn- 
 ing, if these advantages had been directed to 
 their proper ends. But no sooner did the Spirit 
 of Philosophy begin to manifest itself, than it 
 became allied to the Spirit of Party. 
 
 Of this unnatural alliance the natural offspring 
 were the JEcUnbiirgh and Quarterly Heviews ; for, 
 if it is true that those periodicals gave the first 
 indication of a departure from the timid and 
 time-serving disposition, which had theretofore 
 characterized our critical canons; it is equally 
 true that they were the first to prostitute the 
 Art of Criticism to the service of Politics and 
 
 N 2
 
 180 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Partisanship. Undoubted as was the ability of 
 the reviewers, and frequently as it was exercised 
 in the encouragement of talent and the further- 
 ance of truth, it, in too many instances, was 
 made subservient to the unworthy purposes of 
 hunting down a political opponent or bolstering 
 up a political ally. Whiggism and Toryism 
 were at the bottom of all their judgments; and 
 literary productions were not reviewed solely 
 with reference to their intrinsic merits : the 
 author's position and personal character were 
 also taken into the account, and made the 
 subject of acrimonious animadversion. 
 
 Criticism has long ceased to be a separate 
 province in the republic of letters. It is now 
 parcelled out indiscriminately to every pre- 
 tender, of whatever coterie or creed; and there 
 is scarcely a newspaper in the kingdom that 
 does not assert and exercise its right to review 
 the literature of the day. The consequence is, 
 that literary partisanship, which was confined at 
 first to our great critical organs, pervades almost 
 every branch of journalism at the present hour. 
 One newspaper gives a favourable account of a 
 book, because it has received an advertisement 
 from the author ; another, because it has received 
 none, declines to notice it. A third will eulogize 
 it because it comes out under the patronage of a 
 certain publishing firm; a fourth, for the same 
 reason, will cry it down. Where there is no
 
 CRITICISM. 181 
 
 particular motive of interest to form or guide 
 the reviewer's judgment, he contents himself with 
 adopting the first notice that comes in his way. 
 Some journal of weight originates an opinion 
 respecting the new work ; and the minor reviewer, 
 without giving himself the trouble to read the 
 book, adopts that opinion with such alterations 
 as may be necessary to make it tally with the 
 known principles of his journal. Should there be 
 any gross errors, any palpable blunders, in the 
 original notice, they are copied without suspicion 
 of their existence, and often go the round of the 
 press without detection. 
 
 These facts will account, to some extent, for 
 the inaccuracy of our judgments on contemporary 
 writers, as compared with those of a more remote 
 age. It is our peculiar boast that we evince a 
 more correct appreciation of our English classics 
 than was ever attained at any former period ; and 
 that the erudition which is lavished on the eluci- 
 dation of their works, is more varied and exten- 
 sive than was ever before brought to bear on the 
 subject. But these advantages are neglected or 
 misapplied, when we come to judge of our con- 
 temporaries. In our estimate of the dead, we are 
 guided by the wisdom and learning of the past : 
 in our appreciation of the living, we are led 
 astray by the passions and prejudices of recent 
 times. Our judgment, in the one case, is based 
 upon the experience of centuries : in the other it
 
 182 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 is warped by the fasliionable but distorted 
 standard of the passing hour. We see the 
 Elizabethan writers, as they made themselves; 
 we see the Victorian, as they are made by par- 
 tisanship and cant. Let any writer attempt to 
 detract from the merits of any of our old poets, 
 or ascribe excellences to them which they do not 
 possess ; and forthwith the organs of public 
 opinion will raise their voices in condemnation of 
 such a proceeding. As regards our contempo- 
 raries the case is different. Their works are not 
 always estimated according to their worth or 
 worthlessness, but according to the political lean- 
 ing of the reviewer, or the degree of popularity 
 which the authors enjoy, whatever may be the 
 source of that popularity. An author who, in 
 this way, has once become a favourite with the 
 public, may palm upon his patrons any quantity 
 of rubbish or twaddle. His established popu- 
 larity is his passport to favour ; while the obscure 
 or modest author, who has neither the means nor 
 the wish to seek access to public patronage by 
 such expedients, will meet with nothing but 
 indifference or contempt. 
 
 In illustration of these remarks we may cite 
 the instances of Dickens and Sir Bulwer Lytton. 
 Though both are highly popular, yet their popu- 
 larity is not wholly ascribable to their merits, 
 unquestionable as these are : it is partly the 
 result of favouritism or partisanship. Doubtless,
 
 CRITICISM. 183 
 
 it is chiefly to their great abilities that they are 
 indebted for the rank which they have attained ; 
 but it is not by those abilities alone that they 
 preserve that rank. A glaring proof of this was 
 aff'orded by the publication of Dickens's " Ame- 
 rican Notes for general Circulation." Here was 
 a work of the most ordinary and common-place 
 character, puffed into importance and circulation, 
 not on account of its novelty or interest, but 
 because it was written by Mr. Dickens. Had 
 the author been — 
 
 " A youtli to Fortune and to Fame unknown," 
 
 the book would scarcely have obtained any notice, 
 or would have been stigmatized as the production 
 of some " twaddling Tourist." One or two organs 
 of the press were honest enough to express their 
 opinion as to the spuriousness of the " Notes;" 
 but their " still small voices " were stifled in the 
 clamour of favouritism and the winnings of 
 cant. 
 
 Sir Bulwer Lytton is another instance. Having 
 attained the foremost rank as a novelist, nothing 
 will satisfy his ambition but the highest emi- 
 nence as a poet. His boldest flight in this 
 latter capacity is his poem of " King Arthur," 
 a performance which I name in this place, not 
 to detract from its merits, whatever these may 
 be, but to illustrate the fact that merit in a 
 writer is not, as it should be, the only source
 
 184 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 of his popularity. On the appearance of this 
 poem, it was eulogized in the following strain 
 by the " Sun " newspaper : — 
 
 " This grand epic of ' King Ai'tliur ' must hencefortli be 
 ranked amongst our national masterpieces. In it we behold 
 the crowning achievement of the author's life. His ambition 
 cannot rise to a higher altitude. He has accomplished that 
 which once had its seductions for the deathless and majestic 
 mind of Milton. He has now assumed a place among the 
 kings of English poetry." 
 
 This is the opinion of a political journal. Let us 
 hear that of the " Athenseum," a periodical of 
 acknowledged ability, of the A^'idest circulation, 
 peculiarly devoted to literature, and professedly 
 unconnected with politics : — 
 
 " Examples could be counted by the hundred exhibiting 
 carelessness in craftsmanship. This carelessness, too, takes 
 the forms of strange license. Adjectives are made into verbs, 
 Teutonicisms, Scotticisms, Grallicisms, strewn freely about. We 
 cannot allow this epic to decide its author's claim to enrol- 
 ment among the poets of England. There are few well- 
 constructed works of any extent, be the style what it may, 
 and the subject ever so remote and antipathetic, into which a 
 fairly cultivated and conscientious reader cannot read himself 
 by force of endeavour ; but this romance has resisted our 
 perseverance. Disappointed by the manner in which the 
 story is treated, we would fain find compensation in insulated 
 passages of wit, fancy, pathos, or terror. But here, too, 
 ' King Arthur ' has foiled us. It would have given us true 
 pleasure to welcome a good poem from Sir E. B. Lytton's 
 hand ; but this ' King Arthur ' is not." 
 
 The fact is, honest, impartial criticism is 
 almost unknown in our day. The system itself
 
 CRITICISM. 185 
 
 is radically vicious : authors, and not works, are 
 reviewed; and for one instance that may be 
 quoted of fairness and impartiality, fifty exam- 
 ples of injustice are everywhere apparent. Nay 
 more, a review or journal which should depart 
 from the common practice, and set out with 
 the determination to steer a straightforward 
 course, would soon find to its cost that honesty 
 is not the best policy ; and that, to insure an 
 ordinary share of subscribers, it must compete 
 with its contemporaries in partiality and cant. 
 Whenever a new work of any mark makes its 
 appearance, the few journals that are uncon- 
 nected with politics, will proceed at once to 
 review it; and, in general, you may rely on 
 the correctness of their decisions. Not so the 
 political journals : these, for the most part, 
 reserve their fire till primed by the author or 
 his friends. If the work possesses uncommon 
 merit, it will force itself into notice despite their 
 silence; but if it is a work of average ability, 
 a work, in fact, which, from its very character, 
 stands most in need of a helping hand and 
 a fair measure of critical justice, it is either 
 consigned to oblivion or " damned with faint 
 praise." 
 
 There is no living author perhaps who has 
 shown greater sensibility on the score of such 
 criticism than Sir Bulwer Lytton himself. In 
 " England and the English," he expatiates upon
 
 186 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 it at considerable length. One of the main causes 
 to which he ascribes its baneful effects is the 
 " Anonymous ;" a cause, however, which contri- 
 butes but slightly to their production. No doubt, 
 the " Anonymous " has its evils ; nor, as Sir 
 Bulwer seems to think, would these evils be 
 diminished by the " complete veil " which such 
 a character, thoroughly sustained, would throw 
 around the critic. We have had but one Junius, 
 and we are not desirous of the advent of Junius 
 the Second. The bitter personal hostility, the 
 insatiable rancour, the exaggerations and mis- 
 statements, which disgrace that writer's perform- 
 ances, would never have been carried to such an 
 unscrupulous extent, had his real name been 
 given to the world ; had he not resolved that " his 
 secret should perish with himself." On the other 
 hand, the anonymous writer, whose veil is incom- 
 plete, is as good as known; and any one, upon 
 inquiry, may learn who and what he is. If not 
 generally known, he cannot fail to become so, 
 sooner or later ; and his fairness is in proportion 
 to his regard for truth. Take, for example, Sir 
 Bulwer Lytton himself, who, in the " New 
 Tymon," a metrical satire, which he published 
 anonymously, but with an incomplete veil, has 
 been as just and manly, as he had been some 
 years before in his acknowledged prose work of 
 '' England and the English." The fact is, that a 
 thoroughly sustained character of the " Anony-
 
 CRITICISM. 187 
 
 mous," like Junius, only enables the writer to 
 " deal damnation round the land " with thorough 
 impunity, llccklessness then assumes the mask 
 of sincerity, and rigour degenerates into cant. 
 Junius, unknown, has obtained celebrity ; known, 
 he would have met with no small share of 
 contempt.* 
 
 * Notwithstanding tbe diversity of opinion that still pre- 
 vails on the vexed question of the authorship of the " Letters 
 of Junius," it would be idle to deny that the greatest amount 
 of evidence is in favour of the claim of Sir Philip Francis. 
 That Burke was in the secret, and suggested some of the 
 thoughts and sentiments, scattered through the " Letters," 
 seems very probable. But everytliing goes to show that 
 Francis was the ivriter ; and that the language and style 
 are those of the man who " wished that Burke would let 
 him teach him English," and who insisted that " polish is 
 material to preservation." 
 
 Among the circumstantial proofs in favour of Francis, 
 adduced by Mr. Wade (Bohn's edition, 1850), is the particular 
 expression so, of which he cites the following instances from 
 the writings of Sir Philip Francis : — • 
 
 Sir P. Francis. — " I slave myself to death, and write and 
 speak on instant impressions ; so I am sorry if I have offended 
 you." — Junius Identified. 
 
 Sir P. Francis to Mr. Bwrlce, Feb. 19, 1790. — " I wish you 
 were at the devil for giving me all this trouble ; and so 
 farewell." 
 
 Sir P. Francis, August 20, 1804. — " My present intention 
 is to visit you about the 10th of next month, or perhaps a little 
 sooner; and so, dear children, farewell." — Chatham Corre- 
 spondence, vol. iv. 
 
 Mr. "Wade then cites this parallel instance from Junius : — 
 
 Junius. — " Pray tell me whether George Onslow means to 
 keep his word with you ;" and ends, " and so I wish you a 
 good night." — Private Letter to Woodfall, No. 5.
 
 188 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Neither would the practice of affixing the 
 writer's name, as recommended by Sir Bulwer 
 
 To this instance I am able to add seven others from Junius, 
 which appear to have escaped the notice of Mr. Wade : — 
 
 " Tou seem to liave dropped the aifair of your regiment ; 
 so let it rest." — Letter to Sir W. Draper, No. 7. 
 
 " "Whenever you have anything to communicate to me, let 
 the hint be thus, C at the usual place ; and so direct to 
 Mr. John 'Eveilj:''— Private Letter to Wood/all, No. 5. 
 
 " Some others of my letters may be added, and so throw 
 out a hint that you have reason to suspect they are by the same 
 author." — Private Letter to Woo Jf all, No. 7. 
 
 " This paper should properly have appeared to-morrow, but 
 I could not compass it ; so let it be announced to-morro w, 
 and printed Wednesday." — Private Letter to Woodfall, No. 24. 
 
 " I have no doubt of what you say about David Garrick, so 
 drop the note." — Private Letter to Woodfall, No. 43. 
 
 " I think I have now done my duty by you, so farewell." — 
 Private Letter to Woodfall, No. 46. 
 
 " As to other passages, I have no favour or affection, so let 
 all go:'— Private Letter to Wilkes, No. 72. 
 
 It has been asserted that Sir Philip Francis, in order to en- 
 courage the belief that he was Junius, had made a practice of 
 imitating the style of that writer. This assertion is sufficiently 
 futile in itself; but its absurdity is clearly demonstrated by 
 the coincidences which I have pointed out. Junius' s " Private 
 Letters" to Woodfall, which are shown to contain repeated 
 instances of the peculiar expression so, were not published till 
 1813 ; while the letters of Sir Philip Francis, in which the same 
 expression is of frequent occurrence, were all written several 
 years before that period. In 1790 and 1804, Sir Philip could 
 have no knowledge of the " Private Letters " to Woodfall, 
 except as the writer of them ; and when, in his correspondence 
 during those years, he made use of expressions and phrases 
 similar to those in the '' Private Letters," it is clear that he was 
 imitating (all the while unconsciously) no one but himself. 
 In no other sense can he be said to have imitated Junius.
 
 CRITICISM. 189 
 
 Lytton, be attended with unalloyed good. Many 
 of the evils of the present system would still 
 prevail, and others, now unknown, would be 
 introduced. Look at any of the remarkable 
 critiques that have been published with the 
 writer's name : what do you find ? In every 
 instance great ability, an appreciation of certain 
 beauties, an eye for certain defects, much erudi- 
 tion and research. But the partiality in one case, 
 the personal antipathy in another, the political 
 bias in a third, the want of discrimination in 
 some, the exaggeration of excellences or defects 
 by all, are conspicuous throughout. In almost 
 every instance the reviewer seems to be prompted 
 by a vulgar desire to gratify his partiality or dis- 
 like, rather than by the commendable wish to do 
 justice to the author, or to instruct the public 
 taste. This is a deplorable state of things, and 
 the true cause of it is to be found in the pre- 
 valence of dishonesty and cant, and not in the 
 publication or concealment of the critic's name. 
 Criticism, in fact, has become a trade, and so 
 long as that lasts, partiality and injustice will 
 be persevered in, whether the critic's name is 
 given or withheld. 
 
 Before criticism became a trade, there was some 
 sincerity about it ; but of late years it has, like 
 everything else, put on the semblances of cant. 
 One of the best of our modern critics, William 
 Hazlitt, is also one of the most infected with this
 
 190 MODERN ENGLISH LITEHATURE. 
 
 disease. His critical acumen was very great, and 
 when he chose to exercise it without regard to 
 his personal or political feelings, he could do so 
 with great power and brilliant effect. In gene- 
 ral, however, the tone of his criticism betrays 
 either prejudice or partisanship ; and as to cant, 
 he speaks of it with an amusing unconsciousness, 
 like one who is free from it himself. A curious 
 instance of this occurs in his remarks upon 
 Byron : — 
 
 " There is one subject on which Lord Byron is fond of 
 writing, on which I wish he would not write — Bonaparte. 
 Not that I quarrel with his writing for him or against him, 
 but with his writing both for him and against him." — Lectures 
 on the Englisli Poets. 
 
 What, let me ask, is the meaning of this ? At 
 first it has a look of conceit about it, but at 
 bottom it is nothing but cant. Hazlitt was a 
 great admirer of Bonaparte and a small admirer 
 of Byron. He liked the one as much as he dis- 
 liked the other. According to his notions of 
 poetic justice, because Byron wrote in praise of 
 Bonaparte, he should not have written in dis- 
 paragement of him. If Byron, like some of 
 Hazlitt' s favourite poets, had chosen idiots and 
 asses for his themes, he might have written 
 whatever he pleased. But because he meddles 
 with Bonaparte, he must restrict the exercise of 
 the splendid God's gift with which he is endowed, 
 to such portraiture of him as shall be acceptable
 
 CRITICISM. 191 
 
 to Hazlitt. Surely, if any great character in 
 modern times lias pursued a career of good and 
 evil, alternately presenting themes for censure 
 and for praise, it is Bonaparte : and if any 
 modern poet was gifted with genius to do justice 
 to both, it is Lord Byron. But Hazlitt, the king 
 of the critics, has put his veto upon Byron's 
 poetic miracles, and the thing must not be. 
 
 " De par le Eoi, defences a Dieu 
 De faire miracles en ce lieu." 
 
 This sentence of interdiction by the king of the 
 critics against the king of the poets, is amusing 
 enough ; but still more amusing are the rea- 
 sons assigned for it. " Besides," says Hazlitt, 
 " Bonaparte is a subject for history and not for 
 poetry." A motive so flimsy, so thoroughly 
 cantish, could hardly be assigned for interdicting 
 the exercise of poetic power. Yet so it is : the 
 critic Hazlitt issues his canons, and one of these 
 is that, because a thing belongs to history, it is 
 excluded from the province of poetry. True, his- 
 tory is not always poetry; but why should not 
 poetry be sometimes history ? Most of the great 
 poems in all languages are to some extent his- 
 torical : and there is so much poetry in the 
 history of Bonaparte, that almost every poet, 
 from Lebrun to Beranger, has made him the 
 subject of his highest efforts. Moreover, a con- 
 siderable portion of the poetry of our generation
 
 192 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 derives its significance from the history of this 
 very man, Bonaparte ; and the chief occupation 
 of after-ages will be to turn to account the 
 poetical materials with which it abounds. How 
 then are we to explain critic Hazlitt's veto in 
 this business ? The only possible explanation of 
 it is that we live in an age of verbal decorum. 
 
 Another noticeable sample of critical cant in 
 Hazlitt has reference to Moore. Speaking of 
 " Lalla E;Ookh " he says : — 
 
 " Mr. Moore ought not to have written Lalla BooM, even 
 for three thousand guineas. His fame is wortli more than that." 
 — Lectures on the English Poets. 
 
 That Moore's fame is worth more than three 
 thousand guineas (the price he received for the 
 poem in question) no one will deny. A poet's 
 fame is worth more than all the gold in Cali- 
 fornia. But how far did Moore's fame suffer by 
 his writing " Lalla Bookh ? " That poem is re- 
 garded by some as his best performance, and by 
 all as the one which, next to the *' Irish Melo- 
 dies," has contributed most to his fame. And 
 even supposing that " Lalla Bookh " has not 
 enhanced its author's fame, can it be said, with 
 any sincerity or truth, that it has detracted 
 from it ? 
 
 The author of " Curiosities of Literature " 
 appears to most advantage when transcribing his 
 anecdotes from their foreign sources ; but when- 
 ever he ventures upon any *' Curiosities " of his
 
 CRITICISM. 193 
 
 own, he seldom fails to make himself ridiculous. 
 Witness the following bit of philosophico-critical 
 cant, on the subject of the lost treasures of 
 literature : — 
 
 " I believe that a philosoplier would consent to lose any poet 
 to regain an liistorian. Nor is this unjust ; for some future 
 poet may arise to supply the vacant place of a lost poet, but 
 it is not so with the historian. Fancy may be supplied, but 
 truth, once lost in the annals of mankind, leaves a chasm 
 never to be filled." — Curiosities. 
 
 I believe it would be difficult to crowd into 
 the limited compass of six lines such another 
 combination of ignorance, absurdity, unfounded 
 assumption, false induction, vitiated taste, and 
 sentimental cant, as is exhibited in the above 
 passage. Did D' Israeli weigh the sentiments 
 of philosophers in the circumscribed scale of 
 his own mind ? Or was he ignorant of the 
 fact, that there is a greater sympathy between 
 Philosophy and Poetry than between Philosophy 
 and History ; and that a true philosopher would 
 not give up one of our great poets for all the his- 
 torians that ever lived ? " Some future poet may 
 arise to supply the place of the lost poet, but it is 
 not so with the historian." Let us suppose such 
 a poet as Homer, or Virgil, or Dante, or Shak- 
 speare, to be irretrievably lost ; how soon does 
 D' Israeli think that such another would arise to 
 fill his place ? Is our philosoplier aware that 
 every great nation is capable, at any stage of its 
 
 o
 
 194 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 progress, of producing great historians ; and that 
 it is seldom vouchsafed to any nation, during 
 the whole of its progress, to produce a great 
 poet ? At this day (1849) Britain can boast the 
 possession of five of her greatest historians, 
 while she can scarcely exhibit so much as the 
 shadow of a great poet. As a climax to this cant 
 we have a contrast between " Eancy " and the 
 " truth of History." It seems never to have 
 occurred to D' Israeli that history is, in general, 
 but a tissue of fables : that the best of it is 
 that which is most remote from truth : that 
 poetry, on the other hand, is necessarily true : 
 that it is good, better, best, in proportion to the 
 amount of truth it reveals : that (Holy Writ 
 apart), it is the only unadulterated truth under 
 the sun. There is more truth in one line of the 
 " Iliad " than in the whole of the " Cyropcedia ;" 
 in one passage of Shakspeare than in Hume and 
 Smollett together. 
 
 The eloquent language of D'Alambert, when 
 speaking of E-ichardson as a romance writer, is 
 applicable to the great poet : — 
 
 " I dare pronounce that the most veritable history is full of 
 fictions and thy romances full of truths. History paints some 
 individuals : thou paintest the human species. History attri- 
 butes to some individuals what they have neither said nor 
 done : all that thou attributest to man, he has said and done. 
 History embraces but a portion of duration, a point on the 
 surface of tlie globe : tlioii liast embraced all spaces and all 
 times."
 
 CRITICISM. ' 195 
 
 But we need not have recourse to the enthu- 
 siasm of a foreigner for the refutation of 
 D' Israeli's paradox. Walter Savage Landor, a 
 writer of the highest intellectual range, has 
 given us, in the following words, his estimate 
 of the truth of history : — 
 
 " "We make a bad bargain when we excliange poetry for 
 truth in the aftairs of ancient times, and by no means a good 
 one in va\y y —Pericles and Aspasin. 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " Perhaps at no time will there be written, by the most 
 accurate and faithful historian, so much of truth as vuitruth." 
 —Ibid. 
 
 To these I shall add the testimony of a writer 
 of very little weight in my judgment, but whose 
 authority is of great value in the eyes of D' Israeli : 
 " Memoirs are often dictated by the fiercest 
 spirit of personal rancour, and then histories are 
 composed from memoirs. Where is the truth ? " 
 — This writer is no other than Isaac D' Israeli 
 himself, but Isaac D' Israeli uninfluenced by the 
 spirit of cant. 
 
 In the foregoing remarks I have endeavoured 
 to sketch the condition of criticism in the nine- 
 teenth century. Of its unsettled state, its con- 
 tradictory decisions, and its utter worthlessness 
 as a criterion of public taste, the reader wiU be 
 able to judge by a few samples from the great 
 masters of the art. I shall first give the name 
 
 o 2
 
 196 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATUUE. 
 
 of the author criticised, and then the judgments 
 and names of the critics. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 " Scotland is proud of ber great national minstrel ; and as 
 long as she is Scotland will wash and warm the laurels round 
 his brow with rains and winds that will ever keep brightening 
 their glossy verdure. The truth is, that Scotland had forgotten 
 her own history, till Sir "Walter burnished it all up till it glowed 
 again — it is hard to say whether in his poetry or in his prose 
 the brightest — and tlie past became the present. Scott brought 
 his power to bear on his own people, and has achieved an 
 immortal triumph." — Wilson. Recreations of Ohristoplier 
 North. 
 
 " There is something meretricious in Sir Walter's ballad 
 rhymes. There is a glittering veil thrown over the features 
 of Nature and of old Homance. The details are lost or shaped 
 into flimsy and insipid decorum ; and the truth of feeling and 
 of circumstance into a tinkling sound, a tinsel common-place. 
 Sir Walter has either not the faculty or not the will to impreg- 
 nate his subject by an effort of pure invention. The execution 
 also is much upon a par with the more ephemeral eff"usions of 
 the press. It is light, agreeable, effeminate, diffiise. As to the 
 rest, and compared with true and great poets, our Scottish 
 minstrel is but a ' metre ballad-monger.' The definition of his 
 poetry is pleasing superficiality. We would rather have writ- 
 ten one song of Burns, or a single passage in Lord Byron's 
 ' Heaven and Earth,' or one of Wordsworth's fancies and good- 
 nights, than all his epics." — Hazlitt. The Spirit of the Age, 
 
 William Wordsworth. 
 
 " In describing external Nature as she is, no poet perhaps 
 has excelled Wordsworth — not even Thomson: in embuing 
 her and making her pregnant with spiritualities, till the
 
 CRITICISM. 197 
 
 mighty mother teems with beauty far more beauteous than 
 ever she had rejoiced in till such communion — he excels all 
 the brotherhood. Tliereiu lies his especial glory, and therein 
 the immortal evidences of the might of his creative imagi- 
 nation. Tlie ' Excursion ' is a series of poems all swimming in 
 the liglit of poetry ; some of them sweet and simple ; some 
 elegant and graceful ; some beautiful and most lovely ; some 
 of strength and state ; some majestic ; some magnificent ; 
 some sublime." — AYilson. Recreations of Cliristcyplier North. 
 
 " The ' Excursion ' is longer, weaker, and tamer than any of 
 Mr, "Wordsworth's other productions, with less boldness of 
 originality and less even of that extreme simplicity and lowli- 
 ness of tone which wavei'ed so prettily in the Lyrical Ballads 
 between silliness and pathos. The volume before us, if we 
 were to describe it very shortly, we should characterise as a 
 tissue of moral and devotional ravings, in which innumerable 
 changes are rung upon a few very simple and familiar ideas ; 
 but with such an accompaniment of long words, long sen- 
 tences, and unwieldy phrases, and such a hubbub of strained 
 raptures and fantastical sublimities, that it is often difficult 
 for the most skilful and attentive student to obtain a glimpse 
 of the author's meaning — and altogether impossible for an 
 ordinary reader to conjecture what he is about. It abounds in 
 mawkish sentiment, inflated description, and details of pre- 
 posterous minuteness ; in truisms, cloudy, wordy, and incon- 
 ceivably prolix ; in rapturous mysticism, mock majesty, and 
 solemn verbosity ; in revolting incongruities, and an utter 
 disregard of probability or nature ; in puerile singularity, and 
 an affected passion for simplicity and for humble life, most 
 awkwardly combined with a taste for mystical refinements and 
 all the gorgeousness of obscure phraseology." — Jefi'eey. 
 Essays. 
 
 Samuel Hogers. 
 
 " There is the ' Pleasures of Memory ' — an elegant, graceful, 
 beautiful, pensive, and pathetic poem, which it does one's 
 eyes good to gaze on, one's ears good to listen to, one's very
 
 198 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 fingers good to touch, so smooth is the versification and the 
 wire-wove paper. Never will the * Pleasures of Memory ' be 
 forgotten till the world is in its dotage." — "VVtlson. Recrea- 
 tions of Christopher North. 
 
 " The transition from these to Mr. Eogers's ' Pleasures of 
 Memory ' is not far. He is a very lady-like poet : he is an 
 elegant but feeble writer. He wraps up obvious thoughts 
 in a glittering cover of fine words ; is full of enigmas with 
 no meaning to them ; is studiously inverted, and scrupulously 
 far-fetched ; and his verses are poetry, chiefly because no par- 
 ticle, line, or syllable of them reads like prose. He differs 
 from Milton in this respect, who is accused of having inserted 
 a number of prosaic lines in ' Paradise Lost.' This kind of 
 poetry, which is a more minute and inoffensive species of the 
 Delia Cruscan, is like the game of asking what one's thoughts 
 are like. It is a tortuous, tottering, wriggling, fidgety trans- 
 lation of everything from the vulgar tongue into all the tanta- 
 lizing, teasing, tripping, lisping, onimminee-pimminee of the 
 highest brilliancy and fashion of poetical diction. You have 
 nothing like truth of nature or simplicity of expression. The 
 fastidious and languid reader is never shocked by meeting, 
 from the rarest chance in the world, with a single homely 
 phrase or intelligible idea. You cannot see the thought for 
 the ambiguity orthe language, the figure for the finery, the 
 picture for the varnish. The whole is refined and frittered 
 away into an appearance of the most evanescent brilliancy and 
 tremulous imbecility. There is no other fault to be found with 
 the ' Pleasures of Memory,' than a want of taste and genius." — 
 Hazlitt. Lectures on the Eiifjllsh Poets. 
 
 Thomas Cmnphell. 
 
 " What shall we say of the ' Pleasures of Hope ' ? That 
 the harp from which that music breathed was an ^olian 
 harp placed in the window of a high hall, to catch airs from 
 heaven, when heaven was glad, as well she might be, witli 
 such moon and such stars, and streamcring half the region
 
 CIIITICISM. 199 
 
 with a maguificent aurora borealis. JS^ow the music deepens 
 into a majestic march — now it swells into a holy hymn ; and 
 now it dies away elegiac-like, as if mourning over a tomb. 
 Vague, indefinite, uncertain, dream-like, and visionary all ; but 
 never else than beautiful ; and ever and anon, we know not why, 
 sublime. In his youth Campbell lived where ' distant isles 
 could hear the loud Corbrechtan roar,' and sometimes his 
 poetry is like that whirlpool — the sound as of the wheels 
 of many chariots." — Wilson. Recreations of ChristopTier 
 JSforth. 
 
 " Campbell's ' Pleasures of Hope ' is of the same school, in 
 which a painful attention is paid to the expression, in propor- 
 tion as there is little to express, and the decomposition of 
 prose is substituted for the composition of poetiy. Thei-e are 
 painters who trust more to the setting of their pictures than to 
 the truth of the likeness. Mr. Campbell always seems to me 
 to be thinking how his poetry will look when it comes to be 
 hot-pressed on superfine wove paper ; to have a dispropor- 
 tionate eye to points and commas, and a dread of errors of the 
 press. He writes according to established etiquette. He offers 
 the muses no violence. "When he launches a sentiment that 
 you think will float him triumphantly for once to the bottom of 
 the stanza, he stops short at the end of the first or second line, 
 and stands shivering on the brink of beautj^, afraid to trust 
 himself to the fathomless abyss. Tutus nmium, timidusque 
 procellarum. His very circumspection betrays him. The poet, 
 as well as the woman, that deliberates, is undone. He is much 
 like a man whose heart fails hira just as he is going up in a 
 balloon, and who breaks his neck by flinging himself out of it, 
 when it is too late. Mr. Campbell, too, often maims and 
 mangles his ideas before they are full-formed, to form them to 
 the Procrustes' bed of Criticism ; or strangles his intellectual 
 offspring in the birth, lest it should come to an untimely end 
 in the 'Edinburgh Keview.' " — Hazlitt. Lectures on the 
 JEnglish Foets.
 
 200 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATTJUE. 
 
 Mobert Southey. 
 
 " Southey, amoug our living poets, stands aloof and * alone 
 in his glory;' for he alone, of them all, has adventured to 
 illustrate in poems of magnitude, the different characters, 
 customs, and manners of nations. ' Joan of Arc' is an English 
 and French story ; ' Thalaba,' Arabian ; ' Kehama,' Indian ; 
 ' Madoc,' AVelsh and American ; and ' Eoderick,' Spanish and 
 Moorish : nor would it be easy to say (setting aside the first, 
 which was a very youthful work) in which of these noble 
 poems Mr. Southey has most successfully performed an achieve- 
 ment entirely beyond the power of any but the highest genius. 
 Seldom, if ever, has one and the same poet exhibited such 
 power in such different kinds of poetry — in truth a master, and 
 in fiction a magician. The greatness as well as the originality 
 of Southey' s genius, is seen in the conception of every one of 
 his five chief works. They bear throughout the impress of 
 original power, and breathe a moral charm in the midst of 
 the wildest, and sometimes even extravagant, imaginings, that 
 shall preserve them for ever from oblivion, embalming them 
 in the spirit of delight and of love." — "Wilsok. Becreations 
 of Christoplier North. 
 
 " Of Mr. Southey's larger epics I have but a faint recollec- 
 tion at this distance of time, but all that I remember of them 
 is mechanical and extravagant, heavy and superficial. His 
 affected, disjointed style is well imitated in the * llejected 
 Addresses.' The difference between him and Sir Richard 
 Blackmore seems to be that the one is heavy and the other 
 light, the one solemn and the other pragmatical, the one 
 phlegmatic and the other flippant ; and that there is no Gay 
 in the present time to give a Catalogue Eaisonnc of the per- 
 formances of the living undertaker of epics. ' Kehama ' is a 
 loose, sprawling figure, such as we see cut out of wood or 
 paper, and pulled or jerked with wire or thread to make sudden 
 or surprising motions, without meaning, grace, or nature in 
 them. The little he has done of true or sterling excellence 
 is overloaded by the quantity of iudifterent matter which he
 
 CRITICISM. 201 
 
 turns out every year, ' prosing or versing,' with equally 
 mechanical and irresistible facility. His essays, or political 
 and moral disquisitions, are not so full of original matter as 
 Montaigne's. They are second or third rate compositions in 
 that class." — Hazlitt. Lectures on the English Poets. 
 
 Joanna BailUe. 
 
 " But our own Joanna has been visited with a loftier in- 
 spiration. She has created tragedies which Sophocles — or 
 Euripides — nay even ^schylus himself might have feared in 
 competition for the crown. She is our Tragic Queen ; but she 
 belongs to all places as to all times. Plays on the passions ! 
 ' How absurd,' said one philosophical writer : ' this will never 
 do.' It has done — perfectly. "What, pray, is the aim of all 
 tragedy ? The Stagyrite has told us — to purify the passions 
 by pity and terror. They ventilate and cleanse the soul till 
 its atmosphere is like that of a calm, bright summer day. All 
 plays therefore must be on the passions. One passion was 
 constituted sovereign of the soul in each glorious tragedy — 
 sovereign sometimes by divine right — sometimes an usui'per — 
 generally a tyrant. In ' De Montfort ' we behold the horrid 
 reign of Hate. But in his sister — the seraphic sway of Love. 
 ' Count Basil ! ' A woman only could have imagined that 
 divine drama. How different the love Basil feels for Victoria 
 from Antony's for Cleopatra! Pure, deep, high, as the heaven 
 and the sea. Yet on it we see him borne away to shame, 
 destruction, and death. To paint bad passions is not to praise 
 them ; they alone can paint them well who hate, fear, or pity 
 them; and therefore Baillie has done so — nay, start not — 
 better than Byron," — Wilson. Recreations of Ghristoflier 
 North. 
 
 " Miss Baillie must make up this trio of female poets. Her 
 tragedies and comedies, one of each to illustrate each of the 
 passions, separately from the rest, are heresies in the dramatic 
 art. She is a unitarian in poetry. "With lier the passions are 
 like the French Eepublic, one and indivisible ; they are not so
 
 202 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 in nature or in Shakspeare. Mr. Southey has, I believe, some- 
 where expressed an opinion that the * Basil ' of Miss Baillie is 
 superior to ' Romeo and Juliet.' I shall not stay to contradict 
 him. On the other hand, I prefer her ' De Montfort,' which was 
 condemned on the stage, to some later tragedies which have 
 been more fortunate. Having thus expressed my sense of the 
 merits of this authoress, I must add that her comedy of ' The 
 Election,' performed last summer at the Lyceum with indifferent 
 success, appears to me the perfection of baby-house theati'icals. 
 Everything in it has such a do-one-good air, is so insipid and 
 amiable. Virtue seems such a pretty playing at make-believe, and 
 vice is such a naughty word. It is a theory of some French 
 author, that little girls ought not to be suffered to have dolls to 
 play with, to call them fretty dears, to admire their black eyes 
 and cherry cheeks, to lament and bewail over them, if they fall 
 down and hurt their faces, to praise them when they are good 
 and scold them when they are naughty. It is a school of 
 affectation. Miss Baillie has profited by it. She treats her 
 grown men and women as little girls treat their dolls — makes 
 moral puppets of them, pulls the wires, and they talk virtue 
 and act vice according to their cue and the title prefixed to 
 each comedy or tragedy, not from any real passions of their 
 own, or love either of virtue or vice." — Hazlitt. Lectures 
 on tlte English Poets. 
 
 These are a few samples of modern Criticism. 
 Among sucli a heap of contradictions, how is it 
 possible to form a correct idea of the merits of 
 an author ? According to Wilson, Scotland has 
 reason to be proud of her great national minstrel, 
 who has achieved an immortal triumph. In the 
 opinion of Hazlitt, the Scottish minstrel is but a 
 metre ballad-monger, and the definition of his 
 poetry is a pleasing superficiality. In Words- 
 worth's "Excursion," Wilson sees nothing but 
 elegance, grace, beauty, loveliness, strength, state,
 
 CPvITICISM. 203 
 
 majesty, magnificence, and sublimity. The same 
 poem is defined by Jeffrey as a tissue of moral 
 and devotional ravings, a hubbub of strained 
 raptures and revolting incongruities. According 
 to Wilson, the " Pleasures of Memory" is a beau- 
 tiful and pathetic poem, not to be forgotten till 
 the world is in its dotage. In the estimation 
 of Hazlitt, the poem is feeble and far-fetched, a 
 compound of ambiguity, finery, and varnish, of 
 evanescent brilliancy and tremulous imbecility. 
 In Wilson's opinion, the music that breathes 
 through the "Pleasures of Hope" is caught 
 from heaven, now deepening into a majestic 
 march, now swelling into a holy hymn, the 
 sound as of the wheels of many chariots, at once 
 beautiful and sublime. In the opinion of Hazlitt, 
 the poem is nothing but the decomposition of 
 prose, a mass of maimed and mangled ideas. 
 Southey's epics, according to Wilson, are an 
 achievement of the highest genius, bearing 
 throughout the impress of original power, and 
 embalmed in the spirit of delight and love. 
 Hazlitt deems the said epics to be mechanical 
 and extravagant, heavy and superficial. Again, 
 if we believe Wilson, Miss Baillie's tragedies are 
 superior to those of Sophocles, Euripides, and 
 even ^Eschylus. Her dramas are glorious, divine, 
 and such as only a woman could have imagined. 
 If we give ear to Hazlitt, Miss Baillie treats her 
 men and women as little girls treat their dolls ;
 
 204 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 makes moral puppets of tliem, pulls tlic wires, 
 and tliey talk virtue or vice according to their 
 cue. 
 
 There are otlier contradictions less apparent 
 but equally absurd. Por instance, Sir B. Lytton 
 maintains that Lord Eyron's tragedies are supe- 
 rior to his Eastern Tales; and Hazlitt asserts 
 that Lord Byron's tragedies are not equal to his 
 other poems; that "they have neither action, 
 character, nor interest, but are a sort of gossamer 
 tragedies, spun out and glittering, and spreading 
 a flimsy veil over the face of nature;" nay, that 
 Lord Byron is " the least dramatic of living 
 poets." Crabbe is described by Lord Byron as 
 
 " Nature's sternest painter, yet her best." 
 
 And Hazlitt affirms that " Crabbe, for the most 
 part, is only a poet, because he writes in lines 
 of ten svUables." " Of all the son^-writers that 
 ever warbled, or chaunted, or sung, the best, in 
 our estimation, is verily none other than Thomas 
 Moore;" so says Wilson. "Mr. Moore," says 
 Hazlitt, " has a little mistaken the art of poetry 
 for the cosmetic art. His dissipated, fulsome, 
 painted, patch-work style may succeed in the 
 levity and languor of the boudoir, but it is not 
 the style of Parnassus, nor a passport to immor- 
 tality. He converts the wild harp of Erin into 
 a musical snuff-box." Wordsworth is proclaimed 
 by Wilson as the high-priest of nature; and
 
 CRITICISM. 205 
 
 Hazlitt asserts tliat if Wordsworth had lived in 
 any other period of the workl, he wonkl never 
 have been heard of. Taylor, speaking of Words- 
 worth's "Excursion," says, that in a poem upon 
 a large scale, " some parts should be bordering 
 upon prose, some absolutely prosaic." Wilson, an 
 enthusiastic admirer of the same poem, says that 
 "verse, the moment it becomes prosaic, goes to 
 the dogs." Alison describes, in glowing lan- 
 guage, the "philosophical mind" of Sir James 
 Mackintosh, his "luminous orations," and the 
 "wisdom of his political essays," and compares 
 him to Bacon and Burke, as " qualified to direct 
 the thoughts of future times." Of the same Sir 
 James Mackintosh, Coleridge says, that "after 
 all his fluency and brilliant erudition, you can 
 rarely carry ofiP anything worth preserving. You 
 might not improperly write upon his forehead, 
 * Warehouse to let.' " 
 
 Such is Criticism in the nineteenth century ! 
 There is nothing, however, that affords a clearer 
 demonstration of its abuse than to find the same 
 critic pronouncing contradictory judgments on 
 the same author. That one critic should differ 
 from another is no more than what may be 
 expected in the present unsettled state of the art ; 
 but that the same critic should be opposed to 
 himself is a circumstance peculiar to the canting 
 age in which we live. Hazlitt, in a criticism on 
 Lord Byron, says, " he had rather be Sir Walter
 
 206 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Scott, the author of ' Waverley,' than Lord Byron, 
 a hundred times over." And in a critique on 
 Sir Walter Scott, he says, *' he would rather 
 have written a single passage in Lord Byron's 
 * Heaven and Earth,' than all Sir AValter's epics ;'* 
 meaning, the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," 
 "Bokeby," " Marmion," and the "Lady of the 
 Lake." 
 
 So far, although there may be much singularity 
 of opinion, there is no contradiction. The critic 
 prefers " Waverley" to all Byron's poetry a hun- 
 dred times over ; and he prefers one passage in 
 one of Byron's poems to all the poetry of Scott. 
 We only infer from this, that he entertains the 
 most contemptible opinion of Scott's poetry. Now 
 let us hear what he says of that poetry in another 
 place. 
 
 " Sir Walter is the most popular of all the poets of the 
 present day, and deservedly so." 
 
 Can anything be more glaring than the contra- 
 diction involved in these propositions ? Of course, 
 we do not require to be told by Hazlitt or any 
 one else that the most worthless poetry may 
 become the most popular. We have an existing 
 proof of that fact in the popularity of Mr. Bobert 
 Montgomery's poetry. But we had yet to learn, 
 and Hazlitt, of all modern critics, was bold 
 enough to tell us, that the most contemptible 
 poetry deserves to be the most popular. A few
 
 CRITICISM. 207 
 
 lines farther on the same critic says again of 
 Scott's poetry : — 
 
 " It lias ncitlior depth, hciglit, nor bi-eadth in it ; neither 
 uncommon strength nor uncommon refinement of thouglit, 
 sentiment, or language : it has no originality." 
 
 Now, it must he obvious to every one that the 
 thing to which this description applies, lacks all 
 the essentials of poetry ; is in fact no poetry at 
 all. You may say anything else you please of it ; 
 when you have said this much, you have said 
 enough to exclude it from the domain of poetry. 
 This is exactly the sort of stuff that is sure to 
 become popular at the present day, when the 
 popularity of a thing increases in proportion to 
 its nothingness. A parallel this for the " lucus a 
 non lucendo." The more a man's poetry deserves 
 to be unpopular, the more popular it is ; and to 
 predicate of anything that it has neither depth, 
 nor height, nor breadth, nor strength, nor refine- 
 ment, nor originality, is to enhance its claims to 
 public approbation. Had Hazlitt applied this 
 description to Crabbe's poetry, he would not 
 have been very wide of the mark ; but to reduce 
 Scott's splendid creations to this level of blank- 
 ness and nonentity, and say at the same time 
 that they deserve to he popular, is paradoxical 
 in the highest degree.
 
 PLAGIARISM. 
 
 " Fine words, I wonder where you stole 'em." 
 
 Swift.
 
 PLAGIAEISM. 
 
 As the word " Plagiarism " is often misapplied, 
 it may be as well to explain, at the outset, in what 
 sense it should be understood. 
 
 One writer appropriates the work of another, 
 in the form in which he finds it, giving it to the 
 world in his own name, and as his own produc- 
 tion. Here the term " plagiarism " is inadequate 
 to describe the offence ; and by universal consent, 
 the writer who is guilty of such wholesale appro- 
 priation, is deemed no better than a thief. 
 
 Another writer borrows the subject of his 
 work, moulding it, both as to form and lan- 
 guage, in a fashion peculiarly his own. Of this 
 species of borrowing, instances will be found 
 in writers even of the highest genius. But as 
 themes and subjects are held to be common pro- 
 perty, no one is accounted a plagiarist for the 
 mere adoption of a subject or theme which has 
 been handled by another. 
 
 A third writer appropriates the thoughts or 
 p 2
 
 212 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 images, which are the mental property of another ; 
 and this is what is commonly called "plagiarism." 
 To constitute such, however, it is necessary that 
 the borrowed thought or image should be a strik- 
 ing one, and be peculiar to the writer from whom 
 it is adopted. Plagiarism of this kind has been 
 more or less prevalent in all ages ; and it has 
 become so common among the moderns, that 
 there is scarcely an author of any distinction 
 whose works do not contain some examples of it. 
 The learned reader who, by the light of a detec- 
 tive memory, shall carefully peruse the Greek, 
 Latin, and Erench classics ; and then run over our 
 English poets, from Chaucer to Tennyson, shall 
 meet with some hundreds of borrowed thoughts, 
 which, so far as I know, have never been noticed 
 by any commentator. 
 
 The imputation of " plagiarism," however, is 
 one of a grave nature, and should never be made 
 upon slight or insufficient grounds. Apart from 
 the charge of dishonesty which it implies, it 
 detracts by so much from the originality and 
 merit of the writer against whom it is thrown out. 
 Erom that character, therefore, we must except, 
 first, everything that may be fairly presumed to 
 be a coincidence, whenever the difficulty of dis- 
 tinguishing between intentional borrowings and 
 accidental resemblances can be got over; secondly, 
 common-place thoughts and sentiments, which, 
 being the current coin of the intellectual realm.
 
 PLAGIAllISM. 213 
 
 are alike palpable to all ; thirdly, single words 
 and expressions wMch in themselves convey no 
 image or sentiment, but what will be found 
 attached to them, by any one who can turn over 
 the leaves of a dictionary. 
 
 Originality, the opposite of plagiarism, is of 
 various kinds, and may be evinced either in the 
 choice of the theme, the mode of treating it, or 
 the language with Avhich it is embellished. An 
 author may be totally free from plagiarism, and 
 yet be totally destitute of originality ; and he 
 may, on the other hand, be a frequent plagiarist, 
 and exhibit in other respects undoubted origi- 
 nality. 
 
 Plagiarism is a subject which has seldom en- 
 gaged the attention of the literary historian. In 
 this, as in other fields of investigation, the Ger- 
 mans have laboured with success ; but it is chiefly 
 to the Prench, so remarkable for method and 
 lucidity in their treatment of literary questions, 
 that we are indebted for the information we 
 possess on this subject. Their contributions on 
 " Plagiarism " are not only the most recent, but 
 the most valuable ; while the writings of Nodier 
 and Querard contain some of the most startling 
 revelations that have yet been given to the world. 
 Por instance, Montaigne is shown to have bor- 
 rowed much from Seneca and Plutarch ; and what 
 he has copied without acknowledgment from them, 
 Charron and Corneille have adopted in the same
 
 214 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 unscrupulous manner from him. Thus, too, E^abe- 
 lais' eccentricities are proved to have furnished 
 many a lively scene to Racine and Moliere, and 
 many an ingenious fable to La Pontaine ; while 
 Pascal, who is generally reckoned one of the most 
 original thinkers of the seventeenth century, is 
 described as surpassing all others by his daring 
 feats of plagiarism. In a single chapter of his 
 " Pensees," Nodier has pointed out seven or eight 
 instances of this species of theft ; and for further 
 examples, he invites the curious reader to a 
 comparison of the " Pensees " with the " Essays " 
 of Montaigne. 
 
 The Chevalier Ramsay, author of " Les Voyages 
 de Cyrus," is cited as another notable plagiarist. 
 " His master, Penelon," says Voltaire, " had pub- 
 lished the Travels of Telemachus ; and Pamsay 
 could do no less than follow his example. He 
 does not stop, however, at a cold imitation, but 
 literally copies the language both of Penelon and 
 of Bossuet. When the chevalier was taken to 
 task for this, his reply was : ' Qu'on pouvait se 
 rencontrer ; qu'il n'etait pas etonnant qu'il pensat 
 comme Penelon, et qu'il s'exprimat comme 
 Bossuet.' " 
 
 If Voltaire's forwardness in exposing the pla- 
 giarisms of others was intended to remove from 
 himself all suspicion of similar practices, it failed 
 of success. Nodier, in his valuable work, " Ques- 
 tions de Litterature Legale," quotes several
 
 PLAGIARISM. 215 
 
 instances of plagiarism in Voltaire, and especially 
 in his romance of " Zadig." Ercron, too, in the 
 "Annee Litteraire," 1767, describes a whole 
 chapter in this romance as copied from "Les 
 Voyages et Aventures de trois Princes de Sar- 
 rendip," a work translated from the Italian, and 
 published at Paris in 1719 ; and the same writer 
 has shown that Voltaire's " Episode de I'Ermite " 
 is adopted from Parnel's poem of " The Hermit." 
 
 J. -J. Rousseau, Voltaire's great contemporary 
 and rival, presents a parallel case. He reproaches 
 Mably with having borrowed, without acknow- 
 ledgment, his philosophical systems; and the 
 Benedictine, Don Joseph Cajot, brings a charge 
 of plagiarism against llousseau's " Emile." Nor 
 is this all : the Abbe Du Laurens, known as the 
 author of " Compere Mathieu," in a work pub- 
 lished in 1788, asserts that Pousseau copied his 
 " Contrat Social," word for word, from Ulric Hu- 
 ber's Latin work, " De Jure Civitatis Libri III." 
 " We shall be told," adds Du Laurens, " that 
 M. Pousseau, like a second Prometheus, stole the 
 sacred fire from heaven : our answer is, that he 
 stole his fire, not from heaven, but from a 
 library." 
 
 Among the plagiarists of less note (cited by 
 Querard) may be named M. Langles, the orient- 
 alist, stealing his " Voyage d'Abdoul Pizzac " 
 from Galland's "Arabian Nights;" M. Lefebre 
 de Villebrune, in his translation of Athenseus,
 
 216 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 copying six thousand two hundred notes from 
 Casanbon's critical works ; De Saint- Ange, in his 
 translation of Ovid's " Metamorphoses," borrow- 
 ing about fifteen hundred verses from Thomas 
 Corneille, and a still greater number from Malfil- 
 latre ; Jacques DeUlle, in his translation of Virgil, 
 his poem of " L' Imagination," and other works, 
 appropriating a great number of lines from 
 other poets ; Malte-Brun, in his famous work on 
 Geography, literally adopting the remarks of 
 Gosselin, Lacroix, Walckenaer, Pinkerton, Puis- 
 sant, &c. ; Aignan, in his translation of the 
 " Iliad," borrowing twelve hundred verses from 
 a previous translation by Uochefort; Castil 
 Blaze transferring to his " Dictionary of Modern 
 Music" three hundred and forty notices from 
 Housseau's work on the same subject, and, all 
 the while, abusing the latter for his ignorance of 
 the principles of the art ; Henri Beyle, under the 
 assumed name of Bombet, publishing his well- 
 known " I^etters" on Haydn and Italian Music, 
 and leaving the public unacquainted with the 
 fact that he had merely translated them from the 
 Italian of Joseph Carpani ; and lastly, the Count 
 de Courchamps palming on the world, as the 
 "Memoires inedits de Cagliostro," a series of 
 tales which turned out, after all, to be but a 
 literal transcript of a romance published some 
 twenty years before, by John Potocki, a Polish 
 count.
 
 PLAGIARISM. 217 
 
 These notices of plagiarism bring us down 
 to our own times, and to the most audacious 
 plagiarist of any time or country, M. Alexandre 
 Dumas, Marquis de la Pailleterie. Until recent 
 years, plagiarism was reckoned a discreditable 
 practice, and every means was resorted to, in 
 order to disguise or palliate the offence. Some 
 writers, on finding that their good things had 
 been anticipated, were content to say with 
 Terence : " Nullum est jam dictum quod non sit 
 dictum prills;" or, as La Bruyere has it, "Tout 
 est dit." Others may have exclaimed with 
 Donatus : " Pereant illi qui, ante nos, nostra 
 dixerunt ! " Others, like the Chevalier de Cailly, 
 may have taken a philosophical view of the 
 matter, and in a happy vein of badinage, laughed 
 at the pretensions of those who went before 
 them : — 
 
 " Dis-je quelque chose d'assez belle ? 
 L'Antiquite, toute en cervelle, 
 Pretend I'avoir dit avant moi : 
 C'est une plaisante donzelle ! 
 Que ue venait-elle apres moi ; 
 J'aurais dit la cliose avant elle." 
 
 Others, again, like Richesource, may have insti- 
 tuted schools of plagiarism, in which the " art " 
 was cultivated in all its details. Indeed, the 
 very title of the work, published by this " Pro- 
 fessor of Plagiarism," shoAvs that concealment 
 was a principal feature of the new science. " Lc
 
 218 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Masque des Orateurs, ou la Maniere de deguiser 
 toutes sortes de Compositions, Lettres, Sermons, 
 PanegyriqueSj Oraisons funebres, Dedicaces, Dis- 
 cours, &c.," which made its appearance in 1667, 
 inculcated, above all things, the necessity of con- 
 cealing the literary theft; and this was to be 
 done in so adroit a manner that the plundered 
 author should find it impossible to recognize his 
 own work, or even his own style. 
 
 But it was reserved for the nineteenth century, 
 and for Alexandre Dumas, not only to practise 
 this infamous "art," but to claim a place for it 
 among the rights and prerogatives of genius. 
 His words deserve to be quoted : — 
 
 " The man of genius does not steal ; he conquers : and what 
 he conquers, he annexes to his empire. He makes laws for it, 
 peoples it with his subjects, and extends his golden sceptre 
 over it. And where is the man who, on surveying his beau- 
 tiful kingdom, shall dare to assert that this or that piece of 
 land is no part of his property ?" 
 
 M. Dumas descants in the same magniloquent 
 strain upon Napoleon's conquests, wishing it to 
 be understood that he is himself — 
 
 " The grand Napoleon of the realms of rhyme." 
 
 At all events, he finds consolation in the thought 
 that Shakspeare and Moliere were subjected to 
 similar charges of plagiarism, and that their 
 detractors are now forgotten. He seems not to 
 know, however, that there is a vast difi'erence 
 between him and those great men, whom he
 
 PLAGIARISM. 219 
 
 would offer to the world as his prototypes. They, 
 indeed, were men of genius, while he is little 
 better than " un habile arrangeur de la pensee 
 d'autrui." 
 
 It would be tedious to detail the numerous 
 plagiarisms that have been detected in the 
 writings of this author. The curious reader 
 will find them amply and amusingly described 
 in Qucrard's " Supercheries Litteraires." Suffice 
 it to say that he has made a trade of literature, 
 and contributed more than any other writer, 
 ancient or modern, to degrade that ennobling 
 pursuit to the level of the vilest day-drudgery. 
 
 I believe there is no work in English Litera- 
 ture that treats of "Plagiarism" as a separate 
 subject; our researches, in this matter, being 
 confined to the casual and somewhat desultory 
 remarks of critics and reviewers. This is a defi- 
 ciency which I am by no means in a position to 
 supply. By collecting, however, such scattered 
 instances as have been quoted by other writers, 
 together with the numerous examples which I 
 have detected myself, I shall furnish a slight, 
 and, I trust, not wholly uninteresting contribu- 
 tion on this subject. From our elder poets it 
 were easy to adduce instances of literary borrow- 
 ings ; but my business is chiefly with the moderns; 
 and by way of introduction, I shall begin with 
 Pope. 
 
 The great popularity of Pope's poetry, and the
 
 220 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 vividness with whicli his couplets are impressed 
 on the memory, enable his readers to detect, with 
 comparative facility, any resemblance that may 
 exist between liis thoughts and expressions and 
 those of other poets. The following are some 
 of the instances that occur in his " Essay on 
 Man :"— 
 
 " Eye Nature's walks, slioot folly as it flies, 
 And catcli the manners living as they rise ; 
 Laugh when we must, be candid when we can, 
 And vindicate the ways of God to man." 
 
 The first line of this is taken from Dryden's 
 
 " Absalom and Achitophel :" — 
 
 " AVhile he with watchful eye 
 Observes and shoots their treasons as they fly." 
 
 The last is borrowed from this passage in 
 
 Milton :— 
 
 " That to the height of this great argument 
 I may assert eternal Providence, 
 And justify the ways of God to men." 
 
 The following sample, also from the " Essay on 
 Man,"— 
 
 " Form'd by thy converse happily to steer 
 From grave to gay, from lively to severe," 
 
 is adopted from a couplet in Boileau's " Art 
 Po^tique :" — 
 
 " Heureux qui, dans ses vers, sait d'une voix legere, 
 Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au severe." 
 
 Then wc have that remarkable passage, for
 
 PLAGIARISM. 221 
 
 which so much encomium has been bestowed on 
 Pope, but which is copied nearly verbatim from 
 Pascal. The lines in Pope are : — 
 
 " Chaos of thought and passion all confused, 
 Still by himself abused or disabused, 
 Created half to rise and half to fall ; 
 Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all ; 
 Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd. 
 The glory, jest, and riddle of the world." 
 
 The passage in Pascal is as follows : — 
 
 " Quelle chimere est-ce done que I'homme ! quelle nouveaute, 
 quel chaos, quel sujet de contradiction ! Juge de toutes 
 choses, imbecile ver de terre, depositaire du vrai, araas d'incer- 
 titude, gloire et rebut de I'univers ! " 
 
 Next we have the couplet : — 
 
 " Yice is a monster of such hideous mien. 
 As, to be hated, needs but to be seen." 
 
 Of which Archbishop Leighton furnishes the ori- 
 ginal in the following passage : — 
 
 " "Were the true visage of sin seen at a full light, undressed 
 and unpainted, it were impossible, while it so appeared, that 
 any one soul could be in love with it, but would rather flee 
 from it as hideous and abominable." — Works. 
 
 Another line in the " Essay on Man" has a 
 
 parallel in one of Savage's poems. Pope has 
 
 it:— 
 
 " Or ravish'd with the whistling of a name. 
 See Cromwell damn'd to everlasting fame." 
 
 And Savage, thus : — 
 
 " May see thee now, tho' late, redeem thy name, 
 And glorify what else is damn'dto fame."
 
 222 MODEHN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 And, after him, Lloyd, in one of his 
 " Epistles :"— 
 
 " Damn'd by the muse to everlasting fame." 
 
 There are few ancient writers that have 
 been so unceremoniously purloined as Seneca. 
 Erom him Dryden has adopted the first line of 
 the well-known couplet : — 
 
 " Great wits are sure to madness near allied, 
 And tbin partitions do tbeir bounds divide." 
 
 And from Dryden, Pope has transferred the last 
 line to his " Essay on Man," thus : — 
 
 " Wbat tbin partitions sense from tbougbt divide." 
 
 In the same poem occurs the couplet : — 
 
 " Tor modes of faitb let graceless zealots figbt ; 
 His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right." 
 
 The second line of which is copied from Cowley: — 
 
 " His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might 
 Be wrong ; his life, I'm sure, was iu the right." 
 
 And Cowley found the germ of the thought in 
 Lord Herbert's remark : — 
 
 " Quod credis nihil est, sit mode vita proba." 
 
 Then we have the famous apothegm : — 
 
 " The proper study of mankind is man." 
 
 Which is borrowed from this sentence in Pascal's 
 " Pensees :" — 
 
 " J'ai cru trouver bien des compagnons dans I'etude de 
 rhomme, puisque c'est celle qui lui est propre."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 223 
 
 And Pascal adopted it from a passage in 
 Charron's " Do la Sagcssc," where he says : — 
 
 " La vraye science et la vraye etude do I'bomme c'est 
 riiomme." 
 
 The origin of the thought, however, is assigned 
 to no less an authority than Socrates, of whom 
 Xenophon says : — 
 
 " Man, and what related to man, were the only subjects on 
 which he chose to employ himself." 
 
 I may remark in passing, that there is a limited 
 sense in which this sentiment, notwithstanding 
 the sanction of the great names just cited, would 
 be little better than a fallacy. Such would be the 
 case, if man, as man's " proper study," were con- 
 sidered solely with reference to his terrestrial 
 career. In this sense the sentiment would be 
 unworthy of the wisdom and aspirations of even 
 a heathen philosopher. According to our Chris- 
 tian notions of the business of life, no study of 
 mankind can be deemed proper^ that should 
 exclude the consideration of man's immortal 
 destiny; and it is, doubtless, in this sense that 
 Xenophon' s words, " man, and what related to 
 man," must be understood. Seneca, another 
 heathen, furnishes an appropriate comment upon 
 this view of the matter, where he exclaims : — 
 
 " quam contempta res est homo, nisi super humana se 
 erexerit ! "
 
 224 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 This too has been adopted by some of our poets. 
 Daniel has it in the lines : — 
 
 " Unless above himself he can 
 Erect himself, how vain a thing is man !" 
 
 AndDenham in "The Sophy :" — 
 
 " Man to himself 
 Is a large prospect, raised above the level 
 Of his own creeping thoughts." 
 
 Every reader of Pope must have been struck 
 with that beautiful simile in the "Essay on 
 Criticism," by which he attempts to illustrate 
 the growing labours of science and learning, 
 concluding with the line : — 
 
 " Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise." 
 
 " Dr. Johnson," says Dr. Croly, "has lavished 
 panegyric on this simile as being the most apt, 
 the most proper, and the most sublime of any in 
 the English language ; while the simile, and, of 
 course, the panegyric, belong to Drummond :" — 
 
 " All as a pilgrim who the Alps doth passe, 
 
 W TP tP ^ '^ ^ 
 
 Till mounting some tall mountaine he doth finde 
 More heights before him than he left behinde." 
 
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, too, has adopted this 
 
 simile in " Emile :" — 
 
 " On les verra semblables a ces vojageurs inexperimentes, 
 qui, s'engageant pour la premiere fois dans les Alpes, pensent 
 les franchir a chaque montagne ; et quand ils sont au sommet, 
 trouvent avec decouragement de plus hautes niontagues au 
 devant d'eux."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 225 
 
 And Sir Walter Scott in the following pas- 
 sage : — 
 
 " He was like the adventurous climber of the Alps, to whom 
 the surmounting the most tremendous precipices and ascending 
 to the most towering peaks, only shows yet dizzier heights and 
 higher points of elevation." — Life of Napoleon. 
 
 Acjain, in the *' Essav on Criticism " we liavc 
 the couplet : — 
 
 " A little learning is a dangerous thing ; 
 Drink deep, or taste not tlie Pierian Spring." 
 
 The truth of which has been controverted in our 
 day. It does not appear, however, to have 
 occurred to any of the disputants that the 
 merit of the thought, such as it is, belongs 
 to Lord Bacon, who says in his "Essay of 
 Atheism:" — 
 
 " A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, 
 but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to 
 religion." 
 
 To this source may also be referred that beau- 
 tiful couplet in Dry den : — 
 
 " Errors like straws upon the surface flow ; 
 He who would search for pearls must dive below." 
 
 The next couplet in the " Essay on Criticism " 
 also contains a borrowed thought : — 
 
 " There shallow drafts intoxicate the brain, 
 And drinking largely sobers us again." 
 
 The conceit in the second line has been adopted 
 
 Q
 
 226 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 from Nash's classification of " Drunkards," where 
 he describes the seventh species as 
 
 " Martin-drunk, when a man is drunk and drinks himself 
 sober ere he stir." 
 
 I shall take a few more samples from Pope. 
 In his " "Windsor Forest " we have the couplet : — 
 
 " T' observe a mean, be to himself a friend, 
 To follow nature and regard his end ;" 
 
 which has been appropriated from this passage in 
 Lucan : — 
 
 " Servare modum, fidemque tenere, 
 Naturamque sequi." 
 
 Add the following, in " Eloisa to Abelard :" — 
 
 " One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight ; 
 Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight." 
 
 The last line of which has been copied from 
 Smith's " Hippolytus and Phaedra :" — 
 
 " Priests, tapers, temples, swam before my sight." 
 
 In the same poem are the impassioned lines : — 
 
 " See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll ; 
 Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul ;" 
 
 which are adopted from Oldham's ''Death of 
 Adonis :" — 
 
 " Kiss while I watch thy swimming eyeballs roll ; 
 "Watch tliylast gasp, and catch thy flying soul."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 227 
 
 The principal thought, however, may be traced 
 to Dryden's tragedy of "Don Sebastian:" — 
 
 " How can we better die than close embraced, 
 Sucking each other's soul while we expire ? " 
 
 or, perhaps, more correctly to Marlow's " Tragi- 
 cal History of Dr. Eaustus :" — 
 
 " Sweet Helen ! make me immortal with a kiss ! 
 Her lips sucke forth my soule : see where it flies." 
 
 Not the least noticeable of Pope's imitations is 
 his Ode of the " Dying Christian to his Soul." 
 Here are the first two stanzas : — 
 
 " Vital spark of heavenly flame, 
 Quit, O quit this mortal frame ! 
 Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, 
 O the pain, the bliss of dying ! 
 Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife. 
 And let me languish into life. 
 
 " Hark ! they whisper ; Angels say : 
 ' Sister spirit, come away ! ' 
 What is this absorbs me quite. 
 Steals my senses, shuts my sight. 
 Drowns my spirits, draws my breath : 
 Tell me, my soul, can this be death ?" 
 
 Pope admits that when he wrote these lines he 
 had in his head not only the Emperor Hadrian's 
 verses to his departing soul : — 
 
 " Animula, vagula, blandula, 
 Hospes, comesque corporis ; 
 Quae nunc abibis in loca ? 
 Pallidula, rigida, nudula, 
 Nee, ut soles, dabis joca," — 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 but also the beautiful fragment of Sappho, of 
 which the concluding stanzas are thus elegantly 
 translated by Philips : — 
 
 " Mj bosom glow'd, the subtle flame 
 Ean quick thro' all my vital frame ; 
 O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung ; 
 My ears with hollow murmurs rung. 
 
 " In dewy damps my limbs were chill'd : 
 . My blood with gentle horrors thrill'd ; 
 
 My feeble pulse forgot to play, 
 I fainted, sunk, and died away." 
 
 In addition to these sources of inspiration, Pope 
 seems to have had in his eye the following lines 
 bv Elatman : — 
 
 " When on my sick bed I languish, 
 Full of sorrow, full of anguish, 
 Fainting, gasping, trembling, crying. 
 Panting, groaning, speechless, dying, 
 Methinks I hear some gentle spirit say : 
 ' Be not fearful, come away.' " 
 
 Pope's " Pastorals " also contain some borrowed 
 thoughts. The line, — 
 
 " A shepherd boy (he seeks no better name)," 
 
 is copied from this in Spenser : — 
 
 " A shepherd boy (no better do liim call)." 
 
 So of the couplet : — 
 
 " While labouring oxen, spent with toil and heat. 
 In their loose traces from the field retreat ;"
 
 PLAGIARISM. 229 
 
 which has been appropriated from Milton's 
 " Comus :" — 
 
 " Two such I saw, what time the labour'd ox 
 In his loose traces from the furrow came." 
 
 Another thought in Milton's " Paradise 
 Lost,"— 
 
 " At whose sight all the stars 
 Hide their diminish' d heads," 
 
 has been transferred by Pope to one of his 
 " Moral Essays : "— 
 
 " Ye little stars, hide your diminish' d rays." 
 
 Before we take leave of Pope, it is but right 
 that we should restore to him the original 
 thought of a Latin hexameter, which is com- 
 monly ascribed to Horace. We allude to the 
 oft-quoted : — 
 
 " Indocti discant et ament meminisse periti ;" 
 
 the history of which is given in an interesting 
 little volume by M. Edouard Pournier, entitled, 
 " L'Esprit des Autres." 
 
 This verse appeared for the first time as an 
 epigraph to President Henault's " Abrege Chro- 
 nologique;" and it was much admired both for 
 its appositeness and its Horatian elegance. Por 
 some time the good president chuckled in secret 
 at the blundering and want of memory of the 
 admirers of Horace. In 174^9, however, on the
 
 230 MODEEN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 appearance of the third edition of his work, 
 he took occasion to state in the Preface that 
 the much-admired epigraph was not written by 
 Horace, but by himself; and that he had given 
 it as a translation of the following couplet in 
 Pope's "Essay on Criticism:" — 
 
 " Content if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may view, 
 The learn'd reflect on what before they knew." 
 
 This revelation took the critics by surprise. 
 Henault's claim, however, was soon forgotten; 
 and to this day, whenever the hexameter is 
 quoted, as it frequently is on the title-page of 
 works on education, to Horace, and not to 
 Henault, is the merit of it invariably assigned. 
 And thus it comes to pass that the poor 
 rhymster's mite, which constitutes his whole 
 riches, is swallowed up by the literary Croesus. 
 
 Considering the slender productions of his 
 muse, there is no English poet whose versified 
 maxims are so often quoted as those of Gray : — 
 
 " "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." 
 
 " Thoughts that breathe and words that burn." 
 
 " His hoary hair stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air." 
 
 " The still small voice of gratitude." 
 
 *' And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
 
 " Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind." 
 
 " The paths of glory lead but to the grave."
 
 PLAGIAllISM. 231 
 
 These, and many others of like significance, 
 are in everybody's mouth. But, as generally 
 happens, the more beautiful the thought, the 
 more likely it is to have been borrowed. Gray's 
 most remarkable poem, the " Elegy in a Country 
 Churchyard," is said to have been picked out, 
 thought by thought, if not word by word, from 
 other poets. The very first line, — 
 
 " The curfew tolls the knell of parting day," 
 
 has been adopted from the following passage in 
 Dante's " Purgatory :" — 
 
 " Se ode squilla di lontauo 
 Che paja '1 giorno pianger che si muore." 
 
 Giannini has translated the Elegy into Italian ; 
 and it is worthy of notice that his version of the 
 first line coincides with Dante's words : — 
 
 " Piange la squilla '1 giorno, che si muore." 
 
 The principal thought in Dante, the " giorno che 
 si muore," is further traceable to Statius's 
 
 " Jam moriente die." 
 
 One of the finest stanzas in the Elegy is but a 
 free translation of the Latin couplet : — 
 
 " Plurima gemma latet caeca tellure sepulta ; 
 Plurima neglecto fragrat odore rosa." 
 
 Gray's lines are : — 
 
 " Full many a gem, of purest ray serene, 
 
 The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear; 
 Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
 And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
 
 232 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Bishop Hall has a parallel to the first two 
 lines : — 
 
 " There is mauy a rich stone laid up iu the bowels of the 
 earth, many a fair pearl in the bosom of the sea, that never 
 was seen, nor ever will be." 
 
 The last line occurs iu the same words in 
 Churchill :— 
 
 " Nor waste their sweetness in the desert air." 
 
 And also in Lloyd : — 
 
 " "Which else had wasted in the desert air." 
 
 Another horrowed stanza in the Elegy is the 
 following : — 
 
 " For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 
 Or busy housewife ply her evening care : 
 No children run to lisp their sire's return, 
 Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share." 
 
 This is adopted from Lucretius : — - 
 
 " At jam non domus accipiet te Iteta ; neque uxor 
 Optima, nee dulces occurrent oscula nati 
 Prseripere, et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent." 
 
 Gray's appropriations are not confined to the 
 Elegy. In his " Ode to Vicissitude," he has the 
 following : — 
 
 " The hues of bliss more brightly glow, 
 Chastised by sober tints of woe ; 
 And, blended, form with artful strife 
 The strength and harmony of life."
 
 PLAGIAllISM. 233 
 
 The last two lines are taken from Pope's " Essay 
 on Man:"— 
 
 " The lights and shades whoso well-accorded strife 
 Gives all the strength aiid colour of our life." 
 
 Then we have the couplet in the "Fatal 
 Sisters :" — 
 
 " Iron sleet, of arrowy shower, 
 Hurtles in the darhen'd air." 
 
 Whicli is adopted from this passage in " Paradise 
 Regained :" — 
 
 " How quick they wheel'd, and, flying, behind them shot 
 Sharp sleet of arrowy shower." 
 
 Next comes the line in " The Bard :" — 
 
 " Give ample room and verge enough." 
 
 Which is taken from a passage in Dryden's 
 " Don Sebastian :"— 
 
 " Let fortune empty her whole quiver ou me ! 
 I have a soul that, like an ample shield, 
 Can take in all, and verge enough for more." 
 
 In the same poem we have the comparison 
 of the " streaming meteor ;" hut whether bor- 
 rowed from Cowley or from Milton, seems un- 
 certain. Cowley, speaking of the Angel Gabriel, 
 says : — 
 
 " An harmless flaming meteor shone for haire, 
 And fell adown his shoulders with loose care." 
 
 And Milton, in " Paradise Lost :" — 
 
 " Th' imperial ensign, which full high advanced, 
 Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind."
 
 234 MODEUN ENGLISH LITERATUEE. 
 
 Gray has it : — 
 
 " With haggard eyes the poet stood ; 
 Loose his beard and hoary hair 
 Stream 'd like a meteor to the troubled air." 
 
 Campbell, in his " Pleasures of Hope," has also 
 borrowed this simile : — 
 
 " Where Andes, giant of the western star, 
 With meteor standard to the winds unfurl'd." 
 
 Another appropriation in Gray is the well- 
 known apothegm at the close of the following 
 lines, in his " Ode on a Prospect of Eton Col- 
 lege:"- 
 
 " Tet ah ! why should they know their fate, 
 Since sorrow never comes too late. 
 And happiness too swiftly flies. 
 
 * * * where ignorance is bliss 
 'Tis folly to be wise." 
 
 Davenant has the same idea in the lines : — 
 
 " Then ask not bodies doom'd to die 
 To what abode they go ; 
 Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy, 
 'Tis better not to know." 
 
 But it is still more obviously assignable to 
 Prior : — 
 
 " Seeing aright we see our woes, 
 
 Then what avails us to have eyes ? 
 From ignorance our comfort flows, 
 The only wretched are the wise."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 235 
 
 The true source, after all, of this thought, as 
 indeed of all human wisdom, must be traced to 
 a higher authority than any poet, ancient or 
 modern. Ecclesiastes, i. 18, expresses it in fewer 
 words than any author that has been quoted : — 
 
 " He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow," 
 
 To Milton, Gray is indebted for another of his 
 beautiful images. The former, speaking of the 
 Deity, says : — 
 
 " Dark with excessive light thy skirts appear." 
 
 And Gray, with true poetic feeling, has applied 
 this image to Milton himself, in those forceful 
 lines in the " Progress of Poesy," in which he 
 alludes to the poet's blindness : — 
 
 " The living throne, the sapphire blaze, 
 Where angels tremble while they gaze. 
 He saw ; but blasted with excess of light, 
 Closed his eyes in endless night." 
 
 Shelley has imitated this in the following lines in 
 *' Julian and Maddalo :" — 
 
 " The sense that he was greater than his kind 
 Had struck, methinks, his eagle spirit blind, 
 By gazing on its own exceeding light." 
 
 There is a passage in Longinus which appears 
 to have furnished Milton with the germ of this 
 thought. The Greek rhetorician is commenting 
 on the use of figurative language, and after
 
 236 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 illustrating his views by a quotation from 
 Demosthenes, he adds : — 
 
 " Till yap ki'Tavff 6 pljTujp a7r£/cpi»i^e to (7^(//^ta ; cTiXor, on rw 
 (ptJTL avT^.' 
 
 " In what has the orator here coucealed the figiu'c ? plainly, 
 in its own lustre." 
 
 In this passage Longinus elucidates one figure 
 by another ; a not unfrequent practice with that 
 elegant writer. 
 
 Lastly, we have the quatrain in Gray's " Ode 
 to Adversity :" — 
 
 " Daughter of Jove, relentless power, 
 Thou tamer of the human breast, 
 Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour 
 The bad affright, afflict the best." 
 
 !For the third line of which he is indebted to this 
 passage in " Paradise Lost :" — 
 
 "When the scourge 
 Inexorably and the torturing hour 
 Calls us to peuance." 
 
 • If any work more than another might be ex- 
 pected to furnish information on the subject of 
 " plagiarism," it is D'Israeli's " Curiosities of 
 Literature." Yet, although the subject is there 
 introduced under the head of " Richesource 
 and his Professorship," not a single example is 
 adduced of so remarkable a "Curiosity." This 
 is not a little surprising in a writer who appears 
 to have bestowed so much industry and patience
 
 PLAGIARISM. 237 
 
 on his other researches. True, we find farther 
 on some twenty -five pages of " Imitations," and 
 " Similarities ;" but one half of these have no 
 better claim to that distinction than the trivial 
 coincidence of a single word or epithet ; a claim 
 which, if strictly enforced, would exhibit all the 
 poetry in our language as made up of similarities. 
 There are, however, three of the " Imitations " 
 which deserve to be quoted. 
 
 The first occurs in Pope's " Prologue to the 
 Satires," where, speaking of Dr. Arbuthnot, he 
 says : — 
 
 " Friend of my life (whicli did uot you prolong, 
 The world had wanted many an idle song)." 
 
 The thought in the second line being adopted 
 from this couplet in Dryden's " Absalom and 
 Achitophel :"— 
 
 " David for him his tuneful harp had strung, 
 And Heaven had wanted one immortal song." 
 
 The second imitation refers to a couplet in 
 Young : — 
 
 " Of some for glory such the boundless rage, 
 That they're the blackest scandal of the age." 
 
 Which is taken from the following in Oldham's 
 '* Satire against Poetry :" — 
 
 " On Butler who can think without just rage ? 
 The glory and the scandal of the age." 
 
 The third imitation noticed by D'Israeli,
 
 238 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 occurs in a couplet in Goldsmith's " Deserted 
 Village : "— 
 
 " Princes and lords may flourish or may fade ; 
 A breath can make them, as a breath has made." 
 
 The second line of which he traces to a passage 
 in De Caux, who, comparing the world to his 
 hour-glass, says : — 
 
 " C'est un verre qui luit, 
 Qu'un souffle pent detruire, et qu'im souffle a produit." 
 
 The following quatrain, commemorating the 
 devastating effects of an earthquake in the valley 
 of Lucerne, in 1808, offers a parallel : — 
 
 " ciel ! ainsi ta Providence 
 
 A tous les maux nous condamna ; 
 Un souffle eteint notre existence, 
 Comme un souffle nous la donna." 
 
 And Pope has a couplet in which the same turn 
 of thought is preserved : — 
 
 " Who pants for glory finds but short repose ; 
 A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows." 
 
 There is a plagiarism in Goldsmith which, I be- 
 lieve, was first pointed out by the " Athenseum" 
 newspaper. It relates to this couplet in the 
 " Haunch of Venison : " — 
 
 " Such dainties to them their health it might hurt ; 
 It's like sending them ruffles when wanting a shirt."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 239 
 
 The second line of which belongs to the following 
 passage in " Tom Brown :" — 
 
 " If your frieud is in want, don't carry him to the tavern, 
 where you treat yourself as well as him, and entail a thirst and 
 headache upon him next morning. To treat a poor wretch 
 with a bottle of Burgundy and fill his snuiF-box, is like giving 
 a pair of laced ruffles to a man that has never a shirt on his 
 back. Put something in his pocket." 
 
 But the most remarkable plagiarism in Gold- 
 smith is his " Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaze." That 
 delightful poet tells us that during his pedestrian 
 tour through Prance, he procured a subsistence 
 by playing some of his most merry tunes on the 
 German flute ; and it is natural to suppose that 
 the sprightly peasants whom he thus entertained, 
 requited his skill by singing or reciting some of 
 their popular songs. Among those most in vogue 
 at that period was the " Chanson sur le fameux 
 La Palisse," which is generally attributed to 
 Bernard de la Monnoye. To such of my coun- 
 trymen as may still retain any feeling of soreness 
 on the score of " Malbrough s'en va-ten guerre," 
 it may be some consolation to know that before 
 the latter facetie was composed on the renowned 
 English captain, the Erench had already in- 
 dulged their sarcastic playfulness at the expense 
 of one of their own great captains, the famous 
 La Palisse, *' Grand Marechal de Prance," the 
 Marlborough of his age, and the friend and com- 
 panion in arms of Prancis the Pirst. Some of
 
 240 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATUUE. 
 
 the stanzas in "Monsieur La Palisse" are point- 
 less enough ; hut there are others pregnant with 
 humour, and it is these which Goklsniith has 
 appropriated. To facilitate a comparison, I shall 
 give a stanza from each, alternately : — 
 
 " On ne le vit jamais las 
 Ni sujet c\ la paresse ; 
 Tandis qu'il lie dormait pas, 
 
 On tient qu'il veillait sans cesse." 
 
 " At churcli in silks and satins new, 
 With hoop of monstrous size, 
 She never slumber' d in her pew, 
 But when she shut her eyes." 
 
 " On dit que dans ses amours 
 II fut caresse des belles. 
 Qui le suivirent toujours, 
 
 Tant qu'il niarcha devant elles." 
 
 " Her love was sought, I do aver, 
 By twenty beaux and more : 
 The king himself has follow'd her, 
 "When she has walk'd before." 
 
 " II fut par un triste sort 
 
 Blesse d'une main cruelle ; 
 On croit, puisqu'il en est raort. 
 Que la plaie etait mortelle." 
 
 " But now her wealth and finery fled, 
 Her hangers-on cut short all; 
 The doctors found when she was dead. 
 Her last disorder mortal." 
 
 " II mourut le vendredi, 
 
 Le dernier jour de sou age ; 
 S'il fut mort le samedi, 
 11 eut vecu davantage."
 
 PLAGIARISIir. 241 
 
 " Let us lament in sorrow sore, 
 For Kent Street well may say, 
 That, had she lived a twelvemonth more, 
 She had not died to-day." 
 
 In Goldsmith's " Elegy on the Death of a 
 Mad Dog," written in a similar strain of conceit, 
 there is a stanza taken from " Monsieur La 
 Palisse :"— 
 
 " Bien instruit des le berceau. 
 Jamais, taut il fut honnete, 
 II ne mettait son chapeau, 
 Qa'il ne se couvrit la tete." 
 
 " A kind and gentle heart he had, 
 To comfort friends and foes ; 
 The naked every day he clad, 
 "When he put on his clothes." 
 
 Then we have the epitaph on Edward 
 
 Purdon : — 
 
 " Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed, 
 "Who long was a bookseller's hack ; 
 He led such a damnable life in this world, 
 
 I don't think he'll wish to come back." 
 
 Which Goldsmith has copied from this of the 
 Chevalier de Cailly : — 
 
 " II est au bout de ses travaux, 
 
 II a passe le Sieur Etienne ; 
 En ce monde il eut taut de maux, 
 
 Qu'on ne croit pas qu'il revienne." 
 
 Pope too has imitated this in the Epitaph : — 
 
 " Well then, poor G lies underground. 
 
 So there's an end of honest Jack : 
 So little justice here he found, 
 
 'Tis ten to one he'll ne'er come back,"
 
 212 MODEEN ENGLISH LITERATrHE. 
 
 To these may be added the well-known lines 
 
 in the " Hermit :" — 
 
 " Man wants but little here below, 
 Nor wants that little long." 
 
 Which have their parallel in Young's fourth 
 
 Nifjht :— 
 
 " Man wants but little, nor that little long." 
 
 It has been asserted that Goldsmith was in- 
 debted for his beautiful ballad of the " Hermit" 
 to Percy's ballad of the " Priars of Orders Gray ;" 
 but the truth seems to be that Percy, not Gold- 
 smith, was the borrower. Percy, while collecting 
 his " Reliques," showed Goldsmith the manu- 
 script of the old ballad of the " Gentle Herds- 
 man," and from this Goldsmith took the hint 
 of his " Hermit." Having finished his poem, 
 Goldsmith, in his turn, read it to Percy, who 
 took from it the plan of his "Priars of Orders 
 Gray," adopting not only the style and inci- 
 dents, but in many places the very words of 
 Goldsmith's delightful little poem — all, in fact, 
 but its inimitable simplicity and pathos. (See 
 Boswell's " Life of Johnson.") 
 
 Dr. Young has a passage in which he describes 
 man as — 
 
 " Midway from nothing to the Deity." 
 
 Por this he is indebted to Pascal's remark : — 
 
 " Qa'est-ce que I'homme dans la nature ? un neant a I'egard 
 de I'infini ; un tout a I'egard du neant ; un milieu entre rien 
 et tout."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 24j3 
 
 The following lines present another sample : — 
 
 " Our birth is uotbiug but our death begun, 
 And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb ; 
 Lamented, or lamenting, all one lot." 
 
 The original of which Young found in this passage 
 in one of Bishop Hall's " Epistles :" — 
 
 " Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in the 
 grave. We lament the loss of our parents ; how soon shall 
 our sons bewail us ?" 
 
 J.-B. Bousseau has the principal thought in 
 one of his " Odes :" — 
 
 " Le premier moment de la vie 
 Est le premier pas vers la mort," 
 
 Then we have the lines : — 
 
 " "Woes cluster ; rare are solitary woes ; 
 They love a train ; they tread each other's heels." 
 
 Of which Young found the original in " Ham- 
 let:"— 
 
 " One woe doth tread upon another's heel. 
 So fast they follow ; " 
 
 or, as Herrick has it in his " Hesperides ;" — 
 
 " Thus woe succeeds a woe, as wave a wave." 
 
 Another appropriation in Young is the line : — 
 
 " The course of Nature is the art of Grod ;" 
 
 which is taken from Brown's " Beligio Me- 
 dici:"— 
 
 " In brief, all things are artificial ; for Nature is the art of 
 God." 
 
 R 2
 
 244i MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Thomson, ia his " Castle of Indolence," has 
 the line : — 
 
 " As thick as idle motes in sunny ray ;" 
 
 which has its parallel in Milton's " II Pen- 
 seroso:" — 
 
 " As thick and numberless 
 As the gay motes that people the sunbeams." 
 
 And Milton has taken the simile from this of 
 Chaucer : — 
 
 " As thick as motes in the sunne beams." 
 
 There is a well-known epigram in Pope : — 
 
 " You beat your pate and fancy wit will come : 
 Knock as you please, there's nobody at home." 
 
 Which Cowper has adopted, in nearly the same 
 words, in his poem on " Conversation :" — ■ 
 
 " His wit invites you by his looks to come ; 
 But when you knock, it never is at home." 
 
 The following sample is from the same poem : — 
 
 " The solemn fop, significant and budge, 
 A fool with judges, among fools a judge." 
 
 The sentiment, however, has so many parallels 
 among the ancients, that it is uncertain from 
 which of them Cowper has adopted it. Plato has 
 it in the sentence : — 
 
 O ce KpiTiac IkuXsIto Idiwrrjc fity Iv
 
 PLAGIARISM. 245 
 
 It occurs in Seneca in the following form : — 
 
 " Spai'sutn memini homincm, inter scholasticos iusanum, 
 inter sanos scliolasticinn." 
 
 Apuleius has it in the words : — 
 
 " Inter doctos nobilissimus, inter nobiles doctissimus, inter 
 iitrosque optimus." 
 
 And St. Jerome, in his remarks on the Prse- 
 torian Prefect Dardanus, whom he describes 
 as, — 
 
 " Christianorum uobilissimc, uobilium christianissime." 
 
 To which may be added this of Sir Walter 
 Scott : — • 
 
 " It was in this sphere that Napoleon was seen to greatest 
 advantage ; for, although too much of a soldier among sove- 
 reigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign 
 among soldiers." — Life of Napoleon. 
 
 A noted instance of this antithesis is Dr. 
 Johnson's sarcastic application of it to Lord 
 Chesterfield : — 
 
 " This man, I thought, had been a lord among wits, but I 
 find he is only a wit among lords." 
 
 The oft-quoted line in Cowper's " Task," — 
 
 " England, with all thy faults, I love thee still," 
 
 is taken from this passage in Churchill's " Fare- 
 well :"— 
 
 " Be England what slie will. 
 With all her faults, she is mv country still."
 
 246 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATTJRE. 
 
 In liis " Table Talk" Cowper lias the couplet : — 
 
 " That constellation set, tlie world in vain 
 Must hope to look upon their like again ; " 
 
 which is adopted from the following in " Ham- 
 let:"— 
 
 " He was a man, take him for all in all, 
 I shall not look upon his like again." 
 
 From "Hamlet," too, Churchill has borrowed 
 the second line in this couplet : — 
 
 " And the poor slattern muse is brought to bed, 
 "With all her imperfections on her head." 
 
 Shakspeare's words are : — 
 
 " No reckoning made, but sent to my account, 
 With all my imperfections on my head." 
 
 Another remarkable thought in the "Task," — 
 
 " God made the country, and man made the town," 
 
 is supposed to have been adopted from this line 
 in Cowley's "Garden:" — 
 
 " God the first garden made, the first city Cain." 
 
 But the true source of it will be found in a 
 passage in Yarro's "De E^e Hustica," where he 
 
 says : — 
 
 " Nee mirum quod divina uatura dedit agros, ars humana 
 sedificavit urbes." 
 
 The temptation of borrowing must be strong 
 indeed, when we meet with such a poet as
 
 PLAGIARISM. 247 
 
 Chatterton giving way to it, notwithstanding 
 the still stronger inducement which should have 
 deterred him from venturing on such forhidden 
 ground. But so it is ; and among the many- 
 reasons for rejecting the authenticity of the 
 " Rowley Poems," not the least cogent is the 
 occurrence therein of borrowed thoughts — bor- 
 rowed from poets of a date posterior to that of 
 their pretended origin. Of these I shall quote 
 two or three instances. In the " Battle of 
 Hastings" we read this couplet : — 
 
 " The grey-goose pynion that thereon was sett, 
 Eftsoons wyth smokyng crymson blond was wett." 
 
 This is taken from the ballad of *' Chevy 
 Chase:"— 
 
 " The grey-goose wing that was thereon 
 In his heart's blood was wet." 
 
 In the same poem Chatterton has the lines : — 
 
 " Edardus felle npon the bloudie grounde ; 
 His noble soule came rushy ng from the wounde." 
 
 The last of which, with " disdainful " instead of 
 " noble," is the concluding line in Dryden's 
 translation of Virgil : — 
 
 "And the disdainful soul came rushing through the wound." 
 
 The same origin must be assigned to the fol- 
 lowing couplet in Sir Bichard Blackmore; for, 
 although Dryden's contemporary. Sir Bichard
 
 248 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 is more likely to have been the horroAver on 
 this occasion : — 
 
 " A gloomy niglit o'erwlielms liis dyiug eyes, 
 And his disdainful soul from liis pale bosom flies." 
 
 There is a plagiarism in Chatterton which has 
 escaped the notice of his numerous annotators, 
 and which furnishes additional proof, if any were 
 wanting, that the " Rowley Poems" are in reality 
 the production of that " marvellous hoy." It 
 occurs at the commencement of the " Tourna- 
 ment," in the line, — 
 
 " The worlde bie difFraunce ys ynn orderr founde." 
 
 It will be seen tliat this line, a very remarkable 
 one, has been cleverly condensed from a passage 
 in Pope's " Windsor Porest :" — 
 
 " But as the icorld, harmoniously confused, 
 Where order in variety we see, 
 And where, though all things differ, all agree." 
 
 This sentiment has been repeated by other 
 modern writers. Pope himself has it in the 
 " Essay on Man," in this form : — 
 
 " The lights and shades, whose well-accorded strife 
 Gives all the strength and colour of our life." 
 
 It occurs in one of Pascal's " Pensees :" — 
 
 " J'ecrirai ici mes pensees sans ordre, et non pas peut-etre 
 dans une confusion sans dessein. C'est le veritable ordre, et 
 qui marquera toujours mou objet par le desordre mcmc."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 249 
 
 Bernardin cle St. Pierre has it in his " Etudes 
 de la Nature :"^ — 
 
 " C'esfc des contraires que resulte I'liarmonie du moiidc." 
 
 And Burke, in nearly the same words, in his 
 " Beflectious on the French Bevolution : — 
 
 " Tou had that action and counteraction which in the 
 natural and the political world, from the reciprocal struggle 
 of discordant powers, draws out the liarmony of the universe." 
 
 Nor does the sentiment belong exclusively to 
 
 the moderns. I find it in Horace's twelfth 
 
 " Epistle :"— 
 
 " jS'il parvum sapias, et adhuc sublimia cures, 
 ****** 
 
 Quid velit et possit rerum concordia discors." 
 
 Lucan, I think, has the same expression in his 
 " Pharsalia ;" and it forms the basis of Longinus's 
 remark on the eloquence of Demosthenes : — 
 
 " OvKovi' ~i]i> f-tij' (puaiv tQv kTravcupopHiv Kcii uavfciriov 
 •JTUvrq (pvXarrei rij avj'£')(^s'l ns-a^oXij' ourwc avrw kcu ?/ Tuttc 
 aruKTOi', Kal tjiTrciKiv >'/ ara^ia iroiav TrepiXrij-i^ai'si rai,ivP 
 
 It may be said that, as Pope adopted the 
 thought from Horace or Lucan, so a poet of the 
 fifteenth century (such as the supposed Bowley) 
 might have taken it from the same sources. The 
 supposition, however, of its having been borrowed 
 from Pope is supported by the fact, that the line 
 in the " Tournament " embraces not only the 
 thought, but the very words in which Pope has 
 expressed it.
 
 250 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 One of the few good things in Crabbe happens 
 to be a borrowed thought. In his " Tales of the 
 Hall" he has the line, — 
 
 " He tried the luxury of doing good ;" 
 
 which is copied from this couplet in Garth's 
 " Claremont :" — 
 
 " Hard was their lodging, homely was their food, 
 For all their luxury was doing good." 
 
 There is a passage in Scott's "Lay of the 
 Last Minstrel," which has been traced to one 
 of Butler's minor poems. Scott has it : — 
 
 " Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, 
 And man below and saints above, 
 For love is Heaven, and Heaven is love." 
 
 The lines in Butler are as follows : — 
 
 " Translate to earth tlie joys above. 
 For nothing goes to Heaven but love." 
 
 I find, however, that the true source of Scott's 
 lines may be traced to Dryden's " Palamon and 
 Arcite :" — 
 
 " The power of love 
 In earth, and seas, and air, and heaven above, 
 Eules unresisted;" 
 
 or perhaps to the line in Virgil : — 
 
 " Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori ;" 
 
 which Dryden has thus translated : — 
 
 " In hell, and earth, and seas, and heaven above. 
 Love conquers all, and we must yield to love."
 
 PLAGIAUISM. 251 
 
 Another of Scott's appropriations is the beau- 
 tiful simile in the " Lady of the Lake :" — 
 
 " With locks flung back and lips apart, 
 Like monument of Grecian art;" 
 
 for which he is indebted to these lines in 
 Fletcher's "Purple Island:" — 
 
 " Her sever'd lips seem'd cut in Grecian stone, 
 And all behind her flaxen locks were thrown." 
 
 The palpable plagiarisms in Wordsworth are 
 not numerous. Before you can detect a bor- 
 rowed thought in a writer, you must first detect 
 the writer's meaning ; and that is not always an 
 easy task with a poet so impenetrably shrouded 
 in mysticism as the Bard of Uydal Mount. 
 Some of his thoughts, however, are traceable to 
 other sources. Among these is the much-lauded 
 sentiment, — 
 
 " The child is father of the man," 
 
 which might pass for original, if Dryden had 
 not expressed the same thing when he said, in 
 "AUfor Love:"— 
 
 " Men are but children of a larger growth ;" 
 
 or, as we have it in his fable of the *' Cock 
 and the Eox :" — 
 
 " The nurses' legends are for truth received. 
 And the man dreams but what the boy believed ;"
 
 252 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 or, better still, in the last line of this passage 
 in his " Hind and Panther :" — 
 
 " By education most have been misled, 
 So they believe, because they so Avere bred : 
 The priest continues vrhat the nurse began, 
 And thus the child imposes on the man." 
 
 Lloyd, in one of his Epistles, has the same 
 thought, where he says : — 
 
 " For men, in reason's sober eyes, 
 Are children but of larger size." 
 
 Wordsworth has another sample in the 
 " Excursion :" — 
 
 " many are the poets that are sown 
 By nature ; men endow'd with highest gifts. 
 The vision and the faculty divine, 
 Tet wanting the accomplishment of verse ; 
 Nor having e'er, as life advanced, been led 
 By circumstances to take the height, 
 The measure of themselves." 
 
 This is hut an amplification of a passage in 
 one of Guarini's " Letters :" — 
 
 '•' O quante nobili ingegni si perdouo, che riuscerebbe mirabili, 
 se dal seguir le iuchinazione loro non fossero, o da loro appetiti 
 6 da i Padri loro sviati." 
 
 There is also in the " Excursion" the oft- 
 quoted expression " another and the same :" — 
 
 " By happy chance we saw 
 A twofold image ; on a grassy bank 
 A. snow-white ram, and in the crystal flood 
 Anotlier and fhe same."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 253 
 
 This is borrowed from one of Horace's 
 
 "Odes:"— 
 
 " Alme sol, curru nitido diem qui 
 Pi'omis et celas, cdiusque et idem 
 Nasceris." 
 
 Or perhaps from. Bishop Hall's romance, bearing 
 
 the quaint title of "Mundus alter et idem;" or 
 
 more probably still, from this passage in Darwin's 
 
 " Botanic Garden :" — 
 
 " Till o'er the wreck, emerging Irom the storm, 
 Immortal nature lifts her changeful form ; 
 Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame, 
 And soars and shines another and tlie same." 
 
 Then we have the passage in one of Words- 
 worth's "Sonnets:" — 
 
 " The feather whence the pen 
 Was shaped, that traced the lives of these good men, 
 Dropt from an angel's wing ;" 
 
 which has been traced to the following in a 
 
 sonnet by Dorothy Berry : — 
 
 " Whorie nohle praise 
 Deserves a quill pluckt from an angel's wing." 
 
 The same notion occurs in another Elizabethan 
 
 poet, Henry Constable, who has these lines in 
 
 one of his sonnets : — 
 
 " The pen wherewith thou dost so heavenly sing, 
 Made of a quill pluckt from an angel's wing." 
 
 Lord Byron, in some instances, has had the 
 honesty to refer to the sources of his appro-
 
 254 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 priations. There are, however, several unac- 
 knowledged samples in his poems, one of the 
 most remarkable of which occurs in his beautiful 
 prelude to the " Bride of Abydos :" — 
 
 " Know ye the laud where the cypress and myrtle 
 Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime ; 
 Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, 
 Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime ? 
 Know ye the laud of the cedar and vine, 
 Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine ; 
 Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppress' d with perfume, 
 Was faint o'er the gardens of Gull in her bloom; 
 AYhere the citron and olive are fairest of fruit, 
 And the voice of the nightingale never is mute ?" 
 
 This seems to have been adopted from a wild air 
 sung by Mignon in Goethe's " Wilhelm Meister," 
 the first stanza of which is as follows : — 
 
 " Know'st thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom, 
 Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom, 
 Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, 
 And the groves are of laiu"el, and myrtle, and rose ? 
 Know'st thou it ? 
 
 Thither, O thither. 
 My dearest and kindest, with thee would I go." 
 
 Another plagiarism in the " Bride of Abydos," 
 occurs in the couplet : — 
 
 " Mark, where his carnage and his conquests cease ! 
 He makes a solitude and calls it — peace." 
 
 The second line is copied from Tacitus, where 
 he says : — 
 
 " Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacera adpellant."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 255 
 
 Dryden, in liis "Epistle to Dr. Charlcton," 
 has these remarkable lines on the aborigines of 
 the new world : — 
 
 " And guiltless men vvlio danced away their time, 
 Fresh as their groves and happy as their clime." 
 
 And Byron, alluding to his favourite women 
 in the old world, has a couplet which, in 
 sense and sound, presents a close imitation of 
 Dryden' s : — 
 
 " Heart on her lips and soul within her eyes, 
 Soft as her clime and sunny as her skies." 
 
 There is a line in Dryden which Byron has 
 turned to account in the same fashion. In 
 " Alexander's Feast " we read : — 
 
 " Soothed with the sound, the king grew vain, 
 Fought all his battles o'er again." 
 
 And in the fourteenth canto of " Don Juan : " — 
 
 " The hunters fought their foxhunt o'er again." 
 
 The same may be said of a passage in Burton's 
 
 " Anatomy of Melancholy :" — 
 
 " And as Praxiteles did by his glass, when he saw a scurvy 
 face in it, brake it to pieces. But, for that one, he saw as 
 many more as bad in a moment;" 
 
 which Byron has transferred to " Childe 
 
 Harold : "— 
 
 " E'en as a broken mirror, which the glass 
 In every fragment multiplies ; and makes 
 A thousand images of one that was. 
 The same, and still the more the more it breaks."
 
 256 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATUKE. 
 
 " Cliilcle Harold" has also the line : — 
 
 " Tes ! honor decks the turf that wraps their clay ;" 
 
 which is borrowed from a couplet in one of 
 
 CoUins's "Odes:"— 
 
 '■ There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
 To bless the turf tliat wraps their clay." 
 
 Again, in Byron's address to the ocean, in the 
 same poem, occurs the line : — 
 
 " Such as Creation's dawn beheld, thou roUest now ;" 
 
 for which he is indebted to De Stael's 
 
 " Corinne :" — 
 
 " Mais si les vaisseaux sillonnent un moment les ondes, la 
 vague vient effacer aussitot cette legere marque de servitude, 
 et la mer reparait telle qu'elle fut au premier jour de la 
 Creation." 
 
 Add the couplet in " Lara :" — 
 
 " Books, for his volume heretofore was man, 
 With eye more curious he appear'd to scan." 
 
 The first line of which is but another way of 
 expressing this of Pope : — 
 
 " The proper study of mankind is man." 
 
 A second appropriation from Burton will be 
 found in the last line of the " Corsair :" — 
 
 " He left a Corsair's name to other times, 
 Link'd with one virtue and a thousand crimes ;" 
 
 which is taken from the Latin quotation in the 
 following passage in Burton : — 
 
 " Hannibal, as he had mighty virtues, so he had many vices ;
 
 PLAGIARISM. 257 
 
 tmam virtutem mille vitia comitantur ; as Machiavel said of 
 Cosmo de Medici, he had two distinct persons in him." — 
 Anatomy of Melancholy. 
 
 There are, in ^' Don Juan," two passages which 
 Byron has adopted from La Rochefoucauld's 
 *' Maxims." The first is as follows : — 
 
 " In her first passion woman loves her lover ; 
 In all the others all she loves is love, 
 Which grows a habit she can ne'er get over, 
 And fits her loosely — like an easy glove." 
 
 The original of this is in Maxim 494 : — 
 
 " Dans les premieres passions les femmes aiment I'amant ; et 
 dans les autres elles aiment ramour." 
 
 The second appropriation follows close upon the 
 
 first : — 
 
 " Although, no doubt, her first of love afiairs 
 Is that to which her heart is wholly granted ; 
 Yet there are some, they say, who have had none ; 
 But those who have ne'er end with only one." 
 
 So in Maxim 73, of the same author : — 
 
 " On peut trouver des femmes qui n'ont jamais eu de galan- 
 terie ; mais il est rare d'en trouver qui n'en aient jamais eu 
 qu'une." 
 
 Another substantial plagiarism in " Don Juan" 
 
 occurs in Canto III. : — 
 
 " A monkey, a Dutch mastiff", a mackaw. 
 
 Two parrots, with a Persian cat and kittens, 
 
 He chose from several animals he saw ; 
 
 A terrier, too, which once had been a Briton's, 
 
 "Who dying on the coast of Ithica, 
 
 The peasants gave the poor dumb thing a pittance : 
 
 These to secure in this strong blowing weather, 
 
 He caged in one large hamper all together." 
 
 S
 
 258 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 This is shown to have been taken from the fol- 
 lowing passage in one of Lady Mary Wortley 
 Montagu's " Letters," where she speaks of the 
 Coalition Ministry of 1757 : — 
 
 " Tour account of the changes in ministerial affairs does not 
 surprise me ; but nothing could be more astonishing than their 
 all coming in together. It puts me in mind of a friend of mine 
 who had a large family of favourite animals ; and, not knowing 
 how to convey them to his country-house in separate equipages, 
 he ordered a Dutch mastiif, a cat and her kittens, a monkey 
 and a parrot, all to be packed up together in one large hamper, 
 and sent by a waggon. One may easily guess how this set of 
 company made their journey ; and I have never been able to 
 think of the present compound ministry without the idea of 
 barking, scratching, and screaming." 
 
 Lord Byron draws from every available source. 
 Mrs. Uadcliffe's " Mysteries of Udolpho " fur- 
 nishes an instance, where she describes the 
 appearance of Venice : — 
 
 " Its terraces crowded with airy yet majestic fabrics, touched 
 as they now were with the splendour of the setting sun, 
 appeared as if they had been called up from the ocean by the 
 wand of an enchanter." 
 
 A copy of the simile at the close will be found 
 in the opening stanzas of the fourth Canto of 
 " Childe Harold :"— 
 
 " I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs, 
 A palace and a prison on each hand; 
 I saw from out the wave her structures rise 
 As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand."
 
 PLAGIAUISM. 259 
 
 Lastly, we have the passage in the " Doge of 
 
 Venice :" — 
 
 " As yet 'tis but a chaos 
 Of darkly-brooding thoughts ; my fuucy is 
 In her first work, more nearly to the light 
 Holding the sleeping images of things, 
 Por the selection of the pausing judgment." 
 
 Which Byron has copied from Dryden's Dedica- 
 tion to the " Rival Ladies," where he says of 
 the progress of the work : — 
 
 " AVhen it was only a confused mass of thoughts, tumbling 
 over one another in the dark ; when the fancy was yet in its 
 first work, moving the sleeping images of things towards the 
 light, there to be distinguislied, and there either to be chosen 
 or rejected by the judgmeiit." 
 
 Shelley, who had so much to lend, did not 
 disdain to borrow. Among the few things of 
 this kind to be met with in his poems are these 
 lines in his little piece on " Mutability." 
 
 " Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow ; 
 Nought may endure but mutability." 
 
 The first is taken from these in Dryden : — 
 
 " Man is but man, inconstant still and various ; 
 There's no To-morrow in him like To-day ;" 
 
 or, as Cowper expresses it : — 
 
 " The world upon which we close our eyes at night, is never 
 the same with that on which we open them in the morning." 
 
 The second is also a borrowed line, and may 
 be traced, through several poets, from Ovid 
 
 s 2
 
 260 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 downwards. The first English writer who ap- 
 pears to have adopted the thought is the Earl of 
 Surrey, in this passage : — 
 
 " Short is th' uncertain reign of pomp and mortal pride : 
 'NeYf turns and changes every day 
 Are of inconstant chance the constant arts." 
 
 Cowley has it in the lines : — 
 
 " The world 's a scene of changes, and to be 
 Constant in Nature were inconstancy." 
 
 And Rochester in the couplet : — 
 
 " Since 'tis Nature's law to change, 
 Constancy alone is strange." 
 
 Tlie sentiment also occurs in the Erench poets : 
 
 Malherbe has pithily expressed it in one of his 
 
 '' Odes :"— 
 
 " Et rien, afin que tout dure, 
 Ne dure eternellement." 
 
 And J.-B. Rousseau beautifully in the lines : — 
 
 " Le Temps, eette image mobile 
 De rimmobile Eternite." 
 
 Casimir, the Polish poet, has the same 
 thought in the couplet : — 
 
 " Quod tibi larga dedit Hora dextra 
 Hora furaci rapiet sinistra." 
 
 It occurs in the lines : — 
 
 " To give the sex their due, 
 They scarcely are to their own wishes true ; 
 They love, they hate, and yet they know not why : 
 Constant in nothing but inconstancy."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 261 
 
 And in this passage in Alison's " History of 
 Europe from Fall of Napoleon :" — 
 
 " Fickle in everything else, the French have been faithful 
 in one thing only — their love of change." 
 
 This antithesis could not escape the notice of 
 La Rochefoucauld, who, in his l75th maxim, 
 thus applies it to Love : — 
 
 " La Constance en amour est une inconstance perpetuelle, 
 qui fait que notre coeur s'attache successivement a toutes les 
 qualites de la personne que nous aiinons. Cette Constance 
 n'est qu'une inconstance arretee et renfermee dans un meme 
 Bujet." 
 
 Again, in " Hellas " Shelley has a couplet 
 which is borrowed from Lord Bacon : — 
 
 " Kings are like stars, they rise and set ; they have 
 The worship of the world, but no repose." 
 
 Bacon's words are : — 
 
 " Princes are like the heavenly bodies, which cause good or 
 evil times, and which have much veneration but no rest," — 
 Essay of Empire. 
 
 Among our poetical plagiarists Thomas 
 Campbell deserves a prominent place. His fine 
 things, like those of Pope and Gray, have become 
 familiar to us as " household words ;" and, all 
 the while, we seem unaware of the sources from 
 which they are derived. 
 
 " O'er the fair face so close a veil is thrown. 
 That every borrow'd grace becomes his own."
 
 262 MODERN ENGLISH LITEHATURE. 
 
 The first sample I have to notice occurs at the 
 opening of the " Pleasures of Hope :" — 
 
 " "Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye, 
 Wliose sun-bright summit mingles with the sky ? 
 'Tis distance lends encbantment to tbe view, 
 And robes tbe mountain in its azure bue." 
 
 Garth has the same idea in the following 
 
 couplet : — 
 
 " At distance prospects please us, but when near 
 We find but desert rocks and fleeting air." 
 
 And there is a passage in Collins's " Ode to the 
 Passions," which ascrihes to sound the effect 
 attributed by Campbell to sight : — 
 
 " Pale Melancholy sat apart, 
 And from her wild sequester'd seat. 
 In notes by distance made more sweet, 
 
 Pour'd thro' tbe mellow born her pensive soul." 
 
 The passage in Campbell, however, seems to have 
 been appropriated from these lines in Otway's 
 " Venice Preserved :" — 
 
 " A goodly prospect, tempting to the view ; 
 The height delights us, and tbe mountain-top 
 Looks beautiful because 'tis nigh to heaven." 
 
 Another of Campbell's borrowings is this 
 couplet in the " Pleasures of Hope : " — 
 
 " When front to front the banner'd hosts combine. 
 Halt ere they close, and form the dreadful line ; " 
 
 which is taken from Pope's " Battle of Progs and 
 
 Mice : " — 
 
 " When front to front tbe marching armies shine, 
 Halt ere they meet, and form the lengthening line."
 
 PLAGIAUISM. 2G3 
 
 In the same poem we have the verse : — 
 
 " The strings of Nature crack'd witli agony ; " 
 
 adopted from this passage in Shakspeare's " King 
 Lear : "— 
 
 " His grief grew puisant, and the strings of life 
 Began to crack." 
 
 The readers of Hazlitt will remember Camp- 
 bell's noted plagiarism from Blair, the author of 
 the " Grave." Blair has it :— 
 
 " Its visits, 
 " Like those of angels, short and far between." 
 
 And Campbell, in the "Pleasm'es of Hope," 
 echoes without acknowledgment : — 
 
 " Like angels' visits, few and far between." 
 
 It is now ascertained, however, that we are 
 indebted for this beautiful image, neither to 
 Campbell nor to Blair, but to Norris of Bemerton, 
 who thus expresses it in one of his poems : — 
 
 " But those who soonest take their flight, 
 Are the most exquisite and strong ; 
 Like angels' visits, short and bright. 
 
 Mortality 's too weak to bear them long." 
 
 It occurs also in a poem to the memory of his 
 
 niece : — 
 
 " No wonder such a noble mind 
 Her way to heaven so soon should find : 
 Angels, as 'tis but seldom they appear. 
 So neither do they make long stay ; 
 They do but visit and away."
 
 264 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 To these instances in Campbell may be added 
 a forceful line in the " Pleasures of Hope," 
 which has been adopted from one of Coleridge's 
 sonnets. Campbell has it : — 
 
 " And Freedom sbriek'd as Kosciusko fell." 
 The passage in Coleridge stands thus : — 
 
 " O what a loud and fearful shriek was there ! 
 
 ****** 
 
 Ah me ! they view'd beneath an hireling's sword 
 Fallen Koskiusco." 
 
 The next example is the famous line in 
 *' Lochiel's Warning:" — 
 
 " And coming events cast their shadows before ; " 
 
 the origin of which will be found in Leibnitz's 
 remark : — 
 
 " Le present est gros de I'avenir." 
 
 And in the comments made thereon by Isaac 
 
 D'Israeli: the latter, referring to Leibnitz's 
 
 words, says : — 
 
 " The multitude live only among the shadows of things in 
 the appearances of the present." 
 
 And in another passage he couples the word 
 " shadow " with the word " precursor," in such 
 a manner as to express, in the clearest language, 
 the whole thought attributed to Campbell. The 
 ordinary relation of a shadow to the substance 
 by which it is formed, is that of a follower : — 
 
 " Envy will merit as its shade pursue ; 
 But, like the shadow, proves the substance true : "
 
 PLAGIARISM. 265 
 
 whereas, in the language of D' Israeli, the shadow 
 is made to precede the substance. These are his 
 words : — 
 
 " This volume of Reyuolds seems to have been the shadow 
 and precursor of one of the most substantial of literary 
 monsters, the ' Histriomastix, or Player's Scourge of Prynne, 
 in 1633.' " 
 
 An instance of the same thought occurs in 
 Chapman's Tragedy of " Bussy d'Ambois his 
 Kevenge : " — 
 
 " These two shadows of the Guise and Cardinal, 
 Pore-running thus their bodies, may approve 
 That all things to be done, as here we live, 
 Are done before all time in th' other life." 
 
 And Shelley has it in one of his prose pieces : — 
 
 " Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspira- 
 tion ; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity 
 casts upon the present." 
 
 The next example is the line in " Gertrude of 
 Wyoming :" — 
 
 " But stock-doves plaining thro' its gloom profound ;" 
 
 which is taken from Thomson's " Castle of 
 Indolence :" — 
 
 " Or stock-doves plain amid the forest deep." 
 
 An instance in the same poem is where 
 Campbell describes the white child led to the 
 house of Albert, by an Indian of swarthy 
 lineament, as 
 
 " Led by his dusky guide, like morning brought by night."
 
 268 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Hazlitt says this is an admirable simile, and 
 Jeffrey deems it somewhat fantastical; but 
 whether admirable or fantastical, or neither, 
 certain it is that, so far as Campbell is con- 
 cerned, it is not original. Two hundred years 
 ago, Cowley, in his " Hymn to Light," com- 
 pared darkness to an old negro, and light, its 
 offspring, to a fair child. He is addressing the 
 Light : — 
 
 " First-born of Chaos ! who so fair didst come 
 From the old negro's darksome womb ; 
 Which, when it saw the lovely child, 
 The melancholy mass put on kind looks and smiled." 
 
 Yalden, too, has borrowed this from Cowley : — 
 
 " Parent of day, whose beauteous beams of light 
 Spring from tlie darksome womb of night, 
 And midst their native horrors show. 
 Like gems adorning of the negro's brow." 
 
 To these instances may be added the line in 
 the " Soldier's Dream :"— 
 
 " And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky ;" 
 
 wliicli has been adopted from Lee's " Theodo- 
 sius :" — 
 
 " The stars, Heaven's sentry, wink and seem to die." 
 
 E;. Montgomery has the same image in his 
 " Omnipresence of the Deity :" — 
 
 " Ye quenchless stars, so eloquently bright. 
 Untroubled sentx-ics of the shadowy night."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 2G7 
 
 And it occurs in this passage in Dc La Men- 
 
 nais : — 
 
 " All creatures praise God ; the orb of day and the watch- 
 lights of the night hymn unto him their mysterious language." 
 
 Tennyson lias some striking passages which 
 must be reckoned among unacknowledged appro- 
 priations. One of these is founded upon some 
 remarkable lines in Keats' s " Eve of St. Agnes," 
 where that fine poet, with a delicacy and pic- 
 turesqueness peculiarly his own, describes 
 Madeline in the act of unrobing : — 
 
 " Anon her heart revives ; her vespers done, 
 Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees ; 
 Unclasps her warmed jewels, one by one, 
 Loosens her fragrant bodice ; by degrees 
 Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees, 
 Half-hidden like a mermaid in sea-weed." 
 
 The whole of this inimitable sketch has been 
 
 adopted by Tennyson in his " Legend of 
 
 Gondiva :" — 
 
 " Then fled she to her inmost bower, and there 
 Unclasp'd the wedded eagles of her belt. 
 The grim earl's gift ; but ever at a breath 
 She linger'd, looking like a summer moon 
 Half-dipp'd in cloud ; anon she shook her head 
 And shower'd the rippled ringlets to her knee." 
 
 Tennyson has also an appropriated passage in 
 
 the " Gardener's Daughter :" — 
 
 " AVe coursed about 
 The subject most at heart, more near and near, 
 Like doves about a dove-cot, wheeling round 
 The central wisli, until we settled there."
 
 268 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 This is taken from Dante's " Inferno :" — 
 
 " Quali colombe dal desio cliiamate, 
 
 Con r ali aperte a ferme al dolce nido 
 Vengonper aere da voler portate." 
 
 From the same source Tennyson has trans- 
 ferred to his "Locksley Hall" another beautiful 
 thought :"— 
 
 " This is the truth the poet sings, 
 That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering liappier 
 things." 
 
 Dante's words are : — 
 
 " Nessun maggior dolore, 
 Che rieordarsi del tempo felice 
 Nella miseria." 
 
 Tennyson has also a few borrowed thoughts 
 from our elder poets. Shakspeare, in " Hamlet," 
 says : — 
 
 " Lay her i' the earth, 
 And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 
 May violets spring." 
 
 And Tennyson, in " In Memoriam," — 
 
 " 'Tis well ; 'tis something we may stand 
 Where he in English earth is laid ; 
 And from his ashes may be made 
 The violet of his native land." 
 
 The original thought, however, has been traced 
 to Persius, who says in his first Satire : — 
 
 " Nunc nou e mauibus illis, 
 Nunc non e tumulo fortunataque favilla 
 Nascentur viola?."
 
 PLAGIAHISM. 269 
 
 Again, we have the lines in the " Miller's 
 Daughter :" — 
 
 " And dews that would bave fallen in tears 
 I kiss'd away before they fell ;" 
 
 which have been taken from " Paradise Lost :" — 
 
 " Two other precious drops that ready stood, 
 Each in their crystal sluice, he, ere they fell, 
 Kiss'd." 
 
 To these may be added the pretty line in the 
 " Two Voices :"— 
 
 " Tou scarce could see the grass for flowers ;" 
 
 for which Tennyson is indebted to the dramatist 
 George Peele : — 
 
 " Ye may no see, for peeping flowers, the grasse." 
 
 I shall conclude these notices with some 
 samples from Kobert Montgomery, for the dis- 
 covery of which we are indebted to Macaulay. I 
 give them in that writer's words : — 
 
 " "We never fell in with any plunderer who so little under- 
 stood bow to turn bis booty to good account as Mr. Mont- 
 gomery. Lord Byron, in a passage which everybody knows by 
 heart, has said, addressing the sea, — 
 
 ' Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow.' 
 
 Mr. Eobert Montgomery very coolly appropriates the image, 
 and reproduces the stolen goods in the following form : — 
 
 ' And thou vast ocean, on whose awful face 
 Time's iron feet can print no ruin-trace.' 
 
 A few more lines bring us to another instance of unprofitable
 
 270 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATTJIIE. 
 
 theft. Sir Walter Scott has these lines in the ' Lord of the 
 Isles :'— 
 
 * The dew that on the violet lies 
 Mocks the dark lustre of thine eyes.' 
 
 Now for Mr. Montgomery : — 
 
 ' And the bright dew-bead on the bramble lies, 
 Like liquid rapture upon beauty's eyes.' " 
 
 To these examples Macaulay acids the couplet 
 in the " Omnipresence of the Deity," which I 
 have already quoted in speaking of the poet 
 Campbell. 
 
 Erom the preceding remarks the reader will 
 perceive that some of the best thoughts in our 
 modern poets, and some of the most admired 
 passages in their works, turn out, after all, to he 
 little better than plagiarisms. It is in our prose 
 writings, however, that the system is practised 
 with the least scrupulosity. In some instances 
 recourse is had to a slight change in the language, 
 in order to disguise the theft ; but, in general, all 
 attempts at palliation are repudiated, and the 
 writer proceeds, with the coolest effrontery, to 
 appropriate not only the thoughts but the very 
 words of the original. To furnish examples of 
 all the " patchwork and plagiarism" which are 
 resorted to in this way, for the manufacture of 
 books, would be to transcribe into these pages a 
 large proportion of the prose compositions of our 
 time. One instance, however, it may be proper
 
 PLAGIARISM. 271 
 
 to quote, and that I shall take from Mrs. Poster's 
 " Handbook of European Literature." 
 
 The title of this work indicates its character 
 and scope. It is a compilation which any writer 
 might have undertaken, and in the execution of 
 which many a writer would have displayed both 
 learning and research. Erom the catalogues and 
 lists of publications of the several countries whose 
 literature is noticed, Mrs. Poster copies the names 
 of authors and of their works. So far no one is 
 imposed upon, and no one has a right to com- 
 plain. But the case is altered when we come to 
 deal with the comments with which the authors' 
 names are introduced. Such comments, when 
 their origin is not indicated, are supposed to be 
 the fruit of the writer's knowledge and expe- 
 rience ; and to her we naturally assign any merit, 
 for soundness or sagacity, to which they may be 
 entitled. Now, I find that Mrs. Poster's notices, 
 with very few exceptions, have been appropriated 
 without acknowledgment from other writers. 
 Some are copied from encyclopaedias, some from 
 magazines, some from reviews. Some are pur- 
 loined from Sismondi ; some from E^oscoe ; others 
 from Macaulay; others again from Sir Bulwer 
 Lytton. In one place a whole page of com- 
 ments is adopted from one work ; in another, 
 the comments are made up of sentences cut out 
 of different writers, and strung together with 
 peculiar ingenuity. The book, in short, cannot
 
 272 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 be more appropriately described than in the words 
 of Hazlitt : — " It is all patchwork and plagiarism, 
 the beggarly copiousness of borrowed wealth ;" 
 and this is carried to such an extent, that there 
 is scarcely an important remark in its 452 pages 
 that is not traceable to the writer from whom 
 it has been taken. 
 
 At pages 10, 11, there is a notice of Petrarch, 
 occupying twenty-two lines, which is given as 
 part of Mrs. Poster's text, without inverted 
 commas, or any other marks to show that 
 the writer intended it as a quotation; yet the 
 whole passage is copied word for word from 
 Macaulay's " Essay on Machiavelli." Parther 
 on, at pages 26, 27, Mrs. Poster has a paragraph 
 of thirty lines on the subject of Machiavelli and 
 his writings, which she has very dexterously 
 appropriated from the same writer. The passage 
 is not to be found anywhere in Macaulay in a 
 consecutive form ; but there is not a sentence in 
 it that has not been picked out from some part 
 of the Essay already referred to. Again, at pages 
 293 and 294, we have some twenty-five lines of 
 comments on our British writers, which have 
 been extracted verbatim from pages 61, 62, and 
 64, of Sir Bulwer Lytton's "England and the 
 English." 
 
 What can be said in defence of this wholesale 
 system of literary plunder? That the author 
 preferred giving to the public the matured judg-
 
 PLAGIARISM. 273 
 
 ments of our great critical authorities, rather 
 than her own crude and ill-expressed opinions ? 
 But then, why did she not acknowledge the 
 sources from which she drew the observations ? 
 She has done so in a few instances, and this 
 proves that she intended the unacknowledged 
 passages to be received as the emanations of her 
 personal experience and sagacity. For the rest, 
 nothing can be more imperfect than this com- 
 pilation. Some of the best writers are not men- 
 tioned even by name; and in a great number 
 of instances the names are incorrectly given, or 
 the authors are inaccurately described. Of those 
 that are named, the best works are frequently 
 omitted; while, as regards the compiler's re- 
 marks, what is good is borrowed, and what is not 
 borrowed is commonplace. 
 
 We hear a great deal in this age of what are 
 called " Idees Napoleoniennes," the wisdom of 
 Napoleon, and so forth. Some of this is invented 
 by the writers, and ascribed to Napoleon ; some 
 of it is no wisdom at all ; and some is what I call 
 second-hand wisdom, an old familiar face with 
 a new dress. Of this last sort is the famous 
 saying : — 
 
 " From the subliino to the ridiculous there is but a step." 
 
 Por this remark Napoleon has obtained con- 
 siderable notice. The truth, however, seems to 
 be, that he adopted it from Tom Paine ; Tom 
 
 T
 
 274 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Paine from Hugh Blair, and Hugli Blair from 
 Longinus. Napoleon's words, as quoted by the 
 Abhe De Pradt, are : — 
 
 " Du sublime au ridicule il u'y a qix'uu pas." 
 
 The passage in Tom Paine, whose writings were 
 translated into Prench as early as 1791, stands 
 thus : — 
 
 " The sublime and tlie ridiculous are often so nearly related, 
 that it is diflScult to class them separately. One step above the 
 sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous 
 makes the sublime again." 
 
 Blair has a remark akin to this : — 
 
 " It is indeed extremely difficult to hit the precise point 
 where true wit ends and buftbonery begins." 
 
 But the passage in Blair from which Tom 
 Paine adopted his notion of the sublime and the 
 ridiculous, is that in which Blair, commenting on 
 Lucan's style, remarks : — • 
 
 " It frequently happens that where the second line is 
 sublime, the third, in which he meant to rise still higher, 
 is perfectly bombast." 
 
 Lastly, this saying is borrowed by Blair from 
 his brother rhetorician, Longinus, who, in his 
 "Treatise on the Sublime," has the following 
 sentence at the beginning of Section III. : — 
 
 " TeOoXojrai yitp rrj (jtpdaei, kcu rtdopvfirjTai tciIq (j)ai'TatTiaiQ 
 liaXXor ■»/ CECtivorai, kui' ei^aaroy nvrCJ}' ttovq avyac urnaKmrric, 
 Ik rov 0o/>fpou kht aXiyor inroioaTel irpoc to evKaT(i(j>p6ytjroj'.^^
 
 PLAGIARISM. 275 
 
 Tliis is referred to by Warton in liis comments 
 on Pope's translation of the "Thebais" of Sta- 
 tins; and Dr. Croly, apparently unacquainted 
 with the passages in Paine and Blair, describes 
 it in his edition of Pope as the anticipation of 
 Napoleon's celebrated remark. It will be seen 
 that the original saying has undergone a slight 
 modification, Longinus making the transition a 
 gradual one, " xar ox/yov," while Blair, Paine, 
 and Napoleon make it " but a step," Yet, not- 
 withstanding this disguise, the marks of its 
 paternity are sufficiently traceable. 
 
 So much for this celebrated apothegm. And 
 after all there is very little wit or wisdom in it 
 that is not expressed or suggested by Seneca's 
 remark : — 
 
 " Nullum ingenium magnum sine mixtura dementise;" 
 
 or, as Shakspeare adopts it in " Measure for 
 Measure:" — 
 
 " Her madness liatli the oddest frame of sense ;" 
 or Dryden, more closely still, in the well-known 
 line : — 
 
 " Great wits are sure to madness near allied ;" 
 
 or Bayle, where he says : — 
 
 " II n'y a point de grand esprit dans le caractere duquel il 
 n'entre uu peu de folie." 
 
 The sentiment also occurs in Horace's line : — 
 
 " Aut insanit homo, aut versus facit;" 
 T 2
 
 270 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 or, as old Passerat has it in this quatrain on 
 Thulene, the buffoon : — 
 
 " Sire, Tliulone est mort, j'ai vu sa sepulture, 
 Mais il est presque eu vous de le ressuciter, 
 Faites de son etat uu poete heritier ; 
 Le poete et le fou sont de meme nature." 
 
 Shakspcare, in " As You like It," has a 
 kindred thought : — 
 
 " All's brave that youth mounts and folly guides ;" 
 
 which Dryden echoes in his " CEdipus :" — 
 
 " But Fortune will have nothing done that's great 
 But by young handsome fools, 
 
 ^ TT ^ W ^ ^ 
 
 Fool is the stuff of which Heaven maizes a hero." 
 
 And Rochester in the lines : — 
 
 " The very top 
 And dignity of folly we attain. 
 By studious search and labour of the brain : 
 
 - ^ ^ ^ ^ TT ^ 
 
 An eminent fool must be a man of parts." 
 
 The same thought is reproduced in La Roche- 
 foucauld's " Maxims :" — 
 
 " La plus subtile folie se fait de la plus subtile sagesse." 
 " Plus on aime une maitresse, plus on est pros de la hair." 
 
 In Housseau's remark : — 
 
 " Tout etat qui brille est sur son declin." 
 
 In Bcaumarchais' exclamation : — 
 
 " Que los gens d'esprit sont bi'tes!"
 
 PLAGIARISM. 277 
 
 In the old Prcnch proverb : — 
 
 " Les extremes se touclicnt." 
 
 In the English adage : — 
 
 " The darkest hour is nearest the dawn." 
 
 And in the following passages in our poets :■ 
 
 " Evils tliat take leave, 
 On their departure uiost of all show evil." 
 
 ShaJcspcare. 
 
 " Dark with excessive light thy skirts appear." 
 
 Milton. 
 
 " Wit, like tierce claret, when 't begins to pall, 
 Neglected lies, and 's of no use at all ; 
 But in its full perfection of decay 
 Turns vinegar, and comes again in play." 
 
 JRochestcr. 
 
 " Pilgrim, trudge on : what makes thy soul complain 
 Crowns thy complaint ; the way to rest is pain ; 
 The road to resolution lies by doubt ; 
 The next way home 's the farthest way about." 
 
 Quarles. 
 
 " Such huge extremes inhabit thy great mind, 
 Godhke, unmoved — and yet, like woman, kind." 
 
 Waller. 
 
 " The water'd eyven from whence the teares do fall, 
 Do feel some force or elce they w^oiild be dry ; 
 The wasted flesh of coloiu' ded can try, 
 And sometime tell what sweetness is in gall." 
 
 W}/att. 
 
 " tSo every sweet with soure is temper'd still." 
 
 SjJeiiser.
 
 278 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 " Chewiug the cud of sweet and bitter fancy." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 " A choking gall and a preserving sweet." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 " I languish with these bitter sweet extremes." 
 
 Quarles. 
 
 " Secrets of marriage still are sacred held ; 
 Their sweet and bitter by the wise conceal'd." 
 
 Driide7i. 
 
 " Discord oft in music makes the sweeter lay." 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 " For discords make the sweetest airs, 
 And curses are a kind of prayers," 
 
 Butler. 
 
 " The glorious lamp of Heaven, the sun, 
 The higher he's a getting, 
 The sooner will his race be run. 
 And nearer he's to setting." 
 
 IlerricTc. 
 
 " For men as resolute appear 
 "With too much as too little fear." 
 
 Butler. 
 
 *' Th' extremes of glory and of shame, 
 Like east and west become the same ; 
 No Indian prince has to his palace 
 More followers, than a thief to the gallows." 
 
 Butler. 
 
 " For as extremes are short of ill or good. 
 And tides at highest mark regorge the flood : 
 So fate, that could no more improve their joy. 
 Took a malicious pleasure to destroy." 
 
 Dry den.
 
 PLAGIAllISM. 279 
 
 " There's but tte twinkling of a star 
 Between a man of peace and war ; 
 A thief and justice, fool aiul knave ; 
 A huffing officer and a slave, 
 A crafty lawyer and pickpocket, 
 A great philosopher and blockhead, 
 A formal preacher and a player, 
 A learned physician and manslayer ; 
 As wind in th' hypocondries pent 
 Is but a blast, if downward sent ; 
 But if it upwards chance to fly, 
 Becomes new light and prophecy." 
 
 Butler. 
 
 " Extremes in Nature equal ends produce, 
 And oft so mix, the difference is too nice, 
 Wliere ends the virtue or begins the vice." 
 
 Bope. 
 
 " Still where rosy pleasure leads, 
 See a kindred grief pursue ; 
 Behind the steps that misery treads 
 
 Approaching comfort view : 
 The hues of bliss more brightly glow, 
 Chastised by sabler tints of woe. 
 And, blended, form with artful strife 
 The strength and harmony of life." 
 
 Gray. 
 
 " Loveliness 
 Needs not the foreign aid of ornament. 
 But is, when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most." 
 
 Tlionison. 
 
 " The heaviest raining is the briefest shower." 
 
 Beddoes. 
 
 The truth and beauty of this sentiment are 
 further illustrated by Martial's Epigram : — 
 
 " Diffi.cilis, facilis, jucundus, acerbus es idem ; 
 Nee tecum possum vivere, nee sine te."
 
 280 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 By Junius' s remark : — 
 
 " Tour majesty may learn hereafter how nearly the slave 
 and the tyrant are allied." 
 
 And by the following passage in Kobespierre's 
 Eeport to the Convention, on the 23rd December, 
 1793 :— 
 
 " Tyrants have wished to throw us hack into servitude by 
 moderation; sometimes they aim at the same object by 
 throwing us into the opposite extreme. These two extremes 
 terminate in the same point. The fanatic covered with his 
 relics, and the fanatic who preaches atheism, are closely 
 allied." 
 
 Ejichter, in " Levana," has a couple of places 
 to the same purpose : — 
 
 " Stiff citizen manners occupy only the middle place ; the 
 extremities approach one another so closely, that in the highest 
 ranks the freedom of the savage is renewed." 
 
 " Boys, when approaching near to manhood, shew the least 
 affection, the most love of teasing, the greatest destructiveness, 
 the most selfishness and cold-heartedness ; just as the coldness 
 of the night increases twofold shortly before the rising of the 
 sun." 
 
 A very striking application of this image 
 occurs in an Essay on the "Uses of Adversity," 
 by Herman Hooker, an American writer : — 
 
 " A pious lady who had lost her husband, was for a time 
 inconsolable. She could not think, scarcely could she speak 
 of anything but him. Nothing seemed to take her attention 
 but the three promising children he had left her, singing to 
 her his presence, his look, his love. But soon these were all 
 taken ill, and died viithin a few days of each other; and now
 
 PLAGIAllISM. 281 
 
 tlie childless mother was calmed even by the greatness of the 
 stroke. As the lead that goes quickly down to the ocean's 
 depth ruffles its surface less than lighter things, so the blow 
 which was strongest did not so much disturb her calm of mind, 
 but drove her to its proper trust." 
 
 We close our examples here. It is of the 
 sentiment which we have thus endeavoured to 
 illustrate, that Coleridge says : — 
 
 "Extremes meet;— a proverb, by the by, to collect and 
 explain all the instances and exemplifications of which, would 
 constitute and exhaust all philosophy." — The Friend. 
 
 Our next sample of an " Idee Napoleonienne " 
 is the famous exclamation, " La Garde meurt et 
 ne se rend pas!" said to have been uttered at 
 Waterloo. As at Pavia Erancis the First found 
 consolation for the loss of the battle in the 
 remark, "tout est perdu hormis I'honneur;" 
 so, at Waterloo, w^hen " sauve qui pent" became 
 the order of the day, it was no small cause of 
 exultation to the vanquished to be able to boast 
 that their famous "Garde" preferred death to 
 dishonour. The French plume themselves on 
 this saying, not only as an indignant protest 
 agamst the loss of the battle, but as containing 
 one of those happy transpositions, which invest 
 a thought with peculiar significance and force. 
 When La Eontaine makes the reed say : — 
 
 " Je plie et ne romps pas," 
 
 tlie ideas follow each other in their natural 
 order; and we conceive at once, that if there
 
 282 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 were any "breaking, it would follow tlie bending 
 as a consequence. But in. " La Garde meurt 
 et ne se rend pas," there is a striking energy 
 in placing death as the foremost object in the 
 contemplation of the soldier. 
 
 This saying has been ascribed to almost every 
 man that played a conspicuous part on the side 
 of the Preuch at Waterloo, but more commonly 
 to General Cambronne. I believe, however, that 
 it can be traced to a much higher source, and 
 that it is at best but a feeble version of the 
 memorable words uttered by one of Virgil's 
 heroes : — 
 
 " Moriamur, et in media arma ruamus." 
 
 Another celebrated maxim, the pretended 
 emanation of modern wisdom, is attributed to 
 Prince Talleyrand, namely : — 
 
 " La parole u'a ete donnee a I'homme que pour deguiser sa 
 pensee." 
 
 The saying is certainly quite in keeping with 
 the genius of that accomplished master in the 
 art of dissimulation ; and if he was not the first 
 to propound it, he was the foremost to practise 
 its Machiavelism. Political tergiversation was 
 the grand rule of his life, and every step in 
 his extraordinary career was designed to illus- 
 trate a system of deceit, in which nothing was 
 undisguised but the intention to disguise.
 
 PLAGIAllISM. 283 
 
 The truth, however, seems to be, that this 
 saying, like most good things of its kind, has 
 been repeated by so many eminent writers, that 
 it is impossible to trace it to any one in par- 
 ticular, in the precise form in which it is now 
 popularly received. I shall quote, in succession, 
 all those who have expressed it in words of the 
 same, or a nearly similar, import, and leave the 
 reader to judge for himself. 
 
 Jeremy Taylor had the sentiment clearly in 
 view in the following sentence : — 
 
 " There is in mankind au universal contract implied in all 
 their intercourses ; and words being instituted to declare the 
 mind, and for no other end, he that hears me speak hath a 
 right in justice to be done him, that as far as I can, what 
 I speak be true ; for else he by words does not know your 
 mind, and then as good and better not speak at all." 
 
 Then comes David Lloyd, who, in his " State 
 Worthies," thus remarks of Sir Roger Ascham : — 
 
 " None is more able for, yet none is more averse to, that 
 circumlocution and contrivance, wherewith some men shadow 
 their main drift and purpose. Speech was made to open man 
 to man and not to hide him ; to promote commerce and not 
 betray it." 
 
 Dr. South, Lloyd's contemporary, but who 
 
 survived him more than twenty years, expresses 
 
 the sentiment in nearly the same words : — 
 
 " In short, this seems to be the true inward judgment of 
 all our politick sages, that speech was given to the ordinary 
 sort of men whereby to communicate their mind, but to wise 
 men whereby to conceal it."
 
 281 MODERN ENGLISH LITEllATTJRE. 
 
 The next writer in Avhom it occurs is Butler, 
 the author of " Iludibras." In one of his prose 
 essays on the " Modern Politician," he says : — 
 
 " He [the modern politician] believes a man's words and 
 bis meanings sbould never agree togetber; for be tbat says 
 wbat be tbiuks lays bimself open to be expounded by tbe 
 most ignorant ; and be wbo does not make bis words ratber 
 serve to conceal tlian discover tbe sense of bis beart, deserves 
 to bave it pulled out like a traitor's, and sbown publicly to tbe 
 rabble." 
 
 Young has the thought in this couplet on the 
 duplicity of courts : — 
 
 " Wbeu Nature's end of language is declined, 
 And men talk only to conceal tbeir mind." 
 
 Erom Young it passed to Voltaire, who, in the 
 dialogue entitled " Le Chapon et la Poularde," 
 makes the former say of the treachery of men : — 
 
 " lis n'emploient les paroles que pour deguiser leurs 
 pensees." 
 
 Goldsmith, about the same time, in his paper 
 in the " Bee," produces it in the well-known 
 words : — 
 
 " Men wbo know tbe world bold tbat tbe true use of speecb 
 is not so mucb to express our wants as to conceal tliem." 
 
 Then we have Talleyrand, who is reported to 
 have said, — 
 
 " La parole u'a etc donuee a I'bomme que pour deguiser sa 
 peusee."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 285 
 
 The latest writer who employs this remark is, 
 
 I believe, Lord Holland. In his " Life of Lope 
 
 de Vega," he says of certain Spanish writers, 
 
 promoters of the cuUismo style : — 
 
 " These authors do not avail themselves of the invention 
 of letters for the purpose of conveying, but of concealing 
 their ideas." 
 
 Prom these passages it will be seen that the 
 germ of the thought is to be found in Jeremy 
 Taylor; that Lloyd and South have improved 
 upon his mode of expressing it; that Butler, 
 Young, and Goldsmith have repeated it after 
 them; that Voltaire has translated it into 
 Prench ; that Talleyrand has echoed Voltaire's 
 words ; and that it has now become so familiar 
 an expression that any one may employ it, as 
 Lord Holland has done, without being at the 
 trouble of citing his authority. 
 
 There is a notion in Bentham's " Book of 
 Eallacies " which is often quoted for its depth 
 and acuteness. It is where he ridicules the 
 expression " the wisdom of our ancestors," and 
 shows that, as wisdom increases with years, so 
 we who live in the present age are possessed of a 
 greater degree of it than those who lived in the 
 early ages of the world. The origin of this 
 thought is assigned to Lord Bacon, who, in his 
 " Advancement of Learning," says : — 
 
 " And indeed, to speak truly, ' Antiquitas sasculi juventus 
 mundi ;' certainly our times are the ancient times, when the
 
 286 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 world is now ancient, ordine retrogrado, by a computation 
 backward from our own times." 
 
 Pascal, in one of his " Pensees," has borrowed 
 this from Bacon, enlarging upon it after his own 
 fashion ; and Benthani has done little more than 
 copy Pascal. The latter remarks : — 
 
 " Toute la suite des liommes, pendant le cours de taut de 
 siecles, doit etre consideree comme un meme homme qui 
 subsiste toujours et qui apprend continuellement : d'ou Ton 
 voit avec combien d'injustice nous respectons I'antiquite dans 
 ses pbilosophes ; car comme la vieillesse est I'age le plus dis- 
 tant de I'enfance, qvii ne voit que la vieillesse de cet homme 
 universel ne doit pas etre cliercliee dans les temps proches 
 de sa naissance, mais dans ceux qui en sont le plus eloignes ? 
 Ceux que nous appelons anciens etaient veritablemeut nou- 
 veaux en toutes choses, et formaient I'enfance des hommes, 
 proprement ; et comme nous avons joint a leurs connaissances 
 I'experience des siecles qui les ont suivis, c'est en nous que 
 Ton pent trouver cette antiquite que nous reverons dans les 
 autres." 
 
 Dugald Stewart, however, in his dissertation 
 prefixed to the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," 
 assigns a higher origin to this thought than even 
 Lord Bacon, and refers it to the following passage 
 in the " Opus Majus " of Boger Bacon : — 
 
 " Quanto juniores, tanto perspicaciores, quia juniores, pos- 
 teriores successione temporum, ingrediuntur labores priorura." 
 
 Although Boger Bacon's " Opus Majus " was 
 not published till the eighteenth century, there is 
 every reason to suppose that Lord Bacon had 
 seen the manuscript. The fame of a man bearing
 
 PLAGIAUISM. 287 
 
 his patronymic would naturally lead him to make 
 inquiries respecting his writings : and the pre- 
 sumption that he did so is confirmed by more 
 than one passage in his lordship's works, which 
 present a striking similarity, both in thought 
 and expression, to the remarks of his great 
 namesake. 
 
 Another, and indeed far from improbable, con- 
 jecture is, that the source of this remarkable 
 thought is to be found in the following verse in 
 the "Book of Esdras :"— 
 
 " Saeculum perdidit juventutem suam, et tempora appro- 
 pinquant senescere." 
 
 There is a thought in Pascal to which La 
 Rochefoucauld furnishes a parallel. Pascal 
 says : — 
 
 " II n'y a point d'homme plus different d'un autre que de 
 soi-meme, dans les divers temps." 
 
 La Rochefoucauld has it : — 
 
 " On est quelques fois aussi different de soi-meme que des 
 autres." 
 
 Which is the borrower, it is not easy to 
 determine ; but one or the other has adopted it 
 from this of Horace : — 
 
 " Nihil fuit unquam 
 Sic dispar sibi." 
 
 Another of La Rochefoucauld's aphorisms : — 
 
 " L'hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend a la vertu,"
 
 288 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 has been diluted in the following fasliion by 
 Sir Walter Scott :— 
 
 " Hypocrisy caunot exist unless religion be to a certain 
 extent held in esteem, because no one would be at the trouble 
 to assume a mask which was not respectable ; and, so far, 
 compliance with the external forms of religion is a tribute paid 
 to the doctrines which it teaches." — Life of Na])oleon. 
 
 And Trench has it in this passage : — 
 
 " When we have learnt the pedigree of the word, the man 
 and the age which gave it birth rise up before us, glorying in 
 their shame, and no longer caring to pay to virtue even that 
 outward hypocritical homage which vice not seldom yields." — 
 On the Study of Words. 
 
 Gibbon has a striking observation on the 
 nature of history, which he describes as, 
 
 " Little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and 
 misfortunes of mankind." 
 
 This seems to have been adopted from Voltaire, 
 who says in one of his prose works : — 
 
 " En efFet, I'histoire n'est que le tableau des crimes et des 
 malheurs." 
 
 Even Junius is not free from the imputation 
 of borrowing. In his seventh " Letter," addressed 
 to Sir W. Draper, he has the remark : — 
 
 " It is the middle compound character which alone is vul- 
 nerable ; the man who, without firmness enough to avoid a 
 dislionourable action, has feeling enough to be ashamed 
 of it."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 289 
 
 This is taken from Bcvil Iliggons' " Short 
 View of English History :" — 
 
 " So weak and fallible is that admired maxim : ' factum 
 valet quod fieri non debuit,' an excuse first invented to palliate 
 the unfledged villany of some men who are ashamed to be 
 knaves, yet have not the courage to be honest." 
 
 Another borrowed thought in Junius occurs in 
 the well-known passage where he employs that 
 curious simile of the caput mortuum of vitriol : — 
 
 " He was forced to go through every division, resolution, 
 composition, and refinement of political chemistry, before he 
 happily arrived at the caput mortuum of vitriol in your grace. 
 Flat and insipid in your retired state ; but brought into 
 action, you become vitriol again. Such are the extremes of 
 alternate indolence or fury which have governed your whole 
 administration." 
 
 The simile here has evidently been taken from 
 
 these lines in Rochester : — 
 
 " Wit, like tierce claret, when 't begins to pall, 
 Neglected lies and 's of no use at all ; 
 But in its full perfection of decay 
 Turns vinegar, and comes again in play." 
 
 Then we have the passage in another of the 
 
 " Letters:"— 
 
 " In the shipwreck of tlie state, trifles float and are pre- 
 served ; while everything solid and valuable sinks to the bottom 
 and is lost for ever." 
 
 Which is but a prose version of the thought 
 expressed by Dry den's couplet : — 
 
 " Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow ; 
 He who would search for pearls must dive below." 
 
 U
 
 290 MODERN ENGLISH LITEUATURE. 
 
 Chenevix, in his *' Essay on National Cha- 
 racter," remarks : — 
 
 " This single day is sufficient to prove that the trident of 
 Neptune is the true sceptre of the universe." 
 
 Here is a saying well worthy of an English- 
 man; the merit of which, however, belongs to 
 the Erench poet Lemierre, who says in his poem 
 on " Commerce : " — 
 
 " Le trident de Neptune est le sceptre du monde." 
 
 One of the most beautiful similes in any lan- 
 guage occurs in a passage in Hallam's " Literature 
 of Europe." The writer is speaking of Pascal, 
 and remarks : — 
 
 " His melancholy genius plays in wild and rapid flashes, like 
 lightning round the scathed oak, about the fallen greatness of 
 man." 
 
 It occurred to me, on reading this, that it must 
 have emanated from some imagination of a more 
 poetic cast than Hallam's ; and, some time after, 
 I was not surprised to meet with it in this 
 passage in Moore's " Lalla Rookh :" — 
 
 " In every glance there broke without control 
 The flashes of a bright but troubled soul ; 
 Where sensibility still wildly play'd, 
 Like lightning round the ruins it had made." 
 
 Macaulay, in his " Essay on Sir James Mac- 
 kintosh," first puhlislied in 1835, presents us with
 
 PLAGIARISM. 291 
 
 another striking similitude. He is speaking of 
 the progress of the national mind, and compares 
 its ebb and flow to those of the sea : — 
 
 " We have often thought tliat the motion of the public mind 
 resembles that of the sea, when the tide is rising. Each suc- 
 cessive wave rushes forward, breaks, and rolls back, but the 
 great flood is steadily coming in. A person who looked on the 
 waters only for a moment might fancy that they were retiring. 
 A person who looked on them only for five minutes might fancy 
 that they were rushing capriciously to and fro. But when he 
 keeps his eye on them for a quarter of an hour, and sees one 
 sea-mark disappear after another, it is impossible for him to 
 doubt of the general direction in which the ocean is moved. 
 Just such has been the course of events in England." 
 
 This beautiful simile may have been suggested 
 by Longinus, who compares Homer, writing the 
 " Iliad," to the ocean at highwater-mark, and 
 Homer, writing the " Odyssey," to the ocean 
 receding within its ordinary limits, yet leaving 
 behind it the vestiges of its former imposing 
 grandeur. It will be seen, however, on a closer 
 examination, that there is nothing in common 
 between the two writers but the object which 
 serves as the means of comparison. But if 
 Macaulay has not borrowed from Longinus, 
 Carlyle has borrowed from Macaulay; for, in 
 one of his Lectures delivered in 1840, I find 
 Macaulay' s similitude reproduced in nearly the 
 same words, with this difference, that, while 
 Macaulay employs it to illustrate the progress of 
 the national mind, Carlyle uses it to describe 
 
 TJ 2
 
 292 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 wliat he believes to be the retrogression or 
 disappearance of Popery : — 
 
 " Popery cannot come back any more than Paganism can — 
 which also still lingers in some countries. But indeed it is 
 with these things as with the ebbing of the sea : you look at 
 the waves oscillating hither, thither, on the beach ; for minutes 
 you cannot tell how it is going. Look in half an hour where 
 it is : look in half a century where your Popehood is !" 
 
 La E-ochefoucauld, with characteristic insight, 
 says in his 326th Maxim : — 
 
 " Le ridicule deshonore plus que le deshonneur." 
 
 E/Ousseau, in his " Nouvelle Heloise," has the 
 same remark : — 
 
 " A considerer ces propos selon nos idees, ils sont bien plus 
 railleurs que mordans, et tombent moins sur le vice que sur 
 le ridicule. Malheur a qui prete le flanc au ridicule ; il ne 
 dechire pas seulement les moeurs, la vertu; il marque jusqu'au 
 vice meme." 
 
 And Viscount D'Arlincourt, in "Trois Cha- 
 teaux," has expressed it in these words : — 
 
 " Qu'on nomme quelqu'un homme infame a Paris, cela 
 frappe a peine : que Ton dise homme ridicule, on est tue du 
 coup." 
 
 The same notion occurs in three of our 
 English writers. Pope has it in one of his 
 Letters : — 
 
 " I have learned that there are some who would rather be 
 wicked than ridiculous ; and therefore it may be safer to attack 
 vices than follies."
 
 PLAGIARISM. 293 
 
 Sir Bulwer Lytton, in "England and the 
 English:"— 
 
 " The aristocratic influences have set up ridicule as the 
 Criminal Code." 
 
 And Mrs. Gore in the following passage : — 
 
 *' Be vile, be prodigal, be false, but do not make yourself 
 ridiculous : a butt or a bore ranks with the worst of 
 criminals." 
 
 D'Israeli, in the " Literary Character," has 
 this striking observation : — 
 
 " The defects of great men are the consolation of the 
 dunces;" 
 
 which Lord Byron quotes as a sample of 
 D'Israeli's incomparable wisdom. It turns out, 
 however, that the latter was indebted for the 
 remark, such as it is, to Pope, who says in one 
 of his letters to Swift : — 
 
 " A few loose things sometimes fall from men of wit, by 
 which censorious fools judge as ill of them as they possibly 
 can, for their own comfort." 
 
 Goldsmith, in the "Citizen of the World," 
 has the same thought : — 
 
 " The foUy of others is ever most ridiculous to those who 
 are themselves the most foolish." 
 
 And it occurs in Burke in this pithy form : — 
 
 " Wisdom is not the most severe corrector of Folly." — 
 Reflections on the French Revolution.
 
 294 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 In the same work Burke has this remark : — • 
 
 " Men of letters, fond of distinguishing themselves, are 
 rarely averse to innovation." 
 
 Which Sir Walter Scott has thus appropriated : — 
 
 " Those ambitious of distinction are usually friends to 
 innovation." — Life of Napoleon. 
 
 There is another remarkable thought in Burke, 
 which Alison, the historian, has turned to good 
 account. Indeed, it occurs so often in his dis- 
 quisitions, that he seems to have made it the 
 staple of all wisdom, and the basis of every 
 truth. Burke's words are : — 
 
 " You had that action and counteraction, which in the 
 natural and in the political world, from the recipi'ocal struggle 
 of discordant powers, draws out the harmony of the universe." 
 — Reflections on the French Bevolution. 
 
 The following are some of the passages in 
 which Alison has reproduced this beautiful 
 sentiment, without condescending, in a single 
 instance, to name the illustrious man from 
 whom he has adopted it : — 
 
 " Playfair traced in the revolution of our globe that mys- 
 terious system of action and reaction which pervades alike the 
 moral and the material world." — History of Europe from the 
 Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 " He has forgotten that action and reaction are the law of 
 nature, not less in the moral tlian in the matei"ial woi^ld." — 
 Ihid. 
 
 " In the political not less than the physical world, action 
 and reaction are equal and opposite." — Ibid.
 
 PLAGIARISM. 295 
 
 " Action and reaction seems to be the law not less of ilio 
 moral than the material world." — Ihid. 
 
 " The old law of nature is still in operation : action and 
 reaction rule mankind." — Essay on the Year of Bevolutions. 
 
 " Action and reaction is the law, not less of the intellectual 
 than the physical world." — Essay on the Historical Momancc. 
 
 The foregoing are some examples, from our 
 prose writers, of borrowed thoughts and similes. 
 It must be confessed, however, that it is not 
 always easy to distinguish between actual bor- 
 rowings, and such as are only so in appearance ; 
 between the thoughts which a writer has ap- 
 propriated, and those which, being founded in 
 nature, have naturally presented themselves to 
 his mind. A deep-sighted thinker, one accus- 
 tomed to serious meditation, will discover for 
 himself what a man of ordinary capacity has 
 to adopt from others. The one is a producer, 
 the other a reproducer; the one an inventor, 
 the other a copyist ; the memory of the latter 
 is stored with borrowed wealth ; that of the 
 former with original ideas, which haunt it, 
 " Like echoes of an antenatal dream." 
 
 A fruitful source of unconscious imitation 
 is the word " sweet." Although its ordinary 
 station is among the commonplaces of poetical 
 diction, there is no expression that adapts itself, 
 with such versatility and ease, to similitudes 
 and to figurative language in general. It
 
 298 modehn English liteuattjre. 
 
 appears to be specially suited to delineations of 
 natural scenery, music, and love ; and instances 
 might be quoted from every poet, ancient or 
 modern, whicli bear so close a resemblance to 
 each other as to pass for imitations ; yet which, 
 in reality, are but echoes of Nature's universal 
 voice, awakened in the poet's responsive breast.
 
 LITERARY IMPOSTURES. 
 
 " The age of Shams." 
 
 Carlyle.
 
 LITEEAEY IMPOSTURES. 
 
 Akin to the subject of " Plagiarism " is that 
 of Literary Impostures, some of which indeed 
 are plagiarisms upon a large scale. Among the 
 most remarkable of these, within the last hun- 
 dred years, are Chatterton's " E^owley Poems," 
 Macpherson's " Poems of Ossian," the Marquis 
 de Surville's " Poems of Madame de Survillc," 
 Henri Beyle's "Letters on Haydn," Count de 
 Courchamps' " Memoirs of the Marquise de 
 Crequy," and the "Memoirs of Cagliostro," by 
 the same writer. 
 
 The controversy respecting the authenticity 
 of the poems which Chatterton has given to 
 the world as those of Thomas Rowley, a priest 
 of the fifteenth century, has ceased to have 
 any interest for the literary inquirer. It is 
 now generally admitted that those poems have 
 nothing in them of the fifteenth century but 
 the antiquated spelling, in which Chatterton's 
 acquaintance with the literature of that period
 
 300 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 enabled him to dress them up. The senti- 
 ments and even the imagery are, for the most 
 part, of a modern cast ; Avhile the borrowed 
 thoughts which they contain (borrowed from 
 poets of a date posterior to that of their pre- 
 tended origin) leave no room to doubt that the 
 " marvellous boy " was himself the author of 
 those singular productions. Thomas E-owley, as 
 a poet, is now no better than a myth. 
 
 Macpherson's " Ossian " is in the same pre- 
 dicament. It is possible indeed that a bard, such 
 as Ossian is represented to have been, lived in 
 the third century, and wrote poetical rhapsodies 
 of a somewhat similar character to those pub- 
 lished by Macpherson ; but the original composi- 
 tions, of which his " Poems of Ossian " profess 
 to be translations, are nowhere to be found. A 
 few fragmentary ballads, preserved by oral tra- 
 dition among the Scottish peasantry, are all that 
 has come down to us ; and upon these Mac- 
 pherson has stereotyped his " Poems of Ossian;" 
 but whether those fragments are the production 
 of a poet of that name and age, or of some bard 
 of more modern date, will ever remain among 
 the mysteries of literature. 
 
 A noticeable circumstance in connexion with 
 the " Poems of Ossian " is the influence which 
 they exercised on the literary mind of Prance 
 immediately before the breaking out of the great 
 Revolution and during the first quarter of the
 
 LITERARY IMPOSTURES. 301 
 
 nineteenth century. I well remember, while at 
 college in Paris from 1823 to 1827, the enthu- 
 siasm with which the students used to descant 
 upon " Les Poesies d'Ossian." lie is the only- 
 English poet some of them had ever read, 
 even in a translation; while others, whose ac- 
 quaintance with English literature was suffi- 
 ciently extensive, asserted that we had no poet 
 like him. Compared with Ossian, Shakspeare, 
 they said, was a savage, and Milton a madman. 
 
 The partiality of the Erench for the " Poems 
 of Ossian " is a singular fact in the history of 
 taste. Napoleon is said to have made them his 
 constant study and delight ; and the knowledge 
 of that circumstance may have contributed, 
 in some degree, to direct public attention to 
 them. But what shall we say of Madame de 
 Stael, whose judgment and taste are not inferior 
 to those of any writer of her time; yet who 
 carries her faith in Ossian so far as to believe that 
 he was the founder of our northern literature ? 
 She even institutes a comparison between him 
 and Homer, which is not always favourable to the 
 " Eather of Epic Poetry." 
 
 The eighteenth century was fertile in literary 
 frauds ; and the partially successful attempts of 
 Chatterton and Macpherson soon led to similar 
 impositions in Erance. The most remarkable of 
 these was the publication, in 1803, of the 
 " Poesies de Marguerite -Eleonore-Clotilde de
 
 302 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Valon-Chalys, depuis Madame de Surville, poete 
 Pranpais du XYeSiecle." This publication went 
 forth under the auspices of M. Charles Yander- 
 bourg, as the inedited poems of Madame de Sur- 
 ville, recently brought to light ; and the fraud, as 
 in the case of Chatterton, was promoted by means 
 of the spelling and phraseology peculiar to the 
 fifteenth century. For a time, tlie public, includ- 
 ing many writers of distinction, were in raptures 
 at the discovery of this supposed literary treasure ; 
 but by degrees the imposition was seen through, 
 and the publication denounced as a forgery. The 
 real author was the Marquis Joseph-Etienne de 
 Surville, who from having commenced his career 
 as a literary impostor, ended it by robbing the 
 " diligences," and was shot in the Velay in 1798. 
 He was a man of remarkable talent, as shown 
 even by these Surville poems, the authenticity of 
 which he maintained to the last. 
 
 Another Erench imposition was the publication 
 by Henri Beyle, in 1815, of " Lettres ecrites de 
 Vienne en Autriche, sur le c^lebre Compositeur 
 Haydn." Although these letters appeared under 
 the pseudonym of Louis Alexandre Cesar Bombet, 
 they were accredited in the world of letters as the 
 production of Beyle ; and Lord Byron, in his 
 correspondence, pays him a high compliment for 
 the ability and taste displayed in the work. It 
 turned out, however, that the " Letters " were 
 but a translation from the Italian of a work by
 
 LITERARY IMPOSTURES. 303 
 
 Joseph Carpani, entitled " Le Haydinc:" nor 
 was it until the latter publicly complained of 
 the appropriation and produced the original, that 
 Beyle admitted his claim. He then urged, in 
 explanation of his having concealed the existence 
 of Carpani' s work, that, if he had published the 
 "Letters" as "translated from the Italian," no 
 one would have read them. Beyle's transla- 
 tion, together with his own remarks on Prench 
 and Italian Art, was published in English in 
 1817, under the title of " Haydn, Mozart, and 
 Metastasio." 
 
 But of all the literary frauds with which we are 
 acquainted, that which has been practised within 
 the last few years by the Count de Courchamps, 
 under the title of " Memoires inedits de Cagli- 
 ostro," is at once the most impudent and the 
 most unjustifiable. The facts are as follows (see 
 Querard's " Supercheries Litteraires," vol. i., sub 
 voce Cagliostro) : — 
 
 In 1813 and 1814, John Potocki, a Polish 
 count, published two novels, under the respective 
 titles of " Vie d'Avadoro," and " Dix Journees 
 de la Vie d' Alphonse Van Worden. " The number 
 of copies was very limited, and although the 
 novels possessed considerable interest, they were 
 soon lost sight of by the reading public. About 
 the year 1835, Count de Courchamps, already 
 well known as the author (not editor, as he pre- 
 tended) of the " Souvenirs de la Marquise de
 
 304 MODEHN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 Crequy, 1710 a 1800," announced his design of 
 publishing the " inedited Memoirs of Cagliostro ;" 
 and the public mind was soon raised to a pitch 
 of expectation commensurate with the interest 
 which the autobiography of that " Quack of 
 Quacks " was naturally calculated to create. It 
 was not, however, till 1811 that the work com- 
 menced to make its appearance ; and even then, 
 as if M. de Courchamps wished to feel his way, 
 he only furnished certain portions of it. These 
 were published as " feuilletons " in the " Presse " 
 newspaper, under the titles of " Yal Puneste," 
 and " Histoire de Don Benito d' Almusenar ;" but 
 no sooner did they make their appearance than 
 they were denounced by the "National" news- 
 paper as literary piracies ; the " Yal Euneste " as 
 having been copied verbatim from Potocki's " Dix 
 Journees de la Vie d'Alphonse Van "Worden," and 
 the " Histoire de Don Benito d' Almusenar," as 
 transcribed from the same author's " Vie d'Ava- 
 doro." Count de Courchamps had evidently 
 imagined that, owing to the limited number of 
 copies that had been printed of Potocki's novels, 
 the length of time that had elapsed since their 
 appearance, and the comparative oblivion into 
 which they had fallen, he might appropriate 
 them with impunity, and give them to the world 
 as original and inedited. Thanks, however, to 
 the perseverance and honesty of purpose with 
 which the " National " pursued the investigation,
 
 LITEHARY IMPOSTUBES. 305 
 
 De Courcliamps was soon made to repent of his 
 folly, while proof after proof was laid before the 
 public, that his " Memoirs of Cagliostro " was 
 one of the most unprincipled frauds in the history 
 of literature. 
 
 The worst feature in this transaction remains 
 to be told. When Count de Courchamps saw 
 that the fraud was discovered, instead of admit- 
 ting it, or explaining it, as best he might, he 
 endeavoured to turn the tables, as it were, upon 
 his opponents, and stoutly asserted that, if there 
 was any theft, it was committed, not by him, but 
 by the publisher of the novels in 1813 and 1814, 
 who, he said, had surreptitiously got possession 
 of his manuscripts. In order to give a colour of 
 truth to this charge, M. de Courchamps affirmed 
 that he had lent his manuscripts in 1810 to Count 
 de Pac, a Polish magnate ; and as the latter was 
 no longer alive to contradict this assertion, the 
 public were left to suppose that Pac had commu- 
 nicated the manuscripts to Potocki. 
 
 But even on this ground the "National " boldly 
 encountered M. de Courchamps, showing that 
 Potocki' s knowledge of the work could not be 
 accounted for by any communication through Pac 
 in 1810, inasmuch as Potocki had already pub- 
 lished it at St. Petersburg, as far back as 1804, 
 under the title of " Manuscrit trouve a Sara- 
 gosse." A copy of the latter publication was 
 produced in court during the trial occasioned by 
 
 X
 
 306 MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 these proceedings, and this fact, of which De 
 Courchamps had evidently been unaware, com- 
 pletely established the charge of literary piracy. 
 
 Compared with this fraud of De Courchamps, 
 all other similar feats sink into insimificance. 
 Poor Chatterton robbed no one but himself, 
 doffing a crown that might have gracefully 
 adorned his own youthful brow, to place it upon 
 the bald front of an imaginary monk. The same, 
 to a great extent, may be said of Macpherson, 
 whose reputation would have been enhanced by 
 the admission that, instead of translating, he 
 had actually written down, a poet of the third 
 century. 
 
 So, too, as regards the Marquis de Surville, 
 who transferred to a lady of the fifteenth 
 century the credit and fame of a volume of 
 poems, of which he was the real author. 
 
 Again, in the case of Henri Beyle, there is 
 
 this extenuating circumstance, that the appro- 
 
 / priation of Carpani's work was made under a 
 
 / fictitious name ; and, as he says, " Un anonymo 
 
 /' peut-il etre plagiaire ?" 
 
 Even the Count de Courchamps himself, in 
 his " Souvenirs de la Marquise de Crequy," 
 confined the imposition within harmless, if not 
 permissible, bounds. He chose to pass for the 
 " editor," rather than the author, of that work ; 
 and so far he was the only loser. Indeed, in 
 this instance, it can hardly be said that there
 
 LITERARY IMPOSTURES. 307 
 
 was any deception, as the character of the work 
 carries with it sufficient evidence of its being 
 the production of M. de Courchamps. But in 
 the case of the '* Memoirs of Cagliostro," we 
 have the wholesale piracy of another man's pro- 
 perty, systematically prosecuted during a series 
 of years; the open, the absolute appropriation 
 of his mental productions, accomplished with 
 unparalleled effrontery, and upheld throughout 
 by every species of falsehood and deceit. 
 
 Fortunately for the cause of truth and the 
 honour of literature, the exposure was commen- 
 surate with the magnitude of the offence ; and 
 the castigation which Count de Courchamps has 
 received, both in the public prints and in the 
 courts of justice, will long be remembered as a 
 warning to all future literary buccaneers. 
 
 PRINTED BY COX AND WYMAN, GREAT QUEEX STREET.
 
 
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