Gratiano. Poor Desdemona! I'm glad thy father's dead, Othello, Act V. Sc. 8. 562. Objects or norror must be expected from the foregoing theory, for no description, however lively, is sufficient to over balance the disgust raised even by the idea of such objects. Every thing horrible ought therefore to be avoided in a description. Nor is this a severe law: the poet will avoid such scenes for his own sake, as well as for that of his reader; and to vary his descriptions, nature affords plenty of objects that disgust us in some degree without raising horror. I am obliged therefore to condemn the picture of Sin in the second book of Paradise Lost, though a masterly per formance: the original would be a horrid spectacle; and the horror is not much softened in the copy: -Pensive here I sat Alone; but long I sat not, till my womb, And in embraces forcible and foul Grim Death, my son and foe, who sets them on, Book ii. 1. 777. Iago's character in the tragedy of Othello, is insufferably monstrous and satanical: not even Shakspeare's masterly hand can make the picture agreeable. Though the objects introduced in the following scene is not 562. Objects of horror. Examples. altogether so horrible as Sin is in Milton's description; yet with every person of delicacy, disgust will be the prevailing emotion: -Strophades Graio stant nomine dictæ See also Eneid, lib. iii. 613. Eneid, lib. iii. 216. CHAPTER XXII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE. [From the Westminster Review (1852), somewhat abridged and modified. 563. DR. LATHAM, condemning the incessant drill in English Grammar, rightly observes that "gross vulgarity is a fault to be prevented; but the proper preventive is to be got from habit, not from rules." So it must be acknowledged that excellence in composition is more dependent upon practice and natural talent, than upon a mere acquaintance with rhetorical rules. He who daily reads and hears, with close attention, well-framed sentences, will naturally more or less be prompted to frame well his own sentences. Some practical advantage, however, cannot fail to be derived from a familiarity with the principles of style, and from an habitual endeavor to conform to them in one's own practice. The maxims contained in works on rhetoric and composition, are not so well apprehended nor so much respected, as they would be if they had been arranged under some one grand principle from which they may fairly be deduced. We are told, for example, that "brevity is the soul of wit"-that every needless part of a sentence interrupts the description and clogs the image"-that "long sentences fatigue the reader's attention"-that "to give the utmost force to a period, it ought, if possible, to be closed with the word that makes the greatest figure"-that "parentheses should be avoided"— that "Saxon words should be used in preference to those of Latir origin." We have certain styles condemned as verbose or involved Admitting these maxims to be just, they lose much of their intrin sic force and influence from their isolated position, and from the want of scientific deduction from some fundamental principle. 563. Dr. Latham's observation.-Excellence in composition dependent on what?-Fault in works on rhetoric. FIRST DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL ENERGIES. 564. In seeking for the law which underlies these common max. ims of rhetoric, we may see shadowed forth in many of them the importance of economizing the reader's or hearer's attention. To present ideas in such a form that they may be apprehended with the least possible effort, is the aim of most of the rules above quoted. When we condemn writing that is wordy, or confused, or intricate; when we praise one style as easy, and condemn another as fatiguing, we consciously or unconsciously assume this as the proper aim or standard in writing or speaking. Regarding language as an apparatus of symbols for the conveyance of thought, it is proper to say, as with reference to any mechanical apparatus, that the more simple and the better arranged its parts, the greater will be the effect produced. In either case, whatever force is absorbed by the machine is deducted from the result. A reader or listener has at each moment but a limited amount of mental power available. To recognize and interpret the symbols presented to him requires part of this power: to arrange and combine the images suggested requires another part; and only that part which remains can be used for the realization of the thought conveyed. Hence the more time and attention it requires to receive and understand each sentence, the less time and attention can be given to the contained idea, and the less vividly will that idea be conceived. That language is in some measure a hindrance to thought while one of the most valuable instruments of thought, is apparent when we notice the comparatively greater force with which some thoughts are conveyed by simple signs and gestures. To say "Leave the room" is less expressive than to point to the door. Placing a finger upon the lips is more forcible than whispering, "Do not speak." A beck of the hand is better than "Coine here. No phrase can convey the idea of surprise so vividly as opening the eyes and raising the eyebrows. A shrug of the shoulders would lose much by translation into words. 565. Again, it may be remarked that when oral language is employed, the strongest effects are produced by interjections, which condense entire sentences into syllables; and, in other cases, where custom allows us to express thoughts by single words, as in Beware, Fudge, much force would be lost by expanding them into specific 564. The law which underlies the prominent maxims of rhetoric -The aim of most of those maxims.--The demands upon the mental power of the reader or listener.-Language in some treasure, a hindrance to thought. verbal propositions. Hence, carrying out the metaphor that language is the vehicle of thought, there seems reason to think that in all cases the friction and inertia of the vehicle deduct from its efficiency; and that in composition the chief, if not the sole thing to be done, is to reduce this friction and inertia to the smallest possible amount. Let us then inquire whether economy of the hearer's or reader's attention is not the secret of effort, alike in the choice and collocation of words; in the best arrangement of clauses in a sentence, in the proper order of its principal and subordinate propositions; in the judicious use of simile, metaphor, and other figures of speech; and in even the rhythmical sequence of syllables. I. THE CHOICE OF WORDS. 566. (1) The superior forcibleness of Saxon English, or rather non-Latin English, first claims our attention. The several special reasons assignable for this may all be reduced to the general reasoneconomy. The most important of them is early association. A child's vocabulary is almost wholly Saxon. He says, I have, not 1 possess; I wish, not I desire: he does not reflect, he thinks; he does not beg for amusement, but for play; he calls things nice or nasty, not pleasant or disagreeable. The synonyms which he learns in after years never become so closely, so organically connected with the ideas signified, as do these original words used in childhood; and hence the association remains less powerful. But in what does a powerful association between a word and an idea differ from a weak one? Simply in the greater rapidity and ease of comprehension, until, from its having been a conscious effort to realize their meanings, their meanings ultimately come without any effort at all; and if we consider that the same process must have gone on with the words of our mother tongue from childhood upward, we shall clearly see that the earliest-learnt and oftenest-used words, will, other things being equal, call up images with less loss of time and energy than their later-learned synonyms. 567. (2) The comparative brevity of Saxon English is another feature that brings it under the same generalization. If it be an advantage to express an idea in the smallest number of words, then will it be an advantage to express it in the smallest number of syllables. If circuitous phrases and needless expletives distract the attention and diminish the strength of the impression produced, ther do surplus articulations do so. A certain effort, though commonly an inappreciable one, must be required to recognize every vowel and 565. Interjections. Single words.-The chief thing to be done in composition.-In what respects economy of attention is to be practised. 566. Superior forc bleness of Saxon English.-First reason.-In what a powerful soci Hon between a word and its idea differs from a weak one. consonant. If, as we commonly find, the mind soon becomes fatigued when we listen to an indistinct or fa-removed speaker, or when we read a badly-written manuscript; and if, as we cannot doubt, the fatigue is a cumulative result of the attention required to catch successive syllables, it obviously follows that attention is in such cases absorbed by each syllable. And if this be true when the syllables are difficult of recognition, it will also be true, though in a less degree, when the recognition of them is easy. Hence, the shortness of Saxon words becomes a reason for their greater force, as involving a saving of the articulations to be received. 568. (3) Again, that frequent cause of strength in Saxon and other primitive words-their imitative character-renders it a matter of economy to use them. Both those directly imitative, as splash, bang, whiz, roar, &c., and those analogically imitative, as rough, smooth, keen, blunt, thin, hard, crag, &c., by presenting to the perceptions symbols having direct resemblance to the things to be imagined, or some kinship to them, save part of the effort needed to call up the intended ideas, and leave more attention to the ideas themselves. 569. (4) It contributes to economy of the hearer's or reader's mental energy to use specific rather than generic words. That concrete terms produce more vivid impressions than abstract ones, and should, when possible, be used instead, is a current maxim of composition. As Dr. Campbell says, the more general the terms are, the picture is the fainter; the more special they are, the brighter. We should avoid such a sentence as, -In proportion as the manners, customs, and amusements of a nation are cruel and barbarous, the regulations of their penal code will be severe. And in place of it we should write: -In proportion as men delight in battles, tourneys, bull-fights, and combats of gladiators, will they punish by hanging, beheading, burning, and the rack. This superiority of specific expressions is clearly due to a saving of the effort required to translate words into thoughts. As we do not think in generals but in particulars; as, whenever any class of things is referred to, we represent it to ourselves by calling to mind individual members of it, it follows that when an abstract word is used, the hearer or reader has to choose, from among his stock of images, one or more by which he may figure to himself the genus mentioned. In doing this some delay must arise, some force be expended; and if, by employing a specific term, an appropriate image can be at once suggested, an economy is achieved, and a more vivid impression produced. 567. Brevity of Saxon English; how this contributes to effect. 568. Effect of the imitative character of primitive words. 569. Economy in using specific words.-Dr. Campbell's remark.-Why specific er pressions economize effort === |