Page CHAP. VII. What is the cause that nonsense so often es- capes being detected, both by the writer and SECT. I. The nature and power of signs, both in speak- Sect. II. The application of the preceding principles . -.98 CHAP. VIII. The extensive usefulness of perspicuity ... SECT. I. When is obscurity apposite, if ever it be appo- CHAP. IX. May there not be an excess of perspicuity ? .. 130 CHAP. I. Of vivacity as depending on the choice of words 135 Part I. Preliminary observations concerning tropes ... ib. Part II. The different sorts of tropes conducive to viva- The less for the more general . 2. The most interesting circumstance distinguish- 3. Things sensible for things intelligible 4. Things animate for things lifeless .. .. 176 Part III. The use of those tropes which are obstructive Sect. III. Words considered as sounds Part 1. What are articulate sounds capable of imitat- Part II. In what esteem ought this kind of imitation to be held, and when ought it to be attempt- Sect. I. This quality explained and exemplified . . . . . 226 Sect. II. The principal offences against brevity consider- CHAP. III. Of vivacity as depending on the arrangement of Sect. I. Of the nature of arrangement, and the principal Part I. Subdivision of these into periods and loose sentences ib. Part II. Observations on periods, and on the use of an- tithesis in the composition of sentences. 300 Part III. Observations on loose sentences Part IV. Review of what has been deduced above in re- CHAP. IV. Of the connectives employed in combining the Sect. II. Of other connectives Sect. III. Modern languages compared with Greek and Latin, particularly in regard to the compo- CHAP. V. Of the connectives employed in combining the Sect. I. The necessity of connectives for this purpose • 362 Sect. II. Observations on the manner of using the con- 326 . THE PHILOSOPHY OF R H E T O R I C. BOOK SECOND. CHAP. V. Of the qualities of Style strictly rhetorical. Purity, of which I have treated at some length in URITY, the two preceding chapters, may justly be denominated grammatical truth. "It consisteth in the conformity of the expression to the sentiment which the speaker or the writer intends to convey by it, as moral truth consisteth in the conformity of the sentiment intended to be conveyed, to the sentiment actually entertained by the speaker or the writer; and logical truth, as was hinted above, in the conformity of the sentiment to the nature of things. The opposite to logical truth, is properly error; to moral truth, a lie ; VOL. II. A Of the qualities of style strictly rhetorical. to grammatical truth, a blunder. Now the only standard by which the conformity implied in grammatic truth must be ascertained in every language, is, as hath been evinced already *, reputable, national, and present use, in that language. But it is with the expression as with the sentiment, it is not enough to the orator that both be true. A sentence may be a just exhibition, according to the rules of the language, of the thought intended to be conveyed by it, and may therefore, to a mere grammarian, be unexceptionable ; which to an orator may appear extremely faulty. It may, nevertheless, be obscure, it may be languid, it may be inelegant, it may be flat, it may be unmusical. It is not ultimately the justness either of the thought or of the expresa' sion, which is the aim of the orator; but it is a certain effect to be produced in the hearers. This effect as he purposeth to produce in them by the use of language, which he makes the instrument of conveying his sentiments into their minds, he must take care in the first place that his style be perspicuous, that so he may be sure of being understood. If he would not only inform the understanding, but please the imagination, he must add the charms of vivacity and elegance, corresponding to the two sources from which, as was observed in the beginning of this work t, the merit of an address of this kind results. By vivacity, * Vol. I. Book II. Chap. I. + Ib. Book I, Chap. I. |
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