Page images
PDF
EPUB

Of vivacity as depending on the number of the words.

Let

to limit the sense of the word eagle to one species only, and is therefore in effect a part of the name. it not be imagined hence, that mere epithets are always useless. Though all the essential qualities of a genus are included in the name, the scope of a discourse often renders it important, if not necessary, that some particular qualities should be specially attended to by the hearer. And these by consequence require to be specified by the speaker. On the contrary, a redundancy of these never fails to give a tiresome sameness to the composition, where substantives and adjectives, verbs and adverbs, almost invariably strung together, offend not more against vivacity, than against harmony and elegance *. This vicious quali

* I cannot help thinking, that the following passage, which Rollin has quoted from Mascaron, as an example of style elevated and adorned by means of circumlocution and epithet, is justly exceptionable in this way. "Le roi, pour donner une marque immor

[ocr errors]

telle de l'estime et de l'amité dont il honoroit ce grand capitaine (M. de Turenne) donne une place illustre à ses glorieuses cendres, parmi ces maîtres de la terre, qui conservent encore dans la mag"nificence de leurs tombeux une image de celle de leurs trônes.” -The king, that he may give an immortal mark of the esteem and friendship wherewith he honoured this great captain, gives an 'illustrious place to his glorious ashes, among those masters of the earth, who still preserve, in the magnificence of their tombs, an image of that of their thrones." Bel. Let. Liv. III. Chap. iii. Art. ii. § 5. In the quick succession of such yokemates as these, immortal mark, great captain, illustrious place, glorious ashes, magnificent tombs, there appears a strong attempt towards the grand manner, which, after all, terminates in the tumid.

Sect. II.

Offences against brevity considered.... Part III. Verbosity.

ty of style is sometimes denominated juvenility, as denoting immaturity of judgment, or an inexperience like that which would make a man mistake corpulency for the criterion of health and vigour. Besides, in young writers, a certain luxuriance in words is both more frequent and more pardonable.

THERE is one kind of composition, the paraphrase, of whose style verbosity is the proper character. The professed design of the paraphrast, is to say in many words what his text expresseth in few: accordingly, all the writers of this class must be at pains to provide themselves in a sufficient stock of synonymas, epithets, expletives, circumlocutions, and tautologies, which are, in fact, the necessary implements of their craft. I took notice, when treating of the influence which the choice of proper terms might have on vivacity, of one method of depressing their subject very common with these men, by generalizing as much as possible the terms used in the text. The particulars just now recited, are not only common with them, but essential to their work. I shall produce an example from an author, who is far from deserving to be accounted either the most verbose, or the least judicious of the tribe. But first, let us hear his text, the words of Jesus Christ. Therefore, whosoever heareth these

66

66

sayings of mine, and doth them, I will liken him to "a wise man, who built his house upon a rock; and "the rain descended, and the floods came, and the "winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell

[blocks in formation]

Of vivacity as depending on the number of the words.

66

"not; for it was founded upon a rock *." Now, let us hear the paraphrast. Wherefore, he that shall "not only bear and receive these my instructions, but "also remember, and consider, and practise, and live

[ocr errors]

according to them; such a man may be compared "to one that builds his house upon a rock; for as a "house founded upon a rock, stands unshaken and

66

firm, against all the assaults of rains and floods and "storms; so the man who, in his life and conversa

66

tion, actually practises and obeys my instructions, "will firmly resist all the temptations of the devil, the "allurements of pleasure, and the terrors of persecu

[ocr errors]

tion, and shall be able to stand in the day of judg"ment, and be rewarded of God +." It would be difficult to point out a single advantage which this wordy, not to say flatulent, interpretation hath of the text. Is it more perspicuous? It is much less so; although it is the chief, if not the sole end of this manner of writing, to remove every thing that can darken the passage paraphrased, and to render the sense as clear as possible. But lest this censure should be thought rash, let it be observed, that two things are clearly distinguished in the text, which are in themselves certainly distinct, to bear the commands of our master, and to obey them. There was the greater need that this distinction should be properly preserved, because it was the plain intention of the speaker to contrast those who heard and obeyed, with those who

* Matt. vii. 24, 25.

[ocr errors]

+ Dr Clerke.

Sect. II.

Offences against brevity considered.... Part III. Verbosity.

heard but obeyed not; as we learn from the similitude contained in the two following verses *. Yet this primary distinction is confounded in the paraphrase, by a multitude of words partly synonymous, partly different in signification. Thus, for "whoso"ever heareth these sayings of mine, and doth them;" we have," him that hears, and receives, and remem"bers, and considers, and actually practises, and o

66

beys these my instructions, and lives according to "them." I might allege, as another instance of the want of perspicuity, that the duty and the reward are strangely blended throughout the whole. A deficiency of words is, no doubt, oftener than the contrary, a cause of obscurity; but this evil, as I had occasion formerly to remark, may also be the effect of an exuberance. By a multiplicity of words the sentiment is not set off and accommodated, but, like David equipt in Saul's armour, it is encumbered and oppressed.

YET this is not the only or perhaps the worst consequence resulting from this manner of treating sacred writ. We are told of the torpedo, that it has the wonderful quality of numbing every thing it touches. A paraphrase is a torpedo. By its influence, the most vivid sentiments become lifeless, the most sublime are flattened, the most fervid chilled, the most vigorous enervated. In the very best compositions of this kind

* Matt. vii. 26, 27.

Of vivacity as depending on the number of the words.

that can be expected, the Gospel may be compared to a rich wine of a high flavour, diluted in such a quantity of water as renders it extremely vapid. This would be the case, if the paraphrase (which is indeed hardly possible) took no tincture from the opinion of the paraphrast, but exhibited faithfully, though insipidly, the sense of the evangelist. Whereas, in all those paraphrases we have had access as yet to be acquainted with, the gospel may more justly be com- · pared to such a wine, so much adulterated with a li- · quor of a very different taste and quality, that little of its original relish and properties can be discovered. Accordingly, in one paraphrase, Jesus Christ appears a bigoted Papist; in another, a flaming Protestant: in one, he argues with all the sophistry of the Jesuit; in another, he declaims with all the fanaticism of the Jansenist in one, you trace the metaphysical ratiocinations of Arminius; in another, you recognize the bold conclusions of Gomarus; and in each, you hear the language of a man, who has thoroughly imbibed the system of one or other of our christian rabbis. So various and so opposite are the characters which, in those performances, our Lord is made to exhibit, and the dialects which he is made to speak. How different is his own character and dialect from them all! If we are susceptible of the impartiality requisite to constitute us proper judges in these matters, we shall find in him nothing that can be thought to favour the subtle disquisitions of a sect. His language is not, like that of all dogmatists, the language of a bastard

« PreviousContinue »