46 sign the necessary cause of this pleasure, because we "know neither the nature of an idea, nor the sub 66 stance of a human soul, which might help us to dis"cover the conformity or disagreeableness of the one "to the other; and therefore, for want of such a light, "all that we can do, in speculations of this kind, is to "reflect on those operations of the soul that are most agreeable, and to range, under their proper heads, "what is pleasing or displeasing to the mind, without being able to trace out the several necessary and "efficient causes from whence the pleasure or displea"sure arises *." The reader will observe, that in this passage I have distinguished by italics all those words in the body of the sentence, no fewer than seven, at any of which, if there were a full stop, the construction of the preceding part would be complete. The fault here is solely in the length of the whole, and in the number of the parts. The members themselves are well connected. 66 In the next example we have both the faults abovementioned in one sentence. "Last year a paper was brought here from England, called a Dialogue between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr Higgins, which we ordered to be burnt by the common "bangman, as it well deserved, though we have no "more to do with his Grace of Canterbury, than you "have with the Archbishop of Dublin, whom you 66 VOL. II. * Spectator, No. 413. O. Of vivacity as depending on the arrangement of the words. "tamely suffer to be abused openly, and by name, by "that paultry rascal of an observator; and lately up 66 on an affair wherein he had no concern; I mean the "business of the missionary of Drogheda, wherein our "excellent primate was engaged, and did nothing but "according to law and discretion *." Hardly will you find in any of the worst English writers a more exceptionable sentence in point of composition than the preceding, which is taken from one of the best. The stops which might be in it will be found, on an attentive perusal, to be no fewer than fourteen; the clauses are exceedingly unequal, abrupt, and ill-compacted. Intricacy in the structure of a complex sentence might also be here exemplified as a cause of languor. But as this error never fails to create obscurity, it hath been considered already under a former head. PART IV....Review of what has been deduced above in regard to arrangement. I HAVE now briefly examined how far arrangement may contribute to vivacity, both in simple sentences and in complex, and from what principles in our nature it is, that the effect ariseth. IN this discussion I have had occasion to consider, in regard to simple sentences, the difference between * Swift's Letter concerning the Sacramental Test. what may properly be called the rhetorical and natu ral order, and that which I have denominated the artificial and grammatical, or the customary way of combining the words in any particular language. I have observed, as to the former, and taken some pains to illustrate the observation, that it is universal, that it results from the frame of spirit in which the sentiment, whatever it be, is spoken or written, that it is by consequence a sort of natural expression of that frame, and tends to communicate it to the hearer or the reader. I have observed also, that this order, which alone deserves the name of Natural, is in every language more or less cramped by the artificial or conventional laws of arrangement in the language; that, in this respect, the present languages of Europe, as they allow less latitude, are considerably inferior to Greek and Latin, but that English is not a little superior in this particular to some of the most eminent of the modern tongues. I have shown also that the artificial arrangement is different in different languages, and seems chiefly accommodated to such simple explanation, narration, and deduction, as scarcely admits the exertion either of fancy or of passion. IN regard to complex sentences, both compound and decompound, I have remarked the difference between the loose sentence and the period; I have observed the advantages and the disadvantages of each in point of vivacity, the occasions to which they are respectively suited, the rules to be observed in com Of the connectives employed in combining the parts of a sentence. posing them, and the faults which, as tending to enervate the expression and tire the reader, ought carefully to be avoided. I have also made some remarks on the different kinds of antithesis, and the uses to which they may properly be applied. THUS much shall suffice for the general illustration of this article, concerning the vivacity which results from arrangement. CHAP. IV. Of the Connectives employed in combining the Parts of a Sentence. I AM very sensible that the remarks contained in the preceding chapter, on the particular structure and the particular arrangement in sentences, whether simple or complex, which are most conducive to vivacity, however well these remarks are founded, and however much they may assist us in forming a judgment concerning any performance under our review, are very far from exhausting this copious subject; and still farther from being sufficient to regulate our practice in composing. Of the connectives employed in combining the parts of a sentence. For this reason I judged that the observations on the nature and the management of connexive particles contained in this chapter and the succeeding might prove an useful supplement to the two preceding ones (for they are connected with both), and serve at once to enlarge our conceptions on this subject, and to assist our practice. At first indeed I had intended to comprehend both these chapters in the foregoing. But when I reflected, on the other hand, not only that they would swell that article far beyond the ordinary bounds, but that, however much the topics are related, the nature of the investigation contained in them, is both different in itself, and must be differently conducted, I thought it would have less the appearance of digression, and conduce more to perspicuity, to consider them severally under their proper and discriminating titles, I NEED Scarcely observe, that by connectives I mean, all those terms and phrases, which are not themselves the signs of things, of operations, or of attributes, but by which, nevertheless, the words in the same clause, the clauses in the same member, the members in the same sentence, and even the sentences in the same discourse, are linked together, and the relations subsisting among them are suggested. The last of these connexions I reserve for the subject of the ensuing chapter; all the rest I comprehend in this. The proper subject of this is the connectives of the several |