7. Examine some of your own compositions to learn what proportion of periodic sentences you use, noting at the same time whether any loosely arranged sentences can be improved by rearrangement.

49. Balance. The word balance is significant. It implies adjustment, correspondence, poise, sanity. As an element of effectiveness in literary style, it is perhaps second to nothing. And, while not absolutely essential to clearness, it is also one of the greatest aids to quickness of understanding. It may be laid down as a law that similarity or balance of form must accompany similarity of significance. For any change of form distracts the attention and sets the mind working in a new direction.

1. Analogous Elements.-When several statements or phrases stand in similar relations and fulfil analogous functions, they should not be wantonly dissimilar in form.

There appears to be nothing witty in the article, although the author makes several attempts at wit, and although there are a few good statements, they circle about one narrow point and there is no advance made in the discussion.

The rest of the time is spent in repairing things about the camp, in breaking horses, or in idleness.

Buddhism teaches the sacredness of both men and animals, and that one should exert good-will beyond measure toward all beings.

The Greeks' gift to mankind was philosophy, science, and culture; that of the Romans, law and civil polity; while the Jews gave us Christ.

Contrast with the above the perfect balance of the following:

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.-Ps, XIX. 7, 8.

And why? because Mr. Pitt was among the persecutors of his father? or because, as he repeatedly assures us, Mr. Pitt was a disagreeable man in private life? Not at all; but because Mr. Pitt was too fond of war and was great with too little reluctance.

2. Enumeration.-When the elements are enumerated, or stand as a list or series, it is particularly desirable that they be presented in parallel forms. The first two of the following are bad, the last two are good:

First the Indians were fighting, then bloodhounds were searching for slaves, and I think the last act was that of a fairy ball in a magnificent room.

The purpose of Scene II we find, then, to be threefold: primarily to further reveal Faust's character, while incidentally an artistic and dramatic effect is produced by the mingling of so many classes of people, and last the introduction of the tempter.

The original form of the word has been lost in one of the following ways: by change of spelling, by change of inflection, by change of accent, or by change of meaning.

The means are the imparting of moral and religious education; the providing of everything necessary for defence against foreign enemies; the maintaining of internal order; the establishing of a judicial, financial, and commercial system under which wealth may be rapidly accumulated and securely enjoyed.

3. Correlation.-Correlated elements must be similar in form and meaning. One of the most frequently occurring errors in composition is the misplacing of correlatives so that correlated portions of a sentence do not correspond.

On the other hand, the Romans craved war as well as great architectural masterpieces. [Write "glory in war as well as glory in art."]

Hunting for pearls is both uncertain in regard to profit and safety.

In this last sentence the word both may stand in various positions, provided always that the words following it be exactly balanced by the words following and.

Hunting for pearls is

both uncertain in regard to profit and uncertain in regard to safety.

uncertain both in regard to profit and in regard to safety.

uncertain in regard both to profit and to safety.

uncertain in regard to both profit and safety.

The mission grape is one of the best fruits for the table or wine. [Write or for wine," because, as the phrase stands, the implication is that "the" is to be understood before "wine," which would give us "for the wine," an expression not idiomatic in English.]

We have said that correlated elements must be similar in form. But when a writer has once mastered the principle it will often be wise for him to ignore this must lest his composition become too mechanical. Addison, for example, will write of "our natural and ancient allies, who are united to us by the common interests both of religion and policy," or of a virtue that "does not only promote the well-being of those who are our contemporaries, but likewise of their children and their posterity."

4. Contrast. -A contrast or antithesis loses nearly all of its force when it is not accompanied by balance of form. The most telling antitheses are those in which the two parts are the same, word for word, with the single exception of the elements that stand in contrast. pages are sown with such antitheses.

Macaulay's

Thus the successors of the old Cavaliers had turned demagogues; the successors of the old Roundheads had turned courtiers.

The French are beginning to comprehend the gravity of the Puritans; perhaps the English will end by comprehending the gaiety of Voltaire.—TAINE,

In general we have seen that balance is good. But an excess of mechanical balance is bad. Rhetorical balance, too, of the "sink or swim, live or die" species is not held in high favor. Some writers become such slaves to a duplicate or triplicate arrangement of phrases that they will unconsciously repeat their ideas or distort their meaning to secure the familiar effect. Any balance of form carried to the extreme of monotonous repetition of form is bad. Compare 47. Macaulay has a habit of beginning sentence after sentence with the same words, until the reader often wearies of the mannerism. See Appendix C XXII 9, 10, 24; and these are by no means extreme examples. The ideal to be aimed at has been well set forth by Mrs. M. G. Van Rensselaer in an article on Robert Louis Stevenson in the Century for November, 1895, wherein she writes: "The essentials of good prose form are a graceful asymmetry, a discreet avoidance of actual in favor of suggested balance, harmony in perpetual diversity, no obvious repetitions or echoings, and yet in every phrase a recognition of the form and color of all accompanying phrases." Sentences like the following show that Mr. Leslie Stephen shuns formal parallelism quite as much as Macaulay sought it: "They were only tender to Byron and Scott because Scott and Byron were fashionable idols." "The constitution of England is the best for providing us with the maximum of bread, beef, beer, and means of buying bread, beer, and beef." A more judicious, because less patent, avoiding of perfect balance may be illustrated from an essay by Mrs. Meynell:

This is not the only time when the energy of children is in conflict with the weariness of men. But it is less tolerable that the energy of men should be at odds with the weariness of children.

EXERCISES.

Make well-balanced sentences of the following:

1. In 1790 one thirtieth of the people of the United States lived in cities, in 1850 one eighth, and one fourth in 1880.

The roofs are frequently tiled instead of shingles or slates.

The cowboy is usually described as a man of medium height, sun-burned but good-looking, long flowing hair, a belt of cartridges at his waist, with a pistol or two attached, and riding a fiery bronco that bucks on all occasions.

The cleanliness of the room and suggestions of comfort, absent from the other cabins, told of her influence and that her departure had been recent.

The women of these islands are noted for their knitting and industry.

The eastern part of Colorado is generally level, and drained by the south fork of the Platte.

The poetry of Byron and the poetry of Wordsworth are inimitable-the one because of its exquisite delicacy and spiritual beauty, the other for its passionate grandeur and its great historic setting.

In this way one learns to be saving and that most objects placed in safe-keeping do not deteriorate in value thereby.

They had lost any notion that sincerity was possible, or of what sincerity was.-CARLYLE.

In the deepest parts, to all appearances the water is bluer than indigo, shading almost imperceptibly into a delicate green as the shores are approached and shallower water is reached.

2. Young men collect handkerchiefs, autographs of celebrated people, and many wear their hair long and parted in the middle.

It was determined that on the first conviction one ear should be cut off, on the second that the other ear should be cut off, and on the third that the tongue should be bored with a hot iron.

There are two main considerations which might induce woman to choose scientific study as her major work. First, necessity, which would compel her to seek this as a means through which to enter the already crowded teaching profession. Second, and higher than the first consideration, is that which influences those