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refpect to grammatical purity, its importance, as a fource of perfpicuity and elegance, is univerfally acknowledged : but it is too commonly taken for granted, that a competent acquaintance with grammar, especially with the grammatical structure of the English language, which is remarkable for its fimplicity, may be eafily acquired. Hence fo little attention is paid to grammatical accuracy by fome writers, in other refpects of diftinguished merit, that it would not be difficult to felect from their works examples of the most flagrant violations of fyntax. These are faults not to be protected by authority: and it is one of the most ufeful offices of criticism, to detect and expofe them.

A SECOND kind of excellence in expreffion is PERSPICUITY. The chief fources of this effential property of good writing are, (befide clearness of conception, already confidered,) Precifion in the ufe of Terms, and Accuracy in the ftructure of Sentences.

VERBAL PRECISION requires, that a writer exprefs his exact meaning, without tautology, ambiguity, or redun dance; that he be careful not to load his fentences with words which are fynonimous, or nearly fo; that he make ufe of no terms, or phrases, but fuch as convey a determinate meaning; and that he avoid the introduction of uncommon words, where words in ordinary ufe would answer his purpofe as well. Perfpicuity is equally injured by an exceffive multiplicity of words, and by a parade of pompous and stately language.

GRAMMATICAL arrangement is favourable to perfpicuity, when it marks diftinctly the relation of the feveral parts of a fentence, and confequently of the ideas which they reprefent; and when it avoids fuch deviations from the natural, or customary order of words, as might miflead or perplex the reader. It may alfo contribute, in fome measure, towards perfpicuity, to preferve, during the courfe of a fentence, unity of perfons and feene; avoiding,

avoiding, as much as poffible, all abrupt tranfitions from one perfon or fubject to another. But there feems to be no fufficient ground for a rule, which has of late gained fome authority, that a writer, for the fake of distinctness, fhould confine himself to the expreffion of a fingle thought in each fentence. It would be eafy to fhow by example, that this fashionable method of reducing sentences to one standard, whatever it may add to the neatness and elegance of ftyle, will at leaft equally diminish its richness and variety: and-which is still more important—that it muft often materially impair the fenfe, by interrupting the relation and dependance of the thoughts. A writer who thinks closely, and in a train, will frequently have occafion to exprefs combinations of ideas, which will require fentences of confiderable length. The beft writers of the laft period, fuch as Swift, Addison, and Middleton, who difdained to confine their conceptions within the narrow enclosure of such arbitrary rules, took all the scope, in the structure of their periods, which the extent and concatenation of their thoughts required; and thus produced many fuccefsful imitations of the beft models of antiquity, in that kind of writing, which is copious without verbofity, and complex without intricacy.

WHATEVER mode of conftruction a writer's fubject, or genius, may lead him to adopt, he fhould, however, be careful, that it be employed in a manner perfectly confiftent with perfpicuity. If, for the fake of ftrength and energy, he be difpofed to lean towards concifenefs, let him cautiously avoid that elliptical diction, which leaves the reader too much to fupply. If, through the fertility of his invention, his language naturally becomes diffuse, let him guard against that kind of obfcurity, which is the effect of involving the fenfe in a cloud of words. At all events, a writer should ftudiously avoid every mode of expreffion which is unfavourable to perfpicuity: for, what

can

can be a greater fault, than that language, which is only ufeful fo far as it is perfpicuous, fhould need an interpreter Perfpicuity requires, not only that what is written may be understood, but that it cannot poffibly be misunderstood t. Every violation of this law of good writing it is the business of criticifm carefully to remark.

MELODY is another excellence in expreffion, of too much confequence to be overlooked. In every kind of writing, according to the degree of fkill, with which foft and rugged, long and fhort, accented and unaccented founds, whether fimple or complex, are combined, the ear receives an agreeable impreffion, in fome degree fimilar to that, which is produced by a melodious fucceffion of mufical notes. This effect is heightened, when the divifrons of diftinct claufes, and the cadences at the clofe of entire fentences, are agreeably diverfified. Melody is fo intimately combined with the other graces of expreffion, and has fo large a fhare in the pleasures produced by fine writing, that it deferves more attention, both among writers and critics, than the moderns have been inclined to allow it.

ELEGANCE, which is commonly confidered as another property of expreffion, as far as it is diftinct from the general refult of the properties already enumerated, arifes chiefly from a careful exclufion of those terms and phrafes, which general opinion and tafte have pronounced vulgar; and from fuch a regulated variety in the ftructure of fentences and periods, as prevents every appearance of negligence. Such words or phrafes as are excluded from the converfation or writing of people of good breeding and polite education, and fuch flovenly modes of expreffion as

Oratio vero, cujus fumma virtus eft perfpicuitas, quam fit vitiofa, fi egeat interprete! QUINTIL.

+ Non ut intelligere pofiit, fed ne omnino poffit non intelligere. ID. would

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would imply a want of refpect for the reader, can have no place in elegant works of tafte. That kind of elegance which arifes from metaphors, and other figures, though commonly confidered as belonging to language, is, in fact, not fo much the refult of the writer's manner of expreffion, as of his turn of thinking.

THE same remark may be applied to feveral other properties of good writing, fuch as Simplicity, Vivacity, Strength, Dignity. Thefe and other terms, made ufe of to exprefs the excellencies of Style, are, in reality, characters of good writing, which depend upon the thought as well as the diction. When, on the contrary, it is said that a writer's ftyle is vulgar, feeble, obfcure, dry, or florid, the faults, which thefe epithets are intended to exprefs, arife from certain defects in the writer's powers or habits of thinking, which have an unfavourable influence upón his language. An author's ftyle is the manner in which he writes, as a painter's ftyle is the manner in which he paints: in both conception and expreffion are equally concerned. No one is able to write in a good ftyle, who has not learned to think well, to arrange his thoughts methodically, and to exprefs them with propriety.

THESE and other properties of Thought, Difpofition, and Language, in writing-concerning which, as well as upon the peculiar characters of the feveral kinds of literary compofition, many writers have treated at large*-while they afford ample scope for the difplay of Genius, alfo furnish an extenfive field for the exercife of Criticism.

THE clear refult of the preceding remarks is, that young perfons should be early introduced to an acquaint

* See Lord Kames's Elements of Criticifm; Campbell's Philofophy of Rhetoric; Blair's Lectures on the Belles Lettres; and, Critical Effays in the Spectator, Rambler, &c.

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ance with-Polite Literature, in order to exercise their imagination, and form their tafte. Selections from the best writers may at first be of use, in directing their attention to fuch paffages as are most likely to make a ftrong impreffion upon the fancy, and beft worth being committed to memory. But it fhould be recollected, that fuch felections are intended to excite, not to fatisfy, juvenile curiofity. Great care fhould be taken to introduce young people, before the first impreffion is vanished, to an intimate acquaintance with the Original Authors, and to give them a relish for the regular perufal and ftudy of their works.

THE value of a tafle for this kind of reading is much greater than is commonly perceived. In folitude, the ele gant entertainment which it affords is an effectual fecurity against the intrusion of idleness and fpleen. In fociety, it provides innumerable topics of converfation, which afford ample fcope for the difplay of judgment and taste, and which might, without much diminution of social enjoy. ment, fupply the place of certain fashionable amufements. By furnishing the mind with elevated conceptions, and refined sentiments, it renders it fuperior to grofs and vulgar pleafures. In fine, while fcience enriches the underftanding, the study of polite literature cultivates the tafte, and improves the heart; and both unite, to form the Aecomplished and Happy Man.

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