that the Rules of pronunciation and orthography in other languages are, in general, so different from those which prevail in English, that by far the greater part of such words constitute so many anomalies with us, which, by loading the grammatical Rules with exceptions, greatly corrupt the simplicity and regularity of our language. Secondly; If these foreigners be allowed to settle among us, they will infallibly supplant the old inhabitants. Whatever ground is given to the one, is so much taken from the other. Is it, then, prudent in a writer, to foment a humour of innovation which tends to make the language of his country still more changeable, and, consequently, to render the style of his own writings the sooner obsolete? - Thirdly; If an author should not be followed by the public in the use of those foreign words which he has endeavoured to introduce into the language, such words will ever appear as so many permanent blemishes in his work. Besides, as borrowing naturally exposes to the suspicion of poverty, this poverty will be much more readily, and more justly imputed to the writer than to the language."

e. As a General Rule, therefore, it may be stated, that with only the exceptions previously mentioned, when a writer or speaker is addressing either the lower or mixed classes of society, words of a Saxon origin ought to be employed. Indeed, a plain native style is by far the most intelligible to all persons, and, by a proper management of words, it can be made much more expressive than that which is formed by the introduction of foreign words.

623. Rule 2. Latin and Greek words and phrases should be avoided; except such as have already obtained the sanction of good usage, or are rendered necessary in the description of some invention or discovery. (See 626.)

624. All ungrammatical expressions must be avoided. A violation of any grammatical rule is called a Solecism. 625. a. Obsolete words must be avoided.

b. Such as, behoof, behest, peradventure, quoth he, I wist not, erewhile, self-same, and prevent, in the sense of go before; as, "Prevent us, O Lord, in all our actions,' which should be," Precede, or Go before us," &c. - Obsolete constructions, or those not sanctioned by good usage, must also be avoided; thus, "It grieveth me that I have neglected this opportunity," should be, "I am grieved that I have," &c.-See Present Usage, p. 188, and Canon 612.

626. a. Rule 5. In general literature, new coined words must be avoided; such as, encumberment, connexity, martyrized, for encumbrance, connection, martyred.

b. In science and art, many new terms have been adopted, either as descriptive of recent inventions, or as, in Chemistry for instance, being more expressive than the terms which they have displaced.

c. Abbreviations of polysyllables, formed by lopping off all the syllables except the first, or the first and second, must be avoided; such as hyp. for hypochondriac, rep. for reputation, penult. for penultimate, extra. for extraordinary, hyper. and incog. for hypercritic and incognito.

d. When the English analogy is observed in the derivation or composition of new-coined words and constructions, and when they are really wanted in the lan

K

guage, it would, perhaps, be fastidious entirely to reject them.-A new word, to be introduced into the language, must first be proposed by some author of reputation. If it is thought necessary, by expressing the meaning attached to it better than any other word, or by being more harmonious than another word previously used in the same sense, it is then adopted by other writers of reputation, and thus becomes a part of the language. If it is thought unnecessary, it is not adopted, and the attempt to introduce it, fails.

e. The use of a foreign, obsolete, or new-coined word is called a barbarism.

Propriety.

LESSON 91.

627. PROPRIETY OF STYLE is the use of such words and phrases as the best usage has appropriated to those ideas, which we intend to express by them. Propriety requires the observance of the following rules :

628. Rule 1. Avoid low or vulgar words, contractions, or phrases.

a. Words, such as topsy-turvy, hurly-burly, pell-mell, lief, dint, whit, &c. b. Contractions, such as gent. for gentleman; incog. for unknown, &c.

c. Phrases, to get into a scrape, currying favour, dancing attendance, &c.

d. Slang words, such as pluck for courage, &c.

e. Instead of employing a low word, employ a synonymous one; or, when a better cannot be found, remodel the sentence altogether.

f. The following are a few instances in which elegant expressions may be substituted for those that are common;

Common expressions.

Heaping up,

to brag,

their betters,

Elegant.

Accumulating.

to boast.

to cry up,

chosen.

to continue long.
extol.

urged or impelled. close our ears.

began.

violated his promise. pushed on,

sacrificed, yielded. shut our ears,

insist upon security. to smell out motives,discover or discern. easily.

fell to work,

629. Rule 2. Avoid Provincialisms.

Every county either has some words peculiar to itself, or attaches some meaning to a word which is different from the general acceptation. In some parts, for instance, will is improperly used for shall, and shall for will. A writer, therefore, should carefully exclude all provincialisms, and strictly adhere to the language used by the best authors.

630. Rule 3. In, works intended for general readers avoid introducing technical terms; as they form the peculiar dialect only of a particular class, and therefore are not generally understood.

Thus, to inform those who do not understand sea phrases, that " We tacked to the larboard, and stood off to sea," would be expressing ourselves obscurely. This Rule, however, does not apply to works expressly written for a particular profession. In such works the usual and the best rule is, to employ, as far as possible, such technical terms as custom has already established, defining, modifying, restricting, or extending them as the occasion may require.

631. a. Rule 4. In prose composition exclude words that are purely poetical; such as, morn, eve, plaint, lone, what time, &c.

b. In every language which is furnished with two distinct vocabularies, one adapted to prose, and the other to poetry; a mixture of both in the same composi tion betrays, in the author, either culpable negligence, or extreme want of taste. "To see," as Dr. Crombie, in his Gymnasium, properly remarks, "the. language of Paradise Lost,' and the diction of The Spectator,' blended together, either in the narrative of the historian, or in the grave discussion of the philosopher, would excite the risibility of a common reader; and to a person of taste and discernment, such a grotesque commixture of prose and poetical phraseology, could not fail to produce disgust."

c. Not only should all words and phrases, peculiarly belonging to poetry, be excluded from prose, but likewise all those modes of expression which are adapted and generally appropriated to one species of prose, should be repudiated in every other Dialogue, history, oratory, epistolary correspondence, and philosophical discussion, have in general a separate and distinctive style suited to the character of each. To mix, therefore, two or more of these different styles in the same composition, is improper.

632. a. Rule 5. In the same sentence, be careful neither to use the same word too frequently, nor in different senses. Thus, "Gregory favoured the undertaking, for no other reason than this, that the manager, in countenance, favoured his friend." In the last clause of this sentence, instead of saying, "favoured his friend," we should say, "resembled his friend."

b. A great source of obscurity is the frequent repetition of pronouns, when we have occasion to refer to different persons. Thus, in the following sentence: "Lisias promised his father, never to abandon his friends;" the second his is ambiguous, it may refer either to his own friends, or to his father's. On the first supposition, say, "Lisias, speaking of his friends, promised his father never to abandon them." On the second supposition, say, "Lisias, speaking of his father's friends, promised his father never to abandon them."-Again," One may have an air which proceeds from a just sufficiency and knowledge of the matter before him, which may naturally produce some motions of his head and body, which might become the bench better than the bar." This sentence will be better rendered thus," One may have an air which proceeds from a just sufficiency and knowledge of the matter before him; and these may produce such motions of his head and body as become the bench better than the bar." From these remarks, we learn the importance of not employing the same relative in the same sentence to different antecedents.

633. a. Rule 6. Avoid equivocal words; that is, never employ those words which may be susceptible of a sense different from the sense you intend to be conveyed.

Thus, "A little after the Reformation of Luther," should be, "the Reformation begun by Luther;" "I will have mercy and not sacrifice," should be, "I prefer mercy to sacrifice," or, "I require mercy and not sacrifice."-"They were both more ancient among the Persians than Zoroaster or Zerdusht;" as only one person is here intended, the meaning would be better conveyed thus, "They were both more ancient among the Persians than Zoroaster, or, as he is sometimes called, Zerdusht."-" He aimed at nothing less than the crown," may denote either that, "Nothing was less aimed at by him than the crown," or, Nothing inferior to the crown could satisfy his ambition."

634. a. Rule 7. Avoid words and phrases that are either unintelligible, inconsistent, or bombastical.

b. This Rule does not proscribe established terms, though their use may involve circumstantial impropriety. Thus, we may still speak of sun-rise and sun-set, though we know that the sun neither rises nor sets.

635. The observations of Dr. Campbell on the various Species of unintelligible Writing may be read by the pupil with advantage; they are the following:

a. The First Species arises from Confusion of Thought. There is a sort of halfformed thoughts, which we find some writers impatient to give to the world, before the subject is fully understood by themselves. Now, if a writer himself perceives confusedly and imperfectly the sentiments he would communicate, there is every probability, that the reader will not perceive them at all. The following is an example of this kind of writing: -" And as to a well-taught mind, when you've said a haughty and proud man, you have spoke a narrow conception, little spirit, and despicable carriage." Perhaps, if the author had any meaning, it might be this: "When you have called a man proud and haughty, you have ascribed to him a narrow conception, mean spirit, and despicable carriage."

b. The Second species arises from Affectation of excellence. In this kind of writing, there is always something figurative; but the figures are remote, things that are heterogeneous being introduced, and producing what is usually termed bombast. "This temper of soul," says The Guardian,' speaking of meekness and humility, "keeps our understanding tight about us.' Whether the author had any meaning in this expression, or what it was, is not easy to be determined; but scarcely could any thing more incongruous, in the way of metaphor, have been imagined. The understanding is made a girdle to our other mental faculties, for the fastening of which girdle, meekness and humility serve as a buckle.

c. The Third species is what is denominated the Puerile. This is always produced when an author runs on in a specious verbosity, amusing his reader with synonymous terms and identical propositions, well-turned periods, and high-sounding words; but, at the same time, using those words so indefinitely, that the reader may affix either no meaning to them at all, or almost any meaning to them he pleases. The following is a poetical example of this kind from Dryden :

"From harmony, from heavenly harmony,

This universal frame began;

From harmony to harmony,

Through all the compass of the notes it ran;
The diapason closing full in man."

d. The Fourth species may be denominated Learned Nonsense. The following is an example of this kind from Cowley ::

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past,
But an eternal now does always last."

In this sentence there is nothing but absurdity and contradiction. A now that lasts; an eternal now, an instant that is no instant, and an eternity that is no eternity.

e. The Fifth is the Profound, and which occurs most frequently in political writings. "Tis agreed," says Swift, "that in all governments there is an absolute and unlimited power, which naturally and originally seems to be placed in the whole body, wherever the executive part of it lies. This holds in the body natural; for wherever we place the beginning of motion, whether from the head or the heart, or the animal spirits in general, the body moves and acts by a consent of all its parts." This passage conveys to the mind no definite meaning, and yet is so specious, that even a judicious reader may not, at the first perusal, be sensible of the defect.

f. The Sixth and last species of nonsense may be denominated the Marvellous. It is the characteristic of this kind of writing, that it astonishes and even confounds by the boldness of the affirmations, which always contradict the plainest dictates of common sense, and thus involve a manifest absurdity, as will be seen in the following line from Dryden :-"My wound is great, because it is so small." The nonsense of this was properly exposed in an extemporary verse by the Duke of Buckingham, who, on hearing this line, exclaimed," It would be greater, were it none at all."

g. Hyperbolical language, also, when carried to extravagance, generally produces the same effect as the marvellous, exciting ridicule, if not disgust, instead of admiration.

636. a. Rule 8. Avoid all those words and phrases which are not strictly adapted to the ideas intended to be conveyed. Thus, "The observation of the Sabbath is a duty incumbent on every Christian," should be, “The ob

servance," &c. Observance signifies compliance with, observation denotes a remark, or the habit of remarking.

b. One word must never be employed for another; thus, composure must not be employed for composition; as the former denotes merely a settled state; the latter, a written production. So, veracity, applied to persons, must not be employed for truth applied to things. The following are frequently misapplied: -propose for purpose; enlarged for increased; proposition for proposal; discovery for invention; human for humane; respectable for respectful; eminent for imminent; ingenious for ingenuous; stationary for stationery; ludicrous for ridiculous; lie for lay; negligence for neglect; set for sit; intelligible for intellectual; remember for remind; principal for principle; sophism for sophistry; precept for declaration or doctrine. Several of the preceding words are explained under Synonymes.

637. In cultivating Propriety of Style, let the student sedulously aim at two things,

First, That his ideas be clear and distinct.

Secondly, That his words be appropriate signs of those ideas.

Precision.

LESSONS 92, 93.

638. Precision of Style consists in the use of such words and phrases as exactly convey the meaning intended, and nothing more than the meaning. Precision requires attention to the following Rules:

639. a. Rule 1. Avoid repeating the same sense in different words. This fault is called Tautology. Thus, "Never did Atticus succeed in gaining universal love and esteem of all men." Here, one of the words in Italic is superfluous.

b. For the same reason, the verdant green, umbrageous shade, first aggressors, old veterans, sylvan forest, standard pattern, are improper, as the ideas expressed by the adjectives are included in the substantives. In the following common expressions, also, as the same idea is implied in both the terms of each respective pair, the words marked in Italic are, therefore, superfluous: - plain and evident, clear and obvious, worship and adoration, pleasure and satisfaction, bounds and limits, suspicion and jealousy, intents and purposes.

640. a. Rule 2. Avoid the use of superfluous words and phrases. This fault is called a Pleonasm.

Thus, "I went home full of a great many serious reflections;" here, the words a great many add nothing to the sense; they should, therefore, be omitted. "If he happen to have any leisure upon his hands;" better, " If he have any leisure." "He has a considerable share of merit; " better," He has considerable merit.'

b. In particular cases, however, a certain species of pleonasm is entitled to some indulgence, when it serves to express an earnestness of affirmation on an interesting subject, as, in phrases like these, "We have seen with our eyes,' ""We have heard with our ears." Such expressions frequently occur in the Sacred Scriptures. In poetical description, also, where the fancy is addressed, epithets, which would otherwise be accounted superfluous, are not, if used moderately, without effect. The following are instances of this kind: the azure heaven; the silver moon ; the blushing morn; the sea-girt isle.