rather rhymes, which prose ought to reject. You will find in the organization of every language a sort of mechanical harmony, in the use of which we should not too freely indulge*,

SECTION XXXV.

OF VARIETY OF STYLE..

IF variety be requisite, even in the termination

of words, it is still more indispensable in the construction of the ideas. Uniformity in the manner of expression always implies languor of thought.t

* Our author proceeds to illustrate his meaning, by shewing the use to which the final e mute may be put in promoting this harmony of sound; and he gives us an apt quotation from Massillon, in his description of the death of a good man. But, as in this part of the author's enlargement, his remarks are confined to the peculiarites and terminations of the French language, the editor has omitted them in his translation, as being useless to the mere English reader. On the subject of Harmony of Sounds and Sentences,' the reader is referred to BLAIR'S 12th Lect. throughout, where he will find many ingenious and critical observations ;—also to WARD'S System of Oratory, vol. i. p. 367. et seq.

+ Variare Orationem magnoperè oportebit, nam omnibus in: rebus similitudo satietatis est mater. CICER. de invent. lib. 1.76.

Are you at a loss how to vary your periods? Lay down your pen. Resume meditation; and every trait will soon have its appropriate character and likeness.

The repetition of the same modes of expression, at the commencement of a new division of the subject succeeds in pulpit style; but, if we wish to preserve the hearers from the weariness which accompanies uniformity, it is peculiarly proper, in the minute opening of such parts, to diversify the expressions and metaphors, and to give a new colouring to each phrase.

The sermons of the Abbé Poulle, which we have heard with so much pleasure, deserve to be quoted, in the first instance, as admirable models of the art of Oratory. What principally distinguishes the Style of this celebrated writer, is that inexhaustible fertility of a brilliant imagination, which continually changes his descriptions, his movements, his language; and which, though discovering every moment the genius of an Orator under a variety of forms, always retains the simplicity that is inseparably connected with real ability.

L

SECTION XXXVI.

OF PERSPICUITY.

ET us guard, however, against sacrificing Perspicuity to Variety; and never become obscure and unintelligible, in the pursuit of synonyma, or periphrases, with a view to avoid the repetition of the same expression or turn of thought. The intention of speaking is to be understood.

The Greeks, whose language painted to the mind, and often to the eyes, the signification, and even the functions of each word, called the voice, light.* Dionysius of Halicarnassus compared Demosthenes to a fire, kindled in the midst of the public places of Athens, enlightening and inflaming a people, equally blind and insensible to their true interests.

Such, indeed, should be the perspicuity of Eloquence, as indiscriminately to strike every mind. The Orator should continually ask himself, when he revises his productions, 'What was

* Gr. Qwyn, vox, a Qów, inusit. lucco. HEDERIC. Lex, in ver

bum.

it I meant to express have I expressed it?' The more simple the expression, the greater its perspicuity: this simplicity always imparts to it double energy.*

* Perspicuity ought not to be sacrificed to any other * beauty whatever. If it should be doubted whether perspi'cuity be a positive beauty, it cannot be doubted that the 'want of it is the greatest defect. Nothing, therefore, in language ought to be more studied than to prevent all obscurity in the expression; for to have no meaning is but one degree worse than to have a meaning that is not under 'stood.' Elements of Criticism, c. xviii. § 2, p. 20, 54.

'Perspicuity,' says Dr. BLAIR, is the fundamental quality of style; a quality so essential in every kind of writing, that, for the want of it, nothing can atone. With• out this the richest ornaments of style only glimmer through ⚫ the dark; and puzzle instead of pleasing, the reader. This therefore, must be our first object, to make our meaning clearly and fully understood, and understood without the least difficulty. "Oratio," says QUINTILIAN, "debet negligente quoque audientibus esse aperta: ut in animum audi'entis, sicut sol in oculos, etiamsi in eum non intendatur, occurat.

Quare non solum ut intelligere possit, sed ne omnino possit non intelligere curandum." If we are obliged to follow a writer 'with much care, to pause, and to read over his sentences a

second time, in order to comprehend them fully, he will 'never please us long. Mankind are too indolent to relish 'so much labour. They may pretend to admire the author's depth, after they have discovered his meaning; but they ' will seldom be inclined to take up his work a second time.' The great source of a loose style, in opposition to precision, is the injudicious use of those words termed synoniC mous. They are so called, because they agree in expressing one principal idea; but, for the most part, if not always, they express it with some diversity in the circum

It is judgment, which points out the propriety of the word; and it is the propriety of the expression, which renders it perspicuous. But, to give perspicuity to the ideas, it is requisite to be thoroughly informed. The writer, who is necessiated to learn while he composes, is generally obscure. He, on the contrary, who hath, during a length of time, brought his knowledge to maturity, becomes sufficiently master of his subject, to banish from his style, ambiguity, double entendre, and declamation.

'stances. They are varied by some accessory idea which 'every word introduces, and which forms the distinction 'between them. Hardly, in any language, are there two words that convey precisely the same idea; a person thoroughly conversant in the propriety of the language, will * always be able to observe something that distinguishes them. 'As they are like different shades of the same colour, an ac-. 'curate writer can employ them to great advantage, by using 'them so as to heighten and to finish the picture which he 'gives us. He supplies by one, what was wanting in the other, to the force, or to the lustre of the image which he 'means to exhibit. But, in order to this end, he must be extremely attentive to the choice which he makes of them. For the bulk of writers are very apt to confound them with ' each other; and to employ them carelesly, merely for the 'sake of filling up a period, or of rounding and diversifying 'the language, as if their signification were exactly the < same, while, in truth, it is not. Hence a certain mist, and indistinctness, is unwarily thrown over style.' BLAIR'S Lectures, vol. i. p. 185, 195.

The whole of Dr. BLAIR's Lecture, on Perspicuity and Precision of style, is well worth perusal. See also, on this subject, WARD's System of Oratory, vol. i. p. 310, &c.