"Other objects that have more than once offered themselves to the senses have yet been little taken notice of." Better thus:" Of other objects that have more than once offered themselves to the senses, little notice has yet been taken." Another example :— "He had not proceeded much farther when he observed the thorns and briers to end, and give place to a thousand beautiful green trees, covered with blossoms of the finest scents and colours, that formed a wilderness of sweets, and were a kind of lining to those rugged scenes which he had before passed through." The last clause should be "through which he had before passed." This construction is often adopted when the relative is omitted; e.g., "It (custom) is indeed able to form the man anew, and to give him inclinations and capacities altogether different from those he was born with." This is loose and colloquial. It should be," from those with which he was born." (2.) The pronoun "it" also makes a weak conclusion, especially when preceded by a preposition; e.g.,— "Let us first consider the ambitious; and those both in their progress to greatness and after the attaining of it." This is both weak and inelegant. Say either "after attaining it," "after its attainment." So also or "But the design succeeded; he betrayed the city, and was made governor of it." Better leave out the particles, and say, "he betrayed the city, and was made governor." The following sentence illustrates another form of the same fault, and it also shows the looseness arising from multiplying prepositions and pronouns in different clauses: "Unless you will be a servant to them (as many men are), the trouble and care of yours in the government of them all is much more than that of every one of them in their observance of you." Corrected:" Unless you will be their servant (as many men are), your trouble and care in governing them will be much greater than theirs in serving you." (3.) A sentence is often rendered weak by ending with an unemphatic adverb; e.g.— "What pity is it, my Lord, that even the best should speak to our understandings so seldom!" Here the adverb usurps the prominent place which by right belongs to "understandings." The sentence would be stronger thus:"should so seldom speak to our understandings!" So also, "Example appeals not to our understanding alone, but to our passions likewise." Should be," but likewise to our passions." Again: "By the same means that they give us pleasure, they afford us profit too." Should be," they also afford us profit." 4. MELODY. 51. Melody or rhythm is that quality of language which renders it easy to the voice and agreeable to the ear. It therefore contributes very greatly to grace of style. The importance of this quality, though universally admitted in verse, is not sufficiently recognised in prose writing. Rhythm in verse arises from the recurrence of stress or accent at regular intervals. Every prose sentence has, or should have, a rhythm depending upon the same principle. The chief distinction between verse-rhythm and prose-rhythm is, that in verse the accents and intervals are regular, in prose they are variable. 52. Melody deals not with single sounds, or the impression produced by single words, but with the succession of sounds in a sentence. It therefore belongs properly to the head of construc tion or arrangement, and not to that of language or the choice of single words. 53. Prose melody depends upon two things: 1st, Upon the combination or succession of sounds; or, more briefly, first, upon sound; second, upon accent. 54. I. SOUND. The chief quality to be aimed at in Sound is variety. A combination of similar sounds is painful to the ear, and produces an effect similar to that of monotony produced by the repetition of the same note in music. Such a combination is further difficult for the voice, and this very difficulty renders it disagreeable to the ear. It is impossible to lay down strict rules for melody in language. If a writer is naturally destitute of "ear," or the sense of harmonious sound, no formal rules will make up for the deficiency. The following principles, however, are generally recognised as worthy of attention in connexion with this subject: (1.) Vowels and consonants should, as much as possible, alternate; e.g., "The miseries of the poor are entirely disregarded." "Life is thorny." "I must yield my body to the foe." (2.) When mute consonants come together, sharp sounds combine most easily with sharp, and flat sounds with flat; e.g.,-It is easier to pronounce of this than off this; right point than right book; make thin than make thine; plague them than plague thunder. (a) In the case of the juxtaposition of a flat and a flat, there is a natural tendency to flatten the sharp, or to sharpen the flat. The reason of this is, that the strain upon the organs of speech is the same in one flat sound as in another, and the same in one sharp sound as in another. Now, in passing from a sharp to a flat (or vice versâ), the amount of strain or effort has to be suddenly changed. (3.) Identical sounds should not come together in different words or syllables; e.g., Such combinations as hot temper, off first, red deer, ripe pear, are difficult and disagreeable. (a) There is a tendency in such cases to sink the second consonant, or to run the two into one, as hot-emper, off-irst, red-cer, ri-pear. (b) The difficulty is not so great when different powers, as a flat and a sharp, of the same sound come together; e. g.,—hot day, of first, red tape, ripe berry. (c) The same rule applies to vowels. Such combinations as stray angel, tree easy, blow over, my idol, truly innocent, are objectionable. (d) The reason of this is, that the organs of speech act most freely by passing from one position to another. The immediate repetition of the same sound constrains the voice by keeping the organs in the same position. It resembles the act of making two steps in walking with the right foot before the left. (4.) Similar sounds should not follow one another closely, either at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of words; e.g.,Comparative comfort, womanish emotion, mortal animal. "But he has unhappily perplexed his poetry with his philosophy," are weak and unmusical collocations. (a) Alliteration, or the device of beginning successive words with the same letter, is the least objectionable form of this combination. It formed the distinctive mark of our oldest poetry, and it is used occasionally for effect by modern authors. Its frequent introduction, however, savours of affectation. 55. II. ACCENT.-In Accent as in Sound, the best effect is produced by variety. Rhythm depends essentially upon the intermixture of weak and strong accents. A succession either of accented or of unaccented syllables produces monotony. Hence it follows that, (1.) The excess of monosyllables is apt to be monotonous. Most monosyllables are accented; most polysyllables have only one accent; all of them contain at least one interval or weak syllable. The introduction, therefore, of words of more than one syllable relieves the monotony by introducing unaccented syllables. Compare, "One man in his time plays many parts," with "The better part of valour is discretion." But, (2.) The excess of polysyllables is also apt to be monotonous; e. g., "Their appetites were excited by frequent enumerations of different enjoyments, and revelry and merriment was the business of every hour." (3.) The last accent should fall as near the end of the sentence as possible. A sentence is most forcible when it closes with a strong accent; e.g., "Their everlasting recurrence is among the great blemishes of his style." The accent may, however, fall on the penultimate syllable, without destroying its effect; e.g., "The allegories of Spenser have been frequently censur'd." An antepenultimate accent makes a weak ending; e.g.,— "I have not observed proofs of much acquaintance with him on the continent." If the accent fall earlier, it is still more objectionable; e.g.,— "Nor have their opponents been of much credit in the paths of literature." (a) For the "Principles of Construction" in the Paragraph, the student is referred to the Introductory Text-Book, p. 47. Chapter V-Analysis of Style. 56. The following extracts are here given, in addition to those scattered over the preceding chapters, in order to afford the pupil further practice in the application of the principles already explained. The analysis of style here suggested is quite a subordinate part of literary criticism. It proposes to deal merely with the mechanism or outward form of composition, not with the thought or inner life, which is after all the essence of every literary work. The latter is the proper domain of criticism in its highest sense. But this lies beyond the scope of the present work; and without questioning the paramount importance of the higher department, it may be suggested that the lower sphere has undoubted claims to consideration. Composition bears the same relation to Literature that mechanical drawing does to Art. In the one case as in the other, the spirit is in a great measure dependent on the form in which it is clothed. 57. In regard to the general effect of style, the questions to be asked are:- |