43. That he is mad 'tis true, 'tis pity;

And pity 'tis, 'tis true.-Hamlet.

44. May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods

Deny thee shelter! Earth a home! the dust

A grave! the Sun his light! and heaven a God!-BYRON'S Cain. 45. As for me, says Luther, I do not cease the cry of the Gospel! Gospel! Christ! Christ! and my opponents are ready with their answers: Custom! Custom! Ordinances! Ordinances!

Fathers! Fathers!-D'AUBIGNE.

46. Of heaven, if thou wouldst reach a gleam,
On humblest objects fix thy eyes;

So travelers in a picturing stream,

Look down indeed, but see the skies.-L. WITHINGTON.

47. "When young-eyed Spring profusely throws

From her green lap the pink and rose;
When the soft turtle of the dale

To Summer tells her tender tale;
When Autumn cooling caverns seeks,
And stains with wine his jolly cheeks;
When Winter, like a poor pilgrim old,
Shakes his silver beard with cold:
At every season, let my ear

Thy solemn whispers, Fancy, hear."

48. "Hope and fear alternate sway'd his breast,
Like light and shade upon a waving field,

Coursing each other when the flying clouds
Now hide and now reveal the scene."

49. "One from a thousand feather'd deaths he chose."

50. James (the Royal Poet) is evidently worthy of being enrolled in that little constellation of remote, but never-failing luminaries who shine in the highest firmament of literature, and who, like the morning stars, sang together at the dawning of British Poetry.-W. IRVING.

51. The mind of England's Elizabeth was like one of those ancient Druidical monuments called Rocking-stones. The finger of Cupid, boy as he is painted, could put her feelings in motion; but the power of Hercules could not have destroyed their equilibrium.-Scott.

52. Our present repose is no more proof of inability to act, than the state of inertness and inactivity in which I have seen those mighty masses that float in the waters above your town

is a proof that they are devoid of strength, and incapable of being fitted for action. You well know how soon one of these stupendous masses, now reposing on their shadows with perfect stillness; how soon, upon any call of patriotism or of necessity, it would assume the likeness of an animated thing, instinct with life and motion; how soon it would ruffle, as it were, its swelling plumage; how quickly it would put forth all its beauty and bravery, collect its scattered elements of strength, and awaken its dormant thunders. Such is one of those magnificent machines when springing from inaction into a display of its might; such is England herself; while apparently passive and motionless, she silently concentrates the power to be put forth on adequate occasion.-CANNING.

CHAPTER IV.

PERSPICUITY.

§ 656. WHATEVER be the end aimed at by the orator, unless he speaks so as to be understood, he speaks to no purpose. If he fails in perspicuity, he fails in being understood. It is not enough that he can be understood by the closest atten tion on the part of the hearer. He must be easily understood. Perspicuity is eminently a Rhetorical quality. Just as a sentence may be perfectly Grammatical, and yet be false in reference to logic, so it may be perfectly grammatical, and yet be deficient in Perspicuity.

I. Obscurity may arise from ELLIPSIS; as, "You ought to contemn all the wit in the world against you." As the writer does not mean to say that all the wit in the world is actually excited against the person whom he addresses, there is a defect in the expression, which may be removed by filling up the ellipsis. "He talks all the way up stairs to a visit." Fill up the ellipsis, and you remove the obscurity. "He talks all the way as he walks up stairs to make a visit.

II. Obscurity may arise from bad ARRANGEMENT. "He

advanced against the fierce ancient, imitating his address, his pace, and career, as well as the vigor of his horse and his own skill would allow." The clause, as well as the vigor of his horse, appears at first to belong to the former part of the sentence, and is afterward found to belong to the latter.

III. Obscurity may arise from using the SAME WORD IN DIFFERENT SENSES. "That he should be in earnest it is hard to conceive, since any reasons of doubt which he might have in the case would have been reasons of doubt in other men, who may give more, but can not give more evident signs of thought than their fellow-creatures." Instead of using the same word more as an adjective and an adverb in the same sentence, the following form might be advantageously substituted: "Who may give more numerous, but can not give more evident signs of doubt than their fellow-creatures." "The sharks who prey upon the inadvertency of young heirs, are more pardonable than those who trespass on the good opinion of those who treat with them on the footing of choice and respect."

IV. Obscurity may arise from the injudicious use of TECHNICAL TERMS. Every important science or art has its peculiar terms, which are of great utility in the study of that science or the practice of that art, but which are not adapted to general use; for the plain reason, that they are not generally understood.

§ 657. I. Obscurity may arise from the use of EQUIVOCAL Terms. "The next refuge was to say that it was overlooked by one, and many passages wholly written by another." The word overlooked sometimes signifies revised, and sometimes neglected. In this case the word revised would have been preferable.

II. Obscurity may arise from AMBIGUOUS Construction. "The rising tomb a lofty column bore." Did the tomb bear the column, or the column the tomb?

Obscurity also arises from Long sentences, or from an Artificial Construction of sentences.

THE UNINTELLIGIBLE.

§ 653. L From CONFUSION OF THOUGHT. Though distinc thoughts are rendered confused by a gross medium, no clear. ness of medium can render a confused thought clear. The following indicates a confusion of thought: "The serene aspect of these writers, joined with the great encouragement I observe is given to another, or what is intended to be suspected, in which he indulges himself, confirmed me in the notion I have of the prevalence of ambition this way."

II. From AFFECTATION OF ELEGANCE. "Men must acquire a very peculiar and strong habit of turning their eye inward, in order to explore the interior regions and recesses of the mind, the hollow caverns of deep thought, the private seats of fancy, and the wastes and wildernesses, as well as the more fruitful and cultivated tracts, of this obscure climate." This is the way in which an author tells us that it is difficult to trace the operations of the mind.

III. From WANT OF MEANING. "Whatever renders a period sweet and pleasant, makes it also graceful; a good ear is the gift of Nature. It may be much improved, but it can not be acquired by art; whoever is possessed of it will scarcely need dry critical precepts to enable him to judge of the true rhythmus and melody of composition: just members, accurate proportions, a musical symphony, magnificent figures, and that decorum which is the result of all these, are unison to the human mind; we are so framed by nature that their charm is irresistible." We have here only some faint glim merings of sense.

CURACY.

IV. From AFFECTATION OF METAPHYSICAL DEPTH AND AC"Man is the dwarf of himself. Once he was permeated and dissolved by spirit. He filled nature with his overflowing currents."

V. From the LOVE OF PARADOX. "The Gospel appeals not only to our sense of duty, but to all our selfishness."

CHAPTER V.

LIVELINESS OF EXPRESSION.

§ 659. LIVELINESS OF EXPRESSION is of the greatest importance to the orator or the writer, inasmuch as it serves to fix the attention of the hearer or the reader, to awaken his imagination, and to impress the thought conveyed upon the

memory.

I. Liveliness of Expression as depending on the CHOICE OF

WORDS.

1. In the Song of Moses on the shores of the Red Sea, the inspired poet says, "They sank as lead in the mighty waters." Make but a small alteration in the expression, and say, "They fell as metal in the mighty waters," and the difference in the impression produced on the mind will be quite remarkable. In the one case we have the specific terms, sank and lead; in the other, the generic terms, fell and metal. In the one case the picture is more distinct and brighter than the other. Specific Terms are more striking and vivid than General Terms.

2. Words of Anglo-Saxon origin produce a livelier impression than those of Latin origin. "You lie!" will awaken more feeling than "You tell a falsehood."

3. Words used Tropically are more expressive than other words. See § 609.

II. Liveliness of Expression as depending on the NUMBER of words. As a general rule, the fewer the words the more lively the expression. "Brevity is the soul of wit." principal Faults committed against brevity are,

The

1. Tautology, which is the repetition of some idea in different words; as, "It was the privilege and birth-right of every citizen and poet to rail aloud and in public."

2. Pleonasm. This implies bare superfluity, or more than enough; as, "They returned back again to the same city from whence they came forth."