Quintilian, quoted in the first volume for a different purpose. At quæ Polycleto defuerunt, Phidiæ atque Alcameni dan- ' tur. Phidias tamen diis quam hominibus efficiendis melior artifex traditur: in ebore vero, longe citra æmulum, vel si nihil nisi Minervam Athenis, aut Olympium in Elide Jovem fecisset, cujus pulchritudo adjecisse aliquid etiam receptæ religioni videtur; adeo majestas operis Deum aquavit. The sentence in the Italic characters appeared to me abundantly perspicuous, before I gave it peculiar attention. And yet to examine it independent of the context, its proper meaning is not what is intended the words naturally import, that the beauty of the statues mentioned, appears to add some new tenet or rite to the established religion, or appears to add new dignity to it; and we must consult the context before we can gather the true meaning; which is, that the Greeks were confirmed in the belief of their established religion by these majestic statues, so like real divinities. There may be a defect in perspicuity proceeding even from the slightest ambiguity in construction; as where the period commences with a member conceived to be in the nominative case, which af terward is found to be in the accusative. Example: "Some emotions more peculiarly connected with the fine arts, I propose to handle in sepa"rate chapters."* Better thus: "Some emotions "more peculiarly connected with the fine arts, are "proposed to be handled in separate chapters:" I add another error against perspicuity; which I mention the rather because with some writers it passes for a beauty. It is the giving different names to the same object, mentioned oftener than once in the same period. Example: Speaking of the English adventurers who first attempted the Elements of Criticism, vol. i. p. 43. edit. I. conquest of Ireland, " and instead of reclaiming the "natives from their uncultivated manners, they "were gradually assimilated to the ancient inha"bitants, and degenerated from the customs of "their own nation." From this mode of expression, one would think the author meant to distinguish the ancient inhabitants from the natives; and we cannot discover otherwise than from the sense, that these are only different names given to the same object for the sake of variety. But perspicuity ought never to be sacrificed to any other beauty, which leads me to think that the passage may be improved as follows: " and degenerating from "the customs of their own nation, they were gra"dually assimilated to the natives, instead of re"claiming them from their uncultivated man"ners." The next rule in order, because next in importance, is, That the language ought to correspond to the subject: heroic actions or sentiments require elevated language; tender sentiments ought to be expressed in words soft and flowing, and plain language void of ornament, is adapted to subjects grave and didactic. Language may be considered as the dress of thought; and where the one is not suited to the other, we are sensible of incongruity, in the same manner as where a judge is dressed like a fop, or a peasant like a man of quality. Where the impression made by the words resembles the impression made by the thought, the similar emotions mix sweetly in the mind, and double the pleasure; but where the impressions made by the thought and the words are dissimilar, the unnatural union they are forced into is disagreeble.t This concordance between the thought and the words has been observed by every critic, and is so Chapter II. Part iv. † Ibid. well understood as not to require any illustration. But there is a concordance of a peculiar kind, that has scarcely been touched in works of criticism, though it contributes to neatness of composition. It is what follows. In a thought of any extent, we commonly find some parts intimately united, some slightly, some disjoined, and some directly opposed to each other. To find these conjunctions and disjunctions imitated in the expression, is a beauty; because such imitation makes the words concordant with the sense. This doctrine may be illustrated by a familiar example. When we have occasion to mention the intimate connexion that the soul hath with the body, the expression ought to be, the soul and body; because the particle the, relative to both, makes a connexion in the expression, resembling in some degree the connexion in the thought: but when the soul is distinguished from the body, it is better to say the soul and the body; because the disjunction in the words resembles the disjunction in the thought. I proceed to other examples, beginning with conjunctions. Constituit agmen; et expedire tela animosque, equitibus jussis, &c. Livy, l. xxxviii. sect. 25. Here the words that express the connected ideas are artificially connected by subjecting them both to the regimen of one verb. And the two following are of the same kind. Quum ex paucis quotidie aliqui eorum caderent aut vulnerarentur, et qui superarent, fessi et corporibus et animis essent, &c. Livy, l. xxxviii. sect. 29. Post acer Mnestheus adducto constitit arcu, Eneid, v. 507. But to justify this artificial connexion among the words, the ideas they express ought to be intimately connected; for otherwise that concordance which VOL. II. D is required between the sense and the expression will be impaired. In that view, a passage from Tacitus is exceptionable; where words that signify ideas very little connected, are however forced into an artificial union. Here is the passage: Germania omnis a Galliis, Rhætiisque, et Pannoniis, Rheno et Danubio fluminibus; a Sarmatis Dacisque, mutuo metų aut montibus separatur. De Moribus Germanorum. Upon the same account, I esteem the following passage equally exceptionable. The fiend look'd up, and knew His mounted scale aloft; nor more, but fled Paradise Lost, b. iv. at the end. There is no natural connexion between a person's flying or retiring, and the succession of daylight to darkness; and therefore to connect artificially the terms that signify these things cannot have a sweet effect. Two members of a thought connected by their relation to the same action, will naturally be expressed by two members of the period governed by the same verb; in which case these members, in order to improve their connexion, ought to be constructed in the same manner. This beauty is so common among good writers, as to have been little attended to; but the neglect of it is remarkably disagreeable: For example, "He did not mention "Leonora, nor that her father was dead." Better thus: He did not mention Leonora, nor her fa"ther's death." Where two ideas are so connected, as to require but a copulative, it is pleasant to find a connexion in the words that express these ideas, were it even Go slight as where both begin with the same letter: The peacock, in all his pride, does not display half the colour that appears in the garments of a British lady, when she is either dressed for a ball or a birth-day. Spectator, No. 265. Had not my dog of a steward run away as he did, without making up his accounts, I had still been immersed in sin and sea-coal. Ibid. No. 530. My life's companion, and my bosom-friend, Dryden, Translation of Æneid. There is sensibly a defect in neatness when uniformity in this case is totally neglected ;* witness the following example, where the construction of two members connected by a copulative is unnecessarily varied. For it is confidently reported, that two young gentlemen of real hopes, bright wit, and profound judgment, who, upon a thorough examination of causes and effects, and by the mere force of natural abilities, without the least tincture of learning, have made a discovery that there was no God, and generously communicating their thoughts for the good of the public, were some time ago, by an unparalleled severity, and upon I know not what obsolete law, broke for blasphemy.† [Better thus:]-having made a discovery that there was no God, and having generously communicated their thoughts" for the good of the public, were some time ago, &c. He had been guilty of a fault, for which his master would have put him to death, had he not found an opportunity to escape out of his hands, and fled into the deserts of Numidia. Guardian, No. 139. If all the ends of the Revolution are already obtained, it is not only impertinent to argue for obtaining any of them, but factious designs might be imputed, and the name of incendiary be applied with some colour, perhaps, to any one who should persist in pressing this point. Dissertation upon Parties, Dedication. Next as to examples of disjunction and opposition in the parts of the thought, imitated in the ex See Girard's French Grammar, Discourse xii. † An argument against abolishing Christianity. Swift. |