Philosophy of style

Eije ^Icatjemg Classics

HERBERT SPENCER

PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE

TOGETHER WITH

AN ESSAY ON STYLE

Br T. H. WRIGHT

WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY

FRED N. SCOTT, PH.D.

PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

SECOND EDITION

' LIBRARY

1917
ALLYN AND BACON

Boston Nefa gorfc Cfjt'caga

COPYRIGHT, 1892,
BY FRED N. SCOTT.

TYPOGRAPHY BY J. 8. GUSHING & Co., BOSTON.
PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH, BOSTON.

PREFACE.

THIS volume may be considered as the second of a series, —
Lewes's ' Principles of Success in Literature ' being the first, — the
object of which is to bring helpful discussions of the principles
of literary criticism within the reach of teachers of rhetoric. As
before, the plan has been followed of providing a biographical
and critical introduction, an index, and a few notes, — the latter
designed to provoke discussion or to furnish clues for further in-
vestigation, rather than to exhibit in their totality the results of
the editor's researches.

To Spencer's essay, which makes up the bulk of the pamphlet,
has been added, as a commentary upon 'The Philosophy of Style,'
a paper by T. H. Wright, originally published in Macmillan's
Magazine, Vol. XXXVII., p. 78, and afterwards reprinted in the
Popular Science Monthly, Vol. XII., p. 340. In the appendices
will be found a note from Guruey's 'Power of Sound,' criticising
Spencer's theory of the effect of rhythmical structure, and a long
extract from Spencer's 'First Principles,' touching the evolution
of literature. These will prove helpful where the originals cannot
be readily consulted.

In the belief that ' The Philosophy of Style ' can be understood
only in its proper connection with the Spencerian philosophy as a
whole, the Introduction has been made largely bibliographical.
The references to Spencer's articles in magazines will in some
cases supply the lack of books. Articles upon Spencer's life and

ill

iv Preface.

personality are not very numerous. The best biographical sketch
is that in the Popular Science Monthly, Vol. VIII., p. 620. Briefer
accounts will be found in 'Men of the Time,' Brockhaus' 'Conver-
sations-Lexikon,' and the recent article by Mr. W. H. Hudson, in
the Arena for February, 1892. Discussions and criticisms of
Spencer's philosophical views, are, on the other hand, exceedingly
numerous. A favorable estimate, giving a brief summary of
Spencer's more important writings down to 1874, is available in
the article by E. L. Youmans, entitled ' Herbert Spencer and the
Doctrine of Evolution,' Popular Science Monthly, Vol. VI., p. 20.
A careful outline of the Spencerian philosophy, from a decidedly
different point of view, is given by Dr. W. T. Harris in the Journal
of Speculative Philosophy, Vol. I., p. 6. T. H. Green's criticisms in
the Contemporary Magazine, Vol. XXXI., pp. 25 and 745, Vol.
XXXII., p. 82, are well known. The best induction to the subject,
barring the original works, is, of course, John Fiske's 'Cosmic

Philosophy.'

FEED N. SCOTT.

ANN ARBOR, February 9, 1892.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

A SECOND edition gives opportunity for correcting a few typo-
graphical errors, and for inserting a few references that have
recently come to my attention. I take advantage of this preface
to add to the list of critical works and essays the recent volume by
Professor W. H. Hudson, 'Introduction to the Philosophy of
Herbert Spencer' (N. Y.: 1894).

FEED N. SCOTT.

CONTENTS.

PAQK

INTRODUCTION Yii

SPENCER'S PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE.

PART I. — CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND
UPON ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL ENERGIES.

i. The Principle of Economy 1

ii. Economy in the Use of Words 5

iii. The Principle of Economy applied to Sentences 9

iv. The Principle of Economy applied to Figures 21

v. Suggestion as a Means of Economy 28

vi. The Effect of Poetry explained 30

PART II. — CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND
UPON ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL SENSIBILITIES.

i. The Law of Mental Exhaustion and Repair 36

ii. Explanation of Climax, Antithesis, and Anticlimax 38

iii. Need of Variety 40

iv. The Ideal Writer 42

WRIGHT'S ESSAY ON STYLE.

i. R6sum6 of Spencer's Essay 45

ii. Style the Imperfect Expression of the Writer's Personality. .. 49

APPENDIX A. — The Sound-Element in Verse 61

APPENDIX B. — The Evolution of Literature •. . 64

INTRODUCTION.

LIFE AND WRITINGS.

HERBERT SPENCER'S life may be divided into three
periods: his boyhood and schooling, his experience as a
practical engineer, the years that he has spent in develop-
ing his system of philosophy. The first period comprises
seventeen years. He was born in Derby, England, April
27, 1820. His father was a school-teacher, a man of con-
siderable learning and much force of character, a liberal in
both politics and religion, in matters of education inclined
to throw emphasis upon the value of observation and the
study of the sciences. From such a father, and later from
an uncle who held similar views, Herbert's early education,
in so far as he got it from others, was mainly received.
Keputed inattentive, idle, and disobedient, he was by no
means a model scholar. In fact he did not learn to read
until seven years of age. It is noteworthy, however, that
he rebelled only against learning by rote ; for tasks requir-
ing originality and independent investigation his mind
showed itself unusually capable. During these early years
he studied drawing and mechanics, made collections of
insects, read a little ancient history, and absorbed a good
deal of science and politics from the conversations of his
father's friends at meetings of the Derby Philosophical
Society. From 1833 to 1836 he was with his uncle, the Rev.
Thomas Spencer of Hinton, nominally preparing for one
of the universities, but in reality neglecting Greek and
Latin for mathematics and mechanics. At his own wish,

vii

viii Introduction.

the idea of a university career, which his uncle had enter-
tained for him, was abandoned. He returned home, spent
a year in study, and seven months, not unsuccessfully, in
teaching. To this period belongs his first literary work —
a discussion of a geometrical theorem published in the Civil
Engineer's and Architect's Journal.

The second portion of Spencer's life begins with an invi-
tation, given him in the fall of 1837, to go to London as a
railroad surveyor and draughtsman. For the following ten
years his time was divided between practical work — testing
machinery, designing, and constructing — and miscellaneous
reading and study. While secretary to the chief engineer
of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railroad he devised a
velocimeter for recording the speed of locomotives. In
1841, refusing a proffered engagement as engineer, he re-
turned home to spend two years in scientific studies. An
overflow of the river at Derby led to his preparing for
the town council a detailed report upon the causes of the
overflow, with proposals for a remedy. A second visit to
London was undertaken with a view to securing a position
with some literary or scientific journal, but an engineering
job was taken up instead. A third visit was made in 1844
with like results. Then came a depression in railroad
enterprises and a consequent falling-off in the demand for
young engineers. In 1846 Spencer returned home, and
although some time for the next two years was devoted to
invention and problems in mechanics, engineering as a pro-
fession was, in 1848, definitely abandoned. During these
ten years Spencer's studies had laid the foundation for the
development of his philosophical system. Among other
scientific works he had taken up Lyell's 'Principles of
Geology,' and after reading the author's attack upon what
was then known as Lamarck's 'Development-theory,' had
ranged himself upon the side of the French naturalist. From
this year, 1839, may be dated the beginning of Spencer's

Life and Writings. ix

prolonged effort to interpret all the facts of nature in the
light of the central principle, evolution. Other studies
occupying his leisure hours were drawing, botany, social
science, and, for a brief space, phrenology. His writings
during this period embrace technical articles in the Civil
Engineer's Journal; a series of letters, published in the
Nonconformist in 1842, on 'The Proper Sphere of Govern-
ment,' tending to show that the government's sole function
should be the protection of life, of property -tenure, and of
social order ; and miscellaneous contributions to the Philo-
sophical Magazine and the Zooist.

A third period may be said to begin either in 1846 when
he conceived, or in 1848 when he began writing, what is
properly the earliest of his philosophical works — the 'Social
Statics.' Published in 1850, this work is an attempt to
account for the social organism as a growing adaptation of
men to their environment. Together with the 'Theory of
Population, ' published in the Westminster Review in 1832,
and 'The Development Hypothesis' which appeared in the
Leader the same year, it forms a remarkable anticipation of
the theory which Darwin put forth nine years later. From
1848 to 1852 Spencer was connected as editorial writer with
the Economist, a London journal. The essay on 'The
Philosophy of Style' came out in the Westminster Review for
October of the latter year. In the same magazine appeared,
the following year, articles on 'Over-Legislation,' uphold-
ing the theory first broached in the Nonconformist; and
'The Universal Postulate,' an examination of Mill. Three
essays came from Spencer's pen in 1854: 'The Genesis of
Science,' British Quarterly Review for July, in which
Comte's classification of the sciences is attacked; 'The Art
of Education,' North British Review for May; and 'Man-
ners and Fashion,' Westminster for April. In August he.
began his 'Principles of Psychology.' The next year saw
the completion of this book, but over-work brought on a

x Introduction.

nervous break-down, which left the author a semi-invalid
for the rest of his life. Nevertheless the stream of his in-
cessant activity was barely interrupted. Four articles by
him are to be found in the reviews for 1857. In 'Progress,
its Law and Cause, ' in the Westminster Review, the idea oi
evolution in its broad application to all physical, biological,
and social phenomena, which had first come to him while
writing the 'Principles of Psychology,' was set forth at
considerable length. 'The Origin and Function of Music/
appearing in Fraser's Magazine for October, aimed to ex-
plain the nature of musical expression as an idealization of
the cadences of emotional speech. Other essays were
'Representative Government, What is it good for?' West-
minster for October, and 'Transcendental Physiology,'
National Review for October. During the next three years
magazine articles appeared at intervals of a few months.
'State Tamperings with Money and Banks' came out in
January, 1858, 'Moral Education' in the British Quarterly
Review for April, 'The Nebular Hypothesis,' a defence of
the theory, in the Westminster for July, and a review of Pro-
fessor Owen's 'Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate
Skeleton ' in the Medico-chirurgical Review for October. For
1859 may be found, 'The Laws of Organic Form ' in the
Medico-chirurgical Review for January, 'Physical Educa-
tion,' a continuation of 'Moral Education,' in the British
Quarterly for April, 'Morals of Trade ' in Westminster for
April, 'What Knowledge is of Most Worth?' in the West-
minster for July, and 'Illogical Geology' in the Universal
Review of the same month. Two articles appeared in Jan-
uary of the following year. 'Social Organism,' in the West-
minster, was an attempt to discover in the growth of society
the same principle which is seen to determine the growth
of the individual organism. The other essay was a review
of Bain's 'The Emotions and the Will.' To the same year
belong 'The Physiology of Laughter,' Macmillan's Maga-

Life and Writings. xi

zine, 'Parliamentary Reforms, their Dangers and Safe-
guards,' Westminster Review, and 'Prison Ethics,' British
Quarterly Review for July.

It was not until 1858, while writing the article on the 'Neb-
ular Hypothesis, ' that Spencer came to understand toward
what goal his mental activity was tending. At that time
there occurred to him the idea of a system of philosophy in
which evolution should figure as the central co-ordinating
principle for the interpretation of all the sciences. The de-
velopment of this system he resolved to make the task of his
remaining years. In order to get the necessary means and
leisure, since his books thus far published had been a source
of expense rather than of income, he at first applied for a
position under government, but meeting with no success in
that direction, determined to publish the worR on subscrip-
tion. Accordingly a prospectus of the 'System of Philoso-
phy, ' to comprise treatises on Biology, Psychology, Sociology,
and Ethics, was issued in March, 1860, and the first install-
ment of the series sent out in October. The initial volume,
entitled ' First Principles, ' was completed, June, 1862. From
that time to the present most of Spencer's strength has been
given to the filling-in of the outline furnished by his pro-
spectus. The 'Principles of Biology' appeared in 1867, a
corrected and enlarged edition of the 'Principles of Psy-
chology ' in 1872. For the 'Principles of Sociology ' an
immense number of data was collected through the aid of
readers at the universities, and published in tabular form
in a series of eight quartos, entitled 'Descriptive Sociology.'
These volumes began appearing in 1873, accompanied by a
preliminary work on the 'Study of Sociology.' Of the main
work, the first part appeared in 1874, the remaining vol-
umes, 'Ceremonial Institutions,' 'Political Institutions,'
and 'Ecclesiastic Institutions,' coming out at intervals
during the next ten years. Parts VII. and VIII. of Vol. 2,
on 'Professional Institutions, and 'Industrial Institutions,'

xii Introduction.

and the whole of Vol. 3, on 'Social Progress,' are yet
unwritten. In the third main department of his system,
'The Principles of Morality,' but two volumes have been
issued, the 'Data of Ethics' (1879), and 'Justice,' which
last is published the current year. '

While actively engaged upon this great work, Spencer
has continued his contributions to the periodicals. In 1864-5
he published in the Reader, articles on 'What is Electric-
ity?' 'Constitution of the Sun,' 'Political Fetichism,' and
'The Collective Wisdom.' The first volume of the Fort-
nightly (1865) contained an article by him on 'Mill vs.
Hamilton.' In 1867 he contributed an essay 'On Political
Education ' to E. L. Youman's 'Culture Demanded by
Modern Life.' 'Spontaneous Generation and the Hypothe-
sis of Physiological Units ' appeared in the first volume of
Appleton's Magazine (1869), and was republished in book
form the following year. In the Fortnightly for May, 1870,
and December, 1871, are articles on 'The Origin of Animal
Worship' and 'Specialized Administration.' Other essays
in English periodicals are 'Mr. Martineau on Evolution,'
Contemporary Review for April, 1872, 'Replies to Criticisms '
in the Fortnightly for November and December, 1873, 'Factors
of Organic Evolution,' Nineteenth Century for April and
May, 1886, 'Origin of Music,' Mind for October, 1890. In
this country the Popular Science Monthly has been active
in reprinting Spencer's articles from the English magazines,
as well as in publishing original contributions from him.
Among these papers are the following: 'Punishing a Senior
Wrangler' (Vol. 5, p. 144), 'Consciousness under Chloro-
form ' (13: 694), 'The Coming Slavery ' (24: 721), 'The New
Toryism' (24:433), 'The Great Political Superstition'
(25:289), 'Retrogressive Religion' (25:451), 'Origin of
the Synthetic Philosophy' (26:30), 'Last Words about
Agnosticism' (25:310), 'A Rejoinder to M. de Laveleye '
(27:188), 'A Counter Criticism' (33:150), 'The Ethics of

Life and Writings. xiii

Kant' (33:464), 'Absolute Political Ethics' (36:608),
'Letters on the Land Question' (36:334, 507). Most of
Spencer's writing for the magazines has been republished
in book form, either as integral portions of the ' Synthetic
Philosophy, ' or as volumes of miscellaneous essays. Among
the latter are 'Illustrations of Universal Progress,' 'Essays,
Moral, Political, and ^Esthetic,' 'Recent Discussions in
Science, Philosophy, and Morals,' and 'The Man vs. the
State.' The following essays, not previously mentioned,
are to be found in these collections: — 'Use and Beauty,'
'Gracefulness,' 'Sources of Architectural Types,' 'Personal
Beauty, ' ' Use of Anthropomorphism. ' In the ' Recent Dis-
cussions' have been incorporated two essays, 'The Classifi-
cation of the Sciences' and 'Reasons for Dissenting from
the Philosophy of Comte,' which first appeared in book
form in 1864.

Besides the appearance of these books and essays, but
two events have marked the later years of a life outwardly,
at least, most uneventful. One was Mr. Spence/r's brief
visit to the United States in 1882, when, unfortunately, the
state of his health debarred him from personal contact with
representative men and institutions; the other his election
to the French Academy in 1883, as corresponding member
in place of Emerson. This third period of his life has
thus been pre-eminently that of the scholar and writer. It
is not improbable that, under other physical conditions, he
might have sought outlet for his practical nature in public
life or in experimental science. But the necessity of
husbanding his energies has forbidden arduous labor of
either kind. Able to endure, from the age of thirty-five,
barely three working hours a day, Mr. Spencer has been
compelled all the latter portion of his life, in science to
act as interpreter of other men's discoveries, in politics to
content himself with those tardy changes in legislation
which have come from the slow assimilation of his ideas by
the public mind.

xiv Introduction.

Mr. Spencer's contribution to the history of thought,
while probably smaller than many of his followers have
claimed, is undoubtedly very great. First, and most im-
portant of all, he brought home to the British mind, by
the announcement of his plan of work, a conception of
the necessity and value of philosophic interpretation. He
virtually asserted, in his prospectus, that all knowledge is
one, that the same essential principle underlies all phe-
nomena. This was to be expected from a " Germanizing
transcendentalist, " and from such a thinker would have
been looked upon as so much theorizing; but coming from a
hard-headed scientist, an engineer and student of biology,
it could not fail to produce a profound impression. To
Spencer, therefore, must be credited, in very large part,
the awakening of the philosophic spirit in both England
and America.

In the second place, to Spencer more perhaps than to any
other Englishman are due the development, the application,
and the popularizing of the theory of evolution. In his
essay on 'Reasons for Dissenting from the Philosophy of
Comte ' he states for himself the part this idea has played
in the formulation of his philosophical belief:

"And now let me point out that which really has exer-
cised a profound influence over my course of thought. The
truth which Harvey's embryological inquiries first dimly
indicated, which was afterward more clearly perceived by
Wolff, and which was put into a definite shape by Von Baer
— the truth that all organic development is a change from
a state of homogeneity to a state of heterogeneity — this it
is from which very many of the conclusions which I now
hold have indirectly resulted. In 'Social Statics' there is
everywhere manifested a dominant belief in the evolution
of man and of society. There is also manifested the belief
that this evolution is in both cases determined by the inci-
dence of conditions — the actions of circumstances. And

'The Philosophy of Style? xv

there is, further, in the section above referred to, a recogni-
tion of the fact that organic and social evolutions conform
to the same law. Falling amid beliefs in evolutions of
various orders, everywhere determined by natural causes
(beliefs again displayed in the 'Theory of Population ** and
in the 'Principles of Psychology '), the formula of Von
Baer acted as an organizing principle. The extension of it
to other kinds of phenomena than those of individual and
social organization is traceable through successive stages.
It may be seen in the last paragraph of an essay on 'The
Philosophy of Style,' published in October, 1852; again in
an essay on 'Manners and Fashion,' published in April,
1854; and then in a comparatively advanced form in an
essay on 'Progress: its Law and Cause,' published in April,
1857. Afterward there came the recognition of the need
for further limitation of this formula; next the inquiry into
those general laws of force from which this universal trans-
formation necessarily results; next the deduction of these
from the ultimate law of the persistence of force ; next the
perception that there is everywhere a process of Dissolution
complementary to that of Evolution; and finally, the deter-
mination of the conditions (specified in the foregoing essay)
under which Evolution and Dissolution respectively occur."

'THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE.1

In the 'Prospectus ' distributed in 1860 is announced 'The
Principles of Sociology' in three volumes. The third vol-
ume, containing Parts VII. -XI., was to embrace the follow-
ing subjects: — Part VII., Lingual Progress, "the evolution
of Languages regarded as a psychological progress deter-
mined by social conditions"; Part VIII., Intellectual Prog-
ress, "treated from the same point of view: including the
growth of classifications; the evolution of science out of

xvi Introduction.

common knowledge; the advance from qualitative to qua

titative prevision, from the indefinite to the definite, a;

from the concrete to the abstract"; Part IX., JSsthel

Progress, "the Fine Arts similarly dealt with: traci?

their gradual differentiation from primitive institutio:

and from each other, their increasing varieties of develo

ment, and their advance in reality of expression and sup

riority of aim"; Part X., Moral Progress, "exhibiting tl

genesis of the slow emotional modifications which huim

nature undergoes in its adaptation to the social state'

Part XI., The Consensus, "treating of the necessary inte

dependence of structures and of functions in each type <

society, and in the successive phases of social develo]

ment." Concerning Part IX. a footnote says, "Tw

papers on 'The Origin and Function of Music' and 'Tl

Philosophy of Style ' contain some ideas to be embodied i

Part IX." : From these data we may infer that the pape

on 'The Philosophy of Style' was regarded by Spencer a

a fragment of a treatise on Sociology, and that in it liter;

ture is dealt with as one of the fine arts, being considere

a psychological phenomenon determined by social cond:

tions. It must be remembered, however, that at the tim

the ess'ay was written, the main outlines of the syster

were as yet somewhat vague. The author himself did no

fully appreciate the trend of his own utterances. Conse

quently in his treatment of Style he does not make muc]

use of that conception of the social organism which in th.

completed work was to have played so important a part

The essay remains a fragment, not to be rightly understooc

until it is inserted in the place which the author intendec

it should occupy. This is a task which, let us hope, Mr,

Spencer may be spared to accomplish; meanwhile it may b«

*To these should be added the papers that appeared later on 'Graceful-
ness,' ' Use and Beauty,' ' The Sources of Architectural Types,' 'Personal
Beauty ' and the recent essay on ' The Origin of Music ' (Mind, 1890).

*27i« Principle of Economy? xvii

emitted the present writer to indicate, very briefly, the
ine of treatment which seems to him to be demanded by
he nature of the subject.

•THE PRINCIPLE OF ECONOMY.'

xviii Introduction.

and this whole must be understood before the part can be
understood."

What is true of conduct is quite as true of art and litera-
ture. Just as without the conception of an. ethical organ-
ism, we have no standard for the ethical evaluation of
conduct, so without the conception of an aesthetic or a
literary organism, we can have no standard for the evalua-
tion of art or literature. The function of the parts, that is,
of the various elements and devices of rhetoric such as
figures, sentences, paragraphs, and composition generally,
is inexplicable, or misapprehended, until they are given
their proper place in the operation of the whole. Just
what this whole, this organism in its detailed structure and
function, is, cannot here be discussed at length. It is
enough to say that as the content of ethics embraces all con-
duct in which there is adjustment of acts to ends, so the
content of any adequate theory of style must embrace all
manner of expression in which there is adjustment of utter-
ance to comprehension. The literary organism, therefore,
if we carry out the analogy, will be the whole complex of
effective expression going on at any one time, the value of
any part to be determined by the work which that part per-
forms in the service of the whole.

If with this conception in mind we turn now to Spencer's
theory of economy as outlined in his essay, we see at once
the desirability of giving to his central principle an inter-
pretation much wider than that which has been generally
accepted. As commonly conceived from a reading of the
essay, the principle of economy is in brief as follows : —
Thought cannot be conveyed from one individual to another
save through an apparatus of symbols, to apprehend which
requires some mental effort. Whatever energy, therefore,
can be saved in interpreting the symbols, goes to the appre-
hension of the thought. The effectiveness of language as
a* bearer of thought is thus measured by the ease with which

4 The Principle of Economy? xix

it gives up its contained idea.1 In other words, the value
of style is determined by a kind of ledger account in which
so much mental energy is credited to idea, so much debited
to the bearer of the idea. All that is saved from the wages
of the bearer goes to swell the credit account. Or to put
the same thing in still another way, the cheaper the cost
of transmission, the larger the bulk of freight. The prin-
ciple is an exceedingly simple one and readily applicable to
all forms of expression; but a little reflection will show
that, taken as it stands, without proper reference to social
conditions, it not only furnishes no sure standard of lit-
erary evaluation, but may even be at times positively
misleading. This will appear from the following consider-
ations. There are two kinds of economy : first, mere sav-
ing, the laying up of capital by isolated individuals without
purpose beyond bare accumulation; second, true economy,
which consists in wise expenditure and investment of all
that is accumulated. The first may be economy, it may be
miserliness, or it may be dead loss ; no one can tell which.
So long as the individual is viewed as isolated, no standard
can be applied. Just so with Spencer's principle. Consid-
ering men as separate individuals whose relation one to
another is of an accidental character, one cannot say
whether the language they use is economical or otherwise.
What seems to be economy, may be a positive waste of
breath. To take an example. By a suitable choice of
words and a proper arrangement of sentences, a demagogue

1(' The general theory set forth is, that effectiveness of style depends on
a choice of words and forms of sentence offering the least resistance to
thought in the mind of the reader or hearer — a foreshadowing of the gen-
eral law of the ' line of least resistance ' as applied to the interpretation
of psychological phenomena, as well as phenomena in general." — ' Spencer
and Evolution," by E. L. Youmans, Pop. Sci. Mo., Vol. G, p. 28. But the
' line of least resistance,' unless it means the path of a part performing its
function in the service of the whole organism, has no normative signifi-
cance.

xx Introduction.

may 'economize ' the mental energies of his audience to
the last degree ; and yet all the saving that he effects may,
in the truest sense, be considered so much dead loss.

If, however, we may conceive of an organism — an
organic whole — in which it is possible for each individual
to perform his proper function, the second and the true con-
ception of economy becomes not only possible but necessary.
Each man then economizes to the utmost only when he sub-
serves the interest of the whole. True economy in this
case, as in the case of an industrial organization, means
perfect division of labor, intelligent co-operation and free
exchange of commodities. Whether any given expression
is an example of economy or of waste must be determined
by inquiring what service it performs in maintaining the
integrity of the organism, that is, in furthering the in-
tellectual life of the whole community. This fundamen-
tal principle, once established, might be developed in its
details so as to show its operation in every possible mode
of literary expression. It could be applied as an instru-
ment of criticism and interpretation to literature of any
time and any place. And it would seem to have this
advantage over any theory of style which has yet been
advanced : it would be based, as Mr. Spencer would desire,
upon the conception of an organic whole made up of
mutually dependent members, not upon a part miscon-
ceived as a whole, nor yet (as is the case with so many
critical doctrines) upon dead formulas and abstract gener-
alizations, gathered indiscriminately from the wreckage of
out-worn theories.1

1 See Bosanquet's remarks on the law of economy, ' History of ^Esthetic,'
pp. 386-7.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE.

PART I.

CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON
ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL ENEEGIES.

i. The Principle of Economy.

1. Commenting on the seeming incongruity between his
father's argumentative powers and his ignorance of formal
logic, Tristram Shandy says: — "It was a matter of just
wonder with my worthy tutor, and two or three fellows of
that learned society, that a man who knew not so much as
the names of his tools, should be able to work after that
fashion with them." Sterne's intended implication that a
knowledge of the principles of reasoning neither makes,
nor is essential to, a good reasoner, is doubtless true. Thus,
too, is it with grammar. As Dr. Latham, condemning the
usual school-drill in Liudley Murray, rightly remarks: —
" Gross vulgarity is a fault to be prevented ; but the proper
prevention is to be got from habit — not rules." Similarly,
there can be little question that good composition is far
less dependent upon acquaintance with its laws, than upon
practice and natural aptitude. A clear head, a quick imag-
ination, and a sensitive ear, will go far towards making all
rhetorical precepts needless. He who daily hears and reads
well-framed sentences, will naturally more or less tend to
use similar ones. And where there exists any mental

1

2 The Philosophy of Style.

idiosyncrasy — where there is a deficient verbal memory,
or an inadequate sense of logical dependence, or but little
perception of order, or a lack of constructive ingenuity ; no
amount of instruction will remedy the defect. Neverthe-
less, some practical result may be expected from a familiar-
ity with the principles of style. The endeavour to conform
to laws may tell, though slowly. And if in no other way,
yet, as facilitating revision, a knowledge of the thing to be
achieved — a clear idea of what constitutes a beauty, and
what a blemish — cannot fail to be of service.

2. No general theory of expression seems yet to have
been enunciated.1 The maxims contained in works on com-
position and rhetoric, are presented in an unorganized form.
Standing as isolated dogmas — as empirical generalizations,
they are neither so clearly apprehended, nor so much re-
spected, as they would be were they deduced from some
simple first principle. We are told that "brevity is the
soul of wit." We hear styles condemned as verbose or
involved. Blair says that every needless part of a sentence
" interrupts the description and clogs the image;" and
again, that " long sentences fatigue the reader's attention." 2
It is remarked by Lord Kaimes, that " to give the utmost
force to a period, it ought, if possible, to be closed with that
word which makes the greatest figure." 3 That parentheses
should be avoided and that Saxon words should be used in
preference to those of Latin origin, are established precepts.
But, however influential the truths thus dogmatically em-
bodied, they would be much more influential if reduced to
something like scientific ordination. In this, as in other
cases, conviction will be greatly strengthened when we

1 That is, in works purporting to be rhetorics. General theories of
literary expression had been put forth by Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel,
Schopenhauer, Hegel, Vischer, and many other writers on aesthetics.

2 ' Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres,' Lect. xi.
8 ' Elements of Criticism,' Chap. 18, § 2.

Causes of Force in Language. 3

understand the why. And we may be sure that a compre-
hension of the general principle from which the rules of
composition result, will not only bring them home to us
with greater force, but will discover to us other rules of
like origin.

3. On seeking for some clue to the law underlying these current
maxims, we may see shadowed forth in many of them, the impor-
tance of economizing the reader's or hearer's attention. To so
present ideas that they may be apprehended with the least possible
mental effort, is the desideratum towards which most of the rules
above quoted point. When we condemn writing that is wordy, or
confused, or intricate — when we praise this style as easy, and
blame that as fatiguing, we consciously or unconsciously assume
this desideratum as our standard of judgment. Eegarding language
as an apparatus of symbols for the conveyance of thought,1 we may
say that, as in a mechanical apparatus, the more simple and the
better arranged its parts, the greater will be the effect produced.
In either case, whatever force is absorbed by the machine is deducted
from the result. A reader or listener has at each moment but a
limited amount of mental power available. To recognize and inter-
pret the symbols presented to him, requires part of this power ; to
arrange and combine the images suggested requires a further part ;
and only that part which remains can be used for realizing the
thought conveyed. Hence, the more time and attention it takes to
receive and understand each sentence, the less time and attention
can be given to the contained idea ; and the less vividly will that
idea be conceived.

4. How truly language must be regarded as a hindrance
to thought, though the necessary instrument of it, we shall
clearly perceive on remembering the comparative force with

1 See the comment made by Mr. Wright, infra, § 13: "The definite
product language is more or less isolated from the agency using it, and
viewed more in relation to the reader's than the writer's mind." A brief
criticism of the general principle will be found in A. S. Hill's ' Rhetoric,"
pp. 163, 164.

4 The Philosophy of Style.

which simple ideas are communicated by signs.1 To say,
" Leave the room," is less expressive than to point to the
door. Placing a finger on the lips is more forcible than
whispering, " Do not speak. " A beck of the hand is better
than, " Come here. " No phrase can convey the idea of sur-
prise so vividly as opening the eyes and raising the eye-
brows. A shrug of the shoulders would lose much by trans-
lation into words. Again, it may be remarked that when
oral language is employed, the strongest effects 2 are pro-
duced by interjections, which condense entire sentences into
syllables. And in other cases, where custom allows us to
express thoughts by single words, as in Beware, Heigho,
Fudge, much force would be lost by expanding them into
specific propositions. Hence, carrying out the metaphor
that language is the vehicle of thought, there seems reason
to think that in all cases the friction and inertia of the
vehicle deduct from its efficiency ; and that in composition,
the chief, if not the sole thing to be done, is, to reduce this
friction and inertia to the smallest possible amount. Let
us then inquire whether economy of the recipient's attention
is not the secret of effect, alike in the right choice and collo-
cation of words, in the best arrangement of clauses in a sen-
tence, in the proper order of its principal and subordinate
propositions, in the judicious use of simile, metaphor, and
other figures of speech, and even in the rhythmical sequence
of syllables.

1 This ingenious paradox rests upon an artificial distinction between
language and other modes of expression. Language itself is but a system
of verbal signs. What Spencer says is therefore virtually this : " Language
is an inferior form of expression for ideas which are more easily expressed
by other kinds of signs." Language in one sense is indeed a "hindrance
to the expression of thought," and properly so; it forces vague and ill-
defined thought back upon itself, compelling it to assume the organized
form requisite to ordered verbal expression.

8 " Strongest effects" is vague to the last degree. There may be hun-
dreds of strong effects of all shades of complexity ; very obviously not all
of them can be produced by interjections.

Causes of Force in Language. 5

ii. Economy in the Use of Words.

5. The greater forcibleness of Saxon English, or rather
non-Latin English, first claims our attention. The several
special reasons assignable for this may all be reduced to the
general reason — economy. The most important of them is
early association. A child's vocabulary is almost wholly
Saxon. He says, / have, not I possess — I wish, not I desire;
he does not reflect, he thinks; he does not beg for amusement,
but for play; he calls things nice or nasty, not pleasant or dis-
agreeable. The synonyms which he learns in after years,
never become so closely, so organically connected with the
ideas signified, as do these original words used in childhood ;
and hence the association remains less strong. But in what
does a strong association between a word and an idea differ
from a weak one ? Simply in the greater ease and rapidity of
the suggestive action. It can be in nothing else. Both of
two words, if they be strictly synonymous, eventually call
up the same image. The expression — It is acid, must in
the end give rise to the same thought as — It is sour; but
because the term acid was learnt later in life, and has not
been so often followed by the thought symbolized, it does
not so readily arouse that thought as the term sour. If we
remember how slowly and with what labour the appropriate
ideas follow unfamiliar words in another language, and how
increasing familiarity with such words brings greater rapid-
ity and ease of comprehension ; and if we consider that the
same process must have gone on with the words of our
mother tongue from childhood upwards, we shall clearly see
that the earliest learnt and oftenest used words, will, other
things equal, call up images with less loss of time and
energy than their later learnt synonyms.

6. The further superiority possessed by Saxon English
in its comparative brevity, obviously comes under the same
generalization. If it be an advantage to express an idea in

6 The Philosophy of Style.

the smallest number of words, then will it be an advantage
to express it in the smallest number of syllables. • If circui-
tous phrases and needless expletives distract the attention
and diminish the strength of the impression produced, then
do surplus articulations do so. A certain effort, though com-
monly an inappreciable one, must be required to recognize
every vowel and consonant. If, as all know, it is tiresome
to listen to an indistinct speaker, or read a badly-written
manuscript; and if, as we cannot doubt, the fatigue is a
cumulative result of the attention needed to catch succes-
sive syllables; it follows that attention is in such cases
absorbed by each syllable. And if this be true when the
syllables are difficult of recognition, it will also be true,
though in a less degree, when the recognition of them is
easy. Hence, the shortness of Saxon words becomes a rea-
son for their greater force. One qualification, however,
must not be overlooked. A word which in itself embodies
the most important part of the idea to be conveyed, espe-
cially when that idea is an emotional one, may often with
advantage be a polysyllabic word. Thus it seems more
forcible to say, "It is Tnagnificent" than "It is grand."
The word vast is not so powerful a one as stupendous. Call-
ing a thing nasty is not so effective as calling it disgusting.

7. There seem to be several causes for this exceptional
superiority of certain long words. We may ascribe it
partly to the fact that a voluminous, mouth-filling epithet
is, by its very size, suggestive of largeness or strength ;
witness the immense pomposity of sesquipedalian verbiage :
and when great power or intensity has to be suggested, this
association of ideas aids the effect. A further cause may be
that a word of several syllables admits of more emphatic
articulation ; and as emphatic articulation is a sign of emo-
tion, the unusual impressiveness of the thing named is im-
plied by it. Yet another cause is that a long word (of
which the latter syllables are generally inferred as soon as

Causes of Force in Language. 7

the first are spoken) allows the hearer's consciousness a
longer time to dwell upon the quality predicated ; and
where, as in the above cases, it is to this predicated quality
that the entire attention is called, an advantage results
from keeping it before the mind for an appreciable time.
The reasons which we have given for preferring short words
evidently do not hold here. So that to make our general-
ization quite correct we must say, that while in certain
sentences expressing strong feeling, the word which more
especially implies that feeling may often with advantage
be a many-syllabled or Latin one ; in the immense majority
of cases, each word serving but as a ^step to the idea em-
bodied by the whole sentence, should, if possible, be a one-
syllabled or Saxon one.

8. Once more, that frequent cause of strength in Saxon
and other primitive words — their imitative character, may
be similarly resolved into the more general cause. Both
those directly imitative, as splash, bang, whiz, roar, &c., and
those analogically imitative, as rough, smooth, keen, blunt,
thin, hard, crag, &c., have a greater or less likeness to the
things symbolized; and by making on the senses impres-
sions allied to the ideas to be called up, they save part of
the effort needed to call up such ideas, and leave more
attention for the ideas themselves.

9. The economy of the recipient's mental energy, into
which are thus resolvable the several causes of the strength
of Saxon English, may equally be traced in the superiority
of specific over generic words. That concrete terms pro-
duce more vivid impressions than abstract ones, and should,
when possible, be used instead, is a thorough maxim of
composition.1 As Dr. Campbell says,2 " The more general

1 The purpose of the writer and the needs of the reader must, however,
always be taken into account. If the author's idea is such as to call for
abstract terms, concrete expressions are obviously out of place. Of the two
examples that follow in the text, it may be questioned whether to the legal
or scientific mind the first will not convey by far the greater satisfaction.

« ' Philosophy of Rhetoric,' Bk. III., Chap. 1, § 1.

8 The Philosophy of Style.

the terms are, the picture is the fainter ; the more special
they are, 'tis the brighter." We should avoid such a sen-
tence as : — " In proportion as the manners, customs, and
amusements of a nation are cruel and barbarous, the regula-
tions of their penal code will be severe." And in place of
it we should write : — "In proportion as men delight in bat-
tles, bull-fights, and combats of gladiators, will they punish
by hanging, burning, and the rack." 1

10. This superiority of specific expressions is clearly due
to a saving of the effort required to translate words into
thoughts. As we do not think in generals but in particu-
lars — as, whenever any class of things is referred to, we
represent it to ourselves by calling to mind individual mem-
bers of it ; it follows that when an abstract word is used,
the hearer or reader has to choose from his stock of images,
one or more, by which he may figure to himself the genus
mentioned. In doing this, some delay must arise — some
force be expended ; and if, by employing a specific term, an
appropriate image can be at once suggested, an economy is
achieved, and a more vivid impression produced.2

1 Dr. Campbell's illustration is more to the point: "'Consider,' sayg
our Lord, 'the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet
I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these. If, then, God so clothe the grass which to-day is in the field and
to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you ? ' Let
us here adopt a little of the tasteless manner of modern paraphrasts, by
the substitution of more general terms, one of their many expedients of
inf rigidating, and let us observe the effect produced by this change. ' Con-
sider the flowers how they gradually increase in their size; they do no
manner of work, and yet I declare to you that no king whatever, in his
most splendid habit is dressed up like them. If, then, God in his provi-
dence doth so adorn the vegetable productions which continue but a little
time on the land, and are afterwards put into the fire, how much more will
he provide clothing for you ? ' How spiritless is the same sentiment ren-
dered by these small variations! The very particularizing of to-day and
to-morrow is infinitely more expressive of transitoriness than any descrip-
tion wherein the terms are general that can be substituted in its room."
— 'Philosophy of Rhetoric,' Bk. III., Chap. 1, § 1.

2 The psychology of this passage is not above suspicion. The operation

Causes of Force in Language. 9

iii. The Principle of Economy applied to Sentences.

11. Turning now from the choice of words to their se-
quence, we shall find the same general principle hold good.1
We have a priori reasons for believing that in every sen-
tence there is some one order of words more effective than
any other ; and that this order is the one which presents
the elements of the proposition in the succession in which
they may be most readily put together. As in a narrative,
the events should be stated in such sequence that the mind
may not have to go backwards and forwards in order to
rightly connect them; as in a group of sentences, the ar-
rangement should be such, that each of them may be under-
stood as it comes, without waiting for subsequent ones ; so
in every sentence, the sequence of words should be that
which suggests the constituents of the thought in the order
most convenient for the building up that thought. Duly
to enforce this truth, and to prepare the way for applica-
tions of it, we must briefly inquire into the mental act by
whiclf the meaning of a series of words is apprehended.2

of the mind in thinking a class is different from its operation in thinking a
particular of that class. In the latter case the mental procedure consists
in bringing up a particular image of the thing ; in the former the mind
grasps the function of the image, leaving the particular features wholly
out of account. The trained thinker in thinking the class 'horse' does
not "choose from his stock" of mental horses. He thinks the concept
horse, and in so doing he may attain to a perfectly definite notion of the
class without having in consciousness any particular horse whatsoever.
The particular image is of course present, but such features as hight, color,
etc., are simply disregarded. See, on this point, Dewey's ' Psychology,'
pp. 204-213; James's 'Psychology,' I., Chap. 12; 'How do Concepts arise
from Percepts ? ' by J. Dewey, in Public. School Journal for November,
1891 ; James's address in Psychol. Rev.

1 On the general question of the order of words in sentences, see the
admirable little treatise by H. Weil, ' The Order of Words in the Ancient
Languages compared with that of the Modern Languages ' (Trans, by
C. W. Super, Boston : 1887).

2 " But there is another element we have to take into account, and that
is the rhythmical effect of Style. Mr. Herbert Spencer in his essay very

10 The Philosophy of Style.

12. We cannot more simply do this than by considering
the proper collocation of the substantive and adjective. Is
it better to place the adjective before the substantive, or
the substantive before the adjective ? Ought we to say
with the French — un cheval noir; or to say as we do — a
black horse ? Probably, most persons of culture would de-
cide that one order is as good as the other. Alive to the
bias produced by habit, they would ascribe to that the pref-
erence they feel for our own form of expression. They
would expect those educated in the use of the opposite
form to have an equal preference for that. And thus they
would conclude that neither of these instinctive judgments
is of any worth. There is, however, a philosophical ground
for deciding in favour of the English custom. If " a horse
black" be the arrangement, immediately on the utterance
of the word "horse," there arises, or tends to arise, in the
mind, a picture answering to that word; and as there has
been nothing to indicate what kind of horse, any image of a
horse suggests itself. Very likely, however, the image will
be that of a brown horse, brown horses being the most
familiar. The result is that when the word "black" is
added, a check is given to the process of thought. Either
the picture of a brown horse already present to the imagi-
nation has to be suppressed, and the picture of a black; one
summoned in its place ; or else, if the picture of a brown

clearly states the law of Sequence, but I infer that he would include it en-
tirely under the law of Economy ; at any rate he treats of it solely in refer-
ence to intelligibility, and not at all in its scarcely less important relation
to harmony. . . . But Style appeals to the emotions as well as to the intel-
lect, and the arrangement of words and sentences which will be the most
economical may not be the most musical, and the most musical may not
be the most pleasurably effective. For Climax and Variety it may be
necessary to sacrifice something of rapid intelligibility : hence involutions,
antitheses, and suspensions, which disturb the most orderly arrange-
ment, may yet, in virtue of their own subtle influences, be counted as
improvements on that arrangement." — Lewes's ' Principles of Success in
Literature,' p. 143.

Causes of Force in Language. 11

horse be yet unformed, the tendency to form it has to be
stopped. Whichever is the case, a certain amount of hin-
drance results. But if, on the other hand, " a black horse "
be the expression used, no such mistake can be made. The
word " black," indicating an abstract quality, arouses no
definite idea. It simply prepares the mind for conceiving
some object of that colour ; and the attention is kept sus-
pended until that object is known. If, then, by the prece-
dence of the adjective, the idea is conveyed without liability
to error, whereas the precedence of the substantive is apt to
produce a misconception, it follows that the one gives the
mind less trouble than the other, and is therefore more
forcible.1

13. Possibly it will be objected that the adjective and
substantive come so close together, that practically they
may be considered as uttered at the same moment ; and that
on hearing the phrase, " a horse black," there is not time to
imagine a wrongly-coloured horse before the word " black "
follows to prevent it. It must be owned that it is not easy
to decide by introspection whether this is so or not.2 But
there are facts collaterally implying that it is not. Our

1 Two fallacies lurk in this argument : (1) That the " bias produced by
habit " is a factor that may be disregarded, for obviously if the substan-
tive-adjective order were the one habitually employed and expected, econ-
omy would dictate that the opposite order be avoided ; (2) that the par-
ticulars of a concrete visual image necessarily arise in the mind upon
hearing the term ' horse.' The ' image ' may be a sound or a moving line.
" Take the following report from one of my students: 'I am unable to
form in my mind's eye any visual likeness of the table whatever. After
many trials I can only get a hazy surface, with nothing on or about it. I
can see no variety in color, and no positive limitations in extent, while I
cannot see what I see well enough to determine its position in respect to
my eye, or to endow it with any quality of size. I am in the same posi-
tion as to the word dog. I cannot see it in my mind's eye at all; and so
cannot tell whether I should have to run my eye along it, if I did see it.' "
— James's ' Psychology,' II., p. 57, note. The whole chapter should be read.

2 See, for a discussion of this point, Victor Egger's ' La Parole interieure,'
Chaps. 6, 7; James's ' Psychology,' I., pp. 280, 281, note.

12 The Philosophy of Style.

ability to anticipate the words yet unspoken is one of them.
If the ideas of the hearer kept considerably behind the
expressions of the speaker, as the objection assumes, he
could hardly foresee the end of a sentence by the time it
was half delivered: yet this constantly happens.1 Were
the supposition true, the mind, instead of anticipating,
would be continually falling more and more in arrear. If
the meanings of words are not realized as fast as the words
are uttered, then the loss of time over each word must
entail such an accumulation of delays as to leave a hearer
entirely behind. But whether the force of these replies be
or be not admitted, it will scarcely be denied that the right
formation of a picture will be facilitated by presenting its
elements in the order in which they are wanted;2 even
though the mind should do nothing until it has received
them all.

14. What is here said respecting the succession of the
adjective and substantive is obviously applicable, by change
of terms, to the adverb and verb. And without further
explanation, it will be manifest, that in the use of preposi-
tions and other particles, most languages spontaneously
conform with more or less completeness to this law.

1 Spencer fails to see how this fact tells against his theory. (1) The
Frenchman, accustomed to the substantive-adjective order, will anticipate
the coming noir, or some other adjective, as soon as he hears the word
cheval. Hence in his case the nascent image of a wrongly-colored horse
will not tend to arise. The peculiar intonation of the substantive will
probably give him a hint as to whether the adjective is or is not to follow.
(2) In the case of the Englishman, the word ' black ' may lead the hearer
to anticipate some other substantive than ' horse ' ; he may expect ' sheep,'
or ' man,' or ' eye,' to follow, since all these things may possess the quality
blackness.

2 In the original article as it appeared in the Westminster Review, the
following words are inserted at this point : " and that, as in forming the
image answering to a red flower, the notion of redness is one of the com-
ponents that must be used in the construction of the image, the mind, if
put in possession of this notion before the specific image to be formed
out of it is suggested, will more easily form it than if the order be reversed."

Causes of Force in Language. 13

15. On applying a like analysis to the larger divisions
of a sentence, we find not only that the same principle
holds good, but that the advantage of respecting it becomes
marked. In the arrangement of predicate and subject, for
example, we are at once shown that as the predicate deter-
mines the aspect under which the subject is to be conceived,
it should be placed first ; and the striking effect produced
by so placing it becomes comprehensible. Take the often-
quoted contrast between " Great is Diana of the Ephesians,"
and "Diana of the Ephesians is great." When the first
arrangement is used, the utterance of the word " great "
arouses those vague associations of an impressive nature
with which it has been habitually connected ; the imagina-
tion is prepared to clothe with high attributes whatever
follows; and when the words, "Diana of the Ephesians,"
are heard, all the appropriate imagery which can, on the
instant, be summoned, is used in the formation of the pic-
ture : the mind being thus led directly, and without error,
to the intended impression. When, on the contrary, the
reverse order is followed, the idea, "Diana of the Ephe-
sians," is conceived with no special reference to greatness ;
and when the words " is great " are added, the conception
has to be remodelled : whence arises a loss of mental energy
and a corresponding diminution of effect. The following
verse from Coleridge's ' Ancient Mariner,' though somewhat
irregular in structure, well illustrates the same truth :

"Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea t
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony."

16. Of course the principle equally applies when the
predicate is a verb or a participle. And as effect is gained
by placing first all words indicating the quality, conduct or
condition of the subject, it follows that the copula also
should have precedence. It is true that the general habit

14 The Philosophy of Style.

of our language resists this arrangement of predicate, copula
and subject; but we may readily find instances of the addi-
tional force gained by conforming to it. Thus, in the line
from < Julius Csesar ' —

s

" Then burst his mighty heart,"

priority is given to a word embodying both predicate and
copula. In a passage contained in l The Battle of Flodden
Field,' the like order is systematically employed with great

effect :

"The Border slogan rent the sky !
A Home I a Gordon I was the cry ;
Loud were the clanging blows :
Advanced — forced back — now low, now high,

The pennon sunk and rose ;
As bends the bark's mast in the gale
When rent are rigging, shrouds and sail.
It wavered 'mid the foes."

17. Pursuing the principle yet further, it is obvious that
for producing the greatest effect, not only should the main
divisions of a sentence observe this sequence, but the sub-
divisions of these should be similarly arranged. In nearly
all cases, the predicate is accompanied by some limit or
qualification, called its complement. Commonly, also, the
circumstances of the subject, which form its complement,
have to be specified. And as these qualifications and cir-
cumstances must determine the mode in which the acts and
things they belong to are conceived, precedence should be
given to them. Lord Kaimes 1 notices the fact that this
order is preferable ; though without giving the reason. He
says : — " When a circumstance is placed at the beginning
of the period, or near the beginning, the transition from it
to the principal subject is agreeable : it is like ascending or
going upward." A sentence arranged in illustration of this

1 ' Elements of Criticism,' Chap. 18, § 2.

Causes of Force in Language. 15

will be desirable. Here is one : — " Whatever it may be in
theory, it is clear that in practice the French idea of liberty
is — the right of every man to be master of the rest."

18. In this case, were the first two clauses, up to the
word " practice " inclusive, whicli qualify the subject, to be
placed at the end instead of the beginning, much of the
force would be lost ; as thus : — " The French idea of liberty
is — the right of every man to be master of the rest ; in
practice at least, if not in theory."

19. Similarly with respect to the conditions under which
any fact is predicated. Observe in the following example
the effect of putting them last : — " How immense would be
the stimulus to progress, were the honour now given to
wealth and title given exclusively to high achievements
and intrinsic worth ! "

20. And then observe the superior effect of putting them
first : — " Were the honour now given to wealth and title
given exclusively to high achievements and intrinsic worth,
how immense would be the stimulus to progress ! "

21. The effect of giving priority to the complement of
the predicate, as well as the predicate itself, is finely
displayed in the opening of ' Hyperion ' :

" Deep in the shady sadness of a vale
Far sunken from the healthy breath of morn,
Far from the fiery noon and eve's one star
Sat gray-haired Saturn, quiet as a stone."

Here it will be observed, not only that the predicate usat"
precedes the subject "Saturn," and that the three lines in
italics, constituting the complement of the predicate, come
before it ; but that in the structure of that complement also,
the same order is followed : each line being so arranged
that the qualifying words are placed before the words sug-
gesting concrete images.

22. The right succession of the principal and subordinate
propositions in a sentence manifestly depends on the same

16 The Philosophy of Style.

law. [Regard for economy of the recipient's attention,
which, as we find, determines the best order for the subject,
copula, predicate and their complements, dictates that the
subordinate proposition shall precede the principal one when
the sentence includes two. Containing, as the subordinate
proposition does, some qualifying or explanatory idea, its
priority prevents misconception of the principal one ; and
therefore saves the mental effort needed to correct such
misconception. This will be seen in the annexed example : l
" The secrecy once maintained in respect to the parliamen-
tary debates, is still thought needful in diplomacy ; and in
virtue of this secret diplomacy, England may any day be
unawares betrayed by its ministers into a war costing a
hundred thousand lives, and hundreds of millions of treas-
ure : yet the English pique themselves on being a self-gov-
erned people." The two subordinate propositions, ending
with the semicolon and colon respectively, almost wholly
determine the meaning of the principal proposition with
which it concludes ; and the effect would be lost were they
placed last instead of first.

23. The general principle of right arrangement in sen-
tences, which we have traced in its application to the lead-
ing divisions of them, equally determines the proper order
of their minor divisions. In every sentence of any com-
plexity the complement to the subject contains several
clauses, and that to the predicate several others ; and these
may be arranged in greater or less conformity to the law of
easy apprehension. Of course with these, as with the
larger members, the succession should be from the less
specific to the more specific — from the abstract to the con-
crete.

1 The following is the example given in the Westminster Review : " Those
who weekly go to church, and there have doled out to them a quantum of
belief which they have not energy totwork out for themselves, are simply
spiritual paupers."

Causes of Force in Language. 17

24. Now, however, we must notice a further condition to
be fulfilled in the proper construction of a sentence; but
still a condition dictated by the same general principle with
the other: the condition, namely, that the words and
expressions most nearly related in thought shall be brought
the closest together. Evidently the single words, the minor
clauses, and the leading divisions of every proposition, sev-
erally qualify each other. The longer the time that elapses
between the mention of any qualifying member and the
member qualified, the longer must the mind be exerted in
carrying forward the qualifying member ready for use.
And the more numerous the qualifications to be simultane-
ously remembered and rightly applied, the greater will be
the mental power expended, and the smaller the effect pro-
duced. Hence, other things equal, force will be gained by
so arranging the members of a sentence that these suspen-
sions shall at any moment be the fewest in number ; and
shall also be of the shortest duration. The following is an
instance of defective combination: — "A modern newspaper-
statement, though, probably true, would be laughed at if
quoted in a book as testimony; but the letter of a court
gossip is thought good historical evidence, if written some
centuries ago." A rearrangement of this, in accordance
with the principle indicated above, will be found to increase
the effect. Thus : — " Though probably true, a modern
newspaper-statement quoted in a book as testimony, would
be laughed at ; but the letter of a court gossip, if written
some centuries ago, is thought good historical evidence."

25. By making this change, some of the suspensions are
avoided and others shortened ; while there is less liability
to produce premature conceptions. The passage quoted
below from ' Paradise Lost ' affords a fine instance of a
sentence well arranged ; alike in the priority of the subor-
dinate members, in the avoidance of long and numerous
suspensions, and in the correspondence between the order

18 The Philosophy of Style.

of the clauses and the sequence of the phenomena described,
which, by the way, is a further prerequisite to easy compre-
hension, and therefore to effect.

" As when a prowling wolf,

Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve,
In hurdled cotes amid the field secure,
Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold ;
Or as a thief, bent to unhoard the cash
Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors,
Cross-barr'd, and bolted fast, fear no assault,
In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles ;
So clomb this first grand thief ipto God's fold ;
So since into his church lewd hirelings climb." 1

26. The habitual use of sentences in which all or most
of the descriptive and limiting elements precede those de-
scribed and limited, gives rise to what is called the inverted
style : a title which is, however, by no means confined to
this structure, but is often used where the order of the
words is simply unusual. A more appropriate title would
be the direct style, as contrasted with the other, or indirect
style: the peculiarity of the one being, that it conveys each
thought into the mind step by step with little liability to
error ; and of the other, that it gets the right thought con-
ceived by a series of approximations.

27. The superiority of the direct over the indirect form
of sentence, implied by the several conclusions that have
been drawn, must not, however, be affirmed without reserva-
tion. Though, up to a certain point, it is well for the quali-
fying clauses of a period to precede those qualified ; yet, as
carrying forward each qualifying clause costs some mental
effort, it follows that when the number of them and the
time they are carried become great, we reach a limit beyond
which more is lost than is gained. Other things equal, the

1 Bk. IV., lines 183-193.

Causes of Force in Language. 19

arrangement should be such that no concrete image shall be
suggested until the materials out of which it is to be made
have been presented. And yet, as lately pointed out, other
things equal, the fewer the materials to be held at once, and
the shorter the distance they have to be borne, the better.
Hence in some cases it becomes a question whether most
mental effort will be entailed by the many and long suspen-
sions, or by the correction of successive misconceptions.

28. This question may sometimes be decided by consider-
ing the capacity of the persons addressed. A greater grasp
of mind is required for the ready comprehension of thoughts
expressed in the direct manner, where the sentences are
anywise intricate. To recollect a number of preliminaries
stated in elucidation of a coming idea, and to apply them
all to the formation of it when suggested, demands a good
memory and considerable power of concentration. To one
possessing these, the direct method will mostly seem the
best ; while to one deficient in them it will seem the worst.
Just as it may cost a strong man less effort to carry a hun-
dred-weight from place to place at once, than by a stone at
a time ; so, to an active mind it may be easier to bear along
all the qualifications of an idea and at once rightly form it
when named, than to first imperfectly conceive such idea
and then carry back to it, one by one, the details and limita-
tions afterwards mentioned. While conversely, as for a boy,
the only possible mode of transferring a hundred- weight, is
that of taking it in portions ; so, for a weak mind, the only
possible mode of forming a compound conception may be
that of building it up by carrying separately its several
parts.

29. That the indirect method — the method of conveying
the meaning by a series of approximations — is best fitted
for the uncultivated, may indeed be inferred from their
habitual use of it. The form of expression adopted by the
savage, as in — " Water, give me," is the simplest type of

20 The Philosophy of Style.

the approximate arrangement. In pleonasms, which are
comparatively prevalent among the uneducated, the same
essential structure is seen; as, for instance, in — "The men,
they were there." Again, the old possessive case — "The
king, his crown," conforms to the like order of thought.
Moreover, the fact that the indirect mode is called the
natural one, implies that it is the one spontaneously em-
ployed by the common people: that is — the one easiest for
undisciplined minds.

30. There are many cases, however, in which neither the
direct nor the indirect structure is the best; but where an
intermediate structure is preferable to both. When the
number of circumstances and qualifications to be included
in the sentence is great, the most judicious course is neither
to enumerate them all before introducing the idea to which
they belong, nor to put this idea first and let it be remod-
elled to agree with the particulars afterwards mentioned;
but to do a little of each. Take a case. It is desirable to
avoid so extremely indirect an arrangement as the follow-
ing : — " We came to our journey's end, at last, with no small
difficulty after much fatigue, through deep roads, and bad
weather." Yet to transform this into an entirely direct
sentence would not produce a satisfactory effect; as wit-
ness : — "At last, with no small difficulty, after much fatigue,
through deep roads, and bad weather, we came to our jour-
ney's end."

31. Dr. Whately, from whom we quote the first of these
two arrangements,1 proposes this construction : — "At last,
after much fatigue, through deep roads and bad weather, we
came, with no small difficulty, to our journey's end." Here
it will be observed that by introducing the words "we
came " a little earlier in the sentence, the labour of carry-
ing forward so many particulars is diminished, and the sub-
sequent qualification "with no small difficulty" entails an

i 'Rhetoric,' Pt. III., Chap. 2, § 12.

Causes of Force in Language. 21

addition to the thought that is very easily made. But a
further improvement may be produced by introducing the
words "we came" still earlier; especially if at the same
time the qualifications be rearranged in conformity with the
principle already explained, that the more abstract elements
of the thought should come before the more concrete. Ob-
serve the better effect obtained by making these two changes :
— " At last, with no small difficulty, and after much fatigue,
we came, through deep roads and bad weather, to our jour-
ney's end." This reads with comparative smoothness ; that
is, with less hindrance from suspensions and reconstructions
of thought — with less mental effort.

32. Before dismissing this branch of our subject, it
should be further remarked, that even when addressing the
most vigorous intellects, the direct style is unfit for com-
municating ideas of a complex or abstract character. So
long as the mind has not much to do, it may be well able
to grasp all the preparatory clauses of a sentence, and to
use them effectively ; but if some subtlety in the argument
absorb the attention — if every faculty be strained in en-
deavouring to catch the speaker's or writer's drift, it may
happen that the mind, unable to carry on both processes
at once, will break down, and allow the elements of the
thought to lapse into confusion.

iv. The Principle of Economy applied to Figures.

33. Turning now to consider figures of speech, we may
equally discern the same general law of effect.1 Underlying
all the rules given for the choice and right use of them, we
shall find the same fundamental requirement — economy of

1 On the general subject of figures, see Max Miiller's essay in Fort-
nightly, Vol. 46, p. 617, on ' Metaphor as a Mode of Abstraction '; Earle's
'English Prose,' pp. 234-253; Gummere's 'Poetics,' pp. 83-132; Modern
Language Notes, Vol. 1, p. 140, ' The Classification of Rhetorical Fig-
ures,' by C. B. Bradley.

22 The Philosophy of Style.

attention. It is indeed chiefly because they so well sub-
serve this requirement, that figures of speech are employed.
To bring the mind more easily to the desired conception,
is in many cases solely, and in all cases mainly, their
object.

34. Let us begin with the figure called Synecdoche.
The advantage sometimes gained by putting a part for the
whole, is due to the more convenient, or more accurate,
presentation of the idea. If, instead of saying " a fleet of
ten ships," we say "a fleet of ten sail," the picture of a
group of vessels at sea is more readily suggested ; and is so
because the sails constitute the most conspicuous parts of
vessels so circumstanced: whereas the word ships would
very likely remind us of vessels in dock. Again, to say,
" All hands to the pumps," is better than to say, " All men
to the pumps," as it suggests the men in the special attitude
intended, and so saves effort. Bringing "gray hairs with
sorrow to the grave," is another expression, the effect of
which has the same cause.

35. The occasional increase of force produced by Meton-
ymy may be similarly accounted for. "The low morality
of the bar" is a phrase both more brief and significant than
the literal one it stands for. A belief in the ultimate su-
premacy of intelligence over brute force, is conveyed in a
more concrete, and therefore more realizable form, if we
substitute the pen and the sword for the two abstract terms.
To say, "Beware of drinking ! " is less effective than to say,
" Beware of the bottle I " and is so, clearly because it calls
up a less specific image.

36. The Simile is in many cases used chiefly with a view
to ornament, but whenever it increases the force of a pas-
sage, it does so by being an economy. Here in an instance :
" The illusion that great men and great events came oftener
in early times than now, is partly due to historical perspec-
tive. As in a range of equidistant columns, the furthest

Causes of Force in Language. 23

off look the closest; so, the conspicuous objects of the
past seem more thickly clustered the more remote they
are."

37. To construct by a process of literal explanation, the
thought thus conveyed would take many sentences, and the
first elements of the picture would become faint while the
imagination was busy in adding the others. But by the help
of a comparison all effort is saved ; the picture is instantly
realized, and its full effect produced.

38. Of the position of the Simile,1 it needs only to re-
mark, that what has been said respecting the order of the
adjective and substantive, predicate and subject, principal
and subordinate propositions, &c., is applicable here. As
whatever qualifies should precede whatever is qualified,
force will generally be gained by placing the simile before
the object to which it is applied. That this arrangement is
the best, may be seen in the following passage from the
' Lady of the Lake ' :

" As wreath of snow, on mountain breast,
Slides from the rock that gave it rest,
Poor Ellen glided from her stay,
And at the monarch's feet she lay."2

Inverting these couplets will be found to diminish the effect
considerably. There are cases, however, even where the
simile is a simple one, in which it may with advantage be

1 Properly the term " simile " is applicable only to the entire figure,
inclusive of the two things compared and the comparison drawn between
them. But as there exists no name for the illustrative member of the fig-
ure, there seems no alternative but to employ " simile " to express this
also. This context will in each case show in which sense the word is
used. — H. S.

2 But compare the arrangement in the following from ' Othello ' :

" Of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum."

24 The Philosophy of Style.

placed last, as in these lines from Alexander Smith's ( Life

Drama':

" I see the future stretch
All dark and barren as a rainy sea."

The reason for this seems to be, that so abstract an idea as
that attaching to the word " future," does not present itself
to the mind in any definite form, and hence the subsequent
arrival at the simile entails no reconstruction of the thought.

39. Such, however, are not the only cases in which this
order is the most forcible. As the advantage of putting
the simile before the object depends on its being carried
forward in the mind to assist in forming an image of the ob-
ject, it must happen that if, from length or complexity, it can-
not be so carried forward, the advantage is not gained. The
annexed sonnet, by Coleridge, is defective from this cause:

" As when a child, on some long winter's night,
Affrighted, clinging to its grandam's knees,
With eager wond'ring and perturb'd delight
Listens strange tales of fearful dark decrees,
Mutter' d to wretch by necromantic spell ;
Or of those hags who at the witching time
Of murky midnight, ride the air sublime,
And mingle foul embrace with fiends of hell ;
Cold horror drinks its blood ! Anon the tear
More gentle starts, to hear the beldame tell
Of pretty babes, that lov'd each other dear,
Murder 'd by cruel uncle's mandate fell :
Ev'n such the shiv'ring joys thy tones impart,
Ev'n so, thou, Siddons, meltest my sad heart."

40. Here, from the lapse of time and accumulation of
circumstances, the first part of the comparison is forgotten
before its application is reached, and requires re-reading.
Had the main idea been first mentioned, less effort would
have been required to retain it, and to modify the concep-
tion of it into harmony with the comparison, than to remem-
ber the comparison, and refer back to its successive features
for helr> in forming the final imaape.

Causes of Force in Language. 25

41. The superiority of the Metaphor to the Simile is as-
cribed by Dr. Whately l to the fact that " all men are more
gratified at catching the resemblance for themselves, than
in having it pointed out to them." But after what has
been said, the great economy it achieves will seem the more
probable cause. Lear's exclamation —

'" Ingratitude ! thou marble- hearted fiend,"
would lose part of its effect were it changed into —
" Ingratitude ! thou fiend with heart like marble ; "

and the loss would result partly from the position of the
simile and partly from the extra number of words required.
When the comparison is an involved one, the greater force
of the metaphor, consequent on its greater brevity, becomes
much more conspicuous. If, drawing an analogy between
mental and physical phenomena, we say, "As, in passing
through the crystal, beams of white light are decomposed
into the colours of the rainbow ; so, in traversing the soul of
the poet, the colourless rays of truth are transformed into
brightly tinted poetry " ; it is clear that in receiving the
double set of words expressing the two halves of the com-
parison, and in carrying the one half to the other, consider-
able attention is absorbed. Most of this is saved, however,
by putting the comparison in a metaphorical form, thus:
"The white light of truth, in traversing the many sided
transparent soul of the poet, is refracted into iris-hued
poetry."

42. How much is conveyed in a few words by the help of
the Metaphor, and how vivid the effect consequently pro-
duced, may be abundantly exemplified. From 'A Life
Drama ' may be quoted the phrase, -

"I spear'd him with a jest,"

as a fine instance among the many which that poem con-
i ' Rhetoric,' Pt. III., Chap. 2, § 3.

26 The Philosophy of Style.

tains. A passage in the ( Prometheus Unbound/ of Shelley,
displays the power of the metaphor to great advantage :

u Methought among the lawns together
We wandered, underneath the young gray dawn,
And multitudes of dense white fleecy clouds
Were wandering, in thick flocks along the mountains
Shepherded by the slow unwilling wind."

This last expression is remarkable for the distinctness with
which it realizes the features of the scene : bringing the
mind, as it were, by a bound to the desired conception.

43. But a limit is put to the advantageous use of the
Metaphor, by the condition that it must be sufficiently
simple to be understood from a hint. Evidently, if there
be any obscurity in the meaning or application of it, no
economy of attention will be gained ; but rather the reverse.
Hence, when the comparison is complex, it is usual to have
recourse to the Simile. There is, however, a species of
figure, sometimes classed under Allegory, but which might,
perhaps, be better called Compound Metaphor, that enables
us to retain the brevity of the metaphorical form even
where the analogy is intricate. This is done by indicating
the application of the figure at the outset, and then leaving
the mind to continue the parallel.1 Emerson has employed it
with great effect in the first of his ' Lectures on the Times ' :
— "The main interest which any aspects of the Times
can have for us, is the great spirit which gazes through
them, the light which they can shed on the wonderful ques-
tions, What are we, and Whither we tend? We do not
wish to be deceived. Here we drift, like white sail across
the wild ocean, now bright on the wave, now darkling in the
trough of the sea ; but from what port did we sail ? Who

i Not uncommon in Shakespeare, as, for example, the following from
' Hamlet,' IV., 2 : — " But such officers do the king best service in the end :
he keeps them, as an ape doth nuts, in the corner of his jaw ; first mouth'd
to be last swallowed."

Causes of Force in Language. 27

knows ? Or to what port are we bound ? Who knows ?
There is no one to tell us but such poor weather-tossed
mariners as ourselves, whom we speak as we pass, or who
have hoisted some signal, or floated to us some letter in a
bottle from far. But what know they more than we ? They
also found themselves on this wondrous sea. No ; from the
older sailors nothing. Over all their speaking trumpets
the gray sea and the loud winds answer, Not in us ; not in
Time."

44. The division of the Simile from the Metaphor is by
no means a definite one. Between the one extreme in
which the two elements of the comparison are detailed at
full length and the analogy pointed out, and the other
extreme in which the comparison is implied instead of
stated, come intermediate forms, in which the comparison
is partly stated and partly implied. For instance : —
" Astonished at the performances of the English plow, the
Hindoos paint it, set it up, and worship it; thus turning a
tool into an idol : linguists do the same with language."
There is an evident advantage in leaving the reader or
hearer to complete the figure. And generally these inter-
mediate forms are good in proportion as they do this;
provided the mode of completing it be obvious.

45. Passing over much that may be said of like purport
npon Hyperbole, Personification, Apostrophe, &c., let us
close our remarks upon construction by a typical example.
The general principle which has been enunciated is, that
other things equal, the force of all verbal forms and
arrangements is great, in proportion as the time and mental
effort they demand from the recipient is small. The corol-
laries from this general principle have been severally illus-
trated ; and it has been shown that the relative goodness of
any two modes of expressing an idea, may be determined
by observing which requires the shortest process of thought
for its comprehension. But though conformity in particu-

28 The Philosophy of Style.

lar points has been exemplified, no cases of complete con-
formity have yet been quoted. It is indeed difficult to find
them; for the English idiom does not commonly permit
the order which theory dictates. A few, however, occur in
Ossian. Here is one: — "As autumn's dark storms pour
from two echoing hills, so towards each other approached
the heroes. As two dark streams from high rocks meet and
mix, and roar on the plain : loud, rough, and dark in battle
meet Lochlin .and Inisfail. ... As the troubled noise of
the ocean when roll the waves on high ; as the last peal of
the thunder of heaven ; such is noise of the battle."

46. Except in the position of the verb in the first two
similes, the theoretically best arrangement is fully carried
out in each of these sentences. The simile comes before
the qualified image, the adjectives before the substantives,
the predicate and copula before the subject, and their
respective complements before them. That the passage
is open to the charge of being bombastic proves nothing ; or
rather, proves our case. For what is bombast but a force
of expression too great for the magnitude of the ideas
embodied ? All that may rightly be inferred is, that only
in very rare cases, and then only to produce a climax, should
all the conditions of effective expression be fulfilled.

v. Suggestion as a Means of Economy.

47. Passing on to a more complex application of the
doctrine with which we set out, it must now be remarked,
that not only in the structure of sentences, and the use of
figures of speech, may economy of the recipient's mental
energy be assigned as the cause of force ; but that in the
choice and arrangement of the minor images, out of which
some large thought is to be built up, we may trace the same
condition to effect. To select from the sentiment, scene, or
event described those typical elements which carry many
others along with them; and so, by saying a few things

Causes of Force in Language. 29

but suggesting many, to abridge the description; is the
secret of producing a .vivid impression.1 An extract from
Tennyson's ' Mariana ' will well illustrate this :

"All day within the dreamy house,
The door upon the hinges creaked,
The blue fly sung i' the pane ; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked,
Or from the crevice peered about."

48. The several circumstances here specified bring with
them many appropriate associations. Our attention is
rarely drawn by the buzzing of a fly in the window, save
when everything is still. While the inmates are moving
about the house, mice usually keep silence ; and it is only
when extreme quietness reigns that they peep from their
retreats. Hence each of the facts mentioned, presupposing
numerous others, calls up these with more or less distinct-
ness ; and revives the feeling of dull solitude with whi'ch
they are connected in our experience. Were all these facts
detailed instead of suggested, the attention would be so
frittered away that little impression of dreariness would be
produced. Similarly in other cases. Whatever the nature
of the thought to be conveyed, this skilful selection of a
few particulars which imply the rest, is the key to success.
In the choice of component ideas, as in the choice of ex-
pressions, the aim must be to convey the greatest quantity
of thoughts with the smallest quantity of words.

49. The same principle may in some cases be advanta-
geously carried yet further, by indirectly suggesting some
entirely distinct thought in addition to the one expressed.
Thus, if we say, " The head of a good classic is as full of
ancient myths, as that of a servant-girl of ghost stories " ;

1 The following sentence occurs at this point in the Westminster Review
text: — " Thus if we say, Real nobility is ' not transferable ' ; besides the one
idea expressed several are implied, and as these can be thought much
sooner than they can be put iu words, there is gain in omitting them."

30 The Philosophy of Style.

it is manifest that besides the fact asserted, there is an im-
plied opinion respecting the small value of classical knowl-
edge: and as this implied opinion is recognized much sooner
than it can be put into words, there is gain in omitting it.
In other cases, again, great effect is produced by an overt
omission ; provided the nature of the idea left out is ob-
vious. A good instance of this occurs in ' Heroes and Hero-
worship.' After describing the way in which Burns was
sacrificed to the idle curiosity of Lion-hunters — people who
came not out of sympathy, but merely to see him — people
who sought a little amusement, and who got their amuse-
ment while " the Hero's life went for it ! " Carlyle suggests
a parallel thus : " Richter says, in the Island of Sumatra
there is a kind of 'Light-chafers,' large Fire-flies, which
people stick upon spits, and illuminate the ways with at
night. Persons of condition can thus travel with a pleasant
radiance, which they much admire. Great honour to the
Fire-flies! But — ! — "

vi. The Effect of Poetry explained.

50. Before inquiring whether the law of effect, thus far
traced, explains the superiority of poetry to prose, it will
be needful to notice some supplementary causes of force in
expression, that have not yet been mentioned. These are
not, properly speaking, additional causes ; but rather sec-
ondary ones, originating from those already specified —
reflex results of them. In the first place, then, we may
remark that mental excitement spontaneously prompts the
use of those forms of speech which have been pointed out
as the most effective. " Out with him I"1 " Away with
him ! " are the natural utterances of angry citizens at a dis-
turbed meeting. A voyager, describing a terrible storm he
had witnessed, would rise to some such climax as — " Crack

Causes of Force in Language. 31

went the ropes and down came the mast." Astonishment
may be heard expressed in the phrase — " Never was there
such a sight ! " All of which sentences are, it will be ob-
served, constructed after the direct type. Again, * every
one knows that excited persons are given to figures of
speech. The vituperation of the vulgar abounds with them :
often, indeed, consists of little else. "Beast," "brute,"
"gallows rogue," "cut-throat villain," these, and other like
metaphors and metaphorical epithets, at once call to mind a
street quarrel. Further, it may be noticed that extreme
brevity is another characteristic of passionate language.
The sentences are generally incomplete; the particles are
omitted; and frequently important words are left to be
gathered from the context. Great admiration does not vent
itself in a precise proposition, as — " It is beautiful " ; but
in the simple exclamation, — "Beautiful !" He who, when
reading a lawyer's letter, should say, "Vile rascal!" would
be thought angry; while, "He is a vile rascal ! " would im-
ply comparative coolness. Thus we see that alike in the
order of the words, in the frequent use of figures, and in
extreme conciseness, the natural utterances of excitement
conform to the theoretical conditions of forcible expres-
sion.

51. Hence, then, the higher forms of speech acquire a
secondary strength from association. Having, in actual
life, habitually heard them in connection with vivid mental
impressions, and having been accustomed to meet with them
in the most powerful writing, they come to have in them-
selves a species of force. The emotions that have from
time to time been produced by the strong thoughts wrapped
up in these forms, are partially aroused by the forms them-
selves. They create a certain degree of animation; they
induce a preparatory sympathy, and when the striking
ideas looked for are reached, they are the more vividly
realized.

32 The Philosophy of Style.

52. The continuous use of these modes of expression
that are alike forcible in themselves and forcible from their
associations, produces the peculiarly impressive species of
composition which we call poetry. Poetry, we shall find,
habitually adopts those symbols of thought, and those
methods of using them, which instinct and analysis agree
in choosing as most effective, and becomes poetry by virtue
of doing this. On turning back to the various specimens
that have been quoted, it will be seen that the direct or
inverted form of sentence predominates in them ; and that
to a degree quite inadmissible in prose. And not only in
the frequency, but in what is termed the violence of the
inversions, will this distinction be remarked. In the abun-
dant use of figures, again, we may recognize the same truth.
Metaphors, similes, hyperboles, and personifications, are the
poet's colours, which he has liberty to employ almost with-
out limit. We characterize as "poetical" the prose which
uses these appliances of language with any frequency, and
condemn it as " over florid " or " affected " long before they
occur with the profusion allowed in verse. Further, let it
be remarked that in brevity — the other requisite of forci-
ble expression which theory points out, and emotion spon-
taneously fulfils — poetical phraseology similarly differs
from ordinary phraseology. Imperfect periods are fre-
quent; elisions are perpetual; and many of the minor
words, which would be deemed essential in prose, are dis-
• pensed with.

53. Thus poetry, regarded as a vehicle of thought, is
especially impressive partly because it obeys all the laws
of effective speech, and partly because in so doing it imitates
the natural utterances of excitement. While the matter
embodied is idealized emotion, the vehicle is the idealized
language of emotion. As the musical composer catches the
cadences in which our feelings of joy and sympathy, grief
and despair, vent themselves, and out of these germs evolves

Causes of Force in Language. 33

melodies suggesting higher phases of these feelings;1 so,
the poet develops from the typical expressions in which
men utter passion and sentiment, those choice forms of
verbal combination in which concentrated passion and senti-
ment may be fitly presented.

54. There is one peculiarity of poetry conducing much to
its effect — the peculiarity which is indeed usually thought
its characteristic one — still remaining to be considered:
we mean its rhythmical structure. This, improbable though
it seems, will be found to come under the same generaliza-
tion with the others. Like each of them, it is an idealiza-
tion of the natural language of strong emotion, which is
known to be more or less metrical if the emotion be not too
violent; and like each of them it is an economy of the
reader's or hearer's attention. In the peculiar tone and
manner we adopt in uttering versified language, may be
discerned its relationship to the feelings ; and the pleasure
which its measured movement gives us, is ascrib'able to the
comparative ease with which words metrically arranged can
be recognized.

55. This last position will scarcely be at once admitted ;
but a little explanation will show its reasonableness. For
if, as we have seen, there is an expenditure of mental
energy in the mere act of listening to verbal articulations,
or in that silent repetition of them which goes on in reading *
— if the perceptive faculties must be in active exercise to
identify every syllable — then, any mode of so combining
words as to present a regular recurrence of certain traits

1 For Spencer's views on the relation of music to speech-tunes, see his
essay on the ' Origin and Function of Music ' in ' Essays, Scientific, Politi-
cal, and Speculative ' ; his recent paper on the ' Origin of Music ' in Mind
for October, 1890; the discussion by R. Wallaschek and J. McK. Cattell in
Mind for July, 1891 ; and Chap. 21 of Gurney's ' Power of Sound.'

2 There has been much discussion over this point. See Bain, ' Senses
and Intellect,' pp. 345, 353; Strieker, ' Studien iiber die Sprachvorstellungen' ;
Revue Philosophique, Vol. 1G, p. 405; Vol. 18, p. 685; and Vol. 19, p. 118.

34 The Philosophy of Style.

which the mind can anticipate, will diminish that strain
upon the attention required by the total irregularity of
prose.1 Just as the body, in receiving a series of varying
concussions, must keep the muscles ready to meet the most
violent of them, as not knowing when such may come ; so,
the mind in receiving unarranged articulations, must keep
its perceptives active enough to recognize the least easily
caught sounds. And as, if the concussions recur in a defi-
nite order, the body may husband its forces by adjusting the
resistance needful for each concussion ; so, if the syllables
be rhythmically arranged, the mind may economize its
energies by anticipating the attention required for each
syllable.2

56. Far-fetched though this idea will perhaps be thought,
a little introspection will countenance it. That we do take
advantage of metrical language to adjust our perceptive
faculties to the force of the expected articulations, is clear
from the fact that we are balked by halting versification.
Much as at the bottom of a flight of stairs, a step more or
less than we counted upon gives us a shock ; so, too, does a
misplaced accent or a supernumerary syllable. In the one
case, we know that there is an erroneous preadjustment ;
and we can scarcely doubt that there is one in the other.
But if we habitually preadjust our perceptions to the meas-
ured movement of verse, the physical analogy above given
renders it probable that by so doing we economize atten-

1 Good prose is far from being totally irregular. It has a large rhythm
peculiar to itself which is difficult to define, but even with an untrained
ear, easy to perceive. The day-laborer making his way through a news-
paper article will often complain that "the writing doesn't run smooth."
He means that the prose-rhythm is defective. Consult on this point,
Saintsbury's 'Specimens of English Prose Style,' Introduction; Steven-
son's essay on ' Style in Literature,' Contemporary Review, Vol. 47, p. 548;
Ellis's ' On the Physical Constituents of Accent and Emphasis ' in Transac-
tions of the English Philological Society for 1873-4, pp. 113-164.

2 See Appendix A.

Causes of Force in Language. 35

tion ; and hence that metrical language is more effective
than prose, because it enables us to do this.1

57. Were there space, it might be worth while to inquire
whether the pleasure we take in rhyme, and also that
which we take in euphony, are not partly ascribable to the
same general cause.

1 " What the rhythm of the dance is to our muscular energies, the rhythm
of poetry and music is to the ear. Its main constituent as a pleasure is the
regularity of its occurrence and the consequent possibility of relaxing our
attention to the accentuation or the arrangement of chords. While sylla-
bles irregularly thrown together require a certain amount of jumping from
point to point in the auditory perception, syllables placed in a regular order
of short and long allow us to withdraw the attention from their accent and
to expect a continuance of the same harmonious and easily followed suc-
cession. Many familiar facts concur to justify this explanation. In
attempting for the first time to read a perfectly new metre, it is sometimes
a few minutes before we fall into the swing of it, as we phrase it; that is,
before our auditory apparatus accommodates itself to the new mode of
recurrence." — Grant Allen, 'Physiological ^Esthetics,' p. 115.

"The members or clauses and the periods themselves should be neither
truncated nor too long. If they are too short, they often make a hearer
stumble ; for if, while he is hurrying on to the completion of the measure
or rhythm, of which he has a definite notion in his mind, he is suddenly
pulled up by a pause on the part of the speaker, there will necessarily
follow a sort of stumble in consequence of the sudden check." — Aristotle,
4 Rhetoric,' III. 9, Welldon's Trans.

PART II.

CAUSES OP FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON
ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL SENSIBILITIES.

i. The Law of Mental Exhaustion and Repair.

58. A few paragraphs only, can be devoted to a second
division of our subject that here presents itself. To pursue
in detail the laws of effect, as applying to the larger
features of composition, would carry us beyond our limits.
But we may briefly indicate a further aspect of the general
principle hitherto traced out, and hint a few of its wider
applications.

59. Thus far, then, we have considered only those
causes of force in language which depend upon economy of
the mental energies : we have now to glance at those which
depend upon economy of the mental sensibilities. Question-
able though this division may be as a psychological one, it
will yet serve roughly to indicate the remaining field of
investigation. It will suggest that besides considering the
extent to which any faculty or group of faculties is tasked
in receiving a form of words and realizing its contained
idea, we have to consider the state in which this faculty or
group of faculties is left ; and how the reception of subse-
quent sentences and images will be influenced by that state.
Without going at length into so wide a topic as the exercise
of faculties and its reactive effects, it will be sufficient here
to call to mind that every faculty (when in a state of nor-
mal activity) is most capable at the outset ; and that the
change in its condition, which ends in what we term

36

Causes of Force in Language. 37

exhaustion, begins simultaneously with its exercise. This
generalization, with which we are all familiar in our bodily
experiences, and which our daily language recognizes as
true of the mind as a whole, is equally true of each mental
power, from the simplest of the senses to the most complex
of the sentiments. If we hold a flower to the nose for
long, we become insensible to its scent. We say of a very
brilliant flash of lightning that it blinds us ; which means
that our eyes have for a time lost their ability to appreciate
light. After eating a quantity of honey, we are apt to
think our tea is without sugar. The phrase " a deafening
roar," implies that men find a very loud sound temporarily
incapacitates them for hearing faint ones. To a hand
which has for some time carried a heavy body, small
bodies afterwards lifted seem to have lost their weight.
Now, the truth at once recognized in these, its extreme
manifestations, may be traced throughout. It may be
shown that alike in the reflective faculties, in the imagina-
tion, in the perceptions of the beautiful, the ludicrous, the
sublime, in the sentiments, the instincts, in all the mental
powers, however we may classify them — action exhausts ;
and that in proportion as the action is violent, the subse-
quent prostration is great.

60. Equally, throughout the whole nature, may be traced
the law that exercised faculties are ever tending to resume
their original state. Not only after continued rest, do they
regain their full power — not only do brief cessations par-
tially reinvigorate them ; but even while they are in action,
the resulting exhaustion is ever being neutralized. The
two processes of waste and repair go on together. Hence
with faculties habitually exercised — as the senses of all
persons, or the muscles of any one who is strong — it hap-
pens that, during moderate activity, the repair is so nearly
equal to the waste, that the diminution of power is scarcely
appreciable ; and it is only when the activity has been long

38 The Philosophy of Style.

continued, or has been very violent, that the repair becomes
so far in arrear of the waste as to produce a perceptible
prostration. In all cases, however, when, by the action of
a faculty, waste has been incurred, some lapse of time
must take place before full efficiency can be reacquired;
and this time must be long in proportion as the waste has
been great.1

ii. Explanation of Climax, Antithesis, and Anticlimax.

61. Keeping in mind these general truths, we shall be in
a condition to understand certain causes of effect in compo-
sition now to be considered. Every perception received, and
every conception realized, entailing some amount of waste —
or, as Liebig would say, some change of matter in the brain ;
and the efficiency of the faculties subject to this waste being
thereby temporarily, though often but momentarily, dimin-
ished ; the resulting partial inability must affect the acts of
perception and conception that immediately succeed. And
hence we may expect that the vividness with which images
are realized will, in many cases, depend on the order of
their presentation : even when one order is as convenient to
the understanding as the other.

62. There are sundry facts which alike illustrate this,
and are explained by it. Climax is one of them. The
marked effect obtained by placing last the most striking of
any series of images, and the weakness — often the ludicrous
weakness — produced by reversing this arrangement, de-
pends on the general law indicated. As immediately after
looking at the sun we cannot perceive the light of a fire,
while by looking at the fire first and the sun afterwards we
can perceive both ; so, after receiving a brilliant, or weighty,
or terrible thought, we cannot appreciate a less brilliant,

1 For an expansion of these ideas, with many examples, see Grant
Allen's ' Physiological ^Esthetics,' Chaps. 1, 2.

Causes of Force in Language. 39

less weighty, or less terrible one, while, by reversing the
order, we can appreciate each. In Antithesis, again, we may
recognize the same general truth. The opposition of two
thoughts that are the reverse of each other in some promi-
nent trait, insures an impressive effect; and does this by
giving a momentary relaxation to the faculties addressed.
If, after a series of images of an ordinary character, appeal-
ing in a moderate degree to the sentiment of reverence, or
approbation, or beauty, the mind has presented to it a very
'insignificant, a very unworthy, or a very ugly image ; the
faculty of reverence, or approbation, or beauty, as the case
may be, having for the time nothing to do, tends to resume
its full power ; and will immediately afterwards appreciate
a vast, admirable, or beautiful image better than it would
otherwise do. Conversely, where the idea of absurdity due
to extreme insignificance is to be produced, -it may be greatly
intensified by placing it after something highly impressive :
especially if the form of phrase implies that something still
more impressive is coming. A good illustration of the effect
gained by thus presenting a petty idea to a consciousness
that has not yet recovered from the shock of an exciting
one, occurs in a sketch by Balzac. His hero writes to a
mistress who has cooled towards him the following letter :

" MADAME, — Votre conduite m'etonne autant qu'elle
m'afflige. Non contente de me de'chirer le c«ur par vos
dedains, vous avez 1'indelicatesse de me retenir une brosse
a dents, que mes moyens ne me permettent pas de remplacer,
mes proprie'tes etant grevees d'hypotheques.

"Adieu, trop belle et trop ingrate amie ! Puissions-nous
nous revoir dans un monde meilleur !

" CHARLES-EDOUARD."

63. Thus we see that the phenomena of Climax, Antithe-
sis, and Anticlimax, alike result from this general principle.

40 The Philosophy of Style.

Improbable as these momentary variations in susceptibility
may seem, we cannot doubt their occurrence when we con-
template the analogous variations in the susceptibility of the
senses. Referring once more to phenomena of vision, every
one knows that a patch of black on a white ground looks
blacker, and a patch of white on a black ground looks whiter,
than elsewhere. As the blackness and the whiteness must
really be the same, the only assignable cause for this is a
difference in their actions upon us, dependent upon the
different states of our faculties. It is simply a visual an-
tithesis.1

iii. Need of Variety.

64. But this extension of the general principle of economy
— this further condition to effective composition, that the
sensitiveness of the faculties must be continuously hus-
banded— includes much more than has been yet hinted.
It implies not only that certain arrangements and certain
juxtapositions of connected ideas are best; but that some
modes of dividing and presenting a subject will be more
striking than others ; and that, too, irrespective of its logical
cohesion. It shows why we must progress from the less
interesting to the more interesting ; and why not only the
composition as a whole, but each of its successive portions,
should tend towards a climax. At the same time, it forbids
long continuity of the same kind of thought, or repeated
production of like effects. It warns us against the error
committed both by Pope in his poems and by Bacon in his
essays — the error, namely, of constantly employing forcible
forms of expression : and it points out that as the easiest
posture by and by becomes fatiguing, and is with pleasure
exchanged for one less easy, so, the most perfectly-con-

1 On this point see Mr. E. B. Delabarre's paper on ' The Law of Con-
trast,' printed in James's ' Psychology,' II., pp. 13-27.

Causes of Force in Language. 41

structed sentences will soon weary, and relief will be given
by using those of an inferior kind.1

65. Further, we may infer from it not only that we should
avoid generally combining our words in one manner, however
good, or working out our figures and illustrations in one
way, however telling ; but that we should avoid anything
like uniform adherence, even to the wider conditions of
effect. We should not make every section of our subject
progress in interest ; we should not always rise to a climax.
As we saw that, in single sentences, it is but rarely allow-
able to fulfil all the conditions to strength ; so, in the larger
sections of a composition we must not often conform entirely
to the law indicated. We must subordinate the component
effect to the total effect.

66. In deciding how practically to carry out the principles
of artistic composition, we may derive help by bearing in
mind a fact already pointed out — the fitness of certain
verbal arrangements for certain kinds of thought. That
constant variety in the mode of presenting ideas which the
theory demands, will in a great degree result from a skilful
adaptation of the form to the matter. We saw how the direct
or inverted sentence is spontaneously used by excited people ;
and how their language is also characterized by figures of
speech and by extreme brevity. Hence these may with
advantage predominate in emotional passages ; and may
increase as the emotion rises. On the other hand, for com-
plex ideas, the indirect sentence seems the best vehicle. In
conversation, the excitement produced by the near approach
to a desired conclusion, will often show itself in a series of
short, sharp sentences ; while, in impressing a view already
enunciated, we generally make our periods voluminous by

1 But why, if they accomplish their purpose, should they be looked
upon as ' inferior ' ? Surely, the ' perfectly constructed ' sentence is the
one which fulfils its purpose on a particular occasion and in a particular
connection.

42 The Philosophy of Style.

piling thought upon thought. These natural modes of pro-
cedure may serve as guides in writing. Keen observation
and skilful analysis would, in like manner, detect further
peculiarities of expression produced by other attitudes of
mind; and by paying due attention to all such traits, a
writer possessed of sufficient versatility might make some
approach to a completely -organized work.

iv. The Ideal Writer.

67. This species of composition which the law of effect
points out as the perfect one, is the one which high genius
tends naturally to produce. As we found that the kinds of
sentences which are theoretically best, are those generally
employed by superior minds, and by inferior minds when
excitement has raised them ; so, we shall find that the ideal
form for a poem, essay, or fiction, is that which the ideal
writer would evolve spontaneously. One in whom the powers
of expression fully responded to the state of feeling, would
unconsciously use that variety in the mode of presenting his
thoughts, which Art demands. This constant employment
of one species of phraseology, which all have now to strive
against, implies an undeveloped faculty of language. To
have a specific style is to be poor in speech. If we remember
that, in the far past, men had only nouns and verbs to convey
their ideas with, and that from then to now the growth has
been towards a greater number of implements of thought,
and consequently towards a greater complexity and variety
in their combinations ; we may infer that we are now, in
our use of sentences, much what the primitive man was in
his use of words ; and that a continuance of the process that
has hitherto gone on, must produce increasing heterogeneity
in our modes of expression. As now, in a fine nature, the
play of the features, the tones of the voice and its cadences,
vary in harmony with every thought uttered; so, in one

Causes of Force in Language. 43

possessed of a fully-developed power of speech, the mould
in which each combination of words is cast will similarly
vary with, and be appropriate to the sentiment.

68. That a perfectly-endowed man must unconsciously
write in all styles, we may infer from considering how
styles originate. Why is Johnson pompous, Goldsmith
simple? Why is one author abrupt, another rhythmical,
another concise ? Evidently in each case the habitual mode
of utterance must depend upon the habitual balance of the
nature. The predominant feelings have by use trained the
intellect to represent them. But while long, though un-
conscious, discipline has made it do this efficiently, it re-
mains from lack of practice, incapable of doing the same for
the less active feelings ; and when these are excited, the
usual verbal forms undergo but slight modifications. Let
the powers of speech be fully developed, however — let the
ability of the intellect to utter the emotions be complete ; and
this fixity of style will disappear. The perfect writer will
express himself as Junius, when in the Junius frame of
mind ; when he feels as Lamb felt, will use a like familiar
speech ; and will fall into the ruggedness of Carlyle when
in a Carlylean mood. Now he will be rhythmical and now
irregular ; here his language will be plain and there ornate ;
sometimes his sentences will be balanced and at other times
unsymmetrical ; for a while there will be considerable same-
ness, and then again great variety. His mode of expression
naturally responding to his state of feeling, there will flow
from his pen a composition changing to the same degree
that the aspects of his subject change. He will thus with-
out effort conform to what we have seen to be the laws of
effect. And while his work presents to the reader that
variety needful to prevent continuous exertion of the same
faculties, it will also answer to the description of all highly-
organized products, both of man and of nature : it will be
not a series of like parts simply placed in juxtaposition, but

44 The Philosophy of Style.

one whole made up of unlike parts that are mutually de-
pendent.1

1 This is the fundamental principle with which, in the opinion of the
editor, Mr. Spencer would have done well to open his essay. He would
thus have brought his various exceptions, opposing rules, supplementary
principles, and so forth, under one universal all-pervading law.

STYLE.

By T. H. WRIGHT.
i. Resume of Spencer's Essay.

1. A recent historian of Eome, towards the close of his
famous attempt to undeceive the world at large with
respect to the genius of Cicero, sums up his argument in
the following words : — " Ciceronianism is a problem which,
in fact, cannot be properly solved, but can only be resolved
into that greater mystery of .human nature — language, and
the effect of language on the mind." l

2. These words are suggestive — suggestive, too, of a
wider question than at first sight appears. That men are
influenced by language at least as much as by ideas ; that
power of expression is intimately associated with mental
grasp generally; even that a fascination is exercised by
style to which nothing equivalent is found in the accom-
panying thought — these are acknowledged truths, readily
granted. But it is a most singular thing that they are so
readily granted: it is singular that the question is not
oftener asked — Why is this so ?

3. How is it that language, which is but the vehicle of
thought, comes to have a force which is not the mere
weight of that which it carries ? Even where this is not
the case, where there is an equivalence of value in both
style and ideas, great conceptions being nobly expressed,
how is it that the matter and the form seem to have inde-
pendent claims upon the attention ? In a word, what is

1 Mommsen, History of Rome, Book V., Chap. 12.

45

46 The Philosophy of Style.

that in language which is not mere expressiveness of the
obvious intentions of the writer, but is yet a merit ?

4. At first sight there appears to be a simple answer to
the question. Any of the numerous treatises on style or
rhetoric abound with rules for the embellishment of dis-
course : the reader learns the importance of a choice of
fitting words, of the judicious use of figures of speech, of
the effect of melodious sentences and suitable cadences : he
is instructed in the manipulation of complex constructions,
and discovers the force of the gradation, the antithesis, and
the climax : in short, he is easily led to the conclusion that,
besides expressiveness, language may have the merit of
beauty.

5. That this distinction is a superficial one has been shown
with great ability in an article by Mr. Herbert Spencer on
the ' Philosophy of Style.' He there traces all excellence
of composition to two principles — Economy of the Atten-
tion, and Economy of the Sensibility of the recipient.
Assuming that a reader can have at his command only a
definite amount of power of attention, it is clear that what-
ever part of this is employed on the form of a composition
must be subtracted, and leave so much the less to be occu-
pied in the matter. In its popular aspect this is a truth
familiar to all. If any author is said to have an obscure
style, it is meant that his form obstructs his matter — that
it absorbs an inordinate amount of the reader's attention.
If he is tedious, it is because his language, by its monotony
or redundancy, exhausts our energies, and leaves us corre-
spondingly deficient in the mental vigour to be devoted to
what he has to say.

6. But Mr. Spencer pushes his theory yet further. He
shows, with great ingenuity, how various ornaments of
style, at first sight most remote from mere utility, are in
reality but devices of language which subserve the same
purpose of economizing attention. Thus the canon which

Style. 47

prefers words of Saxon to words of Latin origin is justified
by the greater familiarity of the former, recalling the asso*
ciations of childhood, and their comparative brevity, which
adds to their force what it diminishes from the effort
required to recognize them. On the other hand, the occa-
sional effect of polysyllabic words is attributed to their
associated significance : for the effort involved in decipher-
ing or using them, by hinting at a corresponding weighti-
ness in the things implied, gives a force to an epithet which
may do for a sentence. The same principle which explains
the rules for choice of words is also found adequate to the
solution of the reasons why some one order of words is
more effective than another ; why certain sequences of
sentences are better than others ; what are the respective
merits of the direct and indirect style ; and so forth. Then
follows an analysis of the various figures of speech — Meta-
phor, Simile, and the like — in which their amenableness to
the same law is established : and, finally, the applicability
of the theory, even to the complex imagery of the poet, is
exhibited in a passage which it would be an injustice to the
writer not to quote at length :

7. "Passing on to a more complex application of the
doctrine with which we set out, it must now be remarked
that not only in the structure of sentences, and the use of
figures of speech, may economy of the recipient's mental
energy be assigned as the cause of force ; but that in the
choice and arrangement of the minor images, out of which
some large thought is to be built up, we may trace the
same condition to effect. To select from the sentiment,
scene, or event described, those typical elements which
carry many others along with them ; and so, by saying a
few things, but suggesting many, to abridge the descrip-
tion ; is the secret of producing a vivid impression. An
extract from Tennyson's 'Mariana' will well illustrate
this:

48 The Philosophy of Style.

" ' All day within the dreamy house
The door upon the hinges creaked,
The blue-fly sung i' the pane, the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked,
Or from the crevice peered about.'

The several circumstances here specified bring with them
many appropriate associations. Our attention is rarely
drawn by the buzzing of a fly in the window, save when
everything is still. While the inmates are moving about
the house, mice usually keep silence ; and it is only when
extreme quietness reigns that they peep from their retreats.
Hence each of the facts mentioned, presupposing numerous
others, calls up these with more or less distinctness ; and
revives the feeling of dull solitude with which they are
connected in our experience. Were all these facts detailed,
instead of suggested, the attention would be so frittered
away that little impression of dreariness would be produced.
Similarly in other cases. Whatever the nature of the
thought to be conveyed, this skilful selection of a few
particulars which imply the rest is the key to success. In
the choice of competent ideas, as in the choice of expres-
sions, the aim must be to convey the greatest quantity of
thoughts with the smallest quantity of words."

8. But Mr. Spencer does not rest content with deducing
what may be called the adventitious charms of poetry from
this principle ; he even thinks that its distinctive character-
istic — the restrictions of metre — may be explained by the
same law. " The pleasure," he says, " which its measured
movement gives us is ascribable to the comparative ease
with which words metrically arranged can be recognized."
Most people will be startled at the first sight of this bold
dictum, but Mr. Spencer is not the man to shrink from the
logical consequences of his principles, and they lead to more
than this.

9. Any one who has attentively read the article, or even

Style. 49

the brief resume of it just given, will have seen that the
theory furnishes a canon for determining, with some degree
of certainty, which of two styles is the better. To quote
again : — " The relative goodness of any two modes of express-
ing an idea may be determined by observing which requires
the shortest process of thought for its comprehension."

10. Clearly, then, there must, in every case, be some
form of expression which is absolutely the best ; in other
words, there is such a thing as an ideal style. Mr. Spencer
accepts the conclusion, but at the same time reminds us
that style must vary with its subject-matter.

11. " The perfect writer will express himself as Junius,
when in the Junius frame of mind ; when he feels as Lamb
felt, will use a like familiar speech ; and will fall into the
ruggedness of Carlyle when in a Carlylean mood."

12. The reservation is a proper one, and with it the
argument seems unimpeachable. Yet when Mr. Spencer
throws the conclusion into the form of an epigram, and
tells us that "to have a specific style is to be poor in
speech," he makes the utmost possible demand upon our
loyalty to exact reasoning. Like Adeimantus in the ' Ee-
public,' we are " confounded by this novel kind of draughts-
playing, played with words for counters."

ii. Style the Imperfect Expression of the Writer's Personality.

13. But if the foregoing theory be carefully reviewed, it
will be seen that throughout it the treatment is what may
be described as objective rather than subjective. Or, to
avoid words in which there is a degree of ambiguity, the
definite product language is more or less isolated from the
agency using it, and viewed more in relation to the reader's
than the writer's mind.1 But there is another aspect of

1 The last two paragraphs of Spencer's essay deal with the subjective
aspect of the theory.

50 The Philosophy of Style.

the relation, which cannot be left out without producing a
result which must be onesided and may be inaccurate. The
following pages will be an attempt to supply this omission
by a consideration of the nature of the various devices of
language, regarded as the outcome of the mind that employs
them.

14. That " to have a specific style is to be poor in speech "
has not been implied in the judgments which the world has
from time to time passed upon its greatest writers. Per-
haps it would be nearer the truth to say that much in pro-
portion as an author has reached a high eminence in his art
there has been found in his productions a corresponding ten-
dency to an individuality of expression. Is it not a com-
mon complaint against inferior artists, whether in prose or
verse, in painting or music, that their compositions lack
character and originality ? Uniformity is the distinguish-
ing feature of mediocrity, while the work of genius is at
once recognized and attributed to the origin whose impress
it bears. And a little reflection will show that this is
exactly what is meant by " style." Various tricks of voice,
gesture, and dress are associated by every one with his
friends, glimpses of the hidden self being granted in such
half-unnoticed revelations. The chief value, indeed, of such
peculiarities rests in the fact that they are commonly un-
known to the man himself. For all of us, even the most
sincere, are to a certain extent actors in our intercourse
with others, and play a part that has been self-assigned,
often without due pondering of the player's power. Nature,
however, peeps out in countless little traits of character,
which find their expression in language, habit, and even in
movements. By what subtle union such tricks of manner
are linked with what Dr. Johnson has called " the anfrac-
tuosities of the human mind" is a curious and intricate
question, but no one will doubt the fact of the connection.
" That's father ! " cries the child as she hears the well-

Style. 51

known footfall in the hall ; " How like the man ! " we ex-
claim when some characteristic remark is reported to us.1
Spite of the progress in complexity from a sound to a sen-
timent, each obeys the same law; and the connection be-
tween the footfall and the foot, between the speech and the
mind that conceived it, is one and the same.

15. Let us follow out the thought a little further. Not
only, to put the fact in its popular aspect, has every one
his peculiarities ; but there are degrees of peculiarity ac-
companying degrees of individuality ; as a man deviates in
character from the type ordinarily met with, so are his
habits singular to himself, till a point is reached where the
personality is remarkable, and the behaviour eccentric.
Where such manners are perfectly unaffected they are a
reflection of a self that stands alone among many, so that
the common dictum, that genius is eccentric, has a philo-
sophical foundation.2 There is no need to linger on the
numerous and tolerably obvious reservations which make
it impossible to convert the proposition, in other words, to
infer unusual power from singularity ; the broad fact re-
mains that where there is that marked originality called
genius, it is an originality not of thought, emotion, or pur-
suits, but of the man.

16. The application of this to literary style is easy, and
will be found to lead to some interesting results.

17. In its powers of direct expression, language is toler-
ably efficient, and were there nothing but facts, considered

1 See the remarks of Theodore Watts (Encycl. Brit. 9th ed., Vol. 19,
p. 265) on the word ' wrought,' which Shakespeare puts into Othello's
mouth.

3 " A muddle-headed person is a genius spoiled in the making. I think
it will be admitted that all eminently muddle-headed persons have the
temperament of genius. They are constantly breaking away from the
usual consecutions of concretes. A common associator by contiguity is too
closely tied to routine to get muddle-headed." — James, ' Psychology,' II.,
p. 352.

52 The Philosophy of Style.

objectively, to be conveyed, even a simpler vehicle would
suffice. Swift, in one of the most humorous passages of
' Gulliver's Travels ' describes a set of philosophers, who, dis-
daining language as the ordinary means of expressing their
thoughts, preferred to carry with them a pack of the things
most commonly referred to in every day parlance, by the
dexterous manipulation of which they contrived to carry on
long conversations. Now this represents, with the necessary
freedom of caricature, a real truth with regard to a certain
class of discourse. In any Written composition, the less
the author's personality is involved in the matter treated
the simpler the language which suffices. The extreme form
of this truth is found in the case of algebra, where the
discourse is, so to speak, perfectly dispassionate, and the
symbolism perfectly adequate. Similarly, the language em-
ployed in mathematical proof is found adequate in propor-
tion as the statements are purely objective. As we ascend
in the scale of literary composition the author's personality
creeps in, and brings with it a corresponding complexity of
language, not merely the complexity of structure of sen-
tences, but of choice of words, use of figures of speech, and
all the refinements of elaborate writing. It is true that much
more than this has to be taken into consideration ; the sub-
jects themselves are infinitely more complex as the scale is
ascended, the distinctions are more delicate, the contrasts
present more sides to view, the gradations are subtler. But
is not this a corollary from the main principle ? Is it not
because we are then dealing either with facts of our own or
the general consciousness ; with ideas, emotions, desires, and
so forth ; or at any rate with external facts looked at from
the point of view of an interested and questioning observer,
that there is this increase in complexity, or, in other words,
decrease in adequacy of language?

18. But this idea admits of yet further development. The
facts perfectly expressed in algebraical symbols receive a

Style. 53

nearly perfect expression in mathematical language. The
terminology of science is found very tolerably sufficient, if
strictly adhered to, and mostly where expository and
descriptive. In history and biography what we may call
the subjective element is strong, and there we find all the
refinements of composition. These express, not only facts
and aspects of facts, not only are there delicate implications
of expression, embodied in all the recognized figures of
rhetoric, the trope, the simile, and the metaphor ; but there
are the glimpses at the very self of the author which lurks
in unconscious tricks of diction and turns of thought,
and emerges in epithets, in repetitions, and in phrases. In
poetry the author reigns supreme, and there too the imper-
fection of language is most manifest. In a very fine pas-
sage every word is charged with meaning and riveted to its
place, in fact the vehicle is strained to its utmost to bear
the load imposed upon it. Hence Coleridge's well-known
definition l of poetry as " the best words in the best order."
Meanwhile the personality of the Poet pervades every line
of every poem, a hardly recognized but unfailing presence.
He colours each picture, and is a spectator at every scene ;
he is beside Ulysses in the island of Calypso; with him
he witnesses the death of Argus and the insolence of
the suitors ; he shares the recognition of Penelope and the
welcome to home; and when dire retribution seizes the
usurpers he looks upon their fall.

19. Not that this personality is directly obtruded upon
the hearer's notice ; in the instance of Homer, it is markedly
withdrawn, the characters speak of themselves, the descrip-
tions are meant to serve no moral end. But what is never
brought before us as an avowed element in the composition
is everywhere present in the form of the narrative, — we

1 ' Table Talk,' July 12, 1827. " I wish our clever young poets would
remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry ; that is, prose = words
in their best order; poetry = the best words in the best order."

54 The Philosophy of Style.

never hear the accents of the voice, though we are always
listening to its tones. Take as an illustration of this a
passage of pure description from the ( Odyssey ' 1 : —

Trvp fJL€v evr' €(T^ap6(f)Lv jue'ya /catero, T7}\60i 8* oS/a?)
r' ev/cedroio dvov r ava. vr\<jov oSwSei

rj 8* eVSo&> dotStdoucr' 6?rt
terror CTrot^ojLteV^ ^pvcreirj /cep/aS' v
8e

r atyetyoo? re /cat

8e T' opviOes TavvcriirrepoL evvdtpvro,
e? T* t/a^/ces re rat-vyXaxrcrot re

, rycrif re ^aXacrcrta e/>ya

17 8' avrov reraz^vcrro Trept (nreiovs y\a<f)vpolo
rjfiaxDcra, re^Xet 8e crra^vX^crt'
8' e^ei'^s mcru/se? ^e'o^ vSart Xev/cw,

X^Xwy rerpa/XjaeVat aXXvStg
l 8e Xetjaoi^e? jiiaXa/col

<iv9a. K eTretra /cat aOdvaTos irep
$ct)i> /cat Tep<f>0ei,r) <j>pecrli> flo'iv.

Odyssey, V. 69-74.

1 " And on the hearth there was a great fire hurning, and from afar was
smelt the fragrance of cleft cedar and of sandal wood, blazing through the
isle. And the nymph within was singing with a sweet voice as she fared
to and fro before the loom and wove with a shuttle of gold. And round
about the cave there was a wood blossoming, alder and poplar and sweet-
smelling cypress. And therein all birds, long of wing, had their places of
rest, owls and falcons and chattering sea-crows, which have their business
in the waters. And lo! there about the hollow cave trailed a gadding gar-
den vine, all rich with clusters. And the wells of four streams set orderly
were running with clear water, hard by one another, turned each to. a sep-
arate course. Moreover, all around soft meadows of violets and parsley
blossomed, yea, even a deathless god who came there might wonder at the
sight and be glad at heart." — Butcher and Lang's Translation.

Style. 55

20. An analysis of this passage which points out its
beauties will be found also to draw attention precisely to
those parts where the author's presence is latent. The
smell of the cedar and the voice of the divine songstress
accompanying the music of her loom, are, by the epithets
" fragrant " and " sweet " made part of the real or imagined
experience of the poet ; while the word €TTOL\O^VTJ suggests,
and just suggests, glimpses that he catches of her form as
she moves at her work within the cave. Then he describes
the wood that shades her abode, implying, by an epithet,
how that too appeals to another sense, joining with the
incense that burns close by in a mixture of pleasant smells.
Another feature is introduced : there are birds harbouring
in the branches, and the word evvo£ovro that describes this,
by an implied comparison with the sleeping-chambers of
man, shows a sort of tender way of looking at nature. It
is more than if it were merely said, "there were birds in
the branches." Again, the allusion to the sea in the words
rrjaiv T€ OaXda-a-uL Ipya. iA.f(irj\fv is a direct reflection of the
poet's, in no way forming part of a description merely meant
to call up an actual scene, instead of a particular way of
looking at a scene. The same is true of the words that
describe the vine, bending with its burden of ripe clusters,
of the labyrinth of streams, and the patches of violet and
parsley round them : the accompanying adjectives draw
attention to beauties the poet has noticed, and wishes us to
notice as well. There is hardly need to point out how the
words with which the whole concludes are but an exclama-
tion of wonder and admiration on the part of the poet at
the scene he has called up.

21. But this is not all, for besides the selection of these
various elements there is the mode of their combination into
a definite picture, the order in which the images follow one
another, and the gradation and transition of ideas which are
all part of the art, that is, of the mind — of the self of the

56 The Philosophy of Style.

author. At a distance the senses of sight and smell are first
caught by the glimmer of the fire and the fragrance of what
is burning in it ; as Hermes approaches he hears the sound
of the goddess singing at her work; coming still closer,, he
has leisure to mark the minute details of the scene, the
cavern, the grove, and the vine ; while the words d&xraTos irep
in the concluding lines leave him in amazement at the beauty
of the whole.

22. Now this may sound like hypercriticism, and it would
be hypercriticism if it were meant that all these points were
before the mind of the poet, forming part of an intentional
study of effect. On the contrary, the implication is the
direct reverse. It is because Homer was such or such a
man, because he had been in the habit of regarding what he
saw after a certain fashion of his own, that when he set
himself to compose poetry he composed it as he did. Hence
there is a deep meaning in the saying of Milton,1 that he
who would write good poetry must make his life a poem.
It is by virtue of a thousand minute traits of character, the
gradual deposit of life's experiences, that any one speaks,
writes, even walks and moves, as we see him do. For there
must be some reason why, if two men set about describing
a scene, or giving even a plain, unvarnished account of some
event, the mode of their narration differs, differs, too, in such
a way that each can be ascribed to its author, as we say, by
internal evidence, that is, by its style. While, then, no better
explanation appears, that theory of style may perhaps be
provisionally accepted which identifies it with character —
with unconscious revelations of the hidden self.

23. This conclusion needs a little further elaboration
before it is compared with that view of what is called the

1 " He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in
laudable things, ought himself to be a true poem, that is, a composition and
pattern of the best and honorablest things." — 'Apology against a Pam-
phlet called A Modest Confutation, etc.'

Style. 57

philosophy of style, which resolves all the devices of com-
position into schemes for economizing the reader's attention.
It is necessary to point out, and this may be done briefly,
how not only is style generally the impress of the author's
self, but that there is a correspondence between the dis-
tinctive features of any particular passage and the points at
which, in the manner just indicated, the writer's personality
glides into the discourse. This is not difficult, if what has
been already said be accepted. What indeed is meant by
saying that an author is best where his writing is most
natural ?

24. Is it not implied that the happiest touches are those
which are original — that those phrases and expressions are
most welcome to the reader which set the matter they convey
in a new light — and that the light in which the writer
himself sees it ? If the foregoing passage from the ' Odys-
sey' be reviewed it will be found that its beauties are
coincident with the parts where the presence of the poet
seems to be hinted, and this is equally true, though not
equally discernible, in all writing that is at all elaborate.

25. Now, how does all this square with the dictum that
" to have a specific style is to be poor in speech " ? It will
not at first sight appear so very incompatible. In a certain
sense, style at all owes its existence to the imperfection of
the vehicle of thought. Were language a perfectly adequate
means of embodying ideas, what is now to be looked for in
the mode of statement would be found directly declared in
the statement itself. For the countless devices of language,
the gestures and tones of discourse, the thousand rhetorical
figures of written composition, are really one and all simple
propositions not capable of exact expression in the body of
the narrative. They are the lights and shades of the picture,
or perhaps rather the finer touches, which are to tickle the
imagination of the reader with suggested beauties. And it
is exactly in these refinements of expression tkaf the deepest

58 The Philosophy of Style.

meaning of any author, in other words, his self resides.
There is something pathetic in the reflection .that we walk
this world half hidden from one another, a constant struggle
going on to make known the thoughts, beliefs, and aspira-
tions of the real but partly imprisoned being, which never
can be known exactly as they are to any but the mind that
conceives them.1 Like savages, we speak mostly by signs,
which serve us well enough, but leave much uncommunicated.
It is well, however, that this imperfection is an imperfection
that produces beauty, that the grating of the machine is not
harsh, but musical. Mr. Herbert Spencer is successful in
showing that the various devices of language do serve to the
economy of the reader's attention, and that beauties of style
are beauties partly because they effect this end. But he has
not raised a question which seems closely akin to the subject.
Why is it needful to have recourse to these expedients at
all, and why is there an infinite variety in every man's use
of them ? The answer to these questions seems to give an
insight into a higher law, to which Mr. Spencer's principle
stands rather as an empirical generalization. It is this : —
that each man's inmost nature is a secret to all but himself —
and that a secret which in no two cases is the same. Every

1 " The clearness and tact demanded by the French, which I am bound
to confess, compel one to say only part of what one thinks and are damag-
ing to depth of thought, seemed to me so much tyranny. The French care
to express only that which is clear. As it happens, the most important
truths, those relating to the transformations of life, are not clear; one
perceives them only in a kind of half-light. That is why, after having
been the first to perceive the truth of what is called Darwinism nowadays,
France has been the last to rally to it. They saw it well enough, but it
was out of the beaten track of the language, it did not fit the mould of
well-constructed phrases. In that way France passed by the side of pre-
cious truths, not without seeing them, but simply flinging them among the
waste paper as useless or impossible to express. At the start I wanted to
say everything, and I often said it badly. At the risk of tumbling into the
realm of the unintelligible, I endeavored to fix the fleeting essence, hitherto
considered as not worthy of consideration." — Renan, 'The Future of
Science,' Preface.

Style. 59

attempt to communicate it partly fails, and so language is
full of compromises and expedients; each nature to be
revealed is different, and so there is a countless variety
of styles. This then is not due to poverty of speech, rather
it is due to multiplicity of individualities, each speaking its
own language and telling its own tale.

26. The ideal style, then, is but for an ideal being who
is to be without personality. The perfect writer may
write, now like Junius, now like Lamb, now like Carlyle,
but like himself he can never write. He cannot, as we say,
express himself. A significant phrase, for after all it is
when a man, as far as he can, expresses himself, that his
communication is most worth having. It is the one thing
of which he certainly knows something, where he can
indeed speak with authority. It is not so much what a
man knows, as how he knows it, not so much the extent as
the quality of his information, that gains him a right to be
heard. Originality is far oftener originality of expression
than idea, a fresh aspect of something old, not a discovery
of something new. And so there starts up here an answer
to the difficulties encountered at the outset, " Why men
are influenced by language at least as much as by ideas " :
and "Why power of expression is intimately associated
witli mental grasp generally." Partly, no doubt, because in
language resides the personality of the speaker or writer,
and men are influenced by personality — but far more for
another reason. The highest form of ability is something
which pervades the whole being ; it is not restricted to an
intellect preternaturally acute, to vividness of imagination,
or fineness of feeling ; but it is the manifestation of a nature
— of a self, ~which is really great. And it has been seen
that it is in expression, or style, that the self of the author
is to be sought. That, then, is a true instinct which so
intimately associates power of expression with power of
character generally. Of this power, too, the distinguishing

60 The Philosophy of Style.

feature is its individuality. Just as in animal life the
ascent of the scale of creation is a process of differentiation
of functions ; just as a higher form of life is marked off
from a lower form by greater speciality of shape, by powers
more accurately denned, by habits more peculiarly its own ;
so in the comparison of man with man, something similar
to this law is traceable, pointing out that the superiority of
genius in degree is mainly a consequence of its difference
in kind.

27. Thus nature seems to speak in a continued protest
against uniformity, by a thousand analogies insisting upon
the supreme importance of the individual. And the critical
verdict which pronounces that writing best which is the
most natural can be affiliated to as wide a law as this.
Whether or no it be thought that each man is put into the
world the possessor of some particular truth, which his
acts or words can set before his fellow-creatures, it is at
any rate clear that the inevitable specialty of each man's
experiences must present things to him in an aspect which
can be exactly the same for no other. There are no real
doubles in the world, no such thing as identity in constitu-
tion and circumstances. While, then, this is so, there is a
significance in style, a value in the unconscious self-revela-
tions of traits of personality. However a man may fail of
the object he sets before him in what he does or says, yet
if there has been in him that conscientious fidelity to his
purpose, which is but an attempt to express himself, his
work will not have been wasted, though its direct worth be
unimportant.

APPENDIX A.

THE SOUND-ELEMENT IN VERSE.

" THIS gratification (i.e. that produced by the mere sound
of verse) such as it is, is of an entirely positive kind, acting
directly on the sense. It would not have occurred to me
that there could be a doubt about this, had not Mr. Spencer,
in his essay on the ' Philosophy of Style,' taken another view.
He ingeniously refers forcible style to economy of the read-
er's or hearer's attention, and makes out his point very suc-
cessfully in many particulars ; but he seems to me quite to
fail in his attempt to bring the effect of rhythmical structure
in verse under the same rule. He says, ' If, as we have seen,
there is an expenditure of mental energy in the mere act of
listening to verbal articulations, or in that silent repetition
of them which goes on in reading — if the perceptive fac-
ulties must be in active exercise to identify every syllable
— then any mode of so combining words as to present a regu-
lar recurrence of certain traits which the mind can anticipate,
will diminish that strain upon the attention required by the
total irregularity of prose. Just as the body, in receiving a
series of varying concussions, must keep the muscles ready
to meet the most violent of them, as not knowing when such
may come; so the mind, in receiving unarranged articula-
tions, must keep its perceptives active enough to recognize
the least easily caught sounds. And as, if the concussions
recur in a definite order, the body may husband its forces
by adjusting the resistance needful for each concussion; so,
if the syllables be rhythmically arranged, the mind may
economize its energies by anticipating the attention required
for each syllable.'

61

62 The Philosophy of Style.

" There is surely a confusion here between the intellect
and the ear, and between two distinct meanings of perception,
namely, the recognition of a syllable as a known word or
part of a known word, and the mere hearing of it as part of
a series of accented and unaccented sounds. The 'least
easily caught sounds' are those which, from softness or
indistinctness, it is hardest to recognize as known words
or parts of known words ; but these are no less easily and
completely heard as belonging to the regular series of
alternating sounds than the louder accented constituents
of the series. As regards the mere act of hearing, the
perception of the series is an affection which would be as
easily produced by nonsense-syllables arranged in the same
rhythm : and as for attention, not less but more of it would
seem to be involved in the case of a regular accented series
than in prose. For against the supposition that the ear is
relieved at alternate instants from the strain of its expectant
attitude, through foreknowledge of the place of the louder
syllables, we must set the fact that in verse it is actively on
the watch, and notices with positive satisfaction the rhyth-
mical succession as such; while in an irregular series it is
not the least on the watch for the purely sound-qualities of
what is going on, but acts as the uninterested and passive
conductor of symbols to the mind. The intellectual recog-
nition of the sounds, on the other hand, as known words or
parts of known words, is in no way facilitated by their
rhythmical succession. There are as many comparatively
loud and distinct syllables, and as many comparatively
faint and indistinct ones, in a paragraph of prose as in
an equally long paragraph of verse : and the sum of men-
tal energy required to identify them is equal in the two
cases. The fact that in the verse the ear is aware before-
hand at what instant the louder and fainter syllables are
coming cannot relieve the intellect of its labour of recogni-
tion; for difficulty or ease of recognition is simply a func-

Appendix A. 63

tion of the distinctness with which the syllable is heard
when it comes, and of nothing else.

" Mr. Spencer's analogy of muscular adjustment is mis-
leading. For in a succession of precisely similar bodily
impulses, we are aware of exactly what is coming, and so
can prepare for it before it comes : but in the case of a
mental effort, we have no idea what it is to be till the mat-
ter of it is presented ; and the recognition of every syllable
is a different act from the recognition of every other, and
entails different tracts of association. The fairer analogue
would be a portrait, which we certainly should not recog-
nize any the more easily for knowing that such an effort
would be demanded of us at some particular moment. In
the case of purely physical stimulation, there is a prepara-
tion of a certain amount of nervous energy against a particu-
lar instant when the repetition of the stimulus leads to its
discharge ; and if the stimulus does not come at that instant,
the closing of the expected outlet for the discharge gives us
annoyance. But an act of recognition is a mental process
which begins naturally at any moment on the presentation
of the symbol to be recognized : and whatever its objective
nervous counterpart may be, it certainly cannot be amen-
able to regular rhythmic discharge." — GUKNEY, 'Power of
Sound,' p. 441, note.

" It must be remembered that the beauty of sound in
poetry is to a great extent indirect, being supplied by the
passion or emotion which the ideas symbolized by the
sounds arouse. The beauty of poetical sound in itself is
very likely less than often supposed. It must have the
capacity for receiving passionate expression ; but that is
not the same as the sensuous beauty of a note or a colour.
If the words used in a noble poem were divested of all
meaning, they would lose much, though not all, of the beauty
of their sound." — B. BOSANQUET, note in his translation of
Hegel's ' Introduction to Philosophy of Fine Art,' p. 172.

APPENDIX B.

THE EVOLUTION OF LITERATURE.

"THE lowest form of language is the exclamation, by
which an entire idea is vaguely conveyed through a single
sound ; as among the lower animals. That human language
ever consisted solely of exclamations, and so was strictly
homogeneous in respect of its parts of speech, we have no
evidence. But that language can be traced down to a form
in which nouns and verbs are its only elements, is an estab-
lished fact. In the gradual multiplication of parts of speech
out of these primary ones — in the differentiation of verbs
into active and passive, of nouns into abstract and concrete
— in the rise of distinctions of mood, tense, person, of num-
ber and case — in the formation of auxiliary verbs, of ad-
jectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, articles — in the
divergence of those orders, genera, species, and varieties of
parts of speech by which civilized races express minute
modifications of meaning — we see a change from the homo-
geneous to the heterogeneous. And it may be remarked,
in passing, that it is more especially in virtue of having
carried this subdivision of functions to a greater extent and
completeness, that the English language is superior to all
others. Another aspect under which we may trace the
development of language, is the differentiation of words of
allied meanings. Philology early disclosed the truth that
in all languages words may be grouped into families having
a common ancestry. An aboriginal name, applied indis-
criminately to each of an extensive and ill-defined class of
things or actions, presently undergoes modifications by
64

Appendix B. C5

which the chief divisions of the class are expressed. These
several names springing from the primitive root, themselves
become the parents of other names still further modified.
And by the aid of those systematic modes which presently
arise, of making derivatives and forming compound terms
expressing still smaller distinctions, there is finally devel-
oped a tribe of words so heterogeneous in sound and mean-
ing, that to the uninitiated it seems incredible they should
have had a common origin. Meanwhile, from other roots
there are being evolved other such tribes, until there results
a language of some sixty thousand or more unlike words,
signifying as many unlike objects, qualities, acts. Yet
another way in which language in general advances from
the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, is in the multipli-
cation of languages. Whether, as Max Muller and Bunsen
think, all languages have grown from one stock, or whether,
as some philologists say, they have grown from two or more
stocks, it is clear that since large families of languages,
as the Indo-European, are of one parentage, they have
become distinct through a process of continuous divergence.
The same diffusion over the earth's surface which has led
to the differentiation of the race, has simultaneously led to
a differentiation of their speech: a truth which we see
further illustrated in each nation by the peculiarities of
dialect found in separate districts. Thus the progress of
language conforms to the general law, alike in the evolution
of languages, in the evolution of families of words, and in
the evolution of parts of speech.

" On passing from spoken to written language, we come
upon several classes of facts, all having similar implications.
Written language is connate with Painting and Sculpture ;
and at first all three are appendages of Architecture, and
have a direct connection with the primary form of all
government — the theocratic. Merely noting by the way
the fact that sundry wild races, as for example the Austra-

66 The Philosophy of Style.

lians and the tribes of South Africa, are given to depicting
personages and events upon the walls of caves, which are
probably regarded as sacred places, let us pass to the case
of the Egyptians. Among them, as also among the Assyr-
ians, we find mural paintings used to decorate the temple
of the god and the palace of the king (which were, indeed,
originally identical) ; and as such they were governmental
appliances in the same sense that state-pageants and relig-
ious feasts were. Further, they were governmental appli-
ances in virtue of representing the worship of the god, the
triumphs of the god-king, the submission of his subjects,
and the punishment of the rebellious. And yet again they
were governmental, as being the products of an art rever-
enced by the people as a sacred mystery. From the
habitual use of this pictorial representation, there naturally
grew up the but slightly-modified practice of picture-writing
— a practice which was found still extant among the Mexi-
cans at the time they were discovered. By abbreviations
analogous to those still going on in our own written and
spoken language, the most familiar of these pictured figures
were successively simplified; and ultimately there grew up
a system of symbols, most of which had but a distant
resemblance to the things for which they stood. The
inference that the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians were
thus produced, is confirmed by the fact that the picture-
writing of the Mexicans was found to have given birth to a
like family of ideographic forms ; and among them, as
among the Egyptians, these had been partially differentiated
into the kuriological or imitative, and the tropical or sym-
bolic : which were, however, used together in the same rec-
ord. In Egypt, written language underwent a further dif-
ferentiation ; whence resulted the hieratic and the epistolo-
graphic or enchorial : both of which are derived from the
original hieroglyphic. At the same time we find that for
the expression of proper names, which could not be other-

Appendix B. 67

wise conveyed, phonetic symbols were employed ; and though
it is alleged that the Egyptians never actually achieved com-
plete alphabetic writing, yet it can scarcely be doubted that
these phonetic symbols occasionally used in aid of their
ideographic ones, were the germs out of which alphabetic writ-
ing grew. Once having become separate from hieroglyphics,
alphabetic writing itself underwent numerous differentia-
tions— multiplied alphabets were produced: between most
of which, however, more or less connection can still be
traced. And in each civilized nation there has now grown
up for the representation of one set of sounds, several
sets of written signs, used for distinct purposes. Finally,
through a yet more important differentiation came printing;
which, uniform in kind as it was at first, has since become
multiform.

" While written language was passing through its earlier
stages of development, the mural decoration which formed
its root was being differentiated into painting and sculpture.
The gods, kings, men, and animals represented, were orig-
inally marked by indented outlines and coloured. In most
cases these outlines were of such depth, and the object they
circumscribed so far rounded and marked out in its leading
parts, as to form a species of work intermediate between in-
taglio and bas-relief. In other cases we see an advance
upon this : the raised places between the figures being chis-
elled off, and the figures themselves appropriately tinted, a
painted bas-relief was produced. The restored Assyrian
architecture at Sydenham, exhibits this style of art carried
to greater perfection — the persons and things represented,
though still barbarously coloured, are carved out with more
truth and in greater detail ; and in the winged lions and bulls
used for the angles of gateways, we may see a considerable
advance towards a completely sculptured figure ; which,
nevertheless, is still coloured, and still forms part of the
building. But while in Assyria the production of a statue

68 The Philosophy of Style.

proper, seems to have been little, if at all, attempted, we
may trace in Egyptian art the gradual separation of the
sculptured figure from the wall. A walk through the collec-
tion in the British Museum will clearly show this ; while it
will at the same time afford an opportunity of observing the
evident traces which the independent statues bear of their
derivation from bas-relief : seeing that nearly all of them not
only display that union of the limbs with the body which is
the characteristic of bas-relief, but have the back of the
statue united from head to foot with a block which stands
in place of the original wall. Greece repeated the leading
stages of this progress. As in Egypt and Assyria, these
twin arts were at first united with each other and with their
parent, Architecture ; and were the aids of religion and gov-
ernment. On the friezes of Greek temples, we see coloured
bas-reliefs representing sacrifices, battles, processions, games
— all in some sort religious. On the pediments we see
painted sculptures more or less united with the tympanum,
and having for subjects the triumphs of gods or heroes.
Even when we come to statues that are definitely separated
from the buildings to which they pertain, we still find them
coloured; and only in the later periods of Greek civiliza-
tion, does the differentiation of sculpture from painting ap-
pear to have become complete. In Christian art we may
clearly trace a parallel re-genesis. All early paintings and
sculptures throughout Europe, were religious in subject —
represented Christs, crucifixions, virgins, holy families, apos-
tles, saints. They formed integral parts of church architec-
ture, and were among the means of exciting worship : as in
Eoman Catholic countries they still are. Moreover, the
early sculptures of Christ on the cross, of virgins, of saints,
were coloured ; and it needs but to call to mind the painted
madonnas and crucifixes still abundant in continental
churches and highways, to perceive the significant fact

Appendix B. 69

that painting and sculpture continue in closest connection
with each other, where they continue in closest connection
with their parent. Even when Christian sculpture was
pretty clearly differentiated from painting, it was still re-
ligious and governmental in its subjects — was used for
tombs in churches and statues of kings ; while, at the same
time, painting, where not purely ecclesiastical, was applied
to the decoration of palaces, and besides representing royal
personages, was almost wholly devoted to sacred legends.
Only in quite recent times have painting and sculpture be-
come entirely secular arts. Only within these few centu-
ries has painting been divided into historical, landscape,
marine, architectural, genre, animal, still-life, &c., and sculp-
ture grown heterogeneous in respect of the variety of real and
ideal subjects with which it occupies itself.

" Strange as it seems then, we find it no less true, that
all forms of written language, of painting, and of sculpture,
have a common root in the politico- religious decorations of
ancient temples and palaces. Little resemblance as they now
have, the bust that stands on the console, the landscape
that hangs against the wall, and the copy of the Times lying
upon the table, are remotely akin ; not only in nature, but
by extraction. The brazen face of the knocker which the
postman has just lifted, is related not only to the wood-
cuts of the Illustrated London News which he is delivering,
but to the characters of the billet-doux which accompanies
it. Between the painted window, the prayer-book on which
its light falls, and the adjacent monument, there is consan-
guinity. The effigies on our coins, the signs over shops,
the figures that fill every ledger, the coat of arms outside
the carriage-panel, and the placards inside the omnibus, are,
in common with dolls, blue-books and paper-hangings, lin-
eally descended from the rude sculpture-paintings in which
the Egyptians represented the triumphs and worship of their

70 The Philosophy of Style.

god-kings. Perhaps no example can be given which more
vividly illustrates the multiplicity and heterogeneity of the
products that in course of time may arise by successive
differentiations from a common stock." SPENCER, 'First
Principles/ pp. 162-7.

INDEX.

[The figure* refer to the pages of the text.]

Abstract Terms, 7, 8.
Adjustment, Muscular, 34, 63.
Allegory, 26.
Allen, 35, 38.
Anticlimax, 38-39.
Antithesis, 3<MO.
Art, 42, 65-69.
Association, 5, 31.

Bain, 33 note.
Beauty, 46.
Blair, 2.
Bombast, 28.
Bradley, 21 note.
Brevity, 5, 6.

Campbell, 7, 8 note.
Cattell, 33 note.
Ciceronianisra, 45.
Climax, 38-40.
Coleridge, 53 and note.
Composition, Laws of, 1.
Contrast, 40 and note.
Concrete terms, 7, 8.
Concept, 9 note.

Delabarre. 40 note.
Dewey, 9 note.
Direct style, 18-21.

Earle, 21 note.

Economy, Principle of, stated, 3.

Egger, 11 note.

Ellis, 34 note.

j Euphony, 35.
Exhaustion, Mental, 36-38.
Expression, Imperfect, 49; Theory
of, 2.

Figures, 21-28.

French language, 58 note.

Goethe, 2 note.
Gummere, 2 note.
Gurney, 33 note.

Hegel, 2 note.
Hill, A. S., 3 note.
Homer, 53-56.

Images, 5, 8, 9 note, 10, 11 and

note.

Individuality of expression, 50, 60.
Indirect style, 18-21.
Interjections, 4.

James, 9 note, 11 note, 51 note.
Kaimes. Lord, 2, 14.

Language a Hindrance to Thought,
3,4.

Literature, Evolution of, 64-70.

Mathematical Language, 53.
Metaphor, 25-27 ; Compound, 26.
Metre, 33-35.
Milton, 56 and note.

71

72

Index.

Miiller, Max, 21 note.
Music, 32-33 and note.

Order of Noun and Adjective, 10-
12; of Verb and Adverb, 12; of
Subject and Predicate, 13-14; of
Predicate and Complements, 14-
15 ; of Principal and Subordinate
Propositions, 15-16.

Originality ; 51, 59.

Personality of the Poet, 53, 56,
Poet, The, 56 and note.
Poetry, 30-35, 53 and note.
Prose, 53 and note ; Rhythm of, 34
note.

Benan, 58 note.
Repair, Mental, 36-38.
Rhyme, 35.
Rhythm, 9 note, 33-35.

Saintsbury, 34 note.
Saxon English, 5-7.

Schiller, 2 note.
Schlegel, 2 note.
Schopenhauer, 2 note.
Sentences, 9-21.
Sequence of words, 9-21.
Simile, 22-24.
Specific terms, 7-8.
Speech-tunes, 32, 33 and note.
Stevenson, 34 note.
Strieker, 33 note.
Styles, Origin of, 43.
Suggestion, 28-30.
Synecdoche, 22.

Variety, 40-42.

Verse, Sound-element in, 61-63.

Vischer, 2 note.

Wallaschek, 33 note.

Watts, 51 note.

Weil, 9 note.

Whately, 20, 25.

Words, Long, 6 ; Order of, 9.

Writer, The Ideal, 42-44.

ADVERTISEMENTS

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By F. N. SCOTT, Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Michigan,
and J. V. DENNEY, Professor of English in Ohio State University,
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THIS book embodies the best features of former editions of the
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Throughout the work the aim is to keep the student's powers
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/COMPOSITION-LITERATURE is intended to establish a
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The opening chapter presents the requisites of good writing.
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Composition-Rhetoric

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DENNEY, of Ohio State University. I2mo, cloth, 416 pages. Price, $1.00.

IN this manual for advanced work in secondary schools a com-
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VI. How Much to Say, — on Scale of Treatment, Proportion of
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VII. What Not to Say, — treating Digressions and Incoherence.

Appendices : Directions for Preparing Manuscript, Marks used in
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Paragraph- Writing

By F. N. SCOTT, Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Michigan,
and J. V. DENNEY, Professor of English in Ohio State University.
Revised edition. I2mo, cloth, 480 pages. Price, $1.25.

FOR this new edition the book has been entirely rewritten and
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tioned the following : —

The book has been enlarged so as to include the various types
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The illustrative matter of the preceding edition, through long
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American Literature with Readings

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$1.35-

THIS book is the author's American Literature and Readings
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With it in the hands of the pupil, teachers are able to carry out,
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THIS book is the outcome of personal experience with the
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No writer is treated unless the student may reasonably be ex-
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The author nowhere sacrifices simplicity in an effort at literary
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A LTHOUGH this book is intended as a companion to the
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A feature of the Readings is the prominence given to early
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Masterpieces of English Poetry. Edited by L. Du PONT SYLE, late
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IN this work the editor has endeavored to bring together within
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DRYDEN . • . Epistle to Congreve, Alexander's Feast, Character of a Good Parson.

POPE .... Epistles to Mr. Jervas, to Lord Burlington, and to Augustus.

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GRAY .... Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, and The Bard.

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MACAULAY . . Horatius.
CLOUGH . . . Two Ships, the Prologue to the Mari Magno, and the Lawyer's

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ARNOLD . . . The Scholar-Gypsy and The Forsaken Merman.
BROWNING . . Transcript from Euripides (Balaustion's Adventure).
TENNYSON . . CEnone, Morte D'Arthur, The Miller's Daughter, and a Selection

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Caedmon ; Alfred's Preface to the Pastoral Care.

There is a chapter on Anglo-Saxon Poetry, followed by extracts
from Beowulf and The Wanderer.

This is the best book of its kind.

Introduction to Theme-Writing

By J. B. FLETCHER, of Harvard University, and the late Professor
GEORGE R. CARPENTER. i6mo, cloth, 143 pages. Price, 60 cents.

THIS is a text-book for students who have completed the
introductory course in rhetoric usually prescribed at the
beginning of the freshman year. It is founded on lectures de-
livered by Mr. Fletcher at Harvard in 1893. The chapters are
on Letter-Writing, Description, Narration, Criticism, Exposition,
and Argument.

11

ENGLISH

Practical High School Speller

By TOBIAS O. CHEW, Superintendent of City Schools, Washburn,
Wisconsin, izmo, cloth, 102 pages. Price, 40 cents.

T^HIS book contains the words most often misspelled by high
school pupils — a list of two thousand, determined by corre-
spondence with ten thousand teachers in representative secondary
schools in every state in the United States. The first word in
Lesson I was sent in by seven hundred high school teachers ; the
other words show by their order the frequency with which they
were suggested by teachers. The book, then, is built on the
judgment of those best qualified to know — the teachers them-
selves.

A most useful feature of the Speller is the arrangement of the
words so as to make it easy for the pupils to learn to spell them.
Each lesson has twenty-five words, printed in script in a neat
column, so that the pupil readily visualizes them. Often Spellers
contain a large amount of interesting information about a word,
but the word itself appears either divided into syllables or so
placed on the page that the pupil gets no adequate picture of
how it looks, either written or printed.

Beside the words in script, the Speller has them in print, divided
into syllables, with the accents, and followed by brief phrases
which illustrate their proper use. A few practical rules for spell-
ing are included.

The Literature Note-Book

By Professor F. N. SCOTT, of the University of Michigan, and F. E.

BRYANT, of the University of Kansas. Price, each, 6 cents; per

dozen, 60 cents; per hundred, $5.00.

•""PHIS is a blank-book for book reviews and reports on home
1 reading. On the front cover are seventeen numbered ques-
tions, each suggesting a possible treatment for the book review.
The teacher indicates a question, or series of questions, by num-
ber, and the pupil understands that his review is to answer these
questions. There are directions for both teacher and pupil. On
the back cover is a list of books for home reading.

16

The Academy Classics

Academy Classics are now issued in pocket size and
are bound in new and attractive covers. The little
volumes will be an ornament to any library. Nearly every
volume has a half-tone portrait of the author, and many are
illustrated from original drawings. The prices will be found
very reasonable when the excellent quality of print, paper,
and binding is considered.

Each volume is provided with introductory matter, ade-
quate notes, and other helps. These are always the work
of a teacher of reputation, whose name is a guarantee of
sound and judicious annotation.

The following books are now ready : —

ADDISON. De Coverley Papers

Edited by SAMUEL THURBER. Price, 35 cents.

This volume contains thirty-seven papers of which twenty have
Sir Roger as the main theme, and seventeen mention him in
such a way as to throw further light on his character.
The book contains a portrait of Addison.
Select Essays

Edited by SAMUEL THURBER. Price, 60 cents.

The editor has aimed to bring together such papers from the
Spectator, the Tatler, the Guardian, and the Freeholder as will
prove most readable to yoyth of high school age. There are
seventy selections in all, including the De Coverley Papers and
selections from Addison's Stories and his Hymns. The book
contains also Macaulay's Essay on Addison and a portrait of
Addison.

ARNOLD. Essays in Criticism

Edited by SUSAN S. SHERIDAN. Price, 25 cents.

The essays are those on the Study of Poetry, on Keats, and on
Wordsworth.
Rugby Chapel

Edited by L. D. SYLE. (In Four English. Poems. Price, 25 cents.)
Sohrab and Rustum

Edited by G. A. WATROUS. (In Three Narrative Poems. Price,
30 cents.)

1

The Academy Classics

BLACKMORE. Lorna Doone

Edited by R. ADELAIDE WlTHAM. Price, 65 cents.

This edition is printed on bible paper and is uniform with Ivanhoe.
The editor has made a visit to the Doone country, and this gives
special interest to her notes and comments.

BURKE. Conciliation with the Colonies

Edited by C. B. BRADLEY. Price, 30 cents.

This book contains the complete speech, and a sketch of the
English Constitution and Government.
The frontispiece is a portrait of Burke.

BURNS. Selections

Edited by LOIS G. HUFFORD. Price, 35 cents.

The selections are forty-five in number and include The Cotter's
Saturday Night, Tarn O'Shanter, The Vision, The Brigs of Ayr,
and all the more familiar short poems and songs.
The book contains a portrait of Burns.

BYRON. The Prisoner of Chillon

Edited by L. D. SYLE. (In Four English Poems. Price, 25 cents.)
CARLYLE. Essay on Burns

Edited by H. W. BOYNTON. Price, 25 cents.

In addition to the Essay on Burns, this edition contains The
Vision and The Cotter's Saturday Night. It thus meets the
College Entrance Requirements for the Essay on Burns and a
selection from Burns's poems. The volume has a portrait of
Carlyle.

Selections
Edited by H. W. BOYNTON. Price, 60 cents.

This volume includes material for the elementary study of Carlyle
in his earliest and most fruitful period. It contains the Essays
on Burns, on History, on Boswell's Life of Johnson, and selec-
tions from Heroes and Hero- Worship (the Introduction; the
Hero as Poet — Dante, Shakespeare ; and the Hero as Man of
Letters — Johnson, Rousseau, Burns).

COLERIDGE. The Ancient Mariner

Edited by G. A. WATROUS. (In Three Narrative Poems. Price,
30 cents.)

COWPER. John Gilpin's Ride

Edited by L. D. SYLE. (In Four English Poems. Price, 25 cents.)
2

The Academy Classics.

GEORGE ELIOT. Silas Marner

Edited by W. PATTERSON ATKINSON. Price, 30 cents.

The introduction contains a brief life of George Eliot, an account
of the writing of Silas Marner, and a short list of works on the
author. There is a portrait of the author.

EMERSON. Select Essays and Poems

Edited by EVA MARCH TAPPAN. Price, 30 cents.

The Essays are those on Compensation, Self-reliance, and
Manners. There are also nine of the best-known poems. A
feature of the book is the suggestive questions at the bottom of
each page which keep the pupil's attention on the alert and at
the same time aid in the interpretation of the text.
This edition has a portrait of Emerson.

GOLDSMITH. The Vicar of Wakefield

Edited by R. ADELAIDE WITHAM. Price, 40 cents.

The introduction to the work contains a Bibliography of the Life
of Goldsmith, a Bibliography of Criticism, a Life of Goldsmith ar-
ranged by topics, a Table of Masterpieces published during his
life, and an appreciation of Goldsmith's style.
There is a portrait of the author.

The Traveller and the Deserted Village
Edited by G. A. WATROUS. (In Selected Poems. Price, 30 cents.)

GRAY. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and The Progress

of Poesy.
Edited by G. A. WATROUS. (In Selected Poems. Price, 30 cents.)

IRVING. Life of Goldsmith

Edited by R. ADELAIDE WITHAM. Price, 40 cents.

The editor has furnished a Life of Irving arranged by topics, with
references to Pierre Irving's life of his uncle. There is also an
arrangement of the text by topics, for convenience in assigning
the reading. The book has a useful list of the works of Irving
side by side with contemporary American Literature. The frontis-
piece is a portrait of Irving.

The Sketch-Book
Edited by ELMER E. WENTWORTH. Price 60 cents.

This is the most attractive edition of the complete Sketch-Book
published at a reasonable price. Print, paper, and binding are ex-
cellent. The book contains a portrait of Irving.
3

The Academy Classics

IRVING. Selections from The Sketch-Book

Edited by ELMER E. WENTWORTH. Price, 35 cents.

This edition contains Irving's original Preface and Advertise-
ment, The Author's Account of Himself, The Voyage, The Wife,
Rip Van Winkle, Sunday in London, The Art of Bookmaking,
The Country Church, The Mutability of Literature, The Spectre
Bridegroom, Westminster Abbey, Christmas, The Stage Coach,
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Stratford-on-Avon, To my Books,
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

These selections furnish the pupil with over two hundred pages
of reading from the Sketch-Book.

LOWELL. The Vision of Sir Launfal and Other Poems
Edited by DR. F. R. LANE. Price, 25 cents.

Besides the Vision of Sir Launfal there are thirteen poems, includ-
ing such passages from the Fable for Critics as refer to prominent
American men of letters. The selections are Summer Storm,
Allegra, The Rose, Rhcecus, To a Pine Tree, To the Past, The
Oak, The Birch Tree, To the Dandelion, On a Portrait of Dante
by Giotto, A Fable for Critics. What Mr. Robinson thinks, The
Courtin'. The book contains a portrait of Lowell.

MACAULAY. Select Essays

Edited by SAMUEL THURBER. Price, 50 cents.

This selection comprises the essays on Milton, Bunyan, Johnson,
Goldsmith, and Madame D'Arblay, thus giving illustrations both of
Macaulay's earlier and of his later style. The subjects of the essays
are such as to bring them into close relation with the study of
English Literature. A portrait of Macaulay is included.
Historical Essays

Edited by SAMUEL THURBER. Price, 60 cents.

This selection includes the essays on Lord Clive, Warren Hastings,
and both the essays on the Earl of Chatham. The text in each
case is given entire. A map of India, giving the location of places
named in the essays, is included and there is also a portrait of
Macaulay.

MACAULAY. Edited by SAMUEL THURBER
Essay on Addison Essay on Johnson

Essay on Lord Clive Essay on Milton

Price, each 25 cents.

Essays on Milton and Addison Essay on Chatham

One volume. Price, 35 cents. Price, 20 cents.

4

The Academy Classics

MACAULAY. Essay on Warren Hastings

Edited by JOSEPH V. DENNEY. Price, 40 cents.

This edition will be found especially useful to pupils in composition
who are studying Macaulay for structure. The essay affords con-
spicuously excellent illustrations of all four forms of discourse, —
narration, description, exposition, and argumentation. The book
has a sketch of Macaulay's life, a bibliography, and also a map of
India and a portrait of Macaulay.

MILTON. Minor Poems

Edited by SAMUEL THURBER. Price, 30 cents.

L' Allegro; II Penseroso; Comus; Lycidas; Arcades; On the
Nativity; On Shakespeare; At a Solemn Music; Sonnets. The
edition has an introduction, notes, and a portrait of Milton.

Paradise Lost, Books I and II
Edited by HENRY W. BOYNTON. Price 30 cents.

This edition has the first two books of Paradise Lost complete and
a r6sum6 of the rest of the epic, with quotations of notable passages.
The introduction has two plans and a description of the Miltonic
universe. The frontispiece of this edition is a reproduction of
Munkacsy's painting of the blind Milton dictating Paradise Lost to
his daughters.

POPE. The Rape of the Lock

Edited by L. D. SYLE. (In Four English Poems. Price, 25 cents.)

An Essay on Criticism
Edited by GEORGE A. WATROUS. (In Selected Poems. Price, 30 cents.)

SCOTT. Ivanhoe

Edited by A. MARION MERRILL. Price, 65 cents. •

This edition is unusually complete both in introductory matter and
in notes. It is printed on bible paper to make it uniform in size
with the other volumes of the Academy Classics. The book is
illustrated from original drawings.

The Lady of the Lake
Edited by G. B. AlTON. Price, 30 cents.

In addition to the introduction and notes, this edition contains a
map of the Trosachs and vicinity and a portrait of Scott.
Mannion
Edited by MARY E. ADAMS. Price, 30 cents.

This edition contains an introduction, notes, a glossary, a map of
the Marmion country, and a portrait of Scott.
5

The Academy Classics

SHAKESPEARE. Merchant of Venice. New Edition.,
Edited by SAMUEL THURBER, Jr. Price, 45 cents.

The new edition is illustrated by handsome half-tones, showing
the principal characters and incidents. The book contains the
following features which will aid and interest the young pupil : —
very full notes ; an account of Shakespeare the man — his life, and
a description of the theatre for which he wrote ; glimpses of life in
Shakespeare's time as shown by the play; a study of the structural
elements of the comedy ; a discussion of the sources and histori-
cal setting; a list of familiar quotations; and a list of topics for
written compositions.

Julius Cassar. New Edition. At Press.
Macbeth. New Edition. At Press.

The new editions of Julius Caesar and Macbeth have the same

features as the Merchant of Venice.

SHAKESPEARE. Edited by SAMUEL THURBER.
As You Like It Julius Caesar Macbeth The Tempest

Price, each 30 cents.

Hamlet (with Pearson's Questions on Hamlet)
Price, 35 cents.

These editions contain introductory matter and notes. The text
is that of the Globe edition, and omissions have been made only
where necessary for classroom use.

STEVENSON. Treasure Island

Edited by W. D. LEWIS. Price, 45 cents.

This edition has a short introduction and a life of Stevenson.
Very few notes are provided. A complete glossary explains all
the unusual terms used in the story.
The book contains illustrations from original drawings and a map.

TENNYSON. Enoch Arden

Edited by G. A. WATROUS. (In Three Narrative Poems. Price,
30 cents.)

Idylls of the King

Edited by H. W. BOYNTON. Price, 30 cents.

This edition contains The Coming of Arthur, Gareth and Lynette,
Lancelot and Elaine, The Holy Grail, The Passing of Arthur.
Thus it has all the Selections of the College Entrance Requirements
both for reading and for study. There is a portrait of the author.
6

The Academy Classics

WEBSTER. Reply to Hayne

Edited by C. B. BRADLEY. Price, 25 cents.

This edition contains a brief life of Webster and an account of the
circumstances under which the speech was delivered. There is a
portrait of Webster.

Four English Poems

Edited by L. D. SYLE. Price, 25 cents.

The Rape of the Lock, John Gilpin's Ride, The Prisoner of
Chillon, and Rugby Chapel. This edition has an introduction,
notes, and a portrait of Lord Byron.

Selected Poems from Pope, Gray, and Goldsmith

Edited by GEORGE A. WATROUS. Price, 30 cents.

The poems included are Pope's Essay on Criticism, Gray's Elegy
and Progress of Poesy, and Goldsmith's Traveller and Deserted
Village, The book has an introduction, notes, and a portrait of
Pope.

Three Narrative Poems

Edited by GEORGE A. WATROUS. Price, 30 cents.

This volume contains The Ancient Mariner, Sohrab and Rustum,
and Enoch Arden. A map makes plain the geography of Sohrab
and Rustum.

Two of the selections in this book — The Ancient Mariner and
Sohrab and Rustum — appear in the College Entrance Require-
ments in English. There is a portrait of Coleridge.

The Short- Story

Edited by W. PATTERSON ATKINSON. Price, 60 cents.

The selections are Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, Edgar
Allan Poe's The Gold Bug and The Purloined Letter, Nathaniel
Hawthorne's Howe's Masquerade and The Birthmark, Francis
Bret Harte's The Outcasts of Poker Flat, Robert Louie Stevenson's
The Sire de Maletroit's Door and Markheim, Rudyard Kipling's
Wee Willie Winkie.

In addition to the well-chosen selection of stories, the book contains
a practical Introduction, setting forth the development of the short-
story in its various forms. There is also a study of the short-story
as an example of narrative writing, which makes the book of
practical use to classes in English composition. Helpful notes on
each of the stories are included. The Short-Story is illustrated
with portraits of the authors represented.
7

PE-
1421
.S65
1917

Spencer, Herbert, 1 820- 1 903.
Philosophy of style