fcending, or going upward. On the other hand, to place it late in the period has a bad effect; for after being engaged in the principal fubject, one is with reluctance brought down to give attention to a circumstance. Hence evidently the preference of the following arrangement :

Whether in any country a choice altogether unexceptionable has been made, feems doubtful.

Before this other,

Whether a choice altogether unexceptionable has in any country been made, &c.

For this reason the following period is exceptionable in point of arrangement.

I have confidered formerly, with a good deal of attention, the subject upon which you command me to communicate my thoughts to you.

Bolingbroke of the study of history, letter 1.

which, with a flight alteration, may be improved thus:

I have formerly, with a good deal of attention, confidered the subject, &c.

Swift fpeaking of a virtuous and learned education:

And although they may be, and too often are drawn, by the temptations of youth, and the opportunities of

a large fortune, into fome irregularities, when they come forward into the great world; it is ever with reluctance and compunction of mind, because their bias to virtue ftill continues.

The Intelligencer, N° 9.

Better:

And although, when they come forward into the great world, they may be, and too often, &c.

The bad effect of placing a circumstance laft or late in a period, will appear from the following examples.

Let us endeavour to establish to ourselves an interest in him who holds the reins of the whole creation in his hand.

Spectator, No 12.

Better thus:

Let us endeavour to establish to ourselves an intereft in him, who, in his hand, holds the reins of the whole creation.

Virgil, who has caft the whole system of Platonic philofophy, fo far as it relates to the foul of man, into beautiful allegories, in the fixth book of his Æneid, gives us the punishment, &c.

Spectator, N° 90.

Better thus:

&c.

Virgil, who in the fixth book of his Æneid, has caft,

And

And Philip the Fourth was obliged at last to conclude a peace on terms repugnant to his inclination, to that of his people, to the intereft of Spain, and to that of all Europe, in the Pyrenean treaty.'

Better thus:

Letters on hiftory, vol. i. let. 6. Bolingbroke.

And at last, in the Pyrenean treaty, Philip the Fourth was obliged to conclude a peace, &c.

Ín arranging a period, it is of importance to determine in what part of it a word makes the greateft figure; whether at the beginning, during the course, or at the close. The breaking filence rouses the attention, and prepares for a deep impreffion at the beginning: the beginning, however, must yield to the close; which being fucceeded by a pause, affords time for a word to make its deepest impreffion*. Hence the following rule, That to give the utmost force to a period, it ought if poffible to be closed with that word which makes the greatest figure. The opportunity of a pause should not be thrown away upon acceffories,

but

To give force or elevation to a period, it ought to begin and end with a long fyllable. For a long fyllable makes naturally the ftrongest impreffion; and of all the fyllables in a period, we are chiefly moved with the first and last.

Demetrius Phalereus of Elocution, felt. 39.

but referved for the principal object, in order that it may make a full impreffion: which is an additional reafon against clofing a period with a circumftance. There are however periods that admit not fuch a ftructure; and in that cafe, the capital word ought, if poffible, to be placed in the front, which next to the clofe is the most advantageous for making an impreffion. Hence, in directing our difcourfe to a man of figure, we ought to begin with his name; and one will be fenfible of a degradation, when this rule is neglected, as it frequently is for the fake of verse. I give the following examples.

Integer vitæ, fcelerisque purus, Non eget Mauri jaculis, neque arcu, Nec venenatis gravidâ fagittis,

Fufce, pharetra.

Horat. Carm. l. 1. ode 22.

Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai point d'autre crainte.

In these examples, the name of, the perfon addreffed to, makes a mean figure, being like a circumftance flipt into a corner. That this criticifm is well founded, we need no other proof than Addison's tranflation of the laft example:

O Abner! I fear my God, and I fear none but him. Guardian, N° 117.

O father, what intends thy hand, the cry'd,
Against thy only fon? What fury, O fon,
Poffeffes thee to bend that mortal dart
Against thy father's head?

Paradise lost, book 2. l. 727.

Every one must be sensible of a dignity in the invocation at the beginning, which is not attained by that in the middle. I mean not however to cenfure this paffage: on the contrary, it appears beautiful, by diftinguishing the respect that is due to a father from that which is due to a fon.

The fubftance of what is said in this and the foregoing fection, upon the method of arranging words in a period, fo as to make the deepeft impreffion with respect to found as well as fignification, is comprehended in the following obfervation: That order of words in a period will always be the most agreeable, where, without ob fcuring the sense, the most important images, the most fonorous words, and the longest members, bring up the rear.

Hitherto of arranging fingle words, fingle members, and fingle circumftances. But the enumeration of many particulars in the fame period is often neceffary; and the question is, In what order they should be placed? It does not seem eafy, at first view, to bring a fubject apparently fo loofe under any general rule: but luckily, reflecting VOL. II.

F

upon