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in its proper place. It were needless to give many` instances, as they occur so often among incorrect' writers. I shall produce one from Lord Bolingbroke, the rapidity of whose genius and manner of writing, betrays him frequently into inaccuracies of this sort. It is in the introduction to his Idea of a Patriot King, where he writes thus: "It seems to me, that, in "order to maintain the system of the world, at a cer"tain point, far below that of ideal perfection, (for "we are made capable of conceiving what we are incapable of attaining,) but, however, sufficient upon the whole, to constitute a state easy and happy, or at the worst, tolerable; I say, it seems "to me, that the Author of nature has thought fit "to mingle, from time to time, among the societies "of men, a few, and but a few, of those on whom "he is graciously pleased to bestow a larger portion "of the Ethereal Spirit, than is given in the ordi

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nary course of his government, to the sons of men." A very bad sentence this; into which, by the help of a parenthesis, and other interjected circumstances, His Lordship had contrived to thrust so many things, that he is forced to begin the contruction again with the phrase I say, which, whenever it occurs, may be always assumed as a sure mark of a clumsy ill-constructed Sentence; excusable in excusable in speaking, where the greatest accuracy is not expected, but in polished writing unpardonable.

I shall add only one rule more for the Unity of a Sentence, which is to bring it always to a full and perfect close. Every thing that is one, should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. I need not take notice, that an unfinished Sentence is no Sentence at all, according to any grammatical rule. but very often we meet with Sentences, that are, so

to speak, more than finished. When we have arrived at what we expected was to be the conclusion, when we are come to the word on which the mind is naturally led, by what went before, to rest; unexpectedly, some circumstance pops out, which ought to have been omitted, or to have been disposed of elsewhere; but which is left lagging behind, like a tail adjected to the Sentence; somewhat that, as Mr. Pope describes the Alexandrine line,

"Like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along."

All these adjections to the proper close, disfigure a Sentence extremely. They give it a lame ungraceful air, and in particular, they break its Unity. Dean Swift, for instance, in his Letter to a Young Clergyman, speaking of Cicero's writings, expresses himself thus: "With these writings young divines are "more conversant, than with those of Demosthenes, "who, by many degrees, excelled the other; at "least, as an orator. Here the natural close of the Sentence is at these words, "excelled the other." These words conclude the proposition; we look for no more; and the circumstance added, "at least, as

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an orator," comes in with a very halting pace. How much more compact would the Sentence have been, if turned thus: "With these writings young "divines are more conversant, than with those of "Demosthenes, who, by many degrees, as an orator "at least, excelled the other." In the following Sentence, from Sir William Temple, the adjection of the Sentence is altogether foreign to it. Speaking of Burnet's Theory of the Earth, and Fontenelle's Plurality of Worlds, "The first," says he, "could "not end his learned treatise without a panegyric of

"modern learning in comparison of the ancient ; "and the other falls so grossly into the censure of "the old poetry, and preference of the new, that I "could not read either of these strains without some "indignation; which no quality among men is so "apt to raise in me as self-sufficiency." The word indignation" concluded the Sentence; the last member, "which no quality among men is so apt to "raise in me as self-sufficiency," is a proposition altogether new, added after the proper close.

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LECTURE XII.

STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES.

HAVING treated of Perspicuity and Unity, as necessary to be studied in the Structure of Sentences, I proceed to the third quality of a correct Sentence, which I term Strength. By this I mean, such a disposition of the several words and members, as shall bring out the sense to the best advantage; as shall render the impression which the period is designed to make, most full and complete; and give every word, and every member, their due weight and force. The two former qualities of Perspicuity and Unity, are, no doubt, absolutely necessary to the production of this effect; but more is still requisite. For a Sentence may be clear enough, it may also be

compact enough in all its parts, or have the requisite unity; and yet, by some unfavourable circumstance in the structure, it may fail in that strength or liveliness of impression which a more happy arrangement would have produced.

The first rule which I shall give, for promoting the Strength of a Sentence, is to divest it of all redundant words. These may, sometimes, be consistent with a considerable degree both of Clearness and Unity; but they are always enfeebling. They make the Sentence move along tardy and encumbered;

Est brevitate opus, ut currat sententia, neu se
Impediat verbis, lassas onerantibus aures. *

It is a general maxim, that any words which do not
add some importance to the meaning of a Sentence,
always spoil it. They cannot be superfluous, without
being hurtful.
"Obstat," says Quinctilian, "quic-
quid non adjuvat." All that can be easily supplied
in the mind, is better left out in the expression.
Thus: "Content with deserving a triumph, he refused
"the honour of it," is better language than to say,

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Being content with deserving a triumph, he refused the honour of it." I consider it, therefore, as one of the most useful exercises of correction, upon reviewing what we have written or composed, to contract that round-about method of expression, and to lop off those useless excrescences which are commonly found in a first draught. Here a severe eye should be employed; and we shall always find our Sentences acquire more vigour and energy when thus retrenched; provided always, that we run not into

* "Concise your diction, let your sense be clear,

"Nor with a weight of words, fatigue the ear." FRANCIS

the extreme of pruning so very close, as to give a hardness and dryness to style. For here, as in all other things, there is a due medium. Some regard, though not the principal, must be had to fulness and swelling of sound. Some leaves must be left to surround and shelter the fruit.

As Sentences should be cleared of redundant words, so also of redundant members. As every word ought to present a new idea, so every member ought to contain a new thought. Opposed to this, stands the fault we sometimes meet with, of the last member of a period being no other than the echo of the former, or the repetition of it in somewhat a different form. For example; speaking of Beauty, "The very first discovery of it," says Mr. Addison, "strikes the mind "with inward joy, and spreads delight through all "its faculties." (No. 412.) And elsewhere," It is "impossible for us to behold the divine works with "coldness or indifference, or to survey so many "beauties, without a secret satisfaction and com

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placency." (No. 413.) In both these instances, little or nothing is added by the second member of the Sentence to what was already expressed in the first: And though the free and flowing manner of such an Author as Mr. Addison, and the graceful harmony of his period, may palliate such negligences; yet, in general, it holds, that style, freed from this prolixity, appears both more strong and more beautiful. The attention becomes remiss, the mind falls into inaction, when words are multiplied without a corresponding multiplication of ideas.

After removing superfluities, the second direction I give, for promoting the Strength of a Sentence, is, to attend particularly to the use of copulatives, rela

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