the same words and the same sense; but, in consequence of the circumstances being so intermingled as to clog the capital words, the whole becomes perplexed, and totally devoid of grace and strength.

The following sentence contains a great number of circumstances disposed with little skill.

And that it was not peculiar to the gift of language or tongues only, to be given at the moment of its exertion, but common likewise to all the rest, will be shown probably, on some other occasion, more at large in a particular treatise, which is already prepared by me, on that subject.—Middleton's Free Inquiry.

V. Sentences ought never to be concluded with unimportant words. There may indeed be sentences in which the stress or significancy rests chiefly upon adverbs; and in this case they ought to have a principal place allotted to them. No objection, therefore, can be urged against such an arrangement as appears in this period: "In their prosperity, my friends shall never hear of me; in their adversity always." Here the adverb always, being an emphatical word, is so placed as to make a strong impression. The subsequent quotation furnishes an instance of the same kind.

I sat in my old friend's seat; I heard the roar of mirth and gaiety around me: poor Ben Stilton! I gave thee a tear then; accept of one cordial drop that falls to thy memory now.-Mackenzie's Man of Feeling.

But in the following examples, we find words of a like description occupying the same position, without any right to such distinction.

This agreement of mankind is not confined to the taste solely.— Burke on the Sublime and Beautiful.

The other species of motion are incidentally blended also.—Harris's Philosophical Arrangements.

He thinks it much more likely that such a system should continue to be admired and praised in idea, than established in fact; and if it happens ever to be established, he does not imagine it can be supported long.-Bolingbroke's Dissertation on Parties.

Since my late arrival in Ireland, I have found a very unusual, but, I doubt not a very just, complaint concerning the scarcity of

money; which occasioned many airy propositions for the remedy of it, and among the rest that of raising some, or all of the coins here. -Temple on the Advancement of Trade.

We should particularly avoid concluding a period with prepositions which mark the cases of nouns or which are combined with verbs. A certain divine, in allusion to the doctrine of the Trinity, makes use of the subsequent expressions: "It is a mystery which we firmly believe the truth of, and humbly adore the depth of." Such phraseology ought on no occasion to be adopted: for, besides the want of dignity which arises from those monosyllables being placed at the close, the mind cannot avoid resting for a little upon the word which concludes the sentence; and, as these prepositions have no import of their own, but merely serve to point out the relation of other words, it is disagreeable thus to be left pausing on a word which of itself cannot produce any idea, or present any picture to the fancy.

I therefore thought it necessary to fix and determine the notion of these two words, as I intend to make use of them in the thread of my following speculations, that the reader may conceive rightly what is the subject which I proceed upon.-Addison, Spectator.

There needs no more than to make such a registry only voluntary, to avoid all the difficulties that can be raised, and which are not too captious, or too trivial to take notice of.-Temple on Popular

Discontents.

By these means the country loses the expense of many of the richest persons or families at home, and mighty sums of money must needs go over from hence into England, which the great stock of rich native commodities here can make the only amends for.-Temple on the Advancement of Trade.

But it is absurd to think of judging either Ariosto or Spenser by precepts which they did not attend to.-Warton's Observations on Spenser.

No one pretends to be a judge in poetry or the fine arts, who has not both a natural and cultivated relish for them; and shall the narrow-minded children of the earth, absorbed in low pursuits, dare to treat as visionary, objects which they have never made themselves acquainted with ?-Barbauld on the Devotional Taste.

Whether there are different races of men, or whether all men are of one race without any difference but what proceeds from climate or other external cause, is a question which philosophers differ widely about.-Kames's Sketches of the History of Man.

The pronoun it ought as seldom as possible to be placed at the close of a sentence. When it immediately succeeds a verb, its effect is not so disagreeable; but when joined with a preposition, it is intolerable.

When you are pinched with any former, and yet unrepealed act of parliament, you declare that, in some cases, you will not be obliged by it.-Dryden's Epistle to the Whigs.

I would humbly offer an amendment, that instead of the word Christianity, may be put religion in general; which, I conceive, will much better answer all the good ends proposed by the projectors of it.-Swift's Argument against abolishing Christianity.

Every nature, you perceive, is either too excellent to want it, or too base to be capable of it.-Harris's Dialogue concerning Art.

Although it is not always necessary that everything advanced by the speaker, should convey information to the hearer, it is necessary that he should believe himself informed by what is said, ere he can be convinced or persuaded by it.-Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric.

It is surprising that writers who have paid the smallest attention to elegance, should allow the word it to conclude two successive periods. Yet instances of this kind sometimes occur.

In like manner, if a person in broad day-light were falling asleep, to introduce a sudden darkness would prevent his sleep for that time, though silence and darkness in themselves, and not suddenly introduced, are very favourable to it. This I knew only by conjecture on the analogy of the senses when I first digested these observations; but I have since experienced it.—Burke on the Sublime and Beautiful.

The general idea of good or bad fortune, therefore, creates some concern for the person who has met with it; but the general idea of provocation excites no sympathy with the anger of the man who has received it. Nature, it seems, teaches us to be more averse to enter into this passion, and, till informed of its cause, to be disposed rather to take part against it.-Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments.

VI. In the members of a sentence where two objects are either compared or contrasted, some resemblance in the language and construction should be preserved. To illustrate this rule, I shall produce various instances of deviations from it; beginning with resemblances expressed in words which have no resemblance.

I have observed of late, the style of some great ministers very

much to exceed that of any other productions.-Swift on the English Tongue.

Instead of productions, which bear no resemblance to ministers great or small, the author ought to have employed the word writers.

I cannot but fancy, however, that this imitation, which passes so currently with other judgments, must at some time or other have stuck a little with your lordship.-Shaftesbury on Enthusiasm.

This sentence ought to have stood thus: "I cannot but fancy, however, that this imitation, which passes so currently with others, must at some time or other have stuck with your lordship."

Force was resisted by force, valour opposed by valour, and art encountered or eluded by similar address.-Gillies's Hist. of Greece.

This period is evidently marred by an injudicious attempt to vary the phraseology. "Force was resisted by force, valour opposed by valour, and art encountered or eluded by art.'

It is a still greater deviation from congruity, to affect not only variety in the words, but also in the construction. There is a fault of this kind in the following sentence, in which the author is speaking of Shakspeare.

There may remain a suspicion that we over-rate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as bodies appear more gigantic on account of their being disproportioned and mis-shapen.-Hume's Hist. of England.

The sentence might have been constructed in this manner: "There may remain a suspicion that we overrate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as we over-rate the greatness of bodies that are disproportioned and mis-shapen."

Attention should also be paid to the length of the parallel members of a period. To produce a resemblance between such members, they ought not only to be constructed in the same manner, but also to be as nearly as possible of the same length. By neglecting

this circumstance, the subsequent example is rendered liable to exception.

As the performance of all other religious duties will not avail in the sight of God, without charity; so neither will the discharge of all other ministerial duties avail in the sight of men, without a faithful discharge of this principal duty.-Bolingbroke's Dissertation on Parties.

In the following passage, all the errors are accumulated which a period expressing a resemblance can well admit.

Ministers are answerable for everything done to the prejudice of the constitution, in the same proportion as the preservation of the constitution, in its purity and vigour, or the perverting and weakening it, are of greater consequence to the nation, than any other instances of good or bad government.-Bolingbroke's Dissertation on Parties.

As resemblance ought to be studied in the words which express two resembling objects, so opposition ought to be studied in the words which express two contrasted objects. The following examples contain deviations from this rule :—

A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes. Addison, Spectator.

Here the opposition in the thought is neglected in the words, which at first view seem to import that the friend and the enemy are employed in different matters, without any relation to each other, whether of resemblance or of opposition. The contrast will be better marked by expressing the idea as follows: "A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy his crimes."

The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he recommends himself to the applause of those about him.-Spectator.

This sentence might have stood thus: "The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he gains that of others."

The laughers will be for those who have most wit; the serious part of mankind for those who have most reason on their side.Bolingbroke's Dissertation on Parties.