171. The Greek and Latin writers had a considerable advantage above us, in this part of style. By the great liberty of inversion, which their languages permitted, they could choose the most advantageous situation for every word; and had it thereby in their power to give their sentences more force.

Obs. Milton, in his prose works, and some other of our old English writers, endeavour to imitate them in this. But the forced constructions which they employed, produced obscurity; and the genius of our language, as it is now written and spoken, will not admit such liberties. Gordon, who followed this inverted style, in his translation of Tacitus, has, sometimes, done such violence to the language, as even to appear ridiculous; as in this expression: "Into this hole thrust themselves, three Roman senators.' He has translated so simple a phrase as, "Nullum eâ tempestate bellum," by, " War at that time there was none."

172. However, within certain bounds, and to a limited degree, our language does admit of inversions; and they are practised with success by the best writers.

We shall just glance at one example here, as inversion will be treated subsequently to harmony. (See Chapter X.)

Illus. Pope, speaking of Homer, says, "The praise of judgment Virgil has justly contested with him, but his invention remains yet unrivalled." It is evident, that, in order to give the sentence its due force, by contrasting properly the two capital words, "judgment and invention," this is a happier arrangement than if he had followed the natural order, which was, "Virgil has justly contested with him the praise of judgment, but his invention remains yet unrivalled."

Obs. Some writers practise this degree of inversion, which our language bears, much more than others; Lord Shaftesbury, for instance, much more than Mr. Addison: and to this sort of arrangement, is owing, in a great measure, that appearance of strength, dignity, and varied harmony, which lord Shaftesbury's style possesses.

173. But whether we practise inversion or not, and in whatever part of the sentence we dispose of the capital words, it is always a point of great moment, that these capital words shall stand clear and disentangled from any other words that would clog them.

Illus. Thus, when there are any circumstances of time, place, or other limitations, which the principal object of our sentence requires to have connected with it, we must take especial care to dispose of them, so as not to cloud that principal object, nor to bury it under a load of circumstances.

Example. Lord Shaftesbury, speaking of modern poets, as compared with the ancient, says: "If, whilst they profess only to please, they secretly advise, and give instruction, they may now, perhaps, as well as formerly, be esteemed, with justice, the best and most honourable among authors." This is a well constructed sentence. It contains a great many circumstances and adverbs, necessary to qualify the meaning; only, secretly, now, perhaps, as well, formerly, with justice;

yet these are placed with so much art, as neither to embarrass nor weaken the sentence; while that which is the capital object in it, viz. "Poets being justly esteemed the best and most honourable among authors," comes out in the conclusion clear and detached, and possesses its proper place.

174. A fourth rule for constructing sentences with proper strength, is, to make the members of them go on rising and growing in their importance above one another.

Illus. This sort of arrangement is called a climax, and is always considered as a beauty in composition. From what cause it pleases, is abundantly evident. In all things, we naturally love to ascend to what is more and more beautiful, rather than to follow the retrograde order. Having had once some considerable object set before us, it is with pain we are pulled back to attend to an inferior circumstance. "Care must be taken that our composition shall not fall off, and that a weaker expression shall not follow one of more strength; as if, after sacrilege, we should bring in theft; or, having mentioned a robbery, we should subjoin petulance. Sentences ought always to rise and grow."*

2. Of this beauty, in the construction of sentences, the orations of Cicero furnish many examples. His pompous manner naturally led him to study it; and, generally in order to render the climax perfect, he makes both the sense and the sound rise together, with a very magnificent swell.

3. The following instance from Lord Bolingbroke, is beautiful: "This decency, this grace, this propriety of manners to character, is so essential to princes in particular, that, whenever it is neglected, their virtues lose a great degree of lustre, and their defects acquire much aggravation. Nay, more; by neglecting this decency and this grace, and for want of a sufficient regard to appearances, even their virtues may betray them into failings, their failings into vices, and their vices into habits unworthy of princes, and unworthy of men."+

175. This sort of full and oratorical climax, can neither be always obtained, nor ought it to be always sought after. Only some kinds of writing admit such sentences; and to study them too frequently, especially if the subject do not require much pomp, is affected and disagreeable. But when sentences are approaching to a climax, the following is a general rule which we ought to study.

Illus. 1. A weaker assertion or proposition should never come after a stronger one; and when our sentence consists of two members, the longest should, generally, be the concluding one. There is a two-fold reason for this last direction. Periods thus divided, are pronounced more easily; and the shortest member being placed first, we carry it more readily in our memory as we proceed to the second, and see the connection of the two more clearly. Thus, to say, "when our pas

*"Cavendum est ne decrescat oratio, et fortiori subjungatur aliquid infirmius, sicut, sacrilegio, fur; aut latroni petulans. Augeri enim debent sententiæ et insurQuinctilian.

gere."

† Idea of a Patriot King.

"Ne decrescat oratio, et ne fortiori subjungatur aliquid infirmius." Quinct.

sions have forsaken us, we flatter ourselves with the belief that we have forsaken them," is both more graceful and more clear, than to begin with the longest part of the proposition, and say: "We flatter ourselves with the belief that we have forsaken our passions, when they have forsaken us.' 39

2. In general, it is always agreeable to find a sentence rising upon us, and growing in its importance to the very last word, when this construction can be managed without affectation or unseasonable pomp. "If we rise yet higher," says Addison, very beautifully," and consider the fixed stars as so many oceans of flame, that are each of them attended with a different set of planets; and still discover new firmaments and new lights, that are sunk farther in those unfathomable depths of æther; we are lost in such a labyrinth of suns and worlds, and confounded with the magnificence and immensity of nature." Hence follows clearly,

176. A fifth rule for the strength of sentences; which is, to avoid concluding them with an adverb, a preposition, or any inconsiderable word. Such conclusions are always enfeebling and degrading.

Obs. There are sentences, indeed, where the stress and significancy rest chiefly upon some words of this kind. In this case, they are not to be considered as circumstances, but as the capital figures; and ought, in propriety, to have the principal place allotted them. No fault, for instance, can be found with this sentence: "In their prosperity, my friends shall never hear of me; in their adversity, always" where never, and always, being emphatical words, were to be so placed, as to make a strong impression. But we speak now of those inferior parts of speech when introduced as circumstances, or as qualifications of more important words. In such a case, they should always be disposed of in the least conspicuous parts of the period; and so classed with other words of greater dignity, as to be kept in their proper and secondary station.

177. Agreeably to this rule, we should always avoid concluding with any of those particles which mark the cases of nouns; as, of, to, from, with, by.

Illus. For instance, it is a great deal better to say, "Avarice is a crime of which wise men are often guilty," than to say, "Avarice is a crime which wise men are often guilty of." This last is a phraseology that, with reason, all correct writers shun: for, besides the want of dignity which arises from those monosyllables at the end, the imagination cannot avoid resting, for a little, on the import of the word that closes the sentence: and as prepositions have no import of their own, but only serve to point out the relations of other words, it is disagreeable for the mind to be left pausing on a word, which does not, by itself, produce any idea, nor form any picture in the fancy.

178. For the same reason, verbs which are used in a compound sense, with some of the prepositions, are not beautiful conclusions of a period. Such verbs as, bring about,

lay hold of, come over to, clear up, and many others of this kind, ought to be avoided, if we can employ a simple verb, which will always terminate the sentence with more strength.

Obs. Though the pronoun it, has the import of a substantive noun, and indeed often forces itself upon us unavoidably, yet, when we want to give dignity to a sentence, this pronoun should, if possible, be avoid. ed in the conclusion; more especially when it is joined with some of the prepositions, as, with it, in it, to it.

179. Besides particles and pronouns, any phrase, which expresses a circumstance only, always brings up the rear of a sentence with a bad grace.

Illus. We may judge of this, by the following sentence from Lord Bolingbroke: "Let me therefore conclude by repeating, that division has caused all the mischief we lament; that union alone can retrieve us; and that a great advance towards this union was the coalition of parties, so happily begun, so successfully carried on, and of late so anaccountably neglected; to say no worse.' This last phrase, to say no worse, occasions a sad falling off at the end; so much the more unhappy, as the rest of the period is conducted after the manner of a climax, which we expect to find growing to the last.

Obs. 1. The proper disposition of such circumstances in a sentence, is often attended with considerable trouble, in order to adjust them so, that they consist equally with the perspicuity and the grace of the period. Though necessary parts, they are, however, like unshapely stones in a building, which, to place them with the least offence, try the skill of an artist. "Let them be inserted wherever the happiest place for them can be found; as, in a structure composed of rough stones, there are always places where the most irregular and unshapely may find some adjacent one to which it can be joined, and some basis on which it may rest."+

2. The close is always an unsuitable place for them. When the sense admits their arrangement, the sooner they are despatched, generally speaking, the better; that the more important and significant words may possess the last place, quite disencumbered. It is a rule, too, never to crowd too many circumstances together, but rather to intersperse them in different parts of the sentence, joined with the capital words on which they depend; provided that care be taken, as was before directed, not to clog those capital words with them.

180. The last rule, which we have to offer, relating to the strength of a sentence, is, that in the members of a sentence, where two things are compared or contrasted with each other; where either a resemblance or an opposition is intended to be expressed; some resemblance, in the language and construction, should be preserved. For, when the things themselves correspond to each other, we natur

* Letter on the State of Parties at the Accession of King George I. "Jungantur quo congruunt maxime; sicut in structura saxorum rudium, etiam ipsa enormitas invenit cui applicari, et in quo possit insistere." Quinctilian.

ally expect to find the words also corresponding. We are disappointed when it is otherwise; and the comparison, or contrast, appears more imperfect.

Illus. The following passage from Pope's preface to his Homer, fully exemplifies the rule we have now given: "Homer was the greater genius; Virgil the better artist; in the one, we most admire the man; in the other, the work. Homer hurries us with a commanding impetuosity; Virgil leads us with an attractive majesty. Homer scatters with a generous profusion; Virgil bestows with a careful magnificence. Homer, like the Nile, pours out his riches with a sudden overflow; Virgil, like a river in its banks, with a constant stream.

And when we look upon their machines, Homer seems like his own Jupiter in his terrors, shaking Olympus, scattering the lightnings, and firing the heavens; Virgil, like the same power in his benevolence, counselling with the gods, laying plans for empires, and ordering his whole creation."

Corol. Periods thus constructed, when introduced with propriety, and not returning too often, have a sensible beauty. But we must beware of carrying our attention to this beauty too far. It ought only to be occasionally studied, when it is naturally demanded by the comparison or opposition of objects. If such a construction as this be aimed at in all our sentences, it leads to a disagreeable uniformity; produces a regularly returning clink in the period, which plainly discovers affectation, and tires the ear like the chime of jingling verse.

Scholia. The fundamental rule for the construction of sentences, and into which all other rules might be resolved, undoubtedly is, to communicate, in the clearest and most natural order, the ideas which we mean to transfuse into the minds of our hearers or readers. Every arrangement that does most justice to the sense, and expresses it to most advantage, strikes us as beautiful. To this point have tended all the rules that we have given. And, indeed, did men always think clearly, and were they, at the same time, fully masters of the language in which they write, there would be occasion for few rules. Their sentences would then, of course, acquire all those properties of precision, unity, and strength, which we have recommended. "For we may rest assured," says Dr. Blair,* "that, whenever we express ourselves ill, there is, besides the mismanagement of language, for the most part, some mistake in our manner of conceiving the subject. Embarrassed, obscure, and feeble sentences, are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure, and feeble thought. Thought and language act and re-act upon each other mutually. Logic and rhetoric have here, as in many other cases, a strict connection; and he that is learning to arrange his sentences with accuracy and order. is learning, at the same time, to think with accuracy and order ;" an o servation which alone will justify all the care and attention which we have bestowed on this subject.

* Lectures on Rhetoric, Lect. XII.