XI.

LECT. that adverbs fhall always be made to adhere clofely to the words which they are intended to qualify; that, where a circumftance is thrown in, it shall never hang loose in the midst of a period, but be determined by its place to one or other member of it; and that every relative word which is used, fhall inftantly prefent its antecedent to the mind of the reader, without the leaft obfcurity. I have mentioned these three cafes, because I think they are the most frequent occafions of ambiguity creeping into Sentences.

WITH regard to Relatives, I must farther observe, that obfcurity often arises from the too frequent repetition of them, particularly of the pronouns who, and they, and them, and theirs, when we have occafion to refer to different perfons; as, in the following fentence of archbishop Tillotfon (Vol. I. Serm. 42.): "Men look with an evil eye upon the good "that is in others; and think that their repu"tation obfcures them, and their commend"able qualities ftand in their light; and "therefore they do what they can to caft a "cloud over them, that the bright shining "of their virtues may not obfcure them." This is altogether carelefs writing. It renders ftyle often obfcure, always embarraffed and inelegant. When we find these personal pronouns crowding too faft upon us, we have

often

XI.

often no method left, but to throw the whole LECT. fentence into fome other form, which may avoid those frequent references to perfons who have before been mentioned.

A

ALL languages are liable to ambiguities. Quinctilian gives us fome inftances in the Latin, arifing from faulty arrangement. man, he tells us, ordered, by his will, to have erected for him, after his death, "Statuam "auream haftam tenentem;" upon which arofe a difpute at law, whether the whole ftatue, or the fpear only, was to be of gold? The fame author observes, very properly, that a fentence is always faulty, when the collocation. of the words is ambiguous, though the fenfe can be gathered. If any one should say, "Chremetem audivi percuffiffe Demeam," this is ambiguous both in fenfe and structure; whether Chremes or Demea gave the blow. But if this expreffion were used, "Se vidiffe "hominem librum fcribentem," although the meaning be clear, yet Quinctilian infifts that the arrangement is wrong. "Nam," fays he, " etiamfi librum ab homine fcribi pateat, non certè hominem à libro, malè tamen compofuerat, feceratque ambiguum quantum in "ipfo fuit." Indeed, to have the relation of every word and member of a fentence marked in the most proper and diftin&t manner, gives not clearness only, but grace and beauty to a VOL. I. fentence,

દ

T

XI

LECT. fentence, making the mind pass smoothly and agreeably along all the parts of it.

I PROCEED now to the fecond quality of a well-arranged fentence, which I termed its Unity. This is a capital property. In every compofition, of whatever kind, fome degree of unity is required, in order to render it beautiful. There must be always fome connecting principle among the parts. Some one object must reign and be predominant. This, as I fhall hereafter fhew, holds in Hiftory, in Epic and Dramatic Poetry, and in all Orations. But most of all, in a fingle fentence, is required the strictest unity. For the very nature of a sentence implies one propofition to be expreffed. It may confist of parts, indeed; but these parts must be so closely bound together, as to make the impression upon the mind, of one object, not of many. Now, in order to preferve this unity of a sentence, the following rules must be observed:

In the first place, during the course of the fentence, the scene should be changed as little as poffible. We should not be hurried by fudden tranfitions from perfon to perfon, nor from fubject to fubject. There is commonly, in every sentence, fome perfon or thing, which is the governing word. This fhould be continued fo, if poffible, from the beginning

XI.

to the end of it. Should I exprefs myself LE C T. thus: "After we came to anchor, they put rr me on fhore, where I was welcomed by all "my friends, who received me with the "greatest kindnefs." In this fentence, though the objects contained in it have a fufficient connection with each other, yet, by this manner of representing them, by fhifting so often. both the place and the perfon, we, and they, and I, and who, they appear in fuch a difunited view, that the fenfe of connection is almost loft. The fentence is reftored to its proper unity, by turning it after the following manner: "Having come to an anchor, I "was put on fhore, where I was welcomed by "all my friends, and received with the great"eft kindness." Writers who tranfgrefs this rule, for the most part tranfgrefs, at the same time,

A SECOND rule; never to crowd into one fentence, things which have fo little connection, that they could bear to be divided into two or three fentences. The violation of this rule never fails to hurt and difplease a reader. Its effect, indeed, is fo bad, that, of the two, it is the fafer extreme, to err rather by too many short sentences, than by one that is overloaded and embarrassed. Examples abound in authors. I fhall produce fome, to justify what I now fay. "Archbishop Tillotfon,'

XI.

LECT. fays an Author of the History of England, "died in this year. He was exceedingly be"loved both by King William and Queen

Mary, who nominated Dr. Tennison, Bishop "of Lincoln, to fucceed him." Who would expect the latter part of this fentence to follow, in confequence of the former? "He "was exceedingly beloved by both King and "Queen," is the propofition of the fentence: we look for fome proof of this, or at least fomething related to it, to follow; when we are on a fudden carried off to a new proposition, "who nominated Dr. Tennison to fuc"ceed him." The following is from Middleton's Life of Cicero:" In this uneasy "state, both of his public and private life, "Cicero was oppreffed by a new and cruel "affliction, the death of his beloved daughter, "Tullia; which happened foon after her di "vorce from Dolabella; whofe manners and "humours were entirely difagreeable to her." The principal object in this fentence is, the death of Tullia, which was the cause of her father's affliction; the date of it, as happening foon after her divorce from Dolabella, may enter into the sentence with propriety; but the fubjunction of Dolabella's character is foreign to the main object; and breaks the unity and compactness of the sentence totally, by fetting a new picture before the reader. The following fentence, from a translation of

Plutarch,