words of Latin origin, and was a melancholy exhibition of mingled ignorance, ineptitude, and bad taste. It never attained to any circulation, and is long since forgotten. If we compare with the above the following passage from Burke, a great difference will be perceived: "This idea of a liberal descent inspires us with a sense of habitual native dignity, which prevents that upstart insolence almost inevitably adhering to and disgracing those who are the first acquirers of any distinction. By this means our liberty becomes a noble freedom. It carries an imposing and majestic aspect. It has a pedigree and illustrating ancestors. It has its bearings and its ensigns armorial. It has its gallery of portraits, its monumental inscriptions, its records, evidences, and titles. We procure reverence to our civil institutions, on the principle upon which nature teaches us to revere individual man; on account of their age, and on account of those from whom they are descended." In this passage only sixty-three per cent. of the words are of Anglo-Saxon origin. § 16. MANY LATIN WORDS ARE EQUALLY SIMPLE. Although words of Anglo-Saxon origin are, as a whole, the most simple and perspicuous, yet it must be observed that very many words of Latin origin are equally so. Such words have been long in the language, and have become so thoroughly naturalized that it is only by a distinct effort of the mind that any difference of derivation can be seen. Those writers who seek above all things after clearness and intelligibility, are therefore not expected to avoid good and useful words merely because they are of Latin origin, for this would be doing violence to the genius of our language, but merely to avoid such as are not in common use; and, again, when an Anglo-Saxon word is as expressive as a Latin word, to give the former the preference. § 17. IMPORTANCE OF THE LATIN ELEMENT IN OUR LANGUAGE. Apart from the subject of perspicuity, the Latin element in our language is of inestimable value, and tends to give it that comprehensiveness, that all-expressiveness, and that rich and varied music which make English literature the crown and glory of all the works of man. For by being made up of these two elements, the English language exhibits the strength, tenderness, and simplicity of the Teutonic tongues, together with the euphony, sonorousness, and harmony of the Latin. CHAPTER III. PERSPICUITY IN WORDS, CONTINUED.-PRECISION. § 18. PRECISION. ANOTHER essential to perspicuity is precision, which consists in the selection of such words as may exhibit neither more nor less than the meaning which the writer intends to convey. Precision may also be defined as the choice of the best possible word, so as to express the idea with the greatest possible accuracy. It refers in the first place to exactness of expression; but where ideas are expressed in the most exact manner possible, there are other results beside perspicuity. Thus we find that where precision is attained there is not only clearness, but great energy and emphasis. When we examine the works of writers who are most noted for precision, we find that they are conspicuous not only for clearness, but also for great force of expression. Such writers are foremost in literature; their works are studied by all; they are models of style; and they abound in sentences which are widely quoted, and used as common maxims or proverbial sayings. Of such writers the most eminent is perhaps the poet Pope, who made this peculiar quality his chief aim. § 19. PRECISION IN SUBSTANTIVE TERMS. The subject of precision will be best considered by an examination of the constructions in which its presence is most marked. These are: 1st, Substantive terms; 2d, Attributive terms; 3d, Predicative terms. 'I. Substantive terms. 1. Precision may be seen here, first, in the application of terms or designations. An example of this may be found in the following passage from Junius (to the Duke of Grafton): "I do not give you to posterity as a pattern to imitate, but as an example to deter; and as your conduct comprehends everything that a wise or hon est minister should avoid, I mean to make you a negative instruction to your successors forever." There is great delicacy of expression associated with great subtlety of conception in this sentence. It is a common thing to speak of actions that should be imitated, and which thus become instructive; but it is more unusual and more difficult to speak of actions that should be avoided, and make them a "negative instruction." This criticism is also applicable to the following passage from Burke's Letter to the Duke of Bedford : "If his Grace can contemplate the result of this innovation . . . without a thorough abhorrence of everything they say and everything they do, I am amazed at the morbid strength or the natural infirmity of his mind." "Morbid strength" is suggestive of the capacity to inflict evil which belongs to the man familiar with wickedness and cruelty; "natural infirmity" indicates one who lacks common intelligence, and contemplates crime with the stolidity of an idiot. The alternative presented here with such refinement of language is the same as that which would be stated by a less skilful writer in the abusive terms "villain" and "fool." 2. Precision is sometimes attained by the use of proper names, especially where a name is put for a class. This is illustrated by the following lines from Pope : "What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards? Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards." Here there is a close and accurate specification of different classes of men, concluding with the mention of a class by the word "Howards," where one well-known name is put for noble families in general. "And more true joy Marcellus exiled feels Than Cæsar with a senate at his heels." Great precision is gained here by the use of these names, the one of an exiled patriot, the other of a triumphant tyrant. "If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, Precision is shown here in selecting Bacon from among all men as the highest example of human genius. of his character affords a still better instance. The summary In these three words are found that popular estimate of this great man which prevailed at that time, and to which this memorable line gave new emphasis. 3. Precision in substantive terms is also seen when they assume the form of definitions or explanations. There is great care and accuracy in the treatment of the following passage from Disraeli's speech on the death of the Duke of Wellington: "The Duke of Wellington left to his countrymen a great legacy, greater even than his glory. He left them the contemplation of his character. I will not say that his conduct revived the sense of duty in England. I will not say that of our country. But that his conduct inspired public life with a purer and more masculine tone, I cannot doubt. His career rebukes restless vanity, and reprimands the irregular ebullitions of a morbid egotism." The true meaning of this passage is to be found in the carefully chosen words of the conclusion; yet in order to heighten their precision, and give them increased emphasis, the speaker introduces them by mentioning that which he will not say, and by these very words he insinuates with great delicacy the very fact which he represents himself as unwilling to state. The same method is followed by Burke, when he says, "I do not say I saved my country, I am sure I did my country important service. There were few indeed that did not at that time acknowledge it." In the following passage there is a careful definition : "I mean to give peace. Peace implies reconciliation; and where there has been a material dispute, reconciliation does in a manner imply concession on the one part or the other."-BURKE. 4. Precision is very striking in antithetical sentences. "To make a virtue of necessity."-SHAKESPEARE. Here the contrast of "virtue" with "necessity" renders each word more distinct in its meaning. "There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.”Burke. Here the stress is laid upon "forbearance" and "virtue," which are each more sharply defined by contrast. "Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle."-BURKE. The word "kings" is here contrasted with "subjects;" "tyrants" with "rebels;" "policy" with "principle;" and the array of such terms in opposition results in a careful accuracy of meaning. Junius, in his letter to the Duke of Grafton, says with his usual malignity: “In this humble imitative line you might long have proceeded safe and contemptible. You might probably never have risen to the dignity of being hated, and you might even have been despised with moderation." This is one of those passages upon which Junius expended an unusual amount of the care and study that, according to his own statement, characterized his composition. The antithesis of "safe" and "contemptible" may be noticed, and also that of "hated" and "despised." The studied bitterness with which Junius wrote was never more forcibly displayed than in such expressions as "have risen to the dignity of being hated;" "despised with moderation;" and the sting lies in the perfect precision of the words. 20. PRECISION IN ATTRIBUTIVE TERMS. II. We have, in the second place, to consider precision in attributive terms. 1. This is especially seen in the application of epithets, and may best be illustrated by selecting some one subject, and comparing the ways in which it is presented by different writers. The sea affords a theme upon which many poets have loved to dwell, and whose powers they seek to set forth by vivid descriptive words. Byron's lines are familiar to all: "Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean, roll." "Deep and dark blue" is an expression of the most general kind, without any very definite force or meaning. Barry Cornwall's lines are equally familiar: "The sea, the sea, the open sea, The blue, the fresh, the ever free!" "Open," "blue," "fresh," "free," are all words which lack. precision; they are commonplace, and might suggest themselves to any writer. Far different from these is "the multitudinous" sea of Shakespeare, which is full of suggestions of roll |