such as are most expressive, and such as add something material to the sense. Q. Does the concise writer reject ornament? A. No. He may be lively and figured; but his ornament is intended for force, rather than grace. Q. In what consists the Diffuse style? A. In unfolding the thought fully; placing it in a variety of lights, and giving the reader every possible assistance in understanding it. Q. What advantage, in written composition, has the Concise over the Diffuse style? A. It is more lively; commands better attention; makes a brisker and stronger impression; and gratifies the mind by supplying more exercise. Q. What writers are most remarkable for conciseness? A. Tacitus, the historian; and Montesquieu, in L'Esprit des Loix. Q. In whom do we find a beautiful and magnificent diffuseness? A. In Cicero and Addison. Q. In which style should description be? A. In the concise. Homer, Tacitus, and Milton, are always concise in their descriptions. Q. In which, addresses to the passions ? A. It may be beautiful in either. Livy and Herodotus are diffuse. Thucidydes and Sallust concise, yet all are agreeable. Q. What do discourses, that are to be spoken, require? A. A flowing, copious style. Q. What are the Nervous and Feeble styles? A. Much the same as the Concise and Diffuse, yet there is some difference. A style may be concise or diffuse, and yet be beautiful; but a feeble style has neither beauty nor excellence. Q. Where is the foundation of a nervous or weak style laid? A. In an author's manner of thinking. If he conceives an object strongly, he will express it with energy; if not, in weakness. Q. What was the fault of the early English Writers? A. Harshness. They studied strength to the neglect of the other qualities of style. Q. When was our present style formed? Q. What is the distinguishing quality of most of the good English writers? A. Elegance, rather than strength. Q. What is a dry style? A. One from which ornament of every kind is entirely excluded. Such is the style of Aristotle. Q. What is a plain style? A. It rises one degree above a dry one. Not only perspicuity, but propriety, purity, precision, and some degree of liveliness, are pursued. This is the style of Dean Swift. Q. What is a neat style? A. It is next above the plain, just within the region of ornament; the figures are short and correct, rather than bold and flowing; it is a style easily attained, and always agreeable. Q. What is an elegant style? A. A style possessing all the virtues of ornament, without any of its excesses or defects. Such is the style of Addison, Dryden, and Pope. Q. What is the florid style? A. A style in which the ornaments are too rich and gaudy, for the subject. Such is the style of Hervey's Meditations. GENERAL CHARACTERS OF STYLEDIRECTIONS FOR FORMING A PROPER STYLE. Q. What are the four different acceptations in which, applied to writing, simplicity is taken? A. Simplicity of composition, as opposed to too great a variety of parts; simplicity of thought, in opposition to refinement; simpli city of style, in opposition to ornament; and simplicity of ornament, in opposition to affectation of ornament. Q. How does a writer of simplicity express himself? A. In such a manner that every one thinks he could have written in the same way. Q. What writers are the most eminent for simplicity? A. The ancient original writers, who wrote from the dictates of natural genius. Q. What English writers are remarkable for it? A. Archbishop Tillotson, and Sir William Temple. Q. Who furnishes a remarkable example of affectation, in opposition to simplicity? A. Lord Shaftsbury. Q. Who unites simplicity with high degrees of ornament? A. Mr. Addison. He is always perspicuous and pure; easy and musical in the construction of his sentences; rich in figures; and is, on the whole, the safest model for imitation which the language affords. Q. May not a writer be simple, and yet have no merit? A. Yes. The beautiful simplicity supposes real genius, solidity, purity, and liveliness of imagination. Of these, it is the crowning or nament. Q. What is the vehement style? A. It has a peculiar glow and ardour; is the language of a man strongly affected by what he writes, and who pours himself forth with It is the the rapidity and fulness of a torrent. style of Demosthenes' Orations. Q. What is the first rule to be observed for obtaining a good style? A. Gain clear ideas on the subject concerning which you are to write or speak. Q. What is the second? A. Compose frequently, slowly, and with much care. Q. What is the third ? A. Be well acquainted with the style of the best authors. Q. What the fourth? Beany. A. Avoid a servile imitation of ware of adopting any author's noted phrases, or transcribing passages from him. This hampers genius and is fatal to genuine composition. Q. What the fifth ? A. Adapt the style to the subject, and, if you are to speak in public, to the capacity of the hearers. Q. What the last? A. Let not an attention to style detract from an higher degree of attention to the thoughts.* * "Curam verborum, rerum volo esse solicitudiHOR. nem." "To your expression be attentive; but about your matter be solicitous." |