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LECTURE XXI.

CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE STYLE IN No. 412 OF THE SPECTATOR.

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THE observations which have occurred in reviewing paper of Mr. Addison's which was the subject of the last Lecture, sufficiently shew, that in the writings of an author, of the most happy genius, and distinguished talents, inaccuracies may sometimes be found. Though such inaccuracies may be overbalanced by so many beauties, as render Style highly pleasing and agreeable upon the whole, yet it must be desirable to every writer to avoid, as far as he can, inaccuracy of any kind. As the subject therefore is of importance, I have thought it might be useful to carry on this criticism throughout two or three subsequent papers of the Spectator. At the same time, I must intimate, that the Lectures on these papers are solely intended for such as are applying themselves to the study of English Style. I pretend not to give instruction to those who are already well acquainted with the powers of language. To them my remarks may prove unedifying; to some they may seem tedious and minute: but to such as have not yet made all the proficiency which they desire in elegance of Style, strict attention to the composition and structure of sentences cannot fail to prove of considerable benefit; and though my remarks of Mr. Addison should in any instance, be thought illfounded, they will, at least, serve the purpose of leading them into the train of making proper remarks for themselves.* I

If there be readers who think any farther apology requisite for my adventuring to criticise the sentences of so eminent an author as Mr. Addison, I must take notice, that I was naturally led to it by the circumstances of that part of the kingdom where these Lectures were read; where the ordinary spoken language often differs much from what is used by good English authors. Hence i, occurred to me, as a proper method of correcting any peculiarities of dialect, to direct

proceed therefore, to the examination of the subsequent paper, No. 412.

"I shall first consider those Pleasures of the Imagination, "which arise from the actual view and survey of outward objects and these, I think, all proceed from the sight of what "is great, uncommon, or beautiful.”

This sentence gives occasion for no material remark. It is simple and distinct. The two words which he here uses, view and survey, are not altogether synonimous: as the former may be supposed to import mere inspection; the latter more deliberate examination. Yet they lie so near to one another in meaning, that, in the present case, any one of them, perhaps, would have been sufficient. The epithet actual, is introduced, in order to mark more strongly the distinction between what our author calls the primary Pleasures of Imagination, which arise from immediate view, and the secondary, which arise from remembrance or description.

"There may, indeed, be something so terrible or offensive, "that the horror, or loathsomeness of an object, may overbear "the pleasure which results from its novelty, greatness, or "beauty; but still there will be such a mixture of delight in the very disgust it gives us, as any of these three qualifications 66 are most conspicuous and prevailing."

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This sentence must be acknowledged to be an unfortunate one. The sense is obscure and embarrassed, and the expression loose and irregular. The beginning of it is perplexed by the wrong position of the words something and object, The natural arrangement would have been, There may, indeed, be something in an object so terrible or offensive, that the horror or loathsomeness of it may overbear. These two epithets, horror or loathsomeness, are awkwardly joined together. Loathsomeness is, indeed, a quality which may be ascribed to an object; but horror is not; it is a feeling excited in the mind. The Language

students of eloquence, to analize and examine, with particular attention,the structure of Mr. Addison's sentences. Those papers of the Spectator, which are the subject of the following Lectures, were accordingly given out in exercise to students, to be thus examined and analized; and several of the observations which follow, both on the beauties and blemishes of this Author, were suggested, by the observations given to me in consequence of the exercises prescribed.

would have been much more correct, had our Author said, There may indeed, be something in an object so terrible or offensive, that the horror or disgust which it exciies may overbear. The first two epithets, terrible or offensive, would then have expressed the qualities of an object; the latter, horror or disgust, the corresponding sentiments which these qualities produce in us. Loathsomeness was the most unhappy word he could have chosen for to be loathsome, is to be odious, and seems totally to exclude any mixture of delight, which he afterwards supposes may be found in the object.

In the latter part of the sentence there are several inaccuracies. When he says, there will be such a mixture of delight in the very disgust it gives us, as any of threse thee qualifications are most conspicuous. The construction is defective, and seems hardly grammatical. He meant assuredly to say, such a mixture of delight as is proportioned to the degree in which any of these three qualifications are conspicuous. We know that there may be a mixture of pleasant and of disagreeable feelings excited by the same object; yet it appears inaccurate to say, that there is any delight in the very disgust. The plural verb, are, is improperly joined to any of these three qualifications; for as any is here used distributively, and means any one of these three qualifications, the corresponding verb ought to have been singular. The order in which the two last words are placed, should have been reversed, and made to stand, prevailing and conspicuous. They are conspicuous, because they prevail.

"By greatness, I do not only mean the bulk of any single “object, but the largeness of a whole view, considered as one " entire piece."

In a former Lecture, when treating of the Structure of Sentences, I quoted this sentence as an instance of the careless manner in which adverbs are sometimes interjected in the midst of a period. Only, as it is here placed, appears to be a limitation of the following verb, mean. The question might be put, What more does he than only mean? as the author, undoubtedly intended it to refer to the bulk of a single object, it would have been placed with more propriety after these words: I do not mean the bulk of any single object only, but the largeness of a whole view. As the following phrase, considered as one entire

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piece, seems to be somewhat deficient, both in dignity and propriety, perhaps this adjection might have been altogether omitted, and the sentence have closed with fully as much advantage at the word view.

"Such are the prospects of an open champaign country, a ❝vast uncultivated desert, of huge heaps of mountains, high "rocks and precipices, or a wide expanse of waters, where we "are not struck with the novelty, or beauty of the sight, but "with that rude kind of magnificence which appears in many "of these stupendous works of nature."

This sentence in the main is beautiful. The objects presented are all of them noble, selected with judgment, arranged with propriety, and accompanied with proper epithets. We must, however, observe, that the sentence is too loosely, and not very grammatically connected with the preceding one. He says, such are the prospects; such, signifies, of that nature or quality; which necessarily presupposes some adjective, or word, descriptive of a quality going before, to which it refers. But, in the foregoing sentence, there is no such adjective. He had spoken of greatness in the abstract only; and, therefore, such has no distinct antecedent to which we can refer it. The sentence would have been introduced with more grammatical propriety, by saying, To this class belong, or,under this head are ranged the prospects, &c. The of, which is prefixed to huge heaps of mountains, is misplaced, and has, perhaps, been an error in the printing; as, either all the particulars here enumerated should have had this mark of the genitive, or it should have been prefixed to none but the first. When, in the close of the sentence, the Author speaks of that rude magnificence, which appears in many of these stupendous works of nature, he had better have omitted the word many, which seems to except some of them. Whereas in his general proposition, he undoubtedly meant to include all the stupendous works he had enumerated; and there is no question that, in all of them, a rude magnificence

appears.

"Our imagination loves to be filled with an object, or to แ grasp at any thing that is too big for its capacity. We are "flung into a pleasing astonishment at such unbounded views, "and feel a delightful stillness and amazement in the soul, at "the apprehension of them."

The language here is elegant, and several of the expressions remarkably happy. There is nothing which requires any animadversion except the close, at the apprehension of them. Not only is this a languid enfeebling conclusion of a sentence, otherwise beautiful, but the apprehension of views, is a phrase destitute of all propriety, and, indeed, scarcely intelligible. Had this adjection been entirely omitted, and the sentence been allowed to close with stillness and amazement in the soul, it would have been a great improvement. Nothing is frequently more hurtful to the grace or vivacity of a period, than superfluous dragging words at the conclusion.

"The mind of man naturally hates every thing that looks “like a restraint upon it, and is apt to fancy itself under a sort "of confinement, when the sight is pent up in a narrow com"pass, and shortened on every side by the neighbourhood of "walls or mountains. On the contrary, a spacious horizon "is an image of liberty, where the eye has room to range "abroad, to expatiate at large on the immensity of its views, "and to lose itself amidst the variety of objects that offer them"selves to its observation. Such wide and undetermined pros"pects are as pleasing to the fancy, as the speculations of eter"nity, or infinitude, are to the understanding."

Our Author's Style appears, here, in all that native beauty which cannot be too much praised. The numbers. flow smoothly, and with a graceful harmony. The words which he has chosen, carry a certain amplitude and fulness, well suited to the nature of the subject; and the members of the periods rise in a gradation accommodated to the rise of the thought. The eye first ranges abroad; then expatiates at large on the immen sity of its views; and, at last, loses itself amidst the variety of objects that offer themselves to its observation. The fancy is elegantly contrasted with the understanding, prospects with speculations, and wide and undetermined prospects, with speculations of eternity and infinitude.

"But if there be a beauty or uncommonness joined with this 66 grandeur, as in a troubled ocean, a heaven adorned with stars "and meteors, or the spacious landscape cut out into rivers, "woods, rocks and meadows, the pleasure still grows upon us, "as it arises from more than a single principle."