WASHINGTON AS A STYLIST

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o other statesman of equal rank has, perhaps, left so little behind him by which his literary ability can be judged, as has Washington. All his writings may be summed up under two heads; the first, his letters,- including, for convenience, his diary; the second, his Farewell Address.

In his early letters, he betrayed his deficient education by the frequent misspelling of words, by numerous errors in grammar, and by his style, which, though vigorous, was rough and abrupt. As time passed he corrected these defects in a marked degree, though with all his conscientious efforts, his diction never approached that of the scholar.

Through a mistaken idea of patriotism, Mr. Sparks, in his edition of Washington's "Writings," has eliminated from the early letters the most glaring blunders which were originally scattered over them. Nevertheless, there abound in great profusion such passages as the two following. The first is a short extract from his diary:

"Feb. 15. Went to a ball at Alexandria, where music and dancing was the chief entertainment; however, in a convenient room detached for the purpose, abounded great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits, with tea and coffee, which the drinkers of could not distinguish from hot water sweetened."

The expression "which the drinkers of" is inelegant, to say the least; while the plan of detaching a room for the purpose of serving refreshments in it, is certainly a novel one. What he probably meant to say was, that these refreshments were served in an adjoining room, convenient for the purpose.

The second example, which is taken from a letter, reads:

"It is with the greatest concern I acquaint you, that Mr. Ward, ensign in Captain Trent's company, was compelled to surrender his small fort at the Fork of the Monongahela to the French, on the 17th instant, who fell down from Venango, with a fleet of three hundred and sixty batteaux and canoes, upwards of one thousand men, and eighteen pieces of artillery, which they planted against the fort, drew up their men, and sent the enclosed summons to Mr. Ward, who, having an inconsiderable number of men, and no cannon to make a proper defense, was obliged to surrender."

The most important fact, namely, that Mr. Ward was obliged to surrender, is stated both at the opening and at the close of the sentence. In the meantime the subject of the sentence, at first Washington himself, becomes respectively

Mr. Ward, the French, and, at last, Mr. Ward again. There is a confusion of antecedents which results in ambiguity.

The chief cause of all this trouble was, that the writer endeavored to convey all his information in one sentence.

Notwithstanding its errors, this extract serves to illustrate his manner of writing a business letter. He would attack the point under discussion at once, and when he had expressed his opinion concerning it, would close his letter with little ceremony. When he gave directions, he gave them with great explicitness, leaving no one in doubt as to his intentions with respect to the subject in hand.

That portion of his correspondence which we may regard as letters of friendship, belongs to a later portion of his life than the letter above quoted, and is pervaded by a certain lofty kindliness of tone which cannot escape our notice. Even toward his most intimate friends, this quality was scarcely ever wholly suppressed: he was frank, but dignified.

In a

There is one exception to this rule. letter to the Marquis de Chastellux, dated April 25th, 1788, Washington writes in a light, humorous vein, strikingly different from that to which we are accustomed. A part of the letter runs as follows:"My Dear Marquis :

In reading your very friendly and acceptable letter, of 21st Decr., 1787, which came to hand by the last mail, I was, as you may well suppose, not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain American words, 'my wife.' A wife! Well, my dear Marquis, I can hardly refrain from smiling to find you are caught at last. I saw by the eulogium you often made on the happiness of domestic life in America, that you had swallowed the bait, and that you would as surely be taken, one day or another, as that you were a philosopher and a soldier. So your day has at length come. I am glad of it with all my heart and soul. It is quite good enough for you. Now you are well served for coming to fight in favor of the American rebels, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, by catching that terrible contagion domestic felicity - which time, like the smallpox or the plague, a man can have only once in his life: because it commonly lasts him (at least with us in America - I don't know how you manage these matters in France) for his whole lifetime."

Washington continues at some length in this strain, and, before closing, discusses the

political affairs of the country with a little less than his wonted gravity.

In language and expression, the faults of this letter are not disagreeably prominent, and are almost overlooked in the pleasure its good-natured raillery affords us. Yet the Marquis must have had rather an exciting voyage to this continent, since Washington speaks of his "coming to fight in favor of the American rebels, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean."

The parenthetical phrases are too numerous for the preservation either of force or of clearness; while the word "time," in the clause "which time, like the smallpox or the plague, a man can have only once in his life," is not only absolutely unnecessary, but is also a source of confusion, as long as one tries to find a place for it.

Admitting these defects, however, we observe that Washington has acquired a familiarity with the English language which he did not possess in the former extracts. In this his thoughts find utterance more easily, and have not the strained construction so evident in the others. He has apparently progressed in the art of expressing himself.

On the 20th of May, 1792, about four years after this epistle to the Marquis, he wrote to Madison concerning the propriety of making a valedictory address to the American people, on the occasion of his withdrawal from public life. This communication may be found, among other documents relating to the same subject, in Mr. Horace Binney's "Inquiry into the Formation of Washington's Farewell Address;" and the whole collection furnishes adequate evidence to prove that the President sought help in this matter from both Madison and Hamilton.

In the letter above noted, Washington mentioned in detail the points he especially wished to be treated. Madison's draft of the Address was brief, being merely a reproduction of the suggestions sent him.

The project was laid aside for the time, at Washington's re-election; but toward the end of his second term, it was again taken up. He drew up an outline for the address, including what Madison had previously written, and sent the whole to Hamilton. From this Hamilton composed his draft, which, after being revised by Washington, became the final Farewell Address.

The relative extent of the influence of its three compilers may be readily determined from a perusal of the successive drafts made by them. But a few selections will satisfy us as to whether Washington's style continued to improve or not.

We will first examine his letter to Madison. In this occurs the following sentence, one well

worthy of our attention, for it is fearfully and wonderfully made :—

"I would fain carry my request to you farther than is asked above, although I am sensible that your compliance with it must add to your trouble; but as the recess may afford you leisure, and I flatter myself you have dispositions to oblige me, I will, without apology, desire (if the measure in itself should strike you as proper, or likely to produce public good or private honor) that you would turn your thoughts to a valedictory address from me to the public; expressing in plain and modest terms, that, having been honored with the Presidential chair, and to the best of my abilities contributed to the organization and administration of the governmentthat having arrived at a period of life when the private walks of it, in the shades of retirement, become necessary and will be most pleasing to me;-(and as the spirit of the government may render a rotation in the elective officers of it more congenial with the ideas [the people have] of liberty and of safety)-and that I take my leave of them as a public man, and, in bidding them adieu, retaining no other concern than such as will arise from fervent wishes for the prosperity of my country, I take the liberty of my departure from civil [life], as I formerly did at my military exit, to invoke a continuation of the blessings of Providence upon it, and upon 1 those who are the supporters of its interests, and the promoters of harmony, order, and good government."

This sentence numbers two hundred and forty-five words—only. The sense falls naturally into five distinct divisions. The first division relates to Washington's diffidence in making the request; the second, to the request itself, i. e., the preparation of an address; the third, to his appreciation of the honors conferred upon him, and to one reason — - that of approaching age- for retirement from public [life]; the fourth gives a political reason for his retirement; and the fifth dwells upon the patriotism of his feelings.

In the first of these divisions, the expression "I would fain carry my request to you farther than is asked above," is open to criticism, because he speaks of a request being carried and asked at the same time,- a thing manifestly incongruous. Moreover, a request can be carried no further, either literally or figuratively, than to the person of whom it is made. Hence, the better phrase would be: make a still greater request of you.

Passing for the moment the figurative language which mars the third division, we find in the fifth only such complications as might be looked for in a sentence of this length. He says, "and in bidding them adieu, retaining no other concern than such as will arise from fervent wishes for the prosperity of my country, I take the liberty of my departure from civil [life], as I formerly did at my military exit, to invoke a continuation of the blessings of Providence

upon it, and upon all those who are the supporters of its interests, and the promoters of harmony, order, and good government."

The first antecedent of "it," upon which he wished to "invoke the blessings of Providence," is his "military exit;" the second, his "departure from civil [life]," and the third, the one to which "it" undoubtedly refers, is the prosperity of his country.

In the phrase, "I take the liberty of my departure," "liberty" is used instead of occasion.

Now as to the figurative language in the third division: "that having arrived at a period of life when the private walks of it, in the shades of retirement, become necessary and will be most pleasing to me." "It" refers to the "period of life," and time can have no walks of either public or private character; life may have, time does not. Further, shades are of too fleeting a nature to walk in, even figuratively. We may walk in the shade of retirement, or amid the shades, but not in the shades. Lastly, the expression, "private walks" of life, signifies, in itself, complete retirement.

Madison, as has been said, merely reproduced Washington's suggestions in his draft of the Address; so we find this extract almost unchanged: "Being, moreover, still further advanced in the decline of life, I am every day more sensible, that the increasing weight of years renders the private walks of it, in the shade of retirement, as necessary as they will be acceptable to

me."

Besides the tautological error noted above, it contains still another in the synonymous expressions: "still further advanced in the decline of life," and "the increasing weight of years.' It remained for Hamilton, in his draft, to clothe the thought in the most fitting terms: "And every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome."

We have now examined a long sentence of Washington's, and have seen how a portion of it was remodelled by Hamilton. We will now look at one of Hamilton's, and see how it prospered under the finishing touch of Washington. It is to be found in Hamilton's draft of the Address.

revenue which the public exigencies dictate, is, in an especial manner, the duty and interest of the citizens of every State."

The thought is clearly and directly stated, the clauses logically arranged and becoming longer and stronger as they approach the end of the sentence.

After leaving the hands of Washington, some of the force and clearness throughout has been lost, and the rhetorical effect weakened by the loose arrangement of the concluding clauses. It now reads:

"To facilitate to them" (the representatives) "the performance of duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate."

The dependent clause at the end is decidedly Washingtonian. As a work of literary merit, if compared with what has a just claim to be called literature, the Farewell Address will most certainly suffer from the comparison. But in directness, in purity of thought and motive, it stands at the head of all our state papers. These qualities it owes to Washington. What credit may be derived from clearness, nicelybalanced sentences, and a more polished style, must be given to Hamilton.

Washington's early style was labored and full of mistakes, chiefly either of a grammatical or of an orthographical nature: a misuse of words, a confusion in the arrangement of phrases. In his later work, these smaller faults were corrected in a great measure; and his errors involved clauses instead of phrases, paragraphs instead of clauses. In all his writings he disclosed a tendency to use certain set expressions; as, for instance, at the time when a war with France was imminent, he spoke continually of his return to military life, as "reappearing on a public theatre."

His language was formal,-was stately,even in an age of formality; but it lacked polish. His style, though direct, was heavy. His ideas, whet' er great or small, were all marshalled along with the same military precision and ceremony. Still, on rare occasions, he had the power to make them move to a lively quickstep, when he indulged in that genial humor, so unexpected and so pleasing.

F. A. HERRINGTON.

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Prefer "I fear" to "I am afraid it will not be fine to-morrow."

The phrase “I never remember to have seen him," though commonly heard, is objectionable. Say "I do not remember ever to have seen him.” Do not say "This road takes you to Cleveland." Say "This road leads (or leads one) to Cleveland."

Prefer "Where did you go?" to "Where did you go to?"

Instead of "Your's truly" write "Yours truly." Yours is the double possessive of you. Prefer "In the writings of even great men to "In the writings even of great men."

Use fewer in lieu of less in the following sentence: "No man ever had less friends or more enemies."

Use life instead of death in the following: "One man was so injured that his death was despaired of."

For were substitute was in the following sentence: "Neither men nor money were wanting for the service."

Substitute would for should in the following sentence: "He hoped that money should have been given him."

Avoid the ambiguity seen in the following statement: "A self-made man came to the Klondyke with only one shirt to his back, and, since then, he has contrived to accumulate over fifty thousand."

Correct the following advertisement: "Two old women want washing." Here there is a double ambiguity; both verb and participle are ambiguous. What the old women meant to say was, they desired to take in washing;" while, as the advertisement reads, it might mean that they require to be washed."

Remember that, in standard modern English, two negatives amount to an affirmative. Therefore, in the following, substitute any for none: "Do not give him none of your mc ley."

Prefer the expression "I think [or believe] it is not true" to "I do not think it is true."

Use nearly for near in the sentence: "He is not near so rich as Tom."

Do not say, "He left it alone," for "He let it alone."

Do not use demean for bemean. To demean oneself is to behave oneself; to bemean oneself is to lower or disgrace oneself.

Omit the in the following sentence: "Which do you the more admire : him or her?"

Use the present tense [I have or take — pleasure, etc.,] in the following sentence: "I shall have pleasure in accepting your invitation to dinner."

Do not use a plural verb or pronoun with each or every. Say: "Each day and each hour [or, everyday and every hour] brings its cares."

The phrase old veterans is tautological. The word veterans implies length of service.

Prepositions

These are uninflected words, and besides the prepositions, properly so-called, nouns, adjectives, verbs, participles, and adverbs, and even combinations of words, are employed as prepositions. Almost all the real prepositions admit of being used to express every variety of relation between the predicate and its objects, and between a subject and its attributes; but originally they all expressed the relation of place alone. The prepositions, properly so-called, and other words used for prepositions, are such as above, about, across, after, against, along, among, at, before, behind, beside, between, beyond, by, concerning, down, during, from, in, into, of, off, on, over, save, since, through, till, to, towards, up, upon, with, etc. The following are some of the combinations of words used as prepositions: Because of, by means of, on account of, in behalf of, instead of, according to, adjacent to, contrary to, with respect to, etc. Verbs frequently have prepositions as affixes, to modify their signification; and sometimes prepositions are used as adverbial objects in our language, which in other tongues are compounded with the verb; thus, he undertook that business willingly; they have overcome their enemies; what would I not undergo for you? "they went over to the enemy;" "the poet passes it over as hastily as he can;' "to set forth great things by small;" "I shall set out for New York to-morrow."

HOW TO USE PREPOSITIONS.

ABOUT About and around or round often AROUND coincide in meaning.

A chain about his neck, around his neck; look about you, around you. ABOUT CONCERNING

RESPECTING

are in many instances interchangeable.

About is of Anglo-Saxon oriTOUCHING gin, and in more frequent use. The others are from the French.

A question about, concerning, respecting, touching, justice.

ABOVE Above refers to a higher position. OVER Over carrries an idea of extension above an object from one side of it to the other. The opposite of over is under; the opposites of above are below and beneath.

With over the idea of contact of the upper with the lower body may or may not exist; with above the idea of contact is excluded.

Hence we have: Search after or for; hunt after or for; strive after or for; eager for or after; and thirst after or for, etc.

AGAINST. See FROM. Amid (the poetic form)

AMID or AMIDST and amidst denotes AMONG or AMONGST position "in the middle of" or "completely surrounded by." They generally imply quantity; while among and amongst always imply number, or a collection of distinct objects with which something is mingled or intermixed.

Amidst snow and rain. Amid weaknesses; amidst difficulties and disasters; amidst many interruptions.

Among these books were several quartos. Amid some sylvan scene. - Longfellow. We may say oranges gleaming amidst leaves," the leaves being considered as quantity.

Those squalid cabins and uncleared woods amidst which he was born.-Macaulay. AROUND are interchangeable; but the shorter ROUND form, round, is more frequently used.

The nation.... rallied round the sovereign.Macaulay.

AT Both at and by denote nearness. At is By distinguished from in by not making reference to the interior prominent. It is more specific than by, since it usually implies a customary or particular nearness.

"He stood at the door,"-that is, facing it, as is customary in coming in or going out.

"He stood by the door,"- that is, near it, or at the side of it.

Similarly "sitting at the table" differs from "sitting by the table."

At sometimes approaches by and with in meaning; as, I was astonished at or by the sight; surprised at or by; delighted at, by, or with; offended at or with.

BETWEEN Between etymologically means by AMONG twain or two. Among refers to more than two objects.

Hence we should say, The money was divided among several persons, between the two claim

ants.

BUT

are used in nearly the same sense. EXCEPT Except perhaps marks exclusion SAVE more pointedly. Excepting is the same as except, but less used. Save is chiefly found in poetry.

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By By is used with the immediate or essenWITH tial agent; with includes an idea of companionship, and hence precedes an object mediately operative, as an assistant (e. g., an instrument which an agent employs).

Whenever a conscious agent is implied, by must be used; the instrumentality takes with. The field was dug up by the laborer with his spade. A reed shaken by the wind.

The weapons with which great battles have been won.- Lewes.

Overcome by the sun; with his heat.
Struck by a thunderbolt.

Jupiter struck him with a thunderbolt. By patience and perseverance the work will be completed.

This implies that patience and perseverance were the essential means.

With patience and perseverance, etc.

This is equally correct; but the with points out that the means (patience and perseverance) are useful auxiliaries.

The roads were black with coal dust, the brick houses dingy with smoke.- George Eliot. FOR For, during, and through, someDURING times are interchangeable. THROUGH He stopped there for some time, or during some time. We loved each other for thirty years.- Goldsmith.

A contest protracted through three generations.-Macaulay.

FROM
From with verbs of movement has
OUT OF the meaning of away from an object,
and is the opposite of to or towards.

Out of with verbs of movement has the meaning of proceeding from the inside of anything, and is the opposite of into and in.

Banished from, or out of, the country.
My uncle leaped from the coach.
My uncle leaped out of the coach.

FROM OF

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Of, in early usage, had the meaning of from. This meaning is still retained, and hence of is sometimes interchangeable with from.

He arose of the dead. —Old English. North of the Tropic of Cancer. Thank God, you are rid of a knave. I'll rid you from the fear of them.-Shakespeare.

Hence we have: free of, free from; secure of, secure from; received of, received from; demand of, demand from; clear of, clear from; cleanse of, cleanse from; learn of, learn from, etc.

[To be Continued.]