in that of the apostle, "Behold, now is the accepted "time: behold, now is the day of salvation ‡." Lastly, the place after an expletive: "There came "no more such abundance of spices as these which "the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon §." Perhaps the word there, in this passage, cannot properly be termed an expletive; for though it be in itself insignificant, the idiom of the language renders it necessary in this disposition of the sentence; for such is the power of this particle, that by its means even the simple tenses of the verb can be made to precede the nominative, without the appearance of interrogation. For, when we interrogate, we must say, "Came "there" or, Did there come" A little attention will satisfy us, that the verb in the passage produced, ought to occupy the emphatical place, as the comparison is purely of what was brought into the country then, and what was at any time imported afterwards. Even though the particle there be preceded by the copulative, it will make no odds on the value of the place immediately following. "there appeared to them, Elias, with Moses *" The apparition is here the striking circumstance. And, the first place that is occupied by a significant term is still the emphatical place. In all the three preceding quotations from scripture, the arrangement is the same in the original, and in most of the ancient trans

2 Cor. vi. 2.

§ 1 Kings x. 10. * Mark ix. 4. Gr. Και ώφθη αυτοις Ηλιας συν Μωσεί

"And

Of vivacity as depending on the arrangenient of the words.

lations, as it is with us. more, especially in regard ed t.

The modern versions vary to the passage last quot

SOMETIMES indeed it is necessary, in order to set an eminent object in the most conspicuous light, to depart a little from the ordinary mode of composition, as well as of arrangement. The following is an example in this way: "Your fathers, where are they? "and the prophets, do they live for ever ?". A colder writer would have satisfied himself with saying, "Where are your fathers? and do the prophets " live for ever?" But who that has the least spark of imagination, sees not how languid the latter expres.. sion is, when compared with the former. The sentiment intended to be conveyed in both, namely, the frailty and mortality of man, is one of those obvious truths, which it is impossible for any person in his senses to call in question. To introduce the mention of it, in order to engage my assent to what nobody ever denied or doubted, would be of no consequence

+ In Italian, Diodati renders it," Et Elia apparue loro, insieme 66 con Moise." In French, Le Clerc, " Ensuite Elie et Moïse leur "apparurent." Beausobre, "Ils virent aussi paroître Moïse et "Elie." Saci, "Et ils virent paroître Elie et Moïse." It would seem that neither of these tongues can easily admit the simple tense to precede both its nominative and its regimen. By the aid of the particle there, this is done in English without ambiguity, and without violence to the idiom of the language.

‡ Zech. i. 5.

at all; but it is of consequence to rouse my attention to a truth, which so nearly concerns every man, and which is, nevertheless, so little attended to by any. In such cases, the end of speaking is not to make us believe, but to make us feel. It is the heart, and not the head, which ought to be addressed. And nothing can be better adapted to this purpose, than first, as it were independently, to raise clear ideas in the imagination; and then, by the abruptness of an unexpected question, to send us to seek for the archetypes.

FROM all the examples above quoted, those especially taken from holy writ, the learned reader, after comparing them carefully, both with the original, and with the translations cited in the margin, will be enabled to deduce, with as much certainty as the nature of the question admits, that that arrangement which I call rhetorical, as contributing to vivacity and animation, is, in the strictest sense of the word, agreeably to what hath been already suggested, a natural arrangement; that the principle which leads to it, operates similarily on every people, and in every language, though it is much more checked by the idiom of some tongues than by that of others; that, on the contrary, the more common, and what for distinction's sake I call the grammatical order, is in a great measure an arrangement of convention, and differs considerably in

Of vivacity as depending on the arrangement of the words,

different languages. He will discover also, that to render the artificial or conventional arrangement as it were sacred and inviolable, by representing every deviation (whatever be the subject, whatever be the design of the work) as a trespass against the laws of composition in the language, is one of the most effectual ways of stinting the powers of elocution, and even of damping the vigour both of imagination and of passion. I observe this the rather, that in my apprehension, the criticism that prevails amongst us at present leans too much this way. No man is more sensible of the excellence of purity and perspicuity, properly so called; but I would not hastily give up

All the French critics are not so immoderately national as Bouhours. Since composing the foregoing observations, I have been shown a book entitled, Traité de la formation mechanique des langues. The sentiments of the author on this subject, are entirely coincident with mine. He refers to some other treatises, particularly to one on Inversion by M. de Batteux, which I have not seen. Concerning it he says, "Ceux qui l'auront lu, verront que c'est le défaut de terminaisons propres à distinguer le nomina"tif de l'accusatif, que nous a forcé à prendre cet ordre moins na"turel qu'on ne le croit ; que l'inversion est dans nôtre langue, non "dans la langue latine, comme on se le figure: que les mots étant plus faits pour l'homme que pour les choses, l'ordre essentiel à "suivre dans le discours représentatif de l'idée des objets n'est pas "tant la marche commune des choses dans la nature, que la suc "sion véritable des pensées, la rapidité des sentimens, ou de l'intér“êt du cœur, la fidélité de l'image dans le tableau de l'action; que "le latin, en préférant ces points capitaux, procede plus naturel"lement que le françois," &c.

succes

some not inconsiderable advantages of the English tongue, in respect both of eloquence and of poetry, merely in exchange for the French netteté.

I SHOULD next proceed to make some remarks on the disposition and the form of the clauses in complex sentences; for though some of the examples already produced are properly complex, in these I have only considered the arrangement of the words in the principal member, and not the disposition of the members. But before I enter on this other discussion, it will be proper to observe, and by some suitable examples to illustrate the observation, that the complex are not so favourable to a vivacious diction as the simple sentences, or such as consist of two clauses at the

most.

Of all the parts of speech, the conjunctions are the most unfriendly to vivacity; and next to them the relative pronouns, as partaking of the nature of conjunction. It is by these parts, less significant in themselves, that the more significant parts, particularly the members of complex sentences, are knit together. The frequent recurrence, therefore, of such feeble plements, cannot fail to prove tiresome, especially in pieces wherein an enlivened and animated diction might naturally be expected. But nowhere hath simplicity in the expression a better effect in invigorating the sentiments, than in poetical description on interesting subjects. Consider the song composed by

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