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There may remain a suspicion that we over-rate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as bodies appear more gigantic on account of their being disproportioned and misshapen. History of G. Britain, Vol. I. p. 138. This is studying variety in a period where the beauty lies in uniformity. Better thus:

There may remain a suspicion that we over-rate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as we over-rate the greatness of bodies that are disproportioned and mis-shapen.

Next as to the length of the members that signify the resembling objects. To produce a resemblance between such members, they ought not only to be constructed in the same manner, but as nearly as possible be equal in length. By neglecting this circumstance, the following example is defective in neatness:

As the performance of all other religious duties will not avail in the sight of God, without charity; so neither will the discharge of all other ministerial duties avail in the sight of men, without a faithful discharge of this principal duty.

Dissertation upon parties, Dedication. In the following passage are accumulated all the errors that a period expressing a resemblance can well admit.

Ministers are answerable for every thing done to the prejudice of the constitution, in the same proportion as the preservation of the constitution in its purity and vigour, or the perverting and weakening it, are of greater consequence to the nation, than any other instances of good or bad governDissertation upon parties, Dedication.

ment.

Next of a comparison where things are opposed to each other. And here it must be obvious, that if resemblance ought to be studied in the words which express two resembling objects, there is equal reason for studying opposition in the words which express contrasted objects. This rule will be best illustrated by examples of deviations from

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A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes. Spectator, No. 399.

Here the opposition in the thought is neglected in the words, which at first view seem to import, that the friend and the enemy are employed in different matters, without any relation to each other, whether of resemblance or of opposition. And therefore the contrast or opposition will be better marked by expressing the thought as follows:

A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy his crimes.

The following are examples of the same kind.

The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he recommends himself to the applause of those about him. Ibid. No. 73.

Better:

The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he gains that of others.

Sicut in frugibus pecudibusque, non tantum semina ad servandum indolem valent, quantum terræ proprietas cœlique, sub quo aluntur, mutat. Livy, lib. xxxviii. sect. 17.

We proceed to a rule of a different kind. During the course of a period, the scene ought to be continued without variation: the changing from person to person, from subject to subject, or from person to subject, within the bounds of a single period, distracts the mind, and affords no time for a solid impression. I illustrate this rule by giving examples of deviations from it.

Honos alit artes, omnesque incenduntur ad studia gloriâ; jacentque ea semper quæ apud quosque improbantur.

Cicero, Tuscul. quæst. l. i.

Speaking of the distemper contracted by Alexander bathing in the river Cydnus, and of the cure offered by Philip the physician:

Inter hac à Parmenione fidissimo purpuratorum, literas ac-、 cipit, quibus ei denunciabat, ne salutem suam Philippo committeret. Quintus Curtius, l. iii. cap. 6.

Hook, in his Roman history, speaking of Eumenes, who had been beat to the ground with a stone, says,

After a short time he came to himself; and the next day, they put him on board his ship, which conveyed him first to Corinth, and thence to the island of Egina.

I give another example of a period which is unpleasant, even by a very slight deviation from the rule:

That sort of instruction which is acquired by inculcating an important moral truth, &c.

This expression includes two persons, oné acquir. ing and one inculcating; and the scene is changed without necessity. To avoid this blemish, the thought may be expressed thus:

That sort of instruction which is afforded by inculcating, &c.

The bad effect of such change of person is remarkable in the following passage.

The Britons, daily harassed by cruel inroads from the Picts, were forced to call in the Saxons for their defence, who con sequently reduced the greatest part of the island to their own power, drove the Britons into the most remote and mountainous parts, and the rest of the country, in customs, religion, and language, became wholly Saxons.

Letter to the Lord High Treasurer. Swift. The following passage has a change from subject to person.

This prostitution of praise is not only a deceit upon the gross of mankind, who take their notion of characters from the learned; but also the better sort must by this means lose some part at least of that desire of fame which is the incentive to generous actions, when they find it promiscuously bestowed on the meritorious and undeserving. Guardian, No. 4.

Even so slight a change as to vary the construction in the same period, is unpleasant:

Annibal luce prima, Balearibus levique alia armatura præmissa, transgressus flumen, ut quosque traduxerat, ita in acie locabat; Gallos Hispanosque equites prope ripam lævo in cornu adversus Romanum equitatum; dextrum corņu Numidis equitibus datum. Tit. Liv. l. xxii. sect. 46.

Speaking of Hannibal's elephants drove back by the enemy upon his own army:

Eo magis ruere in suos bell'uæ, tantoque majorem stragem edere quam inter hostes ediderant, quanto acrius pavor consternatam agit, quam insidentis magistri imperio regitur. Liv. l. xxvii. sect. 14.

This passage is also faulty in a different respect, that there is no resemblance between the members of the sentence, though they express a simile.

The present head, which relates to the choice of materials, shall be closed with a rule concerning the use of copulatives. Longinus observes, that it. animates a period to drop the copulatives; and he gives the following example from Xenophon.

Closing their shields together, they were push'd, they fought, they slew, they were slain.

Treatise of the Sublime, cap. xvi. The reason I take to be what follows. A continued sound, if not loud, tends to lay us asleep: an interrupted sound rouses and animates by its repeated impulses. Thus feet composed of syllables, being pronounced with a sensible interval between each, make more lively impressions than can be made by a continued sound. A period of which the members are connected by copulatives, produceth an effect upon the mind approaching to that of a continued sound; and therefore the suppressing copulatives must animate a description. It produces a different effect akin to that mentioned: the members of a period connected by proper copulatives, glide

smoothly and gently along; and are a proof of sedateness and leisure in the speaker: on the other hand, one in the hurry of passion, neglecting copulatives and other particles, expresses the principal image only; and for that reason, hurry or quick action is best expressed without copulatives:

Yeni, vidi, vici.

Ité :

Ferte citi flammas, date vela, impellite remos.

Æneid, iv. 593.

Quis globus, O civis, caligine volvitur atra?
Ferte citi ferrum, dete tela, scandite muros.
Hostis adest, eja.

Eneid, ix. 37.

In this view Longinus* justly compares copulatives in a period to strait tying, which in a race obstructs the freedom of motion.

It follows, that a plurality of copulatives in the same period ought to be avoided for if the laying aside copulatives give force and liveliness, a redundancy of them must render the period languid. I appeal to the following instance, though there are but two copulatives.

Upon looking over the letters of my female correspondents, I find several from women complaining of jealous husbands; and at the same time protesting their own innocence, and desiring my advice upon this occasion. Spectator, No. 170.

I except the case where the words are intended to express the coldness of the speaker; for there the redundancy of copulatives is a beauty :

Dining one day at an alderman's in the city, Peter observed him expatiating after the manner of his brethren, in the praises of a sirloin of beef. "Beef," said the sage magistrate, "is the king of meat: Beef comprehends in it the "quintessence of partridge, and quail, and venison, and phea"sant, and plum-pudding, and custard."

Tale of a Tub, sect. 4.

* Treatise of the Sublime, cap. xvi.

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