"They were persons of such moderate intellects, even before they were impaired by their passion, that their irregularities could not furnish sufficient variety of folly."1

"Steele's father, who is said to have been a lawyer, died before he had reached his sixth year." 2

"At length, worn out by the annoyance, he deliberately resolved not to enter on another year of existence, - paid all his debts, wrapped up in separate papers the amount of the weekly demands, waited, pistol in hand, the night of the 31st December, and as the clock struck twelve fired it into his mouth." 8

"With the appearance of these two journals the press assumed a much freer and bolder tone than ever before. It criticised the actions of the Government and then began to publish Parliamentary reports and proceedings. It soon followed that prominent politicians and statesmen as well began to write for the papers.' "There was 5 also a number of cousins, who were about the same age, and were always laughing, though it was never quite clear what it was about."

"The present business of these pages is with the dragon who had his retreat in Mr. Pecksniff's neighbourhood; and that courteous animal being already on the carpet, there is nothing in the way of its immediate transaction."

"It was the loss of his son, on whom he had looked with an affection which belonged to his character, with an exaggerated admiration which was a most pardonable exercise of his fancy, which struck the fatal blow to his spirit as well as to his body." 8

"Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty emperor in whose dominions the Father of Waters begins his course; whose bounty pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over half the world the harvests of Egypt."

1 The Spectator, No. 30.

2 Encyclopædia Britannica (ninth edition); Richard Steele.

8 Henry Maudsley: Hallucinations of the Senses. The Fortnightly

Review, Sept. 1, 1878.

4 Student's theme.

• Disraeli: Endymion, chap. lii.

5 See page 57.

Dickens: Martin Chuzzlewit, chap. iii.

8 F.D. Maurice: The Friendship of Books and Other Lectures, lect. xi 9 Samuel Johnson: Rasselas, chap. i.

"To have the house of God unfinished, with a perfectly finished statue of himself beside it, would be, I think, most distasteful to him."1

A similar fault is the use of obscure demonstrative adjectives. For example:

"It is seriously claimed that the prohibitory tariff tax upon carpet wools will lead to the breeding of that class of sheep in this country." 1

The judicious use of connective particles

"the joints or hinges on which sentences turn" 3-promotes clearness. "A close reasoner and a good writer in general1 may be known by his pertinent use of connecExamples of the skilful use of connective par

Use and misuse of connectives.

tives." 5

ticles are:

"The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these two: First, whether you ought to concede; and secondly, what your concession ought to be. On the first of these questions we have gained (as I have just taken the liberty of observing to you) some ground. But I am sensible that a good deal more is still to be done. Indeed, sir, to enable us to determine both on the one and the other of these great questions with a firm and precise judgment, I think it may be necessary to consider distinctly the true nature and the peculiar circumstances of the object which we have before us. Because after all our struggle, whether we will or not, we must govern America according to that nature and to those circumstances, and not according to our own imaginations; nor according to abstract ideas of right; by no means according to mere general theories of government, the resort to which appears to me, in our present situation, no better than arrant trifling. I shali therefore endeavour, with your leave, to lay before you some of the most material of these circumstances." 6

1 American newspaper.

8 Blair: Lectures on Rhetoric, lect. xii.

4 Is in general ambiguous?

Coleridge: Table Talk.

2 See page 12.

• Burke: Speech on Conciliation with America.

"Such was the spirit of the extreme Puritans, both Presbyterian and Independent. Oliver, indeed, was little disposed to be either a persecutor or a meddler. But Oliver, the head of a party, and consequently, to a great extent, the slave of a party, could not govern altogether according to his own inclinations. Even under his administration many magistrates, within their own jurisdiction, made themselves as odious as Sir Hudibras, interfered with all the pleasures of the neighbourhood, dispersed festive meetings, and put fiddlers in the stocks. Still more formidable was the zeal of the soldiers. . . .

"With the fear and hatred inspired by such a tyranny contempt was largely mingled." 1

Useful as is a connective particle that expresses a real connection of thought, one that serves no purpose is worse than useless, and one used for an unsuitable purpose leads astray.

But and and are frequent offenders in both ways. They are properly used to connect words or clauses closely related in meaning and similar in construction,—but, by way of subtraction or opposition, as in "poor but honest;" and, by way of addition, as in "poor and honest." A composition should never begin with but or with and; for, if nothing precedes the conjunction, there is nothing for it to connect with what follows. A paragraph may so begin when there is real opposition or real connection between two paragraphs as wholes; but usually a new paragraph indicates a break in the sense too important to be bridged by a conjunction.

In the following extract, but is misused at the beginning of a paragraph:

"Simple as the victual was, they were somewhat strengthened by it and by the plentiful water, and as night was now upon them,

1 Macaulay: History of England, vol. i. chap. ii.

it was of no avail for them to go further: so they slept beneath the boughs of the thorn-bushes." (End of chapter xvii.)

"But on the morrow they arose betimes, and broke their fast on that woodland victual, and then went speedily down the mountainside; and Hallblithe saw by the clear morning light that it was indeed the Uttermost House which he had seen across the green waste."1 (Beginning of chapter xviii.)

Objection is sometimes taken to the employment of but or and at the beginning of a sentence; but for this there is much good usage. In some cases, however, but or and at the beginning of a sentence not only serves no purpose, but is misleading, and should therefore be omitted. For example:

"He had wanted a presentable, dignified and reserved wife, a wife who was not silly, who did not simper or smirk, and he had got her. But what he had not recognized was that such characteristics do not make up a woman's soul, but are only one expression of it under certain circumstances, and that the soul that expressed 2 itself in such a way was 2 capable of expressing itself differently under other circumstances." 8

In this passage, but at the beginning of the second sentence is objectionable not only because it offends against clearness, but also because, in connection with the following but, it offends against ease.

But is sometimes so used as to perplex the reader. For example:

"Her white hands lay in his great brown paws, like little patches of snow in some sheltered nook of the hills. But they were warm with life and love, and she was very fair."4

In this passage, the full meaning of the second sentence is, "But they were not like snow, for they were warm," etc. But connects the preceding sentence with an idea which the reader is expected to supply for himself.

1 William Morris: The Story of the Glittering Plain.

2 See page 65.

4 Ibid., book ii. chap. ii.

8 E. F. Benson: The Rubicon, book i. chap. iii.

In the following example, but is misused in a similar way: "Miss Raeburn pushed back her chair with a sharp noise. But her brother was still peeling his pear, and no one else moved.”’1 Even in the middle of a sentence, but is sometimes misused in this way:

"It is a pungent production, containing many quotable passages, but we give it entire in another column.” 2

as a means

And is often used and but sometimes of bringing things together somehow, with no implication of close connection or of co-ordination. It is so used in the Bible, in children's stories, and in books that aim at a conversational style.

While is another conjunction that is misused in various ways:

"The array moved on accordingly; the sound of trumpets and drums again rose amid the acclamations, which had been silent while the King stopped; while the effect of the whole procession resuming its motion, was so splendidly dazzling, that even Alice's anxiety about her father's health was for a moment suspended, while her eyes followed the long line of varied brilliancy that proceeded over the heath." 8

In this sentence, the second while is an awkward substitute for "and." The first "while" is correct, for the meaning is that the trumpets and drums were silent during the time that the King stopped. The third "while" is also correct, for the meaning is that Alice's anxiety was suspended during the time that her eye followed the long line.

"While the Infanta Eulalie is in delicate health, she would be able to endure a trip to Chicago.' "2

In this sentence, while means "though."

"He has fought for it [his Budget] with a good deal of the old Whig tenacity of purpose. He has not been squeezable at all, while he has accepted one or two important amendments, and has fought very dangerous opponents with a certain bonhomie and coolness." "4

1 Mrs. Humphry Ward: Marcella, book i. chap. v.

2 American newspaper.

8 Scott Woodstock, vol. ii. chap. xx.

4 The [London] Spectator, June 23, 1894, p. 844.