It is judgment which points out the propriety of the word, and it is the propriety of the expression which

scurity in the expression; for to have no meaning is but one degree worse than to have a meaning that is not understood."-Elements of Criticism, c. xviii., § 2, p. 20, 54.

"Perspicuity," says Dr. BLAIR, "is the fundamental quality of style; a quality so essential in every kind of writing, that for the want of it nothing can atone. Without this, the richest ornaments of style only glimmer through the dark, and puzzle instead of pleasing the reader. This, therefore, must be our first object, to make our meaning clearly and fully understood, and understood without the least difficulty. 'Oratio,' says QUINTILIAN, 'debet negligente quoque audientibus esse aperta: ut in animum audientis, sicut sol in oculos, etiamsi in eum non intendatur, occurrat. Quare non solum ut intelligere possit, sed ne omnino possit non intelligere, curandum.' If we are obliged to follow a writer with much care, to pause, and to read over his sentences a second time in order to comprehend them fully, he will never please us long. Mankind are too indolent to relish so much labour. They may pretend to admire the author's depth after they have discovered his meaning, but they will seldom be inclined to take up his work a second time.

"The great source of a loose style, in opposition to precision, is the injudicious use of those words termed synonymous. They are so called because they agree in expressing one principal idea; but for the most part, if not always, they express it with some diversity in the circumstances. They are varied by some accessory idea which every word introduces, and which forms the distinction between them. Hardly in any language are there two

renders it perspicuous. But to give perspicuity to the ideas, it is necessary to be thoroughly informed. The writer who is obliged to learn while he composes is generally obscure. He, on the contrary, who hath, during a length of time, brought his knowledge to maturity, becomes sufficiently master of his subject to banish from his style ambiguity, double meaning, and declamation.

Obscurity proceeds from ignorance when the expression is void of sense, from design when it is far-fetched, from negligence when the thought is

words that convey precisely the same idea; a person thoroughly conversant in the propriety of the language will always be able to observe something that distinguishes them. As they are like different shades of the same colour, an accurate writer can employ them to great advantage, by using them so as to heighten and to finish the picture which he gives us. He supplies by one what was wanting in the other, to the force or to the lustre of the image which he means to exhibit; but, in order to this end, he must be extremely attentive to the choice which he makes of them; for the bulk of writers are very apt to confound them with each other, and to employ them carelessly merely, for the sake of filling up a period, or of rounding and diversifying the language, as if their signification were exactly the same, while in truth it is not. Hence a certain mist and indistinctness is unwarily thrown over style."-BLAIR'S Lectures, vol. i., p. 185, 195.

The whole of Dr. BLAIR's lecture on perspicuity and precision of style is well worth perusal. See also, on this subject, WARD's System of Oratory, vol. i., p. 310, &c.

confused, and from depravity of taste when the word is more abstract than the idea. The style of sacred eloquence ought to be clear, and in some sort transparent. The rapidity of utterance, which never allows time for examination, requires in a sermon all the perspicuity of the most familiar language.*

* "We should use," says FENELON, "a simple, exact, easy style, that lays everything open to the reader, and even prevents his attention. When an author writes for the public, he should take all the pains imaginable to prevent his reader's having any. All the labour should be his own, and he should leave nothing but pleasure and instruction to his readers. They should never be put to the trouble of finding out his meaning. None but those who deal in riddles are allowed to puzzle people. Augustus would rather have frequent repetitions used, than that there should be the least degree of obscurity in a discourse. Indeed, the first care of one that writes only to be understood, is to ease his readers by expressing himself clearly." -FENELON'S Letter to the French Academy, § v., p. 194.

"Nobis prima sit virtus perspicuitas, propria verba, rectus ordo, non in longum dilata conclusio; nihil neque desit, neque superfluat. Ita sermo et doctis probabilis, et planus imperitis est."-QUINT., Inst., lib. viii., c. ii.

M. Rollin enforces the observation of M. Maury respecting the importance of perspicuity in public speakers, when he says, "It is a vicious taste in some orators to imagine that they have a great deal of understanding when much is required to comprehend them. Such do not consider that every discourse which wants an interpreter is a very bad one. The supreme perfection of a speaker's style should be to please the unlearned as well as the learned, Q

SECTION XXXVII.

OF STRIKING PASSAGES.

PERSPICUITY is never prejudicial either to depth or energy. The more striking a passage is, the clearer should be the expression. One loves to find in a discourse some of those grand and new ideas, which delight as if they were the fruit of our own invention; for "truth," says Fontenelle, "enters so natu

by exhibiting an abundance of graces for the latter, and being very conspicuous for the former. St. Austin wrote at first against the Manichees in a flowery and sublime style, whence his writings were not intelligible to those who had but a moderate share of learning, at least not without great difficulty. Upon this he was told that, if he desired to have his works more generally useful, he must write in the plain and common style, so as to be equally intelligible to the learned and the unlearned. The holy father received this advice with his usual humility, and made proper use of it in the books he afterward wrote against the heretics, and in his sermons. His example ought to be the standard of all those who are to instruct others.

"As obscurity is the fault which the preacher must chiefly avoid, and since his auditors are not allowed to interrupt him when they meet with anything obscure, St. Austin advises him to read in the eyes and countenances of his auditors whether they understand him or not; and to repeat the same thing, by giving it different turns, till he perceives he is understood."-ROLLIN's Belles Lettres, vol. ii., c. iii., § iv., p. 305–307.

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rally into the mind, that when it is at first apprehended, it seems as if nothing more were done than to call it to remembrance."* Such is the sentiment we experience when reading this sublime passage of Bossuet: "God, in the sacred Scriptures, derides idols which bear the title of gods. 'Where are your gods?' saith he to the people; those gods in whom you have put your trust? Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.'t Observe, my brethren, that this great God, this true God, and He who alone deserves by his beneficence the majesty of this title, would have us to understand that it is unpardonable presumption to bear the name of God without supporting so great a name by extensive beneficence. This noble idea of power is far different from that which the mighty of the earth form in their minds. They imagine that their grandeur shines forth more by laying waste than by conferring benefits; by wars, by carnage, by the proud enterprises of those destroyers of provinces whom we call conquerors."

Such, also, is the admiration excited by that beautiful passage in the funeral oration for Louis XV. by M. de Beauvais, bishop of Sennes, who in this kind of Christian eloquence possesses a reputation as brilliant as it is merited.

* Plurality of Worlds. Second evening. + Deut., xxxii., 37, 38.

Fragment of a sermon "on the Means of Sanctifying Grandeur," for the fourth Sunday of Lent.