communication; the mechanical work of putting down his thoughts absorbs so much of his energy that he cannot be free with a pen. His power over expression needs to be so developed by culture, needs to become so truly a second nature, that his written words shall be a reflection of his truest self, mind and mood alike. Until such mastery is attained, his style belies, not represents himself.

Evidently here is where the culture due to training and practice comes in. The most limpid and natural-seeming style is simply the result of the finer art, which has become so ingrained as to have concealed its processes. Such art does not become unerring with the first attempt, nor with the second; it is the reward only of long labor, and patient subdual of the rebellious elements of expression, until they become an obedient working-tool responding to every touch, and represent not only the writer's thought but himself, in all the rich endowments of his nature.1

Cultivation of literary taste, of hearty sympathy with men and affairs, of skilful workmanship in language; a pretty wellrounded culture is thus laid out for him who would enter the domain of literary art. Such culture can employ as belonging integrally to its fulness not only a man's whole scholarship, however deep or various, but the power and effluence of his whole character.

III.

The Principle of Economy. The foregoing ideals of style, with their various lines of adjustment and culture, may be reduced to one practical object, which, adopting the central

1 See above, p. 20.— Flaubert thus gives expression to his sense of the relation between his thought and himself: "I am growing so peevish about my writing. I am like a man whose ear is true but who plays falsely on the violin: his fingers refuse to reproduce precisely those sounds of which he has the inward sense. Then the tears come rolling down from the poor scraper's eyes and the bow falls from his hand." - Quoted by PATER, Appreciations, p. 30.

idea of Herbert Spencer's Philosophy of Style,1 we may define as the economizing of the reader's attention.

NOTE.

The following is the paragraph of Mr. Spencer's book in which the principle is set forth :

:

"On seeking for some clue to the law underlying these current maxims, we may see shadowed forth in many of them, the importance of economizing the reader's or hearer's attention. To so present ideas that they may be apprehended with the least possible mental effort, is the desideratum towards which most of the rules above quoted point. When we condemn writing that is wordy, or confused, or intricate — when we praise this style as easy, and blame that as fatiguing, we consciously or unconsciously assume this desideratum as our standard of judgment. Regarding language as an apparatus of symbols for the conveyance of thought, we may say that, as in a mechanical apparatus, the more simple and the better arranged its parts, the greater will be the effect produced. In either case, whatever force is absorbed by the machine is deducted from the result. A reader or listener has at each moment but a limited amount of mental power available. To recognize and interpret the symbols presented to him, requires part of this power; to arrange and combine the images suggested requires a further part; and only that part which remains can be used for realizing the thought conveyed. Hence, the more time and attention it takes to receive and understand each sentence, the less time and attention can be given to the contained idea; and the less vividly will that idea be conceived."

If we take economizing the reader's attention to mean employing it to the best advantage, this theory of Spencer's requires a more extended application than he gives it. kinds of subject-matter, too, require a more strenuous attention than others; and there are various kinds as well as various degrees of attention to work for. The following main applications of the principle are important to keep in mind: :

1. The most obvious meaning of economy is, giving the reader less to do; that is, making the words as plain and the grammatical construction as simple as possible, in order that

1 Spencer's Philosophy of Style, one of the classics of rhetoric, is an essay of his volume, Essays, Moral, Political and Esthetic; to be had also separately (New York: D. Appleton & Co.). A well-annotated edition, edited by Professor Scott, is published by Allyn & Bacon, Boston.

the reader's energy, as it is not needed for interpreting the language, may be employed in realizing the thought itself. Every one has observed the futility of a public address when the listeners have to strain their ears to catch the words, or when the words are indistinctly enunciated. In the same way every ambiguity that has to be resolved, every hard construction that has to be studied out, uses up just so much of the reader's available power for nothing; the thought, with all its interest and importance, suffers for it. Economy begins, therefore, with making the expression plain and easy.

2. But some thoughts are in their nature hard or intricate; besides, what is too cheaply obtained is too little valued, in literature as in everything else; and frequently a thought is prized the more from some effort made to master it. This consideration creates no plea against simplicity of word and construction; that need is universal. But it suggests that in many cases it is true economy, instead of giving the reader less to do, to stimulate him to do more; to use such striking language as sets him thinking or awakens his imagination. This kind of economy is what dictates the use of vivid and suggestive language, picturesque imagery, and skilful phrasing and grouping of ideas; it is the economy which makes up in vigor for what is sacrificed in facility.

3. It is to be borne in mind also that by the very progress of the thought a reader's attention is continually being used up; it has to be maintained and reinforced. If an image is roused in his mind, if a train of suggestion is started, every such effect must be cherished and utilized; and here is room for the writer's wisdom. For a subject may be so exhaustively presented as to deaden interest; the reader is given no share\ in the thinking. It is true economy to leave something for him to do; to set him by wise suggestion on the road of the thought, and know what to leave unsaid. It is not easy to give directions for accomplishing this, depending as it does

so much on the writer's delicate knowledge of men; but the fact is to be noted that it is an object to be had in mind.1

4. The reader's æsthetic sense, his sense of congruity and fitness, is to be recognized and conciliated. It is using up attention for nothing when a word of ill connotation or a harsh construction, a crudeness of sound or a lapse from tasteful expression is left for him to stumble over and make allowance for.2 Economy is not secured to the full until the intrinsic beauty of the thought, as well as its logical content, has undisturbed course in fitting language.

1 "To really strenuous minds there is a pleasurable stimulus in the challenge for a continuous effort on their part, to be rewarded by securer and more intimate grasp of the author's sense. Self-restraint, a skilful economy of means, ascêsis, that too has a beauty of its own; and for the reader supposed there will be an æsthetic satisfaction in that frugal closeness of style which makes the most of a word, in the exaction from every sentence of a precise relief, in the just spacing out of word to thought, in the logically filled space connected always with the delightful sense of difficulty overcome."- PATER, Appreciations, p. 14.

2" Readjusting mere assonances even, that they may soothe the reader, or at least not interrupt him on his way."- Ib., p. 21.

CHAPTER II.

QUALITIES OF STYLE.

DETERMINATE qualities of style, being merely the practical traits by which desired effects in expression are produced, manifest their need in all literary work, and therefore underlie all rhetorical study. Under various names and applications they will be constantly coming to view in the ensuing pages. The most comprehensive of them are here exhibited together, and some general means of securing them pointed out, in order that the present chapter may stand as a basis of reference and summary.

The Deeper Conception. We call them qualities of style, but this they are only superficially.

For what the writer is consciously working with, in any act of composition, is not qualities of style in themselves, but a rounded idealized thought, which he is concerned to express so truly that nothing of its intrinsic significance shall be lost. This significance, answering to nature and occasion, assumes some ruling aspect: it may centre in the exact content of the thought, or in its interest and moment, or in its fine appeal to the imagination, or in all of these. According as he feels this intrinsic power the writer will seek to give his thought such form and illustration as will bring it out; and thus, if adequate skill in work and phrase has been disciplined in him to second nature, the qualities of style come of them selves, attracted by his single-minded fidelity to the thought.1

1 "Truth indeed is always truth, and reason is always reason; they have an intrinsick and unalterable value, and constitute that intellectual gold which defies destruction: but gold may be so concealed in baser matter, that only a chymist can