in mind and feeling, with their beauty. Let the writer shun, alike in writing and in conversation, whatever is gross and deformed and vulgar, let him seek to appreciate what the world's taste has pronounced satisfying, and he will soon find himself possessing susceptibilities unsuspected before.

Summary of the Qualities of Style. Before leaving the discussion of this subject, it is essential to note how intimately the cardinal qualities of style are dependent on each other. So interlinked are they that any one of them in its perfection necessarily involves to a greater or less degree the others, and each may almost be described in terms of the others. So we may say of force, that the first means of securing it is clearness, and afterwards its more distinctive devices; and of beauty, that its first element is clearness, its second, force. And may it not indeed be said that the simple pervasive quality of clearness, clearness to the mind, clearness to the convictions, clearness to the sensibilities, - is the truest secret of artistic expression?

To be genuine, the qualities of force and beauty, in their higher significance, must come for the most part unsought, rising naturally out of the character and demands of the subject-matter. It is precarious, therefore, to work for them directly; the endeavor is apt to result, if force is sought, in a violent style, or if beauty, in affectation. Let the simple aim be, perfect fidelity to the thought, in its fullness and importance, as it must be imparted to a reader, and the higher qualities will no doubt come in satisfactory measure of themselves.

IV.

The Principle that makes these Qualities of Style Practical Economy.. Since Herbert Spencer wrote his essay on "The Philosophy of Style," students of the subject have universally accepted his conclusion therein reached, that the central principle of a good style lies in the economizing of the reader's attention. The ideal of writing, as he states it, is "to so present ideas that they may be apprehended with the least possible mental effort." In explanation Mr. Spencer says:--.

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'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."

In accordance with this principle of economy, the foregoing qualities of style may be briefly recapitulated.

1. Economy of the reader's interpreting power. This may be secured, according to occasion, in two ways.

First, by giving the reader less to do; that is, by reducing the difficulties of the mechanism of expression to a minimum, so that all the reader's energy may be employed in realizing the thought itself. This, which is illustrated in the paragraph from Mr. Spencer quoted above, is the economy effected by the various means employed to secure clearness of style.

Secondly, by stimulating the reader to do more. This means of economizing power is fully as valuable as the other, and not to be ignored. What is too easily obtained is too cheaply held, in literature as in everything else; and not infrequently a thought is prized the more from some effort made to master it. In the matter of economizing attention, then, the writer must be wise; and if instead of clearing away every difficulty he uses such expression as will arouse in the reader something of his own creative energy, his object is even more effectually secured. Strong and suggestive language, vigorous imagery, skillful grouping of important ideas, are thus a second means of economizing interpreting power. These belong to the general quality of force in style.

2. Economy of the reader's sensibilities. This is secured partly by force and partly by beauty of style.

First, when an emotion is once roused in the reader, economy requires that it be wisely conserved and utilized. This forbids, for example, following an image or appeal by one less vivid or vigorous; the progress should rather be upward, to greater interest and strength. It forbids, equally, following out every striking suggestion to its utmost; if the reader's mind is quickened, let it have some share in constructing the thought, and not have all its action forestalled. This fault, which is known as "writing a subject to the dregs," is one of the surest means of deadening interest. The activity of the reader's suggestive faculty should be wisely maintained; it is a real economy of his feeling and power.

Secondly, the reader's sensibilities are economized by conciliating his æsthetic sense. Whatever jars on his taste, or his feeling of fitness, is so much of an obstruction to the idea, and consequently uses up so much of his energy for nothing. The means of promoting this economy have been mentioned under the head of beauty of style.

The laws of style, which the foregoing chapter has defined in general terms, it will now be the business of the rest of Part I. to apply in detail. For such a purpose as this, the various inquiries concerning style may be conveniently grouped into two classes of problems: the first comprising what relates to the material of style, which class subdivides itself again into Words and Figures; the second comprising whatever relates to the building together of these materials into literary forms. Accordingly, the subject of style in detail, as discussed in the following three chapters, will include:

CHAPTER II.

DICTION.

Definition of Diction. The word diction is the name given to that aspect or department of style which has to do with words, principally with the choice of words, but also, in a general way, and independently of the distinctive details of composition, with the connexion and arrangement of words. A writer's diction, then, as we generally speak of it, is the kind of words he habitually employs to convey his thoughts; which words we find, in any case, bear, according to the writer and the kind of discourse, a distinctive character that enables us to classify them as a kind of diction.

Every author has his peculiar diction, and so has every kind of literature. But beyond these individual and class characteristics there is also a general standard of diction, which every writer must regard. That standard, or ideal, is perhaps best expressed by the word PURITY; the writer must see to it that he keep his mothertongue unsullied; and this by observing, in all his choice of language, the laws of derivation, usage, adaptedness, and taste. Transgressions of the standard are owing to want of culture and tact, either in the general knowledge and use of words, or in the special requirements of the discourse in hand.

The requirements of pure and fitting diction will be discussed in four sections: on the choice of words; on the characteristics of poetic diction; on the characteristics and types of prose diction; and on diction as determined by object and occasion.

SECTION FIRST.

THE CHOICE OF WORDS.

"If there is one thing in this world," says De Quincey, "that, next after the flag of his country and its spotless honor, should be wholly in the eyes of a young poet, it is the language of his. country. He should spend the third part of his life in studying this language, and cultivating its total resources. He should be willing to pluck out his right eye, or to circumnavigate the globe, if by such a sacrifice, if by such an exertion, he could attain to greater purity, precision, compass, or idiomatic energy of diction." This is spoken primarily of the poet; but it is hardly an exaggeration of the ideal of the conscientious prose-writer. The importance of care, patience, scrupulous minuteness, in the study and choice of words, cannot easily be overstated; it is by such a habit alone that eminent authors have written what the world could accept as true and trustworthy. Such authors, as inquiry always reveals, observe rigid rules and standards.

At the same time, it is to be remembered that rules are to be the writer's servants, not his tyrants; their use lies, not in being apparent as rules, but in guiding to results that have the freedom and ease of nature. The man is to be ever above his rules; this however not by disregarding them, — rather by so mastering them that they cease to be mere external precepts and become his readiest mode of working.

The following are the principal rules and cautions to be observed in the choice of words.

I. ACCURATE USE.

Under this head are given those rules which refer in general to the task of fitting the word to the idea; of removing language, therefore, on the one side, from the looseness and exaggeration of ordinary speech, and on the other, from incorrectness owing to