good authors, may still make tolerable critics; may be able to show the difference between the creeping and the simple, the pert and the pleasing, the turgid and the sublime; in short may sharpen, like the whetstone, that genius in others which Nature in her frugality has not given to themselves.

Indeed, I have never known, during a life of many years, and some small attention paid to letters and literary men, that genius in any art had ever been crampt by rules. On the contrary, I have seen great geniuses miserably err by transgressing them......

We cannot admit that geniuses, though prior to systems, were prior also to rules, because rules from the beginning existed in their own minds and were part of that immutable truth which is eternal and everywhere. Aristotle, we know, did not form Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides; 'twas Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides that formed Aristotle. And this surely should teach us to pay attention to rules, inasmuch as they and genius are so reciprocally connected, that 'tis genius which discovers rules, and then rules which govern genius."

(Harris, 1709-1780.)

"All the qualities of a good style may be ranged under two heads, Perspicuity and Ornament. For all that can possibly be required of language is to convey our ideas clearly to the minds of others, and at the same time in such a dress as, by pleasing and interesting them, shall most effectively strengthen the impressions which we seek to make. When both these ends are answered, we certainly accomplish every purpose for which we use writing and discourse." (Blair, 1718-1799). "The style of Bunyan is delightful to every reader, and invaluable as a study to every person who wishes to

obtain a wide command over the English language. The vocabulary is the vocabulary of the common people. There is not an expression, if we except a few technical terms of theology, which would puzzle the rudest peasant. We have observed several pages which do not contain a single word of more than two syllables. Yet no writer has said more exactly what he meant to say. For magnificence, for pathos, for vehement exhortation, for subtle disquisition, for every purpose of the fact, the orator, and the divine, this homely dialect, the dialect of plain working men, was perfectly sufficient."

(Macaulay, 1800-1859.)

"The style of an author should be an image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise. Many experiments were made before I could hit the middle tone between a dull chronicle and a rhetorical declamation; three times did I compose the first chapter, and twice the second and third, before I was tolerably satisfied with their effect."

(Gibbon, 1737-1794.).

"My style was not formed without great care, and earnest study of the best authors. I have laboured hard upon it, for I early felt the importance of expression to thought. I have re-written sentence after sentence, and pondered long upon each alteration. For depend upon it, it is with our thoughts as with our persons—their intrinsic value is mostly undervalued, unless outwardly expressed in an attractive garb."

(D. Webster, 1782-1852.) "In the way of writing, no great thing was ever, or will ever be done with ease, but with difficulty. Let ready writers with any faculty in them lay this to heart. Virgil and Tacitus, were they ready writers ?......... Shakspere,

we may fancy, wrote with rapidity, but not till he had thought with intensity. No easy writer he, or he had never been a Shakspere. Neither was Milton one of the mob of gentlemen that write with ease; he did not attain Shakspere's facility, one perceives, of even writing fast after long preparation, but struggled while he wrote. Goëthe also tells us he had nothing sent him in his sleep', no page of his but he knew well how it came there." (Carlyle, 1795-1881.).

"Sweep away utterly all falsehood and frothiness from your heart; struggle unweariedly to acquire what is possible for every God-created man, a free, open, humble, soul: speak not at all, in any wise, till you have somewhat to speak; care not for the reward of your speaking, but simply, and with undivided mind, for the truth of your speaking." (Carlyle.)

TASTE.

137. Since Rhetoric has for its aim the consideration of the various points of excellence in composition, the acquirement of a good, or correct, Taste is of primary importance. The word Taste, employed with reference to Fine Art, means, first of all, the capacity for deriving pleasure from works of art. The term is further used to denote the kind of artistic excellence that gives the greatest amount of pleasure to educated minds. Such minds are said to have Taste, and others to want it. The words elegance, refinement, polish, have nearly the same meaning. The French philosopher Cousin says, "Three faculties enter into that complex faculty that is called Taste,-imagination, sentiment, reason. Sentiment receives the impression; reason passes judgment on it; while imagination

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produces the sensation of pleasure experienced by the mind."

Taste is common in some degree to all men, yet they by no means possess it to the same extent. This difference is owing in a great measure to nature, which has endowed some men with more sensitive organs than others, and thus made them capable of greater intellectual enjoyment. Yet education has even more to do than nature with the formation of Taste. Hence we see that Taste is eminently an improvable faculty; and in the case of this, as well as all the mental and bodily powers, exercise is to be regarded as the great source of health and strength. Diligent study and careful examination of models of style are necessary, as we have seen, to a full appreciation of the great works of literature. The ignorant or uneducated man sees no more merit in these great works than in ordinary compositions; he understands neither their excellence nor their defects. His Taste, however, becomes cultivated in proportion as his acquaintance with such works is extended. He is gradually enabled, not only to form judgments, but to give satisfactory reasons for them. His Taste is developed and improved by exercise.

139. In various nations and at different periods conflicting ideas of good Taste have prevailed. Yet we may distinguish between the permanent and the variable elements of Taste.

(a). The permanent element comprises all the rules of

rhetoric which are founded on the natural workings of the human mind, and which have been generally adopted by the best speakers and writers. Harmony, Unity, Strength, Precision, avoidance of exaggerated Hyperbole, are rules of Taste, as they are rules of

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Rhetoric. Refinement in Taste consists partly in increasing the pleasures of works of art by the avoidance of painful, and the addition of pleasing, subjects or images; and partly in a careful adherence to what is truthful, humane, and virtuous.

(b). The variable element includes the points where men do not feel alike. Ages, countries, and individuals differ in their ideas of what is excellent in composition.

Accidental causes occasionally pervert, or vitiate, Taste. Superstition, bigotry, or despotism, may bring about a degraded Taste; national immorality and licentiousness may bring false ornaments and dissolute writings into fashion. But such perverted Taste is only temporary; whereas the principles of true philosophic Taste are unchangeable. In every composition, what pleases the imagination, convinces the reason, or touches the affections, delights all ages and all nations. Hence the unanimous testimony which successive generations have borne to the merit of some few works of genius. Hence the authority which such works have acquired as standards of composition; since from them we learn what beauties give the highest pleasure, and elicit the general admiration of mankind.

141. When, therefore, we seek a Standard of Good Taste, we find that, while such standard may, and does, vary in different countries and at different periods, yet there is undoubtedly essential beauty in well-chosen language, well-constructed sentences, well-arranged arguments, a proper blending of plain and figurative. expressions, a skilful structure of the entire composition; and that such points of true beauty are universally recognised and acknowledged, although