one who is fure he is always right, and is very indifferent whether his reader is pleafed or not. His fentences are often negligently arranged the fenfe is fufficiently obvious; but little regard is paid to compactnefs or elegance. If a metaphor, or any other figure, chanced to render his fatire more poignant, he would perhaps condefcend to adopt it, when it prefented itself; but if it tended only to embellish or illuf trate, he would rather throw it afide. "Hence, in his ferious writings, his ftyle often borders upon the dry and unplea fing. But in his humorous pieces, the plainnefs of his manner difplays his wit to the greatest advantage.

Dr. Johnfon has comment ed on the ftyle and manner of Swift with his ufual powers of defcription. "In his works," fays he, he has given very different fpecimens both of fene timents and expreffion. His "Tale of a Tub" has little resemblance to his other pieces. It exhibits a vehemence and rapidity of mind, a copioufnefs of images, and vivacity of diction, fuch as he afterwards never poffeffed, or never exerted. It is of a mode fo diftinct and peculiar, that it muft be confidered of itself; what is true of that, is not true of any thing elfe which he has writttn.

In his other works is found an equable tenour of eafy language, which rather trickles than flows. His delight was in fimplicity. That he has in his works no metaphor, as has been faid, is not true: but his few metaphors feem to be received rather by neceffity than choice. He studied purity; and though perhaps all his ftructures are not exact, yet it is not often that folecifins can be found; and whoever depends on his authority may generally conclude himfelf fafe. His fentences are never too much dilated or contracted; and it will not be eafy to find any embarrassment in the complication of his claufes, any inconfequence in his connections, or abruptnefs in his tranfitions.

"His ftyle was well fuited to his thoughts, which are never fubtilized by nice difquifitions, decorated by sparkling conceits, elevated by ambitious fentences, or variagated by far-fought learning. He pays no court to the paffions; he excites neither furprife nor admiration; he always underftands himself; and his readers always understand him.: the perufer of Swift wants little previous knowledge; it will be fufficient that he is acquainted with common words

and common things; he is neither required to mount elevations, nor to explore profundities; his paffage is always on a level, along folid ground, without afperities, without obftruction.

"This eafy and fafe conveyance of meaning it was Swift's defire to attain, and for having attained it he deferves praife, though perhaps not the highest praife. For purposes merely didactick, when fomething is to be told that was not known before, it is the best mode; but against that inattention by which known truths are fuffered to lie neglected, it makes no provifion; it instructs but does not perfuade.*"

It will now be proper to felect a paffage characteristic of that fpecies of style of which we have been treating. And for this purpofe, we shall have recourse to the writings of Swift.

:

I fuppofe it will be granted, that hardly one in a hundred among our people of quality, or gentry, appears to act by any principle of religion. That great numbers of them do entirely difcard it, and are ready to own their disbelief of all revelation in ordinary difcourfe. Nor is the cafe much better among the vulgar, efpecially in great towns; where the prophanenefs and ignorance of handicraftfmen, fmall traders, fervants, and the like, are to a degree very hard to be imagined greater. Then, it is obferved abroad, that no race of mortals hath fo little fenfe of religion as the English foldiers to confirm which, I have been often told by great officers in the army, that in the whole compafs of their acquaintance, they could not recollect three of their profeffion, who seem to regard or believe, one fyllable of the Gofpel and the fame, at least, may be affirmed of the fleet. The confequences of all which, upon the actions of men, are equally manifeft. They never go about, as in former times, to hide or palliate their vices; but expofe them freely to view, like any other common occurrences of life, without the leaft reproach from the world, or themselves. For inftance, any man will tell you; he intends to be drunk this evening, or was fo laft night, with as little ceremony or fcruple, as he would tell you the time of the day. He will let you know that he is going to a wench, with as much indifferency as he would tell you a piece of public news. He

*Johnfon's Life of Swift.

will fwear, curfe, or blafpheme, without the leaft paffion or provocation. And, although all regard for reputation be not quite laid afide in the other fex; it is however, at fo low an ebb, that very few among them feem to think virtue and conduct of any neceffity for preferving it. If this be not fo, how comes it to pals, that women of tainted reputations find the fame countenance and reception in all public places, with thofe of the niceft virtue, who pay and receive vifits from them, without any manner of fcruple? Which proceeding, as it is not very old among us, fo I take it to be of the moft pernicious confequence. It looks like a fort of compounding between Virtue and Vice; as if a woman were allowed to be vicious, provided fhe be not profligate; as if there were a certain point where gallantry ends, and infamy begins; or that an hundred criminal amours were not as pardonable as half a score.

Swift on the Advancement of Religion.

Nment.

CHAP. XXII.

OF THE NEAT STYLE.

EATNESS of ftyle implies a certain degree of ornaIts ornaments, however, are not of the most. fhowy or brilliant kind: they are fuch as are easily attained. A writer who employs this kind of ftyle, confiders the beauties of language as an object worthy of attention. He is careful in the choice of his words, and endeavours to arrange them with propriety and elegance; but he feldom attempts any bold flight of eloquence. His fentences are free from the incumbrances of fuperfluous words; they are of a moderate length, and rather inclining to brevity than to a fwelling ftructure; they generally clofe with propriety, and are unincumbered with long tails. His cadence is varied; but not of the ftudied mufical kind. Such figures as he employs, are fhort and correct, rather than bold or glowing.

This ftyle may perhaps be adopted by an author of fuperi or genius; but it is not unattainable by one of no uncom mon capacity. Any writer of ordinary attainments may ac

quire it, by carefully attending to the laws of rhetoric, and to the practice of writers of eftablished reputation. It is a mode of writing that never becomes difagreeable. It imprints a character of moderate elevation on our compofition, and difplays a decent degree of ornament, which is not incompatible with any fubject whatever. A familiar letter, or a law paper may be written with neatnefs; and a fermon or philofophical treatife, in a neat ftyle will be read with pleasure.

The writings of Middleton, Berkeley, and Smith, appear to me to afford finished models of this fpecies of ftyle. From the last of these authors I fhall felect an appofite paffage :

We fympathife even with the dead, and overlooking what is of real importance in their fituation, that awful futurity which awaits them, we are chiefly affected by thofe circumftances which ftrike our fenfes, but can have no influence upon their happiness. It is miferable, we think, to be deprived of the light of the fun, to be fhut out from life and converfation; to be laid in the cold grave a prey to corruption and the reptiles of the earth; to be no more thought of in this world, but to be obliterated in a little time from the affections and almost the memory of their dearest friends and relations. Surely, we imagine, we can never feel too much for thofe who have fuffered fo dreadful a calamity. The tribute of our fellow feelings feems doubly due to them now when they are in danger of being forgot by every body: and, by the vain honours which we pay to their memory, we endeavour, for our own mifery, artificially to keep alive our melancholy remembrance of their misfortune. That our fympathy can afford them no confolation feems to be an addition to their calamity; and to think that all we can do is unavailing, and that, what alleviates all other diftrefs, the regret, the love, and the lamentations of their friends, can yield no comfort to thein, ferves only to exafperate the fenfe of their mifery. The happiness of the dead, however, most affuredly is affected by none of these circumstances: nor is it the thought of these things which can ever disturb the profound fecurity of their repofe. The idea of that dreary and endless melancholy which the fancy naturally afcribes to their condition, arifes altogether from our joining to the change which has been produced upon them, our own confcioulness of that change, from our putting ourselves in

their fituation, and from our lodging, if I may be allowed to fay fo, our own living fouls in their inanimated bodies, and thence conceiving what would be our emotions in this cafe. It is from this very illufion of the imagination, that the fore-fight of our diffolution is fo terrible to us, and that the idea of thofe circumftances, which undoubtedly can give us no pain when we are dead, makes us miferable while we are yet alive. Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments.

CHAP. XXII.

OR THE GRACEFUL STYLE.

OTWITHSTANDING the powerful effect which graceful compofition produces upon the mind, it is dif ficult to reduce it to a definition. Where language does nct fupply us with proper words to exprefs the ideas of the mind, we can only convey our fentiments in figurative terms; a defect which neceffarily introduces fame obfcurity.

Grace in writing may be compared to that eafy air which fo remarkably diftinguithes perfons of a genteel and liberal caft. It confifts not only in the particular beauty of fingle parts, but in the general fymmetry and conftruction of the whole. An author may be juft in his fentiments, lively in his figures, and clear in his expreffion; yet at the fame time may be wholly a stranger to graceful compofition. The feveral members of a difcourfe must be so agreeably united as mutually to reflect beauty upon each other: their arrangement must be fo happily difpofed as not to admit of the leaft interpofition, without manifeft prejudice to the entire piece. The thoughts, the metaphors, the allufions, and the diction, fhould appear eafy and natural, and feem to arife like so many fpontaneous productions, rather than as the effects of art. or labour.

.the

Whatever, therefore, is forced or affected in the fentiLents, whatever pompous or pedantic in the expreffion, is very reverse of grace. Her mein is neither that of a prude, nor that of a coquette; fhe is regular without formality, and fprightly without being fantaftical. Grace is to good writ