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"ever it may do in theology; and is ftill lefs

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comprehenfible, than the hypothefis which af "fumes, that although our idea of thought be "not included in the idea of matter or body, as "the idea of figure is, for inftance, in that of "limited extenfion; yet the faculty of thinking, "in all the modes of thought, may have been

fuperadded by Omnipotence, to certain fyf"tems of matter: which it is not lefs than blaf"phemy to deny; though divines and philofo

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phers, who deny it in terms, may be cited; "and which, whether it be true or no, will never "be proved falfe by a little metaphyfical jargon "about effences, and attributes, and modes *.” The other quotation is from Swift's letter to the Lord High Treasurer, containing a proposal for correcting, improving, and afcertaining the English tongue: "To this fucceeded that licen"tiousness which entered with the Restoration, "and from infecting our religion and morals, "fell to corrupt our language, (which laft was "not like to be much improved by those who "at that time made up the court of king Charles "the Second, either fuch who had followed him "in his banishment; or who had been altoge"ther converfant in the dialect of thofe fanatic Effay i. Section 2.

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"times; or young men who had been educated "in the fame company), fo that the court (which "ufed to be the ftandard of propriety and cor"rectness of speech) was then (and, I think, hath "ever fince continued) the worst school in Eng"land for that accomplishment; and fo will re66 main, till better care be taken in the educa"tion of our young nobility, that they may fet "out into the world with fome foundation of "literature, in order to qualify them for patterns "of politeness." There are, indeed, cafes in which even a long period will not create obfcurity. When this happens, it may almost always be remarked, that all the principal members of the period are fimilar in their structure, and would constitute so many diftinct sentences, if they were not united by their reference to fome common claufe in the beginning or the end.

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Ir was observed, that perfpicuity might be violated, not only by obfcurity, but also by double meaning. The fault in this cafe is not that the fentence conveys darkly or imperfectly the author's meaning, but that it conveys alfo

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fome other meaning, which is not the author's. His words are fufceptible of more than one interpretation. When this happens, it is always occafioned, either by ufing fome expreffion which is equivocal; that is, hath more meanings than one affixed to it, or by ranging the words in fuch an order, that the conftruction is rendered equivocal, or made to exhibit different fenfes. To the former, for diftinction's fake, I fhall affign the name of equivocation; to the latter, I fhall appropriate that of ambiguity.

PART I. Equivocation.

I BEGIN with the firft. When the word equivocation denotes, as in common language it generally denotes, the use of an equivocal word or phrase, or other ambiguity, with an intention to deceive, it doth not differ effentially from a lie, This offence falls under the reproof of the moralist, not the cenfure of the rhetorician. Again, when the word denotes, as agreeably to etymology it may deñote, that exercife of wit which confifts in the playful ufe of any term or phrase in different fenfes, and is denominated pun, it is amenable indeed to the tribunal of criticifm, but cannot be regarded as a violation of the laws of perfpicuity. It is neither with the liar nor with

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the punfter that I am concerned at prefent. The only fpecies of equivocation that comes under reprehenfion here, is that which takes place, when an author undefignedly employs an expreffion fusceptible of a sense different from the fense he intends to convey by it.

In order to avoid this fault, no writer or fpeaker can think of difufing all the homonymous terms of the language, or all fuch as have more than one fignification. To attempt this in any tongue, ancient or modern, would be to attempt the annihilation of the greater part of the language; for, in every language, the words ftrictly univocal will be found to be the fmaller number. But it must be admitted, as a rule in elocution, that equivocal terms ought ever to be. avoided, unless where their connexion with the other words of the fentence instantly ascertains the meaning. This, indeed, the connexion is often fo capable of effecting, that the hearer will never reflect that the word is equivocal, the true fenfe being the only fenfe which the expreffion fuggefts to his mind. Thus the word pound fignifies both the fum of twenty fhillings fterling, and the weight of fixteen ounces averdupois. Now if you should tell me, that you rent a houfe at fifty

pounds,

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pounds, or that you have bought fifty pounds of meat in the market, the idea of weight will never prefent itself to my mind in the one cafe, or the idea of money in the other. But it frequently happens, through the inadvertency of writers, that the connected words in the fentence do not immediately afcertain the fenfe of the equivocal term. And though an intelligent reader may eafily find the fense on reflection, and, with the aid of the context, we may lay it down as a maxim, that an author always offends against perfpicuity, when his ftyle requires that reflection from his reader. But I fhall proceed to illuftrate, by examples, the fault of which I am treating. An equivocation, then, may lie either in a fingle word or in a phrafe.

As to the former, there is fcarce any of the parts of speech, in which you will not find equivocal terms. To begin with particles; the prepofition of denotes fometimes the relation which any affection bears to its subject; that is, the perfon whofe affection it is; fometimes the relation which it bears to its object. Hence this expreffion of the apoftle hath been observed to be equivocal: "I am perfuaded that neither death "no rlife-fhall be able to feparate us from

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