Sect. II.

Offences against brevity considersd....Part III. Verbosity.

audience of all the army. Such adverbs always weaken an assertion that is founded on the evidence of sense, or even of exceptionable testimony, and are suited only to cases of conjecture or probability at most. It requires a certain justness of taste to know when we have said enough, through want of which, when we attempt to say more, we say less.

ANOTHER example, of a nature pretty similar, and arising from a similar cause, is the manner wherein our interpreters have attempted, in the New Testament, to strengthen the negation, wherever the double negative* occurs in the Greek, even in the most authoritative threatenings, by rendering it sometimes in no case, sometimes in no wise. It is evident that, in such instances, neither of these phrases expresseth more than the single adverb not, and as they partake of the nature of circumlocution, and betray an unsuccessful aim at saying more, they in effect debilitate the expression. The words The words "Ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven," as they have more simplicity, have also, from the mouth of a legislator, more dignity and weight than "ye shall in no case," or in

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no wise enter into it," as though there were various ways and means of getting thither. The two negatives of the Greek are precisely on the same footing

* μη.

Of vivacity as depending on the number of the words,

with the two negatives of the French †, our single darticle not is a full equiualent to both. For should a translator from the French attempt to render every double negative by such a periphrasis in English, his version would be justly accounted ridiculous. It may be thought a consequence of this doctrine, that the solemn protestation, " Verily, verily, I say unto you," so often adopted by our Lord, would rather weaken than enforce the sentiment. But the case is different. As these words enter not into the body of the proposition, but are emplowed solely to introduce it, they are to be considered purely as a call to attention, serving not so much to affirm the reality, as the importance of what is to be said. Or, if they are to be understood as affirming the reality, it is from this single consideration, because said by him.

I ADD, as another cause of a languid verbosity, the loading of the style with epithets, when almost every verb hath its attendant adverb, which may be called its epithet, and every substantive its attendant adjective, and when both adjectives and adverbs are often raised to the superlative degree. Epithets used sparingly and with judgment, have a great effect in en

Ne pas or non point. Sometimes the French use even three negatives where we can properly employ but one in English, as in this sentence: 'Je ne nie pas que je ne l'aye dit.' 'I do not deny

that I said it.' I believe no man who understands both languages will pretend, that the negation here is expressed more strongly by them than by us.

Sect. II.

Offences against brevity considered....Part III. Verbosity.

livening the expression, but nothing has more of an opposite tendency than a profusion of them. That such profusion has this tendency may be deduced, partly from a principle already mentioned, partly from a principle I am going to observe. That already mentioned is, that they lengthen the sentence without adding proportionable strength. The other principle is, that the crowding of epithets into a discourse, betrays a violent effort to say something extraordinary, and nothing is a clearer evidence of weakness than such an effort when the effect is not correspondent. I would not, however, be understood to signify, that adjectives and adverbs are always to be regarded as mere epithets. Whatever is necessary for ascertaining the import of either noun or verb, whether by adding to the sense, or by confining it, is something more than an epithet, in the common acceptation of that term. Thus, when I say, " the glorious sun," the word glorious is an epithet, because it expresses a quality, which, being conceived always to belong to the object, is, like all its other qualities, comprehended in the name. But when I say," the meridian sun," the word meridian is not barely an epithet, because it makes a real addition to the signification, denoting the sun in that situation wherein he appears at noon. The like may be said of" the rising," or "the setting "snn." Again, when I say, "the towering eagle," I use an epithet, because the quality towering may justly be attributed to all the kind; not so when I say "the golden eagle," because the adjective golden serves

Of vivacity as depending on the number of the words.

to limit the sense of the word eagle to one species only, and is therefore in effect a part of the name. Let it not be imagined hence, that mere epithets are always useless. Though all the essential qualities of a genus are included in the name, the scope of a discourse often renders it important, if not necessary, that some particular qualities should be specially attended to by the hearer. And these by consequence require to be specified by the speaker. On the contrary, a redundancy of these never fails to give a tiresome sameness to the composition, where substantives and adjectives, verbs and adverbs, almost invariably strung together, offend not more against vivacity, than against harmony and elegance *. This vicious quali

* I cannot help thinking, that the following passage, which Rollin has quoted from Mascaron, as an example of style elevated and adorned by means of circumlocution and epithet, is justly exceptionable in this way. "Le roi, pour donner une marque immor"telle de l'estime et de l'amité dont il honoroit ce grand capitaine (M. de Turenne) donne une place illustre à ses glorieuses cendres,

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parmi ces maîtres de la terre, qui conservent encore dans la mag"nificence de leurs tombeux une image de celle de leurs trônes.” 'The king, that he may give an immortal mark of the esteem and friendship wherewith he honoured this great captain, gives an illustrious place to his glorious ashes, among those masters of the earth, who still preserve, in the magnificence of their tombs, an image of that of their thrones.' Bel. Let. Liv. III. Chap. iii. Art. ii. § 5. In the quick succession of such yokemates as these, immortal mark, great captain, illustrious place, glorious ashes, magnificent tombs, there appears a strong attempt towards the grand manner, which, after all, terminates in the tumid.

Sect. II.

Offences against brevity considered.... Part III. Verbosity.

ty of style is sometimes denominated juvenility, as denoting immaturity of judgment, or an inexperience like that which would make a man mistake corpulency for the criterion of health and vigour. Besides, in young writers, a certain luxuriance in words is both more frequent and more pardonable.

THERE is one kind of composition, the paraphrase, of whose style verbosity is the proper character. The professed design of the paraphrast, is to say in many words what his text expresseth in few: accordingly, all the writers of this class must be at pains to provide themselves in a sufficient stock of synonymas, epithets, expletives, circumlocutions, and tautologies, which are, in fact, the necessary implements of their craft. I took notice, when treating of the influence which the choice of proper terms might have on vivacity, of one method of depressing their subject very common with these men, by generalizing as much as possible the terms used in the text. The particulars just now recited, are not only common with them, but essential to their work. I shall produce an example from an author, who is far from deserving to be accounted either the most verbose, or the least judicious of the tribe. But first, let us hear his text, the words of Jesus Christ. Therefore, whosoever heareth these

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sayings of mine, and doth them, I will liken him to "a wise man, who built his house upon a rock; and "the rain descended, and the floods came, and the "winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell R

VOL. II.