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allowed to youth, in their first essays, it must not receive the same indulgence from writers of maturer years. It is to be expected, that judgment, as it ripens, should chasten imagination, and reject, as juvenile, all such ornaments as are redundant, unsuitable to the subject, or not conducive to illustrate it. Nothing can be more contemptible than that tinsel splendor of Language, which some writers perpetually affect. It were well, if this could be ascribed to the real overflowing of a rich imagination. We should then have something to amuse us, at least, if we found little to instruct us. But the worst is, that with those frothy writers, it is a luxuriancy of words, not of fancy. We see a laboured attempt to rise to a splendor of composition, of which they have formed to themselves some loose idea; but having no strength of genius for attaining it, they endeavour to supply the defect by poetical words, by cold exclamations, by common-place figures, and every thing that has the appearance of pomp and magnificence. It has escaped these writers, that sobriety in ornament is one great secret for rendering it pleasing; and that, without a foundation of good sense and solid thought, the most Florid Style is but a childish imposition on the Public. The Public, however, are but too apt to be so imposed on; at least the mob of readers,

ripening judgment; some of it, by the mere practice of com"position, will be worn away. Let there be only sufficient "matter, at first, that can bear some pruning and lopping off. "At this time of life, let genius be bold and inventive, and pride "itself in its efforts, though these should not, as yet, be correct. "Luxuriancy can easily be cured; but for barrenness there is no " remedy."

who are very ready to be caught, at first, with whatever is dazzling and gaudy.

I cannot help thinking, that it reflects more honour on the religious turn, and good dispositions of the present age, than on the public taste, that Mr. Harvey's Meditations have had so great a currency. The pious and benevolent heart, which is always displayed in them, and the lively fancy, which, on some occasions, appears, justly merited applause: but the perpetual glitter of expression, the swoln imagery, and strained description which abound in them, are ornaments of a false kind. I would, therefore, advise students of oratory to imitate Mr. Harvey's piety, rather than his Style; and, in all compositions of a serious kind, to turn their attention, as Mr. Pope says, "from sounds to things, from fancy to the "heart." Admonitions of this kind I have already had occasion to give, and may hereafter repeat them; as I conceive nothing more incumbent on me in this course of Lectures, than to take every opportunity of cautioning my Readers against the affected and frivolous use of ornament; and, instead of that slight and superficial taste in writing, which I apprehend to be at present too fashionable, to introduce, as far as my endeavours can avail, a taste for more solid thought, and more manly Simplicity in Style.

373

LECTURE XIX.

GENERAL CHARACTERS OF STYLE-SIMPLE, AFDIRECTIONS FOR FORM

FECTED, VEHEMENT

ING A PROPER STYLE.

manner.

HAVING entered, in the last Lecture, on the consideration of the general Characters of Style, I treated of the Concise and Diffuse, the Nervous and Feeble I considered Style also, with relation to the different degrees of ornament employed to beautify it; in which view, the manner of different authors rises according to the following gradation: Dry, Plain, Neat, Elegant, Flowery.

I am next to treat of Style under another character, one of great importance in writing, and which requires to be accurately examined; that of Simplicity, or a Natural Style, as distinguished from Affectation. Simplicity, applied to writing, is a term very frequently used; but, like many other critical terms, often used loosely and without precision. This has been owing chiefly to the different meanings given to the word Simplicity, which, therefore, it will be necessary here to distinguish; and to shew in what sense it is a proper attribute of Style. We may remark four different acceptations in which it is taken.

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The first is, Simplicity of Composition, as opposed to too great a variety of parts. Horace's precept

refers to this:

Denique sit quod vis simplex duntaxat et unum.*

This is the Simplicity of plan in a tragedy, as distinguished from double plots, and crowded incidents; the Simplicity of the Iliad, or Æneid, in opposition to the digressions of Lucan, and the scattered tales of Ariosto; the Simplicity of Grecian architecture, in opposition to the irregular variety of the Gothic. In this sense, Simplicity is the same with Unity.

The second sense is, Simplicity of Thought, as opposed to Refinement. Simple thoughts are what arise naturally; what the occasion or the subject suggest unsought; and what, when once suggested, are easily apprehended by all. Refinement in writing, expresses a less natural and obvious train of thought, and which it required a peculiar turn of genius to pursue; within certain bounds very beautiful; but when carried too far, approaching to intricacy, and hurting us by the appearance of being recherché, or far-sought. Thus, we would naturally say, that Mr. Parnell is a poet of far greater Simplicity, in his turn of thought, than Mr. Cowley; Cicero's thoughts on moral subjects are natural; Seneca's too refined and laboured. In these two senses of Simplicity, when it is opposed, either to variety of parts, or to refinement of thought, it has no proper relation to Style.

"Then learn the wand'ring humour to controul,
"And keep one equal tenor through the whole."

FRANCIS.

There is a third sense of Simplicity, in which it has respect to Style; and stands opposed to too much ornament, or pomp of language; as when we say, Mr. Locke is a simple, Mr. Harvey a florid writer; and it is in this sense, that the "simplex,” the "tenue," or subtile genus dicendi," is understood by Cicero and Quinctilian. The Simple Style, in this sense, coincides with the Plain or the Neat Style, which I before mentioned; and, therefore, requires no farther illustration.

But there is a fourth sense of Simplicity, also respecting Style; but not respecting the degree of ornament employed, so much as the easy and natural manner in which our Language expresses our thoughts. This is quite different from the former sense of the word just now mentioned, in which Simplicity was equivalent to Plainness: whereas, in this sense, it is compatible with the highest ornament. Homer, for instance, possesses this Simplicity in the greatest perfection; and yet no writer has more Ornament and Beauty. This Simplicity, which is what we are now to consider, stands opposed, not to Ornament, but to Affectation of Ornament, or appearance of labour about our Style; and it is a distinguishing excellency in writing.

A writer of Simplicity expresses himself in such a manner, that every one thinks he could have written in the same way; Horace describes it,

------- ut sibi quivis

Speret idem, sudet multum, frustraque laboret
Ausus idem.*

* "From well-known tales such fictions would I raise, "As all might hope to imitate with ease;

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