6 4 4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sidered a model of style. But they are 

 not hypercriticisms. To show that the 

 defects indicated are grave, it only 

 needs to read without its tautologies 

 one of the sentences thus : ' The doubt 

 which was laid revives, and shows it- 

 self in new difficulties ; and that gen- 

 erally because the mind whicb is per- 

 petually tossed in controversies is apt 

 to forget the reasons which had once 

 set it at rest,' etc., etc. Omitting the 

 six superfluous words unquestionably 

 makes the sentence clearer adds to 

 its force without taking from its mean- 

 ing. Nor would removal of the other 

 excrescences, and substitution of ap- 

 propriate words for those which are 

 unfit, fail similarly to improve the rest 

 of the passage. 



" And now is it not strange that 

 two sentences which Mr. Arnold ad- 

 mits to be ' classical English, perfect 

 in lucidity, measure, and propriety,' 

 should contain so many defects : some 

 of them, indeed, deserving a stronger 

 word of disapproval? It is true that 

 analysis discloses occasional errors in 

 the sentences of nearly all writers 

 some due to inadvertence, some to con- 

 fusion of thought. Doubtless, from my 

 own books examples could be taken ; 

 and I should think it unfair to blame 

 any one for now and then tripping. 

 But, in a passage of which the diction 

 seems 'perfect ' to one who would like 

 to have style refined by authoritative 

 criticism, we may expect entire con- 

 formity to the laws of correct expres- 

 sion ; and may not unnaturally be sur- 

 prised to find so many deviations from 

 those laws. 



" Possibly, indeed, it will be alleged 

 that the faults are not in Addison's 

 English, but that I lack the needful 

 esthetic perception. Having, when 

 young, effectually resisted that classi- 

 cal culture which Mr. Arnold thinks 

 indispensable, I may be blind to the 

 beauties he perceives; and my undis- 

 ciplined taste may lead me to condemn 

 as defects what are, in fact, perfections. 



Knowing " absolutely nothing of the 

 masterpieces of ancient literature in 

 the original, and very little in transla- 

 tion, I suppose I must infer that a 

 familiarity with them equal to Mr. Ar- 

 nold's familiarity would have given 

 me a capacity for admiring these traits 

 of style which he admires. Perhaps 

 redundance of epithets would have 

 afforded me pleasure ; perhaps I should 

 have been delighted by duplications of 

 meaning; perhaps from inconsistent 

 metaphors I might have received some 

 now unimaginable gratification. Be- 

 ing, however, without any guidance 

 save that yielded by mental science 

 having been led by analysis of thought 

 to conclude that, in writing, words 

 must be so chosen and arranged as to 

 convey ideas with the greatest ease, 

 precision, and vividness; and having 

 drawn the corollaries that superfluous 

 words should be struck out, that words 

 which have associations at variance 

 with the propositions to be set forth 

 should be avoided, and that there 

 should be used no misleading figures 

 of speech ; I have acquired a dislike to 

 modes of expression like these Mr. 

 Arnold regards as perfect in their pro- 

 priety. Almost converted though I 

 have been by his eloquent advocacy of 

 culture, as he understands it, I must 

 confess that, now I see what he ap- 

 plauds, my growing faith receives a 

 rude check. "While recognizing my 

 nnregenerate state, and while admit- 

 ting that I have only psychology and 

 logic to help me, I am perverse enough 

 to rejoice that we have not had an 

 Academy; since, judging from the evi- 

 dence Mr, Arnold affords, it would, 

 among other mischievous acts, have 

 further raised the estimate of a style 

 which is even now unduly praised." 



"TOO MATERIALISTIC? 



The Buffalo Commercial Advertiser 

 commends The Populab Science 

 Monthly, but thinks that "it tends 



