HARD WORDS. 199 



ther an unlearned one, I was some time before I could discover the 

 reason of this obfuscation of ideas ; when one of my gentlemen, 

 slipping his guard, and using a trisyllable, excused himself with this 

 strange parenthesis — " as Dr. Johnson would say." Believe me, 

 good reader, I was never more taken to ; for I feared I might my- 

 self have committed the same error, and that with the disadvantage 

 of not having acknowledged it, and thus brought my grey hairs 

 into contempt ; for it is too often the case that ignorance aggravates 

 a fault. What I am anxious to discover, is, the cause of such a 

 strange discipline ; for I must roundly confess I cannot see the advan- 

 tage of concealment where they were neither driving a bargain nor 

 selling an opinion. Whether this disposition to conceal our mean- 

 ing is of Grecian, Roman, or barbaric origin, it is certain that super- 

 stition is alike in her monstrous deformity in every clime ; and 

 thus this national diathesis may be derived rather from the Druids 

 than the Pythia : but I leave this learned inquiry to the re- 

 searches of the curious in antiquities. 



The evil, whatever be its origin, is ratified by custom. Every 

 rule implies restriction, otherwise it degenerates into tyranny. 

 Thus the Latin ediction has grown into a corruption of no trifling 

 magnitude, and, what is worse, is established by time and confirmed 

 by prejudice. 



The fear of " hard words" is the direct tax of ignorance, insti- 

 tuted by her despotism, as a premium for indolence. It is no won- 

 der, therefore, that we blush at our own words ; and thus a mind 

 naturally born to eminence is subjected to the common level, else 

 pursued by the baleful and biting taunts of the invidious, in which 

 discordant paean, spirits of a better mould are forced to join. Yet, 

 with all this predisposition and idiosyncrasy for garbage, how 

 sensible are we of the contrary. Our language is susceptible of the 

 highest powers of eloquence. With what an instantaneousness, 

 with what an electrical rapidity, does a full-toned mastering word 

 strike upon the soul ! echoing through her most intricate labyrinths 

 and awaking a thousand reflections. Words are as the keys of the 

 instrument to the composer ; and to govern them with skill requires 

 familiarity. The sublimest apprehension may be degraded to the 

 ridiculous, as the highest effort of a Cimarosa may be lost in the 

 discord of an awkward performer.* 



* " ' Will you play upon this pipe,' says Hamlet to Guildenstern. ( My 

 Lord, I cannot, I know no touch of it,' replies the courtier. "Tis as easy as 

 lying,' retorts the satirical prince ; < govern these ventages with your fingers 



