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For a leading article (which very rarely leads anybody or any- 
where) the Corinthian style is the best ; but for leaderettes the 
euphuistic epigrammatic style is most useful. Of late years 
clever advertisers have modelled some of their announcements 
after the euphuistic mould. 
The nearest approach made to euphuism in recent years is the 
esthetic movement. This was something more than a mere 
craze, it was a foam bell on the current of the time. Its votaries 
were not always wise. It lent itself easily to ridicule. W. S. 
Gilbert is a careful student of Elizabethan literature, and seems 
to delight in bringing to light the old ballads of that age. See 
how history repeats itself. At the close of the 16th century the 
young euphuist, as he wandered in the gardens on the banks of 
the Thames, would be conning the pages of his Lyly to learn 
therefrom how to advance his suit with the lady of his choice. 
To-day the fin de siécle young man is ‘‘ counted an apostle in the 
high esthetic band, if he walk down Piccadiliy with a poppy or 
a lily in his medieval hand.” The esthetic movement wrought 
for the people of Britain lasting good. Its eccentricities will be 
forgotten or forgiven, but its benefits will long remain to walk 
the earth and bless it. 
Jan the cultivation of the euphuistic style be recommended to 
the members of the club? We may avoid the great and patent 
defects in the style of Lyly and his imitators. In using 
illustrations we should remember the meaning of the word—to 
make clear. The writer who is not intelligible is not intelligent. 
We should not indulge in antithetical forms of expression where 
no corresponding opposition exists between the thoughts 
expressed. In alliteration we must be careful not to sacrifice 
the substance to the shadow, not to make sense subordinate to 
sound. Our metaphors should not be like those of Sir Boyle 
Roche. We should take warning by Mrs. Malaprop’s “ nice 
derangement of epitaphs.” Our sentences should be brief and 
pithy, not laboured and involved, our writing strong rather than 
soft, solid rather than showy. Affectation in matter or manner 
we should avoid, nor should we cast about for superfine 
expressions. Palpitating periods and high falutin writing are 
not literature. In writing we ought never to play tricks with 
our mother tongue by the puerile pastime of punning. An 
educated man is learned in the ‘ peerage of words,”’ he will not 
dissipate his proud inheritance and do despite to the language 
until it be reduced to the mere rags and remnants of a robe 
which was once a royal one. Our style should be free from 
bombast and bathos, rich, not gaudy, for the style oft proclaims 
the man. The French have an expression, ‘the style is the 
man.” Dr. Johnson has told us that the works of the writers 
before the Stuart period are the wells of Knglish undefiled, the 
