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And if Milton has been thought by critics to have fliewn 

 fome melancholy in his mirth, even in poems of the fame 

 ftrudlure, andija vi^hich he had intended to contraft them, verfa- 

 tility in ftyle of thought fhould be deemed not fo much an 

 affemblage of many qualities, as a peculiar natural quality in 

 itfelf, not to be attained by effort, and not neceflary to excel- 

 lence- 



Through the ftyle in words thefe charadleriftic differences 

 may eafily be difcovered. There are fev^r w^ords in any lan- 

 guage which can in ftridnefs be termed fynonimous. Many 

 of them may exprefs the fame primitive idea, but each expreffes 

 it in a different degree, in various circumftances and relations, 

 and under different impreflions of the writer's mind. Every 

 quality intelledlual or moral has many names by any of which it 

 may be* expreffed, according to the different reception which 

 it meets from him who defcribes it ; which deprefs or heighten 

 its power, according as it is to be commended or condemned. 

 When the fame man is fpoken of by one author as liberal 

 and by another as prodigal, the fame country by one traveller 

 as bleak and by another as romantic, the fame theory by 

 one critic as ingenious and by another as extravagant, the 

 moral charader and habits of the writers can alone account 

 for this diverfity, and through the medium of their language 

 this diverfity may be pointed out. Even the fame fail will 

 be related in various words according to the intent and dif- 

 pofitions of him by whom it is related. When it is faid that 

 Brutus killed Caefar, the fad fimply is ftated ; and when >ve 



( I 2 ) fay 



