144 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. 
way, which J had probably elfe 
wanted fpirit to invite; I accofted 
him with all imaginable civility, and 
made the ftrongeit aficverations of 
my innocence: whether I did this 
with a fervility that might aggra- 
vate his fufpicions, or that he had 
others imprefied upon him befides 
thofe 1 was labouring to remove, fo 
it was, that he treated all I faid with 
the moft contemptuous incredulity, 
and elevating’ his voice to a tone 
that petrified me with fear, bade me 
avoid his jight, threatening me both 
by words and actions in a manner 
too humiliating to relate, 
Alas! can words exprefs my 
feelings? Is there a being more 
wretched than myfelf? to be fiiend- 
1.fs, an exile from fociety, and at 
enmity with myfelf, is a fituation 
deplorable in the extreme: let what 
T have now written be made public; 
if I could believe my fhame would 
be turned to others’ profit, it might 
perhaps become lefs painful to my- 
self; 1f men want other motives to 
divert them from defamation, than 
what their own hearts fupply, let 
them turn to my example, and if 
they will not be reafoned, let them 
be frightened out of their propen- 
fity. 
I am, Sir, &c. 
WaLTER. WoRMWOOD. 
Obferwations on the various Sorts of 
Stile. From the fame. 
HE celebrated author of the 
‘Rambler in his concluding 
- paper fays, I have laboured to refine 
eur language to grawznatical purity, 
and to clear it from colleguial barba- 
rifts, licentious idioms and irregular 
combinations: fomething perhaps I 
bave added ta the elegance of its con- 
frudtion, and fomething to the hars 
mony of its cadence. J hope our 
language hath gained all the profit, 
which the labours of this meritorious 
writer were exerted to produce: in — 
- ftile of a certain defcription he un- 
doubtedly excels; but though I 
think there is much in his eflays for — 
a reader to admire, I fhould not 
recommend them as a model fora 
difciple to copy. 
Simplicity, eafe and perfpicuity 
fhould be the firft objects of a young 
writer: Addifon and other authors 
of his clafs will farniih him with 
examples, and aflift him in the at- — 
tainment of thefe excellencies; but 
after all, the ftile, in which a man 
fhall write, will not be formed by 
imitation only; it will be the ftile 
of his mind; it will affimilate itfelf 
to his mode of thinking, and take 
its colour from the complexion of 
his ordinary difcourfe, and the com- 
pany he conforts with. As for that 
diftinguifhing characteriftic, which 
the ingenious efleyiit terms very 
properly the harmony of its cadence ; 
that I] take to be incommunicable 
and immediately dependant upon 
the ear of him who models it. This 
harmony of cadence is fo ftrong a 
mark of difcriminatiom between au- 
thors of note in the world of letters, 
that we can depofe to a ftile, whofe 
modulation we are familiar with, 
almoft as confidently as to the hand- 
writing of a correipondent. But 
though I think there will be found 
in the periods of every eftablifhed 
writer a certain peculiar tune, 
(whether harmonious or otherwile) 
which will depend rather upon the 
natural ear than upon the imitative 
powers, yet I would not be under- — 
ftood to fay that the ftudy of good 
models can fail to be of ufe in the 
firft formation of it. When a fub- 
ject 
