STYLE AND THE MAN 99 



There are as many styles as there are moods and 

 tempers in men. Words may be used so as to give 

 us a sense of vigor, a sense of freshness, a sense of 

 the choice and scholarly, or of the dainty and exclu- 

 sive, or of the polished and elaborate, or of heat or 

 cold, or of any other quality known to life. Every 

 work of genius has its own physiognomy sad, 

 cheerful, frowning, yearning, determined, medita- 

 tive. This book has the face of a saint; that of a 

 scholar or a seer. Here is the feminine, there the 

 masculine face. One has the clerical face, one the 

 judicial. Each appeals to us according to our tem- 

 peraments and mental predilections. Who shall say 

 which style is the best? What can be better than 

 the style of Huxley for his purpose, sentences 

 level and straight like a hurled lance; or than Emer- 

 son's for his purpose, electric sparks, the sudden, 

 unexpected epithet or tense, audacious phrase, that 

 gives the mind a wholesome shock; or than Gibbon's 

 for his purpose, a style like solid masonry, every 

 sentence cut four square, and his work, as Carlyle 

 said to Emerson, a splendid bridge, connecting the 

 ancient world with the modern; or than De Quin- 

 cey's for his purpose, a discursive, roundabout 

 style, herding his thoughts as a collie dog herds 

 sheep; or than Arnold's for his academic spirit, a 

 style like cut glass; or than Whitman's for his con- 

 tinental spirit, the processional, panoramic style 



