226 NOTES ON STYLE 



knowing how and when and where to deviate from the "beaten 

 track ; and in nothing do writers of equal excellence reveal 

 their individual proclivities more plainly than in their selec- 

 tion of uncommon vocables or turns of phrase. 



The art of style, like all arts of expression, does not aim 

 exclusively at precision. It is a firte art, and demands beauty 

 as the concomitant of truth. We have a sense for the beauty 

 of language in itself, just as we have a sense for the beauty of 

 sounds, colours, forms. This sense claims to be gratified by 

 harmonious and rhythmic utterance. Students of style will 

 therefore take pains to avoid unnecessary tautology, to vary 

 the openings and outlines of propositions, to alternate long 

 and short sentences, and to connect these into well-built para- 

 graphs. They will be sensible that, as every idea has its one 

 right verbal form, so every phrase ought to have its own dis- 

 tinctive cadence. Goethe used to say that each poetic motive 

 brought with it a rhythm and a stanza proper to itself ; and 

 this remark might be extended to the minutest particles of 

 thought conveyed in language. 



Only slovenly writers who never felt the beauty of verbal 

 form, and brutal writers who do wilful violence to language, 

 ignore the duty of seeking the right phrase. Those for whom 

 style is an art will differ immeasurably in their power to use 

 it. The unknown painter struggling with a task beyond his 

 faculty cannot charm our senses with the suave and luminous 

 achievements of a Titian or Veronese. But even humble 

 workers are able to do much by love and care, toward lifting 

 their utterance above the dead level of commonplace. Let 

 them rewrite sentences, recast paragraphs, remould chapters, 

 seeking at every step a bettering of their best, a closer union 

 with the melody which penetrates the intellectual ear. Striving 

 thus, we become sensible of what is meant by art in style. 

 We grow more vigorous ; and when there comes some vital 

 thought to utter, the clothing words spring forth with more of 

 freshness, strength, and music. 



The lucid exposition of ideas in ordered sequence, the 

 weaving of sentences into coherent paragraphs, the unfolding 

 of arguments by natural yet logically constructed steps, the 



