THE ART OF STYLE 231 



Men are in all ways more imitative than we usually allow. 

 This might be further illustrated by the predominance of 

 fashion at certain epochs. It became the custom among us 

 in England, about the middle of the seventeenth century, to 

 write with eyes fixed steadily on France as the exponent of 

 the classical tradition. During the last hundred years we 

 have been writing in conscious and admiring sympathy with 

 our Elizabethan ancestors. After allowance has been made 

 for divergence from the models fashionable at each of these 

 epochs divergences due in the one case to national genius, 

 and in the other to historical and social changes within the 

 English people the specific notes of the two periods in our 

 literature may be roughly explained by reference respectively 

 to dominance of French and Elizabethan fashion. 1 



IV 



Style, as we have seen, is a twofold phenomenon, involving 

 both the genius of nations exemplified in language, and 

 the genius of individuals who use the language. Thus 

 considered, the art of style consists, for each person, in the 

 method of employing his faculties of thought and feeling, 

 and his command of any given language, to the best 

 advantage. 



But style also varies with the nature of the subject-matter, 

 the state of the writer's mind at any given moment, and the 

 end to be attained by utterance. The style of poetry differs 

 essentially from that of prose ; and neglect of this fact leads 

 to hybrid composition, which offends the purest taste. 

 Poetical prose and word-painting are common with those 

 writers who have not made up their minds in what direction 

 their powers lie who would fain be poets, and yet choose 

 the seemingly more facile vehicle of prcse to utter their 

 emotions. 



'That is good rhetoric for the hustings which is bad for 

 a book,' said De Quincey. ' In the senate, and for the same 



1 I hope to pursue this subject further in an essay on ' Elizabethan 

 and Victorian Poetry.' 



