8 



R. E. Morits 



These results showed even a greater divergence than those ob- 

 tained from a comparison of Shakespeare's and Bacon's prose. 

 Possibly Goethe occupied a unique position in this respect. I 

 continued the test with an examination of Schiller. This time 

 I selected Die Rduher, a prose tragedy, and his History of tJie 

 Thirty Years IVar. 



SCHILLER 



{Die Rdiiber) 

 First five hundred periods 

 Second " " 

 Third " 

 Fourth " " 

 Fifth " 



Average for 2,500 periods 



11.5 



SCHILLER 

 {History Thirty Years War) 



29.9 

 27.8 

 28.3 

 24.9 

 25.7 



Average for 1,000 periods 27,3 



This would not do. Whatever sentence-rhythm these German 

 writers manifested was certainly greatly dependent upon the par- 

 ticular style of composition employed. Perhaps I had made a 

 mistake in making tests from books nearest at hand, and should 

 have limited myself to English authors. So I took up Swift 

 and Dryden, who, I thought, would be unobjectionable from any 

 point of view. I examined a prose drama and an essay from 

 each, and decided to limit my examination in each case to five 

 hundred periods.^ 



SWIFT 



{Polite Conversation) 



First hundred periods 10.8 



Second " " 12.0 



Third " " 12.1 



Fourth " " 13.7 



Fifth •' " 13.6 



Average for 500 periods 12.4 



SVi^IFT 



''{Essay on the Four Last Years of 

 Queen Anne) 



First hundred periods 51.6 



Second " " 49.3 



Third " " 58.2 



Fourth " " 62.1 



Fifth " " 53.0 



Average for 500 periods 54.8 



i Professor Sherman expresses the opinion that three hundred periods 

 will generally reveal the sentence-rhythm of any author who has achieved 

 a style. Uuivetsity Studies, vol. I, no, 2, p. 130. 



236 



