78 LITEEAKT VALUES 



VII 



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 lite. Every 

 work of genius has its own physiognomy — sad, 

 cheerful, frowning, yearning, determined, meditative. 

 This book has the face of a saint ; that of a scholar 

 or a seer. Here is the feminine, there the mascu- 

 line face. One has the clerical face, one the judi- 

 cial. Each appeals to us according to our tempera- 

 ments 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 Emerson's 

 for his purpose, — electric sparks, the sudden, unex- 

 pected 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 sen- 

 tence cut four square, and his work, as Carlyle said 

 to Emerson, a splendid bridge, connecting the an- 

 cient world with the modern ; or than De Quincey'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 continental 

 spirit, — the processional, panoramic style that gives 

 the sense of mass and multitude ? Certain things we 



