234 THEORT of the 



the more minute and eafy fteps which thofe who are well ac- 

 euftomed to fuch reafonings quickly and eafily fupply for them- 

 felves, and find pleafure in this quicknefs and brevity ; while, 

 on the contrary, they are tired and difgufted with that flow 

 and tedious expofition of every ftep in the reafoning, which to 

 them is needlefs, but perhaps would be necefTary for the in- 

 ftruction of thofe of inferior talents and knowledge. 



A grammatical language, as quick as thought, and as 

 concife as natural language, is manifeftly unattainable. But 

 every approximation to it is valuable. All the moods of verbs, 

 even the indicative and the fimple fubjun&ive, are fuch ap- 

 proximations. 



If thefe obfervations be true, with refpect to the indicative 

 and fimply fubjunclive mood, and the plain and tranquil ex- 

 prefhon of mere proportion, how much more important and 

 ftriking muft the correfponding differences be, between the 

 concife and quick expreffions of fuch interefling and animated 

 combinations of thoughts, as interrogation, command, wifh, 

 i$c. by the grammatical moods of verbs, and the flow, languid 

 enunciations of the fame or fimilar thoughts, by circumlocu- 

 tion and the ufe of additional verbs ? 



There is a juft and beautiful obfervation of Longinus, 



relating to this fubjecl, which will fairly admit of much more 



extenfive application than he has made of it, and is in truth 



more important than he feems to have been aware of. He 



takes notice of interrogation as a figure of rhetoric, by which 



an orator endeavours to render the expreflion of his thoughts 



more animated and forcible. T< £' sjsma cpuy.iv rag wevartig re xett 



zpurri<nt$ ; agec ax, avraig raig ruv -fffflfAowajv etdoffouaig TccpcczroXv 



ii^irpaxrortpa xai eoftagartpa ervvrsivsi ra Xtyopeva ; LoNGINUS dc 



Sublirn. Sect, xviii. This opinion he illuftrates, in fome mea- 



fure, by the manner in which he exprefTes it, namely, by the 



ufe of the very figure of interrogation of which he is treating ; 



and ftill better by a very apt quotation from the fir ft Philippic 



of 



