STYLE AND THE MAN 99 



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 life. Every 

 work of genius has its own physiognomy — sad, 

 cheerful, frowning, yearning, determined, medita- 

 tive. This book has the face of a saint; that of a 

 scholar or a seer. Here is the feminine, there the 

 masculine face. One has the clerical face, one the 

 judicial. Each appeals to us according to our tem- 

 peraments 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 Emer- 

 son's for his purpose, — electric sparks, the sudden, 

 unexpected 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 

 sentence cut four square, and his work, as Carlyle 

 said to Emerson, a splendid bridge, connecting the 

 ancient world with the modern; or than De Quin- 

 cey'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 con- 

 tinental spirit, — the processional, panoramic style 



