set out. A first sentence should seldom be long, and never ⚫ intricate. EXAMPLE. 2. "It fills the mind with the largest variety of ideas, converses with its objects at the greatest distance, and continues the longest in action, without being tired, or satiated with its proper enjoyments." CRITICISM. This sentence is remarkably harmonious and well con structed. It is perspicuous, and loaded with no superfluous words; for the terms, tired or satiated, refer to differ-ent members of the period, and convey distinct ideas, the first, to continuance of action, the latter to enjoyment. Unity is preserved. It is our sight of which he speaks. This is the object carried through the sentence and presented in every member of it, by those verbs, fills, converses, continues, to each of which it is clearly the nominative. Those capital words are disposed of in the most proper places, and that uniformity is maintained in the construc tion of the sentence which suits the unity of the object. Observe, too, the music of the period; consisting of three members, each of which grows and rises above the other in sound, till the sentence is conducted at last to a most melodious close. Enjoyments is a word of length and dignity, exceedingly proper for a close which is designed to be a musical one. The sound of the period thus arranged is just and proper with respect to the sense. It follows the order of nature. EXAMPLE. 3. "The sense of feeling can, indeed, give us a notion of extension, shape, and all other ideas that enter at the eye, except colors; but, at the same time, it is very much straitened and confined in its operations to the number, bulk, and distance of its particular objects." CRITICISM. This sentence is neither clear nor elegant. Extension and shape can with no propriety be called ideas; they are properties of matter. Nor is it accurate to speak of any sense giving us a notion of ideas; our senses give us the ideas themselves. The meaning would have been much more clear if the author had expressed himself thus: "The sense of feeling, can, indeed, give us the idea of ex tension, figure, and all the other properties of matter which are perceived by the eye, except colors." The latter part of the sentence is still more embarrassed, for what meaning can we make of the sense of "feeling being confined in its operations to the number," &c.? Is not every sense equally confined to the number, bulk, and distance of its own objects? The epithet particular, applied to objects in the conclusion of the sentence, is redundant, and conveys no meaning whatever. It seems to have been used in place of peculiar ; but these words, though often confounded, are of different import. Particular stands opposed to general; peculiar stands opposed to what is possessed in common with others. EXAMPLE. 4. "It is this sense which furnishes the imagination with its ideas; so that by the pleasures of the imagination or fancy (which I shall use promiscuously) I here mean such as arise from visible objects, either when we have them actually in our view, or when we call up their ideas into our minds by paintings, statues, descriptions, or any the like occasion." CRITICISM. In place of, "It is the sense which furnishes," the author might have said more shortly, "This sense furnishes." But the former mode is here more proper, when a proposi tion of importance is laid down, to which we seek to call attention. It is like pointing with the hand to the object of which we speak. The parenthesis is not clear. It should have been, terms which I shall use promiscuously; as the verb use relates not to the pleasures of the imagination, but to the terms of fancy and imagination, which he was to employ as synonymous. Any the like occasion." To call a painting or statue an occasion is not a happy expression, nor is it very proper to speak of calling up ideas by occasions. The common phrase, "ary such means," would have been more natural. 66 EXAMPLE. 5. There are few words in the English language which are employed in a more loose and uncircumscribed sense than those of the fancy and the imagination." CRITICISM. The sentence could have been improved by reading thus: "Few words in the English language are employed in a more loose and uncircumscribed sense than fancy and imagination." The reasons for the alteration are obvious. EXAMPLE. 6. "My design being, first of all, to discourse of those primary pleasures of the imagination which entirely proceed from such objects as are before our eyes; and, in the next place, to speak of those secondary pleasures of the imagination which flow from the ideas of visible objects, when the objects are not actually before the eye, but are called up into our memories, or formed into agreeable visions of things, that are either absent or fictitious." CRITICISM. It is a great rule in laying down the division of a subject, to study neatness and brevity as much as possible. The divisions are then more distinctly apprehended, and more easily remembered. This sentence is not happy in that respect, being clogged with a tedious phraseology. By sparing several words the style would have been made more neat and compact. 66 EXAMPLE. 7. A man of a polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures that the vulgar are not capable of receiving.' CRITICISM. "Polite" is a term more commonly applied to manners or behavior than to the mind or imagination. The use of the word that for a relative pronoun, instead of which, is a usage too frequent with Mr. Addison. Which is more definite than that, being used only as a relative pronoun, while the latter is a word of many senses; sometimes a demonstrative pronoun, sometimes a conjunction. That may be used sometimes as a relative, as when we refer to persons and things as antecedents, or wish to avoid the ungrateful repetition of which in the same sentence. EXAMPLE. 8. "He can converse with a picture, and find an agreeable companion in a statue. He meets with a secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows than another does in the possession. It gives him, indeed, a kind of property in every thing he sees, and makes the most rude, uncultivated parts f nature administer to his pleasures; so that he looks pon the world, as it were, in another light, and disovers in it a multitude of charms that conceal themselves from the generality of mankind." CRITICISM. All this is very beautiful. The illustration is happy. The style runs with the greatest ease and harmony. But there is some negligence. The first instance is in the sentence beginning with, "It gives him, indeed," &c. To this it there is no proper antecedent in the whole paragraph, and to find one we must look back to the third sentence before this. The phrase polite imagination is the only antecedent to which this it can refer; and even that is an improper antecedent, as it stands in the genitive (possessive) case, as the qualification only of a man. The other instance of negligence begins with, "so that he looks upon the world, as it were, in another light." By another light the author means, a light different from that in which other men view the world, but this meaning is conveyed very indistinctly to other minds. As it were is a phrase that should scarcely ever be used, and here there was no occasion for it. The whole of this last member, beginning with "so that he looks," &c., might with advantage be omitted altogether, as the ideas are conveyed in what goes before it. Dr. Blair has devoted four entire lectures to a critical examination of the style of Addison's Spectator, Nos. 411-414, which form an exceedingly valuable part of his work on Rhetoric. It would be well for teachers of the work in hand to write upon a blackboard, or (what is better) they might require their students to write upon slates or on paper, the passages from the Spectator, and then deliberately read to their classes the elaborate, judicious, and tasteful criticisms of Dr. Blair. Occasionally, however, it may be remarked, Dr. Blair's own language stands open to criti ciam. CHAPTER III. CRITICAL NOTES UPON A PORTION OF PARADISE LOST. [This chapter is derived from an anonymous London work, and is proposed as a model of criticism where figurative language is concerned, particularly in poetic composition.] SATAN'S SPEECH.-Paradise Lost, Book ii., 1. 11. THE debate is opened by Satan, and his speech should naturally turn, in the first place, on vindicating his right to preside; and, in the second place, on the subject for which they are met, that is, how they are to regain their lost inheritance. This division is extremely simple, but it is very oratorical, as it affords Milton the opportunity of characterizing Satan by his known vice, PRIDE, which he displays while he asserts his right to pre-eminence Pow'rs and dominions, deities of heav'n; For, since no deep within her gulf can hold More glorious and more dread than from no fall, Me, though just right, and the fix'd laws of heaven, 15 Book II., 1. 11.-Satan's character is seen in the very first line of his address. It is all pomp, but the climax is masterly: first, he compliments them with strength, then with strength added to dominion; and lastly, strength and dominion crowned with godhead. In the last word of this line there is artful encouragement, which he proves in the three following lines. L. 12. Here you may observe a bold Pleonasm, used by Milton to paint the dreadful profundity of hell; for saying a deep holds within its gulf, is the same thing as a deep holds within its deep; but the poet felt the force of the imagery, and ventured the figure. L. 15.-Celestial virtues. Here the cause is elegantly used for the effect, for virtue inspires confidence on the knowledge of its own rectitude, and vigor and exertion are the result. The demons are therefore called Celestial Virtues, alluding to the immortal vigor which Satan bestows upon them, in order to encourage them to reascend to heaven. L. 18.-Here, and in two or three of the following lines, he enumerates his reasons for supremacy: (1) just right, suggested by pride; (2) fate, here called the fixed laws of heaven; (3) free choice of his subjects; (4, 5) merit in council, and merit in fight, are only glanced at. DD |