revisiting impressive scenes, and in re-perusing great literary compositions.

4. Variety is sought in all the constituents of style.

The frequent recurrence of the same sound is unpleasing, Hence it is a law of melody to alternate the letters of the alphabet. (See MELODY.)

So in Metres. While each metre has a definite form, not to be departed from, there may be a great many variations within that form. Shakespeare excels every other writer of blank verse in ringing changes within the type.

5. The varying of Words is a means of rhetorical effect.

The following is an example from Helps :

'The voyage is recommenced. They sail by the sandy shore of Araya, see the lofty cocoa-nut trees that stand over Cumana, pursue their way along that beautiful coast, noticing the Piritu palm of Maracapana, then traverse the difficult waters of the gloomy Golofo Triste, pass the province of Venezuela, catch a glimpse of the white summits of the mountains above Santa Martha, continue on their course to Darien, now memorable for the failure of so many great enterprises-and still no temple, no great idol, no visible creed, no cultus.'

The studied variation of the terms is often carried too far; and there is seen in some eminent writers a readiness to incur repetition to a degree that would once have been reckoned inelegant. In this sentence from Macaulay, we find both variety and repetition: 'As there is no stronger sign of a mind destitute of the poetical faculty than the tendency to turn images into abstractionsMinerva, for example, into Wisdom-—so there is no stronger sign of a mind truly poetical than a disposition to reverse the process, and to make individuals out of generalities'.

Copiousness of language is thus a condition of literary genius. Here also Shakespeare stands pre-eminent; his superiority being shown by a numerical computation of his vocabulary. It has been remarked of Victor Hugo that the number of words used in his writings is very great in comparison with other French writers.

The demand for copiousness and variety of diction is opposed to the prescription, sometimes given, to adhere as closely as possible to our purely Saxon vocabulary. Even when Saxon terms are adequate to express our meaning, we need not always forbid ourselves the use of the classical equivalents.

6. Variety is sought also in the length and structure of Sentences.

However well composed an author's sentences may be, the frequent repetition of the same form becomes wearisome; the more so, if the form is marked in character.

There is a manifest overdoing of one type in the curt sentences of Channing and of Macaulay, and in the artificial balancing of Johnson, and his imitator, Gibbon.

7. Alternation is requisite in Figurative effects.

The

It is an abuse to deal exclusively in any one figure; while figures altogether may be out of proportion. In the Philippics of Demosthenes, the Interrogation occurs too frequently. Pope's Epigrams are carried to excess. interest of a composition may be best sustained by employing all the Figures in due alternation; now a simile or a metaphor, at another time a metonymy, then a contrast, again an epigram, a hyperbole, an interrogation or a climax.

8. Still wider in sweep is the demand for varying the Interest as a Whole.

To impart the highest enjoyment by a verbal composition, or any other production of art, it is necessary to work upon the most powerful feelings of the mind. This does not exclude the appeal to the less powerful. On the contrary, every legitimate source of interest should be drawn upon, with the understanding that the space occupied is exactly in proportion to the value as interest. The love passion being, in every respect, a first-class emotion, it occupies a leading place in poetic story. Nevertheless, it is intermitted, and alternated, not merely with other first-class emotions, as malignity, but with minor forms of interest, such as the common utilities of life; and if these are dwelt upon only in proportion to their degree of charm, their introduction is so much gain.

It is possible to protract the glow of any single passion, by varying its embodiment, or multiplying its situations, accessories and surroundings,—as in the invention of a complex plot. This is one of the many forms of poetic invention.

It is only after reviewing the special qualities of style that the various kinds of interest can be classified and their

respective values assigned. The best criterion of interest is endurance without weariness. Mr. Matthew Arnold is fond of quoting a Greek proverb-Tell me a good thing twice'. As individuals differ greatly in their susceptibility to every kind of emotion, the measure of the degree is the time of endurance with pleasure.

An important part of literary criticism consists in tracing the adoption of figures and other effects already used, but with improvements in the application of them. This is one of the forms of refinement in poetical art. Gray is a wellknown example: his images are in many instances borrowed, but with more or less of gain in the new setting.

ACTION AND PLOT.

1. In addition to the recognized importance of narrated Action in evolving the emotions, we have to take note of the peculiar feeling of suspense, commonly called the interest of PLOT.

In following most narratives, our attention is kept alive by a desire to learn the conclusion; and the attitude of suspense is accompanied by a peculiar emotional condition whose recurrence is counted among our undying pleasures. This interest was adopted into poetry from the very earliest days; and its modes have been cultivated both in Poetry and in Prose Fiction to a high degree. A plot is essential to the novel or romance, although writers differ greatly in the complexity and ingenuity of their plots. The construction of a plot is well known to be a perpetual demand upon the ingenuity of authors of fictitious tales; readers being already familiar with so many existing ones.

2. The leading conditions of plot interest are:-
(1) Uncertainty in regard to the issue of events in pro-
This is the most essential and universal require-

gress. ment.

(2) The feelings have to be aroused in favour of a particular issue. A moderate degree of preference for one conclusion keeps up the agreeable suspense; while utter indifference to the termination would invalidate the effect.

(3) The conclusion is protracted so as to give scope for the attitude of suspense.

REQUISITES OF A GOOD PLOT.

47

(4) It is usual to supply fluctuating indications, whereby the probable issue is made to flit about in different directions. In this way the pleasurable excitement is prolonged and increased. Nevertheless, the interest in the final issue must not be so intense that unfavourable omens will be felt as simply painful. We can afford a certain lowering of the chances of the side we prefer, with an adequate compensation in the rebound of final success.

The trial scene in the Merchant of Venice' is a case of tension carried to the extreme point of endurance.

(5) If the end can be made a surprise after all, while still agreeing with our wishes and feelings, the effect is all the greater.

Plot is not merely an independent means of interest; it also affords scope for the evolution of the intense emotions. It is, moreover, a collateral means of attaining unity in narrative composition.

When plot is wanting, the interest of a poem must be supported by the power of the isolated passages. Speaking of Young's 'Night Thoughts,' Campbell remarks-'The poem excites no anticipation as it proceeds'. 'The power of the poet instead of "being in the whole," lies in short, vivid and broken gleams of genius.'

In History, no less than in Poetry and Fiction, the interest of a plot may be developed. The historian is limited to his facts, but these may be so arranged as either to gain, or else to lose, the interest of plot; and the same thing applies to the narration of the simplest story.

REFINEMENT.

1. By the aid of poetic handling, the grossness of the strong animal passions can be transformed and converted into REFINED PLEASURE.

Such feelings as the sensuality of love and eating, or the coarser forms of malevolence, are not accepted in polite literature. It is possible, nevertheless, to make them yield products not unsuitable to the purest poetry.

The gross pleasures, in their naked presentation, are not merely objectionable on moral grounds: they have the further defect of being violent and therefore transient. To moderate and prolong their agreeable tremor, is one of the

achievements of Art in general, and of Poetry in particular, It is this operation that gives another meaning to the mode of defining poetry by help of the term 'spiritualizing'.

The principal examples are the following: Eating and Drinking; Sexual Love; Malevolence; Tender Feeling; together with Utilities of the grosser kind, as the appliances for removing filth, and for the treatment of diseases.

The refining process also finds scope in the emotion of Fear; mitigating the painful effects, and distilling out of them small portions of pleasure.

2. The methods that have already come under review, for this object, are chiefly these:

(1) The Euphemism (PART FIRST, p. 183). The primary intention of this figure is to keep out of view a repulsive or painful subject that must nevertheless be referred to. The method employed-namely, to point to something different, which, however, in the circumstances, lets the true meaning be known-applies to the palliation of coarse effects generally.

(2) Innuendo or Suggestion (p. 212). This states more precisely the operation implied in the euphemism. When the wholesale slaughter of human beings would excite revulsion and disgust, it is left to distant suggestion; thus, a sanguinary battle is described as being attended with 'considerable loss'. An agonizing struggle is simply 'painful'. Swift's cannibal proposals regarding Irish children are too horrible either for a jest or for irony; but he throws a veil over them, by using the language of the shambles, and making us think rather of calves and lambs.

(3) The Ideal. It is the nature of Ideality in Poetry to put everything in the most favourable aspect to suit our feeling. The grossness of eating is done away with in the feasts of the pagan gods, and in the nutriment of the angels in Milton.

(4) Harmony (see p. 34).

(5) Plot. The operation of plot has been already explained; as also its magical power of protracting our enjoyment in connexion with the stronger passions (p. 46). The interest of a romance is spread over numerous details, before reaching the denouement.

3. The following are additional arts of Refinement: