nor the improvement of those who read what we write.

The

Perspicuity depends on two circumstances, the choice of words, and the structure of sentences. former comprehends purity, propriety, and precision; the latter such an arrangement as is the best adapted to convey at once to the mind of the reader the meaning of the writer.

Of Purity.

PURITY of style implies a close adherence to the idiom of the language in which we write, and as written language differs from that which is spoken, only in the superior accuracy which results from greater deliberation, a knowledge of what is idiomatical, is to be obtained from attention to the phraseology of those who are esteemed the best speakers, as well as from a careful perusal of the most eminent authors.

Writers who know their own language only, are most likely to be idiomatical; those who are acquainted with several languages, have fewer peculiarities; but those who are much conversant with any one foreign language, and become attached to it, are apt to adopt the peculiar arrangements of such a lan

guage, in writing their own. This is sometimes the effect of accident, sometimes of affectation, but seldom of choice. When any form of expression in a foreign tongue, is very obviously superior to one used for the same purpose in our own, it may be adopted. We should enrich our language by design, but never corrupt it by inattention.

The introduction of foreign words, except when used as the names of things brought from foreign countries, and not previously known in our own country, is to be regarded as a gross violation of purity.

The Greek is generally esteemed the most polished language, that ever was written; but it was not always so. Its superiority is to be ascribed to the unremitting labours, and vigorous exertions of poets, orators, rhetoricians and grammarians, who studied their own language, and their own language exclusively. Do we aspire to similar perfection; let us imitate their example. The French and Italians, whose languages we admire, do not, like us, introduce the words and phrases peculiar to their neighbours, but in this respect shew an independence worthy of imitation. In philosophical investigations, the British are unequalled. In dramatic and epic poetry,

their Shakspeare and their Milton have reached the highest heaven of invention. In their Chatham, Demosthenes was heard again. In what language has all this been accomplished? Could Bacon, Locke, Boyle, Newton, Addison, Johnson, Hume, Robertson, Gibbon, and a host of others, not find words in their native tongue, to express the thoughts and reasonings of their mighty minds, without having recourse to the language of other nations? It is not to the poverty of the language, but to the ignorance, or affectation of the writer, we must attribute the use of foreign words.

Every thing sublunary is liable to change; the opinions of individuals, and even of societies, communities, and nations, become old fashioned, and give place to others. This necessarily affects the language in which their opinions are expressed; but independently of this circumstance, words, which, at one period, were used by the most respectable writers, gradually fall into disuse, and at last become completely obsolete; when this happens, the use of such words is esteemed a violation of purity. When a language approaches to refinement, changes of this kind are less frequent than in its ruder periods; the language is more studied, writings in it are more frequent, grammars and dictionaries are formed, and in any

case of difficulty or doubt, these are referred to as a standard.

It is, however, worthy of remark, that words which have long ceased to be admissible in elegant compositions in prose, or even in conversation, may be, and frequently are, admitted in poetry. In this, their appearance is not deemed uncouth, their occasional introduction produces an agreeable variety, and by making verse so different from prose, is thought to give it a degree of elevation.

Of Propriety.

THOUGH there is no necessary connection between words and ideas, custom affixes to every word a particular application, in the due observance of which, consists that quality of style denominated propriety. When it is considered how numerous and how diversified are the ideas of men, and that every shade of meaning can be indicated by a different word, nothing can exhibit a more striking display of what human skill and industry are able to accomplish, than language, as it exists among a refined and polished people. In proportion as distinctions become more nice, and more numerous, the difficulty of attaining propriety of style is increased; but the same circumstance

that increases the difficulty, increases also the obligation of studying to possess a quality so important.

As the application of words is, in the first instance, arbitrary, and propriety consists in using them to express those ideas, to which they have been usually applied, a careful study of the best writers, is one of the principal means by which it may be attained. But when we pass beyond the simplest elements of a language, we find that by far the greater proportion of its words is formed by composition or derivation. In a former part of this work, it is shewn that for the new ideas, or combinations of ideas, which are occasionally formed, men, instead of inventing terms entirely new, commonly join together two or more words already in use. A knowledge of etymology, is therefore, in regard to propriety, of considerable importance; it is not however the only guide; words, especially when employed to express the operations of the mind, are often used metaphorically, and in this case, propriety will greatly depend on attention to the literal sense of what forms the foundation of the figure.

Of Precision.

THE words which a writer employs may all belong to the language in which he writes; they may be nei