in his manners, well informed in his understanding, and charitable in his opinions. There were, it is true, numerous butterflies, who fluttered about the balls and affemblies; but they ferved well enough to amufe the Ladies, and were perfectly harmless. Let us endeavour to give a faithful portrait of the prefent manners of Gentlemen, and the odious likenefs will difguft even themselves. Lofty demeanour and language, arrogant enquiries and replies, haughty and fupercilious looks; the fuaviter in modo is .totally neglected. Pride, the grand difturber of the human breaft, accom panies the modern man of fathion to every place, and his firit bufinefs is to meafure the importance of the man he meets with his own; at the moft trifling word he erects his creft, and humanity is forgot in the act of maintaining his confequence. When two fuch men meet, they are like the fervants in the play of Romeo and Juliet: "Did you bite your thumb at me?" It is aftonifhing that men of fenfe and education fhould yield to abfurdities of pride like thefe, and that nonfenfe fhould become imperious. There is, in fact, no radical cure for Duelling but in the morals and manners of men; and much indeed would the evil be diminished if the morals and manners were better. There is a great deal of refinement, but it is not an honest refinement; it is not la politeffe de Cour; it is merely the pride of the understanding that makes men haughty, and deftroys focial intercourse. It has been already fuggefted by writers, that the belt method of preventing Duelling is to punish the aggreffor; that is, the perfon who gave occafion to the duel. This would deter men from making indifcreet fallies of pride or arrogance, and from coarfe unfeemly manners; they would be afraid wantonly to offend, becaufe a duel would be ineffectual to affilt their importance, or blazon with the atchievements of courage their degenerate honour. Thus the law would affift morality, and ferve the true interefts of fociety. Even as it is, it should be recollected, that whatever may be the verdict of Juries in acquiefcence to high example, the acquittal will not fatisfy the aggreffor's own breaft; and let them name it what they will, confcience will call it murder. The precepts of neglected religion are, after all, the most effective to produce peace and good-will among men : the humane and courteous farewell of Jofeph to his brethren, “See ye fell not out by the way," is a leffon for our journey through life. It is remarkable that men of fenfe thould have ever ridiculed the beautiful admonition of our Saviour, contained in the Sermon upon the Mount, "But I fay unto you relift not evil: but whofoever thail fmite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other alio." Perhaps, when justly confidered, we fhall be obliged to acknowledge, that the precepts of the sermon upon the Mount prove the mind of Jefus to have been all that we can imagine of a Deity, and the above uncommonly beautiful paffage to be derived from the molt true and correct judgment of human nature. The reafoning of the precept, was like that of a mother whofe maternal care occafions her to prefcribe limits to her child's excurfions infinitely within the circle where danger may be met. The words were never meant to be taken literally. The benevolent Saviour knew the pailions of men; and the admonition was wifely intended to infruct them in a moderation that, if only attended to in a degree, would be fufficient to preferve them from the mifchiefs of anger and enmity. The fame precepts of moderation, fo valuable to the happiness of man, and evidently meant to counteract his natural difpofitions, are to be found in almost every page of fcripture; and another beautiful paffage, from which the delay of the common law, called an imparlance, owes its origin, might be recollected to advantage by the Duellift and his feconds in an affair of honour," Agree with thine adverfary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him." It may be poffible that fome may fimile at the ufe I have made of fcripture in this Ellay. But fo it is, I could find nothing better; and I own that I have no fhare of that fashionable philofophy which will not listen to truth becaufe it comes from the Bible. Drunkennels is another caufe of Duelling; and, indeed, pride and drunkennels are both intoxications; and the fame man who boatts of drinking four bottles of wine, would boat, Y y 2 alio, alfo, of fighting a duel. Vices have a near relationship, and are always ready to introduce one another. The fuccefsful interference of the Legiflature would appear then to be, by a fummary mode, by which, in all cafes of challenges or duels, whether attended with ferious confequences or not, the parties might be brought before the Court, and the evidence of the facts fairly taken, before a Jury of Gentlemen, or Special Jury, and the aggreffor punished according to the extent of the offence againft fociety, and which should, in all trivial cafes, give a power to them to direct the proper fatisfaction to be made, and which if not complied with should fubject the offender to fine and imprifonment. I fhall, however, fum up the whole of my humble opinions upon Duelling, with a hope that a more univerfal benevolence, and better fenfe, may one day or other prevail against it; that it may be confined to the gladiators of fociety, whom none will imitate; and that the strongest law against the cuftom may be found in the HUMAN BREAST. G. B. INNOVATIONS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, A DIALOGUE OF THE DEAD. SWIFT, A BOOKSELLER, AND MERCURY. Bookfeller. To Swift, Pray, friend, where did you learn your English? Bookfeller. I was born and bred in London, and of fuch marked regularity in my line of conduct, that no man could charge me with a fingle act of incivism, or any thing that went to the diforgani zation of the fociety of which I was a member. I ferved an apprenticeship to a tip-top book feller, and have often heard the mott learned authors difcufs points of literature. I have feen them, Sir, for hours, on their legs, and going into a variety of matter. The deuce is in it if I do not speak English of the very newest and best pattern: Swift. In what part of the town did your learned authors find kennels and dunghills to wade into the way you mention? Fleet Ditch, I am told, is now very decent; and has not half that variety of filthy matter, dead cats and dogs, drowned puppies, and ftinking prats, which it formerly had. But first of all, friend, what was your lait employment in the other world? Swift. Sir, I am not deaf now, as Į was in the other world; I fhall hear you well enough, if you speak diftinctly, I afk, what trade you followed? Bookfeller. You mean, I suppose, in what profeffional line I was bred. I hinted already that my employment was to bring forward to the view of the public at large the ideas of the learned; in other words, I was in the typographical and bookfelling lines; and am free to fay, that in both lines my line of con duct was indicative of exactitude to a degree. I netted, Sir, although my expenditures were not fmall, fo conti derable a fum, that, on the demise of my wife, who refigned her existence about a year ago, I ported fables in my own gig and pair. I had in contemplation a feat in the Commons; but Swift. So; you were a bookseller. In my time, however, the idea of a learned man could have been comprehended by the large public or the public at large (how did you call it, pray?) without the help of an interpreter. See Swift's Defcription of a City Shore, But But perhaps I did not take your meaning. Bookfeller. Dear Sir, what unfounded ideas you bring forward! You take me up on a ground entirely different from that on which I intended to meet you. I have formerly fet store by you; having heard you held forth as one who had fecured the marked approbation of many. You feem inclined to maltreat me, but have faid nothing that militates against me as a profesional man, or goes to fubftantiate any charge inimical to my character. And fince you are pleafed to be provocative, I am bold to fay, that fome of our beft critics fcout and reprobate your yahoos with the molt marked energy; complain that they feel squeamith when they think of them; and have the idea that defcriptions of that defcription can be agreeable to readers of no defcription. I have heard one author, whofe name has long been inregiftrated in the annals of literature, affirm, that they are difgufting to civilization. A Juttice of Peace of my acquaintance committed himself— Swift. The deuce he did! The laws, as well as language, of England, muit be greatly changed of late years. Go on, Sir, perhaps I may at last underftand you. Bookfeller. I fay, the juftice committed himself, that he would prove your diction, as well as imagery, to be low and vulgar; that it has nothing of the tou in it, no long fonorous phraseologies, no appearance of your being converfative in ancient or foreign language; nothing, in a word, but what the common people may understand, as well as the most learned men in the kingdom. Swift. Was there ever fuch a fellow? Hark you, Sir, do you know whom you fpeak to, or what you are speaking? Bookfeller. Moft decided'y, Sir; but fellow me no fellows, if you pleafe. Your writings, however great their publicity may once have been, have had their day; they are now a boar, Sir, a mere boar; I took more money lalt winter by the Sorrows of Werter, than I have taken by a feven years' fale of the lucubrations of Swift. Swift. Werter! What is that? Bookfeller. Have you never heard of Werter? What an illiterate, out-ofthe way world is this! You can have. no fashion among you; nothing clever or fentimental, nothing that implicates reciprocity of the finer feelings. Why, Sir, Werter is one of the most eventual and impreffive of all our novel novels; the demand there is for it out-bounds your comprehenfion. You fmile; but what Lfay is a truifm. If you would be agreeable to hear, I would give you a flatement of fome particulars. Werter is a true hero, and in his line of conduct, as a perfon of the highest honour and fashion, moft correct; though a German by birth, he must have kept the best company in France; and fo extraordinary a fcholar, that he actually carried a Homer, a Greek Homer, Sir, in his pocket. But misfortune ingur gitated him in the very lowest ebb of diftrefs. His affections were captured by a neighbouring gentleman's lady, with whom he wished to have a fentimental arrangement, a little flirtation(you underítand me)—an affair of gallantry, I mean; and whofe cruelty frac tured the good young man's heart, and made him temerariously put a termination to his existence. Swift (to Mercury entering). You come in good time, Mercury. Our friend Horace fays you were famous in your day for eloquence; perhaps you may be able to interpret fome of this learned perfon's gibberish. He was fpeaking of one Werter. Mercury. I overheard all that paffed, fo you need not recapitulate. Those fame Sorrows of Werter I have feen. Werter tried to corrupt his neighbour's wife, and not wholly without fuccefs; but finding the lady not quite fo forward as he wished, he left her in a rage, blew out his brains with a pistol, and (if we may believe fome men of rhime, who have been whimpering on the occafion) went incontinently to heaven. Swift. Is it poffible that fo filly a tale can be popular? Mercury. It is poffible, for it is true: or, as this gentleman would perhaps fay, is a truism. Swift. I am glad I have got out of that vile world. It was in my time fo bad, that I foolishly thought it could not be worfe; but now it must have renounced both common honesty and common common fenfe. But whence comes it that I understand lo little of this man's English. Mercury. Would you have Englishmen of the prefent age fpeak the language of Queen Anne's reign? Swift. Certainly. Why did Addifon, and I, and fome others, take fo much pains to improve and fix the Englifh tongue? Should we have done that, think you, if we had imagined that, in fo short a time, it would be fo mifera. bly altered and debated? But who are they who thus take it upon them to diffigure the language, and, by fo doing, to difcredit the literature of England? Not, furely, the most refpectable part of the community. Men of true learning and good judgment are anxious to preferve the purity of language. Thofe barbarous idioms I take to be the ⚫ manufacture of illiterate and affected perfons, who mistake grimace for elegance, and affume the appearance of learning because they know nothing of its reality. Mercury. You are a pretty good gueffer, my old friend. But you must know there is now, in the world you left, a moft vehement rage of innovation in language, government, religion, and every thing elfe. That a thing is new is now a fufficient recommendation, however inconvenient it may be, however unnatural and unfeemly; nay, the more unnatural it is, the better chance it has of coming into fashion. On the British ftage, with infinite applaufe, young and beautiful actreffes perform fometimes the parts of highwaymen; and fome finging actors fquall in an affected voice, resembling, and intended to imitate, that of women: the most humourous dramatic pieces are frittered away into fongs; and I fhould not be surprised to hear, that henceforth Miranda and Juliet are to be perfonated by grim-vilaged grenadiers feven feet high, and Falstaff by a flender Mifs juft entered her teens; that Hotspur and Henry of Monmouth are to fight to the tune of Lillibullera; and that Hamlet and Cato will fing their respective foliloquies in a dance accompanied with a Scotch bagpipe. Similar remarks I could make on other public exhibitions. The pulp Swift. We will, if you please, defer thofe to another opportunity. In the mean time, I wish to hear more parti Mercury. Would you have me give you the arrangement and natural hutory of chaos? However, though I can. not pretend to enter minutely into fo complex a business, I shall offer a few directions, which would enable you, if you were fo difpofed, to make English of the newest and best pattern as well, nearly, as this learned bookfeller.My firt rule is a very comprehenfive one: "Avoid short words as much as poñible, however fignificant and wellfounding, efpecially if they be of Englith or Saxon original, and univerfally underfood; and, in order to raife admiration of your learning, ufe, in their ftead, longer words derived from the Greek, Latin, or French. Instead of life, new, with for, take, plunge, &c. you must fay, exiflence, novel, defiderate, capture, ingurgitate, &c. as,-a fever put an end to his existence Swift. But that would mean-annihilated him both body and foul. Mercury. True; but language is not now thought the worfe for being is not in jefs request than ambiguity of ambiguous; and ambiguity of manner phrafe: it is condered as a proof of confummate urbanity, when a writer, even a writer of history, and of ancient hiftory too, fo difguifes himself, that his reader cannot find out whether he be in jeft or earnest. Befides, I need not tell you, that by many genteel people death and annihilation are fuppofed to be the fame thing. Swift. Proceed, if you pleafe. Mercury. Instead of a new fashion, you would do well to fay-a novel fashion; for this looks like French, and this, by the common people, will not be understood. For the fame reafon, and to fhew your skill in the Latin tongue, fay, not-I with to be quiet, but I defiderate quietnefs, or rather quietude: and you must, on no account, peak of taking the enemy's fhips, towns, guns, or baggage; it must be capturing. About twenty years ago, when this word was imported, I heard a furly English ghoft remark, that fince his countrymen had learned to talk of capturing capturing fhips, they feemed to have loft the art of taking them; but Rodney and Howe have fince proved that he was mistaken. Swift. You mentioned plunge as an unfashionable verb. Mercury. Ingurgigate is more genteel; because it is long, uncommon, and fonorous, and to those who have no Latin utterly unintelligible. He was ingurgitated in the lowest ebb of difirefs is fine language. Swift. Ebb, that must mean abatement of diftrefs. Mercury. Formerly it might have been fo; but you may now fee lowest ebb ufed for greatest depth; and it is thought elegant, becaufe new. I know not whether I mentioned fort and kind as unfathionable nouns: they are quite vulgar: defeription being longer, and of Latin original, is thought much better than either, whatever harshness or confufon it may occafion. Our friend the bookseller gave a good example, when he faid, of your defcription of the yahoos, that defcriptions of that defeription can be agreeable to readers of no defeription. But of this part of the fubject we have had enough. Proceed we now, therefore, to rule the fecond, Always, when you can, prefer figurative to proper expreffion, and be not nice in the choice of your figures, nor give yourfelf much trouble about their confitency." which is this: Swift. That is just the contrary of what I ufed to recommend. A few examples, if you pleafe. Mercury. Inftead of He spoke an hour on various topics, you must fay He was an hour upon his legs, and went into a variety of matter: an idiom which is now very common, and much admired; because it is figurative, verbofe, and ambiguous: three qualities of tile which are now, among fashionable writers and fpeakers, indifpenfable. Instead of He undervalues his enemies, fay-He fets no ftore by his ene mies, or rather he fets no flore by thofe who are inimical to him. Inimical is a great favourite, though they who ufe it are not yet agreed about the pronuncia. tion of it. It came in at the fame time with the verb capture, and from the fame quarter. Unfriendly and hostile muft both give place to inimical; the former because it is mere Englith, the latter becaufe, though of Latin original, it is universally understood." Inftead of-At first view, you must say -At the first blush of the business. Hold out is a figurative phrafe of very general ufe: every imaginable conception of the human mind is now fuppofed to have hands and arms for holding out fomething. Letters from Spain hold out an inimical appearance. This plan, or idea, holds out great advantages. Distress of mind is held out by physicians as the caufe of his bad health. But I fee you grow impatient, and I fhall go on to my third rule, of which I gave a hint already: "Avoid concilenels, and ule as many words as poible." When you speak of a man's conduct, you mult always call it, his line of conduct; and instead of an authentic narrative-you must fay, a narrative marked with authenticity. Indeed the words line, meet, marked, feel, go, and fome others, may be used on all occafions, whether they ceived with marked applaufe, marked have meaning or not; as-He was reinfult, marked contempt, marked admi ration: meet your withes, meet your arguments, meet your fupport, meet your ideas, meet your feelings, meet you on any ground, &c. Then as to line-every thing is now a line. You he is in the military line, or in the army mult not fiy-He is in the army, but line: nor--he is bred to butinels, but he is bred in a profefional line. So, inttead of he is a hair-dreiler, clergyman, printer, perfumer, merchant, fitherman, &c. you will be laughed at if you do not lay-he is in the hairdreffing line, in the clerical line, in the printing line, in the perfumery line, in the mercantile line, in the fishing line, &c. Feel has become fo fathionable, that your old English fubftantive verbs am and be are in danger of being forgotten. Infterd of-I am anxious, I am afraid, I am difappointed, I am warm, I am fick, he is bold, they are afhamed, the room is damp, the day is cold, &c. you must fy-I feel anxious, I feel afraid, I feel ditappointed, I feel warm, I feel fick, he feels bold, they feel ashamed, the room feels damp, the day feels cold, &c. His arguments went to prove, &c. Accounts from Spain go to fay, that, &c. This, becaule more verbofe, s thought more elegant than—Accounts from Spain lay-his arguments proved, &c. Savift. |
