stroy the effect of it with those who have judgment to see through the artifice. When a speaker seems to expect that I should be surprised, and I am not; when he shews me, that he is endeavouring to lead my passions where they cannot follow, it occasions a very disagreeable sensation. Affectation, though it is always out of place, and seldom fails to defeat its own intentions, is never more so than when it appears in the pulpit or the reading desk; where it is shocking to see the airs of the theatre, and to hear a preacher enforcing his observations with the voice of an actress expiring upon the stage. What is unnatural cannot be just; and nothing can be affecting which is not natural. Therefore, in all reading, we must have regard to the sense, to the matter, and the occasion: then we shall read with propriety, and what we deliver will have the proper effect. One rule ought never to be forgotten; that the reader or speaker should seem to feel in himself what he delivers to others; si vis me stere dolendum est ipsi tibi. The principle is certain, and even mechanical; for in all machines, no part moves another without being first moved itself. This is the soul of all elocution, with which a common beggar at a door door has the powers of an orator, and without which, all the rules of art are cold and insignificant. A barrel-organ can be made to play a most elaborate piece of music truly and correctly; but the sounds want that animation which they receive from the finger of a living player, who is himself delighted with what he is performing. For practice in reading, a plain narrative has not variety enough to exercise the different turns of the voice: speeches, reasonings, controversies, and dialogues are more proper; and there is great choice in the Scriptures. The speeches of St. Paul to Agrippa, Festus, and the Jews; his reasonings in the Epistle to the Romans; the conversation of the Jews with the man that was born blind; are all excellent to teach propriety and force of expression. Some of the Night-Thoughts of Dr. Young are so difficult, that they cannot be expressed without some study and a perfect understanding of the sense; but when understood, they will contribute much to farther improvement. I am cautious of recommending speeches in plays; not only because the matter is too often corrupting, but because there is danger of falling from thence into an affected over-strained manner, which is always to be avoided. The prose pieces of Swift are so correct and humorous, and are stored with such variety of speech, reasoning, and dialogue, that they cannot be read without advantage; and therefore I would recommend them to your perusal for this purpose. In a future letter I shall give you some advice about style and composition. LETTER LETTER VIII. ON STYLE. BY a style in writing we mean that language in which an author expresses the matter he is writing upon; and a good style is constituted by proper words in proper places. A complete sentence is called a period; which consists of several members or clauses,, and those members are composed of single words. Short periods are fit for light and familiar compositions, as epistles and dialogues. Long periods are proper to more grave and stately discourses, as set speeches, historical narrations, and moral or theological essays. It is a great point of art, and requires much experience, to accommodate the length and form of a period to the matter treated of, or the particular passion to which the writer addresses himself. These are niceties which I shall not dwell upon, as belonging more properly to the figures of rhetoric: but give you, instead of them, this general rule, that no period ought to be so long, or so complicated, as to be obscure; for darknesss in language, your mind like the darkness of the night, takes away the sight of all objects, so that they are without effect, however great and excellent they may be in themselves. To avoid this evil, be sure that you understand the connexion of what you say, and forbear to embarrass your sentences with frequent and impertinent parentheses, which happen only because your ideas are not regularly disposed in when you commit them to paper. You must also be clear in the grammar of your expressions, for false grammar defiles a sentence, and admits of no apology. The best word you can use to denote any thing, is that word which is applied to it in the common conversation of those who speak correctly in their own language. If there is a native English word for your purpose, always use it in preference to one of Greek or Roman extraction, You cannot imagine how the sense of any discourse is weakened by superfluous words, unnecessary epithets, and far-fetched expressions. Nothing but pedantry and affectation can tempt you to use debility instead of weakness; stolidity for foolishness; or puerility for childishness; unless, perhaps, on some occasions, when we are driven to a variety of terms to avoid the poverty of repetition. A curious |