pect a contraft in the thought, which upon examination is not found there. A light wife doth make a heavy husband. Merchant of Venice. Here is a ftudied oppofition in the words, not only without any oppofition in the fenfe, but even where there is a very intimate connection, that of cause and effect; for it is the levity of the wife that vexes the husband, Will maintain Upon his bad life to make all this good. * King Richard II. at 1. fc. 2. Lucetta. What, fhall these papers lie like telltales here? Julia. If thou refpect them, best to take them up. Lucetta. Nay, I was taken up for laying them down. Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 1. fc. 3. To conjoin by a copulative, members that fignify things opposed in the thought, is an error too grofs to be commonly practi fed. fed. And yet writers are guilty of this fault in fome degree, when they conjoin by a copulative things transacted at different periods of time. Hence a want of neatness in the following expreffion. The nobility too, whom the King had no means of retaining by fuitable offices and preferments, had been seized with the general discontent, and unwarily threw themselves into the scale, which began already too much to preponderate. Hiftory of G. Britain, vol, 1. p. 250. In periods of this kind, it appears more neat to exprefs the paft time by the participle paffive, thus: The nobility having been feized with the general discontent, unwarily threw themselves, &c. [or], The nobility who had been feized, &e. unwarily threw themselves, &c. So much upon conjunction and disjunction in general. I proceed to apply the rule to comparisons in particular. Where a refemblance betwixt two objects is defcribed, the writer ought to study a refemblance betwixt the two members that express these objects. objects. For it makes the refemblance the more entire to find it extended even to the words. To illuftrate this rule, I fhall give various examples of deviations from it. I begin with the words that express the refemblance. I have obferved of late, the style of fome great minifters very much to exceed that of any other productions. Letter to the Lord High Treafurer. Swift. This, instead of studying the resemblance of words in a period that expresses a comparison, is going out of one's road to avoid it. Instead of productions which resemble not minifters great or fmall, the proper word is writers or authors. If men of eminence are expofed to cenfure on the one hand, they are as much liable to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due to them, they likewife receive praises which they do not deserve. Spectator. Here the fubject plainly demands uniformity in expreffion inftead of variety; and therefore therefore it is fubmitted whether the period would not do better in the following manner : If men of eminence be expofed to cenfure on the one hand, they are as much exposed to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due, they likewife receive praises which are not due. I cannot but fancy, however, that this imitation, which paffes fo currently with other judgements, muft at fome time or other have ftuck a little with your Lordship. [Better thus:] I cannot but fancy, however, that this imitation, which passes fo currently with others, muft at fome time or other have stuck a little with your Lordship. A glutton or mere fenfualift is as ridiculous as the other two characters. Shaftesbury, vol. 1. p. 129. They wifely prefer the generous efforts of goodwill and affection, to the reluctant compliances of Such as obey by force. Remarks on the biftory of England. Letter 5. Letter concerning enthufiafm. Shaftesbury. Titus Livius, concerning the people of Enna demanding the keys from the Roman garrison, makes the governor say, Quas fimul tradiderimus, Carthaginienfium extemplo Enna erit, fœdiufque hic trucidabimur, quam Murgantiæ præfidium interfectum est. L. 24. $38. Quintus Curtius, fpeaking of Porus mounted on an elephant, and leading his army to battle: Magnitudini Pori adjicere videbatur bellua qua vehebatur, tantum inter cæteras eminens, quanto aliis ipfe præstabat. L. 8. cap. 14. It is a ftill greater deviation from congruity, to affect not only variety in the words, but alfo in the conftruction. Defcribing Thermopyla, Titus Livius fays, Id jugum, ficut Apennini dorfo Italia dividitur, ita mediam Græciam deremit. L. 36. § 15. VOL. II. M-m Speaking |