suffering favors sympathy." Again, "If they do not acquiesce in his judgment, which I think never happened above once or twice at most," is a puzzling, if not ambiguous, construction. "It is not to be denied that a high degree of beauty does not lie in simple forms."

CLEARNESS.

75. Clearness is opposed to obscurity, vagueness, ambiguity, or ill-defined boundaries.

A statement is clear when there is no possibility of confounding it with anything else. This is more than is meant by simplicity. Some of the means of attaining clearness have been described under Figures (especially those of Similarity and Contrast); others will be given in treating of Exposition.

76. Ambiguity of language being one chief obstacle to clearness, words with a plurality of meanings should be used in such connections only as exclude all but the one intended.

It is not uncommon to find words used in such connections as suggest most readily the meaning not intended. For example: "A man who has lost his eye-sight has in one sense less consciousness than he had before." The word sense, being used after the mention of eye-sight, is naturally supposed to mean one of our five senses, which is not the case. Again: "And seeing dreams are caused by the distemper of the inward parts of the body;" here the word seeing, followed by dreams, is apt to suggest the act of vision, instead of the meaning which the word really has, inasmuch as. "There is something unnatural in painting, which a skilful eye will easily discern from native beauty and complexion." Here the first idea suggested. by the word painting is the art of painting; what we find to be the meaning is a painted face.

At other times, the word is simply ambiguous; two meanings being equally suggested. "His presence was against him" means either "the fact of his being present and not absent," or

PREVENTION OF AMBIGUITY.

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his "demeanor and appearance.' "I remarked the circumstance" might imply either "I made a remark to some one," or "I was myself struck with the circumstance." The word common, from its two significations, "usual" and "widely spread," is a frequent cause of ambiguity.

The most effectual remedy for equivocal language is to mention the term opposed to what is meant. This method, however, being cumbrous, is reserved for cases of special difficulty or importance: we may say, "the moral as opposed to the physical," or "as opposed to the intellectual," or "as opposed to the immoral," according to the intended signification of the word moral.

To prevent ambiguity, tautology is sometimes allowable. "Sense and acceptation" determines one meaning of sense; "sense or susceptibility" gives the other meaning.

77. The recurrence, at a short interval, of the same word, in two different senses, is to be avoided.

Such constructions as the following tend to obscurity, besides being inelegant:-"If the show of anything be good for anything, sincerity is better." "It is many times as troublesome to make good the pretence of a good quality, as to have it." "He turned to the left of the House, and then left abruptly." "The truth is that error and truth are blended in their minds." "I look upon it as my duty, so long as I keep within the bounds of truth, of duty, and of decency."

"We

The two senses of the pronoun we, called the editorial and the representative, are apt to be confused in this way. (the writer) will now proceed to enquire how we (men generally) first arrive at such notions." It is in discussing human nature that this clash arises, and the mode of avoiding it is to use the singular pronoun for the speaker's self, or else to make the construction passive or impersonal.

When a recurring word has one meaning prevailing through the same discourse, it is wrong to bring it in unexpectedly in one of its other meanings.

The word wit is said to be used, in Pope's Essay on Criticism, in seven different acceptations.

78. In drawing comparisons, clearness is greatly promoted by using similar constructions in setting forth the agreements and differences, and excluding all unnecessary matter.

"The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation, the fool when he recommends himself to the applause of others;" say rather "when he gains other people's."

Hume says of Shakespeare:- "There may remain a suspicion that we over-rate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as bodies appear gigantic on account of their being disproportioned and mis-shapen." The correspondence of the parts would be improved thus:-"There may remain a suspicion that the greatness of his genius is over-rated by us, in the same manner as bodies appear," &c.

This will be illustrated again under the Balanced Sentence, and under the Paragraph.

79. It is essential to clearness that every word be employed in one of its well-understood meanings, and that the aptest terms should always be chosen. But this cannot be effected by any rules of Rhetoric; it belongs to the general cultivation of the mind. Some help may be obtained from Dictionaries.

In clearness, our later writers have vastly improved on those who preceded them. Even in the greatest authors of the Elizabethan period and the times immediately following, ambiguity is a frequent fault. Hobbes is perhaps the most remarkable exception to the general rule; yet even in his works are found ambiguities that no good writer at the present day would tolerate.

It may be doubted whether the ancient Greek and Roman authors attended much to this peculiar merit of style. Many of them certainly overlooked it.

STRENGTH.

80. Strength is that quality of style that elates us with the pleasurable feeling called the sense or senti

ment of Power. The highest form of strength is the Sublime.

Other names for the same quality are Energy, Vigor, Force, Nerve, Liveliness, Animation, Vivacity, Fervor, Loftiness, Brilliancy. Several of these have specific shades of meaning. Thus, Liveliness, or Animation, implies a certain rapidity in the flow or cadence of the language, so as to render it more exciting. The poems of Sir Walter Scott exemplify this characteristic. Fervor supposes great intensity of passion in the writer, made apparent in the language. Loftiness scarcely differs from Sublimity. Brilliancy implies an ornate or figurative style well sustained.

Under the general term Vivacity, here given as a synonyme for Strength, Campbell comprehends every excellence of style as far as the feelings are concerned, excluding only the intellectual qualities. Whatever can give effect to composition, or stir up any of the powerful or agreeable emotions, is regarded by him as a mode of Vivacity. He discusses the choice, number, and arrangement of words, and various other points, as bearing on this general attribute.

But the effects so embraced are various, and some of them strongly contrasted. Thus Sublimity is very different from Pathos, and is often opposed even to the comprehensive designation, Beauty; while something characteristic and peculiar is signified by Humor. It is, therefore, an object to arrive at an exact definition of these contrasted qualities.

Leaving the humorous out of view for the present, we may draw a distinction among the other effects, based on the difference between our Active and our Passive modes of pleasurable excitement. The one is represented by the emotion of Power— the sense of Might possessed or imagined; the other, by what is variously called Tender Feeling, Pathetic Emotion, Love, Affection. The first we propose to illustrate under the present head-Strength and Sublimity; the second will be found to embrace a large circle of objects generally characterized by Beauty as opposed to Sublimity, in which meaning it points to the more soothing and passive enjoyments of Fine Art.

81. I. The essential pleasure of Power is an elation or rebound from some state of weakness, impotence, constraint, or dread; and, like the re-action from any depressing condition, it imparts a grateful and hilarious glow to the mind.

The pleasure is felt most acutely in those moments when we ourselves pass from a lower to a higher grade of efficiency; as in recovering from sickness, in growing stronger physically or mentally, in acquiring wealth, and in being raised to a higher position of influence or command. In a stationary condition, the necessary contrast is supplied by the recollection of our own former inferiority, and by a comparison with those at present our inferiors.

82. II. We derive a pleasurable elation from witnessing manifestations of Power in other beings. This is an effect of Sympathy.

A thrill of pleasure may arise from the sight of great force exerted by others. We feel for the time as if ourselves raised to a higher pitch of energy. We enter (imperfectly and erroneously perhaps) into the feelings of the actor, and are sensibly elated by this transferred or imagined power. Hence the interest we take in superior force, whether bodily or mental, in eminent fortunes, and in the display of public authority and high command.

The same effect is due to the recital of deeds of superior might. The mind is kindled in this way by the prowess of individuals and by the force of multitudes, as portrayed in the annals of the world. The attitude of Socrates, on his trial and before his execution, as set forth by Plato, has always been regarded as sublime.

The production of great effects of any kind is the sign of energy; as, the moving of a huge mass, or the stopping of a mass in motion. When the agent appears to work without effort, the impression is greatly enhanced. It is a favorite stroke, in literature especially, to show great results from small