Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

paffages will fhow.

"Scintillations are not the accenfion of the air upon the collifion of two hard bodies, but rather the inflammable effluences difcharged from the bodies collided." "Ice is figured in its guttulous defcent from the air, and grows greater or leffer according unto the accretion or pluvious aggelation about the mother and fundamental atoms thereof"."

There is fufficient reafon to fuppofe, that Dr. Johnson formed his style upon the model of Sir T. Brown. He has written his life; has quoted in his Dictionary many of his words, unfupported by any other authority; and perhaps in his works, it would not be difficult to trace fome marks of direct imitation.

Between the opinions and the practice of Johnfon there is a ftriking inconfiftency; for in the Preface to his Dictionary, he regrets that our language had been for fome time gradually departing from its ancient Teutonic character; and yet in his works, particularly in the Rambler, he promotes this departure in the most studious manner. From the writer of an English dictionary might naturally be expected a clofe adherence to idiom; and that he would mark the line of diftinction very strongly between fuch words and phrafes as were unfupported by fufficient authority, and fuch as had been fanctioned by the ufage of the beft authors, And

d P. 40, 41.

from

from a writer, whofe profeffed purpose it was to recommend the beauties of moral truth to the different ranks of the public at large, and to render topics of criticism intelligible and popular, we fhould expect few pedantic or affected modes of expreffion. Whether we confider the nature of his Effays, or the general ufe for which they were intended, it must be evident, that fuch fubjects call for peculiar perfpicuity of expreffion. Johnfon seems to have judged the ftyle of Addison more worthy of praife, than proper for his imitation, when he judicioufly obferved that, "Whoever wishes to acquire a ftile which is familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not oftentatious, muft give his days and nights to the volumes of Addifon." Our literature indeed dates a new era from the publication of his works; and fome of his words, if they be not of his own coining, are rarely to be met with in former writers. By endeavouring to avoid low and familiar expreffions, he is frequently lofty and turgid; and to a reader unacquainted with the learned languages, muft fometimes be wholly unintelligible. His formal modes of expreffion, involved periods, frequent use of the substantive instead of the adjective, and stated introduction of triads, are peculiarities, if not innovations, which have drawn after him a train of imitators. Some of them are indeed entitled to praise on account of their poffeffing fufficient judg ment to adapt their style to their thoughts; and others have expofed themselves to ridicule by the

ludicrous

ludicrous affociation of pompous words with feeble ideas.

If our fubject required us to weigh the general merits of this author, as well as to remark the peculiarities of his ftyle, we fhould readily concur in the commendation bestowed upon his extraordinary abilities, and acknowledge, that the energy of his language was often a fufficient apology for his elaborate pomp; and that our cenfure muft in fome degree abate its feverity, when we confider the force and the difcrimination of his terms, the correctness, variety, and fplendour of his imagery, the power of his understanding, his love of virtue and religion, and his zeal for their promotion, fo extremely well adapted to the different characters he fuftained in the literary world as a moralift, a philologift, and a critic,

In the courfe of our remarks upon this fubject, Gibbon, the hiftorian of "the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," claims fome fhare of our attention. It is a great misfortune for the public, and particularly for the younger part of his readers, that he has concealed the poison of infidelity under a honied sweetness of style. Skilled in all the arts of compofition, and ftudious to pleafe and to amufe us at the expence of correctnefs of tafte, he has blended the diction of a poet with that of an hiftorian. His work is not fo much a narrative of facts, as a differtation upon hiftory, and unless the

reader

reader is previously acquainted with the fubjects, many allufions are obfcure, and fome are unintelligible. The arrangement of his fentences is frequently fo much alike, and they are formed in fo mechanical a manner, that they feem to have been conftructed according to fome particular rule. Although many of his characters are finely drawn, and many of his defcriptions are lively and beauti ful; yet his verbofenefs frequently fatigues and perplexes the attention. He endeavours, and often with unfuccefsful pains, to give dignity to trifles, and to adorn every fubject, whether trivial or important, with the flowery ornaments of defcription. In various instances he must offend the judgment of those who wish to fee the different kinds of writing confined within their due limits, and more particularly expect, that an hiftorian fhould not depart, either in point of dignity of character, or propriety of expreffion, from the rules of correct compofition. A careful reader of Gibbon will obferve, that his ftyle is ftrongly marked by pomp, affectation, and redundancy; that he frequently uses words in new and unauthorised fenfes ; and fometimes adopts the French idiom *.

2

It is not eafy to estimate how much the Scotch writers have contributed to the value and the importance of literature. In the various departments of Hiftory, Philofophy, Science, Poetry,

• For numerous proofs fee Dr. Whitaker's Review of Gibbon's Roman Hiftory, 8vo. 1791.

and

and Criticism, they have exerted themselves with no lefs talents than diligence. The first publications of fome of them were marked by those national peculiarities, which in fucceeding editions. have been corrected. Hume, Robertson, and Blair, by careful revifions have refined and polished their works, which in the general estimation of the public, very defervedly occupy a place among the most distinguished productions of the British prefs.

If there be any writers who endeavour to vitiate our language; if they deliberately haften its decline by adding to its corruptions, they are juft objects of cenfure: and unless their deviations from its idiom be remarked and avoided, how can the diftinction between a pure and an adulterated style be preferved? Without attention to fome rules, without fome bounds are fet to capricious innovation, the language will degenerate, and the fterling ore of the English tongue will finally lofe its value, and its luftre, by being mixed with the drofs of French frivoloufnefs, and the alloy of learned affectation.

[ocr errors]

*

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]
« ElőzőTovább »