demands a close unity of action, it may be doubted whether much is not lost to the illusion, by the shifting of scenes, and the transformations of locality, before the eye of the spectator.

As a remarkable example of the regular construction of the drama, in accordance with the three unities, Dr. Blair has mentioned the " Cato" of Addison. "The author," he says, "has limited himself in time to a single day; and in place has maintained the most rigorous unity. The scene is never changed; and the whole action passes in the hall of Cato's house, at Utica." And, in consequence, the "Cato" is a perfect failure. Some of the best dramatists have failed in unity: among them Shakspeare even is to be found. Preserving the unity of action with tolerable care, he has frequently violated the unity of time and of place. Perhaps he knew little of the nice laws of dramatic discourse; but made for himself laws suited to his own most original and glorious mind.

What has been said has been designed to explain terms so often met with, rather than in any way to enforce these rigorous rules. A proper respect for unity in discourse must be observed by all writers; but they should not, in any form of discourse, allow themselves to be cramped and trammelled by its requisitions. Like the delicate web the discourse should have beauty of design and symmetry of proportion;

the genius of the author, in passing with his subject to its object, should

"Feel at each thread, and live along the line."

But nature is a better teacher than even Greek art; and nature, while it originally gave the rule, presents also the caution.

CHAPTER XII.

OF STYLE.

(83.) Preliminary Inquiries.

THIS has been stated as our third division of Rhetoric. Having thus far considered only Invention and Arrangement-i. e., the rhetorical preparation of the thought in discourse, we come now to consider the dress of this thought, or rather the body of the discourse, of which the subject-matter constitutes the spirit: in other words, style has regard to the language in which our thoughts, as invented and arranged, are expressed for the purposes of instruction. And here we would recur again to Dr. Campbell's dictum. We have shown that the first part of that dictum is true; that "Rhetoric holds of Logic by the sense;" we now enter upon the examination of the second part, and, as we proceed, we shall find it equally true that "Rhetoric holds of Grammar by the expression." Thus, in its Invention, discourse demands of Logic the proper arguments; in its Style it subsidizes Grammar for the proper and correct language with which to express these arguments.

By Style is meant the mode or manner by which thought is expressed in language; and in our limited scope a special reference to the English language is designed. It is necessary then, at the outset, to say a few words as to the design of language in general, and as to the characteristics of the English language in particular. This must necessarily be very brief.

(84.) Of Language in General.

Since, as it has been remarked, Rhetoric makes use of Grammar, in its applications of language, a great deal of what comes within the province of Grammar must be either explained in a treatise on Rhetoric, or it must be taken for granted as understood by the student before he undertakes the study of Rhetoric.

It may be well, however, to mention a few of the principal features of language, which belong equally to Grammar and Rhetoric.

Language is the faculty of expressing thought by means of certain sounds, which are used as the signs of thought. The sounds which are thus used are called articulate sounds, or sounds which are made expressly to set forth thought.

It must be observed that language, then, was given to man just as reason was bestowed upon him. They both distinguish him from the brute creation, and main

tain an invariable relation to each other: for reason is the principle of man's thoughts or ideas, and language is their expression.

And, again, it is manifest that man, thus gifted with speech to express his thoughts, puts forth an arbitrary power, in order to connect them. For the same objects or thoughts have, in different languages, a different set of articulate sounds to express them: and individuals of different nations cannot understand each other without going through the new mental and mnemonic process of learning the new language.

(85.) Of Spoken Language.

It is unnecessary, in this investigation, to discuss the theories which have been brought forward to account for the origin of speech; we content ourselves with the statement found in the Bible, which informs us that God gave to Adam the power of speechthe organs by which articulate sounds are uttered,— i. e., the thorax, through which the volume of sound is emitted, and the teeth, the tongue, the lips, the palate, which modify the sound and render it articulate in its passage. Besides this complex power, God gave to man the will to use it; and we are told that, after all this rare gift, God brought the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, "unto Adam, to see what he would call them; and whatsoever