words and idioms, usually an older form which the provinces have retained, while the Metropolitan language has progressed, and left them behind as half obsolete.

II. Purity, as a quality of style, is violated by the use of new words, not warranted by the necessity of the times, and not framed according to the linguical law of coining new words. Such are energize, depu tize, declinature, residenter, obnoxious, when used for noxious or disagreeable, philosophism, &c.

It must be remembered, that as science expands, and is divided and classified, new words must be made to express and fix the new ideas thus developed : but even this should follow the law of formation, or we shall have monstrous words belonging to no system, but fixed unfortunately and unduly upon the language by custom, before we are aware of it, and so strongly that they cannot be rooted out.

So copious is our English language in words which express all forms of ideas, that no educated writer would seek to make new ones, except at the demand of science. Conservatism in language is the rule by which purity is insured.

III. Words and idioms from foreign languages, are opposed to purity of style. Whenever our own language gives us the words necessary for conveying our ideas, it is wrong to seek for foreign words for the purpose; since, to those who understand the

foreign tongue, it will seem affectation and pedantry, and to those who do not we shall be unintelligible, and thus the very purpose of our discourse be defeated.

While it must be admitted, that there are a few ideas better expressed in foreign languages than in our own, such as ennui, prestige, à propos, hors de combat, which indeed are becoming incorporated into English, and in a few years will belong to its recent gains; and, while certain Latin and French phrases, proverbs, or epigrams, recur to and open to our memory a whole field of thought and former research; yet, these exceptions only strengthen the rule that we should abstain from foreign words and idioms, if we would preserve the purity of an English style.

(91.) Of Propriety, as an Element of Perspicuity.

It is evident that however pure our words and phrases may be, free from all obsoleteness, all foreign taint, all provincial usage, there is something still necessary to make them the proper vehicles of thought—this quality is propriety; or we may define propriety to consist in using pure English words in their proper sense, avoiding a vulgar use of words, and choosing among paronymous words, or words springing from the same root, the one which alone expresses the term we would use.

As examples of the vulgar use of words, we would point out all social or conventional slang, the use of superlative words and phrases to express simple and positive ideas. Thus, a good thing is "the best in the world;" a fine day is "the most superb since the creation;" slight pain is "perfect torture;" and thus language is robbed of its power. We "love" a certain food: "What more," said a just critic, "could you do to your father and mother?" We "admire" to do a certain thing. "Quiz, bamboozle, come it over," are other examples of words at once impure and improper.

But, among the improper uses of paronymous words, there are still more dangerous errors, because no allowance is made for them, and they are often unnoticed. Convince and convict, presume and presumption; the great numbers of twin nouns ending in ance and ation, and analogous terminations, give rise to these violations of propriety in paronymous words. Thus, we have observation used instead. of observance; and sometimes a more obvious error in such words as duration and endurance, because they both have reference to prolonged time.

If from propriety in words we come to consider propriety in phrases, we shall here find great scope for criticism. Thus, we are told that the "university is the best of all other institutions;" when the proper construction is that it is better than all others.

A number of similar errors are to be found in

Milton, for example:

"Adam,

The comeliest man of men, since born

His sons; the fairest of her daughters, Eve.

In most of these cases there is no doubt as to the real meaning of the author; but this only renders the error more apparent.

(92.) Of Precision, as an Element of Perspicuity.

Precision of Style, as its derivation assures us— from the Latin præe and cædo-consists in so pruning and casting off all unnecessary words, phrases, and parts of sentences, as to convey to the reader the exact meaning of the writer.

This goes one step beyond propriety, in that it passes from the mere use of words and phrases, according to the laws of grammar, and deals with the words and structure of sentences as to their exact fitness to the thought.

And first, of precision in words.

As we have already seen, the two great components of our language, the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon, furnish us with pairs of words, originally designed, in many cases, to express the same meaning, but in the process of time they have deviated from this first identical meaning, and now are different. Other

causes have given to words in our language meanings nearly the same, and yet essentially different. Among these it is the office of rhetorical precision to choose in each case the word conveying the exact meaning, and this rule is violated when any other is chosen. Such also is the case when we use superfluous words, as for instance, in speaking of an action as utterly, entirely, and absolutely wrong, one adverb has expressed the whole; and the others are superfluous.

This nearness of meaning in two or more words brings us to the subject of Synonyms, which must be partially developed in this place. Our space will only admit a general outline of the divisions and characteristics of synonymous words.

(93.) Of Synonyms.

The Greek words, ovv, with, and ovoua, a name, which make up our English word synonym, are intended to express an exact identity in the meaning of the two words which we call synonymous; and, at first, doubtless such was the case. Thus, to trace an example: our Saxon word neighbour was exactly translated by the French word voisin, and the derived word neighbourhood by voisinage. When, then, the English words taken from the Norman French, vicinage and vicinity began to be used, they were identical in meaning with neighbourhood. But circum