ftudies, and that whatever we read we may ftrongly mark, and inwardly digeft it. Blefs our parents, guardians, and inftructors; and grant that we may make them the best return in our power, for giving us opportunities of improvement, and for all their care and attention to our welfare. They afk no return, but that we fhould make ufe of thofe opportunities, and co-operate with their endeavours-Ogrant that we may not disappoint their anxious expectations. Affift us mercifully, O Lord, that we may immediately engage in the ftudies and duties of the day, and go through them chearfully, diligently, and fuccefsfully. Accept our endeavours, and pardon our defects, through the merits of our bleffed Saviour, Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen. § 290. An Evening Prayer. O Almighty God! again we approach thy mercy-feat, to offer unto thee our thanks and praises for the bleffings and protection afforded us this day; and humbly to implore thy pardon for our manifold tranfgreffions. Grant that the words of various inftruction which we have heard or read this day, may be fo inwardly grafted in our hearts and memories, as to bring forth the fruits of learning and virtue. Grant that as we recline on our pillows, we may call to mind the tranfactions of the day, condemn thofe things of which our confcience accufes us, and make and keep refolutions of amendment. Grant that thy holy angels may watch over us this night, and guard us from temptation, excluding all improper thoughts, and filling our breafts with the pureft fentiments of piety. Like as the hart panteth for the water-brook, fo let our fouls thirst for thee, O Lord, and for what ever is excellent and beautiful in learning and behaviour. Correct, by the fweet influence of Chrif tian charity, the irregularities of our temper; and reftrain every tendency to ingra titude, and to ill-ufage of our parents, teachers, paftors, and mafters. Teach us to know the value of a good education, and to be thankful to thofe who labour in the improvement of our minds and mcrals. Give us grace to be reverent to our fuperiors, gentle to our equals or inferior:, and benevolent to all mankind. Elevate and enlarge our fentiments, and let all our conduct be regulated by right reafon, at tended with Chriftian charity, and that pe culiar generofity of mind, which becomes a liberal scholar, and a fincere Chriftian. O Lord, bestow upon us whatever may be good for us, even though we thou omit to pray for it; and avert whatever is hurtful, though in the blindness of our hearts we thould defire it. Into thy hands we refign ourfelves, as we retire to reft; hoping by thy mercy, to rife again with renewed fpirits, to go through the bufinefs of the morrow, and to prepare ourselves for this life, and for a bleffed immortality; which we ardently hope to attain, through the merits and interceffion of thy Son, our Saviour, Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen. § 291. THE LORD'S PRAYER. Our Father which art in heave Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth, as it: in heaven: Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trefpafs against us; And lead us not into temptation; but dever us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. END OF THE FIRST BOOK. ELEGANT 1. Beneficial Effects of a Tafte for the life. The most bufy man, in the most acBELLES LETTRES. BELLES Lettres and Criticism chiefly confider Man as a being endowed with thofe powers of tafte and imagination, which were intended to embellish his mind, and to fupply him with rational and useful entertainment. They open a field of inveftigation peculiar to themselves. All that relates to beauty, harmony, grandeur, and elegance; all that can foothe the mind, gratify the fancy, or move the affections, belongs to their province. They prefent human nature under a different afpect from that which it affumes when viewed by other fciences. They bring to light Various fprings of action, which, without their aid, might have paffed unobferved; and which, though of a delicate nature, frequently exert a powerful influence on feveral departments of human life. Such studies have alfo this peculiar advantage, that they exercise our reafon without fatiguing it. They lead to enquiries acute, but not painful; profound, but not dry nor abftrufe. They ftrew flowers in the path of fcience; and while they keep the mind bent, in fome degree, and active, they relieve it at the fame time from that more toilfome labour to which it must fubmit in the acquifition of neceffary erudition, or the investigation of abstract truth. tive fphere, cannot be always occupied by but always be offerious profellions can not be on the ftretch ferious thought. Neither can the most gay and flourishing fituations of fortune afford any man the power of filling all his hours with pleafure. Life muft always languifh in the hands of the idle. It will frequently languish even in the hands of the bufy, if they have not fome employment fubfidiary to that which forms their main pursuit. How then fhall thefe vacant fpaces, thofe unemployed intervals, which, more or less, occur in the life of every one, be filled up? How can we contrive to difpofe of them in any way that fhall be more agreeable in itfelf, or more confonant to the dignity of the human mind, than in the entertainments of taste, and the study of polite literature? He who is fo happy as to have acquired a relish for thefe, has always at hand an innocent and irreproachable amufement for his leifure hours, to save him from the danger of many a pernicious paffion. He is not in hazard of being a burden to himself. He is not obliged to fly to low company, or to court the riot of loofe pleasures, in order to cure the tedioufness of existence. Providence feems plainly to have pointed out this ufeful purpose, to which the pleasures of tafte may be applied, by interpofing them in a middle station between the pleafures of fenfe, and thofe of pure intellect. We were not defigned to grovel always among objects fo low as the former; nor are we capable of dwelling conftantly in fo high a region as the latter. Ccz The The pleasures of tafte refresh the mind after the toils of the intellect, and the labours of abstract ftudy; and they gradually raise it above the attachments of fenfe, and prepare it for the enjoyments of virtue. So confonant is this to experience, that in the education of youth, no object has in every age appeared more important to wife men than to tincture them early with a relish for the entertainments of tafte. The tranfition is commonly made with ease from these to the discharge of the higher and more important duties of life. Good hopes may be entertained of thofe whofe minds have this liberal and elegant turn. It is favourable to many virtues. Whereas to be entirely devoid of relish for eloquence, poetry, or any of the fine arts, is justly conftrued to be an unpromifing fymptom of youth; and raifes fufpicions of their being prone to low gratifications, or destined to drudge in the more vulgar and illiberal purfuits of life. Blair. Improvement of TASTE connected with Improvement in VIRTUE. There are indeed few good difpofitions of any kind with which the improvement of tafe is not more or less connected. A cultivated tafte increafes fenfibility to all the tender and humane paffions, by giving them frequent exercife; while it tends to weaken the more violent and fierce emotions. Ingenuas didicifle fideliter artes Emollit mores, nec finit effe feros *. The elevated fentiments and high examples which poetry, eloquence, and history are often bringing under our view, naturally tend to nourish in our minds public fpirit, the love of glory, contempt of external fortune, and the admiration of what is truly illuftrious and great. exercife of tafte is, in its native tendency, moral and purifying. From reading the most admired productions of genius, whether in poetry or profe, almost every one rifes with fome good impreffions left on his mind; and though these may not al ways be durable, they are at least to be ranked among the means of difpofing the heart to virtue. One thing is certain, and I fhall hereafter have occafion to illuftrate it more fully, that, without poffeffing the virtuous affections in a strong degree, no man can attain eminence in the fublime parts of eloquence. He must feel what a good man feels, if he expects greatly to move or to intereft mankind. They are the ardent fentiments of honour, virtue, magnanimity, and public fpirit, that only can kindle that fire of genius, and call up into the mind thofe high ideas, which a tract the admiration of ages; and if this fpirit be neceffary to produce the moft dif tinguifhed efforts of eloquence, it must be neceffary alfo to our relifhing them with proper tafte and feeling. Ibid. § 4. On STYLE. It is not eafy to give a precife idea of what is meant by Style. The beft definition I can give of it is, the peculiar manner in which a man expreffes his concep tions, by means of Language. It is dif ferent from mere Language or words. The words, which an author employs, may be proper and faultlefs; and his Style, may, nevertheless, have great faults; it may be dry, or ftiff, or feeble, or affected. Style has always fome reference to an author's manner of thinking. It is a picture of the ideas which rife in his mind, and of the ideas which rife in his mind, and of the manner in which they rile there; and hence, when we are examining an author's compofition, it is, in many cafes, extremely difficult to feparate the Style from the fin I will not go fo far as to fay that the im-timent. No wonder thefe two fhould be provement of taste and of virtue is the fo intimately connected, as Style is nothing fame; or that they may always be expect- elfe, than that fort of expreffion which our ed to co-exist in an equal degree. More thoughts moft readily affume. Hence, difpowerful correctives than tafte can apply, culiarities of Style, fuited to their different ferent countries have been noted for pe are neceffary for reforming the corrupt propenfities which too frequently prevail temper and genius. The eastern nations among mankind. Elegant fpeculations animated their ftyle with the moft ftrong are fometimes found to float on the furface and hyperbolical figures. The Athenians, of the mind, while bad paffions poffefs the a polished and acute people, formed a interior regions of the heart. At the fame Style, accurate, clear, and neat. The Añatime this cannot but be admitted, that the tics, gay and loofe in their manners, affected a Style florid and diffufe. The like fort of characteristical differences are commonly remarked in the Style of the French, Thefe polish'd arts have humaniz'd mankind, the the English, and the Spaniards. In giving the general craracters of Style, it is ufual to talk of a nervous, a feeble, or a fpirited Style; which are plainly the characters of a writer's manner of thinking, as well as of expreffing himself: fo diflicult it is to feparate these two things from one another. Of the general characters of Style, I am afterwards to difcourfe; but it will be neceffary to begin with examining the more fimple qualities of it; from the affemblage of which its more comp.ex denominations, in a great measure, refult. All the qualities of a good Style may be ranged under two heads, Perfpicuity and Ornament. For all that can poffibly be required of Language is, to convey our ideas clearly to the minds of others, and, at the fame time, in fuch a dreis, as, by pleafing and interefting them, fhall moit effectually ftrengthen the impreffions which we feek to make. When both thefe ends are anfwered, we certainly accomplish every parpofe for which we ufe Writing and DifBlair. courfe. 5. On PERSPICUITY. Perfpicuity, it will be readily admitted, is the fundamental quality of Style*; a quality fo effential in every kind of writing, that for the want of it nothing can atone. Without this, the richest ornaments of Style only glimmer through the dark; and puzzle, instead of pleafing, the reader. This, therefore, must be our first object, to make our meaning clearly and fully underfood, and underflood without the leaft difficulty. Oratio," fays Quinctilian," de"bet negligenter quoque audientibus esse aperta; ut in animum audientis, ficut "fol in oculos, etiamfi in eum non inten"da ur, occurrat. Quarre, non folum ut "intelligere poffit, fed ne omnino poffit "non intelligere, curandum +." If we are obliged to follow a writer with much care, to paufe, and to read over his fentences a fecond time, in order to comprehend them fully, he will never please us “Nobis prima fit virtus, perfpicuitas, propria ❝verba, rectus ordo, non in longum dilata con** clufio ; nihil neque defit, neque fuperfluat.” QUINCTIL. lib. viii. "Difcourfe ought always to be obvious, even to the most careless and negligent hearer; fo that "the fenfe shall strike his mind, as the light of "the fun does our eyes, though they are not di❝rected upwards to it. We muft ftudy, not only that every hearer may understand us, but that it fhall be impoffible for him not to understand long. Mankind are too indolent to relish fo much labour. They may pretend to admire the author's depth after they have difcovered his meaning; but they will feldom be inclined to take up his work a second time. Authors fometimes plead the difficulty of their fubject, as an excufe for the want of Perfpicuity. But the excufe can rarely, if ever, be admitted. For whatever a man conceives clearly, that it is in his power, if he will be at the trouble, to put into dif tinct propofitions, or to exprefs clearly to others: and upon no fubject ought any man to write, where he cannot think clearly. His ideas, indeed, may, very excufably, be on fome fubjects incomplete or inadequate; but ftill, as far as they go, they ought to be clear; and, wherever this is the cafe, Perfpicuity in expreffing them is always attainable. The obfcurity which reigns fo much among many metaphyfical writers, is, for the molt part, owing to the indiftinctness of their own conceptions. They fee the object but in a confufed light; and, of courfe, can never exhibit it in a clear one to others. fidered as merely a fort of negative virtue, Perfpicuity in writing, is not to be conor freedom from defect. It has higher merit: it is a degree of pofitive beauty. We are pleafed with an author, we confider him as deferving praife, who frees us from all fatigue of fearching for his meaning; who carries us through his fubject without any embarraflment or confusion; whofe ftyle flows always like a limpid ftream, where we fee to the very bottom. Ibid. § 6. On PURITY and PROPRIETY. often used indifcriminately for each other; Purity and Propriety of Language, are and, indeed, they are very nearly allied. A diftinction, however, obtains between them. Purity, is the ufe of fuch words, and fuch conftructions, as belong to the idiom of the Language which we fpeak; in oppofition to words and phrafes that are imported from other Languages, or that are obfolete, or new-coined, or used without proper authority. Propriety is the felection of fuch words in the Language, as the best and most established ufage has appropriated to thofe ideas which we intend to exprefs by them. It implies the correct and happy application of them, according to that ufage, in oppofition to vulgarifms, or low expreffions; and to words. Cc 3 and and phrafes, which would be lefs fignificant of the ideas that we mean to convey. Style may be pure, that is, it may all be ftrictly English, without Scotticifms or Gallicifms, or ungrammatical, irregular expreflions of any kind, and may, nevertheless, be deficient in propriety. The words may be ill-chofen; not adapted to the fubject, nor fully expreffive of the author's fenfe. He has taken all his words and phrafes from the general mafs of English Language; but he has made his felection among these words unhappily. Whereas Style cannot be proper without being alfo pure; and where both Purity and Propriety meet, befides making Style perfpicuous, they alfo render it graceful. There is no ftandard, either of Purity or of Propriety, but the practice of the beft writers and fpeakers in the country. When I mentioned obfolete or newcoined words as incongruous with Purity of Style, it will be eafily understood, that fome exceptions are to be made. On certain occafions, they may have grace. Poetry admits of greater latitude than profe, with refpect to coining, or, at leaft, new-compounding words; yet, even here, this liberty fhould be ufed with a fparing hand. In profe, fuch innovations are more hazardous, and have a worfe effect. They are apt to give Style an affected and conceited air; and fhould never be ventured upon except by fuch, whofe eftablished reputation gives them fome degree of dictatorial power over Language. The introduction of foreign and learned words, ualefs where neceflity requires them, fhould always be avoided. Barren Languages may need fuch affistances; but ours is not one of thefe. Dean Swift, one of our moft correct writers, valued himself much on ufing no words but fuch as were of native growth: and his Language, may, indeed, be confidered as a ftandard of the stricteft Purity and Propriety in the choice of words. At prefent, we feem to be departing from this ftandard. A multitude of Latin words have, of late, been poured in upon us. On tome occafions, they give an appearance of elevation and dignity to Style. But often, also, they render it ftiff and forced and, in general, a plain native Style, as it is more intelligible to all read. ers, fo, by a proper management of words, it may be made equally strong and expreffive with this Latinized English. Blair. $ 7. On PRECISION. The exact import of Precision may be drawn from the etymology of the word. It comes from "precidere," to cut off: it imports retrenching all fuperfluities, and pruning the expreffion fo, as to exhibit neither more nor lefs than an exact copy of his idea who ufes it. I obferved before, that it is often difficult to feparate the qua lities of Style from the qualities of Thought; and it is found fo in this inftance. For in order to write with Precifion, though this be properly a quality of Style, one mut poffefs a very confiderable degree of diitinetnefs and accuracy in his manner of thinking. The words, which a man uses to express his ideas, may be faulty in three refpefts: They may either not exprefs that idea which the author intends, but fome other which only refembles, or is a-kin to it; or, they may exprefs that idea, but not quite fully and completely; or, they may exprefs it together with fomething more than he intends. Precifion ftands oppofed to all these three faults; but chiefly to the laft. In an author's writing with propriety, his being free from the two former faults feems implied. The words which he ufes are proper; that is, they exprefs that idea which he intends, and they exprefs it fully; but to be Precife, fignifies, that they exprefs that idea, and no more. There is nothing in his words which introduces any foreign idea, any fuperfluous, unfeafonable acceffory, to as to mix it confufedly with the principal object, and thereby to render our concep tion of that object loofe and indistinct. This requires a writer to have, himself, a very clear apprehenfion of the object he means to prefent to us; to have laid fait hold of it in his mind; and never to wa ver in any one view he takes of it; a perfection to which, indeed, few writers at tain. § 8. On the Ufe and Importance of The ufe and importance of Precifion, may be deduced from the nature of the human mind. It never can view, clearly and diftinctly above one object at a time. If it mult look at two or three together, efpecially objects among which there is refemblance or connection, it finds itfelf confufed and embarraffed. It cannot clearly |