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for crystal can only be one comparatively small object, while crystalline may refer to a mass-to a world of crystals.

3. It will be found that natural objects have a larger proportion of expressive names among them than any other things. The eagle,—what appropriate daring and sublimity! the dove,― what softness! the linnet,-what fluttering gentleness! "That which men call a rose" would not by any other name, or at least by many other names, smell as sweet. Lily,-what tall, cool, pale, lady-like beauty have we here! Violet, jessamine, hyacinth, a-nem'onè, geranium!—beauties, all of them, to the ear as well as the eye.

4. The names of the precious stoōnes have also a beauty and magnificence above most common things. Diamond, sapphire, am'ethyst, bĕr'yl, ruby, ag'ate, pearl, jasper, topaz, garnet, emerald, -what a caskanet of sparkling sounds! Diadem and coronet glitter with gold and precious stones, like the objects they represent. It is almost unnecessary to bring forward instances of the fine things which are represented in English by fine words. Let us take any sublime passage of our poëtry, and we shall hardly find a word which is inappropriate in sound. For example :

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack' behind.

The "gorgeous palaces," "the solemn temples,"-how adʼmira bly do these lofty sounds harmonize with the objects!

5. The relation between the sound and sense of certain words is to be ascribed to more than one cause. Many are evidently imitative representations of the things, movements, and acts, which are meant to be expressed. Others, in which we only find a general relation, as between a beautiful thing and a beautiful word, a ridiculous thing and a ridiculous word, or a sublime idea and a sublime word, must be attributed to those faculties,

1Råck, vapor, or flying broken clouds. This line is frequently read, "Leave not a wreck behind." It is manifest, however, that Shakspeare wrote rack, a more poetical and descriptive epithet.

native to every mind, which enable us to perceive and enjoy the beautiful, the ridiculous, and the sublime.

6. Doctor Wallis, who wrote upon English grammar in the reign of Charles II., represented it as a peculiar excellence of our language, that, beyond all others, it expressed the nature of the objects which it names, by employing sounds sharper, softer, weaker, stronger, more obscure, or more stridulous,' according as the idea which is to be suggested requires. He gives various examples. Thus, words formed upon st always denote firmness and strength, analogous to the Latin sto; as, stand, stay, staff, stop, stout, steady, stake, stamp, &c.

7. Words beginning with str intimate violent force and energy; as, strive, strength, stress, stripe, &c. Thr implies forcible motion; as, throw, throb, thrust, threaten, thraldom, thrill: gl smoothness or silent motion; as, glib, glide: wr, obliquity or distortion; as, wry, wrest, wrestle, wring, wrong, wrangle, wrath, &c.: sw, silent agitation, or lateral' motion; as, sway, swing, swerve, sweep, swim: sl, a gentle fall or less observable motion; as, slide, slip, sly, slit, slow, slack, sling: sp, dissipation or expansion; as, spread, sprout, sprinkle, split, spill, spring.

8. Terminations in ash indicate something acting nimbly and sharply; as, crash, dash, rash, flash, lash, slash: terminations in ush, something acting more obtusely and dully'; as, crush, brush, hush, gush, blush. The learned author produces a great many more examples of the same kind, which seem to leave no doubt that the analogies of sound have had some influence on the formation of words. At the same time, in all speculations o this kind, there is so much room for fancy to operate, that they ought to be adopted with much caution in forming any general theory.

ROBERT CHAMBERS.

ROBERT CHAMBERS, a noted Scottish writer and publisher, remarkable for his energy and industry, was born in 1801. He, with his brother William, commenced trade in book-shops in Edinburgh; and, subsequently, became author and publisher. The brothers are completely identified with the cheap and useful literature of the day, in this country, as well as in the United Kingdom.

'Strid' u lous, making a creaking sound. A nål' o gous, correspondent; having a similarity with regard to form, design, effects, &c., or in the relations borne to other objects. Låt' er al, pertaining or belonging to the side; from side to side.

WORD

61. THE POWER OF WORDS.

WORDS are most effective when arranged in that order which is called style. The great secret of a good style, we are told, is to have proper words in proper places. To marshal one's verbal battalions in such order that they must bear at once upon all quarters of a subject, is certainly a great art. This is done in different ways. Swift,' Temple, Addison,3 Hume,' Gibbon, Johnson, Burke,' are all great generals in the discipline of their verbal armies, and the conduct of their paper wars. Each has a system of tactics of his own, and excels in the use of some - particular weapon.

2. The tread of Johnson's style is heavy and sonorous, resembling that of an elephant or a mail-clad warrior. He is fond of leveling an obstacle by a polysyllablic battering-ram. Burke's words are continually practicing the broad-sword exercise, and sweeping down adversaries with every stroke. Arbuthnot "plays his weapon like a tongue of flame." Addison draws up his light infantry in orderly array, and marches through sentence after sentence, without having his ranks disordered or his line broken.

3. Luther is different. His words are "half battle;" "his smiting idiomatic phrases seem to cleave into the very secret of the matter." Gibbon's legions are heavily armed, and march

1 JONATHAN SWIFT, of English descent, author of the "Travels of Lemuel Gulliver," was born at Dublin, in November, 1667. In the spring of 1713 he was appointed Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. As a writer of plain, pure, vigorous, idiomatic English, SWIFT has no equal; and he has hardly any superior as a satirist. He died in October, 1745.- SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, an eminent statesman and writer, born at London, in 1628, and died in 1700.- JOSEPH ADDISON, see Biographical Sketch, p. 513.-DAVID HUME, see Biographical Sketch, p. 157.- EDWARD GIBBON, See Biographical Sketch, p. 77.— SAMUEL JOHNSON, See Biographical Sketch, p. 230.- BURKE, see note 1, p. 214. - JOHN ARBUTHNOT, an eminent English physician of the 17th century, but more distinguished as a man of wit and letters; the associate of Pope and Swift, and the companion of Bolingbroke at the court of Queen Anne: born in 1675, and died 1735.- MARTIN LUTHER, the great German reformer, was born 10th November, 1483, and died 18th of February, 1546.

with precision and dignity to the music of their own tramp. They are splendidly equipped, but a nice eye can discern a little. rust beneath their fine apparel, and there are suttlers in his camp who lie, cog, and talk grōss obscenity. Macaulay,' brisk, lively, keen, and energetic, runs his thoughts rapidly through his sentence, and kicks out of the way every word which obstructs his passage. He reins in his steed only when he has reached his goal, and then does it with such celerity that he is nearly thrown backward by the suddenness of his stoppage.

4. Gifford's words are moss-troopers, that waylay innocent travelers and murder them for hire. Jeffrey' is a fine "lance," with a sort of Ar'ab swiftness in his movement, and runs an iron-clad horseman through the eye before he has had time to close his helmet. John Wilson's' camp is a disorganized mass, who might do effectual service under better discipline, but who under his lead are suffered to carry on a rambling and predatory warfare, and disgrace their general by flagitious excesses. Sometimes they steal, sometimes swear, sometimes drink, and sometimes pray.

5. Swift's words are porcupine's quills, which he throws with unerring aim at whoever approaches his lair. All of Ebenezer Elliot's words are gifted with huge fists, to pummel and bruise. Chatham and Mirabeau' throw hot shot into their opponents' magazines. Talfourd's forces are orderly and disciplined, and

'T. B. MACAULAY, see Biographical Sketch, p. 155.- WILLIAM GIFFORD, a celebrated English writer, for sixteen years editor of the "Quarterly Review," was born in 1756, and died in 1826.-3 FRANCIS Jeffrey, one of the most masterly critics, and most eloquent writers and orators in the English language, an eminent advocate and judge, Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, for twenty-seven years editor of the “Edinburgh Review," was born at Edinburgh in October, 1773, and died at his birth-place, the 26th of January, 1850.-JOHN WILSON, a wellknown and very eminent Scottish writer, was born in 1785, and died in 1854.- EBENEZER ELLIOT, a genuine poet, the celebrated English "Corn Law Rhymer,' was born in 1781, and died in 1849.-- CHATHAM, see note 2, p. 214.- MIRABEAU, one of the greatest orators and writers of France, and the leader of the revolution, was born in 1749, and died in 1791. THOMAS NOON TALFOURD, an able English poet and prose writer, an advocate, judge, and member of parliament, beloved for his social virtues and kindness of heart, was born in 1795, and died in 1854.

march to the music of the Dorian flute; those of Keats' keep time to the tones of the pipe of Phoebus; and the hard, harshfeatured battalions of Maginn, are always preceded by a brass band. Hallam's word-infantry can do much execution, when they are not in each other's way. Pope's' phrases are either daggers or rapiers.

6. Willis's words are often tipsy with the champaign of the fancy, but even when they reei and stagger they keep the line of grace and beauty, and though scattered at first by a fierce onset from graver cohorts, soon reunite without wound or loss. John Neal's forces are multitudinous, and fire briskly at every thing. They occupy all the provinces of letters, and are nearly useless from being spread over too much ground. Everett's weapons are ever kept in good order, and shine well in the sun, but they are little calculated for warfare, and rarely kill when they strike. Webster's words are thunder-bolts, which sometimes miss the Titans at whom they are hurled, but always leave enduring marks when they strike.

7. Hazlitt's' verbal army is sometimes drunk and surly, sometimes foaming with passion, sometimes cool and malignant; but drunk or sober, are ever dangerous to cope with. Some of Tom Moore's" words are shining dirt, which he flings with excellent aim. This list might be indefinitely extended, and arranged with more regard to merit and chronology. My own words, in this connection, might be compared to ragged, undisciplined

1 JOHN KEATS, a true poet, born in London, in 1796, and died at Rome, in 1820.-2 PHŒBUS, the BRIGHT OF PURE, an epithet of APOLLO, used to signify the brightness and purity of youth, also applied to him as the Sun-god.- WILLIAM MAGINN, LL. D., an able British writer of prose and poetry, a frequent contributor to "Blackwood's Magazine," the founder of "Frazer's Magazine," was born at Cork, in 1794, and died at Walton-on-the-Thames, in 1842.- HENRY HALLAM, a profound scholar, the greatest living British historian.- ALEXANDER POPE, see Biographical Sketch, p. 227.-N. P. WILLIS, see Biographical Sketch, p. 341.- JOHN NEAL, an able American novelist, poet, and miscellaneous writer, born in Portland, Maine, about the year 1794.- EDWARD EVERETT, see Biographical Sketch, p. 89.- DANIEL WEBSTER, see Biographical Sketch, p. 280.- WILLIAM HAZLITT, a well-known and very able British essayist and critic of art and poetry, born in 1778, and died in 1830.—“THOMAS MOORE, see Biographical Sketch, p. 115.

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