10

CONCISE AND DIFFUSE STYLE.

L e c T. one arricle as to Style*. Cicero and OuindtilianXVIII. make alfo a threefold divifion of Style , thoughwith refpedt to different qualitie’s of it; in whichthey are followed by moft of the modern writerson Rhetoric ; the Simplex, Tcnue , or Subtile ; theQra’ie or Vehemens ; and the Medium, or, Tempera-tum genus rlieendi. But thefe divifions , and theilluftrations they give of them, are fo loofe andgeneral, that they cannot advance us much inour ideas of Style. I.fhall endeavour to be a littlemore particular in'what I have to fay on thisfubjedt.

One of the firft and moft obvious diftindtionsof the different kinds of Style , is what arifesfroman author’s fpreading out his thoughts more orlefs. This diftindtion forms , what are calledthe Diffufe and the Concife Styles. A concifewriter compreffes his thought into the feweftpoffible words; he feeks to employ none butfuch as are moft expreffive ; he lops off, as re-dundant, every expreffion which does not addfomething material to the fenfe. Ornament hedoes not rejedl; he may be lively and figured; buthis ornament is intended for the fake of force,rather than grace. He never gives you the famethought twice. He places it in the light whichappears to him the moft ftriking; but if you donot apprehend it well in that light, you need notexpedt to find it in any other. His fentences arearranged with compaclnefs and ftrength, rather

* De Compofitione Verborum, Cap. 2$.