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14 CONCISE AND DIFFUSE STYLE.

L e c t. Addresses to the paffions * likewife , oughtXVIII. to be in the concife , rather than the diflufe man-ner. In thefe , it is dangerous to be diffufe ,becaufe it is very difficult to fupport properwarmth for any length of time. When we be-come prolix, we are always ia hazard of coolingthe reader. The heart, too, and the fancy runfall; and if once we can put them in motion ^they fupply many particulars to greater advan-. tage than an author can difplay them. The cafe isdifferent , when we addrefs ourfelves to theunderftanding ; as in all matters of reafoning,explication , and inftrudtion. There I wouldprefer a more free and diflufe manner. When youare to ftrike the fancy, or to move the heart,be concife ; when you are to inform the under-ftanding, which moves more flowly , and re.quires the affiftance of a guide , it is better to befull. Hiftorical narration may be beautiful, eitherin a concife or diffufe manner, according to thewriter’s genius. Livy and Herodotus are diffufe;Thucydides and Salluft are fuccinct ; yet all ofthem agreeable.

I observed that a diffufe ftyle inclines modto long periods; and a concife writer, it is certain,will often employ fliort fentences. It is not,however, to be inferred from this, that long or■fhort fentences are fully characleriftical of the oneor the other manner. It is very po£ible for oneto compofe always in Ihort fentences , and to bewithal extremely diffufe , if a frnall meafure offentiment be fpread through many of thefe fen-