Diftinguishable from the beauties above mentioned, there is a beauty of some words which arifes from their fignification: when the emotion raised by the length or fhortnefs, the roughnefs or fmoothnefs, of the found, refembles in any degree what is raised by the sense, we feel a very remarkable pleasure. But this fubject belongs to the third fection. The foregoing observations afford a standard to every nation, for estimating, pretty accurately, the comparative merit of the words that enter into their own language: but they are not equally useful in comparing the words of different languages; which will thus appear. Different nations judge differently of the harshnefs or smoothness of articulate founds; a found, for example, harth and difagreeable to an Italian, may be abundantly fmooth to a northern ear here every nation must judge for itfelf; nor can there be any folid ground for a preference, when there is no common flandard to which we can appeal. The cafe is precifely the fame as in behaviour and manners: plain-dealing and fincerity, liberty in words and actions, form the character of one people; politenefs, referve, and a total disguise of every fentiment that can give offence, form the character of another people; to each the manners of the other are disagreeable. An effeminate mind cannot bear the leaft of that roughnefs and feverity, which is generally esteemed manly when exerted upon proper occafions: neither can an effeminate ear bear the harthness of certain words, that are deemed nervous and founding by those accustomed to a rougher tone of speech. Muft we then relinquith all thoughts of comparing languages in the point of roughness and smoothnefs, as a fruitless inquiry? Not altogether fo; for we may proceed a certain length, though without hope of an ultimate decifion: a language pronouuced with difficulty even by natives, muft yield to a smoother language: and fuppofing two languages pronounced with equal facility by natives, the rougher language, in my judgment, ought to be preferred, provided it be alfo ftored with a competent fhare of more mellow founds; which will be evident from attending to the different effects that articulate found hath upon the mind. A fmooth gliding found found is agreeable, by calming the mind, and lulling it to reft a rough bold found, on the contrary, animates the mind; the effort perceived in pronouncing, is communicated to the hearers, who feel in their own minds a fimilar effort, roufing their attention, and difpofing them to action. I add another confideration; that the agreeablenefs of contraft in the rougher language, for which the great variety of founds gives ample opportunity, muft, even in an effeminate ear, prevail over the more uniform founds of the smoother language. This appears to me all that can be fafely determined upon the prefent point. With refpect to the other circumftances that conftitute the beauty of words, the ftandard above mentioned is infallible when apply'd to foreign languages as well as to our own: for every man, whatever be his mother tongue, is equally capable to judge of the length or fhortnefs of words, of the alternate opening and clofing of the mouth in speaking, and of the relation that the found bears to the fense: in thefe particulars, the judgment is fufceptible of no prejudice from cuftom, at leaft of no invincible prejudice. That the English tongue, originally harfh, is at prefent much foftened by dropping in the pronunciation many redundant confonants, is undoubtedly true: that it is not capable of being further mellowed without fuffering in its force and energy, will fcarce be thought by any one who poffeffes an ear; and yet fuch in Britain is the propensity for dispatch, that overlooking the majefty of words compofed of many fyllables aptly connected, the prevailing tafte is to fhorten words, even at the expence of making them difagreeable to the ear, and harth in the pronunciation. But I have no occafion to infit upon this article, being prevented by an excellent writer, who poffeffed, if any man ever did, the true genius of the English tongue +. I cannot however for A 5 bear That the Italian tongue is rather too smooth, feems probable from confidering, that in verfification words are frequently fuppreffed in order to produce a rougher and bolder tone. + See Swift's propofal for correcting the English tongue, in a letter to the Earl of Oxford, bear urging one obfervation, borrowed from that author: feveral tenfes of our verbs are formed by adding the final fyllable ed, which, being a weak found, has remarkably the worse effect by poffeffing the moft confpicuous place in the word; upon which account, the vowel in common speech is generally fuppreffed, and the confonant added to the foregoing fyllable; and hence the following rugged founds, drudg'd, disturb'd, rebuk'd, ftedg'd. It is ftill lefs excufable to follow this practice in writing; for the hurry of speaking may excufe what would be altogether improper in a compofition of any value the fyllable ed, it is true, makes but a poor figure at the end of a word; but we ought to fubmit to that defect, rather than multiply the number of harsh words, which, after all that has been done, bear an overproportion in our tongue. The author above-mentioned, by fhowing a good example, did all in his power to reftore that fyllable; and he well deferves to be imitated. Some exceptions however I would make: a word that fignifies labour, or any thing harth or rugged, ought not to be smooth; therefore forc'd, with an apoftrophe, is better than forced, without it: another exception is, where the penult fyllable ends with a vowel; in that cafe the final fyllable ed may be apoftrophized without making the word harth: examples, betray'd, carry'd, defroy'd, employ'd. ; The article next in order, is the mufic of words as united in a period. And as the arrangement of words in fucceffion fo as to afford the greatest pleasure to the ear, depends on principles pretty remote from common view, it will be neceffary to premife fome general obfervations upon the appearance that a number of objects make when placed in an increasing or decreasing feries which appearance will be very different, accordingly as refemblance or contraft prevails. Where the objects vary by fmall differences fo as to have a mutual resemblance, we in afcending conceive the fecond object of no greater fize than the firft, the third of no greater fize than the fecond, and fo of the reft; which diminifheth in appearance the fize of the whole: but when, beginning at the largest object, we proceed gradually to the leaft, refemblance makes us imagine the fecond as large as which as the first, and the third as large as the fecond; in appearance magnifies every object of the feries except the firft. On the other hand, in a feries varying by great differences, where contraft prevails, the effects are directly oppofite: a large object fucceeding a small one of the fame kind, appears by the oppofition larger than ufual; and a small object, for the fame reafon, fucceeding one that is large, appears lefs than ufual *. Hence a remarkable pleasure in viewing a feries afcend. ing by large differences; directly oppofite to what we feel when the differences are fmall. The smallest object of a feries afcending by large differences has the fame effect upon the mind as if it stood fingle without making a part of the feries: but the second object, by means of contraft, makes a much greater figure than when viewed fingly and apart; and the fame effect is perceived in afcending progreffively, till we arrive at the laft object. The oppofite effect is produced in defcending; for in this direction, every object, except the firft, makes a lefs figure than when viewed feparately and independent of the feries. We may then lay down as a maxin, which will hold in the compofition of language as well as of other fubjects, That a ftrong impulfe fucceeding a weak, makes a double impreffion on the mind; and that a weak impulfe fucceeding a trong, makes fcarce any impreffion. After eftablishing this maxim, we can be at no lofs about its application to the fubject in hand. The following rule is laid down by Diomedes +. "In verbis "obfervandum eft, ne a majoribus ad minora defcendat "oratio; melius enim dicitur, Vir eft optimus, quam, "Vir optimus eft." This rule is also applicable to entire members of a period, which, according to our author's expreffion, ought not, more than fingle words, ta proceed from the greater to the lefs, but from the less to the greater. In arranging the members of a period, no writer equals Cicero: the beauty of the following * See the reafon, chap. 8. + De ftructura perfectæ orationis, I, 2. See Demetrius Phalereus of Elocution, fect. 18, ing examples out of many, will not fuffer me to flur them over by a reference. Quicum quæftor fueram, Quicum me fors confuetudoque majorum, Quicum me deorum hominumque judicium conjunx Again: erat. Habet honorem quem petimus, Habet fpem quam præpofitam nobis habemus, Habet exiftimationem, multo fudore, labore, vigiliifque, collectam. Again: Eripite nos ex miferiis, Eripite nos ex faucibus eorum, Quorum crudelitas noftro fanguine non poteft expleri. De oratore, l. 1. §. 52. This order of words or members gradually increafing in length, may, fo far as concerns the pleasure of found fingly, be denominated a climax in found. The last article is the mufic of periods as united in a difcourfe; which fhall be difpatched in a very few words. By no other human means is it poffible to prefent to the mind, fuch a number of objects and in fo fwift a fucceffion, as by fpeaking or writing: and for that reafon, variety ought more to be ftudied in these, than in any other fort of compofition. Hence a rule regarding the arrangement of the members of different periods with relation to each other, That to avoid a tedious uniformity of found and cadence, the arrangement, the cadence, and the length of these members, ought to be diverfified as much as poffible: and if the members of different periods be fufficiently diverfified, the periods themfelves will be equally fo. Beauty of language with respect to fignification. T is well faid by a noted writer*, "That by means "of speech we can dive.t our forrows, mingle our *Scot's Christian life. mirth, |