eral meaning, but dissimilar as to their specific meaning. This is illustrated by the following:

Female and feminine.-Female is said of the sex itself. Feminine of the qualities of the sex. A third term, effeminate, may also be mentioned, which is applied to feminine qualities discovered in a man.

Untruth-falsehood. In the former there is no intention to deceive, and the absence of truth may arise from ignorance; in the latter the deceit is intentional.

Figure-trope.-Figure is a general term applied to certain artificial forms of expression; trope is a special term indicating that kind of figure by which a word is turned from its literal signification to another of a different kind-as, the sword of

state.

Modest-bashful.-Modest refers to the habit of mind, bashful to the state of feeling; the one is commendable, the other reprehensible.

Economy-frugality—parsimony.-Economy means the management of outlay in accordance with income; frugality, a limited expenditure from motives of self-restraint or temperance; parsimony, a limited expenditure from motives of avarice.

Effect-consequence.-An effect proceeds from a cause; a consequence follows something that stands to it simply in the

relation of antecedent.

Centre-middle.-Centre involves the idea of a circle, middle has a more general application. Macaulay says, "the centre of the grand alley," in which he shows a lack of his usual precision.

Happiness-blessedness.-Blessedness is applied to those who enjoy the divine favor, and who may not be actually happy, as "Blessed are they that mourn.” In a recent translation of the Scriptures this is changed to "Happy are they that mourn." The translator, while aiming after a supposed verbal accuracy, has thus missed the whole point of the passage, which is the "blessedness" of affliction.

§ 25. IMPROPRIETY.

2. Another violation of precision is called impropriety.

It often happens that one word is used for another of a totally different signification. There is a resemblance either in

the appearance of two words, or in their sound, and by this the writer is misled. This must not be confounded with the fault just mentioned. Synonymous words have similar meanings; these words now under consideration have totally different meanings, and are only similar in sound or in appearance. The following are some of the most conspicuous examples:

Demean." I would not demean myself" is an example of impropriety in the use of this word. The mistake arises from its resemblance to the adjective mean, i. e., base, low. But the true signification of the word is "to behave," as may be seen in the substantive "demeanor."

I lay and I lie.-These are often confounded. Additional confusion arises in the employment of the past tenses. The forms are

Present-lay,
Present-lie,

Past-laid.
Past-lay.

The resemblance between the present of one and the past of the other leads to frequent mistakes. The most memorable example of impropriety in this respect is found in Byron's famous lines:

"And send'st him shivering in thy playful spray

And howling to his gods, where haply lies

His petty hope in some near port or bay,

And dashest him again to earth; there let him lay."

Here we see both the right and the wrong use of the same word.

Sit and set are apt to be confounded in precisely the same manner as lay and lie.

Decompose-discompose.—A foreigner once said, speaking of a bashful friend, that his face was very much decomposed. Errors of this kind, purposely made, have given rise to a feeble sort of wit called malapropism.

Loose-lose.-The mistakes that occur here are perhaps generally due to the spelling, as these words are seldom or never confounded in common conversation.

Sanitary-sanatory.-Sanitary is from sanitas, health; sanatory, from sano, to heal. The former is subjective, the latter objective.

Predicate-predict.—Predicate is to assert one thing of another; predict, to foretell the future.

Ingenuous-ingenious.-The former suggests frankness and guilelessness; the latter intellectual skill or cleverness.

§ 26. VAGUE WORDS.

Another fault arises from the use of words that are vague and general, instead of such as are exact and definite. This is a characteristic of those who think loosely, or who prepare their subject-matter carelessly, and are as destitute of distinct ideas as they are of accurate words by which to express them. General terms are always more convenient than special; and to make use of any one at random will save trouble, and prevent the difficulty of searching after one which may be more appropriate. There are many words which are thus made use of, and a few of these may serve as examples.

Affair. This word is made to do duty for almost anything -a battle, a conversation, a convention, a revolution, or a religious revival.

Circumstance is used in the same general way.

Considerable is a favorite word with writers who are inaccurate about numbers; but it is also applied to a great variety of subjects, as, a person of considerable influence," a town of considerable size," "attained to considerable distinction."

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"Remarkable," "tolerable," "several," "person," "party," "individual," are other examples. "Thing" is a word of extended signification, though it does not nearly rival ts German equivalent, “ding;" but its use should be restricted, and other special words will be more precise. To this list may be added a larger number of formulas, phrases, and sentences of a purely conventional character, such as abound in sermons, newspaper articles, third-rate political oratory, but above all in so-called "complimentary addresses." These are perhaps beyond the pale of criticism, since precision is about the last thing that is thought of by those who compose them.

§ 27. VERBOSITY.

By verbosity is meant an excessive use of words. It arises from a natural gift of fluent expression, which has not been sufficiently chastened and corrected. For the present pur

pose it will be necessary to consider only the chief ways in which verbosity may affect precision.

§ 28. TAUTOLOGY.

1. Tautology arises from verbosity, and may be defined as the repetition of the same idea in different words. It must be distinguished from the faulty use of synonymous words. The former is a case of useless repetition, the latter of different things taken for the same. This may be seen in the familiar example: They returned back again to the same place from whence they came forth; which is reducible to: They returned to the place whence they departed.

Dr. Johnson, from his habit of presenting kindred words in pairs, in triplets, and in many varieties of similar and contrasted meaning, often falls into this error. In the following passage, speaking of the style of Prior, he says:

"He had often infused into it much knowledge and much thought; had often polished it into elegance, often dignified it into splendor, and sometimes heightened it to sublimity; and did not discover that it wanted the power of engaging attention and alluring curiosity."

Although it is certainly possible to show that there is a separate meaning to every one of these words, yet it is evident that the real distinction is but slight, and they are equivalent to so many tedious repetitions of the same thing.

A biography of Dr. Johnson was published shortly after his death, in which the author quoted the following well-known couplet:

"Let observation, with extensive view,
Survey mankind from China to Peru;"

which he maintained was equivalent to this: Let observation with extensive observation observe mankind extensively.

§ 29. CIRCUMLOCUTION.

2. Circumlocution is another characteristic of verbosity. It means a roundabout mode of speech, where, instead of a direct statement of meaning, the words are multiplied to an unnecessary extent. When properly employed this is a recognized figure of speech (periphrasis), but the kind now under consideration is that which results from carelessness. It is character

ized by the tedious accumulation of unnecessary explanations or unmeaning definitions; by an excessive use of epithets; and in general by an imposing array of words which circle about the subject without tending to any definite conclusion.

§ 30. VERBOSITY IN THE PULPIT AND PRESS. Verbosity is a fault in style which prevails very widely at the present day, on account of the existence of certain departments of literature which had no counterparts in ancient times. Of these two may be mentioned.

1. Pulpit oratory.

Since the Reformation, the rise of Protestantism has caused greater importance to be attached to the sermon than ever before. Every Sunday, and even oftener, the minister must be prepared with his discourse, which has to fill up a certain amount of time. Now, after making all due allowance for those earnest preachers who, full of desire to benefit the souls of men, stand forth to preach with sincere feeling the word of eternal life, there must remain a large number who regard this as an onerous task, and fulfil it in a perfunctory manner. Hence the words sermon and sermonize have become proverbial for dulness and tediousness. In many cases this necessity of filling up the time makes the sermon an array of paraphrases and circumlocutions, which would not for a moment be tolerated in forensic or parliamentary oratory.

2. The modern newspaper.

Here we find a similar cause producing similar effects. There is the regular demand for a certain amount of writing to be furnished at a given time, and to fill a given space. Deducting those who do their task well, we have left a large number who are merely "machine" writers, and fill up the allotted space with words rather than ideas.