turally be led to exprefs the parts in the or der above mentioned; which at the fame time is agreeable by mounting upward. But confidering the column as it ftands without reference to its erection, the fenfe of order, as obferved above, requires the chief part to be named first. For that reafon we begin with the shaft; and the base comes next in order, that we may afcend from it to the capital. Laftly, In tracing the particulars of any natural operation, order requires that we follow the courfe of nature. Hiftorical facts are related in the order of time. We begin at the founder of a family, and proceed from him to his defcendents. But in defcribing a lofty oak, we begin with the trunk, and afcend to the branches.

When force and livelinefs of expreffion are aimed at, the rule is, to fufpend the thought as much as poffible, and to bring it out full and entire at the clofe. This cannot be done but by inverting the natural arrangement, and by introducing a word or member before its time. By fuch inverfion our curiosity is raifed about what is

to

to follow; and it is agreeable to have our curiofity gratified at the close of the period. Such arrangement produceth on the mind an effect fimilar to a ftroke exerted upon the body by the whole collected force of the agent. On the other hand, where a period is fo conftructed as to admit more than one complete close in the fenfe, the curiofity: of the reader is exhaufted at the first close, and what follows appears languid or superfluous. His difappointment contributes alfo to this appearance, when he finds, that, contrary to his expectation, the period is not yet finished. Cicero, and after him Quintilian, recommend the verb to the laft place. This method evidently tends to fufpend the sense till the close of the period; for without the verb the fenfe cannot be complete. And when the verb happens to be the capital word, which is frequently the cafe, it ought at any rate to be put laft, according to another rule, above laid down. I proceed as ufual to illuftrate this rule by examples. The following period is placed in its natural order.

Were

Were instruction an effential circumstance in epic poetry, I doubt whether a fingle inftance could be given of this species of compofition, in any language.

The period thus arranged admits a full clofe upon the word compofition; after which it goes on languidly, and clofes without force. This blemish will be avoided by the following arrangement.

.

Were instruction an effential circumstance in epic poetry, I doubt whether, in any language, a fingle inftance could be given of this fpecies of compofi

tion.

Some of our most eminent divines have made ufe of this Platonic notion, as far as it regards the fubfiftence of our paffions after death, with great beauty and ftrength of reason.

Better thus:

Spectator, No go.

Some of our most eminent divines have, with great beauty and strength of reafon, made ufe of this Platonic notion, &c.

Men of the best sense have been touched, more

or

or lefs, with thefe groundless horrors and prefages of futurity, upon furveying the most indifferent works of nature. Spectator, No 505,

Better:

Upon furveying the most indifferent works of nature, men of the beft fenfe, &c.

She foon informed him of the place he was in, which, notwithstanding all its horrors, appeared to him more fweet than the bower of Mahomet, in the company of his Balfora.

Better:

ny

Guardian, No 167.

She foon, &c. appeared to him, in the compaof his Balfora, more sweet, &c.

The Emperor was fo intent on the establishment of his abfolute power in Hungary, that he expo fed the Empire doubly to defolation and ruin for the fake of it.

Letters on biftory, vol. 1. let. 7. Bolingbroke.

Better:

that for the fake of it he expofed the

Empire doubly to defolation and ruin.

None

None of the rules for the compofition of periods are more liable to be abused, than those last mentioned: witness many Latin writers, among the moderns especially, whose style, by inverfions too violent, is rendered harsh and obfcure. Sufpenfion of the thought till the clofe of the period, ought never to be preferred before perfpicuity. Neither ought fuch fufpenfion to be attempted in a long period; because in that cafe the mind is bewildered among a profufion of words. A traveller, while he is puzzled about the road, relishes not the finest prospects.

All the rich prefents which Aftyages had given him at parting, keeping only fome Median horses, in order to propagate the breed of them in Perfia, he diftributed among his friends whom he left at the court of Ecbatana.

1

Travels of Cyrus, book 1.

The foregoing rules concern the arrangement of a fingle period. I fhall add one rule more concerning the diftribution of a difcourfe into different periods. A fhort period is lively and familiar. A long pe