foot;
and why might not I come that way from the boat, as
well as I was going that way to the boat? Again, I con-
sidered also that I could by no means tell for certain where I had
trod, and where I had not; and that if at last this was only the
print of my own foot, I had played the part of those fools,
who strive to make stories of spectres and apparitions, and then
are frightened at them more than anybody.

Now I began to take courage and to peep abroad again; for
I had not stirred out of my castle for three days and nights, so
that I began to starve for provision, for I had little or nothing
within doors but some barley cakes and water. Then I knew
that my goats wanted to be milked too, which usually was my
evening diversion; and the poor creatures were in great pain
and inconvenience for want of it, and indeed it almost spoiled
some of them, and almost dried up their milk.

Heartening (encouraging) myself therefore with the belief
that this was nothing but the print of one of my own feet, and
[that] so I might be truly said to start at my own shadow, I
began to go abroad again, and went to my country house to
milk my
flock. But to see with what fear I went forward, how
often I looked behind me, how I was ready every now and then
to lay down my basket and run for my life, it would have made
anyone have thought I was haunted with an evil conscience,
or that I had been lately most terribly frighted,—and so indeed
I had.

However, as I went down thus two or three days, and having
seen nothing, I began to be a little bolder, and to think there
was really nothing in it but my own imagination. But I could
not persuade myself fully of this, till I should go down to the
shore again, and see this print of a foot, and measure it by my
own, and see if there was any similitude or fitness, that I might
be assured it was my own foot. But when I came to the place,
first it appeared evidently to me, that when I laid up my boat,
I could not possibly be on shore anywhere thereabout. Secondly,
when I came to measure the mark with my own foot, I found
my foot not so large by a great deal; both these things filled my
head with new imaginations, and gave me the vapours again,
to the highest degree; so that I shook with cold like one in an
ague and I went home again filled with the belief that some
man or men had been on the shore, or in short, that the island
was inhabited, and I might be surprised before I was aware;
and what course to take for my security I knew not.

(1) Have thought. This construction, which was once common, is now deservedly disused. We should now say, "it would have made any one think."

S

JONATHAN SWIFT.'

1. VISIT TO THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT LAGADO.2

(FROM "TRAVELS INTO SEVERAL REMOTE NATIONS OF THE WORLD, BY CAPTAIN LEMUEL GULLIVER," PUBLISHED IN 1726.)

I WAS received very kindly by the warden, and went for many days to the Academy. Every room has in it one or more projectors; and I believe I could not be in fewer than five hundred

rooms.

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The first man that I saw was of a meagre aspect with sooty hands and face, his hair and beard long, ragged and singed in several places. His clothes, shirt, and skin were all of the same colour. He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in "vialls hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers. He told me he did not doubt that, in eight years more, he should be able to supply the governor's gardens with sunshine at a reasonable rate; but he complained that his stock was low, and entreated me to give him something as an

(1) "Swift's excellencies as a writer have been generally admitted. His style is confessedly a model of masculine vigour and perspicuity: it is essentially homely and low, but, unlike most styles of that kind, is remarkably rich in the variety of its words and phrases. He illustrates admirably an important principle of composition, that when a man has mastered his subject, and is confident of his cause, nothing more is needed to make him a vigorous writer but to resist the temptation to write finely, and to keep himself to a clear and strong exposition of his theme." -Angus, Handbook of English Literature, p. 469.

"The charm of Swift's style, so simple, pure, and unaffected, and the apparent earnestness and sincerity with which he dwells on the most improbable circumstances, are displayed in full perfection in Gulliver, which was the most carefully finished of all his works."-Robert Chambers, Cyclopædia of English Literature, i. 626.

(2) It is thought by some that Swift, in this description of "projectors,” intended to satirise the Royal Society.

(3) Projectors, schemers, visionaries. Pope has

"Astrologers, that future fates foreshew,

Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few."

(4) Hermetically sealed, i.e. sealed by the glass itself, melted and twisted so af to close the aperture completely.

encouragement to ingenuity, especially since this had been a very dear season for cucumbers. I made him a small present; for my lord had furnished me with money on purpose, because he knew their practice of begging from all who go to see them. I saw another at work to calcine ice into gunpowder, who likewise showed me a treatise he had written concerning the malleability of fire, which he intended to publish.

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There was a most ingenious architect, who had contrived a new method for building houses, by beginning at the roof and working downward to the foundation, which he justified. to me by the like practice of those two prudent insects, the bee and the spider.

There was a man born blind, who had several apprentices in his own condition. Their employment was to mix colours for painters, which their master taught them to distinguish by feeling and smelling. It was indeed my misfortune to find them, at that time, not very perfect in their lessons, and the professor himself happened to be generally mistaken. This artist is much encouraged and esteemed by the whole fraternity.

We next went to the school of languages, where three professors sat in consultation upon improving that of their own country.

The first project was to shorten discourse by cutting polysyllables into one,2 and leaving out verbs and participles, because, in reality, all things imaginable are but nouns.

The other project was a scheme for entirely abolishing all words whatsoever, and this was urged as a great advantage in point of health as well as brevity; for it is plain that every word we speak is, in some degree, a diminution of our lungs by corrosion, and consequently contributes to the shortening of our lives. An expedient was therefore offered, " that since words are only names for things, it would be more convenient for all men to carry about them such things as were necessary to express a particular business they are to discourse on." And this invention would certainly have taken place,3 to the great ease as

(1) Malleability, quality of being hammered out. The absurdity of the idea of hammering out fire is only surpassed by that suggested in "Hudibras" of "making music malleable."

(2) Cutting polysyllables into one, &c. The sheer impossibility of this feat constitutes of course the ludicrousness of the conception.

(3) Have taken place. Not a very happy expression; "would have been adopted " is better. It may be remarked, generally, that Swift's style, good and pointed as it generally is, cannot be compared in point of correctness with Steele's, or in easy idiomatic flow with Defoe's.

well as health of the subject, if the women, in conjunction with the vulgar and illiterate, had not threatened to raise a rebellion unless they might be allowed the liberty to speak with their tongues after the manner of their ancestors-such constant irreconcilable enemies to science are the common people. However, many of the most learned and wise adhere to the new scheme of expressing themselves by things, which has only this inconvenience attending it, that if a man's business be very great, and of various kinds, he must be obliged, in proportion, to carry a greater bundle of things upon his back, unless he can afford one or two strong servants to attend him. I have often beheld two of these sages almost sinking under the weight of their packs, like pedlars among us, who, when they meet in the street, would lay down their loads, open their sacks, and hold conversation for an hour together, then put up their implements, help each other to resume their burdens, and take their leave.

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But for short conversations, a man may carry implements in his pockets, and under his arms enough to supply him; and in his house he cannot be at a loss. Therefore, the room where company meet who practise this art is full of all things ready at hand, requisite to furnish matter for this kind of artificial

converse.

Another great advantage proposed by this invention was, that it should serve as a universal language to be understood in all civilised nations, whose goods and utensils are generally of the same kind, or nearly resembling, so that their uses might easily be comprehended. And thus ambassadors would be qualified to treat with foreign princes, or ministers of state, to whose tongues they were utter strangers.

2. ENGLISH STYLE.

(FROM "A LETTER TO A YOUNG CLERGYMAN," DATED 1719.)

I SHOULD have been glad if you had applied yourself a little more to the study of the English language, than I fear you have done; the neglect whereof is one of the most general defects 2

(1) Sacks. The original word is "saddles; " but it seems here to mean packs. (2) Defect, fr. Lat. deficere, p.p. defectus, to make off, fail. This word is often confounded with fault, and we speak of a disfigurement, or even vice, as a detect, when we ought to call it a fault. "A defect is a blemish of omission, a faul

among the scholars of this kingdom,' who seem not to have the least conception of a style, but run on in a flat kind of phraseology, often mingled with barbarous terms and expressions peculiar to the nation; neither do I perceive that any person either finds or acknowledges his wants upon this head, or in the least desires to have them supplied. Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a style. But this would require too ample a disquisition to be now dwelt on: however, I shall venture to name one or two faults which are easy to be remedied, with a very small portion of abilities.

The first is the frequent use of obscure terms, which by the women are called hard words, and by the better sort of vulgar are called fine language; than which I do not know a more universal, inexcusable, and unnecessary mistake, among the clergy of all distinctions, but especially the younger practitioners. I have been curious enough to take a list of several hundred words in a sermon of a new beginner, which not one of his hearers among a hundred could possibly understand; neither can I easily call to mind any clergyman of my own acquaintance who is wholly exempt from this error, although many of them agree with me in the dislike of the thing. But I am apt to put myself in the place of the vulgar, and think many words difficult or obscure, which the preacher will not allow to be so, because those words are obvious to scholars. I believe the method observed by the famous Lord Falkland, in some of his writings, would not be an ill one for young divines: I was assured by an old person of quality who knew him well, that when he doubted whether a word was perfectly intelligible or not, he used to consult one of his lady's chambermaids (not the waiting woman, because it was possible she might be conversant in romances), and by her judgment

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is a blemish of commission; a defect is a negative, a fault is a positive imperfection."-Taylor. Etymologically, fault would seem to mean the same as defect; but, practically, a fault is what injures the idea of a thing, whereas a defect injures the actual thing. The word is used quite correctly above.

(1) This kingdom, i.e. Ireland. These remarks on style are, however, generally so sensible, that they are of universal application.

(2) Proper words, &c. Though not strictly a definition, this is a capital criterion, of a good style, and admits of large application. If le style c'est l'homme be true, then, of course, style will vary as the man; but the criterion will still apply.

(3) See note 2, p. 260.

(4) Person of quality. This phrase, like a "man of birth, of rank," &c., has a special and peculiar meaning. A man of birth or rank is one of high birth or rank; a person of quality is one of high quality in regard to rank or fashion.