style. Method and perspicuity are its very essence; and there is no writer of any note who does not attend to these requisites with commendable scrupulosity. A fault of style becomes apparent to the commonest reader. "Cela saute aux yeux," as they say themselves. With us the case is totally different: our written language is as irregular as that of the French is methodical; and while they are restricted to fixed and clearly defined forms of speech, we can revel in a wealth of phraseology, from which every one deems himself at liberty to select whatever is most pleasing to his taste, without regard to grammar or propriety. Hence the correctness so remarkable in the style of French writers. Hence the looseness so conspicuous in our own. If a French writer of distinction were to violate any important rule of grammar, the fact would be laid hold of immediately by the critics, and laughed at from one end of France to the other. With us an author may discard grammar, precision, and propriety, and few, if any, will raise their voices against such a proceeding. Of course, a total freedom from blemish is not to be looked for in any author, however great his ability; and there are modes of expression even in the best French writers which would not stand the test of severe criticism: but, in general, their authors are as classical as ours are the reverse. Correctness of style is the rule with them; with us it is the exception.

The history of French literature is replete with facts illustrative of these views. All who are familiar with it are aware of the high estimation in which Boileau is held by his countrymen. But, if there be one characteristic more than another for which he is indebted to his great fame, it is perhaps the correctness of his diction. Among the very few sins against grammar that have been detected in his works, there is one which has obtained particular notice, and which consists in the repetition of the preposition à in the first line of his Ninth Satire :

"C'est à vous, mon Esprit, à qui je veux parler."

A foreigner would find it difficult to estimate the effect of this slip upon the grammatical sensibility of French ears. Since its discovery, it has been quoted by every writer on grammar, and impressed on the memory of every schoolboy. Some point to it as one of the few instances of false grammar to be found in the French Horace; but the generality of critics refer to it rather with feelings of surprise, that so correct a writer should have perpetrated so shocking a blunder. Indeed, such is the national fastidiousness on this subject, that I doubt whether there be a single line in Boileau that is so often quoted for its beauty, as this unfortunate one is for its lack of grammar.

In England we treat these matters in a dif

ferent fashion. Not only are faults of style not offensive to our critical ears, but such is our indifference or insensibility, that we seldom so much as notice them when they fall in our way. "The English," says Hallam, "have ever been as indocile in acknowledging the rules of criticism, even those which determine the most ordinary questions of grammar, as the Italians and French have been voluntarily obedient.” I cannot more appropriately illustrate this fact than by quoting from a popular English writer, an example of a fault similar to that of Boileau. In one of Sydney Smith's articles on "Spring Guns," we read the following sentence:

"It is to this last new feature in the supposed Game Laws to which, on the present occasion, we intend to confine our notice."

or,

Here we have the preposition to improperly repeated; and as Boileau's French, to be correct, should have been: "C'est à vous, mon Esprit, que je veux parler" "C'est vous, mon Esprit, à qui je veux parler;" so our English author should have written: "It is to this last new feature in the supposed Game Laws that, on the present occasion, we intend to confine our notice"-or, "It is this last new feature in the supposed Game Laws to which, on the present occasion, we intend to confine our notice." Sydney Smith's article is one of the most popular ever written by that deservedly popular writer, and it

is included in his collected essays, which have gone through several editions; but while the slip of the French poet is familiarly known to every educated Frenchman, it may be doubted whether that of the English essayist has attracted the notice of a single critic among his countrymen.

There is nothing that demonstrates the prevalence of ungrammatical diction so much as the occurrence of it in our critics, grammarians, and compilers of dictionaries; as, when we meet with a writer professedly descanting upon rules of grammar, and violating those rules in the very comments he makes upon them. Of all our authors the most reprehensible in this respect is Dr. Hugh Blair. His work on "Rhetoric and Belles Lettres" has gone through near twenty editions, and yet, strange to say, there is no rule of grammar that this learned professor has not sinned against; no fault of style that is not to be found in his remarks. But what is most singular is, that his own fault frequently occurs in the very words he uses in correcting a similar fault in some other writer; as if he designed his Lectures as a practical illustration of the errors and inaccuracies which he passes in review.

The faults of composition most worthy of notice in modern prose may be classed under the following heads-1. Synonymous or redundant terms; 2. The indiscriminate use of singulars and plurals;

3. Want of method and perspicuity; 4. Ungrammatical modes of speech; 5. Slang terms and foreign words.

SYNONYMOUS OR REDUNDANT TERMS.

THE Occurrence of redundant terms is very common. Authorship has become a trade, and themes and topics are handled, not so much with a view to their real importance, as with that of producing a certain number of volumes, a certain quantity of readable matter. To accomplish this object, adjectives and substantives are thrown in, without method or meaning, while conciseness and perspicuity are left to take care of themselves. It would be a waste of time to quote examples of this blemish from the novels and other fashionable literature of the day, where it is to be met with at every page. In works of higher pretension I have found some instances of it, alike palpable and ludicrous, which will better serve the purpose of illustrations:

"The chief mistakes made by the Irish in pronouncing English lie, for the most part, in the sounds of the two first vowels a and e."-SHERIDAN. Dictionary.

"Why should Dr. Parr confine the Eulogomania to the literary character of this Island alone."-SYDNEY SMITH. Essays.

"His efforts at this juncture were necessarily confined only to remonstrance and exhortation."-RoscoE. Life of Leo X.