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LEWES 331
happy talent will no more be acquired by a knowledge of these
laws, than the force and elasticity of a healthy organism
will
be given by a knowledge of anatomy;
but the mistakes in
Style, and the diseases of the organism, may be often avoided,
and sometimes remedied, by such knowledge.
On a subject like this, which has for many years engaged
the researches of many minds, I shall not be expected to bring
forward discoveries; indeed, novelty would not unjustly be
suspected of fallacy. The only claim my exposition can have
on the reader's attention is that of being an attempt to
systematize what has been hitherto either empirical observation,
or the establishment of critical rules on a false basis.
I know but of one exception to this sweeping censure, and that
is the essay on the' Philosophy of Style, by Mr. Herbert
Spencer, where for the first time, I believe, the right method
was pursued of seeking in psychological conditions for the
true laws of expression.
The aims of Literature being instruction and delight, Style
must in varying degrees appeal to our intellect and our sensibilities:
sometimes reaching the intellect through the presentation
of simple ideas, and at others through the agitating
influence of emotions;
sometimes awakening the sensibilities
through the reflexes of ideas, and sometimes through a direct
appeal. A truth may be nakedly expressed so as to stir the
intellect alone; or it may be expressed in terms which, without
disturbing its
clearness, may appeal to our sensibility by
their harmony or energy.
It is not possible to distinguish
influences of clearness, movement, and liar
mony, so as to assign to each its relative- effect; and if in the
ensuing pages one law is isolated from another, this must be
understood as an artifice inevitable in such investigations.
There are five law- under which all the conditions of Style
may be grouped:
i. The Law of Economy.
2. The Law