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APRIL 11, 1857.

Sittraturt.

Modern English Literature; its Blemishes and
Defects. By Henry H. Breen, Esq., F.S.A.
London: Lougmans.
Tins is a volume professing to be critical in
its scope. Its subject is interesting, but Mr.
Breen treats his topics in a small style, that
detracts from the value of his performance ;
and his work is like what might be expected
from the usher of a genteel academy, accus-
tomed to correct school exercises, and to punish
erring young grammarians. It is, also, too
ouesided, and its citation of authors is arbi-
trary. The author's own composition is not
marked by grace, elegance, or even accuracy
(as we shall show) ; and there is an absence
of literary amenity in his tone.
The volume opens in the following style :
The most striking characteristic of English literature in
the nineteenth century is the loose and ungrammatical
diction that disfigures every species of prose composition.
Learning is now more widely diffused, and the number of
writers is greater than at any former period, but not the
number of correct writers. We have a hundred Alisons
for one Macaulay. Nay, I believe it could be shown that,
in proportion as the English language has been improved,
the art of composition has been neglected. Let the reader
take up any of the publications of the day. A mere glance
will satisfy him that, whatever credit may be due to the
author for invention of subject or arrangement of materials,
lie is sadly deficient in the first requisite of authorship—
the art of communicating his ideas in correct and appro-
priate language.
There is truth in the charge that much loose
and ungrammatical writing disfigures our
current English literature. But the abrupt
manner in which the essay before us begins
proves that its author is no adept in composi-
tion. "We have a hundred Alisons for one
" Macaulay" is untrue. In a writer coming
forward to admonish his brethren we could
scarcely expect such a style as " Nay,
" believe," &c. We shall follow this author
closely, and give some specimens of his own
inaccuracies. Writing of the improper use
of synonymous words, after some criticism on
Kirke White, he continues:—
Akin to these is the use of " magnanimous" as applied
to "mind." Blair has the expression :
The magnanimous affection of the mind.
And Macaulay, speaking of the tate Lord Holland, de-
scribes—

The magnanimous credulity of his mind.
I could fill a chapter with examples of this inaccuracy.

Both Blair and Mr. Macaulay are right, and
Mr. Breen is wrong.' It is plain that Mr.
Breen does not recollect the distinction
between animus and mens. If Blair and Mr.
Macaulay are wrong, so are many of the
ancient classic writers. Livy has the sell-
tence—" Anirnos, qui nostrae mentis suns,
" eosdcm in Omni fortunli gessimus, gerimus ;"
and we could cite others. Or, to exemplify
the distinction practically, Cromwell, with the
eye of genius, discovered that their profes-
sional instincts would make Blake and Hale
the best admiral and judge that he could
name, although both of them were opposed to
his usurpation. " There was magnanimity in
" the mind of such a ruler." There is no
inaccuracy in the expression of that thought.
On redundant terms Mr. Breen says :

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 uroducing 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 daj, 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 Judi•
crous, which will better serve the purpose of illustrations.
And in his first citation he makes an error :
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.
The term " in the most part" is not redundant
in that sentence. Let it be left out, and the
sentence would read, " The chief mistakes
" made by the Irish in English lie in the
" sounds of the two first vowels, a and e." If
Sheridan had affirmed that, he would have
been asserting an untruth. There are other
" chief" mistakes made by the Irish (to say
nothing of secondary errors), and the phrase

THE PRESS.

" for the most part" w•as rightly employed as
a qualifying term. He then cites a seutence
from Archbishop Wha.tcly

Some writers have/ confined their attention to trifling
minutice of style.

There is no redundancy in the use of the
word "trifling" in that sentence. Some
minutia, as in the case of accents in Greek
or French, or in punctuation, are highly im-
portant. There is such a thing as a miserable
minuteness of mind, or of what the French
cull petitesse. The minutia of a doctor's pre-
scription are of serious significance ; but there
are some petty points of criticism which only
recall the disti:_th on the differences between
tu•eedledunt and tweedledee.
Mr. Breen continues:—
The second blemish in English prose is the indiscrimi-
nate use of singulars and plurals. Although we have
cultivated literature, in its most important departments,
with greater success than any other people, yet there is no
people so deficient as we are in the knowledge and applica-
tion of some of the first principles of grammar. And not
only does this deficiency exist, as might be supposed, in
writers of ordinary ability ; but there are very few of our
authors, be their genius what it may, who do not exhibit it in
a more or less striking degree. The following are examples
of the singular; and, if necessary, hundreds of a similar
character might be added :

Both minister and magistrate is compelled to choose between
his duty and his reputation.--4ustus. Prrface to Letters.
The boldness, freedom, and variety of our blank verse is in-
finitely more favourable than rhyme to all kinds of sublime
poetry.—l3LAlß. Lectures.
In the extravagant admiration for Grecian costume is to be
discerned the effects of Rousseau's dreams on the social con-
tract.—Ausos. History of Europe.
But Ferdinand did not do this, and hence has arisen boundless
calarnitisfs to his couutry.—lnkm. History of Europe from Fall
of Napoleon.
The consequences to the much more numerous classes remains
to be taken into account—TAYLOß. Notes from Books.

The poetry and eloquence of the Augustan age was assiduously
studied in Mercian anti Northumbrian monasteries.—MACAULAY.
History of England.
Few politicul conspiracies, whenever religion forms a pretext,
is without a woman.—ll'lSßAELl. Quarrels of Authors.
Few if any town or village in the south of England has a
name ending In by.—HARRISON. English Language.

The author is right in censuring those finis
takes ; but he is not so correct elsewhere.
He says :

In the foregoing examples, we have the singular im.
properly put for the plural. The use of the plural instead
of the singular is no less common. The following are in-
stances :

The terms in which the sale of a patent to Mr. Hine were
communicated to the public.—Justus. Letters.
If Machiavel had not known that an appearance of morals and
religion are usetulin society.—lbid.
To heighten the calamity which the want of these useful
labours make every literary man feel.—D'lsnAELL Calamities of
Authors.

It is in such moments of gloom and depression that the im-
mortal superiority of genius and virtue most strongly appea r.—
ALISON. Essay on Chateaubriand.
It is refreshing to see those just and manly sentiments, after
the sickly partiality for Roman Catholic agitators, which for the
purposes of faction have so long pervaded many of his party.—
AtisoN. Essay on Macaulay.
It has already been stated that the difference between the new
and the old German, the Dutch and the Frisian, the Italian and
the Latin, the Mimetic and the Greek, arc precisely similar.—
LATFLIM. The English Language.
The authority of Addison, in matters of Grammar ; of Bentley,
who never made the English Grammar his study ; of Bolingbroke,
Pope, and others, arc as nothing.—HARRISON. On the English
Language.

Junius is right in the first example. The
plural " were " is related to " terms," and not
to " sale." In the second instance, the
phrase "an appearance of morals and reli-
gion" clearly indicates plurality ; for " morals '
and " religion," though closely related, are
different things, and many accurate writers
would there use the plural as Junius has
done. In the third example, from " The
Curiosities of Literature," the error is ob-
vious. In the (first sentence from Alison,
the double specification of genius and virtue
makes the error venial, but in the next sen-
tence, taken from the essay on Macaulay, the
error is indefensible. We cannot admit that
Dr. Latham is wrong in the sentence quoted
by Mr. Breen. When members of a sentence
are taken nominatively, the verb must be put
in the plural. In that sentence " are " clearly
does not relate to " difference " taken singu-
larly, but to difference taken connectedly with
the Dutch and the Frisian, &c. And so, also,
in the concluding example, which should be
accepted in its present form.

He then continues :
In order to show the prevalence of this error, I shall
quote some examples of it from Gibbon, who is justly
reckoned one of our most correct writers. The citations
are all taken from the fifth volume of his great work as
edited by Dean Milman :

The me of fraud and perfidy, of cruelty and injustice. were
often subservient to the propagation of the faith.—Decline
ami Fall. .

The richness of her arms and apparel were couspicqous Oa the
inmost racks.—lbirl.

333

The jurisdiction of the presidents, the consulars, and the
counts, were superseded by the institution of the themes or
military governments.-11nt.
Tile pronunciation of the two vowels hare been nearly the
We are satisfied by our collation of these pas-
sages with others in the "Decline and Fall,"
that Gibbon wrote them deliberately; and it
is to be observed that Dean Millman, a keen
critic and fastidious writer, has left them as
they are. In the last, which is the most
doubtful, the word "pronunciation" must be
taken with " of the two vowels,"—each vowel
having a distinct sound, though " nearly the
same." We admit that the point may be
argued either way ; and in syntax and con-
struing, every scholar knows that " doubtful"
is a term often used.

On tenses Mr. Breen is more correct. In
the following cases the perfect tense is
incorrectly employed :
Oar dub has recommenced last Friday, but 1,-was not
there. JOHNSON. Letter to Boswell, 1777.
You may remember I have formerly talked with you
about a military dictionary.—[DEM. Letter (without date)
to Mr. Care.
It is now about four hundred years since the art of
multiplying books has been discovered.—ll'lSlßAELl.
Curiosities.

Many years after this article was written, has appeared
the history of English Dramatic Poetry by Mr. Collier.—
/Lid.

You may do what yon hare done a century ago, made the
Catholics worse than HeIots.—SYDNEY SMITH. Essays.
Formerly we have conversed, together with Pericles, on
this extraordinary man.---SAVAGE LANDOR. Pericles and
ispasia.
During the last centnry no prime minister, however
powerful, has become rich in office.-31Acautay. History
of England.

Of this admirable work a subsequent edition has been
published in 1822.—AusoN. Essay on Humboldt.
Out of the walls of Cadiz, in 1810 and 1811, has anted
the cloud that now overspreads the world.-1 DEM. History
of Europe.

In the instances from Johnson, we must recol-
lect that less strictness is used in the easy
style of a private letter. In the instance
quoted from Macaulay, we apprehend that the
historian is alluding to the last hundred years,
and not to the eighteenth century, in which
case his expression is correct.
On the blemish to English style arising
from slang and the abuse of foreign words
Mr. Breen has only four or five pages ; and he
might with advantage have dwelt at greater
length upon such sources of corruption.
French phrases in writing are vulgar,
and are only fit for the slipslop school.
On slang terms m e need say nothing, as
their employment is offensive against
other than literary canons. We proceed to
Mr. Breen's chapter on " Blunders." The
author maintains that want of perspicuity is a
frequent fault in our writers, and under this
head he cites an instance from Smollett :
The robber was confined in an empty garret, three stories
from which it seemed impossible fur him to escape.
SMOLLETT. Roderick Random.
And he accompanies the instance with the
following remark :

" A garret three stories high." is a contradiction in
terms. It was the house, and not the garret, that was
three stories high.
" Three stories high" is not wrong. Its
meaning cannot possibly be mistaken for
anything else than " three stories high from
the ground."

In the same page our corrector makes an-
other blunder," as he would call it. He
quotes from Cobbett, and comments on the
sentence :

A working man is more worthy of honour than a titled
plunderer who lives in idleness.--Conekry. English Grammar.

In his anxiety to disparage the aristocracy and bespatter
them on all occasions, Cobbett is often betrayed into the
use of epithets which his cooler judgment would have re -
jected. In the example before us he talks of a plunderer
who lives in idleness, without perceiving that his words ex-
press a glaring contradiction. True, a man may plunder
by means of his agents, as well as in his own person ; but
with that we have nothing to do here. The terms used
are what we must consider; and it is no more consistent
with sense to talk of an idle plunderer," than of an " idle
libeller," or an " idle highway robber." One of the ex-
pressions implies a state of being which excludes the other.
Our patience is taxed by such " criticism."
Does it not occur to Mr. Breen that " the
idleness" may be subsequent to the " plunder "?
'arren Hastings, according to the account
given by his enemies, " plundered " in India,
and lived "in idleness " afterwards in Eng-
land. It is Mr, Breen, not Col*tt, who is
wrong.

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