The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-10-30


A friend of ours IL, week. afJrl nearing a
speaker Of this stamp said II reJiided him of
the every eloquent actress Of d, Irish Barrs-
ter TO the Jury.-"My unfortu9sc client lost
every thing he had in De world Gentlemen Of
the Jury, and, also. his hat The ''also's"
and additions made up Ne Gcpleman's speech.
But let us hope that the simple. style will pre-.
vail, and to help on this transformation, we pub
lish the following just All discriminating eriti-
cism. Speaking of the various styles of our
country, the author says
I'VE cannot praise the authors style. Yet
We cannot condemn 1t rs singular. 1t COM
bnes faults, However, which, though common
to the literature Of our dSs, are distributed over
many species Of affected composition. We
cannot wait to give full account of any, but
We will hint at two or thee Of them.
One We may call the dramatically dramafiS
style. We use very hars words 10 designate ex-
tremely hard reading. This style admits Of no
tense but the present; Of no mood but the i'm
perative; Of no appeal but force; of no inn
preston short Of inseasiiy and passion. Ii
never designs to indie<e; never bends to the
familiarity Of narrative. never condescends to
equality Of converse or communion; and iiercely
scorns the degrading tasf of giving information
or instruction. In this style, words are not signs,
but objects, and language not medium, but al
ways life itself, aud artiop, direct, palpable
You are not simply to listen or to read; you
must burn, you must tli,ob; you must not look
but stare; and you net properly moved, II
you do not grow black in the face. a midel
tone or effect more gentls is not "real," Is moi
"earnest."
Another kind Of styI, carried to excess in ths
literature Of the time " the pictorial II tell
nothing. it paints every thing; and, moreover
II paints infinitely. ltdpens subject by draw
ing picture of some parsonage it shows You
where he is at certain season or certain hour
what his appearance and his age, what his cos
tune, what ne is doing, and who Is with him
Not content with this, il paints companion pic
ture Of some other parsonage, TO let you see how
he also looks at the same tine, and how he Il
engaged. The pictorial Is often varied by thu
suggestive; as when you are informed that one
man is born when another is dying; or one IL
ruddy with youth, when another is witheret
with age: or one Is obscure when another Is Ia
nous; or one is lowly, when another is in pow
or, and so on;-all, because two men who are t.
find distinction in history are near each other il
the order Of existence, and far from each othel
at given moment in their situations or stages
Of life. The last we shall alluce to is what WI
shall venture to name the asthHazfic style. Thii
is full Of interruptions, Of sudden pauses, O.
quick transitions, as if the authors genius wa,
short OF breathing, and must necessarily stop te
gasp and cough. Audins style has the faults oi
all these united. We wish for no level uniform.
ity Of expression. We would exclude no bold
ness or variety Of dictiOn; neither would we
Danish any honest personal popularity. Every
individuality of phrase, every grammatical ar
rangement Of words, in due proportion and al
proper intervals, may be used, and may serve to
enrich, to strengthen, ano to embellish language.
But what at first is novelty, too frequently &C.
curing, soon becomes mann rism, and manner
ism in literature is as odous cant in religion.
That which in the beginning was felicity, reit-
Grated, merges into trick; it fails TO produce
either illusion or surprise; and when it passes
from the original inventor TO the mechanical
imitator, il is offensive and intoierable. The
sweetest melody will not bear constant repeti-
ton. The strain that charmed us in the con-
cert-room disgasts us in the street; We listened
TO il with rapture when it was first sung; We
desire to fy when il comes 10 US on the barrel
organ; ana if we are not whore we can retreat,
we give the man shilling to move on.