, 1861-03-01
Samples of Fine English.

samples of Fine English.
That is butt sickly and prudish sentimental
ity, whichb efogs and bemuddles the good old
English language with an excess Of ornament
or what passes for ornamentation among those
who know no better. Not only newspaper
writers and book writers, but speech. h.make1s
and sar1n on-makers aud people in the ordinary
walks If life are in the idle habit Of overlaying
simple idea with redundancy Of words. 4
writer in the last number Of the Ca77ahM
Magazine gives lis some curious examples.
Hear him; beginning with
NEWSPAPER iL1TERATuRE-
do not know whether the worst specimens
Of fine English are to be found in sermons or
newspapers. I rarely read or hear sermons
whose language Is pure, and, as it ought TO be,
with such books before them Rs the Bible and
PEyer-book, 1t seems strange that our clergy
should be among the worst writers Of English.
For in our Bible aud Prayer-book we have, If
We make allowance for tie antique diction,
perfect model Of what onr mother-tongue
ousht to be. It was observed BY coleridge that
it tetmea to be by 8 kind OF providence that
the translation Of the Bible, and the works Of
the greatest English writer's Shakespeare,
Bacon aud Hooker-should occur about the
SAINT time, so az by double power to fx the
1nngnage just when it was in its highest per-
fection. The pages Of magazine are not the
proper place to speak on this subject, or to
wlere, as In sermons, fine writing Is Tumpart.
There are certain writer's, chiefly in news
papers OF sermons, who always speak Of fire
as the destructive or devastating clement
Of letters Is "epistolaEy adVices ]" of money
"votaries Of Terpischore; )" Of ladies' and gen
tlemen met together. as a +" distinguished
circle - of.peop1e fishing, as engaged in pis-
catorial pursuits" If crime cannot be found
out, it & "enyeloped in ohscurity." A man
who Il tho first to do a thing assumes the
initta1ive;'' instead of being put in prison, he
he IL tsattached to her !" instead Of marrying
her, he "leads her to the hymeneal altar . in
ing buried, 4this remains are deposited = and
be Is probably finished up by his g disconso-
late rellct erecting to him . monumental
memorial" !" 4 letter is a " communication"
house Is residence" church Is q
ment."
In the Times article on Ascot races {1s60)
rain il called "the p1nvial visitation" In
the temperance Visitor QS59) . writer calles
his father his "male parent;'' my male
parent being taken from me, engaged in pri-
1S60,) smokers are called "love1s Of the Nico-
tlan weed"
Our writer then proceeds to dlasect ths
complete letter writer's" which he calls
"mines Of fine English," and then passes to
THE HEROIC KIND.
There is also fine writing Of the heroic kind,
full of murders and gallant knights, and dark
ruins, and such like, which we meet with
chiefly in cheap periodicals. The titles Of these
tales Of "thrilltng interest and mysterious
hor.9t" are n qaite III terrific. and are generally
Haunted Castle !" Isabel de Richelieu% or the
Grave Of Despair Here are two extracts
from d late number Of Reyno1ds's Misceuanu
(Septen1ber Is, 1902
s.she swoons I" cried Count Flama
"She does not swoon-Bhe diea!" cried
Salvi.
"NoI exhausted Nature but seeks opc Of
her resources" added the Count FlAma, 't it
is but aswoon. You may see her breathe. Do
you not perceive how this thin tissue which
1orms her outward garments rises and falls
With gentle motion?"
TIE sroRTHa JOURNALS.
Then there is the sporting fine writing,
where, Il ever, faew1iting seems in it's proper
lesy man eehane sR1shi{
'tnother earth,'' s.sylvan Ehades." a fox Is
Reynard, q cock, Chanticleer. Ashepherd with
his dog is ..the guardian Of the flock with bis
canine ASSISTANT Cricket Is 'the noble
game''; racquet "the manly exercise" The
Sportsman is fond Of quotations from the Eton
Huscitur, F7tnaus inter o7anes, and other such
phrases easy to construe, are great cards with
him. The quotstions, too. are generally only
repetltions Of weat had gone before, as, " r. e
counsel middle couIse-Aidto tut4issimus
i6is.'' I'VE give something In retu1n--a quid
pro quo" The sportsman's love Of fine writ
ing, and his classical knowledge combined,
make him call the sun "bright Phnbua," and
the north wind "rude Boreas," and the sea
"Neptuue's waterf domain" and q dog-break-
er :" KunopRdist." Now and then he is at
fault, Is, where wishing to use the word par
allelogram adyerbially, he says that he hunts
his dogs "parallellograraatically" the Fed,
The sportsman delights, too, in sirnile,
which he thinks sounds well, however little
sense there may be in 1t, a. f" the winecup Of
victory was snatched from his lips"
MORE sREondESa
A horse doctor now calls himself q "veteri-
nary surgeon" An author Is . "lite1ay gen
tleuhu :" q farmer, an agricultural gentle
man - q bagman, q commercial gentleman"
. barrister, a" "gentleman Of the long robe;"
Thief, 'alig6tdngered gentleman !" and o
Tie pursuits" 4 man used to go to law, be
now ss institutes legal proceeding Ga )" he used
to go to the doctor, he now "consults his
medical adviser" .....
II want some cheese" I said at grocer's
IThat gentleman will serve you," said the
master, pointing to well-curled youth IN an
apron.
There is, too, the fine English Of the shop.
keeper who styles himseH "the proprietor Of
the establishment" He that used to sell By
auction" now "submits to public competi'
tion;" instead Of "giving notice. he. "inti-
mates to the public;" instead Of " raising his
clerks wagesfn be "augments his salary." +"
to buy halfmoulning was referred By the shop,
man to the " "mitigated afaiction department !"
a t1adesman Of whom bought some lamp oil
sect 1t home with MI. Clark's compliments
and solicitations" One man sells "unsophis-
tieated gtn," and another lets gentlemanly
apartments In close proximity to the bank. =
They call loor~cloth, kamptulcon; and boots,
antigropelos; and soap, rypophagon; and Last,
though not least, saucepan, anheidrohepss-
te1Ion. =.
have tried to show By these examples how
destructive Of our beautiful language, and
how foolish, It Is to use fine words and eI*
pressfons In common talk and writing upon
"low creeping matter with hlgh.hown lan-
guage is not fine fancy, but fat foo1ery. It
Tather loads than raises wren to fasten the
feathers Of an ostrich to her wing.n We may
consider It a general rule that the best Ia that
In which saxon.deriTed' words are used most
freely that # is better for common purpoaes at
than % 4solicFt, kinamana. tRan sa., a4,elstioa
"neighborhood" than '"yfcinity," rs praise N
than q eneomiurn-"
That Is good advice Of the author Of Gttsssss