The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-11-14
THE CHARLESTON DAILY NEWs.. OVEMBER Id, 1885,

a daily papsr-the "Pan Mall Gazette" And yet
we have not tho heart to compare their writing
sidering tho difference etween tho audiences
which he and they address. Such comparisons
VII not DO Just until wo have set Of picked men
writing for a select public or, until they have a
set OF average men addressing tho whole commu-
nlty including costermongers and farm laborers
Mr.. Hutton has raro faculty for the uso OF those
dangerous but when we'll used, most effective
rhetorical resources, metaphor and similc They
do moro in his hlnds than illustrate his thought
dfnGy a gTe light and life; He says, for example
speeches arc always intended solvents for the
creed of his antagonists, never as antise tics to
preserve that OF his Iricns," and, very finely, of
with an art that ho exercises dozen timos m
every one of his great oratona to bind tho notion
tive to- tho car OF that which he intends TO tri-
umph" Bnt Mr.. Hutton's facility and his usual
felicity in this style sometimes lead him into OBJ
IL, at least, quite difficult to find ont what he
means by saying that Lord Cranborno almost
always speaks "a- if his mind were fitted with a
tho springs of his thought :" and il his remark
about Lord Granville, that no 'secretcs that con-
ella ory oil which hss nothing slippery or graty
not at all pleasant. Mr. Disraeli gives MIR. Hut,
ton an oppor tunity of exhibiting bath his charac-
teristic excellence and weakness in this respect
He says OF the Hebrew Tory that he il foreign
body in his torpid party, and that he ''w some
day soon bo ejected from 1t in some unexpect cd
part, as aneedle that has been swallowed ye8rs
ago will suddenly work ouL"-so far we'll, admira-
bio but tho writer goes on, "and not without
pain, and gathering and iplamm alton in Tho
ieshy part OF the arm, or tho leg, or even at tho
| tinue-"or in the hard part of the heel or fclo.
niousy, in the great too 7" This fault is noticea
hle in many British writer's of the day and u his
article were wrltton in corresponding arirt O
mat which seems to possess every Britsil critic
tho moment he takes up O. book writ;cI in this
country, we should speak of the fault lot simply
as fault, but make it tho occasion of ene crs al
The falling away from pure Eng.is style among
British writer's. We should call it not bad but
British. And, indeed, there conld DO little
book much better than either "The Queens En-.
gli-h'' or "The Deans English and far more
amusing, written upon British English as com.
| pared with American Englsh-writers of repute
only furnishing examples on both sides. and the
standards Of comparison aud rules of Judgment
being those received in both countries : for upon
this point there is no difference. But We shall be
tempted intr no such folly, and point out these
slight blemishes upon q clear, rich and suggestive
style, merely az examples Of an excess into which
all writer's who use figuratiye LANGUAGE avo bc
opportunity OF falling. DIr. Hutton's styIe has
been called by some of his most fastidious critics
| affected. TheJ misname popularity which they
dimly discern. It is not affected, but at timos il
ls conscious There is style of writing which ba.
trays consciousness, not OF effort far from il,
but eansqIonspess OF revelation ; as when a fair
woman Iilts her vail. This, Mr.: Hutton some-
no cannot help but know.---that which he reveals
VIII give Us pleasure: aud his style hushes with
the consciousness. His book is o very valuable
contribution to tho political history OF the tay
and beside its interesting portraits Of prominent
British ststeemon, which, with the freedom oi
sketches, seem to have the minute faithfuluess
studies, it gives m re insight than any other book
known TO US into the actual working OF tho va.
rious class motives and personal feelings which
| always influence and sometimes control the action
OF the British Parliament