The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-03-29
LITERARY STYLE.
FouRTH PRIZE PAPER.

"Style is the dress Of thoughts. "-Chesterfeld
To the literature OF style much can be said, for
knowledge must be adorned with easy flow Of
words.
Its supremest value Is purity. This Unborn stanp
gives polite Literature its greatest inheritance and
the author his greatest glory in literature But
in the craft of English letters there are writer's
though affecting purity, who adopt aud carry out
a corrupt application Of words. A language should
be the very breath OF life to a writer and as
saulls OF impurities committed by him are abso-
iutey unfayorable to the arts of eloquence and
composition.
In English letters. from the Norman Saxon. es-
tablshed 500 years ago, Gown to the very last day
OF the Worlds Fair, not excepting even that fixed
star of all literature. Shakspere, impurities and
loose application of words have aud will creep into
IA style however perfect.
We are advised by DIR. johnson that whoever
wishes 20 attain English style familiar but not
coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give
his days and nights TO the study OF Addison. May
we not add 10 this advice Oliver Goldsmith and
VIM. NJ. Thackeray?
Goldsmith is the greatest example of Bacon's
spothegm, writing maketh the exact man. and
poor example OF Shaksperes Grniapo who spoke
an Infinite deal OF nothing. and no example at All
of DIR. Johnsons Tom Birch who is as brisk as a
bee in conversation. but let him take pen in his
hand and 1t benumbs ali his faculties
To Goldsmith a constant application Is bound to
create elegant style, for lie is almost purify
itself To read him is perfect education in STYLE
The eiegancy OF his dtciion, his grace of manners
the more solid parts Of education together with his
touch OF melancholy, show that lie knew his own
tongue. and that la polite English literature his
2 t.
His command over pathos and hunor has hardly
been surpassed IN the entire polite world.
There arc, indeed, passages in his writings ap.
proaching ia feeling and rylhm TO lyric beauty
itself II Is 10 some extent this gIanor and qua il v
Of Goldsmith that makes his literature pleasure
OF memory aud his paihos so touching. So far as
sensibilty can be taught by fiction, his style
teaches il; and wnen lac lived that was a quality
sadly sought for ia contemporary literature
For his exquisite style he has won the venera-
lion of his readers and the finest epaph in Chris
tendon.
Aside from tile beauty and pathos of Goldsmith.
may We not compare the ST. lie of Thackerayf His
| Henry Esmond is r. perfect epic ia prose STYLE
Had Ihackeray written nothing else, his fame and
| Immortality would be secured
Esmond is u work of great merit elegant and
| perfect la execution and classic as the Spec-
| tator. III is written an imitation and style of the
Augustan age with the manners aud thoughts of
Queen Annes reign. in which the scenes are laid
The element Of original thought the of ere.
atipg types Of actual human life is Thackera 8
own. Though lie may not have the heart-rending
paihos Of Goldsmith yet the rhetorical strength OF
pure English in this character of art Is greatly 10
4 DO seen.