LOOSE AND PERIODIC SENTENCES.

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The classification of sentences into 'Loose 9945 and "Periodic "44 is liable to give the impression that a “loose" sentence is to be regarded as faulty. It is true that a loose sentence requires more care in its construction in order that it may not be faulty, and, for that reason, beginners in composition are advised to make most of their sentences periodic. This will also cause a greater proportion of short sentences and thus add force and brilliancy, which are hard properties to inculcate into long sentences. In a master's hand, the long sentence may be given all the force and snap of a short sentence, plus the solemnity, or grace, or pomp, or dignity, or beauty, that only a long sentence will exemplify.

The following from Milton is an example of the long, loose sentence, but nevertheless, most carefully studied; and with a masterly use of the connectives, and a proper attention to the logical succession of subordinate clauses, it is free from all forms of faulty construction.

"Then amidst the hymns and hallelujahs of saints, some one may, perhaps, be heard offering, at high strains in new and lofty measures, to sing and celebrate thy divine mercies, and marvellous judgments in this land throughout all ages; whereby this great and warlike nation, instructed and inured to the fervent and continual practice of truth and righteousness, and casting far from her the rags of her old vices, may press on hard to that high and happy emulation to be found the soberest, wisest, and most Christian people at that day, when Thou, the eternal and shortly expected King, shalt open the clouds to judge the several kingdoms of the world, and distributing national honors and rewards to religious and just

commonwealths, shalt put an end to all earthly tyrannies, proclaiming thy universal and mild monarchy through heaven and earth; where they, undoubtedly, that by their labors, counsels, and prayers, have been earnest for the common good of their religion and their country, shall receive above the inferior orders of the blessed the regal addition of principalities, legions and thrones into their glorious titles, and, in supereminence of beatific vision, progressing the dateless and irrevoluble circle of eternity, shall clasp inseparable hands with joy and bliss, in overmeasure forever."

lay:

Contrast with this the following paragraph from Macau

"An acre in Middlesex is worth a principality in Utopia. The smallest actual good is better than the most magnificent promises of impossibilities. The wise man of the Stoics would, no doubt, be a grander object than a steam-engine. But there are steam-engines and the wise man of the Stoics is yet to be born. A philosophy which would enable a man to feel perfectly happy while in agonies of pain, may be better than a philosophy that assuages pain. But we know that there are remedies which will assuage pain; and we know that the ancient sages liked the tooth-ache just as little as their neighbors.'

And this from Channing:

Beauty425 is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds in the numberless flowers of the spring. It waves in the branches of the trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and sea, and gleams out in the hues of the shell and precious stone. And not only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, the clouds, the heavens, the stars, the rising and setting sun, all overflow with beauty. The universe is its temple; and those men who are alive to it. cannot lift up their eyes without feeling themselves encompassed with it on every side."

FAITH IN LITERATURE.

All good literature must be written in faith. That is its necessary condition. The writer's appeal is not immediate like an actor's or an orator's or even like a painter's, a sculptor's or a musician's. Its form is invisible, and in modern times usually inaudible, too. It works solely upon the lonely mind, and has no outward aid. Nor can its effect be tested by anything like the demonstrations of a theater. A novelist once saw a young person blush over one of his books. An emperor once saw a dull person laughing over Don Quixote. But such visible expressions of emotion are rare, and in these days of print the author himself can hardly ever hope to witness them. That is why he of all working people needs most faith. He has to cast his bread upon the waters, but it is extremely unlikely that he will find it again after many days. And (without driving a metaphor too far) we may say that the better the bread, the less chance he has of finding it. Instances are almost too obvious, but let us take the highest of all and remember that it was only by a mere fluke that Shakespeare's best plays were even thought worth preserving. Or, to take the case of Blake again, what chance of recognition had the " Songs of Innocence" in 1789? Within some thirty or forty years Charles Lamb and Wordsworth had discovered them. Within another fifty or sixty years after that they became the common property of all who love literature; but by what faith in beauty, and in man's ultimate recognition of beauty, must the poet have been inspired, who at the time when English verse had perhaps touched the lowest point could raise the song of "The Echoing Green," or "The

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Chimney Sweeper," or "The Divine Image," or that song of "Night" with its meter of subtle and varying beauty. For 150 years nothing to compare with such things had been heard

commonwealths, shalt put an end to all earthly tyrannies, proclaiming thy universal and mild monarchy through heaven and earth; where they, undoubtedly, that by their labors, counsels, and prayers, have been earnest for the common good of their religion and their country, shall receive above the inferior orders of the blessed the regal addition of principalities, legions and thrones into their glorious titles, and, in supereminence of beatific vision, progressing the dateless and irrevoluble circle of eternity, shall clasp inseparable hands with joy and bliss, in overmeasure forever."

lay:

Contrast with this the following paragraph from Macau

"An acre in Middlesex is worth a principality in Utopia. The smallest actual good is better than the most magnificent promises of impossibilities. The wise man of the Stoics would, no doubt, be a grander object than a steam-engine. But there are steam-engines and the wise man of the Stoics is yet to be born. A philosophy which would enable a man to feel perfectly happy while in agonies of pain, may be better than a philosophy that assuages pain. But we know that there are remedies which will assuage pain; and we know that the ancient sages liked the tooth-ache just as little as their neighbors."

And this from Channing:

Beauty425 is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds ir the numberless flowers of the spring. It waves in the branches of the trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and sea, and gleams out in the hues of the shell and precious stone. And not only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, the clouds, the heavens, the stars. the rising and setting sun, all overflow with beauty. The universe is its temple; and those men who are alive to it. cannot lift up their eyes without feeling themselves encom passed with it on every side."

FAITH IN LITERATURE.

All good literature must be written in faith. That is its necessary condition. The writer's appeal is not immediate like an actor's or an orator's or even like a painter's, a sculptor's or a musician's. Its form is invisible, and in modern times usually inaudible, too. It works solely upon the lonely mind, and has no outward aid. Nor can its effect be tested by anything like the demonstrations of a theater. A novelist once saw a young person blush over one of his books. An emperor once saw a dull person laughing over Don Quixote. But such visible expressions of emotion are rare, and in these days of print the author himself can hardly ever hope to witness them. That is why he of all working people needs most faith. He has to cast his bread upon the waters, but it is extremely unlikely that he will find it again after many days. And (without driving a metaphor too far) we may say that the better the bread, the less chance he has of finding it. Instances are almost too obvious, but let us take the highest of all and remember that it was only by a mere fluke that Shakespeare's best plays were even thought worth preserving. Or, to take the case of Blake again, what chance of recognition had the " Songs of Innocence" in 1789? Within some thirty or forty years Charles Lamb and Wordsworth had discovered them. Within another fifty or sixty years after that they became the common property of all who love literature; but by what faith in beauty, and in man's ultimate recognition of beauty, must the poet have been inspired, who at the time when English verse had perhaps touched the lowest point could raise the song of "The Echoing Green," or "The Chimney Sweeper," or "The Divine Image," or that song of Night" with its meter of subtle and varying beauty. For 150 years nothing to compare with such things had been heard