On the Art of Writing - Lectures delivered in the University of Cambridge 1913-1914 by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
page 46 of 236 (19%)
page 46 of 236 (19%)
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country--
In this good old House, where everything at least is well aired, I shall be content to put up my fatigued horses and here take a bed for the long night that begins to darken upon me-- if, I say, you turn to these "Letters on the Regicide Peace" and consult the title-page, you will find them ostensibly addressed to 'a Member of the present Parliament'; and the opening paragraphs assume that Burke and his correspondent are in general agreement. But skim the pages and your eyes will be arrested again and again by sentences like these:-- The calculation of profit in all such wars is false. On balancing the account of such wars, ten thousand hogsheads of sugar are purchased at ten thousand times their price--the blood of man should never be shed but to redeem the blood of man. It is well shed for our family, for our friends, for our God, for our country, for our kind. The rest is vanity; the rest is crime. Magnificent, truly! But your ear has doubtless detected the blank verse--three iambic lines:-- Are purchased at ten thousand times their price... Be shed but to redeem the blood of man... The rest is vanity; the rest is crime. Again Burke catches your eye by rhetorical inversions:-- But too often different is rational conjecture from melancholy fact, |
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