the near approach to a desired conclusion, will often show itself
in a series of short, sharp sentences; while, in impressing a view
already enunciated, we generally make our periods voluminous by
piling thought upon thought. These natural modes of procedure may
serve as guides in writing. Keen observation and skilful analysis
would, in like manner, detect further peculiarities of expression
produced by other attitudes of mind; and by paying due attention
to all such traits, a writer possessed of sufficient versatility
might make some approach to a completely-organized work.



iv. The Ideal Writer.

67. This species of composition which the law of effect points
out as the perfect one, is the one which high genius tends naturally
to produce. As we found that the kinds of sentences which are
theoretically best, are those generally employed by superior minds,
and by inferior minds when excitement has raised them; so, we shall
find that the ideal form for a poem, essay, or fiction, is that
which the ideal writer would evolve spontaneously. One in whom
the powers of expression fully responded to the state of feeling,
would unconsciously use that variety in the mode of presenting his
thoughts, which Art demands. This constant employment of one species
of phraseology, which all have now to strive against, implies an
undeveloped faculty of language. To have a specific style is to be
poor in speech. If we remember that, in the far past, men had only
nouns and verbs to convey their ideas with, and that from then to
now the growth has been towards a greater number of implements of
thought, and consequently towards a greater complexity and variety