m, requires part of this power; to arrange and
combine the images suggested requires a further part; and only that part
which remains can be used for realizing the thought conveyed. Hence,
the more time and attention it takes to receive and understand each
sentence, the less time and attention can be given to the contained
idea; and the less vividly will that idea be conceived.

Sec. 4. How truly language must be regarded as a hindrance to thought,
though the necessary instrument of it, we shall clearly perceive
on remembering the comparative force with which simple ideas are
communicated by signs. To say, "Leave the room," is less expressive than
to point to the door. Placing a finger on the lips is more forcible than
whispering, "Do not speak." A beck of the hand is better than, "Come
here." No phrase can convey the idea of surprise so vividly as opening
the eyes and raising the eyebrows. A shrug of the shoulders would lose
much by translation into words. Again, it may be remarked that when
oral language is employed, the strongest effects are produced by
interjections, which condense entire sentences into syllables. And in
other cases, where custom allows us to express thoughts by single words,
as in _Beware, Heigho, Fudge,_ much force would be lost by expanding
them into specific propositions. Hence, carrying out the metaphor that
language is the vehicle of thought, there seems reason to think that
in all cases the friction and inertia of the vehicle deduct from its
efficiency; and that in composition, the chief, if not the sole thing
to be done, is, to reduce this friction and inertia to the smallest
possible amount. Let us then inquire whether economy of the recipient's
attention is not the secret of effect, alike in the right choice and
collocation of words, in the best arrangement of clauses in a sentence,
in the proper order of its principal and subordinate propositions, in
the judicious use of simile, metaphor, and other figures of speech, and
even in the rhythmical sequence of syllables.

ii. Economy in the Use of Words.

Sec. 5. The greater forcibleness of Saxon English, or rather non-Latin
English, first claims our attention. The several special reasons
assignable for this may all be reduced to the general reason--economy.
The most important of them is early association. A child's vocabulary is
almost wholly Saxon. He says, _I have,_ not _I possess_---_I wish,_
not I _desire;_ he does not _reflect,_