niquity of
oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy, and deals with the memory of men
without distinction to merit of perpetuity." Thus it is, again, with
this sentence from Ruskin's "Seven Lamps of Architecture":--"They are
but the rests and monotones of the art; it is to its far happier,
far higher, exaltation that we owe those fair fronts of variegated
mosaic, charged with wild fancies and dark hosts of imagery, thicker
and quainter than ever filled the depths of midsummer dream; those
vaulted gates, trellised with close leaves; those window-labyrinths of
twisted tracery and starry light; those misty masses of multitudinous
pinnacle and diademed tower; the only witnesses, perhaps, that
remain to us of the faith and fear of nations." So it is also with
these sentences from De Quincey's "The English Mail-Coach":--"The sea,
the atmosphere, the light, bore each an orchestral part in this
universal lull. Moonlight, and the first timid tremblings of the dawn,
were by this time blending; and the blendings were brought into a
still more exquisite state of unity by a slight silvery mist,
motionless and dreamy, that covered the woods and fields, but with a
veil of equable transparency."

=Style a Fine Art.=--A more detailed study of style along these lines
would lead us to considerations too minutely technical for the purpose
of the present volume. Style, in its highest development, belongs only
to the finest art of literature; and it must be admitted that
literature is not always, nor even perhaps most frequently, a fine
art. Of the four rhetorical moods, or methods, of discourse,
exposition lends itself the least to the assistance of the quality of
style. Explanations are communicated from intellect to intellect.
Words, in exposition, must be chosen chiefly with a view to definite
denotation. The expository writer must be clear at any cost; he must
aim to be precise rather than to be suggestive. Style is considerably
more important as an adjunct to argumentation; since in order really
to persuade, a writer must not only convince the reader's intellect
but also rouse and conquer his emotions. But it is in narrative and in
description that the quality of style is most contributive to the
maximum effect. To evoke a picture in the reader's mind, or to convey
to his consciousness a sense of movement, it is advisable (I am
tempted to say necessary) to play upon his sensibilities with the
sound of the very sentences that are framed t