writer
in this regard as of the poet: "He is born, not made." It is herein
nature made these two men entirely unlike. Paine was a poet; Jefferson
was not. The former had the most lively imagination; the latter had none
at all. It is this quality of the mind--_imagination_--which adorns
language with the figure.

In the proper use of the figure Mr. Paine can not be excelled. Mr.
Jefferson makes but infrequent use of figures of speech, and when he
goes out of the ruts of custom, he almost always fails in his efforts.
Two or three examples will suffice. In vol. i, p. 58, he says: "I never
heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the
main point which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders
to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of
themselves." In this men are arguing the _points_ of a question. But Mr.
Jefferson says they "laid their shoulders" to them, instead of their
tongues. In vol. i, p. 358, he says: "The Emperor, to satisfy this
tinsel passion, _plants_ a dagger in the heart of every Dutchman, which
no time will extract." Perhaps these planted daggers will take root. He
speaks also about "confabs" and "swallowing opinions."

* * * * *

Let us look now, for a moment, at the grand requisites of style,
_Precision_, _Unity_, and _Strength_.

Of the first, I would say, I have never yet seen an ambiguous sentence
in Paine's works. Mr. Jefferson's style is confused, labored, and
prolix. There is no paragraph he ever wrote, especially in the first
half of his life, but will bear me out in the assertion, that he uses a
great many words to express a few ideas. The above quotation I cite on
this point. It could all have been put into one-fourth of the space, and
thus have been rendered clear and distinct. His style, however, grew
better as he grew older. He is diffuse, which at once destroys _Unity_
of expression. He puts subject after subject into one period, often into
one sentence. The consequence is, there is no order in his style, and
his ideas tumble over each other in the greatest confusion; and the
consequence of this is, there is no _Strength_ to his style.

That the reader may see all these faults, I will make a brief analysis
of the Introduction to the "Summary View," quoted above:

FIRST PERIOD.

1. Instruction, to deputies.
2. When assembled in Congress.
3. With other deputies.
4. To propose to Congr