The Art of Writing | Page 8

even when shorn of their comrade P) are
admirably contrasted. And in line four there is a marked subsidiary M,
which again was announced in line two. I stop from weariness, for
more might yet be said.
My next example was recently quoted from Shakespeare as an example
of the poet's colour sense. Now, I do not think literature has anything to
do with colour, or poets anyway the better of such a sense; and I
instantly attacked this passage, since 'purple' was the word that had so
pleased the writer of the article, to see if there might not be some
literary reason for its use. It will be seen that I succeeded amply; and I
am bound to say I think the passage exceptional in
Shakespeare--exceptional, indeed, in literature; but it was not I who
chose it.
'The BaRge she sat iN, like a BURNished throNe BURNT oN the
water: the POOP was BeateN gold, PURPle the sails and so PUR*
Fumed that * per The wiNds were love-sick with them.' {7}
It may be asked why I have put the F of 'perfumed' in capitals; and I
reply, because this change from P to F is the completion of that from B
to P, already so adroitly carried out. Indeed, the whole passage is a
monument of curious ingenuity; and it seems scarce worth while to

indicate the subsidiary S, L, and W. In the same article, a second
passage from Shakespeare was quoted, once again as an example of his
colour sense:
'A mole cinque-spotted like the crimson drops I' the bottom of a
cowslip.' {8}
It is very curious, very artificial, and not worth while to analyse at
length: I leave it to the reader. But before I turn my back on
Shakespeare, I should like to quote a passage, for my own pleasure, and
for a very model of every technical art:
But in the wind and tempest of her frown, W. P. V.{9} F. (st) (ow)
Distinction with a loud and powerful fan, W.P. F. (st) (ow) L.
Puffing at all, winnows the light away; W. P. F. L. And what hath mass
and matter by itself W. F. L. M. A. Lies rich in virtue and unmingled.'
{10} V. L. M.
From these delicate and choice writers I turned with some curiosity to a
player of the big drum--Macaulay. I had in hand the two- volume
edition, and I opened at the beginning of the second volume. Here was
what I read:
'The violence of revolutions is generally proportioned to the degree of
the maladministration which has produced them. It is therefore not
strange that the government of Scotland, having been during many
years greatly more corrupt than the government of England, should
have fallen with a far heavier ruin. The movement against the last king
of the house of Stuart was in England conservative, in Scotland
destructive. The English complained not of the law, but of the violation
of the law.'
This was plain-sailing enough; it was our old friend PVF, floated by the
liquids in a body; but as I read on, and turned the page, and still found
PVF with his attendant liquids, I confess my mind misgave me utterly.
This could be no trick of Macaulay's; it must be the nature of the
English tongue. In a kind of despair, I turned half-way through the

volume; and coming upon his lordship dealing with General Cannon,
and fresh from Claverhouse and Killiecrankie, here, with elucidative
spelling, was my reward:
'Meanwhile the disorders of Kannon's Kamp went on inKreasing. He
Kalled a Kouncil of war to Konsider what Kourse it would be advisable
to taKe. But as soon as the Kouncil had met, a preliminary Kuestion
was raised. The army was almost eKsKlusively a Highland army. The
recent vKktory had been won eKsKlusively by Highland warriors.
Great chieFs who had brought siKs or SeVen hundred Fighting men
into the Field did not think it Fair that they should be outVoted by
gentlemen From Ireland, and From the Low Kountries, who bore
indeed King James's Kommission, and were Kalled Kolonels and
Kaptains, but who were Kolonels without regiments and Kaptains
without Kompanies.'
A moment of FV in all this world of K's! It was not the English
language, then, that was an instrument of one string, but Macaulay that
was an incomparable dauber.
It was probably from this barbaric love of repeating the same sound,
rather than from any design of clearness, that he acquired his irritating
habit of repeating words; I say the one rather than the other, because
such a trick of the ear is deeper-seated and more original in man than
any logical consideration. Few writers, indeed, are probably conscious
of the length to which they push this melody of