fenfe occafioned by this arrangement, may be eafily prevented by varying it thus:

The

wrong

This morning when, with great care and diligence, one of Lady Lizard's daughters was looking over fome hoods and ribands, &c.

A great ftone that I happened to find after a long fearch by the fea-fhore, ferved me for an anchor. Gulliver's Travels, part 1. chap. 8.

shore;

One would think that the fearch was confined to the feabut as the meaning is, that the great stone was found by the fea fhore, the period ought to be arrang

ed thus:

A great ftone, that, after a long fearch, I happened to find by the fea-fhore, ferved me for an anchor.

Next of a wrong arrangement where the fenfe is left doubtful; beginning, as in the former fort, with examples of wrong arrangement of words in a member :

Thefe forms of converfation by degrees multiplied and grew troublefome. [Spectator, N° 119.

Here it is left doubtful whether the modification by degrees relate to the preceding member or to what follows: it fhould be,

Thefe forms of converfation multiplied by degrees.

Nor does this falfe modefty expofe us only to fuch actions as are indifcreet, but very often to fuch as are highly criminal. [Spectator, No 458. The ambiguity is removed by the following arrangement: Nor does this falfe modefty expofe us to fuch actions only as are indiscreet, &c.

The empire of Blefufcu is an ifland fituated to the north east fide of Lilliput, from whence it is parted only by a channel of 800 yards wide.

Gulliver's Travels, part 1. chap. 5.

The ambiguity may be removed thus:

from whence it is parted by a channel

of 800 yards wide only.

In the following examples the fense is left doubtful by wrong arrangement of members.

The minifter who grows lefs by his elevation, like a little ftatue placed on a mighty pedeftal, will always have his jealoufy ftrong about him.

Differtation upon parties, dedication. Bolingbroke. Here, fo far as can be gathered from the arrangement, it is doubtful, whether the object introduced by way of fimile, relate to what goes before or to what follows: the ambiguity is removed by the following arrangement:

The minister who, like a little ftatue placed on a mighty pedestal, grows iefs by his elevation, will always, &c.

Since this is too much to ask of freemen, nay of flaves, if his expectation be not answered, thall he form a lafting divifion upon fuch tranfient motives? Ibid.

Better thus:- :

Since this is too much to ask of freemen, nay of flaves, fhall he, if his expectations be not anfwered, form, &c. Speaking of the fuperftitious practice of locking up the room where a perfon of diftinction dies:

The knight, feeing his habitation reduced to so small a compals, and himself in a manner fhut out of his own house, upon the death of his mother, ordered all the apartments to be flung open, and exorcifed by his chaplain.. [Spectator, N° 110.

The knight feeing his habitation reduced to fo fmali a compafs, and himself in a manner fhut out of his own house, ordered, upon the death of his mother, all the apartments to be flung open.

Speaking of fome indecencies in conversation:

As it is impoffible for fuch an irrational way of converfation to last long among a people that make any profeffion of religion, or fhow of modefty, if the countrygentlemen get into it, they will certainly be left in the lurch. [Spectator, No 119.

The ambiguity vanishes in the following arrangement:

the

the country gentlemen, if they get into it, will certainly be left in the lurch.

Speaking of a difcovery in natural philofophy, that colour is not a quality of matter:

As this is a truth which has been proved incontestably by many modern philofophers, and is indeed one of the finett fpeculations in that fcience, if the English reader would fee the notion explained at large, he may find it in the eighth chapter of the fecond book of Mr Lock's effay on human understanding.. [Spectator, No 413.

Better thus:

As this is a truth, &c. the English reader, if he would fee the notion explained at large, may find it, &c.

- A woman feldom afks advice before the has bought her wedding-cloaths. When the has made her own choice, for form's fake the fends a conge d'elire to her friends. Ibid. No 475.

Better thus:

fhe fends, for form's fake, a conge d'elire to her friends.

And fince it is neceffary that there fhould be a perpetual intercourfe of buying and felling, and dealing upon credit, where fraud is permitted or connived at, or bath no law to punish it, the honeft dealer is always undone, and the knave gets the advantage.

Better thus:

Gulliver's Travels, part 1. chap. 6.

And fince it is neceffary that there should be a perpetual intercourse of buying and felling, and dealing upon credit, the honeft dealer, where fraud is permitted or connived at, or hath no law to punish it, is always undone, and the knave gets the advantage.

From thefe examples, the following obfervation will occur, that a circumftance ought never to be placed be tween two capital members of a period; for by fuch situation it must always be doubtful, fo far as we gather from the arrangement, to which of the two members it belongs where it is interjected, as it ought to be, between parts of the member to which it belongs, the ambiguity

ambiguity is removed, and the capital members are kept diftinct, which is a great beauty in compofition. In general, to preserve members diftinct that fignify things diftinguished in the thought, the beft method is, to place firft in the confequent member, fome word that cannot connect with what precedes it.

If by any one it thall be thought, that the objections here are too fcrupulous, and that the defect of perfpicuity is eafily fupplied by accurate punctuation; the anfwer is, That punctuation may remove an ambiguity, but will never produce that peculiar beauty which is perceived when the fenfe comes out clearly and diftinctly by means of a happy arrangement. Such influence has this beauty, that by a natural tranfition of perception, it is communicated to the very found of the words, fo as in appearance to improve the mufic of the period. But as this curious subject comes in more properly afterward, it is fufficient at prefent to appeal to experience, that a period fo arranged as to bring out the fenfe clear, feems always more musical than where the fenfe is left in any degree doubtful.

A rule defervedly occupying the fecond place, is, That words exprefling things connected in the thought, ought to be placed as near together as poffible. This rule is derived immediately from human nature, in which there is discovered a remarkable propenfity to place together things that are in any manner connected: where things are arranged according to their connections, we have a sense of order; otherwife we have a sense of . diforder, as of things placed by chance: and we naturally place words in the fame order in which we would place the things they fignify. The bad effect of a vio lent feparation of words or members thus intimately connected, will appear from the following examples.

For the English are naturally fanciful, and very often difpofed, by that gloominefs and melancholy of temper which is fo frequent in our nation, to many wild noti• ons and vifions, to which others are not fo liable.

Spectator, No 419. Here the verb or affertion is, by a pretty long circumftance,

* See chap. I.

ftance, violently feparated from the fubject to which it refers this makes a harsh arrangement; the lefs excufable that the fault is eafily prevented by placing the circumftance before the verb or affertion, after the following manner :

For the English are naturally fanciful, and, by that gloominefs and melancholy of temper which is fo frequent in our nation, are often difpofed to many wild notions, &e.

For as no mortal author, in the ordinary fate and vicillitude of things, knows to what ufe his works may, fome time or other, be apply'd, &c. [Spectator, N° 85. Better thus:.

For as, in the ordinary fate and viciffitude of things, no mortal author knows to what ufe, fome time or other, his works may be apply'd, &c.

From whence we may date likewife the rivalship of the houfe of France, for we may reckon that of the Valois and that of Bourbon as one upon this occafion, and the houfe of Auftria, that continues at this day, and has oft coft fo much blood and fo much treasure in the courfe of it.

Letters on hiftory, vol. 1. let. 6. Bolingbroke. It cannot be impertinent or ridiculous therefore in fuch a country, whatever it might be in the Abbot of St Real's, which was Savoy I think, or in Peru, under the Incas, where Garcilaffo de la Vega fays it was lawful for none but the nobility to ftudy for men of all degrees to instruct themfelves, in thofe affairs wherein they may be actors, or judges of thofe that act, or controllers of thofe that judge.)

Letters on hiftory, vol. 1. let. 5. Bolingbroke.

If Scipio, who was naturally given to women, for which anecdote we have, if I mistake not, the authority of Polybius, as well as fome verfes of Nevius preferved by Aulus Gellius, had been educated by Olympias at the court of Philip, it is improbable that he would have restored the beautiful Spaniard. [Ibid. let. 3.

If any one have a curiofity for more fpecimens of this kind, they will be found without number in the works of the fame author.

A pro