reward. But not the coolest sceptic or the most profane scoffer was more perfectly free from the contagion of their frantic delusions.”—MACAULAY.

Here the natural order would be as follows: He lived like the Puritans, etc. But the coolest sceptic or the most profane scoffer was not more perfectly free, etc. The position of the word "not" must be regarded as peculiarly emphatic.

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Inversion is so common in English prose that it may be said to be quite as much in accordance with the genius of the language as any other figure; indeed, in many cases it may well be doubted whether there is any real inversion at all. Thus it may be quite as much the natural order to say, "Blessed are the pure in heart," as to say, The pure in heart are blessed;" only in this case it becomes a species of exclamation, and assumes the order appropriate to that form of statement. Apart from this there is an abundant use of this figure, and he must be indeed a dull writer who does not frequently find occasion to employ it.

"The most questionable act of his life was the execution of Charles." "The forerunner of the great restoration in our literature was Cowper." "Of all conquerors, the greatest was Alexander."

In these examples the subject is put last, and is presented with the greatest possible emphasis. Sometimes the character of a subject may be emphasized by being placed in the first part of the sentence:

"For magnificence, for pathos, for vehement exhortation, for subtle disquisition, for every purpose of the poet, the orator, and the divine, this homely dialect, the dialect of plain workingmen, was amply sufficient."-MACAULAY.

A qualifying word is emphasized; as—

"Up went the flag to the top of the mast"-for "the flag went up.”

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Away went the horse, and after him toiled the dismounted rider."

Any given word may thus be made to receive emphasis :

'Napoleon could not recover from this defeat, although he had retrieved his fortunes in others."

If it were required to arrange this sentence so as to emphasize the word "this," which is very important here, it could be done as follows:

"Although Napoleon had retrieved his fortunes in other defeats, yet he could not recover from this."

"Your attempts will be in vain, although you strain every nerve."

"In vain" will be emphasized by being placed last; as

"Although you strain every nerve, your attempts will be in vain." "You cannot escape ;""escape" may be emphasized thus: "Escape you cannot."

§ 191. ANASTROPHE.

Anastrophe means, generally, the inversion of words, but more particularly the inversion of words in immediate connection: as

"Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woe."-Collins. For "Prophetic sounds were ne'er."

اوو

"At length did cross an albatross."-COLERIDGE.

"Till clomb above the eastern bar

The horned moon."-COLERIDGE.

"When round the lonely cottage,
Roars loud the tempest's din."

$192. SYNCHesis.

Synchesis is a kind of inversion where the words are in a

confused order: as

"Tumble precipitate; down dashed."

§ 193. TMESIS.

Tmesis has the effect of inversion. It is the division of a compound word into two: as

"On what side soever," for "on whatsoever side."

"To God ward," for "toward God."

$194. HYPERBATON.

By this is meant inversion in the order of thought. It arises naturally from emotion or passion, and is the language of those who, when laboring under great excitement of feeling, express their ideas in a confused manner-thrusting forward indiscriminately those thoughts which are most prominent in their minds. This is explained by Longinus in a passage which is at once a definition and an illustration :

I

"For as when men are really impelled by anger, or fear, or indignation, or jealousy, or any other passion (for they are numberless and cannot be reckoned up), they are forever getting wrong; and when they have proposed one thing are constantly running off into another, absurdly obtruding some intermediate matter; and then again coming round to their original subject, are ever and anon pulled back suddenly from conflicting feelings, now this way, now that, as if the sport of a shifting wind; incessantly chopping and changing their expressions, their ideas, and the order of their natural connection in all sorts of ways, to suit their ever-varying purpose; so the best writers endeavor to imitate the truth of nature's doings by means of transpositions."

"In Herodotus,” he continues, “is a speech which gives an example of this: For our affairs,' says a speaker, 'are balanced on a razor's edge. Men of Ionia, now is the crisis of our fate, whether to be free or slaves—yes, runaway slaves, the most abject and degraded; now, then, if you make up your mind to endure hardness, you will indeed have to encounter toil for the present, but you will be able to vanquish the enemy.''

"The natural order," Longinus resumes, "was this: "Men of Ionia, now is the time to submit to toil and labor, for our affairs are balanced on a razor's edge.' But he has transposed the salutation, 'Men of Ionia ;' for he has commenced with giving utterance to his fears, as if he could not command himself to accost his hearers first, from his sense of imminent danger. In the next place he has distorted the order of the thoughts, for before he said they must exert themselves, he first assigns the reason why they should do so, saying, 'our affairs are balanced on a razor's edge,' so that his words seem not premeditated, but forced from him."

The following passage is from the same author:

Thucydides is a great master of transposition; but Demosthenes is more abundant in this than any other writer, exhibiting an appearance of much earnestness, nay, of uttering everything on the spur of the moment by means of transposition, and dragging his hearers along with him into a perilous maze of things seemingly unconnected. For frequently suspending the thought with which he set out, and abruptly interposing by way of parenthesis a mass of matter apparently quite irrelevant, and thrust in quite incongruously and strangely, he puts the hearer in fear that he has suffered the subject to drop altogether, and compels him from earnest feeling to share the dangers of the speaker; then at length, towards the close, he very pertinently, but unexpectedly, adds the long-sought link of connection, and raises surprise and admiration still higher by the mere daring and imminent hazard of his transposition."

The following passage from Hamlet affords an admirable example of this figure:

"But two months dead!-nay, not so much, not two:

So excellent a king; that was, to this,

Hyperion to a satyr: so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown

By what it fed on: and yet, within a month-
Let me not think on't-Frailty, thy name is woman
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears;-why she, even she-

O heaven! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourned longer-married with my uncle,
My father's brother; but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules: within a month,

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married."

$195. HYSTERON PROTERON.

Hysteron proteron is similar to hyperbaton, but is more limited in its scope, being confined to a few words, where the order of thought is reversed, and that is put first which should stand last :

This is sometimes considered as identical with anastrophe, already considered.

CHAPTER IX.

FIGURES OF EMPHASIS ARISING FROM AN UNUSUAL OR STRIKING PRESENTATION.

§ 196. UNUSUAL OR STRIKING MODES OF STATEMENT. THE third class of figures of emphasis comprises those by which statements are made in an unusual or striking manner. This class is a large one, including such figures as exclamation, interrogation, elliptical and pleonastic forms, with a few others.

§ 197. EXCLAMATION.

Exclamation is a figure of very extended application. It is closely connected with the expression of the feelings, and many of the so-called figures of emotion are merely different kinds of exclamation. It is also a form of statement varied from the common order, so as to avoid monotony, or to attract attention.

1. Exclamation associated with emotion. This will be further considered under the head of "The Emotions," and a general notice of its chief applications will suffice for the present. Its chief use is in poetry and oratory, which are pre-eminently the literature of the feelings.

"O unexpected stroke, worse than of death !"-MILTON.

"Me miserable! which way shall I fly

Infinite wrath, and infinite despair ?"-MILTON.

"O Time, the beautifier of the dead!"-BYRON.

Personification and apostrophe are associated with exclamation. It is also found in very animated prose.

"A heroic Wallace quartered on the scaffold cannot hinder that his Scotland become one day part of England, but he does hinder that it become on tyrannous terms a part of it. Fight on, thou brave, true heart, and falter not through dark fortune and through bright.”—CARLYLE.

"Look there, O man of woman born! The bloom of that fair face is wasted."-CARLYLE.

2. Exclamation is also used simply to vary the style and give emphasis to passages. This is common in all kinds of prose writing. It is generally introduced by interjections, "oh," "alas," and by the words, "how," "what."

"When I have no more to say to you, you will like me no longer. How dreadful is that thought!"-LADY M. W. MONTAGUE.

"What folly it would be to sacrifice liberty, and, for the sake of life, to give up that which alone makes life worth having !"

§ 198. SALUTATION.

A certain kind of exclamation is called "salutation." It is often intermingled with apostrophe, and is a salutatory address to the dead or absent.