EBOOK, THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE ***
Produced by P. Peterson
THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE.
By Herbert Spencer
PART I.
CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL
ENERGIES.
i. The Principle of Economy.
1. Commenting on the seeming incongruity between his father's
argumentative powers and his ignorance of formal logic, Tristram
Shandy says:--"It was a matter of just wonder with my worthy tutor,
and two or three fellows of that learned society, that a man who
knew not so much as the names of his tools, should be able to work
after that fashion with them." Sterne's intended implication that
a knowledge of the principles of reasoning neither makes, nor is
essential to, a good reasoner, is doubtless true. Thus, too, is it
with grammar. As Dr. Latham, condemning the usual school-drill in
Lindley Murray, rightly remarks: "Gross vulgarity is a fault to be
prevented; but the proper prevention is to be got from habit--not
rules." Similarly, there can be little question that good composition
is far less dependent upon acquaintance with its laws, than upon
practice and natural aptitude.
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