at an innovation, founded on the French expresBut even in this the French do

sion, "ce sont." not use the word "ils," which corresponds to our "they." "They," like "ils," would have reference to something in the preceding sentence; and it is this want of reference that makes it read so nonsensical in the passages cited from Blair.

In general Sir A. Alison's sentences, though ill-constructed, afford a sufficient glimpse of his meaning; but when he begins to moralize and draw parallels, the obscurity of his style becomes altogether impenetrable. For instance, at the end of Chapter lxiii. of his "History of Europe," he has a parallel about the Duke of Wellington, in which there is a strange confusion of the pronouns :

"He thus succeeded in at last combating the revolution with its own weapons, and at the same time detaching from them the moral weakness under which it laboured. He met it with its own forces; but he rested their efforts on a nobler principle."

Of a similar character is the following:

"No people ever was more rudely assailed by the sword of conquest than those of this country; none had its chains, to appearance, more firmly riveted round their necks.”—Ibid.

Another fault which may be noticed in this place is when a relative pronoun is coupled with the possessive case. Examples :

"Observe the tortures of a mind, even of so great a mind as that of Warburton's."-D'ISRAELI. Quarrels of Authors.

44

MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE.

samples In Concet fore

Nor was the style of his speaking at all like that of other men's.”—BROUGHAM. Essay on Windham.

"Those who have explored with strictest scrutiny the secret of their own bosoms, will be least apt to rush with intolerant violence into that of other men's."-CARLYLE. Miscellanies.

In the following D'Israeli gives us a relative pronoun without an antecedent :

“It is to prevent all this disorder, and to enjoy all the usefulness and the pleasure of this various knowledge, which has produced the invention of notes in literary history.”—Preface to Quarrels of Authors.

This sentence should be:

"It is to prevent all this disorder, and to enjoy all the usefulness and the pleasure of this various

knowledge, that notes were invented in literary

history."

Whose.

a

for

The use of whose, as the possessive of which, to though at first nothing more than a poetic license, is now to be met with in our correctest prose writers. The one who has given the most decided sanction to this innovation is Gibbon, in whose great work it is of frequent occurrence. Here is

an example:

"In the centre arose a column of marble, whose height, of one hundred and ten feet, denoted the elevation of the hill that had been cut away."-Decline and Fall.

There can be no doubt that this use of "whose " gives terseness and vigour to the language; and may be said that the consensus eruditorum has

it

now taken it out of the category of faulty locutions. We must be careful, however, lest our familiar use of it betray us into applying who and whom to things inanimate or irrational, as Gibbon has done in the following sentence:—

"The reindeer, that useful animal, from whom the savage of the north derives the best comforts of his dreary life."—Ibid.

Connected with this employment of "whose is the use of the possessive "his," as the antecedent to the relative "who," "whose." Examples :

"Precision imports pruning the expression so as to exhibit neither more nor less than an exact copy of his idea who uses it."-BLAIR. Lectures.

"The more accurately we search into the human mind, the stronger traces we everywhere find of his wisdom who made it." -BURKE. Inquiry into Origin of the Sublime.

“Dr. Wittman might have brought us back not anile conjecture, but sound evidence of events which must determine his character who must determine our fate."-SYDNEY SMITH. Essays.

“The sight of his blood whom they deemed invulnerable, shook the courage of the soldiers."-ALISON. History of Europe.

Whatever may be said on the score of poetry, the rules of plain prose require the expression "of him," instead of "his."

Than.

Another source of inaccuracy is the use of the word than, which is constantly usurping the place of other words, while its own proper station is occupied by all sorts of substitutes. Here are

some instances in which other expressions are incorrectly used instead of "than :"

"To a mind like yours there is no other road to fame, but by the destruction of a noble fabric."-JUNIUS. Letters.

"For this difference no other general cause can be assigned but culture and education."-BLAIR. Lectures.

They have no other standard on which to form themselves, except what chances to be fashionable."-Ibid.

In these examples the omission of "other" would leave the sense unaltered, and then the “but” would be correct. In fact, the inaccuracy of "no other but" has crept in, because it sounds like "none but."

In the following, "than" is improperly put for other words :

"The old nature returned with double force than formerly, and was in him to his dying day."-GILFILLAN. Literary

Portraits.

"A history now by a Mr. Hume, or a poem by a Mr. Pope, would be examined with different eyes than had they borne any other name.”—D'ISRAELI. Curiosities.

"To reconstruct such a work in another language were business for a man of different powers than has yet attempted German translation among us."-CARLYLE. Miscellanies.

Strange confusion this! When "other" occurs, we see it followed by "but" or "except," instead of "than ;" and where "than" is employed, we find it preceded by "different," instead of "other.” But what is worse, the same writer who makes it "different than," in one place, has it "different to," in another.

Indeed, were we to judge of German reading habits from these volumes of ours, we should draw quite a different conclusion to Paul's."-CARLYLE. Miscellanies.

And D'Israeli, who, in the sentence above quoted, has it "different than," in another place makes it "different with."

"The conversations of men of letters are of a different complexion with the talk of men of the world."-The Literary Character.

Here is another example of the improper use of "than:"

"The majority of them established another doctrine as false in itself, and, if possible, more pernicious to the constitution, than that on which the Middlesex election was determined."JUNIUS. Letters.

In this sentence "than" is made to do duty in connexion with as and more-correctly, of course, with regard to the latter, but not so as far as the former is concerned. The writer should have said:

"The majority of them established another doctrine as false in itself as that on which the Middlesex election was determined, and, if possible, more pernicious to the constitution."

The following is a somewhat similar instance :

"You may infuse the sentiment by a ray of light, no thicker, nor one thousand part so thick, as the finest needle."-WILSON. Recreations.

Here we have the word "than" incorrectly