e with it
would find himself as much mistaken as Cassim in the Arabian tale,
when he stood crying, 'Open Wheat,' 'Open Barley,' to the door which
obeyed no sound but 'Open Sesame.' The miserable failure of Dryden
in his attempt to translate into his own diction some parts of the
'Paradise Lost' is a remarkable instance of this."

Macaulay's own writings abound in examples of that exquisite precision
in the choice of words, which never seems to be precise, but has all the
aspect of absolute freedom. Through his language his thought bursts upon
the mind as a landscape is seen instantly, perfectly, and beautifully
from a mountain height. A little vagueness of thought, a slight
infelicity in the choice of words would be like a cloud upon the
mountain, obscuring the scene with a damp and chilling mist. Let anyone
try the experiment with a poem like Gray's "Elegy," or Goldsmith's
"Traveller" or "Deserted Village," of substituting other words for those
the poet has chosen, and he will readily perceive how much of the charm
of the lines depends upon their fine exactitude of expression.

In our own day, when so many are eager to write, and confident that they
can write, and when the press is sending forth by the ton that which is
called literature, but which somehow lacks the imprint of immortality,
it is of the first importance to revive the study of synonyms as a
distinct branch of rhetorical culture. Prevalent errors need at times to
be noted and corrected, but the teaching of pure English speech is the
best defense against all that is inferior, unsuitable, or repulsive. The
most effective condemnation of an objectionable word or phrase is that
it is not found in scholarly works, and a student who has once learned
the rich stores of vigorous, beautiful, exact, and expressive words that
make up our noble language, is by that very fact put beyond the reach of
all temptation to linguistic corruption.

Special instruction in the use of synonyms is necessary, for the reason
that few students possess the analytical power and habit of mind
required to hold a succession of separate definitions in thought at
once, compare them with each other, and determine just where and how
they part company; and the persons least able to do this are the very
ones most in need of the information. The distinctions between words
similar in meaning are often so fine and elusive as to tax the ingenuity
of the accomplished scholar;