loudest in exclamation, or sweetest in a
pleasing strain. Modest words will ever be preferred to those that must
offend a chaste ear, and no polite discourse ever makes allowance for a
filthy or sordid expression. Magnificent, noble, and sublime words are
to be estimated by their congruity with the subject; for what is
magnificent in one place, swells into bombast in another; and what is
low in a grand matter, may be proper in a humble situation. As in a
splendid style a low word must be very much out of place and, as it
were, a blemish to it, so a sublime and pompous expression is unsuited
to a subject that is plain and familiar, and therefore must be reputed
corrupt, because it raises that which ought to find favor through its
native simplicity.

THE MANNER OF DELIVERY

I shall pass now to the construction of words, observing that their
ornamental use may be considered from two points of view; first, as it
regards the elocution we conceive in our minds; second, the manner of
expressing it. It is of particular consequence that we should be clear
as to what ought to be amplified or diminished; whether we are to speak
with heat or moderation; in a florid or austere style; in a copious or
concise manner; in words of bitter invective, or in those showing placid
and gentle disposition; with magnificence or plainness; gravity or
politeness. Besides which it is equally important to know what
metaphors, what figures, what thoughts, what manner, what disposition,
are best suited for effecting our purpose.

FAULTS OF EXPRESSION TO AVOID

In speaking of the ornaments of a discourse, it may not be amiss to
touch first upon qualities contrary to them, because the principal
perfection consists in being free from faults. We, therefore, must not
expect ornament that is not probable, in a discourse. Cicero calls that
kind of ornament probable which is not more nor less than it ought to
be. Not that it should not appear neat and polished, for this is a part
of ornament, but because too much in anything is always a fault. He
would have authority and weight in words, and thoughts that are
sensible, or conformable to the opinions and manners of men. These
inviolably retained and adhered to, he makes ample allowance for
whatever else may contribute to illustrate a discourse. And thus it is
that metaphors, superlatives, epithets, compound, and synonymous words,
if they seem to express the action and fully represent things, seldom
fa