ittle dangerous owing to the state of the roads, we arrived safely at
York, _which is a fine old town_."

*Exception.*--When the short final clause is intended to be
unexpectedly unemphatic, it comes in appropriately, with something of
the sting of an epigram. See (42). Thus:

"The old miser said that he should have been delighted to give the
poor fellow a shilling, but most unfortunately he had left his purse
at home--_a habit of his_."

Suspense naturally throws increased emphasis on the words for which we
are waiting, _i.e._ on the end of the sentence. It has been pointed
out above that *a monotony of final emphasis is objectionable,
especially in letter writing and conversation*.

*31. Suspense must not be excessive.* _Excess of suspense_ is a common
fault in boys translating from Latin. "Themistocles, having secured
the safety of Greece, the Persian fleet being now destroyed, when he
had unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the Greeks to break down the
bridge across the Hellespont, hearing that Xerxes was in full flight,
and thinking that it might be profitable to secure the friendship of
the king, wrote as follows to him." The more English idiom is: "When
Themistocles had secured the safety of Greece by the destruction of
the Persian fleet, he made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the
Greeks to break down the bridge across the Hellespont. Soon
afterwards, hearing &c."

A long suspense that would be intolerable in prose is tolerable in the
introduction to a poem. See the long interval at the beginning of
_Paradise Lost_ between "Of man's first disobedience" and "Sing,
heavenly Muse." Compare also the beginning of _Paradise Lost_, Book
II.:

"_High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormuz and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold--
Satan exalted sat._"

with the opening of Keats' _Hyperion_:

"_Deep in the shady sadness of a vale,
Far sunken from the healthy breath of morn,
Far from the fiery noon and eve's one star--
Sat grey-haired Saturn, quiet as a stone._"

*32. In a long conditional sentence put the "if-clause," antecedent,
or protasis, first.*

Everyone will see the flatness of "Revenge thy father's most unnatural
murder, if thou didst ever love him," as compared with the suspense
that forces an expression of agony from Hamlet in--

"_Ghost._ If thou didst ever th