r. I do not doubt but that most readers were surprised at my
saying, in the close of my first paper, that Byron's 'style' depended in
any wise on his views respecting the Ten Commandments. That so
all-important a thing as 'style' should depend in the least upon so
ridiculous a thing as moral sense: or that Allegra's father, watching
her drive by in Count G.'s coach and six, had any remnant of so
ridiculous a thing to guide,--or check,--his poetical passion, may alike
seem more than questionable to the liberal and chaste philosophy of the
existing British public. But, first of all, putting the question of who
writes, or speaks, aside, do you, good reader, _know_ good 'style' when
you get it? Can you say, of half-a-dozen given lines taken anywhere out
of a novel, or poem, or play, That is good, essentially, in style, or
bad, essentially? and can you say why such half-dozen lines are good, or
bad?

I imagine that in most cases, the reply would be given with hesitation,
yet if you will give me a little patience, and take some accurate pains,
I can show you the main tests of style in the space of a couple of
pages.

I take two examples of absolutely perfect, and in manner highest, _i.
e._ kingly, and heroic, style: the first example in expression of anger,
the second of love.

(1) 'We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us,
His present, and your pains, we thank you for.
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will in France, by God's grace, play a set,
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.'

(2) 'My gracious Silence, hail!
Would'st thou have laughed, had I come coffin'd home
That weep'st to see me triumph? Ah, my dear,
Such eyes the widows in Corioli wear,
And mothers that lack sons.'

Let us note, point by point, the conditions of greatness common to both
these passages, so opposite in temper.

A. Absolute command over all passion, however intense; this the
first-of-first conditions, (see the King's own sentence just before, 'We
are no tyrant, but a Christian King, Unto _whose grace_ our passion is
as subject As are our wretches fettered in our prisons'); and with this
self-command, the supremely surveying grasp of every thought that is to
be uttered, before its utterance; so that each may come in its exact
place, time, and connection. The slightest hurry, the misplacing of a
word, or the unnecess