THE ALLURING QUOTATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1503, 27 July 1912, Page 9

THE ALLURING QUOTATION.

Ji;..L'O!]gfellow had -'never • writ fen'-uny-' ■;.tlinig ,Utt 3f Charles.Kingsley : liiul Written nothing but Jus- adnio.utory verse, -."20'. good, - sweet : inaid, aiul let' "who"-can- bo clever," th»y ■Would yet "have reached a fame undying, ii rather circumscribed; for out of every hundred victims who pen gentle inanities to adorn that repository of the inthe modern girl's' autograph album, tifty seem to select one of these two ooiniuendably blameless exercises ; n rhyme thus disclosing tho shortness of Hie tether within whose radius they browse. The iirst t|uotation probably represents to them tho acme of poetic passion, and the settins; ■ aside the doubtful compliment'it contains (which is. invariably inissed),-"' , stands" for some measure of that mysterious, s?mi-reHgious comfort of which "The Lost C'honF" , is another example: tho windy, meaningless grand A-mcii" - has thrilled many an immature listenei into u delightful imagiiiary intimacy with Hie next world. Hut if those who insert these quotations only knew the irritating effect of their well-meant efforts upon the more eclectic onus who for their sins have albiim.s thrust-upon them, they might sock other less hackneyed material. Hardly, porhtips, were it discreet to adv's'e them to write original contributions; it would be extremely interesting, however', to know what imperishable tags would be telected.

Io most reading men, probably, there aro words and phrases which whenever seen brinj them a sense of acute distaste. One will admit a permanent antipathy to the adjectivns "opaline" and "opalescent," arising from the perusal of the works oi' a certain lady novelist who sadly overworked those two wonts; another will shudder at- the sound of "compunction." "primordial," "matutinal," "bourgeois"; a. third hates to hear or see the combination "buxom wench"; and we all prefer not to read of the "succulent bivalve," and other cliches of the provincial journalist. Whether, in the first place, it is because (he words'are. ugly and unmusical, or by reason of some mental kink in thu individual, it is hard la .say; possibly both are predisposing factors. In the case of quotations however, sight and sound take n subordinate place to taste; and here, too. -lep in culture, education, niul a swi-e for Hie capabilities of (lie English language. The' pure stylo is Wver loaded with quotations. •'A_sh;;uglitfor,vard 'style," said Professor William James, "moans a. flexibility of verbal resonrco.that follows the thought without a crease or a wrinkle, as elastic silk underclothing follows the movements of one's body"; "and the very existence of a "flexibility of verbal resource" implies that the writer's equipment is. sufficient for. his , -purpose without (lie -frequent assistance pf powder and shot from other people's pouches. Nothing betrays the iiu'ompptent or undeveloped esso.yi.st so 'thoroughly as his use or misuse of quotations. Lucking ideas, he is drven to desperate foraging; bei'oi'o his first .sheet is covered. The poor quotation is dragged in by one car, howlin;,' for release, and we get ii dozen or a scorr- of sentenced beginning: "\Vlio 'docs not rempinbsr the gentle Elia's words Upon this very subject?" . "We might do worse than follow Carlylc's dictum to the effect that . . ." "Tennyson, once wrote . . ." "Let us sec what Whittinr has to say .on this theme . .." "There is a passage in 'Paradise Lost'—some of my rentiers may be familiar with it—which . . ." and so on. Between cadOquotatiim.wi.ll wriggle.a vague little sentence to "join up"; at the fini-li (hi; "author" will sign his name, ami sir.ti the poverty-stricken concoction in. a* an original essay. How many times have we soon them, smiled, and sighed , ! To compose the neat essay) with just tho one or two quotations that shall drive the point home and warm the reader withja glow of appreciation, requires deliberate and definite concentration of thought. Hundreds of. young writers aro misled by the chatty, effortless stylo of Lamb, Thorenu, or Hazlitt into the belief that anything they choose t-i set down must bs of value. 'Vaguely dissatisfied with the. result, they l.race end stili'on their work with borrowed bolts and stays, and the last singe is worse' than the first—it i.s neither one .thing nor the ol.hev, but a hotch-potch, an ambitious attempt and obvious failure. "The art of quota! ion," wrote Isaac Disraeli, "requires more delicacy in the practice than those conceive who can see nothing more ill n. quotation than jin extract." . . •

Tho apt, judiciously clioson quotntiuii is. [ike Hid extra, charge in Kiin-restiii"-which enables the . weil-nimrd projedifo not only to hit (.ho marie. Imf to penetrate tho armour-plate. T'm>(| ton freely, it simuly wearies the reader and savours

of peiUwtry: neglected, it often means mi excellent opportunity lost.—"The Acadamy."