Dr. Knox, in his Essays Moral and Literary; "as if any one style could be appropriated to the great variety of subjects which are treated of in letters. Ease, it is true, should distinguish familiar letters, written on the common affairs of life; because the mind is usually at ease while they are composed. But, even in these, topics incidentally arise, which require elevated expression, and an inverted construction. Not to raise the style on these occasions, is to write unnaturally; for nature teaches us to express animated emotions of every kind in animated language. The dependent writes unnaturally to a superior, in the style of familiarity. The suppliant writes unnaturally, if he rejects the figures dictated by distress. Conversation admits of every style but the poetic; and what are letters but written conversation? The great rule is, to follow nature, and to avoid an affected manner." 1 V. Scrupulously adhere to the rules of grammar. Select and apply all your words with a strict regard to their proper signification; and whenever you have any doubt respecting the correctness or propriety of them, consult a dictionary, or some good living authority. Avoid, with particular care, all errors in orthography, in punctuation, and in the arrangement of words and phrases. Errors of this nature often obscure or pervert the meaning of the writer; and they leave on the mind of an intelligent reader a very unfavourable impression. When the rules of grammar have been thoroughly learned, a constant attention to practise them, both in speaking and in writing, will soon render them familiar; and far from occasioning (as some apprehend) any stiffness of style, will be promotive of real ease, simplicity, and elegance. "Let nothing though of a trifling nature," says bishop Atterbury in a letter to his son, "pass through your pen negligently. Get but the way of writing correctly and justly, time and use will teach you to write readily." The great accuracy and correctness of composition for which Dr. Johnson was so highly distinguished, and which seemed to cost him so little effort as to be almost natural to him, were owing, he used to say, to the constant care and attention with which, from early life, he avoided or corrected error in every thing he said or wrote, though on the most trivial occasion. "The effusion of a moment" becomes the just characteristic and the highest encomium of all familiar writing, when a habit of accuracy has previously been acquired. VI. Endeavour, particularly in letters on business, to express your meaning as briefly as the nature of the subject will admit ; and in such terms as are least likely to be misunderstood. Avoid unnecessary tautology, explanation, and long or frequent parentheses. Place the principal circumstances in the most prominent point of view; suppress, or slightly mention, those which are of a trivial Make no quotations in foreign languages, nor any classical allusions, however apt or beautiful, except when you are writing to persons to whom they will be intelligible and pleasing. Before you seal your letter, always read it over very attentively; and correct every inaccuracy or error which you discover in it, that might, in the slightest degree, perplex or mislead your correspondent. nature. A plain, concise style is the best adapted for business. Letters of sentiment, of affection, and friendship, naturally admit of more enlargement, and occasionally of embellishment.-Long sentences should generally be avoided in epistolary composition. They may please the ear: but they usually occasion some degree of obscurity; and they are burthensome to the memory. Well constructed sentences that are short, or of a moderate length, strike the generally indicate thoughtlessness and inattention. To make use of them in order to convey assurances of respect or affection to the person to whom you write, or to those who are intimately connected with him, is particularly improper: it seems to imply that the sentiments which you express, are so slightly impressed on your mind, that you had almost forgotten them, or thought them scarcely worth mentioning. CONTENTS. 4. Sir Matthew Hale to one of his sons, on his re- covery from a dangerous illness |