AMBIGUOUS EXPRESSIONS. 69 should be specially guarded against, for it has often led to heated contests, litigation, and even to war. Legal enactments have been rendered inoperative by a single ambiguous expression; constitutions have been perverted from their original design, and creeds have been made to teach precisely the opposite to what their authors believed. In such papers every other grace of composition ought to be sacrificed to perspicuity, which can be attained only by using the right word in the right place. The oracles of the heathen priests were generally capable of several interpretations. Thus when Pyrrhus applied to the priestess of Delphi to ascertain whether he should be successful against the Romans, * he received the reply: "Aio te, Eacida, Romanos vincere, posse"-"I say that you, O thou son of Eacus, the Romans are able to conquer." Whether he should conquer, or the Romans,) was still undecided. self-love prompted him to adopt the former meaning, and, when overcome, the friends of the priestess claimed her infallibility, as indicated by the latter meaning. His "Lovest thou me more than these ?"-the question of Jesus to Peter-is, in our translation of the Bible, ambiguous, as it may mean, "Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these?" or "Lovest thou me more than these do?" The last meaning is evidently the one intended. In speaking, ambiguity may often be prevented by emphasis, and, in writing, by a judicious punctuation. In scientific papers, it is indispensable that the right words should be employed. No reader wishes to waste his time in studying productions which may be construed into several uncertain meanings. 46. Intentional Ambiguity.—Ambiguity may be intentional; and if it can be morally justified, it furnishes ample scope for ingenuity. Talleyrand, a famous French diplomat, is often credited with the proverb, "Language is intended to conceal, not to reveal thought." Willam Guthrie, in the preface to his translation of Quintilian, published 1775, says: "During such a state of the public, the business of rhetoric was to teach men not how to express, but how to conceal their thoughts." As an instance of ambiguity in playful composition, take the remark of the poet, Thomas Campbell, to a friend: "This is very shabby of you, after the sublime and pathetic ode which I ad- dressed to you-a composition which will remain in the English language until it is forgotten!" A sufficient number of specimens of intentional ambiguity could easily be gathered from the writings and speeches of diplomatists and politicians. 47. Words symbolically Employed.-Those who are accustomed to think closely will observe that words are often employed, even by the ablest of speakers, as algebraists employ signs and symbols, without a conscious and full perception of their meaning, by a sort of manipulation or combination, and are finally thought out in the conclusion. In a treatise, for instance, on universities, commerce, war, agriculture, or any other subject, it is by no means true that the author every time that he uses the word has a full conception of it; but nevertheless he MORALITY OF CORRECT WORDS. 71 uses it correctly, and his conclusions are so far just as they apply to the word in all its proper significations. The genuine scholar, when either speaking or listening to a good composition, might with propriety say to an unskilled audience, "I see a hand you can not see, I hear a voice you can not hear." +48. The Morality and Value of exact Expressions.— There is an intimate connection between words and the moral character. It has been wittily said, "Words lead to things: a scale is more precise; Coarse speech, bad grammar, swearing, drinking, vice."* An eloquent writer forcibly remarks: "Words are instruments of music; an ignorant man uses them for jargon; but when a master touches them they have unexpected life and soul. Some words sound out like drums; some breathe memories sweet as flutes; some call like a clarionet; some shout a charge like trumpets; some are as sweet as children's talk; others rich as a mother's answering back. The words which have universal power are those that have been keyed and chorded in the great orchestral chamber of the human heart. Some words touch as many notes at a stroke as when an organist strikes ten fingers upon a key-board. There are single words which contain life-histories; and to hear them spoken is like the ringing of chimes. He who knows how to touch and handle skillfully the home-words of his mother's tongue need ask nothing of style."+ On the value of abundant and appropriate words, Dr. J. G. Holland has written the following beautiful verses: "The robin repeats his two beautiful words, The meadow-lark whistles his one refrain; The same song swells from a hundred birds. *O. W. Holmes. + Introduction to Mrs. Browning's Last Poems. Tilton, Esq. By Theodore "Bobolink, chickadee, blackbird and jay, Chatting and singing with careless tongue; "Words measure power; and they measure thine; Than all the birds of a hundred spheres ; "Words measure destiny. Power to declare "Words measure life, and they measure its joy, Than the birds of a hundred tuneful spheres, But notwithstanding the value of words, it should be remembered that it is only intellect and emotion that make them valuable. "Language," as Professor Goldwin Smith forcibly says, "is not a musical instrument into which, if a fool breathes, it will make melody." X49. Summary of Directions.-The directions to be observed in the use of words may be summed up as follows: Employ words of the English language, rejecting foreign words except as quotations, or when more expressive than native words, accompanying them by a translation if they are liable not to be understood; SUMMARY OF DIRECTIONS. 73 avoid obsolete words, new terms, and a profusion of technical terms, except when treating upon the subjects to which they especially apply, and then use them accurately; avoid vulgarisms, catch-words, provincialisms, unless the nature of your composition justifies them; use no words unnecessarily, especially in different shades of meaning; study to obtain as extensive a vocabulary as your thoughts require, and always to use the best words in their proper places. Let no one suppose that too much attention has been given to this subject. Words are the vehicle of thoughts. They indicate both the intellectual and the moral character. The surest proof of scholarship, of discipline, of strong thought, is the right use of words. D X |