The Quickening
THE QUICKENING By FRANCIS LYNDE Author of The Grafters, The Master of Appleby, etc., etc. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY E.M. ASHE INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright 1906 Francis Lynde
"But to do this always, and never be able to write a line without it,
though it may be admired by some few pedants, will not pass upon those
who know that _Wit is best conveyed to us in the most easy language: and
is most to be admired, when a great thought comes dressed in words so
commonly received, that it is understood by the meanest apprehensions; as
the best meat is the most easily digested_. But we cannot read a verse of
CLEVELAND's, without making a face at it; as if every word were a pill to
swallow. He gives us, many times, a hard nut to break our teeth, without a
kernel for our pains. So that there is this difference between his
_Satires_ and Doctor DONNE's: that the one [_DONNE_] gives us deep
thoughts in common language, though rough cadence; the other
[_CLEVELAND_] gives us common thoughts in abtruse words. 'Tis true, in
some places, his wit is independent of his words, as in that of the
_Rebel Scot_--
"Had CAIN been Scot, GOD would have changed his doom,
Not forced him wander, but confined him home.
"_Si sic, omnia dixisset!_ This is Wit in all languages. 'Tis like
MERCURY, never to be lost or killed. And so that other,
"For beauty, like white powder, makes no noise,
And yet the silent hypocrite destroys.
"You see the last line is highly metaphorical; but it is so soft and
THE QUICKENING By FRANCIS LYNDE Author of The Grafters, The Master of Appleby, etc., etc. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY E.M. ASHE INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright 1906 Francis Lynde