It will be just the opposite, however, if a man is deficient in these
formal qualities, but has an amount of knowledge which lends value to
what he says. This value will then depend entirely upon the matter of
his conversation; for, as the Spanish proverb has it, _mas sabe el
necio en su casa, que el sabio en la agena_--a fool knows more of his
own business than a wise man does of others.
ON STYLE.
Style is the physiognomy of the mind, and a safer index to character
than the face. To imitate another man's style is like wearing a mask,
which, be it never so fine, is not long in arousing disgust and
abhorrence, because it is lifeless; so that even the ugliest living
face is better. Hence those who write in Latin and copy the manner of
ancient authors, may be said to speak through a mask; the reader, it
is true, hears what they say, but he cannot observe their physiognomy
too; he cannot see their _style_. With the Latin works of writers
who think for themselves, the case is different, and their style is
visible; writers, I mean, who have not condescended to any sort
of imitation, such as Scotus Erigena, Petrarch, Bacon, Descartes,
Spinoza, and many others. An affectation in style is like making
grimaces. Further, the language in which a man writes is the
physiognomy of the nation to which he belongs; and here there are many
hard and fast differences, beginning from the language of the Greeks,
down to that of the Caribbean islanders.
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