Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII AUGUSTAN PROSE The prevailing of the plain style--The group of 1630--Distribution of the chapter--Cowley--Dryden--South--Halifax--Temple and his masterpiece--The plainest styles, vulgar and not vulgar --The non-vulgarians: L'Estrange and Tom Brown--Bunyan-- The vulgarians--The effect of abbreviations--Instances from Rymer, etc.--Defoe--Swift--The rhythmical character of irony --Addison--Hurd's dealings with his rhythm--His supposed "Addisonian termination"--His general view of Addison's "harmony" -- Specimens of Addison himself--Rhythmical analysis of them -- Selections of other Queen Anne men necessary -- Berkeley -- Shaftesbury -- Bolingbroke -- Letterwriters and novelists to be shortly, dealt with -- Conyers Middleton--Efforts at variety--Adam Smith--Interim observations on this prose--Attempts to raise it--Johnson: different views respecting him--His relation to Browne--Characteristics of the Johnsonian style--Burke: his oratorical ethos--His declared method--Early examples--Middle--Later--Examples and comments--Gibbon: his peculiarity--Its general effect, and that of the other reformers--The standard Georgian style --Southey. We have seen, in the last two chapters, how, between The prevailing 1600 and 1660, a sort of underground, and, as the French t plam would say, sourd, conflict went on between the style or styles of prose which carried the use of rhythm almost to) ) its farthest possible, and that or those which, without entirely disregarding it (for there will hardly be found an example of any such at this time), did not make it a chief object, neglected its finer and more elaborate forms, and used few of its more notable figures and schemes v except balance. The state of things is not very different from...