XVI.
Some people, guiltless of those absurdities, commit a great error in the use of the word quantity, applying it to things of number, as "a quantity of friends," "a quantity of ships," "a quantity of houses," &c. Quantity can be applied only where bulk is indicated, as "a quantity of land," "a quantity of timber;" but we cannot say, "a quantity of fields," "a quantity of trees," because trees and fields are specific individualities. Or we may apply it where individualities are taken in the gross, without reference to modes, as "a quantity of luggage," "a quantity of furniture;" but we cannot say "a quantity of boxes," "a quantity of chairs and tables," for the same reason which is given in the former instances. We also apply the term quantity to those things of number which are too minute to be taken separately, as "a quantity of beans," "a quantity of oats," &c., &c.
XVII.
Avoid favorite words and phrases; they betray a poverty of language or of imagination not creditable to a cultivated intellect. Some people are so unfortunate as to find all things vulgar that come "betwixt the wind and their nobility;" others find them disgusting. Some are always anticipating, others are always appreciating. Multitudes are aristocratic in all their relations, other multitudes are as distingués. These two words are chiefly patronized by those whose pretensions in such respects are the most questionable. To some timid spirits, born under malignant influences no doubt, most things present an awful appearance, even though they come in shapes so insignificant as a cold day or an aching finger. But, thanks to that happy diversity of Nature which throws light as well as shadow into the human character, there are minds of brighter vision and more cheerful temperament, who behold all things splendid, magnificent, down to a cup of small beer, or a half-penny orange. Some people have a grandiloquent force of expression, thereby imparting a tremendous or thundering character even to little things. This is truly carrying their conceptions into the sublime,—sometimes a step beyond.
We have, however, no intention of particularizing all the "pet" phrases which salute the ear; but the enumeration of a few of them may make the candid culprit smile, and avoid those trifling absurdities for the future.
We would, under favor, suggest to the reader the advantage of not relying too confidently on knowledge acquired by habit and example alone. There are many words in constant use which are perverted from their original meanings; and if we were to dip into some standard dictionary occasionally, search out the true meanings of words with which we have fancied ourselves acquainted, and convict ourselves of all the errors we have been committing in following the crowd, our surprise, perhaps, would equal that of Molière's Bourgeois Gentilhomme when he discovered that he had been talking prose for forty years.
The words feasible, ostensible, obnoxious, apparent, obtain, refrain, domesticated, and centre, are expressions which, nine times out of ten, are misapplied, besides a host of others whose propriety is never questioned, so firmly has custom riveted the bonds of ignorance.
In closing this little volume, the writer begs leave to say that the remarks offered are intended only as "Hints," which they who desire perfection may easily improve, by a little exercise of the understanding, and a reference to more extensive sources, into a competent knowledge of their own tongue; also as warnings to the careless, that their lapses do not pass so unobserved as they are in the habit of supposing.
Though many of the syntactical errors herein mentioned are to be found in the works of some of our best writers, they are errors nevertheless, and stand as blemishes upon the productions of their genius, like unsightly excrescences upon a lovely skin. Genius is above grammar, and this conviction may inspire in some bosoms an undue contempt for the latter. But grammar is a constituent part of good education, and a neglect of it might argue a want of education, which would, perhaps, be mortifying. It is an old axiom that "civility costs nothing," and surely grammatical purity need not cost much to people disposed to pay a little attention to it, and who have received a respectable education already. It adds a grace to eloquence, and raises the standard of language where eloquence is not.