Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 5.djvu/100

92 the hearers can be little edified by the terms of "palming, shuffling, biting, bamboozling," and the like, if they have not been sometimes conversant among pickpockets and sharpers. And truly, as they say a man is known by his company, so it should seem that a man's company may be known by his manner of expressing himself, either in publick assemblies, or private conversation.

It would be endless to run over the several defects of style among us: I shall therefore say nothing of the mean and paltry (which are usually attended by the fustian) much less of the slovenly or indecent. Two things I will just warn you against: the first is, the frequency of flat unnecessary epithets; and the other is, the folly of using old threadbare phrases, which will often make you go out of your way to find and apply them, are nauseous to rational hearers, and will seldom express your meaning, as well as your own natural words.

Although, as I have already observed, our English tongue is too little cultivated in this kingdom, yet the faults are nine in ten owing to affectation, and not to the want of understanding. When a man's thoughts are clear, the properest words will generally offer themselves first, and his own judgment will direct him in what order to place them, so as they may be best understood. Where men err against this method, it is usually on purpose, and to