Edwin A Abbott, How to Write Clearly (1883)

follows to him." The more English idiom is: "When Themistocles had secured the safety of Greece by the destruction of the Persian fleet, he made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Greeks to break down the bridge across the Hellespont. Soon afterwards, hearing &c."

A long suspense that would be intolerable in prose is tolerable in the introduction to a poem. See the long interval at the beginning of Paradise Lost between "Of man's first disobedience" and " Sing, heavenly Muse." Compare also the beginning of Paradise Lost, Book II.:

''High on a throne of royal state, which far

Outshone the wealth of Orrnuz and of Ind,

Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand

Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold—

Satan exalted sat"

with the opening of Keats' Hyperion:

"Deep in the shady sadness of a vale,

Far sunken from the healthy breath of morn,

Far from the fiery noon and eve's one star—

Sat grey-haired Saturn, quiet as a stone."

32.   In a long conditional sentence put the "if-clause," antecedent, or protasis, first.

Every one will see the flatness of "Revenge thy father's most unnatural murder, if thou didst ever love him," as compared with the suspense that forces an expression of agony from Hamlet in—

"Ghost. If thou didst ever thy dear father love

Hamlet. O, God!

Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder."

The effect is sometimes almost ludicrous when the consequent is long and complicated, and when it precedes the antecedent or " if-clause." "I should be delighted to introduce you to my friends, and to show you the objects of interest in our city, and the beautiful scenery in the neighbourhood, if you were here." Where the " if-clause" comes last, it ought to be very emphatic: "if you were only here."

The introduction of a clause with "if" or "though" in the middle of a sentence may often cause ambiguity, especially when a great part of the sentence depends on "that:" "His enemies answered that, for the sake of preserving the public peace, they would keep quiet for the present, though he declared that cowardice was the motive of the delay, and that for this reason they would put off the trial to a more convenient season." See (27).

33.   Suspense¹ is gained by placing a Participle or Adjective that qualifies the Subject, before the Subject. ...

¹ See (30).

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