King David when he gave out to his son Solomon the designs for the
building of the Temple, included among the very first of them, (1 Chron.
XXVIII. 11) the "pattern of a porch." It is not, however, of porches
of shittim-wood and of gold, that I mean to talk just now--nor even of
those elaborate architectural features which will belong of necessity
to the entrance-way of every complete study of a country house. I plead
only for some little mantling hood about every exterior door-way,
however humble.
There are hundreds of naked, vulgar-looking dwellings, scattered up and
down our country highroads, which only need a little deft and adroit
adaptation of the hospitable feature which I have made the subject of
this paper, to assume an air of modest grace, in place of the present
indecorous exposure of a wanton.
* * * * *
=_Richard Grant White,[56] 1822-._=
From "Memoirs of the Life of William Shakespeare."
=_240._= THE CHARACTER OF SHAKESPEARE'S STYLE.
Writing for the general public, he used such language as would convey
his meaning to his auditors,--the common phraseology of his period.
But what a language was that! In its capacity for the varied and exact
expression of all moods of mind, all forms of thought, all kinds of
emotion, a tongue unequaled by any other known to literature! A language
of exhaustless variety; strong without ruggedness, and flexible without
effeminacy.
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