Page:Stevenson - The Art of Writing (1905).djvu/51

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TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF STYLE
37

It may be asked why I have put the F of 'perfumèd' in capitals; and I reply, because this change from P to F is the completion of that from B to P, already so adroitly carried out. Indeed, the whole passage is a monument of curious ingenuity; and it seems scarce worth while to indicate the subsidiary S, L, and W. In the same article, a second passage from Shakespeare was quoted, once again as an example of his colour sense:

  'A mole cinque-spotted like the crimson drops
   I' the bottom of a cowslip.'[1]

It is very curious, very artificial, and not worth while to analyse at length: I leave it to the reader. But before I turn my back on Shakespeare, I should like to quote a passage, for my own pleasure, and for a very model of every technical art:

  'But in the wind and tempest of her frown,
                            W. P. V.[2] F. (st) (ow)
   Distinction with a loud and powerful fan,
                            W. P. F. (st) (ow) L.

  1. Cymbeline.
  2. The V is in 'of.'