Pater's
immense sense of the value of words, and his choice of exact
expressions, resulted in language marvellously adapted to indicate the
almost inexpressible shades of thought. When a German struggles for the
utterance of some mental complexity he fashions new compounds of words;
a Frenchman helps out his meaning by gesture, as the Greek long ago did
by tone. Pater knows only one way of overcoming such situations, and
that is by the painful search for the unique word that he ought to use.
One result of this habit is that he has enriched our literature with a
large number of pregnant phrases which, it is safe to prophesy, will
take their place in the vernacular of literary speech. "Hard gem-like
flame," "Drift of flowers," "Tacitness of mind,"--such are some
memorable examples of the exact expression of elusive ideas. The house
of literature built in this fashion is a notable achievement in the
architecture of language. It reminds us of his own description of a
temple of AEsculapius: "His heart bounded as the refined and dainty
magnificence of the place came upon him suddenly, in the flood of early
sunshine, with the ceremonial lights burning here and there, and with
all the singular expression of sacred order, a surprising cleanliness
and simplicity.
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