As alliteration exhibits a law of the mind, it can easily be determined, by the rule of averages, whether Mr. Paine and Junius agree. I have estimated the ratio by counting twenty thousand words in each, and have found them to average the same. Were all the words in Junius counted and compared with the same number in Mr. Paine's political writings, it would give the true law of averages, but twenty thousand words will give an approximation not far from the truth. {107}There is another peculiarity in the style of Mr. Paine and Junius, arising out of this law of the mind, or this mania for alliteration, which is to continue the alliteration throughout the paragraph. For example, if a prominent word begins with an f, t, or p, or any other letter, he continues to select words beginning with the same letter, or in which the sound is prominent, while expressing the same thought or idea. In the following he plays upon like letters in a wonderful manner. I will put the words in italics: _Paine._ "_Perhaps_ the sentiments contained in the _following pages_, are not yet _sufficiently fashionable_ to _procure_ them general _favor_; a long habit of not _thinking_ a _thing wrong_ gives it a _superficial appearance_ of being _right_, and _raises_, at _first_, a _formidable_ out_cry_ in _defense_ of _custom_. But the _tumult soon subsides_. _Time makes more converts_ than reason."--C. S., Introd. _Junius._ "_Prejudices_ and _passions_ have, sometimes, _carried_ it to a _criminal_ length, and whatever _foreigners may imagine_, we know that Englishmen have erred as _much_ in a _mistaken_ zeal _for particular persons_ and _families_ as they ever _did_ in _defense_ of what _they thought_ most _dear_ and _interesting_ to _themselves_."--Let. 1. I have not gone out of my way for the above examples. Thousands of just such examples may be taken from both. This, together with the even length of the members of the period, is what produces the rythm and harmony of Mr. Paine's style, and which I have never seen paralleled, except in Junius. I have compared it with a hundred authors, and never have I found any thing like it. But Junius is in no respect unlike Mr. Paine. Had a perfect portrait been painted of Mr. Paine, at the time he wrote his Common Sense, and another at the time Junius wrote his Letters, the two portraits could not have more resembled each other than does the style of Junius resemble that of Mr. Paine. And this is what can not be imitated, for it arises out of the constitution of the mind, just like poetry or music; and the poet and musician are born, not made. Mr. Paine and Junius never use poetry, unless it be a line at the head of a piece. And they both ridicule the use of it in prose composition. _Paine._