The  like  holds  of  comic  and  comical.  We  say  "  the  tragic
muse,  the  comic  muse  ;"  and  "  a  tragic  poet"  for  a  writer  of
tragedy ;  "  a  comic  poet"  for  a  writer  of  comedy ;  but  "  1
heard  a  tragical  story"  for  a  mournful  story ;  and  "  I  met  with
a  comical  adventure"  for  a  droll  adventure.     We  sav  "  u  pal


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    RHETORIC.  363

iiic  man"  for  an  artful  fellow,  but  a  political  writer  for  a  wri-
ter on  politics.  There  is  not.  however,  a  perfect  imiforniity
in  such  applications,  for  we  constantly  use  the  phrase  "the
body  polilici"  and  not  political,  for  the  civil  society.  On  the
whole,  however,  it  would  seem  that  what  is  affixed,  espe-
cially when  unaccented,  is  conceived  as  more  closely  united
to  the  word  than  what  is  prefixed  is  conceived  to  be.  In
this  last  case  the  supernumerary  syllable,  if  il  make  no  change
on  the  signification,  always  conveys  the  notion  of  an  exple-
tive, which  is  not  suggested  in  the  first.
