CAMPBELL, George. The Philosophy of Rhetoric. London: V. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776. 2 vols.
Plausibility / Versimilitude
Campbell 1776, v. 1
[p. 210] It [plausibility] ariseth chiefly from the consistency of the narration, from its being what is commonly called natural and feasible. The French critics have aptly enough denominated in their language vraisemblance, the English critics more improperly in theirs probability. [p. 211] In order to avoid the manifest ambiguity there is in this application of the word, it had been better to retain the word verisimilitude, now almost obsolete. That there is a relation between those two qualities must, notwithstanding, be admitted. This, however, is an additional reason for assigning them different names. An homonymous term, whose differing significations have no affinity to one another, is very seldom liable to be misunderstood.