10. "To the Right Honourable the Earl of Chesterfield :—

"MY LORD,-I have been lately informed by the proprietor of the 'World' that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished is an honour which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.

"When upon some slight encouragement I first visited your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre; that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending. But I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your lordship in public, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.

"Seven years, my lord, have now passed since I waited in your outward room, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it at last to the verge of publication without one word of encouragement or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before.

"The shepherd in Virgil grew acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks.

"Is not a patron, my lord, one who can look with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and then encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron which Providence has enabled me to do for myself.

"Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed, though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation,

"My lord, your lordship's most humble and most obedient servant,

11.

"Triumphal arch! that fill'st the sky
When storms begin to part,

I ask not proud philosophy

"SAMUEL JOHNSON."

To tell me what thou art."-CAMPBELL.

12. "St. Agnes's Eve! A bitter chill it was!

The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold."-KEATS.

13. "Half the failures in life arise from pulling in one's horse when he is leaping."

14.

"Who builds a church to God, and not to fame,

Will never mark the marble with his name."-POPE.

15. "Some men so dislike the dust kicked up by the generation they belong to, that, being unable to pass, they lag behind it."

16. The most mischievous liars are those who keep on the verge of truth."

17. "Go search it there, where to be born and die,
Of rich and poor makes all the history."

18. "There needs no other proof that happiness is the most wholesome moral atmosphere, and that in which the immortality of man is destined ultimately to thrive, than the elevation of soul, the religious aspiration which attends the first assurance, the first sober assurance of true love."

19. "It was opened by a young girl of thirteen or fourteen." 20. "To Brighton the Pavilion lends a lath and plaster grace."

21. "What do you understand by meum and tuum? Meum is all I can get. Tuum

is all others can prevent me from getting."-PUNCH.

22. "When I say that the rose smells sweet,' and 'I smell the rose,' the word smell has two meanings. In the latter sentence, I speak of a certain sensation in my

own mind; in the former of a certain quality in the flower which produces the sensation. Here the word smell is applied with equal propriety to both."

23. "Away went Gilpin, and away

Went Gilpin's hat and wig;

He lost them sooner than at first,

For why? they were too big."-CowPER.

24. "Did you never observe," says Mr. Gray, in a letter to a friend, "while rocking winds are piping loud, that pause, as the gust is recollecting itself, and rising upon the ear in a shrill and plaintive note, like the swell of an Eolian harp? I do assure you there is nothing in the world so like the voice of a spirit."

25. The foundations of his fame are laid deep and imperishable, and the superstructure is already erected." Explain the idiom. See Section DXIII.

26. "The language of the moral law is, man shall not kill; the language of the law of nature is, a stone will fall to the ground."-WHEWELL. Explain the difference in use of the words shall and will.

27. "What signify to me the beautiful discourses and praises one lavishes on one's self and one's friends?"-LAMARTINE.

28.

"Spirits are not finely touched

But to fine issues: nor Nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor;

Both thanks and use."
.”—Measure for Measure.

Justified on the ground of ancient usage.

29. "The affections are to the intellect what the forge is to the metal; it is they which temper and shape it to all great purposes: soften, strengthen, and purify it."—Mrs. JAMESON.

30. "Plato in his Cratylus, and Aristotle in his Organon, have laid the foundations of the philosophy of language. The speculations of the first bear, when well understood, upon the highest problems of the philosophy of language; the categories and the definitions of the second give the logical foundation of our grammatical system, and establish by themselves the great principle that is the immediate produce and expression, as it were, the mirror of logic and thought."-C. C. S. BUNSEN.

31. "In poetry, when the letter is false, the spirit is often profoundest wisdom." 32. "Hence arises the distinction of subjective and objective truth. The former we consider as existing in ourselves, the latter as existing in objects out of ourselves."

33. "Malevolti had noticed these splenetic efforts; but though a man of fiery character, and proud enough to dare the proudest he who ruffled his complacency by a look," &c. In what case is he, and how used?

34. "But the only reliable and certain evidence of devotion to the Constitution is, to abstain, on the one hand, from violating it, and to repel, on the other, all attempts to violate it. It is only by faithfully performing these high duties that the Constitution can be preserved." What part of the last sentence does it represent?

SECTION DLI.-SYNTHESIS OF SYNTACTICAL FORMS.

1. Compose a simple declarative sentence with a naked subject and a naked predicate.

2. Compose a sentence with an enlarged subject.

3. Compose a sentence with an enlarged predicate.

4. Compose an interrogative sentence, and also an exclamatory

sentence.

5. Compose three compound co-ordinate sentences, namely, one Copulative, one Adversative, and one Disjunctive. See Section

DXXXVII.

6. Compose a compound (complex) sentence in which there shall be a subordinate Substantive sentence. See Section DXXXVIII.

7. Compose a compound (complex) sentence in which there shall be an Adjective sentence. See Section DXXXVIII.

8. Compose a compound (complex) sentence in which there shall be an Adverbial sentence.

9. Compose a succession of sentences which shall exhibit the different varieties of Adverbial sentences. See Section DXXXVIII.

DIRECTION TO THE PUPIL.

Let the pupil, commencing with the first rule under Syntactical Forms, compose sentences, longer or shorter, illustrating each rule and each note in succession, according to the following model.

If the pupil finds himself unable to compose sentences which will illustrate all these rules and notes, he may be at liberty occasionally to select examples.

The author attaches great importance to this exercise.

MODEL

RULE I. The Greeks surpassed the Romans in their love of the beautiful, but the Romans surpassed the Greeks in their love of right.

Note I.-Lord Raglan having died at Sebastopol, General Simpson was appointed his

successor.

Note II.-Oh! the ingratitude of man! How ready is he to forget his benefactors. Note III. The leaders of that party-how despicable they are !

Note IV. As the army reached the summit of the mountain, a shout was heard from thousands, "The sea! the sea!"

Note V.-To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn. -MILTON.

Note VI.-Who discovered the laws which governed the planets in their orbits? Kepler. Who demonstrated the truth of those laws? Newton.

PART VII.

RHETORICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER I.

SECTION DLII.DEFINITIONS.

RHETORIC, Greek propuý, from pýrwp, a speaker, has nearly the same signification as eloquence, Latin eloquentia, from eloquor, to speak out. It may be described as the Art of speaking well; and, when applied to written composition, as the Art of writing well. And since persuasion is often the principal object of the speaker or of the writer in the higher specimens of the art, it may be more exactly defined as the Art of using language well for the purpose of persuasion. This may be accepted as a sufficiently correct definition of the term, though it falls short of the meaning often attached to it, since it does not include several varieties of composition in which persuasion is not aimed at, but which in their character are rhetorical.

But, in order to know adequately what true Rhetoric or eloquence is, we must contemplate it under a threefold view, namely, first, in its origin in the soul of the speaker; second, as it comes forth in living sounds from his lips; third, as it appears on the printed page. The second belongs to elocution, which does not fall within the limits of the present work; though of course, in laying down rules for the use of language, we lay down rules, to a certain extent, for speaking as well as writing it. Our business is chiefly with the third. The first is noticed only in its bearings upon the third, to which, indeed, it has the same relation as the fountain to the stream.

SECTION DLIII.-ELOQUENCE IN ITS ORIGIN IN THE SOUL.

It is such an expres

ELOQUENCE IS THE LANGUAGE OF EMOTION. sion of emotion felt by a speaker, that his hearers, under its influence, feel the same emotion.

According to this definition, where there is no emotion there can be no eloquence; for evidently that cannot be expressed which has no existence. It likewise follows that, whatever other qualifications a speaker may possess, as long as he is deficient in emotion he must be deficient in eloquence. He may be philosophic, instructive, and even attractive, but not an eloquent speaker. But if he has a "soul of fire," he may be expected to kindle a flame in the breasts

of others.

SECTION DLIV.-CONTINUED EMOTION.

Moreover, for the highest eloquence there must be continued emotion. There may, indeed, on some occasion, be a sudden burst of overmastering feeling, as when one rises in debate to repel a personal attack, which may express itself in the most eloquent language; but for a sustained, effective, and persuasive eloquence, there must be a sustained feeling during both the meditation and delivery. An emotion thus continued for a length of time will, by the law of association, collect all those thoughts, reasonings, images, and illustrations which are related to the emotion, the subject, and the occasion; will render them vivid in the mind of the speaker, and help him to express them in vivid language. What was it but a permanent strong emotion that enabled Demosthenes to sustain his eloquence for years against Philip? What but a permanent emotion could have sustained the eloquence of Cicero during the delivery of his orations against Catiline? What but long-continued emotion, through years of opposition, could have sustained the eloquence of Wilberforce, until it persuaded the British nation to put an end to the slave trade? The light of truth, unlike the light of the sun, moves slowly. The ardour of conviction is often but slowly transfused from the soul of the speaker into the souls of others to make them burn with a kindred glow. A community is often but a refractory substance to deal with. There are so many combinations

of error, prejudice, and passion in the public mind, that it is not easily reduced to a oneness of thought and feeling with that of the orator. The heart of the public is so mineralised (to borrow an allusion from metallic ores), that nothing but the continued as well as intense ignition of his heart, brought closely into contact with it, can melt it from its various affinities into a flow of one common emotion.

SECTION DLV.-THE SOURCE OF EMOTION.

It should be added that emotion in the soul of the orator must spring from the subject itself, and not from anything extraneous and accidental. A man may rise in a public assembly under the influence of some strong emotion, as of bashfulness, of despair, or of love of praise, and find that an emotion of this kind, arising from something extraneous to the subject, only disqualifies him for speaking, by withdrawing his attention from the subject, and fixing it upon that which is extraneous. But when his whole soul is so absorbed in the subject at issue that it "haunts him like a passion," in solitude as well as in the assembly; when, in his deep devotion to a noble cause, he can say, "Give me liberty or give me death!" he cannot but be eloquent. And he will find that the common heart of his audience will respond in strong throbbings to his own.

SECTION DLVI.-EMOTION REGULATED BY JUDgment.

And further, the emotion in the soul of the speaker, springing from a view of the subject, should be regulated by a sound judgment. It should be so strong as to invigorate the other faculties of the mind, but not so overwhelming as to disturb them in their movements. There is a degree of excitement bordering on derangement, under which the orator may sometimes speak with great effect, like MacBriar in "Old Mortality." In this state of mind, he is possessed by his subject rather than possesses it. And though he may, within certain limits, carry his audience along with him on the "seraph wings of ecstacy," there is danger that, taking leave of his reason and his audience, he may run into the extravagance of mere rant and impotent passion. Emotion must string his nerves and “imp his eagle wings," but judgment must direct his flight.

SECTION DLVII.-EMOTION UNITED WITH THE LOVE OF TRUTH.

In looking at eloquence in its origin in the soul of the orator, we find that it is closely related to the love of truth. Truth is the grand instrument for making others feel as he feels. A love of truth must animate the orator in all his investigations, as well as in the delivery of his opinions, or he will not tax his mind to the full and successful exertion of its powers. A mind that has a strong affinity for truth can first discover and then unfold it to others, when another mind, influenced only by the love of gain, or of reputation, or of office, would fail. Truth is the natural invigorator and nourisher of the