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tions. The reason he acted in the manner he did, was never fully explained. If I mistake not, he is improved both in knowledge and behavior. These two boys appear equal in capacity.

EXERCISES.

I. Divest the following sentences of all redundant words and members:

1. Suspend your censure so long, till your judgment on the subject can be wisely formed.

2. How many are there by whom these tidings of good news were never heard!

3. He says nothing of it himself, and I am not disposed to travel into the regions of conjecture, but to relate a narrative of facts.

4. Never did Atticus succeed better in gaining the universa) love and esteem of all men.

5. These points have been illustrated in so plain and evident a manner, that the perusal of the book has given me pleasure and satisfaction.

6. I was much moved on this occasion, and went home full of a great many serious reflections.

7. This measure may afford some profit, and furnish some amusement. 8. Less capacity is required for this business, but more time is necessary. 9. Thought and language act and react upon each other mutually.

II. Correct such errors, in the following passages, as arise from the improper use of copulatives, relatives, and particles employed in transition and connection:

1. The enemy said, I will pursue, and I will overtake, and I will divide the spoil.

2. There is nothing which promotes knowledge more than steady application, and a habit of observation.

3. The faith he professed, and which he became an apostle of, was not his invention.

4. Their idleness, and their luxury and pleasures, their criminal deeds, and their immoderate passions, and their timidity and baseness of mind, have dejected them to such a degree, as to make them weary of life.

III. Correct such errors, in the following sentences, as arise from the improper position of the most important words:

1. I have considered the subject with a good deal of attention, upon which I was desired to communicate my thoughts.

2 Whether a choice, altogether unexceptionable, has in any country been made, seems doubtful.

3. The praise of judgment Virgil has justly contested with Homer, but his invention remains yet unrivaled.

4. Ambition creates seditions, wars, discord, and hatred.

5. Sloth pours upon us a deluge of crimes and evils, and saps the foundation of every virtue.

6. The ancient laws of Rome were so far from suffering a Roman citizen to be put to death, that they would not allow him to be bound, or even to be whipped.

7. Every one who puts on the appearance of goodness, is not good. 8. Let us employ our criticism on ourselves, instead of being critics on others.

9. How will that nobleman be able to conduct himself, when reduced to poverty, who was educated only to magnificence and pleasure?

IV. Correct such errors, in the following sentences, as arise from placing weaker assertions or propositions after stronger ones:

1. Charity breathes long-suffering to enemies, courtesy to strangers, and habitual kindness to friends.

2. Gentleness ought to diffuse itself over our whole behavior, to form our address, and to regulate our speech.

3. The propensity to look forward into life, is too often grossly abused, and immoderately indulged.

4. The regular tenor of a virtuous and pious life will prove the best preparation for immortality, old age, and death.

5. In this state of mind, every employment of life becomes an oppressive burden, and every object appears gloomy.

V. Correct such errors, in the following passages, as arise from concluding the sentences with inconsiderable words:

1. May the happy message be applied to us, in all the virtue, strength, and comfort of it!

2. This agreement of mankind is not confined to taste solely.

3. Such a system may be established, but it will not be supported long. 4. The doctrine of the Trinity is a mystery which we firmly believe the truth of, and humbly adore the depth of.

VI. Correct such errors, in the following sentences, as arise from not preserving some resemblance in the language and construction of the members, in which two objects are either compared or contrasted:

1. I have observed of late the style of some great ministers very much to exceed that of any other productions.

2. The old may inform the young; and the young may animate those who are advanced in life.

3. Force was resisted by force, valor opposed by valor, and art encountered or eluded by similar address

4. A friend exaggerates a man's virtues; an enemy inflames his crimes.

CHAPTER XIX.

OF HARMONY.

Q. Can you mention any thing besides perspicuity, that gives peculiar grace to composition?

A. A smooth and easy flow of the words and members of sentences, and a freedom from all harshness of sound.

Q. What quality of style does this constitute?

A. That which is usually denominated Harmony or Melody.

Q. Do these two terms imply exactly the same idea?

A. Not precisely; melody denotes a succession of pleasing sounds; harmony, the agreement that one sound has with another.

Q. Is harmony an important quality of style?

A. It is certainly of less consequence than perspicuity; still it is a singular excellence, and affords considerable pleasure to the reader or hearer.

Q. On what does harmony of style depend?

A. Partly on the selection, partly on the arrangement of words.

Q. What words are generally most harmonious?

A. Those which contain a due proportion of liquid sounds, and have at the same time a proper mixture of vowels and consonants.

Q. Can you give any examples of this?

A. Fortitude, contentment, subordinate, are of this class.

Q. What words are generally most deficient in harmony?

A. Such as are derivatives from previous compounds, or crowded with consonants, the sounds of which do not readily coalesce; as, shamefacedness, chroniclers, conventiclers.

Q. Are there any others that are remarkably harsh?

A. Yes; such as contain either many short syllables following the seat of the accent, or a number of syllables nearly similar in sound; as, primarily, cursorily, lovelily, farriery.

Q. If the words be separately harmonious, will the whole sentence be so?

A. The one does not necessarily follow from the other; for the words may be separately both well chosen and agreeable in sound, and yet, if they are badly arranged, the sentence may be destitute of harmony.

Can you illustrate this by example?

A. "Office or rank may be the recompense of intrigue, versatility, or flattery," is a sentence composed of words individually melodious, and yet, in consequence of bad arrangement, it is not harmonious.

Q. How may the arrangement be improved?

A. "Rank or office may be the recompense of flattery, versatility, or intrigue."

Q. Can you give any general directions on this subject?

A. Too many words either uniform as to length, or the position of the accent, should never, if possible, be placed together.

Q. Can you illustrate this by example?

A. "No species of joy can long please us;" "James was needy, feeble, and fearful;" are less harmonious no species of joy can long delight us;" "James was weak, timid, and destitute."

than "

Q. What have you farther to observe on this head?

A. Words resembling each other in the sound of any of their letters or syllables, as well as such as are difficult to pronounce in succession, should never stand in immediate connection.

Q. Can you give any illustration of this?

A. A true union, an indulgent parent, a cruel destroyer, an improper impression, are far less harmonious than a true friendship, a kind parent, a cruel foe, a false impression.

Q. Have you any thing farther to remark?

A. That a sentence may not be harsh, and, consequently, of difficult pronunciation, the several members of which it is composed should neither be too long, nor disproportionate to each other.

Q. In what sort of composition ought harmony to be most carefully studied?

A. In the composition of verse, one of the chief excellences of which consists in its being musical. Q. What part of a sentence should we be the most careful to make harmonious?

A. The close; for it is to this part that the attention of the reader or hearer is generally most attracted. Q. What name is commonly given to a graceful conclusion of a sentence?

A. It is commonly styled a cadence; and was by the ancients considered an essential requisite in every well-constructed sentence.

Q. What is faulty in point of harmony in the following sentence: "And an enormous serpent lay dead on the floor?" A. It is the circumstance of the three syllables, and,

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an, en, which are so much alike in sound, following each other, without any other word intervening Q. How may it be corrected?

A. Thus, "And a serpent of enormous size lay dead on the floor."

EXERCISES.

Correct such errors, in the following sentences as arise from want of harmony in their structure :

1. Sober-mindedness suits the present state of man.

2. It belongs not to our humble and confined station to censure, but to adore, submit, and trust.

3. Tranquillity, regularity, and magnanimity, reside with the religious and resigned man.

4. Sloth, ease, success, naturally tend to beget vices and follies.

5. By a cheerful, even, and open temper, he conciliated general favor. 6. We reached the mansion before noon; it was a strong, grand, Gothic house

CHAPTER XX.

OF SOUND AS SUITED TO THE SENSE.

Q. What is considered the highest species of ornament arising from harmony in composition?

A. That which consists in a correspondence of the sound to the sense.

Q. By whom is this quality of style chiefly exhibited?

A. By all our best poets; though good prose writers also abound in beauties of a similar kind; as there is generally some agreement between the flow and modulation of the language, and the nature and character of the thoughts and sentiments expressed. Q. When can the sound most readily be made an echo to the sense?

:

A. In cases in which sound or motion come to be described though calm and gentle emotions may be always expressed to most advantage by smooth and gentle language; while harsh feelings and rugged sentiments naturally give rise to harsh and rugged diction.

Q. Can you give an example of the sound being an echo to the sense?

A. "A needless Alexandrine ends the song,

That, like a wounded snake, draws its slow length along."

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