1. Misfortunes never arrive singly, but crowd upon us en masse when we are least able to resist them. 2. A [peaceable, or peaceful?] valley; -2 [peaceable, or peaceful?] disposition. 3. I decline accepting of the situation. 4. Petrarch was much esteemed by his countrymen, who, even at the present day, mention with reverence the poet of Vaucluse and the inventor of the sonnet. 5. This is so; and so cruel an [act, or action?] has rarely been heard of. 6. The lad can not leave his father; for, if he should leave him, he would die. 7. The works of art receive a great advantage from the resemblance which they have to those of nature, because here the similitude is not only pleasant, but the pattern is per fect. 8. A friend exaggerates a man's virtues; one who is hostile en deavors to magnify his crimes (§ 374). 9. This is not a principle that we can act on and adhere to. 10. Diana of the Ephesians is great. 11. We do things frequently that we repent of afterwards. 12. Great and rich men owe much to chance, which gives to one what it takes from others. 13. There are those who allow their envy of those who are more fortunate than themselves to get the better of them to such an extent that they try to injure them all they can. 14. [Classic, or classical?] and English school;-a [classic, or classical ?] statue. 15. Running out to see whether there was a new émeute, which the hauteur of the new governor rendered very plausible, I came within an ace of being done for. 16. They attempted to remain incog. 17. If a man have little merit, he had need have much modesty. 18. The laws of nature are truly what Lord Bacon styles his aphorisms,-laws of laws. Civil laws are always imperfect, and often false deductions from them, or applications of them; nay, they stand, in many instances, in direct opposition to them. 19. Being content with deserving a triumph, he refused the honor of it. 20. That temperamental dignotions, and conjectures of prevalent humors, may be collected from spots in our nails, we are not averse to concede. 21. It cannot be impertinent or ridiculous, therefore, in such a country, whatever it might be in the Abbot of St. Real's, which was Savoy, I think; or in Peru, under the Incas, where Garcilasso de la Vega says it was lawful for none but the nobility to study-for men of all degrees to instruct themselves in those affairs wherein they may be actors, or judges of those that act, or controllers of those that judge. 22. The moon was casting a pale light on the numerous graves that were scattered before me, as it peered above the horizon when I opened the little gate of the church-yard. 23. This work, having been fiercely attacked by critics, he proposes for the present to lay aside. 24. Men look with an evil eye upor the good that is in others, and think that their reputation obscures them, and that their commendable qualities do stand in their light; and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over them, that the bright shining of their virtues may not obscure them. 25. In this uneasy state, both of his public and private life, Cicero was oppressed by a new and cruel affliction, the death of his beloved daughter, Tullia, which happened soon after her divorce from Dolabella, whose manners and humors were entirely disagreeable to her. 26. The erroneous judgment of parents concerning the conduct of schoolmasters, has crushed the peace of many an ingenious man who is engaged in the care of youth ; and paved the way to the ruin of hopeful boys. 27. The discontented man (as his spleen irritates and sours his temper, and leads him to discharge its venom on all with whom he stands connected) is never found without a great share of malignity. 28. We have been choused out of our

rights by these clod-polls and blackguards. 29. As no one is free from faults, so few want good qualities ($378). 30. No man of feeling can look upon the ocean without feeling an emotion of grandeur. 31. The mercenariness of many tradesmen leads them to speak derogatorily of their neighbors. 32. With Cicero's writings, it is right that young divines should be conversant; but they should not give them the preference to Demosthenes, who, by many degrees, excelled the other; at least as an orator. 33. After he has finished his elementary studies, which will discipline his mind, and fit it for the pursuit of more advanced branches, I advise him to commence with the ancient languages, which will, by easy stages, prepare him for the acquisition of the modern tongues; whence he may with propriety proceed to the careful study of the higher departments of mathematics and belles-lettres, which form an important part of every scholar's education. 34. Such were the prudence and energy of Cicero's course during this critical state of affairs, that his countrymen overlooked his self-conceitedness, and vied with each other in testifying their respect to "the father of his country". 35. He used to use many expressions, which, though useful, are not usually used, and have not come into general use.

LESSON LXVI.

CRITICISM.

§ 396. Definition.-Criticism (from the Greek κpivw, 1 judge) may be defined as the art of judging with propriety concerning any object or combination of objects. In the more limited signification in which it is generally used, its province is confined to literature, philology, and the fine arts, and to subjects of antiquarian, scientific, or historical investigation. In this sense, every branch of literary study, as well as each of the arts, has its proper criticism.

§ 397. Rules. It is criticism that has developed the rules and principles of Rhetoric. As was remarked when we first entered on the study of this subject, its rules are not arbitrary, but have been deduced from a careful examination of

§ 896. From what is the term criticism derived? What does it signify? As generally used, to what is it confined?

§ 397. How have the rules and principles of rhetoric been developed? What be

those great productions which have been admired as beautiful in every age. Nor has beauty been the sole object of the critic's search. Truth, particularly in history and the sciences, it has been his province not only to seek out, but, when found, to use as a balance in weighing the objects on which he passes judgment. The office of criticism, therefore, is, first to establish the essential ideas which answer to our conceptions of the beautiful or the true in each branch of study; and next to point out, by reference to these ideas, the excellencies or deficiencies of individual works, according as they approach, or vary from, the standard in question.

Thus historical criticism teaches us to distinguish the true from the false, or the probable from the improbable, in historical works: scientific criticism has in view the same object in each respective line of science: literary criticism, in a general sense, investigates the merits and demerits of style or diction, according to the received standard of excellence in every language; while, in poetry and the arts, it develops the principles of that more refined and exquisite sense of beauty which forms the ideal model of perfection in each.

§ 398. Relation between its ancient and its present character.-Criticism originated among the Greeks and Romans at an early day, and was carried by them to a high degree of perfec tion. Aristotle, Dionysius Halicarnasseus, and Longinus, among the former, and, among the latter, Cicero and Quintilian, did much towards awakening a critical taste in their respective countrymen; enabling them to appreciate propriety of diction, and making them acquainted with those minute matters, which, however insignificant they may appear, are essential to effective composition.

The classical critics, however, confined themselves mainly to that department of their art which has reference to the principles of beauty. Their sphere of knowledge being more limited than ours, their minds

sides beauty has been the object of the critic's search? What, then, is the office of criticism? What does historical criticism teach us? What is the object of scientific criticism? What, of literary criticism?

§ 398. What is said of criticism among the ancient Greeks and Romans? What authors are mentioned as distinguished in this department? What effect did their efforts produce on their countrymen? To what did the classical critics confine them

were more sedulously exercised in reflecting on their owr. perceptions Hence the astonishing progress they made in the fine arts; and hence, in literature, beauty of language and sentiment was their highest aim. Accordingly, the criticisms of antiquity relate almost exclusively to literature and the arts; and the term is, therefore, still confined, in its most popular signification, to those provinces of research.

The criticism of Truth, which pertains chiefly to history and science, was of later origin; but may be regarded as closely allied to the criticism of beauty, inasmuch as it is regulated by analogous principles, and minds which possess a high degree of judgment in the one are generally capable of forming right apprehensions in the other. One principle, important to be noted, is equally true of each: that, whether beauty or truth is the aim, extensive knowledge of the subject, as well as education and practice, is necessary in the sound critic;-yet knowledge alone is not sufficient; the ability to discriminate and judge correctly is still more important, and this no knowledge, however great, can supply. To be acquainted with a rule, and to be able to apply it in difficult cases, are entirely different things.

§ 399. Literary Criticism.-We have here to do with criticism, only so far as it pertains to the works of literature. The rules of good writing having been deduced in the manner above described, it is the business of the critic to employ them as a standard, by a judicious comparison with which he may distinguish what is beautiful and what is faulty in every performance. He must look at the sentiments expressed, and judge of their correctness and consistency; he must view the performance as a whole, and see whether it clearly and properly embodies the ideas intended to be conveyed; he must examine whether there is sufficient variety in the style, must note its beauties, and show, if it is susceptible of improvement, in what that improvement should consist; he must see whether the principles of syntax or rhetoric are violated; and, finally, must extend his scrutiny even to the individual words

selves? How is the astonishing progress of the ancients in the fine arts explained? In literature, what was their highest aim? Accordingly, to what did their criticisms relate? To what does the criticism of truth chiefly refer? What is the connection between it and the criticism of beauty? What important principle is equally true of both?

§ 399. With what department of criticism have we here to do? Point out the various duties of the literary critic. By what must he be guided? To what should his

employed. And all this must be done without allowing prej. dice to bias his decisions, or the desire of displaying his own knowledge to lead him from the legitimate pursuit of his subject.

The critic must be guided by feeling as well as rules; otherwise, his efforts will result in a pedantry as useless as it is distasteful. He should not, on account of minor imperfections, condemn, as a whole, a performance which evinces in its author deep and correct feeling, or possesses other merits equally important. He should carefully draw a distinction between what is good and what is bad, giving full credit for the one and showing how to correct the other. His criticisms should not be con fined to little faults and errors, which no writer, however careful, has been able entirely to avoid. A true critic will rather dwell on excel. lencies than on imperfections; will seek to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worthy of their observation. This, indeed, is a more difficult task, and involves a more delicate taste and a profounder knowledge, than indiscriminate fault-finding. As Dryden has justly remarked,

"Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;

He who would search for pearls, must dive below."

§ 400. Abuse. The most exquisite words and finest strokes of an author are those which often appear most exceptionable to a man deficient in learning or delicacy of taste; and it is these that a captious and undistinguishing critic generally at tacks with the greatest violence. In this case, recourse is often had to ridicule. A little wit is capable of making a beauty as well as a blemish the subject of derision. Though such treatment of an author may have its effect with some, who erroneously think that the sentiment criticised is ridiculous instead of the wit with which it is attacked, yet in the intelli. gent reader it will naturally produce indignation or disgust.

When, moreover, a critic frequently indulges in such a course, he is apt to find fault with every thing against which he can bring this fa

criticisms not be confined? On what will the true critic dwell? Is the discovery of beauties or defects the more difficult task? What couplet of Dryden's illustrates this point?

§ 400. What is said of an author's most exquisite words and finest strokes? To what does the malicious critic often have recourse? What is said of the use of wit or ridicule in criticism? What habit is a critic who indulges in ridicule apt to form? How is pleasantry of this kind characterized?