A Practical System of Rhetoric, Or, The Principles and Rules of Style Inferred from Examples of Writing: To which is Added A Historical Dissertation on English Style |
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Page iv
... true he may not , after this , be able to give me an exact definition of these faculties and intellectual operations , but he has learned what is meant by the proposed terms ; and when I have oc- casion to use them afterwards , I have ...
... true he may not , after this , be able to give me an exact definition of these faculties and intellectual operations , but he has learned what is meant by the proposed terms ; and when I have oc- casion to use them afterwards , I have ...
Page viii
... true , if I wish to become acquainted with the peculiarities of those of different nations . You might describe to me the national traits of the French and of the Spanish ; but a visit to those countries , and familiarity with their ...
... true , if I wish to become acquainted with the peculiarities of those of different nations . You might describe to me the national traits of the French and of the Spanish ; but a visit to those countries , and familiarity with their ...
Page ix
... true apprehen- sion of the meaning , and a susceptibility to the beauties of style . In this connexion , too , the student may be taught the true nature of literary criticism . It looks not for faults . It cherishes not a censorious ...
... true apprehen- sion of the meaning , and a susceptibility to the beauties of style . In this connexion , too , the student may be taught the true nature of literary criticism . It looks not for faults . It cherishes not a censorious ...
Page 24
... true in the one case , is true also in the corresponding case . This is an argument from Analogy . Illustration . In observing different orders of animal life , we notice important changes as to their modes of existence . Such is the ...
... true in the one case , is true also in the corresponding case . This is an argument from Analogy . Illustration . In observing different orders of animal life , we notice important changes as to their modes of existence . Such is the ...
Page 25
... true in cases of frequent occurrence , to that which is more rarely witnessed . ( See Exercise II with remarks . ) Appeals are also often made in this kind of amplification to common sense . By this it is meant , that the writer en ...
... true in cases of frequent occurrence , to that which is more rarely witnessed . ( See Exercise II with remarks . ) Appeals are also often made in this kind of amplification to common sense . By this it is meant , that the writer en ...
Common terms and phrases
addressed admiration adverbs allusions Antithe applied argument atheism attained attempts attention called cause caution clauses common comparison composition connected connexion convey direct distinct effect elegant emotions of beauty emotions of taste English language English style epithets example excite emotions exercise exhibit familiar faults favorable feelings fitted to excite following passage frequent give given habits happy heaven Hence idiomatic illustration imagination implies infer inkhorn term instances intellectual introduced kind knowledge labor language literary taste literature look manner of writing meaning ment mentioned metaphor metonymy mind nature noun Numidia objects and scenes ornaments of style period personification perspicuity phrases Pleonasm preposition principles productions pronoun proposition readers reason refer relative pronoun remarks resemblance rhetoric rience Roger Ascham rules sense sentence shew skill speak striking student sublimity synecdoche tence things thou thought tion traits vivacity words writer Zoroaster
Popular passages
Page 44 - The sky is changed ! — and such a change ! Oh night, And storm, and darkness, ye are wondrous strong, Yet lovely in your strength, as is the light Of a dark eye in woman ! Far along, From peak to peak, the rattling crags among Leaps the live thunder ! Not from one lone cloud, But every mountain now hath found a tongue, And Jura answers, through her misty shroud, Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud!
Page 74 - To see him striding along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield.
Page 72 - Imagination fondly stoops to trace The parlour splendours of that festive place ; The white-wash'd wall, the nicely sanded floor, The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door ; The chest contrived a double debt to pay, A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day...
Page 288 - ... a couch, whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace, for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; or a shop, for profit or sale; and not a rich storehouse, for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate.
Page 251 - The clear conception, outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his object — this, this is eloquence; or rather it is something greater and higher than all eloquence, it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action.
Page 291 - For so have I seen a lark rising from his bed of grass, and soaring upwards, singing as he rises, and hopes to get to heaven, and climb above the clouds ; but the poor bird was beaten back with the loud sighings of an eastern wind, and his motion made irregular and inconstant, descending more at every breath of the tempest than it could recover by the...
Page 101 - Such a spirit is Liberty. At times she takes the form of a hateful reptile. She grovels, she hisses, she stings. But woe to those who in disgust shall venture to crush her! And happy are those who, having dared to receive her in her degraded and frightful shape, shall at length be rewarded by her in the time of her beauty and her glory!
Page 112 - Him! cut off by Providence in the hour of overwhelming anxiety and thick gloom; falling ere he saw the star of his country rise; pouring out his generous blood like water, before he knew whether it would fertilize a land of freedom or of bondage!— how shall I struggle with the emotions that stifle the utterance of thy name! Our poor work may perish; but thine shall endure! This monument may moulder away; the solid ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the sea; but thy memory shall...
Page 251 - When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions excited, nothing is valuable, in speech, farther than it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, and earnestness are the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain.
Page 288 - But the greatest error of all the rest is the mistaking or misplacing of the last or furthest end of knowledge. For men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight; sometimes for ornament and reputation; and sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and...