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the anchor of repentance in the port of sincerity and justice, which is the port of safety; lest the tempest of our vengeance make thee perish in the sea of the punishment thou deservest."

SECTION X.

CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF PASSAGES.

Write a critical examination of the following passages, commenting particularly on the figures of speech and thought :

EXAMPLE.

1. "Things light or lovely in their acted time,
But now to stern reflection each a crime;
The withering sense of evil unreveal'd,

Not cankering less, because the more conceal'd;
All, in a word, from which all eyes must start,
That opening sepulchre, the naked heart,
Bares with its buried woes."

In this passage the poet describes figuratively the agitation of the mind, when suffering the pangs of remorse. He represents its feelings under the metaphor of a wasting disease, which withers and corrodes the frame, till it extinguishes life, and reduces its victim to a putrid corpse, from which the spectator starts back with horror. In like manner, the agonizing reflections of a guilty conscience distract the soul to such a degree, that the wicked man is forced to disclose the evil deeds which he has committed; whereby he is rendered a much more disgusting object, than a dead body that must be consigned to the sepulchre.

2.

"Sir, he may live;

I saw him beat the surges under him,

And ride upon their backs; he trode the water,
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted

The surge most swoll'n that met him."

In this description, a most incredible hyperbole is introduced. How is it possible for a person to ride upon the back of a wave, or tread water under his feet? What kind of enmity can surges have, and how can a person fling it from him? The incongruity of this figure shows that hyperboles should never be used, unless they are suitable to the subject which they are intended to illustrate.

EXERCISES.

1. There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the full, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

2. The chief in silence strode before,

And reach'd that torrent's sounding shore,
Which, daughter of three mighty lakes,
From Vennachar in silver breaks,

Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines
On Bochastle the mouldering lines,

Where Rome, the empress of the world,

Of yore her eagle wings unfurl'd.

3. There is a joy in grief, when peace dwells with the sorrowful. But they are wasted with mourning, O daughter of Toscar, and their days are few. They fall away like the flower on which the sun looks in his strength, after the mildew has passed over it, and its head is heavy with the drops of night.

4. Men must acquire a very peculiar and strong habit of turning their eye inwards, in order to explore the interior regions and recesses of the mind, the hollow caverns of deep thought, the private seats of fancy, and the wastes and wildernesses, as well as the more fruitful and cultivated tracts of this obscure climate.

5. As from some rocky cliff the shepherd sees
Clust'ring in heaps on heaps the driving bees,

6.

Rolling and black'ning, swarms succeeding swarms,
With deeper murmurs and more hoarse alarms;
Dusky they spread a close-embodied crowd,
And o'er the vale descends the living cloud.

So, from the tents and ships, a length'ning train
Spreads all the beach, and wide o'ershades the plain ;
Along the region runs a deaf'ning sound;
Beneath their footsteps groans the trembling ground.

A very shower

Of beauty is thy earthly dower!

Twice seven consenting years have shed

Their utmost bounty on thy head:

And these gray rocks, this household lawn,

These trees, a veil just half withdrawn,

This little bay, a quiet road

That holds in shelter thy abode ;
In truth, together you do seem
Like something fashion'd in a dream.*

PART III.

ORIGINAL COMPOSITION.

THE various kinds of ORIGINAL COMPOSITION, in which the preceding Rules and Exercises may be practised, are Narrative, Descriptive, and Miscellaneous Essays.+

SECTION I.

NARRATIVE ESSAYS.

Narrative Essays relate events, which should be recorded in the order of time; and facts, which should be mentioned in the order of place.

Write narrative essays from the following detached

sentences:

EXAMPLE.

Cincinnatus.

Cincinnatus was chosen consul.

He had for some time lived in retirement, cultivating a small farm.

He regretted that his assistance should be required.

He resolved to side with neither the patrician nor the plebeian faction.

Having restored tranquillity, he returned home.

*The Teacher should direct the attention of his Pupils to the figures which occur in the course of their ordinary reading, and occasionally prescribe exercises upon them after the manner of the above.

The Teacher may occasionally vary the exercises in Original Composition, by making his Pupils write them in the form of LETTERS, which ought to be composed in a more easy and familiar style than regular Essays.

An assembly having been appointed for choosing another consul, the senate fixed upon Quintius Cincinnatus. This noble Roman had, for some time, given up all views of ambition, and retired to a little farm, where the deputies of the senate found him holding the plough, and dressed in the humble attire of a labouring husbandman. Preferring the charms of country retirement to the fatiguing splendours of office, he appeared but little elevated by the dignity which was offered to him, and rather testified a concern that his aid should be wanted. Having taken a tender leave of his wife, he departed for the city, where he found the two parties violently inflamed against each other. The new consul, however, resolved to side with neither; but, by a strict attention to the interests of his country, instead of gaining the confidence of faction, endeavoured to secure the esteem of all. By his moderation, humanity, and justice, he at length restored to the people that tranquillity, which he so much loved himself; when he again renounced the splendours of ambition, and returned with increasing relish to the enjoyment of his farm.

EXERCISES.

1. Cincinnatus was chosen dictator.

He was the only person on whom his countrymen could depend. As before, he was found labouring in his field.

He was astonished, but not elated, by the unbounded power offered to him.

He nominated Tarquitius, another poor man, his master of the horse.

Cincinnatus delivered his country, and resigned the dictatorship in fourteen days.

He was content with temperance and fame.

2. The city of Falerii was besieged by Camillus, general of the Romans.

A schoolmaster decoyed the children of the principal citizens into the Roman camp.

He told Camillus that the possession of these children would soon make the citizens surrender.

Camillus replied, that the Romans loved courage, but hated treachery.

He ordered the schoolmaster to be whipt into the city by the boys. The citizens immediately submitted to the Romans.

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