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beginning of a sentence; as, ' How completely his passion has blinded him!'

VIII. Prepositions are generally placed before the words which they govern; as, ' With me ;' To them.'

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In familiar language, prepositions are sometimes placed after the words which they govern, and even at a distance from them; as, 'Such conduct I am at a loss to account for.'

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IX. Conjunctions are placed between the words or clauses which they connect; as, ' Come and see;' Be cautious; but speak the truth."

1. Conjunctions of one syllable, with the exception of then, are always placed first in the clauses or sentences which they connect; as, 'Virtue is praised by many, and doubtless would be desired also, if her worth were really known: see, then, that you do as she requires.'

2. Conjunctions of more than one syllable (with the exception of whereas, which must always be the first word in the sentence or clause), may be transferred to the place where they are most agreeable to the ear in reading; as, 'Piety and holiness will make our whole life happy; whereas sinful pursuits will yield only a few scattered pleasures. Let us diligently cultivate the former, therefore, while we carefully abstain from the latter.'

SECTION I.

VARIETY OF ARRANGEMENT.

Vary the arrangement of the following sentences by transposing the members or clauses :

EXAMPLE.

I had long before now repented of my roving course of life, but I could not free my mind from the love of travel.

Of my roving course of life I had long before now repented, but from the love of travel I could not free my mind.

I could not free my mind from the love of travel, though I had long before now repented of my roving course of life.

From the love of travel I could not free my mind, though of my roving course of life I had long before now repented.

EXERCISES.

1. The Roman state evidently declined in proportion to the increase of luxury.

2. For all that you think, and speak, and do, you must at the last day account.

3. The greatness of mind which shows itself in dangers and labours, if it wants justice, is blamable.

4. It is a fact, about which men now rarely differ, that the paper-mill and the printing-press are inventions for which we cannot be too thankful.

5. In all speculations upon men and human affairs, it is of no small moment to distinguish things of accident from permanent

causes.

6. He who made light to spring from primeval darkness, will, at last, make order to arise from the seeming confusion of the world.

7. Early one summer morning, before the family was stirring, an old clock, that, without giving its owner any cause of complaint, had stood for fifty years in a farmer's kitchen, suddenly stopped.

8. Those things which appear great to one who knows nothing greater, will sink into a diminutive size, when he becomes acquainted with objects of a higher nature.

9. Let us not conclude, while dangers are at a distance, and do not immediately approach us, that we are secure, unless we use the necessary precautions to prevent them.*

SECTION II.

VARIETY OF ARRANGEMENT (continued).

Change the grammatical into the rhetorical arrangement in the following passages:—

EXAMPLE.

You may set my fields on fire, and give my children to the sword; you may drive myself forth a houseless, childless beggar,

*Exercises similar to those under Sections I. II. III. IV. V. and VI. may be prescribed from the reading-lessons of a class.

or load me with the fetters of slavery; but you never can conquer the hatred I feel to your oppression.

My fields you may set on fire, and my children give to the sword; myself you may drive forth a houseless, childless beggar, or load with the fetters of slavery; but the hatred I feel to your oppression never can you conquer.

EXERCISES.

1. All the Jews, who knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, know my manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, that I lived a Pharisee after the straitest sect of our religion.

2. I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny the atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honourable gentleman has with much spirit and decency charged upon me; and I will not assume the province of determining whether youth can be attributed to any man as a reproach.

3. I weep for Cæsar, as he loved me; I rejoice, as he was fortunate; I honour him, as he was valiant; but I slew him, as

he was ambitious.

4. The Redeemer has made his followers free from the bondage of fear. He has disarmed death of his sting, by making an atonement for their sins; and he has secured to them the victory over the grave, by rising as the first fruits of them that sleep.

5. Slavery! disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, still, thou art a bitter draught; and thou art no less bitter, though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee. Liberty! it is thou, whom all worship in public or in private, whose taste is grateful, and ever will be so, till nature herself shall change. No tint of words can spot thy snowy mantle, nor chymic power turn thy sceptre into iron. The swain, with thee to smile upon him as he eats his crust, is happier than his monarch, from whose court thou art exiled.

6. The noon of day is calm. The inconstant sun flies over the green hill. The stream of the mountain comes down red, through the stony vale. O Morar! thou wert tall on the hill; fair among the sons of the plain. Thy wrath was as the storm; thy sword, in battle, as lightning in the field. Thy voice was like thunder on distant hills. But how peaceful was thy brow when thou didst return from war! Thy face was like the sun after rain; calm as the breast of the lake when the loud wind is hushed into repose. Thy dwelling is narrow now; the place of thine

abode is dark. O thou who wast so great before! I compass thy grave with three steps.

7. Thou wast, not long since, what I am now, one of the actors in this passing scene. I lent a pitying ear to all thy sighs, and my heaving bosom beat responsive to thy sad complaints. My tears were mingled with thine in the hour of affliction; and, when joy brightened thy countenance, my heart felt a kindred pleasure. I sat with thee, or walked by the way, and held sweet converse. My soul was knit to thee by the ties of cordial amity and soft endearment. Thou hast now left me to mourn the loss of thee in pensive silence. I drop the tender tear on thy hallowed grave, and bid thy sacred ashes rest in peace. I shall join thee in thy dark abode erelong, thy companion in the dust, till we be called forth to stand in our lot in the end of days. I was united to thee in life; I shall soon lie in the same cold arms of death; and (O transporting thought!) we shall rise together, to feel no more the agony of parting.

SECTION III.

VARIETY OF ARRANGEMENT (continued).

Change the following passages of poetry into prose, making such alterations, both in arrangement and in structure, as the meaning and harmony of the sentences require :

EXAMPLE.

A solitary blessing few can find;

Our joys with those we love are intertwin'd;
And he whose wakeful tenderness removes

Th' obstructing thorn which wounds the friend he loves,
Smooths not another's rugged path alone,

But scatters roses to adorn his own.

Few can find a solitary blessing; our joys are intertwined with those whom we love; and he, whose wakeful tenderness removes the thorn which wounds his friend, not only smooths the rugged path of another, but scatters roses to adorn his own.

EXERCISES.

1. Heav'n gives us friends to bless the present scene;
Resumes them, to prepare us for the next.

2.

All evils natural are moral goods;
All discipline indulgence on the whole.

Never man was truly blest,
But it composed and gave him such a cast,
As folly might mistake for want of joy.

3. Riches are oft by guilt and baseness earn'd.
But for one end, one much neglected use,
Are riches worth our care (for nature's wants
Are few, and without opulence supplied);
This noble end is, to produce the soul;
To show the virtues in their fairest light,
And make humanity the minister

Of bounteous Providence.

4. But yonder comes the powerful king of day,
Rejoicing in the east. The less'ning cloud,
The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow
Illumed with fluid gold, his near approach
Betoken glad. Lo! now, apparent all,

Aslant the dew-bright earth, and colour'd air,

He looks in boundless majesty abroad;

And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays

On rocks, and hills, and tow'rs, and wand'ring streams
High gleaming from afar.

5. No radiant pearl, which crested fortune wears,

No gem, that twinkling hangs from beauty's ears,
Nor the bright stars, which night's blue arch adorn,
Nor rising suns, that gild the vernal morn,
Shine with such lustre, as the tear that breaks,
For others' wo, down virtue's manly cheeks.

6. Fear not when I depart; nor therefore mourn
I shall be nowhere, or to nothing turn;
That soul which gave me life was seen by none,
Yet by the actions it design'd was known;
And though its flight no mortal eye shall see,
Yet know, for ever it the same shall be ;
That soul, which can immortal glory give
To her own virtues, must for ever live.

7. But most by numbers judge a poet's song;

And smooth or rough, with them is right or wrong;

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