6. Explain the following words, which occur in the Idylls of the King-ousted, manchet-bread, vermeil-white, rapt, purblind, liever, servitor, turkis, uxoriousness.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION. (I.)

I. Paraphrase the following passage in prose, so as to shew clearly the full meaning, with no more amplification than is necessary.

I pray thee, cease thy counsel,

Which falls into mine ears as profitless
As water in a sieve: give not me counsel;
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear,

But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine.
Bring me a father, that so lov'd his child,

Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
And bid him speak of patience;

Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,
And let it answer every strain for strain;

As thus for thus, and such a grief for such,
In every lineament, branch, shape, and form:

If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard;

*Cry-sorrow, wag! and hem, when he should groan;
Patch grief with proverbs, make misfortune drunk
With candle-wasters; bring him yet to me,
And I of him will gather patience.

But there is no such man; for, brother, men
Can counsel, and speak comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it,
Their counsel turns to passion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage,
Fetter strong madness in a silken thread,
Charm ach with air, and agony with words:
No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience
To those that wring under the load of sorrow;
But no man's virtue nor sufficiency

To be so moral, when he shall endure

The like himself: therefore give me no counsel:
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.

Much ado about Nothing, Act v. Sc. I.

*The original editions have for this line, which is Dr Johnson's correction, "And sorrow, wag, cry hem, when he

should groan." You are at liberty to adopt this, or any emendation you are acquainted with.

2. Write a reply to the following extract from a letter of the Principal of a German Academy to the Head Master of an English Public School.

"You are aware that, with the exception of swimming, fencing, and gymnastic exercises, we have nothing answering to the athletic sports and games which are said to form an important feature in school education in England. I hear that these sports are thought to act favourably in drawing out the energies and forming the characters of the boys. If this is your opinion, will you be so good as to point out in what way they produce this effect? It seems to us Germans that the progress of our pupils in their studies would be injured by their interest being engaged in such exciting pursuits. If you can shew me that this is not the case in your English Schools, or that the evils are decidedly outweighed by the benefits, I shall be very glad to be convinced."

3. Write a panegyric on one of the following personages: Demosthenes, Sir Isaac Newton, General Havelock.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION. (II.)

Paraphrase the following passage in prose, so as to shew clearly the full meaning, expressing the sentiments as much as possible in your own words:

HER. Since what I am to say, must be but that

Which contradicts my accusation, and

The testimony on my part no other

But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me
To say, Not guilty: mine integrity,

Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,

Be so receiv'd. But thus:-If powers divine
Behold our human actions, (as they do,)

I doubt not then but innocence shall make
False accusation blush, and tyranny

Tremble at patience.-You, my lord, best know,
(Who least will seem to do so,) my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,

As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devis'd,

2.

And play'd, to take spectators: For behold me,—
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe
A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince,--here standing,
To prate and talk for life and honour 'fore
Who please to come and hear.

For life, I prize it As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honour, 'Tis a derivative from me to mine,

And only that I stand for.

Winter's Tale, Act III. Sc. II. Write an Essay to which the following passage may serve

for motto:

For praise too dearly loved or warmly sought
Enfeebles all internal strength of thought;
And the weak soul, within itself unblest,
Leans for all pleasure on another's breast.

GOLDSMITH'S Traveller, 1. 269.

3. Give as vivid an account as you can of a day's excursion in any scenery that is familiar to you.

I.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION. (III.)

Paraphrase the following passage in prose, so as to shew clearly the full meaning, expressing the sentiments as much as possible in your own words.

I will redeem all this on Percy's head,
And, in the closing of some glorious day,
Be bold to tell you, that I am your son;
When I will wear a garment all of blood,
And stain my favours in a bloody mask,

Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it.
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this same child of honour and renown,
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
And your unthought-of Harry, chance to meet:
For every honour sitting on his helm,

'Would they were multitudes, and on my head
My shames redoubled! for the time will come,
That I shall make this northern youth exchange
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,

2.

To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to so strict account,
That he shall render every glory up,

Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.

First Part of K. Henry IV. Act III. Sc. II.
Write an Essay to which the following passage may serve

for motto:

Nature never did betray

The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy: for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.

WORDSWORTH: Lines composed near Tintern Abbey. 3. Give, in the form of a narrative, the plot of one of Shakespeare's plays.

I.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION. (IV.)

Paraphrase the following passage in prose, so as to shew

clearly the full meaning:

Nor, princes, is it matter new to us,

That we come short of our suppose so far,

That, after seven years' siege, yet Troy walls stand:
Sith every action that hath gone before,
Whereof we have record, trial did draw
Bias and thwart, not answering the aim,
And that unbodied figure of the thought,

That gav't surmised shape. Why then, you princes,
Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works,

And call them shames? which are, indeed, nought else
But the protractive trials of great Jove,
To find persistive constancy in men:
The fineness of which metal is not found

2.

In fortune's love: for then, the bold and coward,
The wise and fool, the artist and unread,
The hard and soft, seem all affin'd and kin :
But, in the wind and tempest of her frown,
Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan,
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;
And what hath mass, or matter, by itself
Lies, rich in virtue, and unmingled.

SHAKESP. Troilus and Cressida; i. 3. Write an essay to which the following passage may serve

as motto:

They never fail who die

In a great cause: the block may soak their gore;
Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs
Be strung to city gates and castle walls—

But still their spirit walks abroad. Though years
Elapse, and others share as dark a doom,

They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts
Which overpower all others, and conduct

The world at last to freedom.

BYRON, Marino Faliero; ii. 2. 3. Write a short paper on the proverb:

wears it."

"No one knows where the shoe pinches but he who

ENGLISH COMPOSITION. (V.)

[YOU ARE ADVISED TO ANSWER QUESTION I. AND EITHER II. OR III.]

1. Paraphrase the following passage in prose, amplifying the sense where you think it necessary, and expressing the sentiments as much as possible in your own words.

Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: