As "prudence" rather prevents than gives, a more appropriate term might be used. (Section II. Rule V.) In other respects the sentence is unobjectionable.*

2. "To dread no eye, and to suspect no tongue, is the great prerogative of innocence; an exemption granted only to invariable virtue." Το σε suspect a tongue," and "invariable virtue," are not very choice expressions. (Section II. Rule V.) "To dread no eye," and "to suspect no tongue," are two distinct "prerogatives ;” hence the verb ought to be "are," not " is." (Section I. Rule I.) If the latter part of the sentence is meant to be a repetition of the former, in different words, it is incorrect; as a prerogative" is something better than an "exemption," and "virtue" implies more than "innocence." (Section II. Rule V.) perfluous. (Section III. Rule I.)

66

Besides, it is su

3. "Arbitrary power I look upon as a greater evil than anarchy, as much as a savage is in a happier state than a slave at the oar."

The arrangement of this sentence might be improved by placing the object after the predicate; and a less familiar expression might be advantageously substituted for "look upon." (Section II. Rule I.) The latter clause does not contain all the words which are necessary to make the sense complete: it ought to be "as much as the state of a savage is happier than that of a slave at the oar." (Section II. Rule II.)

"4. Whoever is in the least acquainted with Grecian history must know that their legislator, by the severity of his institutions, formed the Spartans into a robust, hardy, and valiant nation, made for

war."

All the expressions in this sentence are selected with a due regard to propriety, except "made for war," which transgresses both the first and the fifth rules of Section II.

The remarks in this Section, in Section IX., and in Section X. Chapter II., are intended to assist the Teacher in pointing out to his Pupils the expressions on which they are to comment, and the rules by which they are to examine them.

SECTION V.

CLEARNESS IN THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES.

Rudiments, p. 90.
I.

1. The works of art receive a great advantage from the resemblance which they have to those of nature, because here not only is the similitude pleasant, but the pattern is perfect.

2. By doing the same thing often, it becomes habitual.

3. Not to exasperate him, I spoke only a few words.

4. Sixtus the Fourth was, if I mistake not, at least a great collector of books,

5. We frequently do those things, of which we afterwards repent.

6. Raised to greatness without merit, he employed his power solely for the gratification of his passions.

7. I was formerly engaged in that business, but I shall never be concerned in it again.

8. By greatness, I do not mean the bulk of any single object only, but the largeness of a whole view.

9. If Louis XIV. was not the greatest king, he was at least the best actor of majesty that ever filled a throne.

II.

1. I have, in this paper, by way of introduction, settled the meaning of those pleasures of the imagination, which are the subject of my present undertaking, and endeavoured, by several considerations, to recommend the pursuit of them to my readers: I shall, in the next paper, examine the several sources whence these pleasures are derived.

2. Fields of corn form a pleasant prospect; and if a little care were bestowed on the walks that lie between them, they would display neatness, regularity, and elegance.

3. I have confined myself to those methods for the advancement of piety, which, by a strict execution of the laws, are in the power of a prince, limited like ours.

4. This morning, when one of the gay females was, with great care and diligence, looking over some hoods and ribands brought by her tirewoman, I employed no less in examining the box which contained them.

5. Since it is necessary that there should be a perpetual inter

course of buying and selling, and dealing upon credit, the honest dealer, where fraud is permitted or connived at, or has no law to punish it, is often undone, and the knave gets the advantage.

6. As the guilt of an officer, if he prove negligent, will be greater than that of a common servant, so the reward of his fidelity will be proportionably greater.

7. Let the virtue of a definition be what it will, it seems, in the order of things, rather to follow than to precede our inquiry, of which it ought to be considered as the result.

8. Seeing his habitation reduced to so small a compass, and himself in a manner shut out of his house, the knight, upon the death of his mother, ordered all the apartments to be flung open, and exorcised by the chaplain.

9. Being now afflicted with an asthma, and finding the power of life gradually declining, he had no longer courage to undertake this work, in its full extent.

10. In consequence of being intoxicated, the witness had been ordered, by the motion of an honourable member, to withdraw from the bar.

III.

1. These are the rules of the master, who must be obeyed. 2. They attacked the house of the Duke of Northumberland, whom they put to death.

3. What he says is true, but it is not applicable to the point. 4. He was at a window, taking a view of the cathedral of Litchfield, in which a party of the royalists had fortified themselves.

5. It is folly to pretend, by heaping up treasures, to arm ourselves against the accidents of life, which nothing can protect us against, but the good providence of our Heavenly Father.

6. Thus I have fairly given you my own opinion relating to this weighty affair, as well as that of a great majority of both houses here, an opinion upon which I am confident you may securely reckon.

7. We nowhere meet with a more splendid or pleasing show in nature, than what is formed in the heavens at the rising and setting of the sun, by those different stains of light that show themselves in clouds of a different situation.

8. From a habit, which they acquired at the university, of saving time and paper, many write in so diminutive a manner, with such frequent blots and interlineations, that they are hardly able to go on without perpetual hesitation and temporary expletives.

9. Lysias, speaking of his friends, promised to his father never to abandon them.

10. They were occasionally summoned, when want or fear compelled the kings to have recourse to their aid.

11. Men look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others, whose reputation they think obscures theirs, and whose commendable qualities seem to stand in their light; and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over the bright shining of the virtues, which may obscure their own.

SECTION VI.

UNITY IN THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES.

Rudiments, p. 93.
I.

1. A short time after this injury, he came to himself, and the next day was put on board a ship, and conveyed first to Corinth, and thence to the island of Egina.

2. The Britons, daily harassed by cruel inroads from the Picts, were forced to call in the Saxons for their defence. The latter reduced the greater part of the island to their own power, and drove the Britons into the most remote and mountainous parts. The rest of the country, in customs, religion, and language, became wholly Saxon.

3. By eagerness of temper, and precipitancy of indulgence, men forfeit all the advantages which patience would have procured, and incur the opposite evils to their full extent.

4. All the precautions of prudence, moderation, and condescension, which Eumenes employed, were incapable of mollifying the hearts of these barbarians, and of extinguishing their jealousy. He must have renounced the virtue and merit which occasioned it, to have been capable of appeasing them.

5. He who performs every employment in its due place and season, suffers no part of time to escape without profit. He thus multiplies his days, for he lives much in little space.

6. Desire of pleasure ushers in temptation, and forwards the growth of disorderly passions.

II.

1. The notions of Lord Sunderland were always good. He was a nobleman, however, of great expense.

2. Cato, who died in the full vigour of life, under the age of fifty, was naturally warm and affectionate in his temper. He was comprehensive, impartial, and strongly possessed with the love of mankind.

3. In this uneasy state, both of his public and private life, Cicero was oppressed by a new and deep affliction, the death of his beloved daughter Tullia. This event happened soon after her divorce from Dolabella, whose manners and humours were entirely disagreeable to her.

4. The sun approaching melts the snow, and breaks the icy fetters of the main. Here vast sea-monsters, with arms that can withstand the crystal rock, pierce through floating islands; whilst others, that of themselves seem great as islands, are by their bulk alone armed against all but man. The superiority which he possesses over creatures of such size and force, should make him mindful of his privilege of reason, and force him humbly to adore the great composer of these wondrous frames, and the author of his own superior wisdom.

5. I single him out among the moderns, because he had the foolish presumption to censure Tacitus, and to write history himself. Your lordship will forgive this short excursion in honour of a favourite author.

6. Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. For the same reason, despair not of tomorrow; for it may bring forth good as well as evil. Vex not thyself with imaginary fears. The impending black cloud, which is regarded with so much dread, may pass by harmless: or though it should discharge the storm, yet before it breaks, thou mayest be lodged in that lowly mansion which no storms ever touch.

III.

1. Disappointments will often happen to the best and wisest men, and sometimes to the wisest and best concerted plans. They will happen too, not through any imprudence of those who devised them, nor even through the malice or ill design of others, but merely in consequence of some of those cross incidents of life which could not be foreseen.

2. Without some degree of patience exercised under injuries, human life would be rendered a state of perpetual hostility; for offences and retaliations would succeed to one another in endless train.

3. Never delay till to-morrow what reason and conscience tell