a sentence, we shall place before the student some poetical extracts, which he is requested to put into prose order.* The converse operation will be recommenced when we come to treat of prosody.

1. He spake and to confirm his words, out flew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty cherubim ; the sudden blaze
Far round illumined hell. Highly they raged
Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms
Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heaven.

2. So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub

Thus answered: leader of those armies bright,
Which but the Omnipotent none could have foiled,
If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battle when it raged, in all assaults
Their surest signal, they will soon resume
New courage and revive, though now they lie
Grovelling and prostrate, on yon lake of fire,
As we erewhile, astounded and amazed,
No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious height.

PUNCTUATION.

Milton.

Idem.

277. Punctuation, or the insertion of points in written language, is usually considered a part of grammar, and a knowledge of its principles is desirable for correct literary composition. The introduction of points is said to be useful to mark places at which a pause of a less or greater length should be made in reading. This definition is not altogether wrong, but punctuation has much higher objects in view.

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*The plan recommended in the text is the one described by Mr Murdoch, the instructor of Robert Burns. "As soon," says he, as Burns and his brothers were capable of it, I taught them to turn verse into its natural prose order; sometimes to substitute synonymous expressions to (?) poetical words and to supply all the ellipses. These, you know, are the means of knowing (?) that the pupil understands his author. Those are excellent helps to the arrangement of words in sentences as well as to a (?) variety of expression."— Currie's Life of Burns.

Points are necessary for marking the parts or sections into which sentences and paragraphs are divided, so that the exact meaning or sense may be apprehended, and perfect regularity preserved. The real use of points, therefore, is to cut off or separate single words, or groups of words, from each other. Sometimes the separation need only be slight, and for this the point called the comma (,) is sufficient. For instance," Providence has, I think, displayed a tenderness for mankind." Here there is a comma before and after "I think," because these two words express something thrust into the sentence, which should be kept in some measure distinct. The semicolon (;) is used to mark a more perfect separation of words. In general, it cuts a sentence into two or more parts, one of which has a reference to the other. Thus, “Economy is no disgrace; for it is better to live on a little than to outlive a great deal." Here the sentence is in two sections, the semicolon marking the boundary of separation. The colon (:) signifies a still wider separation in the words of a sentence; but its qualifications are so indistinct, and so liable to misconception, that in practice it is now almost entirely disused, and the period or full stop (.) is employed in its stead.

278. The other marks used in written language are as follows:-The mark of interrogation (?), which is put after words asking a question; the mark of admiration (!), put after any exclamation of surprise, lamentation, or scorn; the mark of quotation (" "), used to show that the words are taken as they stand from some author-Solomon has told us, that "He that spareth the rod, hateth the child;" the dash (—), which is sometimes employed instead of a semicolon, or for any kindred purpose; and the parenthesis ( ), for enclosing a word or portion of a sentence foreign to the tenor of the sense. Good writers endeavour to avoid requiring either parenthetic marks or dashes, both of which indicate irregularities of thought and expression.

EXAMPLES OF CORRECT PUNCTUATION.

1. At length, on the 19th of May, the fleet set sail in the finest weather, amidst the discharges of cannon and the acclamations of an immense crowd of inhabitants.-Alison.

2. The waters of the Mediterranean bring to Egypt all the fabrics of Europe; the Red Sea wafts to its shores the riches of India and China; while the Nile floats down to its bosom the produce of the vast and unknown regions of Africa.-Idem.

3. The crisis, however, passed over without any event of importance Marmont, after lying two days close to the British line, deemed it too strongly posted to admit of successful attack.-Idem.

4. The fleet anchored before the harbour which had so gloriously resisted the whole force of the Turks, under Solyman the Magnificent; its bastions were stronger, its artillery more numerous, than under the heroic Lavalette; but the spirit of the order was gone a few hundred chevaliers, lost in effeminacy and indolence, intrusted to three thousand feeble mercenaries and as many militia the defence of the place, and its noble walls seemed ready to become the prey of any invader who had inherited the ancient spirit of the defenders of Christendom.-Idem.

5. Do we say that the work of forming and perfecting the character is one of little difficulty, and not liable to disappointments? far from it. What we say is this-that it is a work, with all its difficulties, and all its disappointments, manifestly lying within the range of the abstractive faculty to devise it, and of the active faculties to achieve it.--Isaac Taylor.

6. In offering to the public this introduction to the literary history of three centuries-for I cannot venture to give it a title of more pretension-it is convenient to state, &c.-Hallam.

7. But I have other warnings to bind up my sheaves while I may,my own advancing years, and the gathering in the heavens.-Idem. 8. "What," said the nobleman to the sage, "have you got by your philosophy ?" 'Society in myself," was the answer.-Self Formation, &c.

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9. The first book is a treatise by Ayala, Judge-advocate (as we use the word), to the Spanish army, &c.-Idem.

10. Farewell! a word that must be, and hath been

A sound that makes us linger;-yet-farewell!

Ye! who have traced the pilgrim to the scene
Which is his last, if in your memories dwell
A thought that once was his, if on ye swell
A single recollection, not in vain

He wore his sandal-shoon and scallop-shell;
Farewell! with him alone may rest the pain,

If such there were-with you, the moral of his strain! Byron.

PART IV.-PROSODY.

279. PROSODY, from the Greek word, goowdia (prosōdia), the accent of a word, is that part of grammar which treats of the laws of versification. The term would etymologically include the pronunciation of words, but this is more frequently included in the part of Orthography. We do not mean to say much on the subject of Prosody, because, to the effectual communication of thought, metrical arrangement of language is by no means necessary.

280. VERSE is of two kinds, Rhyme and Blank Verse. In the former, the final syllables of the lines correspond in sound; but in the latter they do not. Rhyme may have any number of syllables in a line, but blank verse has always ten. English grammarians have no terms to distinguish the different sorts of measures or feet as they are called, except the classical terms Trochee, Iambus, and Anapæst. Verses are called Trochaic, Iambic, or Anapæstic, according to the feet that prevail in them. Instead of attempting to explain the subject of prosody further, I shall give specimens and subjoin as usual some practical exercises.

RHYME.

1. Of love, true honour, happiness, the price Is fixed, and must be given-self-sacrifice.

2. Companion gay! that ever LEADS

Through verdure and through flowers,
And talks whene'er the tempest BREEDS

Of sunshine after showers.

3. My lot on earth, how grand! how fair a soil! Time my possession-time my field of toil.

4. How can it your high mind SURPRISE,
To find that you have ENEMIES,

When between you and them the bar
Rests in your being what you are?

R. Sharpe.

Idem.

R. M. Milnes.

Idem.

5. Hail! welcome tide of life, when no tumultuous billows roll; How wondrous to myself appears this halcyon calm of soul! The wearied bird blown o'er the deep would sooner quit its

SHORE

Than I would cross the gulf again that time has brought me o'ER. Campbell.

11.

Beneath our feet and o'er our head

Is equal warning GIVEN ;

Beneath us lie the countless dead;

Above us is the HEAVEN.

12. One part, one little part, we dimly scan

Heber.

Through the dark medium of life's feverish DREAM;

Yet dare arraign the whole stupendous plan,
If but that little part incongruous SEEM;
Nor is that part perhaps what mortals DEEM;
Oft from apparent ill our blessings rise.
O then renounce that impious self-ESTEEM
That aims to trace the secrets of the skies:

For thou art but of dust; be humble and be wise. Beattie.