"Thou spreadest a refection before me, in the midst of inimical scrutations; Thou perfumest my locks with odoriferous unguents, my chalice exuberates.

"Indubitably benignity and commiseration shall continue all the diuternity of my vitality; and I will eternalize my habitance in the Metropolis of Nature! ! !”

Easy, idiomatic diction (says an excellent author), is not necessarily destitute of elegance; and if the occasion calls for the colloquial style, any other than the colloquial would be in bad taste. Instead of saying, “I am very tired," when an occasion for saying so occurs, how pedantic it would be to lay down the fact in a logical proposition like this: "The condition of body which I at this moment experience, is that of being very tired." It is recorded of Dr. Johnson that, having said of a literary work, "It has not wit enough to keep it sweet," he felt dissatisfied with his mode of expression, and corrected it to his own taste by expressing the same sentiment thus: "It has not vitality sufficient to preserve it from putrefaction." The learner's taste may possibly agree with Dr. Johnson's; if so, he must be put on his guard against acquiring a pompous style, without that substance of thought to support it, which must be conceded as the merit of Dr. Johnson's productions in general. At all events, let him express commın thoughts in common idiomatic language, with all the smoothness and ease he can introduce.

While this is good advice, it must on the other hand be conceded, that the judicious intermixture of Anglo-Saxon and classical terms constitutes the style of our best authors. It gives a legitimate variety of composition, formed upon peculiar tastes and education. In this respect, Swift and Johnson may be considered as placed at opposite extremes: the style of the former being peculiarly English; that of the latter being formed upon the classical, models, and imitating not only the phraseology, but the polish and rotundity of their periods. To court classical terms too much, or to avoid them too much, would generally lead to a mode of expression bordering on affectation. In words com

pounded with prepositions, we have borrowed largely, and necessarily so, from the Latin; and from these borrowed terms, primary and secondary meanings are obtained with a happy discrimination. Take, for instance, the verb sisto, "I stand." We then have, iu the first place,

Sisto, I stand.

Compounded with Ad, Adsisto, I stand to, or near, Assist.

66

66

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Con, Consisto, I stand with, agree with, Consist.
De, Desisto, I stand off, Desist.

Ex, Existo, I stand forth, Exist.

In, Insisto, I stand over, upon, take my stand on,

Insist.

"Per, Persisto, I stand throngh, Persist.
"Re, Resisto, I stand back, Resist.

"Sub, Subsisto, I stand under, Subsist.

So from traho, I draw, is derived tractus, drawing, from which we have Attract, to draw to; Contract, to draw together; Detract, to draw from Distract, to draw asunder; Extract, to draw out of; Protract, to draw forward; Retract, to draw back; Subtract, to draw from under.

EXERCISE.

As the fault of negligence is to be considered on the one hand, so a heavy, stiff, and pedantic style of expression is to be avoided on the other. Therefore, change the form of expression used in the following sentences, so as to impart to them greater ease, smoothness, and simplicity of diction.

The feeling I experience at the present moment is that of being, throughout my body, in a state of fun.

To vex your sister is a thing which you seem to know, while there are things that you ought to know better.

The presumption which I have shown, and which I readily admit to be what I call it, is that for which I now put in a plea for your paraon.

My command is, that thou, a witch, shall go out of my sight, and never come into it again.

Expensive commodities procured from distant parts, are acceptable to the feminine portion of our species.

That we should not precipitate any undertaking in a greater degree than its proper as well as speedy performance demands, is a maxim for the people to observe.

From what port are you come, and to which are you going?

The extent of the authority of the governor is dependent on the dura tion of the decree of the king.

The philosophical virtues stand distinct from, though not opposed to, those which Christianity teaches.

Death is that from which all fly, that to which all must come, that for which few are prepared. (NOTE.-That which is a phrase whose meaning may be briefly implied by the single term what.)

That you should feel yourself welcome, is my first request; that you should give me your hand, is my second.

This is the house of the partner of the brother of my wife.

He was so far from making head against, that he was glad to run away from, the enemies that he had wilfully raised.

I am afraid that all the evil which his folly has caused, will fail to make him a jot wiser.

Health and happiness is what we cordially wish for you.

He was flattered by, but sunk under, the duty with which he was charged.

LESSON LXVII.

PROPRIETY OF EXPRESSION.

Words may be purely English, and yet improper, as not adapted to the subject, nor fully conveying the sense; or they may be equivocal, and convey a sense different from that which is intended. Propriety of expression demands such words and phrases as approved writers have appropriated to the expression of those ideas which we employ them to convey. Therefore

RULE I.-Guard against the use of equivocal or ambiguous expressions.

For instance:

"He aimed at nothing less than the crown." This may mean, either that nothing less than the crown was aimed at by him, or that he less aimed at the crown than at other things.

"His memory shall be lost on the earth." This may mean, either that he should cease to remember, or that he should cease to be remembered. "The whites and blues gained the prize." This sentence leaves it undetermined whether the same persons were both whites and blues, or whether the whites and the blues were different classes of persons.

"As for such animals as are mortal or noxious, we have a right to destroy them. "I long since learned to like nothing but what you do." "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." "The rising tomb a lofty column bore." RULE II.-Avoid inconsistent and unintelligible terms, or phrases:

For example: "These words do not convey even an opaque idea of the author's meaning." "Some pains have been thrown away in attempting to retrieve (regain) the names of those to whom he alludes."

"I have observed," says Steele, "that the superiority among these

coffee-house politicians proceeds from an opinion of gallantry and fast iou.” Here the question may arise, what opinion, good or bad? and whose opinion?

"This temper of mind" (referring to humility) "keeps our understand ing tight about us:" quite unintelligible, surely.

Sometimes a specious flow of words, a series of synonyms, and identical propositions, well-turned periods, and high-sounding words, give us sound instead of sense-words being used so indefinitely that no meaning, or various meanings, may be attached to them; thus,

"From harmony, from heavenly harmony,
This universal frame began;

From harmony to harmony

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in man."

RULE III.-Guard against selecting improper expressions from their resemblance in sound to the one proper to be used.

Thus men improperly speak of the religious observation of a festival, instead of observance. Thus endurance (which means patience) is confounded with duration. Discrimination must now be made between terms which only a century ago were held as synonymous; such as, state and estate, property and propriety, import and importance, conscience and consciousness, arrant and errant.

Human (that which belongs to man) is not to be confounded with .humanc (kind and compassionate); nor humanly with humanely, as in those lines of Pope:

"Though learn'd, well-bred; and though well-bred, sincere;

Modestly bold, and humanly severe."

Humanity bears both senses.

Ceremonious (attentive to the forms of civility) must not be used instead of ceremonial (pertaining to a religious rite).

Construe (referring to the disposition of words in a sentence) must not be used for construct (which may be applied to a building).

To" demean one's self" does not mean the same as to "debase one's self;" the former meaning to behave, the latter to behave meanly.

E'er is a contraction of the adverb ever, and should not be taken for ere (before); nor should its, the possessive case of it, be confounded with 'tis or it's, a contraction of it is.

Genii is properly applied to demons or separate spirits; but geniuses tc men of talents. Brothers properly signifies male children of the same parent or parents; brethren denotes persons of the same profession, nation, religion, or nature.

RULE IV.-Guard against improprieties arising from a likeness in sense possessed by many words.

"The invention of truth," should be "the discovery of truth."

Epithet is properly some attribute expressed by an adjective; improperly used for title or appellation.

Risible (meaning "capable of laughing") has been improperly used for ridiculous, "fit to be laughed at." Thus it is proper to say, "Man is a risible animal;" "A fop is a ridiculous character."

Together is improperly used for successively; as when it is said, “I never spoke three sentences together in my whole life."

Everlasting is improperly applied to denote time without beginning, the only proper sense of it being time without end; as in the words, "From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God." The proper form would be, "From eternity to eternity, Thou art God."

Apparent is not properly used for certain, or manifest. It properly means seeming, as opposed to real; or visible, as opposed to concealed. The phrase to make appear should not be used instead of to prove, to show; for a talented man may be able to make a thing appear what it is not, and this is very different from showing what it is.

LESSON LXVIII.

PROPRIETY OF EXPRESSION.

RULE V.-Do not employ an English word in a provincial sense, in a sense which it bears only in low and partial use.

EXAMPLES.-Impracticable for " impassable," applied to roads.

Arrive at, for "happen," in the sentence, "I cannot help feeling any sorrow that may arrive at man."

To hold should not be employed for "to use;" nor to give into, for "adopt."

That he should have said, is not to be used for "that he said;” as, "The general report is that he should have said,”—meaning, that he said. A person does not always say what he should have said.

The following are instances in which sound and sense may both concur in leading to an improper use of words.

EXAMPLES.-Falseness is properly used in a moral sense for want of veracity, and applied only to persons; falsity and falsehood are applied only to things. Fulsity means that quality in the abstract which is contrary to truth. Falsehood is an untrue assertion.