EXERCISE VII.-Put the italicised nouns in their proper places in the following sen

tence:

"In the crowded wilderness and howling city; in the cultivated isle and the solitary province; in the flowery mountain and cragged lawn; in the murmur of the ocean and in the uproar of the rivulet; in the radiance of winter and gloom of summer; in the thunder of the breeze and in the whisper of heaven; he still finds something to rouse or soothe his understanding, to draw forth his imagination, and to employ his affection."—Beattie.

EXERCISE VIII.-Change the inappropriate nouns here italicised into more appropriate

ones:

"Prayer is the armistice of the spirit, the noiselessness of our thoughts, the levelness of recollec tion, the resting place of meditation, the sleep of our cares, the tranquillity of our tempest; prayer is the forth growth of a quiet mind, of untroubled thoughts; it is the daughter of loving kindness, and the sister of humiliation."-Taylor. "No degree of information attainable by man is able to set him above the requirement of hourly succour, or to extinguish the wish of fond kindnesses and tender services; and therefore no one should think it unnecessary to learn those enticements by which intimacy may be gained."-Johnson.

EXERCISE IX.-Construct the following nouns, with the other words which accompany them, into sentences:

Margin man world conceive a to be standing on the of this green; and that, when he looked towards it, he saw earth field profusion abundance family blessings smiling upon every, and all the which can afford, scattered in throughout every, and the habitations light sun of the sweetly resting upon all the pleasant and the companionship society joys circle of human brightening many a happy of,-Conceive this to be the general contemplation side scene character of the upon one o the; and that on the other beyond the planet verge nothing region of the goodly on which he was situated, he could descry but a dark and fathomless unknown.-Chalmers.

Nouns are either Proper or Common. Proper Nouns are names applicable in the selfsame sense to one existence only; as Corinth, Demosthenes, Vesuvius, &c. Common Nouns are applicable in the same sense to any one of the whole of a given class of existences; as city, orator, volcano, mountain, &c.

Common Nouns are subdivisible into the following classes, viz., 1st. Real-The names of those existences which impress or affect the senses; as rock, man, river, star, &c. 2nd, Ideal-The names of notions formed by and in the mind; as Utopia, Elysium, fairy, &c. 3rd. Abstract—The names of the qualities [adjectival] or activities [verbal] of existences regarded as if they had a being apart from those things in which they inhere or operate; as roundness, smoothness, fragrancy, loving, reading, &c. 4th. Collective-The names of classes of existences considered in and as classes; as government, army, navy, jury, mob, council, &c.

EXERCISE X.-Write twenty nouns of each sort in a tabular form resembling the annexed schedule, viz.:—

EXERCISE XI.-Substitute the proper name of the person indicated by the phrases in brackets in the sentences below:

[The Swan of Avon] was the son of a woolcomber. [The laureate of the seasons] was buried at Richmond, in 1762. [Our morning-star of song] was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1386. [The marvellous boy, the sleepless soul that perished in his pride] drank deep of the waters of bitterness. [The lawgiver of Israel] occupies an unknown grave. [The bard of Rydal Mount] sleeps in the seclusion of those scenes which were to him " an appetite, a feeling, and a love." [The kingly pupil of Aristotle] repaid his teacher's care with many marks of friendship and respect. [The author of "The Good Natured Man"] was the prototype of his own hero. [The opium eater] is still unpensioned; and [he who first in popular terms expounded the mysteries of the "celestial scenery"] has recently been allotted £10 per annum. [The poet-king of Palestine] has sung in plaintive measures the griefs of mortal life. [The great Apostle of the Gentiles] was not himself free from the stains of a fallen nature. [The explorer of Abyssinia] died from the effects of an accident. [The philosopher of Stagira] invented logic. [The Bedford tinker's] marvellous tale.

EXERCISE XII.-Make sentences, each containing, in the order here given, those nouns which are portioned off by colons.

Mountains, valleys, splendour, rivers, beds, sound music: Romans, Albans, eve battle agreement champions, side, victory: Henry V., king, England, France, pretext, inheritance, kingdom, right, invasion, qualities warrior, applause, people, age: Waters, lake, rains, Neva city, Petersburg, houses, banks: Sculpture, block, marble, education soul: Fortitude, dangers, prudence, difficulties, integrity, temptations, gold, test, value: Ingredient, conversation, truth, sense, humour, wit.

Nouns are inflected to express number, i. e., to indicate whether they signify one or more. Singular Nouns denote one individual, or a class of individuals considered as one; as sailor, navy. Plural Nouns denote more than one individual, and are formed, in general, by affixing s to the form of the singular; as star, stars; but for convenience of pronunciation, &c., this general rule is subject to several modifications, the chief of which may be briefly noted:

1st. Singular Nouns ending in ch (sounding tsh), o (preceded by a consonant), s, sh, or , add es; except that in the case of o, the words canto, duodecimo, grotto, junto, octavo, portico, proviso, solo, quarto, tyro, add s only.

2nd. Singular Nouns ending in y, preceded by u or a consonant, change y to i, and add es.

3rd. The following nouns in for fe-beef, calf, elf, half, knife, leaf, life, loaf, self, shelf, sheaf, thief, wife, wolf, change for fe into ves; all others adding s only.

4th. A few nouns in common use retain their original Saxon plural form—e. g., man, men; cow, kine; sow, swine; child, children; foot, feet; mouse, mice; goose, geese, &c. 5th. Nouns adopted simpliciter from foreign or classical languages generally retain their original plurals—e.g., index, indices; magus, magi; monsieur, messieurs.

EXERCISE XIII.-Make a tabular form like the annexed, and insert in each compart ment twenty nouns or so.

FORMATION OF THE PLURALS OF NOUNS.

EXERCISE XIV.-Pluralise such nouns in the following sonnet as seem to require it:

The star are mansion built by Nature's hand;
The sun is peopled; and with spirit blest,
Say, can the gentle moon be unpossessed?
Huge ocean shows within his yellow strand,
A habitation marvellously planned,

For life to occupy in love and rest;

All that we see is dome, or vault, or nest,
Or fort, erected at her sage command.
Is this a vernal thought? Even so the Spring
Gave it while care were weighing on my heart,
'Mid song of bird and insect murmuring.
And while the youthful year's prolific art

Of bud, leaf, blade, and flower was fashioning
Abode where self-disturbance hath no part.

EXERCISE XV.-Pluralise the following sentences:

The cloud slowly wends through the sky. The river swiftly rushes down the glen. The lightning flash vividly strikes the eye. Crash went the beam, the pillar fell, the wall tumbled, and the building lay in ruin. Reform can only be gained by agitation. A book is a silent friend, who talks without exciting passion, and give advice without our feeling offended. Endeavour is often crowned with success: a tame submission to difficulty never. Let each act we perform indicate true manhood.

Nouns are inflected to denote the container, efficient agent, or possessor, thus, viz.:— 1st. Singular Nouns that end in s add an apostrophe (') only; as "Moses' death." 2nd. Singular Nouns that do not end in s add an apostrophe and s ('s); as "Longfellow's "Hyperion.""

3rd. Plural Nouns ending in s add an apostrophe (') only; as "Critics' approval." 4th. Plural Nouns not ending in s add an apostrophe and s ('s); as "Men's destinies." It will be observed that those nouns from which anything proceeds, or those which possess another thing, are those to which the inflection is affixed, or in other words, that the name of the container, efficient agent, or possessor, is put in the possessive case. There is also another form by which efficient agency or possession is denoted, viz., by placing the preposition of before the noun signifying the agent or possessor, as; "The works of Shakespeare;" ""The aspirations of men."

EXERCISE XVI. Put the names of the containers, efficient agents, or possessors, in the following extract, into the possessive case :—

"Now far he sweeps where searce a summer smiles,

On Behring rocks or Greenland naked isles;
Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow
From wastes that slumber in eternal snow,
And waft across the wave tumultuous roar
The wolf long howl from Oonalaska shore."

These introductory observations and rules carefully observed, and these exercises carefully performed, will constitute the initiatory lessons of a course of grammar and composition, taught combinedly, which, if found suitable to the wants of our readers, it is intended to follow up in future issues of the "Aids to Self-Culture." We hope the attempt will be received in good part as it has been made in good faith. We have no fear of the result; labor omnia vincit.

S. N.

IS THE NOTION OF A PLURALITY OF INHABITED WORLDS, ETC.

207

Philosophy.

IS THE NOTION OF A PLURALITY OF INHABITED WORLDS CONSONANT WITH SCIENCE AND REVELATION?

AFFIRMATIVE REPLY.

THE critic's task is ours, and honestly will we endeavour to perform it; dismissing all prejudice from our minds, we will invoke to our aid the fair goddesses of Truth and Justice.

Before reviewing separately the articles of our opponents, we will say a few words with regard to that much vexed question, the definite meaning of the expression "plurality of inhabited worlds."

presume the same physical laws to be in operation throughout the universe, the constitution of the spheres, as explained by scientific inquiry, is a matter of much importance; and if they should be found to "be balls of coal, or balls of fire," we think it makes much "difference, as in our opinion material beings could not then exist in them. Hence our endeavour to show that the heat and cold of the planets may not be so extreme as is generally supposed. And for this point we still contend. And though, as stated by S. S., our former article may be" very pictorial, but unargumentative," he has not attempted to refute the arguments which we nevertheless did use to support this view.

We will now examine more particularly H. D. L.'s paper.

H. D. L. and "Vincat Veritas" both distinctly confine the question to "man,”— "beings of a similar nature, disposition, and character to ourselves." In doing this, we contend they are guilty of shuffling from the true spirit of the question. With the view taken by Dr. Whewell, in his essay on this subject, we have nothing whatever to do. But we boldly assert, without fear of reasonable contradiction, that neither the letter The most gross illogicality is its leading nor true spirit of the question necessitates feature. Indeed, so loaded with errors of that the inhabitants referred to should be this sort is it, that were we to attempt to men-men constituted exactly as we are, point out one-half of them, our space would with the same relative proportion of blood, be entirely exhausted in the process. We bone, flesh, and skin; endowed with the must, therefore, content ourselves with exsame amount of vital and intellectual energy, amining one or two only, commencing with and requiring the same stimuli to preserve his first argument derived from the outer these as does man. Man is not the only in- world, and refer our readers to the article habitant of this sphere. itself, and to the admirable contributions of We are justified in regarding this depart-"Threlkeld" and "L'Ouvrier" for the rest. ure from the true spirit of the question as an acknowledgment of the unassailable nature of our position. Indeed V. V. very frankly admits as much; "for," says he, 'were this limitation" (the confining the question to man) "not insisted upon, our opponents would escape from part of their difficulties." We say, then, much of their articles will not apply to the real question at issue between us; they are, as remarked by "L'Ouvrier," hors de combat.

แ

But if V. V. really wishes to know, upon this view of the question, what science has to do with it, we beg to remind him that we originally regarded, and still do regard, these inhabitants as material beings; and as we

-a con

This first argument of his is, in fact, an attempt to answer a conclusion of Sir David Brewster's, viz., "that Jupiter has been created for the express purpose of being the seat of animal and intellectual life"clusion drawn by analogy from the discoveries of astronomy-by one drawn by the author of the "Essay" from the analogies suggested by geology. We must remark in passing, that either our friend has done much injustice to his favourite author in the copious passages extracted from his work; or, that the essay in question is as illogical as the extractor's own paper. For, what are the facts than which "nothing could be stronger, nothing more conclusive against

the impetuous degree of our (H. D. L.'s) great opponent," from which this conclusion is drawn? Be not afraid, gentle Pluralist! they are simply these. "The earth was long brute and inert compared with its present condition." Why, then, may not other parts of creation be so still? "If the earth was for ages a turbid abyss of lava and mud," -and we quite believe it was-" why may not Mars and Saturn be so still? . . . We say, therefore, that the example of geology refutes the argument drawn from the supposed analogy of one part of the universe with another; and suggests a strong suspicion that the force of analogy better known may tend in the opposite direction."

support our views; and therefore the next two or three long extracts from the " Essay" are thrown away upon us. But whether H. D. L. is himself free from this imputation, let such remarks as the following testify-" The facts of astronomy can offer no evidence of any weight upon this point;"

It is to geology we must have resort in the present case."

Further, H. D. L.'s paper is full of the most gratuitous assumptions; but as "Threlkeld" and "L'Ouvrier" have remarked upon many of these, we will not longer occupy the time of the reader in pointing out our friend's errors. In parting from him, however, we cannot forbear remarking that we do not think he would have fallen into them if, instead of blindly pinning his faith to, and consequently adopting, all the errors and sophistries of another man, he had exercised his own good judgment, and expressed his own ideas upon this subject. Neither do we think that the pages of the Controver sialist are intended for the refutation of the theories of one author by long extracts from the writings of another.

And this logic H. D. L. heartily endorses. But cannot he perceive that the argument destroys itself? Mark well its object, which is declared by that part of the sentence we have italicised. It is directed against an analogical argument, because it is analogical; yet it is itself an argument drawn from analogy; but weaker than the one it seeks to refute, because less perfect,-less perfect in this, that whereas that endorsed by H. D. L. institutes a comparison between our earth Turn we now to the second supporter of as it was ages ago, and the other spheres the negative side of this question. S. S., as they are at this time; the latter, the one after objecting to the exception taken by advanced by Sir D. Brewster, and those who" Threlkeld" to H. D. L.'s definition of the take the affirmative side on this question, institutes a comparison between the earth as it has been and now is, and the planets as they have been and now are. Most certainly, then, if the analogy, made by Sir D. Brewster be "absurd," that quoted by H. D. L. must be doubly so. And this attempt on his part to throw discredit upon arguments drawn from analogy, at the same time that it would, if worth anything, reflect with equal force upon his own article, is entirely begging the question; for it is impossible to discuss it at least, the scientific part of it-in any other way; and it forms another example of the shuffling propensities of our friend.

No true philosopher, we are sure, will entirely set aside the testimony of one science because that of another may seem to be more in accordance with his own preconceived views; and that Sir D. Brewster has, as our opponent insinuates, been guilty of this, we can hardly believe. But however that may be, most certainly we have not; but, on the contrary, have appealed both to the testimony of astronomy and geology to

term "plurality of inhabited worlds," accusing him of "wilful misconception" in supposing that H. D. L. confined the question to man, but which accusation, we are sure, can with far greater truth be retorted upon himself, he remarks (p. 92) that "while there is a likeness between the earth and other planets in the nature of their revolutions, there is the greatest dissimilarity in their size, density, surface, and temperature. Is it probable, we would ask, that life does exist in all the varying states of the heavenly bodies?" But this is very disingenuous on his part; for, whilst professing to accept the question upon its broader basis with regard to the constitution of the "inhabitants" of the spheres, he, like his predecessor, makes use of arguments applicable only to "men." For density and temperature will apply only to beings like ourselves, if even to them, to the extent of forbidding existence; and size and surface not even to them. I thank God, we can breathe as freely in the smallest village or smiling plain in dear little England, as we can in