EXERCISES.

NARRATIVES, WITH OUTLINES AND PHRASEOLOGY.

Ex. 1.-AVARICE OVERREACHES ITSELF.

2

A MERCHANT in Turkey lost a purse containing1 two hundred pieces of gold. He had his loss proclaimed by the public crier, and offered half its contents to whosoever had found and would restore it. A sailor, who had picked it up, informed the crier that he had found it, and that he was ready to restore it on the proposed conditions.? The owner having thus learned where his purse was, thought he would try to get it back for nothing. He therefore told the sailor that if he wished to get the reward, he must restore also a valuable emerald which was in it. The sailor declared that he had found nothing in the purse except the money, and refused to give it up without the reward.

The merchant went and complained to the cadi, who summoned 3 the sailor to appear, and asked him why he kept the purse he had found.

"Because," replied he, "the merchant has promised a reward of one hundred pieces, which he now refuses to give under pretence that there was a valuable emerald in it; and I solemnly 4 declare that I found nothing in the purse but the money."

The merchant was then desired to describe the emerald, and how it had come into his possession; which he did, but in so confused a manner that the cadi was convinced 5 of his dishonesty. He accordingly gave the following judgment :-" You have lost a purse with two hundred pieces of gold and an emerald in it; the sailor has found one with only two hundred pieces in it; it cannot therefore be yours. You must then have yours cried again, with a description of the precious stone. You," said the cadi to the sailor, "will keep the purse during forty days with

to the act of "composition." That kind of writing is plainly a catalogue. In a catalogue no one word has more prominence or importance than another; no word is emphatic; the emphasis-if there is any at all-varies for each individual reader as he happens to take a greater or smaller interest in this or that individual thing. Now what is the opposite of a catalogue? It is plainly a highly organized body-such as a man or an animal. In an animal there is the highest possible degree of organization; and, while every part is related to every other in mutual dependence and interdependence, there is complete subordination of the lower and less necessary parts of the body to the higher and indispensable members. And And a paragraph or a sentence may fairly be compared to the body of an animal. A sentence, too, has a nervous centre, without which it could not exist. It has a head and members; and, while it could exist without the members, it would be nothing without the head.

Perhaps the best specimens of the two kinds of styles are Bishop Burnet and Jeremy Taylor. Burnet has no "style at all; his book is merely a quantity of materials towards a history. He writes as a gossip talks; and many of his paragraphs could be written in the form of a catalogue or list. Writing of William III., Burnet says:

1. He had a thin and weak body, etc.

2. He had a Roman eagle nose, etc. 3. He was always asthmatical.

4. He spoke little, etc.

5. He had no great advantage from his education.

If another subject should call for his attention, Burnet's confusion between the hes and the hims, the theys and the thems becomes ludicrous in the extreme. While Jeremy Taylor prepares for a far-off effect, and leads the reader

gradually up to a striking consummation, Burnet goes drivelling on in the simple hope that the person to whom. he is gossiping will understand him. But he does nothing himself to insure the fruition of this hope. He gives his reader the facts, or rather the materials for the facts,and leaves him to make the best of them.

A young writer speaking of hermits, says: "At one time many men thought it right to live quite alone, and to shut themselves out from the pleasures and luxuries of the world. They thought this a very self-denying life." Now, this second sentence is not rightly put. For it is plain that the chief subject in the mind of the writer is not the hermits themselves, but the kind of life they led. The second sentence would therefore run better thus::- "The life seemed to them a self-denying life."

Let us try to adapt a piece from Burnet upon this principle.

BURNET.

William the Third had no great advantage from his education. De Witt's discourses were of great use to him; and he, being apprehensive of the observations of those who were looking narrowly into everything he said or did, had brought himself under a habitual caution, that he could never shake off; though in another sense, it proved as hurtful as it was then necessary to his affairs. He had a memory that amazed all about him, for it never failed him. He was an exact observer of men and things. His strength lay rather in a discerning and sound judgment, than in imagination or invention.

ADAPTED.

William the Third derived little advantage from his education. De Witt's discourses were, however, of great use to him. Constantly apprehensive of the observation and remarks of those who watched narrowly all he said or did, he had formed a habit of caution, from which he could never free himself. This habit, under different circumstances, was as prejudicial to his interests as it had at one time been beneficial. His memory, which never failed him, astonished all who knew him. He was an accurate observer of men and things. Discernment and sound judgment were his strong points; his weakness lay in imagination and the formation of plans.

The rule thus explained may be practically applied after the whole paper has been written, by asking three questions after reading over each sentence.

Latinized phrases. This rule applies (a) to words, and (b) to phrases. Thus, instead of writing individual, we should write man; instead of summit, top.

In words, Latin words are generally longer than English, most* of which are monosyllables.]

But the tendency of the present day to a Latinized, wordy, and circumlocutory phraseology is so strong, that it may be worth while to give a list of phrases which the young writer ought never to use.

1. The book was bought that you might The book was bought for you to

read it.

2. A house to be let.

read.
A house to let.

3. He was sent to England that he might To be educated.

I know it is wrong.

The gentleman you met.

8. At the expiration of four years he retired. In four years, or at the end of

four years.

9. He imparted knowledge with much sim- He had a simple way of teaching.

A distinction here must be drawn between the language fixed (i.e., in a dictionary), and the language in motion (i.e., as spoken and written). The English language in motion consists to a very large extent of monosyllables; and whole verses from the best poets and from the Bible consist entirely of monosyllables.