THE MORE WE KNOW, THE LARGER IS THE CIRCLE OF OUR IGNORANCE.

RICHARD BAXTER, 1671.

HERETOFORE I knew much less than now, and yet was not half so much acquainted with my ignorance. I had a great delight in the daily new discoveries which I made, and of the light which shined in upon me (like a man that cometh into a country where he never was before); but I little knew either how imperfectly I understood those very points whose discovery so much delighted me, nor how much might be said against them, nor how many things I was yet a stranger to; but now I find far greater darkness upon all things, and perceive how very little it is that we know, in comparison of that which we are ignorant of, and have far meaner thoughts of my own understanding, though I must needs know that it is better furnished than it was then.-Saint's Rest.

Ex. 26. The last long sentence may very well be made into three or four. The thought will also bear amplification.

HEALTH AND LONG LIFE.

SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, 1672.

I HAVE heard, and very credibly, of many in my life above a hundred years old, brought as witnesses upon trials of title and bounds of land, but have observed most of them to have been of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, or Yorkshire, and none above the rank of common farmers. The oldest I ever knew any person of quality, or any gentleman, either at home or abroad, was fourscore and twelve. This, added to all the former recitals or observations, either of long-lived races or persons in any age or country, makes it easy to conclude that health and long life are usually blessings of the poor, not of the rich; and the fruits of temperance rather than of luxury and excess. And, indeed, if a rich man does not in many things live like a poor, he will certainly be the worse for his riches: if he does not use exercise, which is but voluntary labour; if he does not restrain appetite by choice, as the other does of necessity; if he does not practise sometimes even abstinence and fasting, which is the last extreme of want and poverty; if his cares and troubles increase with his riches, or his passions with his pleasures; he will certainly impair in health whilst he improves his fortunes, and lose more than he gains by the bargain; since health is the best of all human possessions,

and without which the rest are not relished or not kindly enjoyed.

Ex. 27. Take notes of the above; then write a paper on VOLUNTARY POVERTY as a HELP to LONG LIFE. Points: exercise; temperance; want. The obverse cases.

Ex. 28. Turn the above into more modern English. Dr. Johnson thought that Temple was the first English writer whose sentences were rhythmical and compact. His sentences are, indeed, generally well

balanced; but much of his phraseology is now a little antiquated.

CHARACTER OF WILLIAM III.,

BISHOP BURNET, 1679..

He had a thin and weak body, was brown-haired, and of a clear and delicate constitution. He had a Roman eagle nose, bright and sparkling eyes, a large front, and a countenance composed to gravity and authority. All his senses were critical and exquisite. He was always asthmatical; and the dregs of the small-pox falling on his lungs, he had a constant deep cough. His behaviour was solemn and serious; seldom cheerful, and but with a few. He spoke little, and very slowly, and most commonly with a disgusting dryness, which was his character at all times, except in a day of battle, for then he was all fire, though without passion. He was then everywhere, and looked to everything. He 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 spoke Dutch, French, English, and German, equally well; and he understood the Latin, Spanish, and Italian, so that he was well fitted to command armies composed of several nations. He had a memóry 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. His designs were always great and good, but it was thought that he trusted too much to that, and that he did not descend enough to the humours of his people, to make himself and his notions more acceptable to them. This, in a government that has so much freedom in it as ours, was more necessary than he was inclined to believe. His reservedness grew on him, so that it disgusted most of those who

served him; but he had observed the errors of too much talking, more than those of too cold a silence.

Ex. 29.-Turn the above into more modern English. The sentences will not require to be shortened; but many of the clauses will bear amplification, and some of the epithets may be formed into subordinate clauses.

Burnet is simply a gossip, and most of his sentences are quite unorganized. His writings look like a series of jottings or notes for a history; and one statement follows another like a list of groceries or the directions in a cookery-book.

WORDS AS THE MARKS OF IDEAS.

JOHN LOCKE, 1690.

MAN, though he have a great Variety of Thoughts, and such, from which others, as well as himself, might receive Profit and Delight, yet they are all within his own Breast, invisible, and hidden from others, nor can of themselves be made to appear. The Comfort and Advantage of Society not being to be had without Communication of Thoughts, it was necessary that Man should find out some external sensible signs, whereby those invisible Ideas, which his Thoughts are made up of, might be made known to others. For this purpose, nothing was so fit, either for Plenty or Quickness, as those articulate Sounds, which, with so much Ease and Variety, he found himself able to make. Thus, we may conceive how Words, which were by nature so well adapted to that purpose, come to be made use of by Men, as the Signs of their Ideas; not by any natural Connection that there is between particular articulate Sounds and certain Ideas, for then there would be but one Language amongst all Men; but by a voluntary Imposition, whereby such a Word is made arbitrarily the Mark of such an Idea. The Use then of Words is to be sensible Marks of Ideas; and the Ideas they stand for, are their proper and immediate Signification.

Ex. 30.-Recast the whole of the above passage. Carry on Locke's view, and state that written words are the visible signs of the audible signs, which represent to other men the ideas and feelings which exist in our own minds.

Locke's writings are over-pointed. His clauses and sentences are heavy and clumsy; and they much want rhythm as well as sprightliness.

OF RETENTION.

JOHN LOCKE, 1690.

MEMORY is, as it were, the storehouse of our ideas. For the

narrow mind of man, not being capable of having many ideas under consideration at once, it was necessary to have a repository to lay up those ideas, which at another time it might have the use of. But our ideas being nothing but actual perceptions in the mind, which cease to be anything when there is no perception of them, this laying up of our ideas in the repository of the memory signifies no more but this, that the mind has a power, in many cases, to revive perceptions which it has once had; with this additional perception annexed to them, that it has had them before. And in this sense it is that our ideas are said to be in our memories, when indeed they are actually nowhere, but only there is an ability in the mind, when it will, to revive them again; and, as it were, paint them anew on itself, though some with none, some with less difficulty; some more lively, and others more obscurely.

Ex. 31. The last sentence should be broken up into two.

OF THE PUBLIC GOOD.

ALGERNON SIDNEY, 1690.

MEN are valiant and industrious when they fight for themselves and their country; they prove excellent in all the arts of war and peace, when they are bred up in virtuous exercises, and taught by their fathers and masters to rejoice in the honours gained by them. They love their country, when the good of every particular man is comprehended in the public prosperity, and the success of their achievements is improved to the general advantage. They undertake hazards and labour for the government when it is justly administered; when innocence is safe, and virtue honoured; when no man is distinguished from the vulgar, but such as have distinguished themselves for the bravery of their actions; when no honour is thought too great for those who do it eminently, unless it be such as cannot be communicated to others of equal merit; they do not spare their persons, purses, or friends, when the public powers are employed for the public benefit, and imprint the like affections in their children from their infancy.

Ex. 32. Turn this into several sentences; and develop the thoughts where you think it necessary. Instead of the weak beginnings They love," 66 They undertake," put "Such men love" or They come to love their country." Vary the form of the sentences.

AMERICAN-INDIAN TRADITIONS OF THE SPIRIT WORLD.

THE SPECTATOR, ADDISON, 1710.

THE visionary, whose name was Marratou, after having travelled for a long space under one hollow mountain, arrived at length on the confines of this world of spirits, but could not enter it by reason of a thick forest, made up of bushes, brambles, and pointed thorns, so perplexed and interwoven with one and another, that it was impossible to find a passage through it. Whilst he was looking about for some track or pathway that might be worn in any part of it, he saw a huge lion couched under the side of it, who kept his eye upon him in the same posture as when he watches for his prey. The Indian immediately started back, whilst the lion rose with a spring, and leaped towards him. Being wholly destitute of all other weapons, he stooped down to take up a huge stone in his hand, but to his infinite suprise grasped nothing, and found the supposed stone to be only the apparition of one. If he was disappointed on this side, he was as much pleased on the other, when he found the lion, which had seized on his left shoulder, had no power to hurt him, and was only the ghost of that ravenous creature it appeared to be.

Ex. 33.-It is extremely difficult to alter Addison, except for the worse. Still the sentences may be made shorter and clearer; and the rhythm is here and there old-fashioned.

POLITENESS.

SPECTATOR, No. 103, ADDISON, 1711.

My friend the divine having been used with words of complaisance (which he thinks could be properly applied to no one living, and I think could be only spoken of him, and that in his absence) was so extremely offended with the exceptive way of speaking civilities among us, that he made a discourse against it at the club; which, he concluded with this remark,―That he had not heard one compliment made in our society since its commencement. Every one was pleased with his conclusion; and as each knew his goodwill to the rest, he was convinced that the many expressions of kindness and service, which we ordinarily meet with, are not natural where the heart is well inclined; but are a prostitution of speech, seldom intended to mean any part of what they express, never to mean all they express.

Ex. 34.-Turn the above into more modern English; shorten the sentences, and make them less involved. Some of the words are used in an absolute meaning.