beginning with a consonant, the e is retained; as, Pale, paleness; peace, peaceful.

Except Awe, awful; due, duly; true, truly.

IV. When words ending with silent e, take an affix beginning with a vowel, the e is omitted; as, Cure, curable; love, loving.

1. When silent e is preceded by v, or by c or g soft, the e is retained before able; as, Move, moveable; peace, peaceable; change, changeable.

2. When silent e is preceded by g soft, it is retained before ous; as, Courage, courageous.

3. When silent e is preceded by c soft, it is changed into i before ous; as, Grace, gracious.

V. When words ending with y preceded by a consonant, take an affix, the y is generally changed into i; as, Merry, merriment; happy, happiness; cry, cried.

1. When y is preceded by a vowel, it is not changed into i; as, Boy, boyish.

2. Y is not changed into i before the affixes ing and ish; as, Carry, carrying; baby, babyish.

3. Y preceded by a vowel, is changed into i, in Daily, gaiety, gaily, laid, paid, said, slain, their, theirs.

4. When a word ending with ty, takes the affix ous, the y is changed into e; as, Beauty, beauteous; pity, piteous.

VI. When monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, which end with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, receive an affix beginning with a vowel, the final consonant is doubled; as, Begin, beginner; wit, witty.

1. When a diphthong precedes the final consonant, it remains single; as, Toil, toiling.

2. The final consonant also remains single, when the accent is not on the last syllable; as, Offer, offering.

Except Apparel, apparelled; cancel, cancelled; cavil, caviller; coral, coralline; counsel, counsellor; crystal, crystalline; drivel, driveller; duel, duellist; gravel, gravelled; grovel, grovelling; jewel, jeweller; level, levelling; libel, libeller;

marvel, marvellous; model, modelled; revel, revelling; rival, rivalling; travel, traveller.

VII. When words which end with a double consonant, receive an affix, both the consonants are generally retained; as, Scoff, scoffer; success, successful.

Words ending with ll, generally drop one before an affix beginning with a consonant; as, Full, fulness; skill, skilful. VIII. In words of more than one syllable, c hard is used as a final letter only when it is preceded by i or ia; as, Music, maniac.

1. In monosyllables, c hard is always accompanied by k; as, Deck, lock.-Except Lac, zinc.

2. A word never ends with c hard, or ck, when preceded by a diphthong; as, Book, hawk.

IX. When words of more than one syllable are written partly on one line, and partly on another, they are divided only at the syllables; as, Con-tentment, or

content-ment.

All the letters in monosyllables are written on the same line.

EXERCISES.

Correct the errors in the following sentences:—

I. It is no great merit to spel correctly, but a great defect to do so incorrectly. Jacob worshipped his Creator, leaning on the top of his staf. Our manners should be neither gros, nor excessively refined.

II. In the names of druggs and plants, the mistake of a word may endanger life. The finn of a fish is the limb, by which he balances his body, and moves in the water. Many a trapp is laid to ensnare the feet of youth.

III. In all our reasonings, our minds should be sincerly employed in the pursuit of truth. Rude behaviour and indecent language are peculiarly disgracful to youth of education. A judicious arrangment of studies facilitates improvement. Wisdom only is truely fair: folly merely appears so.

IV. Every thing connected with self, is apt to appear desireable in our eyes. Errors are more excuseable in ignorant than in wellinstructed persons. We were made to be servicable to others, as

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well as to ourselves. An obligeing and humble disposition is totally different from a servile and cringeing spirit. Our natural defects of body are not chargable upon us.

V. We should subject our fancys to the government of reason. We shall not be the happyer for possessing talents and affluence, unless we make a right use of them. If we have denyed ourselves sinful pleasures, we shall be great gainers in the end. We may be plaiful, and yet innocent. When we act against conscience, we become the destroiers of our own peace.

VI. When we bring the lawgiver into contempt, we have in effect annuled his laws. By defering our repentance, we accumulate our sorrows. We have all many faillings to lament and amend. There is no affliction with which we are visitted, that may not be improved to our advantage.

VII. Restlesness of mind disqualifies us, both for the enjoyment of peace, and for the performance of duty. The arrows of calumny fall harmlesly at the feet of virtue. The road to the blisful regions is as open to the peasant as to the king. A perverse and willful disposition is at once unamiable and sinful.

VIII. The vessel is a total wrec; the goods which have been saved, will be exposed to publick auction. Can you name the twelve signs of the zodiak? Ransac the drawer for my stoc. The man of true fortitude may be compared to a castle built on a roc, which defies the attacs of the surrounding waters.

IX. Divide the following words, writing part of each at the end of one line, and the remainder at the beginning of the next :

Ancient, ashes, beneficent, capricious, cherish, coalition, coeval, dangerous, epistle, February, gridiron, heinously, idleness, jocularly, knighthood, lapidary, musician, nominative, optical, physician, qualify, receive, sovereign, transient, union, voluntary, women, yeomanry, zealous.

Write the following sentences from dictation :—

Neglect no opportunity of doing good. Neither time nor misfortunes should erase the remembrance of a friend. The acknowledgment of our transgressions must precede the forgiveness of them. Let us show diligence in every laudable undertaking. Judicious abridgments often aid the studies of youth. We must resolutely perform our duty, however disagreeable. Few reflections

are more distressing than those which we make on our own ingratitude. Strait is the gate, and narrow the way, that lead to eternal life. There is an inseparable connexion between piety and virtue. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Integrity conducts us straight forward, disdaining all crooked paths. To be faithful among the faithless, argues great strength of principle. A steady mind may receive counsel; but there is no hold on a changeable humour.*

II. PUNCTUATION.

THE POINTS Used in Composition are the Comma (,) the Semicolon (;), the Colon (:), the Period (.), the Point of Interrogation (?), the Point of Exclamation (!), the Dash (-), and the Parenthesis ().

SECTION I.

COMMA.

I. When two or more words follow one another in the same construction, commas are placed between them; as, 'Alfred was a brave, pious, and patriotic prince.'

1. When two words in the same construction are joined by a conjunction, they do not require a comma between them; as, Religion purifies and ennobles the mind.'

2. When words in the same construction follow each other in pairs, a comma is placed between each pair; as, Truth is fair and artless, simple and sincere, uniform and constant.'

II. When a sentence consists of two or more members or clauses, they are separated by commas; as, Virtue supports in adversity, and moderates in pros

*The Teacher will find, that to make his Pupils write from dictation, is the best mode of giving them a practical knowledge of Orthography. He may multiply exercises at pleasure from any reading-book.

perity; His father dying, he succeeded to the estate;' To confess the truth, I was greatly to blame.'

When a relative pronoun immediately follows its antecedent, or when the sentence is short, the comma may be omitted; as, 'He who cares only for himself, has but few pleasures ;' ' Candour is a quality which all admire.'

III. Words denoting the person or object addressed, and words placed in apposition, are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, 'My son, give me thy heart;''Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, was eminent for his knowledge and zeal.'

When nouns placed in apposition are single, or form only one proper name, they are not separated by commas; as, • The emperor Antoninus wrote an excellent book.'

IV. Words or clauses which express opposition or contrast, are generally separated by commas; as, ‘He was learned, but not pedantic; Though deep, yet

clear.'

V. The modifying words and phrases, nay, however, finally, in short, at least, &c., are usually separated from the context by commas; as, Finally, let me repeat what I stated before;' A kind word, nay, even a kind look, often affords comfort to the afflicted.'

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VI. Words supposed to be spoken, or which are taken from another writer, but not formally quoted, are preceded by a comma; as, 'It hurts a man's pride to say, I do not know.'

Words directly spoken or quoted, are marked by inverted commas above the line; as, " My dear son," said Phocion," I entreat you to serve your country as faithfully as I have done."

EXERCISES.

Supply the points omitted in the following sentences:

I. Self-conceit presumption and obstinacy blast the prospects of many a youth. Plain honest truth needs no artificial covering. To live soberly righteously and piously comprehends the whole of our duty. Vicissitudes of good and evil of trials and consolations