Surprised, astonished, amazed, confounded.-I am surprised at what is new or unexpected; I am astonished at what is vast or great; I am amazed at what is incomprehensible; I am confounded by what is shocking or terrible.

Wisdom, prudence.-Wisdom leads us to speak and act with propriety; prudence prevents our speaking or acting improperly. A wise man employs the most proper means for success; a prudent man the safest means to avoid being brought into danger.

With, by. Both these particles express the connexion between some instrument, or means of effecting an end, and the agent who employs that instrument or those means: with expresses a more close and immediate, by a more remote connexion. The proper distinction in the use of these particles is elegantly marked in a passage of Dr. Robertson's History of Scotland. When one of the old Scottish kings was making an enquiry into the tenure by which his nobles held their lands, they started up, and drawing their swords, "By these," said they, "we acquired our lands, and with these we will defend them." The following instances further exemplify the distinction. killed by a stone which fell from the steeple."killed with a stone by Peter." Here with refers to the instrument, and by to the agent.

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He was

"He was

THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES.

A SENTENCE always implies some one complete proposition, or enunciation of thought; but every sentence does not confine itself to a single proposition.

A sentence consists of component parts, which are called its members; and as those members may be

either few or many, and may be connected in several different ways, the same thought, or mental proposition, may often be either compressed into one sentence, or distributed into two or three, without the material breach of any rule.

Upon surveying the annals of past ages, it seems that the greatest geniuses have been subject to this historical darkness; as is evident in those great lights of antiquity, Homer and Euclid, whose writings indeed enrich mankind with perpetual stores of knowledge and delight; but whose lives are for the most part concealed in impenetrable oblivion.-Taylor's Life of Orpheus.

The same meaning may thus be expressed in three sentences: "Upon surveying the annals of past ages, it seems that the greatest geniuses have been subject to this historical darkness. This is evidently the case with regard to those great lights of antiquity, Homer and Euclid. The writings of these illustrious authors enrich mankind with perpetual stores of knowledge and delight; but their lives are for the most part concealed in impenetrable oblivion."

With regard to the precise length of sentences, no positive rule can be laid down; in this particular the writer must always be regulated by his own taste. A short period is lively and familiar; a long period, requiring more attention, makes an impression grave and solemn. There may be an extreme on either side.*

Nor in the field of war

The Greeks excel by discipline alone,

But from their manners. Grant thy ear, O king,
The diff'rence learn of Grecian bands, and thine.
The flow'r, the bulwark of thy pow'rful host
Are mercenaries. These are canton'd round
Thy provinces. No fertile field demands
Their painful hand to turn the fallow glebe.
Them to the noon-day toil no harvest calls.

The stubborn oak along the mountain's brow

Sinks not beneath their stroke. With careful eyes
They mark not how the flocks or heifers feed.

Glover

* A series of short periods produces a very disagreeable effect in poetry I'hese two quotations will justify this assertion.

So saying they approach'd

The gate. The sentinel, soon as he heard
Thitherward footsteps, with uplifted lance

Challenged the darkling travellers. At their voice,
He draws the strong bolts back, and painful turns
The massy entrance. To the careful chiefs
They pass. At midnight of their extreme state
Counselling they sat, serious and stern. To them
Conrade. Assembled warriors! &c.

Southey.

By means of too many short sentences, the sense is divided and broken, the connexion of thought weakened, and the memory burdened, by being presented with a long succession of minute objects; and, on the other hand, by the too frequent use of long periods, an author overloads the reader's ear and fatigues his attention. In general, a writer ought to aim at a due mixture of long and short periods, which prevents an irksome uniformity, and entertains the mind with a variety of impressions. Long sentences cannot be properly introduced till the reader's attention is completely engaged they ought never to be placed at the beginning of discourses of any description.

The French critics make a proper distribution of style into the two general classes of périodique and coupé. In the style périodique, the sentences are composed of several members linked together and depending upon each other, so that the sense is not completely unfolded till the close.

Something of a doubtful mist still hangs over these Highland traditions; nor can it be entirely dispelled by the most ingenious researches of modern criticism; but if we could with safety indulge the pleasing supposition that Fingal lived, and that Ossian sung, the striking contrast of the situation and manners of the contending nations might amuse a philosophic mind. The parallel would be little to the advantage of the more civilized people, if we compared the unrelenting revenge of Severus with the generous clemency of Fingal; the timid and brutal cruelty of Caracalla, with the bravery, the tenderness, the elegant genius of Ossian; the mercenary chiefs who, from motives of fear or interest, served under the imperial standard, with the freeborn warriors who started to arms at the voice of the king of Morven; if, in a word, we contemplated the untutored Caledonians, glowing with the warm virtues of nature, and the degenerate Romans, polluted with the mean vices of wealth and slavery.-Gibbon's Hist. of the Roman Empire.

This is the more pompous, musical, and oratorical mode of composition.

In the style coupé, the sense is expressed in short independent propositions, each complete in itself.

ness. care.

The women, in their turn, learned to be more vain, more gay, and more alluring. They grew studious to please and to conquer. They lost somewhat of the intrepidity and fierceness which before were characteristic of them. They were to affect a delicacy and a weakTheir education was to be an object of greater attention and A finer sense of beauty was to arise. They were to abandon all the employments which hurt the shape and deform the body. They were to exert a fancy in dress and ornament. They were to be more secluded from observation. A greater play was to be given to sentiment and anticipation. Greater reserve was to accompany the commerce of the sexes. Modesty was to take the alarm sooner. Gallantry, in all its fashions, and in all its charms, was to unfold itself. Stuart's View of Society.

This mode of writing generally suits gay and easy subjects. It is more lively and striking than the style périodique. One of the best modern examples of the style coupé is Macaulay's Essays. According to the nature of the composition, and the general character which it ought to bear, the one or other of these may be predominant; but in every species of composition they ought to be blended with each other. By a proper mixture of short and long periods, the ear is gratified, and a certain sprightliness is joined with majesty; but when a regular compass of phrases is employed, the reader soon becomes fatigued with the monotony. A train of sentences, constructed in the same manner, and with the same number of members, whether long or short, should be carefully avoided. Nothing is so tiresome as perpetual uniformity.

Having offered these observations with regard to sentences in general, I shall now enter upon a particular consideration of the most essential properties of a perfect sentence. These seem to be clearness and precision, unity, strength, and harmony.

CLEARNESS AND PRECISION IN THE STRUCTURE OF

SENTENCES.

In the arrangement of a period, as well as in the choice of words, the chief object which ought to be kept in view is perspicuity. This should never be sacrificed to any other beauty. The least degree of ambiguity ought to be avoided with the greatest care: it is a fault almost sufficient to counterbalance every beauty which an author may happen to possess. Ambiguity arises from two causes; from an improper choice of words, or an improper collocation of them. The first of these causes has already been fully considered.

In the collocation of words, the first object of our attention is a rigid conformity to the rules of grammar, so far as these can guide us. But an ambiguous arrangement of words may frequently be observed where we cannot discover a transgression of any grammatical rule. The relation which the words or members of a period bear to one another, cannot be pointed out in English, as in Greek and Latin, by means of their terminations; it must be ascertained by the position in which they stand. Hence an important rule in the structure of a sentence is, that the words or members most intimately connected, should be placed as near to each other as is consistent with elegance and harmony, so that their mutual relation may be plainly perceived.

I. Ambiguities are frequently occasioned by the improper use of the adverb. This part of speech, as its name implies, is generally placed close or near to the

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