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Another class of cards,* called business cards, form a convenient mode of advertising, and are much used at the present day. Of these it will be sufficient to say, that they should be short, comprehensive, clear, and dis tinct. The card of an attorney or a counsellor at law will read thus:

William Blackstone,

Counsellor, for Attorney) at Law,
47 Court Street,
Boston.

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The card of a physician may be expressed in the following form.

William Danforth, M. D., M. M. S.,

57 Winter Street.

Reference:

Dr. William Rand,

"John Warren.

Boston

*There are some portions of this article, particularly those relating to ceremonious observances in epistolary correspondence, which may be deemed out of place in a volume professing to treat of grave composition. The author's apology for their introduction is the want he has long felt o something of the kind for the use of his own pupils. He confesses that he is alone responsible for all the directions and the suggestions in the introduction to the Exercise; and, while he is conscious that the attitude of a learner would become him better than that of a teacher in these points, he apologizes for his presumption by the statement, that he knows no source in print to which he can refer those who are desirous of information upon these topics. How he has thus supplied the deficiency, he leaves for others to judge. To those who have any thing to object to what he has ad vanced, he respectfully addresses the words of the Venusian poet:

"Si quid novisti rectius istis,

"Candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum."

That the whole subject is important in an enlightened community, needs no stronger corroboration than the assertion of the author of Waverley, (see " Ivanhoe," Parker's edition, Vol. 1st, p. 169,) that "a man may with more impunity be guilty of an actual breach of good breeding or of good morals, than appear ignorant of the most minute point of fashionable etiquette."

The card of a commission merchant is as follows:

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is one

Dear Sir,

troduction.]

Boston, April 19th, 1845.

This will be handed to you by my friend, Mr. John Smith, who visits your city on busi= ness connected with his profession. Mr. Smith of the most distinguished members of the Suffolk Bar, and you will not fail to discover that he is as remarkable for his general scholarship, and the polish of his manners, as for his eminence in the legal profession. The attentions which you may please to show him for my sake, I have no doubt that you will be happy to continue for his own,—all of which shall be gratefully acknowl= edged and heartily reciprocated by

Yours respectfully,

Rich'd Roe.

John Doe, Esq.

Dear Friend,

Example 10th.

A LETTER OF CONDOLENCE.

BOSTON, April 19th, 1845.

I write this under the utmost oppression of sorrow; the youngest daughter of our friend Jones is dead! Never, surely, was there a more agreeable, and more amiable young person; or one who better deserved to have enjoyed a long, I had almost said, an immortal life! She had all the wisdom of age, and the discretion of a matron, joined with youthful sweetness and virgin modesty.

With what an engaging fondness did she behave to her father! How kindly and respectfully receive his friends! How affectionately treat all those, who, in their respective offices, had the care and education of her! She employed much of her time in reading, in which she discovered great strength of judgment; she indulged herself in few diversions, and those with much caution. With what forbearance, with what patience, with what courage, did she endure her last illness!

She complied with all the directions of her physicians; she encouraged her sister, and her father; and when all her strength of body was exhausted, supported herself by the single vigor of her mind. That, indeed, continued even to her last moments, unbroken by the pain of a long illness, or the terrors of approaching death; and it is a reflection which makes the loss of her so much the more to be lamented. A loss infinitely severe ! more severe by the particular conjuncture in which it hap pened!

She was contracted to a most worthy youth; the wedding day was fixed, and we were all invited. How sad a change from the highest joy, to the deepest sorrow! How shall I express the wound that pierced my heart, when I heard Jones himself, (as grief is ever finding out circumstances to aggravate its affliction,) ordering the money he had designed to lay out upon clothes and jewels for her marriage, to be employed in defraying the expenses of her funeral !

He is a man of great learning and good sense, who has applied himself, from his earliest youth, to the noblest and most elevating studies: but all the maxims of fortitude which he has received from books, or advanced himself, he now absolutely rejects; and every other virtue of his heart gives place to all a parent's tenderness. We shall excuse, we shall even approve his sorrow, when we consider what he has lost. He has lost a daughter who resembled him in his manners, as well as his person; and exactly copied out all her father.

If you shall think proper to write to him upon the subject of so reasonable a grief, let me remind you not to use the rougher arguments of consolation, and such as seem to carry a sort of reproof with them; but those of kind and sympathizing humanity. Time will render him more open to the dictates of reason; for, as a fresh wound shrinks back from the hand of the surgeon, but by degrees submits to, and even requires the means of its cure, so a mind, under the first impressions of a misfortune, shuns and

rejects all arguments of consolation; but at length, if applied with ten derness, calmly and willingly acquiesces in them.*

Henry Dix, Esq.

Very truly yours,

GEORGE C. S. PARKER

Exercises in Epistolary Writing.

A Letter to a friend announcing any event, real or imaginary.
"the inhabitants of the moon, or the stars, or a comet.

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criticisms on works that have been read.
opinions on subjects discussed at any seminary
suggestions caused by daily studies.

requesting the acceptance of some present

describing a sunrise at sea.

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ON A SUBJECT, AND THE METHOD OF TREATING it.

In writing on a regular subject, the following directions are given by Mr. Walker, as suggestions for the different divis ions, as well as for the systematic train of reflections.

*This letter is an original of Pliny the Younger to Marcellinus, trans lated by Melmoth. The address, &c. has been altered to accommodate it to the purposes of this volume.

The definition; the cause; the antiquity, or novelty; the universality or locality; the effects; namely, the goodness or badness, or the advan tages or disadvantages.

1st. If your subject require explanation, define it or explain it at large.

2nd. Show what is the cause of your subject; that is, what is the occasion of it, or what it is derived from.

3d. Show whether your subject be ancient or modern; that is, what was in ancient times, and what it is at present.

4th. Show whether your subject relates to the whole world, or only to a particular part of it.

5th. Examine whether your subject be good or bad; show wherein its goodness or badness consists, and what are the advantages of disad vantages that arise from it. *

Example.

ON GOVERNMENT.

Definition. Government is the direction and restraint exercised ver the actions of men in communities, societies, or states. It controls the administration of public affairs, according to the principles of an established constitution, a code of written laws, or by well-known usages; or it may be administered, as in some countries, by the arbitrary edicts of the sovereign. Government is the soul of society: it is that order among rational creatures which produces almost all the benefits they enjoy. A nation may be considered as a large family;—all the inhabitants are, as it were, relations; and the supreme power, wherever it is lodged, is the common parent of every individual.

Cause. The necessity of government lies in the nature of man. In terest and selfishness, unrestrained by salutary laws and restrictions, would be the controlling principle of every man's actions, uninfluenced by a proper regard for the rights of others. It is necessary, therefore, to have some restraint laid upon every man - some power which shall control him, and impel him to what is right, and deter him from what is wrong, and this power is government. To this restraint every one must submit; and if in such submission any one finds it necessary to give up

*These directions are thus versified by Mr. Walker:
If first your subject definition need,

Define your subject first, and then proceed;
Next, if you can, find out your subject's cause,
And show from whence its origin it draws:
Ancient or modern may your subject be,
Pursue it, therefore, to antiquity;
Your subject may to distant nations roam,
Or else relate to objects nearer home:
The subject which you treat is good, or ill
Or else a mixture of each principle:
And ere your subject a conclusion know,
The advantage or the disadvantage show.

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