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3. The Elephant and the Tailor.
4. Bruce and the Spider.
5. Tell and the Apple.

6. Washington and his Axe.
7. Canute and his Courtiers.
8. Alfred in the Danish Camp.

9. The Surrender of Calais.

10. The Death of Sir Thomas Moore.
11. The Black Hole of Culcutta.

12. The Tea Chests of Boston.

SECTION III.-PARAPHRASE.

Paraphrase is a kind of translation. Translation is usually applied to the process of rendering an author's thoughts in a different language. But we may take an author's thoughts in our own language, and render them in a different form. What he has expressed in the abstract form, we may express in the concrete. What he has expressed in the concrete form, we may express in the abstract, or in a new concrete form. This is paraphrase, properly so called. To perform this exercise, we must first make the author's thought our own, and then we must express it in our own language. For example, Shakespeare says—

"With taper light

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess."

We may paraphrase this thought by saying, in the words of the proverb, that "it is absurd to hold a candle to the sun," or that "it is a waste of labour to attempt to beautify what is already most beautiful."

Exeroise 46.

Let the Pupil express the ideas contained in the following passages, in sentences of his own construction and arrangement:

EXAMPLE.

When a man says, in conversation, that it is fine weather, does he mean to inform you of the fact? Surely not; for every one knows it as well as he does. He means to communicate his agreeable feelings.

Almost every one whom you meet by the way begins the conversation by remarking, "It is a fine day." But when he does so, it is not because he supposes the fact known to him and not to you; he is merely giving expression to those agreeable feelings which the fineness of the weather excites.

1. The private path, the secret acts of men,
If noble, far the noblest of their lives.

2. Listen to the affectionate counsels of your parents; treasure up their precepts; respect their riper judgment; and enjoy, with gratitude and delight, the advantages resulting from their society. Bind to your bosom, by the most endearing ties, your brothers and sisters; cherish them as your best companions, through the variegated journey of life; and suffer no jealousies and contentions to interrupt the harmony, which should ever reign amongst you.

3. Nature expects mankind should share
The duties of the public care.

Who's born to sloth? To some we find
The ploughshare's annual toil assigned.
Some at the sounding anvil glow;
Some the swift-sliding shuttle throw;
Some, studious of the wind and tide,
From pole to pole our commerce guide;
While some, with genius more refined,
With head and tongue assist mankind.

Thus, aiming at one common end,
Each proves to all a needful friend.

4. Common reports, if ridiculous rather than dangerous, are best confuted by neglect. Seriously to endeavour a confutation, gives a suspicion of somewhat at bottom. Fame has much of the scold: you silence her, if you be silent yourself. She will soon be out of breath with blowing her own trumpet.

5. As two young bears, in wanton mood,

Forth issuing from a neighb'ring wood,
Came where the industrious bees had stored,
In waxen cells, their luscious hoard;
O'erjoyed they seized, with eager haste,
Luxurious on the rich repast.

Alarmed at this, the little crew

About their ears vindictive flew.

The beasts, unable to sustain

The unequal combat, quit the plain;
Half-blind with rage, and mad with pain,
Their native shelter they regain;
There sit, and now discreeter grown,
Too late their rashness they bemoan;
And this by dear experience gain,

That pleasure's ever bought with pain.

6. That no man can promise himself perpetual exemption from suffering, is a truth obvious to daily observation. Nay, amid the shiftings of the scene in which we are placed, who can say that for one hour his happiness is secure? The openings through which we may be assailed are so numerous and unguarded, that the very next moment may see some messenger of pain piercing the bulwarks of our peace. Our body may become the seat of incurable disease: our mind may become a prey to unaccountable and imaginary fears our fortune may sink in some of those revolutionary tempests, which overwhelm so often the treasures of the wealthy: our honours may wither on our brow, blasted by

the slanderous breath of an enemy: our friends may prove faithless in the hour of need, or they may be separated from us for ever: our children, the fondest hopes of our hearts, may be torn from us in their prime; or they may wound us still more deeply by their undutifulness and misconduct. Where then, in this uncertainty of worldly blessings, is the joy on earth, in which thou canst repose thy confidence? or what temporal defence canst thou rear against the inroads of adversity?

PART IV-STYLE.

SECTION I-QUALITIES OF STYLE.

Style is the manner in which ideas are expressed in language. It embraces all those qualities which make a composition clear, forcible, and elegant. A writer's style is good or bad in proportion to his success in making these qualities characteristic of his composition.

The most important quality in a good style is perspicuity.

Perspicuity of style depends upon the choice of words and phrases, and the structure of sentences. Perspicuity in the use of words and phrases requires purity, propriety, and precision.

Perspicuity in the structure of sentences requires clearness, unity, strength, and harmony.

1. PURITY.

Purity of style consists in the use of such words and constructions as belong to the idiom of the

language, and are sanctioned by the use of the best authors.

To attain purity of style, avoid-I. Grammatical errors;-II. Foreign, obsolete, and new-coined words and phrases.

Exercise 47.

Correct the grammatical errors in the following sentences:

1. A variety of pleasing objects charm the eye.

2. If the privileges to which he has an undoubted right, and has so long enjoyed, should now be wrested from him, would be flagrant injustice.

3. The religion of these people, as well as their customs and manners, were strangely misrepresented.

4. Whether one person or more was concerned in the business, does not yet appear.

5. The mind of man cannot be long without some food to nourish the activity of his thoughts.

6. They ought to have contributed the same proportion as us, yet we gave a third more than them.

7. Who should I meet the other evening but my old friend?

8. Those sort of favours do real injury under the appearance of kindness.

9. I saw one or more persons enter the garden.

10. Every person, whatever be their station, is bound by the duties of morality and religion.

11. The conspiracy was the easier discovered from its being known to many.

12. The pleasures of the understanding are more preferable than those of the senses.

13. Virtue confers the supremest dignity on man, and should be his chiefest desire.

14. Eve was the fairest of all her daughters.

15. I cannot tell who has befriended me, unless it is him from whom I have received so many favours.

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