26. I would like the congregation to be seated, as I wish to say a few words, before I begin.

27. They laid the three peacefully to rest in the little shaded church-yard beneath the trees, under whose shadow they had chatted with those now surviving a thousand times.

28. He by no means despaired of seeing her come out of the cloud which now covered her with a meek and grateful heart.

29. Banks of sea-weed were piled up around these huts, kept down from the power of the wind by large stones laid on the top, to exclude the cold and snow of winter.

30. I cannot think of leaving you without distress.

31. He felt himself more unworthy every day of such a privilege as life seemed to him to be passed in the intimate society of such a

woman.

32. Unlimited authority was given to the female dominion, for everything that might be appropriated to their position, and consistent with their known principles of domestic life, in the arrangements for the important event.

33. Among the first arrivals was Mr. Derby, now so loved by every one, who was to officiate on the occasion.

34. They present an attractive, consistent, and amiable example in the community, of the things which are pure, lovely, and of good report.

35. There was a little church mission a few miles from the fort, in the country, maintained by the English Society.

3. Squinting Construction.

In connection with these examples it is well to notice what the French call a "squinting" construction. By this is meant a word, or a grammatical expression, thrown into the middle of a sentence, in such a place that it looks both ways, so to speak; that is, it can be connected in meaning either with what goes before, or with what follows. This is a very common source of ambiguity.

"When I hear a person use a queer expression, or pronounce a name in reading differently from his neighbors, it always goes down, in my estimate of him, with a ruinous sign before it."-Alford. Here the words "in reading" look two ways. They may be construed either with those which precede, or with those which follow. We may understand the author as saying either "pronounce a name in reading," or "in reading differently from his neighbors." The proper arrangement would be: "When I hear a person use a queer expression, or, in reading, pronounce a name differently from his neighbors," etc.

"Though some of the European rulers may be females, when spoken of altogether, they may be correctly classified under the denomination 'kings.'"-Alford, This may be understood to mean that "some of the European rulers may be females when spoken of altogether." What the author really meant may be expressed by transposing the words italicized and putting them immediately after 'they may." Thus: "Though some of the European rulers may be females, they may, when spoken of altogether, be correctly classified under the denomination kings.'' "Are these designs, which any man, who is born a Briton, in any circumstances, ought to be ashamed to avow?" The words in italic squint. They may look back to "born," or forward to "ashamed." This sentence may mean a “man who in any circumstances is born a Briton," or that he "ought not in any circumstances to be ashamed." The words should be arranged thus: "Are these designs, which any man, who is born a Briton, ought in any circumstances to be ashamed to avow?"

The Arrangement may be Faulty without being Ambiguous.-In many instances of faulty arrangement, such as those which have been quoted, there is perhaps no real ambiguity. The meaning which the construction suggests is so thoroughly absurd, that we see at once that the author must have meant something else. The effect of the bad construction, therefore, is not so much to make the sentence ambiguous, as to make it obscure. Obscurity, however, is a fault quite as much as ambiguity.

General Rule.-The writer should never require of the reader, in order to an understanding of the meaning, any greater degree of attention than is absolutely necessary.

The Reason. Whatever attention we are obliged to give to the words, in order to take in their meaning, is so much deducted from the force of the sentiments.

Quintilian's Rule. "Care should be taken," says Quintilian, "not that the hearer may understand, but that he must understand, whether he will or not."

Language a Transparent Medium.-Language has been well compared to air, glass, water, or other transparent medium, through which material objects are viewed. "If," says Campbell, “the medium through which we look at any object is perfectly transparent, our whole attention is fixed on the object; we are scarcely sensible that there is a medium which intervenes, and we can hardly be said to perceive it. But if there is any flaw in the medium, if we see through it but dimly, if the object is imperfectly represented,

or if we know it to be misrepresented, our attention is immediately taken off the object to the medium. We are then anxious to discover the cause, either of the dim and confused representation, or of the misrepresentation, of things which it exhibits, that so the defect in vision may be supplied by judgment. The case of language is precisely similar. A discourse, then, excels in perspicuity when the subject engrosses the attention of the hearer, and the language is so little minded by him, that he can scarcely be said to be conscious it is through this medium he sees into the speaker's thoughts."

Example. In the following passage from Browning, it is impossible to determine from the sentence itself, whether it was the "chief" or the "boy" who fell dead:

[The student is expected to point out the squinting clause in each of the following sentences, and to reconstruct the sentences so as to make them free from this fault.]

1. The poor little beggar longed for some fruit, and after searching from one end of the market to the other, for a penny, at length, bought an apple.

2. Substances which have been innocuous, through the winter months, become fruitful in insalutary influences.

3. This part of our good fame in the olden time was forfeited by the negligence of the authorities.

4. Yet we fancy that Franklin, the philosopher, in small things as well as great, rejoiced in his heart when house-cleaning day came. 5. The wild fellow in Petronius, who escaped upon a broken table from the furies of a shipwreck, as he was sunning himself upon the rocky shore, espied a man rolled upon his floating bed of waves.

6. He [Gibbon] incurred the imputation of avarice, while he was, in fact, exceedingly generous, simply by his ignorance of the purchasing power of money.

7. They arose, to a degree, comforted and tranquil.

8. The wreck of his vessel upon the sand-bar remained, in all those succeeding years, a monument of his departure in the midst of the sea.

9. They came together to good Dr. Bemis, to offer themselves, as they said, to sign their shipping-papers with the Lord.

10. When the morning came and their breakfast was over, to their surprise, Mr. Dalton's carriage stood before the door.

11. Any one whom he considered in all things subject to his absolute command.

12. Mr. Derby caught his opportunity, as Colonel Brenton finished his last appeal, to open to him the whole provision of grace and forgiveness.

13. "It shames man not to feel man's human fear." - Lord Lytton's King Arthur.

14. This monument was erected to the memory of John Smith, who was shot, as a mark of affection by his brother.

15. Tell him, if he is in the parlor, I do not care to see him. 16. Say to him, if he is in the wrong, he should retrace his steps.

4. Use of the Pronouns.

Ambiguity and obscurity are often produced by carelessness in the use of the Pronouns. "When a man gets to his its," says Cobbett, "I tremble for him." The skill with which a writer deals with the pronouns and other small connecting words is the best evidence of the extent to which he has attained a mastery of the art of composition.

Personal Pronouns.-When two or more masculine nouns occur in the same sentence, the use of "he" often becomes ambiguous. To avoid this ambiguity, some other form must be given to the expression, or, instead of using the pronoun, we must repeat the noun.

"The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die."-Gen. 44: 22. A less skilful writer would have said, "if he should leave his father, he would die," leaving it uncertain whether it was the father or the son that would die.

Hallam, in his Literature of Modern Europe, says, "No one as yet had exhibited the structure of the human kidneys, Vesalius having examined them only in dogs," that is, having examined human kidneys in dogs! Read, "Vesalius having examined the kidneys of dogs only."

In a memoir of John Leyden, it is said, "The intellectual qualities of the youth were superior to those of his raiment," that is, superior to the intellectual qualities of his raiment! The writer meant probably that the qualities of the youth's intellect were superior to those of his raiment.

Dean Alford, in his "Plea for the Queen's English," has this sentence: "Two other words occur to me which are very commonly mangled by our clergy. One

of these [words, or clergy?] is 'covetous,' and its substantive 'covetousness.' I hope some who read these lines, will be induced to leave off pronouncing them [lines, clergy, or words ?] 'covetious' and 'covetiousness.' I can assure them [lines, readers, clergy, or words?] that when they [lines, readers, clergy, or words?] do thus call them [lines, readers, clergy, or words?], one at least of their [?] hearers has his appreciation of their [?] teaching disturbed." Mr. Moon has shown mathematically that this sentence is capable of ten thousand two hundred and forty different meanings!

44

"Men look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others; and think that their [others, or men ?] reputation obscures them [?], and their [?] commendable qualities stand in their [?] light; and therefore they [?], do what they [?] can to cast a cloud over them [?], that the bright shining of their [ ? ] virtues may not obscure them [?]."-Tillotson. Here are no less than four words, "men." 99.66 others," qualities," and "virtues," to any one of which the last "them" may refer. The other pronouns may refer severally to three or to two words, so that the sentence becomes a perfect jumble. By changing "others" to the singular, the pronouns will at once adjust themselves so that the meaning of the author will be perfectly clear. "Men look with evil eye upon the good that is in another; and think that his reputation obscures them, his commendable qualities stand in their light; and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over kim, that the bright shining of his virtues may not obscure them."

How to Avoid Embarrassment.-A writer who becomes thus embarrassed in the use of the pronouns, in consequence of having to refer back to two different objects, or classes of objects, will almost always be able to extricate himself from the difficulty by thus changing the construction so as to make one object or class of objects singular and the other plural.*

*Burton gives a capital story of Billy Williams, a comic actor, which is a good illustration of the point now under consideration. Williams is represented as telling his experience in riding a horse belonging to Hamblin, the manager.

So down I goes to the stable with Tom Flynn, and told the man to put the saddle on him."

"On Tom Flynn?"

"No, on the horse. So, after talking with Tom Flynn awhile, I mounted him." "What! mounted Tom Flynn?"

"No! the horse; and then I shook hands with him and rode off."

"Shook hands with the horse, Billy?"

"No, with Tom Flynn; and then I rode off up the Bowery, and who should I meet

in front of the Bowery Theatre but Tom Hamblin; so I got off and told the boy to hold him by the head."

"What! hold Hamblin by the head?"

"No, the horse; and then we went and had a drink together."

"What! you and the horse?"

"No, me and Hamblin; and after that I mounted him again, and went out of town."

"What! mounted Hamblin again?"

"No, the horse; and when I got to Burnham, who should be there but Tom Flynn,

-he'd taken another horse and rode out ahead of me; so I told the hostler to tie him up."

"Tie Tom Flynn up?"

"No, the horse; and we had a drink there."

"What! you and the horse?"

"No, me and Tom Flynn!"

Finding his auditors by this time in a horse laugh, Billy wound up with

"Now, look here,-every time I say horse, you say Hamblin, and every time I say Hamblin, you say horse. I'll be hanged if I tell you any more about it."