reply be necessary, a stamped addressed envelope should be enclosed, but not otherwise.

The address of the writer of a letter, followed by the date, should be clearly set forth in the top right-hand corner of the first page. A little below it, to the left, should be the salutation, as "Sir," "Dear Sir," or "Madam." Below the salutation, a little to the right, the body of the letter should begin, the first word being placed under the last of the salutation. The concluding lines should form distinct paragraphs, each a little to the right of the other, thus:

"I am,

the first paragraph ("I am,") beginning midway between the left and right edges of the page. The name of the person to whom the letter is addressed is generally placed below the writer's signature, to the left, and at a distance about double that of the space between the lines in the body of the letter; or it may be placed at the commencement of the letter above the salutation. In addressing a stranger, the proper salutation is "Sir," or "Madam," and the letter may be concluded "Yours obediently," "Your obedient servant," or "Yours respectfully." In addressing a business firm to whose partners you are not well known, use the salutation "Gentlemen," and conclude with Yours truly," or "Yours faithfully;" "very" may be used before the adverb in each instance. Or, for variety, you may reverse the order: "Faithfully yours," " Very truly yours," &c. A clergyman can be addressed "Reverend Sir," "Reverend and Dear Sir," "Dear Sir," or "My Dear Sir," according to the terms of intimacy. In writing formally to superiors, it is proper to conclude with "I have the honour to be;" but the extremely formal endings of a century ago are quite gone out of use. "Your most obedient, most humble servant," wears the aspect of too profound obeisance, for the courtesy of our day. The style "Esq." is now appended

to the name of almost every person of respectability, although only members of Parliament, landowners and professional men have a right to it. Some persons having both a business and private address, are frequently styled "Mr." at the former, and "Esq." when approached in their private capacity. In the cases of persons of superior rank, and of Royalty and nobility, the forms of epistolary address are given at the end of this work.

COMPOSITION AND THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES.

WITH REMARKS ON POINTS OF STYLE.

COMPOSITION is the art of expressing thought by means of written language. Language consists of an immense number of groups of articulate sounds or words, which are represented to the eye by means of combinations of signs called letters. Words are the representatives of ideas, and when grouped together in the proper manner form sentences, expressing our thoughts and feelings.

The first thing that the composer has to do is to find his topic; the next is to make up his mind what he is going to say about it; he then proceeds to choose the proper language for conveying his meaning, the right names for the things he wishes to write about. All vulgarisms and slang expressions should be studiously avoided, and the writer should seek neither to resuscitate obsolete or forgotten terms, nor to coin new ones. He must use words in their recognised applications, without attempting to extend or to contract their meanings. Such meanings, it is to be remembered, are arrived at, or rather confirmed by common agree. ment; they are not attached to the words at the caprice

of any particular individual. If imperfectly acquainted with the signification of any word that he purposes using, the writer must turn to the dictionary and make sure that he is adopting the recognised usage.

Further, we must arrange our words in the right manner so that they shall exactly express the meaning that we intend to convey. Generally speaking, for every member of a sentence there is a right and a wrong position; and if the right position of any single member be not selected, the chances are that other members will be thrown out of their proper places, and that, even if the meaning be not confused, the expression will be rendered ineffective or even uncertain. Two rules, at least, must be observed. First-Every word or expression must be placed as near as possible to the other words or expressions that it is intended to affect. Second-Emphatic words should stand in emphatic positions; that is to say, at the beginning or at the end of the sentence.

To take an example or two: "The captain whispered something in Sir Roger's ear, that lasted till the opening of the fifth act." The exact meaning of Addison in this sentence is not quite clear. Grammatically, it may be (1) that the whispering lasted, or (2) that the something lasted, or (3) that Sir Roger's ear lasted, till the opening of the fifth act. More strictly, the last alternative; for the relative ought always to be placed as close as possible to its antecedent, that is, to the word to which it refers. Now the sentence is right up to "ear," were it not for the long clause that follows "ear." The verb " whispered " is immediately followed by "something," its object, and the sense is naturally extended by the next phrase "in Sir Roger's ear," indicating the direction that the whispering took. But the writer goes on to add a long clause, which necessitates some rearrangement of what would otherwise have been a perfectly arranged sentence. The simplest change is to take the antecedent down to the relative; for on the one hand the relative clause is too long to take up to the antecedent,

and on the other hand the phrase " in Sir Roger's ear" is so short that it does not sensibly disjoin the verb from its object. Rearrange thus: "The captain whispered in Sir Roger's ear something that lasted till the opening of the fifth act."

Another example: "The French nation is not consoled for the misfortunes which it has endured by the incidental triumph of justice in Italy." Now this reads as if the French nation had endured misfortunes in consequence of the incidental triumph of justice in Italy. But of course this meaning, suggested by the arrangement of the sentence, is not the meaning intended by the writer. What he means is that the French do not find consolation in the triumph of justice in Italy. The true sense is easily indicated by the true arrangement-by placing together the expressions intended to be thought of together: "The French nation is not consoled, by the incidental triumph of justice in Italy, for the misfortunes which it has endured." The original order might stand if the expression qualifying "misfortunes" were shortened-" for its misfortunes"; but "endured" at once attaches to itself the expression following it, and is thus misleading.

The effect of position as a means of attaining emphasis is readily comprehended. "Two men I honour, and no third"; the object of especial attention is set in the foreground, and the contrast is the last thing that the mind dwells on. The expression could not be more emphatically arranged. "My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him;" the object "that" is placed foremost in order to stand close to the preceding statement to which it refers so pointedly. So also: "His passions and prejudices led him into a great error. That error he determined to recant." Similarly, "Add virtue to your faith" is plain and pointless; " Virtue add to your faith" is felt to be too violent a displacement; the true emphasis requires " Add to your faith virtue." Poetry takes advantage of emphatic placing more boldly than prose: "High rode in cloudless blue the moon"; Flashed all their sabres bare"; "Slowly and

sadly they laid him down"; "Home they brought her warrior dead."

Not only is it our duty to seek to express ourselves so that our readers may understand what we write; we are further bound to make it impossible for them to misunderstand us. To do this intelligently, however, implies a knowledge of what constitutes a sentence, and of the various forms which sentences assume. The mere rule-of-thumb notion that grows up in one's mind from reading and speaking may often be a very fair guide; but a sure knowledge can rest only on a technical understanding of the construction of the sentence.

A sentence is the statement of some complete meaning; as, "Columbus discovered America"; "I do not understand what he means by such conduct"; "Come here."

In every sentence, even the very simplest, there are at least two elements:-(1) Something spoken about, and (2) Something said about it. These two "somethings" are known as the "subject" and the "predicate."

Sentences are divided into three classes: (1) Simple, (2) Complex, (3) Compound.

A Simple sentence is one that contains only a single subject and a single predicate, with or without qualifications. 66 Columbus discovered America" is a simple sentence; it contains one subject," Columbus," and one predicate, "discovered (America)," and not any more subjects or predicates.

A Complex sentence is one that contains a principal subject and a principal predicate and also a subordinate subject and predicate. "I do not understand what he means."-Principal subject, "I"; principal predicate, "do not understand (what he means)." Subordinate subject, "he"; subordinate predicate, "means (what)."

A Compound sentence consists of two or more simple or complex sentences united. "We treated him well, but he would not stay with us" (two simple sentences united). "Although we treated him well, he would not stay with