placed at the very commencement of it, because it has so few inflexions, that otherwise its connection with the subject (or antecedent) it refers to might be obscure. These sentences frequently stand as attributives to other sentences, which are related to them as subjects. Ex. "They shall obey, unless they seek for hatred at my hands, which if they do, they shall feel the vengeance of my wrath; "" he was unsatisfied in getting, which was a sin;" as he spoke, a braying ass did sing most loud and clear, whereat his horse did start." 65. Objective accessory sentences are those which serve instead of objects of cause, purpose, means, manner (including degree or intensity), time, and place; and those expressing a condition or concession, which are distinguished by the employment of the probable or improbable forms of the subjunctive mood, according to the amount of contingency affecting the condition or concession, and generally after certain conjunctions. The indicative mood is, however, now very commonly used instead; always, indeed, where no contingency or uncertainty is to be expressed. Ex. "Because we come to do you service, you think we are ruffians; " "since neither love, nor sense of pain, nor force of reason can persuade, then let example be obeyed;" "be ye steadfast, immovable,... forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord;" "he makes it his care both to write and to speak plainly, so that he may be understood;" "treat it kindly, that it may wish, at least, with us to stay ;” “judge not, that ye be not judged;" "as will appear by what follows;" "from what has been said, you may perceive the hopelessness of your undertaking; ""be taught by what I am suffering; ""who, he knew, would be willing;" "thou hast used my purse, as if the strings were thine; "it is as sure as you are Roderigo; throw such changes of vexation on't, as it may lose some color;" "the longer I am acquainted with him, the more I like him;" so great was the cold, that the deepest rivers were frozen;" he is as merry as the day is long;' "I'll see, before I doubt;" "kings may take their advantage, when and how they list;" "use physic, or ever thou be sick; while I was protector, pity was all the fault that was in me; 33 66 he is the most improved mind, since you saw him, that ever was; "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also:" "I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest;" 66 99 66 99.66 "I have shown whence the understanding may get all the ideas it has;' the noise pursues me, wheresoeer I go;' despise me, if I do not; were I the Moor, I would not be Iago; you will not serve God, if the devil bid you!” “ think we, or think we not, time hurries on;" "thou dost conspire against thy friend, if thou but thinkst him wronged, and makest his ear a stranger to thy thoughts; though thou detain me, I will not eat; wert thou an oracle to tell me so, I'd not believe it; "had fate so pleased, I had been eldest born; "I had been happy, so I had nothing known; unless I look on Sylvia in the day, there is no day for me to look upon; though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor;" "many things are believed, although they be intricate, obscure, and dark." 99.66 66. Contracted and compound sentences.Two or more sentences having the same subjects, or the same predicates or objects, and two or more subjects having the same attributives, or vice verså, are frequently contracted into one compound sentence, or phrase, by the use of conjunctions. Examples of several kinds may be found in the former parts of this Compendium; others are such as these: Ex. "With fairest flowers, whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, I'll sweeten thy sad grave; " "his honesty got him small gains, but shameless flattery, and filthy beverage, and unseemly thrift, and borrow base, and some good lady's gift;" "it shall ever be my study to make discoveries of this nature in human life, and to settle the proper distinctions between the virtues and perfections of mankind, and those false colors and resemblances of them, that shine alike in the eyes of the vulgar." In contracted sentences, where a comparison is expressed, care should be taken to avoid ambiguity. Ex. "He would make a better soldier than scholar,' expresses the greater aptitude of the person spoken of for the arts of war, than for the pursuit of learning. "He would make a better soldier than a scholar," expresses that the person spoken of displays greater aptitude for war than a student would. "He likes them better than I," signifies that his liking for the persons spoken of is greater than my liking for them; whilst "he likes them better than me" signifies that his liking for them is greater than his liking for me. Similarly, wherever two or more subjects are distinguished by the attributive adjectives only, unless in cases where no ambiguity can arise, they should be distinguished by the repetition of the demonstrative. Ex. "The red and blue vestments were most admired," should be, "the red and the blue vestments," if two kinds are intended. But we may say, "the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, because the attributives are incompatible in their signification. 67. Construction is the arrangement of words in sentences, and of sentences in relation to each other, so as to indicate the subordination of the several parts, and their connection and union; and the universal rule is to place the subordinate words, or phrases, before the principal ones. Yet for the sake of imparting special significance to some words or sentences, the form of this rule is often violated, and particularly in poetry. This is called inverted construction, to distinguish it from the ordinary arrangement, which is designated direct. Ex. Direct. The orator had the honor of haranguing Pope Clement the Sixth, and the satisfaction of conversing with Petrarch, a congenial mind; but his aspiring hopes were chilled by disgrace and poverty; and the patriot was reduced to a single garment, and the charity of an hospital!" "The apartments, porticoes, and the courts of the Lateran were spread with innumerable tables for either sex,· and every condition; a stream of wine flowed from the nostrils of Constantine's brazen horse; no complaint, except the scarcity of water, could be heard; and the licentiousness of the multitude was curbed by discipline and fear." Inverted. "At last, after much fatigue, through dull roads, and bad weather, we came, with no small difficulty, to our journey's end." "Unto the French, the dreadful judgment-day so dreadful will not be, as was his sight." "So shaken as we are, so wan with care, find we a time for frighted peace to pant." "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, that great city!" "Silver and gold have I none: but such as I have, give I unto thee." { must, whatever may ensue." "Up rose the sun, and up rose Emily." Go 68. Accentuation.-In order to show the subordination of the less important phrases in sentences, to the principal ones in each of the several combinations treated of above, and to give prominence to the most important elements in words, a particular stress of voice (called accent) is customarily laid upon the radical part of all inflected words, and upon the principal words or phrases in each of those combinations. Ex. Gólden, disgráceful, grátitude, kingdom, trúthfulness, wakeful; they reád; the men were astonished, my suspicions were correct; the se crets of the gráve this viperous slander enters; the míghty dead; áll his gólden words are spent; king David; here is one Lucianus, néphew to the king; the kingdom of England; the world háteth you; I jóy to meet thee; give the book to mé; I cráve your pardon. 69. Emphasis is distinguished from accent by this; the latter serves to indicate the connection of the words, &c., and to give unity to the meanings of the several parts which enter into the different combinations that make up sentences, &c.; whilst emphasis shows some special meaning which the speaker desires to give to his words, and which they would not ordinarily bear. Ex. "They read, wé write; the men were astonished, and the woman fled; my suspicions were correct, but my knowledge was no more than yours; the kingdom of England, not that of Scotland; no, sir, I do not bite my thumb at yoú, sir; but I bite my thumb, sir; be not afraid, she shall not harm thee; I' scorn you not, it seems that you scorn mé.” 70. Punctuation.-The pauses which, in speaking, are used to impart greater accuracy and clearness to our expressions, in writing are represented by characters called stops; and the notes of interrogation and admiration, the parenthesis and the dash, as well as the breaking up of composition into paragraphs, are employed for similar purposes. In poetry they are more used than in prose; and the fewest number possible should always be employed. The full point, or period, indicates the termination of a passage which is complete both in meaning and in syntax. The colon marks the end of a grammatical combination, but shows that what follows is required to complete the meaning. The semicolon shows that, both in meaning and in syntax, the expression it follows is incomplete. And the comma is used to distinguish, rather than to divide, the parts of grammatical combinations, so that the connection between them, and their signification when combined, may be more clear. But where the passages are not very long, and no mistake would arise, the comma is used for the semicolon, and even for the colon; and the semicolon is employed instead of the colon. The period is frequently employed, also, where we should expect only the colon. Ex. "The Roman senators conspired against Julius Cæsar to kill him: that very next morning Artemidorus, Cæsar's friend, delivered him a paper (desiring him to peruse it) wherein the whole plot was discovered: but Cæsar complimented his life away, being so taken up to return the salutations of such people as met him in the way, that he pocketed the paper, among other petitions, as unconcerned therein; and so, going to the Senate-house, he was slain." "The noble Brutus Hath told you, Cæsar was ambitious: And grievously has Cæsar answered it." 71. Parentheses indicate either an explanatory remark, or a thought related to what has been said, which is noted but not pursued; and instead of the common sign, two commas, or two semicolons, or two dashes, are often employed. Ex. "Traveling on the plain (which notwithstanding hath its risings and fallings), I discovered Salisbury steeple many miles off." "I find two (husband and wife), both stealing, and but one of them guilty of felony." "Spill not the morning (the quintessence of the day!) in recreation." "Raleigh had (besides his own merits) two good friends." In general the dash is used to show that a pause should be made, because the sense is broken off abruptly; or whilst the sense is not interrupted, something unexpected follows; or to call for greater attention to what is about to be said. To die, to sleep, Ex. Ellipsis, or omission, is the suppression of some word, which from the nature of what is spoken of or from the context, can be readily supplied. Ex. "All in vain [is] my frantic calling, all in vain [are] my falling tears!" "[There is] no way to fly, nor strength to hold out flight!" The knight came to the tailor's [shop]." "Are you going to the House [of Parliament]?" Pleonasm, or redundancy, is the introduction of some words not actually required, but often exceedingly effective, as a means of giving peculiar emphasis, or expressing a particular feeling. Ex. "The skipping king, he ambled up and down." "They returned back again to the same city from whence they came forth." The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, and heavily with clouds brings on the day." Zeugma, or syllepsis, is the suppression of a verb or a noun, in positions in which it will readily be suggested by another verb or noun, which is expressed; and with which the object, or attributive belonging to the suppressed words, appears to be connected. Ex. "And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue [loosed];" "forbidding to marry, and [commanding] to abstain from meats;" "my paternal house is desolate, and he himself [my father] destitute and in exile." These examples illustrate the working of the zeugma, or syllepsis. PROSODY. 73. Prosody treats of the laws of metrical compositions, regarding accent, quantity, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, &c., &c. Accent is the stress laid upon one or more syllables of a word. Monosyllables are capable of accents only when they are uttered with other words. Ex. Fáther, industry, níghtingale, himself, disséver, éxquisitely, whatsoever, volúptuous ;-" there is that in his fáce which leads one to trúst him." Quantity is the time required to pronounce a syllable, and is either long, marked (-), or short, marked (). Seeing, upright, personablě, tütělǎry, peerage, trănslation, not, nōte, ăt, āte, tēn, tend, full, cull. Rhythm is the harmonious arrangement of words in lines of various definite lengths; and is one of the chief elements of metre. Ex. The poetry of earth is never dead.” "The willow leaves that dánced in the breeze." At the close of the day, when the hamlet is still." 74. Rhyme is the correspondence of the final sound in a metrical line, with those of one or more other lines preceding or following, immediately or alternately. It is distinguished into assonance and consonance; the former being the correspondence of the vowel sounds alone, the latter of both vowels and consonants. Ex. "The baron he stroakt his dark-brown cheeke, To whipe away the starting teare He proudly strave to hyde.” "Have owre, have owre to Aberdour, And thair lies guid Sir Patrick Spence, "My cloake it was a very good cloake, It hath been alwayes true to the weare But now it is not worth a groat; I have had it four-and-twenty yeere.” Single and double rhymes are also to be distinguished. Ex. "The Abbot had preached for many years, With clear articulation, As ever was heard in the House of Peers His words had made battalions quake, And the king himself three-quarters.” Alliteration is the commencement of two or more words, in the same or adjoining lines, with the same or closely allied sounds. Ex. "The parted bosom clings to wonted home, 75. Specimens of the principal English meters. In order to distinguish the different kinds of metre, certain names are borrowed from the prosody of Latin and Greek. Thus, an accented syllable preceded by one unaccented is regarded as equivalent to a long syllable following a short one, and is called an Iambic. Ex. "Awáy, or away; rejoice, or rejoice." An accented or long syllable before an accented or short one, is called a Trochee. Ex. "Wretched, or wretched; rísing, or rising." An accented syllable followed by two unaccented is called a Dactyl. Ex. "I'ndustry, or industry; éxquisite, or exquisite." An accented syllable following two unaccented is called an Anapest. Ex. Lochinvár' or Lochinvär; cavalíer, or căvăliēr.” The most common metres are varieties of the Iambic, the Trochaic, and the Anapestic; the differences consisting in the number of Iambics, &c., in each line. Further differences arise out of the various kinds of lines, and the manner in which they are grouped so as to form the stanzas. Our examples principally illustrate the composition of single lines. 1. Iambic meter. Four syllables. "With rávisht ears, The monarch hears; Eight syllables. "Bind the sea to slúmber stilly, Bind its ódor to the lily, Bind the aspen né'er to quíver, Thén bind Love to last for ever." The most common use of this meter is in qua trains (or stanzas of four lines) of seven syllables. There is an almost infinite variety of meters and of stanzas, produced by the intermixture of Iambics and Trochees, and of Iambic with Trochaic metres. 3. Dactylic meter.-The following specimen will suffice for the illustration of the varieties of this meter. "Hád I a cave on some wild distant shore, Where the winds hówl to the waves' dashing roár; There seek my lóst repose, Till grief my eyes should close, 4. Anapestic meter.-The effect of this meter can be learned from this illustration: "I have lost for that faith more than th oú canst bestów, Of the imitations of classical meters little needs to be said, except that they are not adapted to the genius of our language. Many attempts have been. made to render them acceptable, some with considerable success; but the great number of our monosyllables will always prevent them from coming into general use or favor. 76. Beside the kinds of stanza given already, which are principally used in Divine service, some other kinds may be exemplified here. 1. Elegiac. "Here résts his head upón the lap of earth, "'Tis sweet to hear the watchdog's honest bárk Bay deép-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home, 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will márk Our coming, and look brighter when we cóme; 'Tis sweet to bé awakened by the lark, Or lull'd by falling waters; sweet the hum Of bées, the voice of girls, the sóng of birds, The lisp of children and their earliest words." 3. Spenserian. "The Níobé of nátions; thére she stands, Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe t An empty úrn within her wither'd hands, Whose holy dust was scatter'd lóng agó; Her Scipio's tomb contains no ashes nów: Her véry sépulchrés lie ténantléss Of their heróic dwellers: dóst thou flów, Old Tiber, through a márble wilderness? Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress!* |