;

claims it as a debt, and demands respect as an homage to which he is entitled. Reverence is not a prize which he must win, but a property which it is injustice to withhold from him. The vain are objects of ridicule, but not of detestation. The proud are both contemptible and odious."**

To remark, observe.-We remark, in the way of attention, in order to remember ; we observe, in the way of examination, in order to judge. A traveller remarks the most striking objects which he sees; a general observes all the motions of his enemy.

Surprized, astonished, amazed, confounded.--I am surprized at what is new or unexpected ; I am astonished at what is vast or great ; I am amazed at what is incomprehensible ; I am confounded by what is shocking or terrible.

Wisdom, prudence.-Wisdom leads us to speak and act with propriety; prudence prevents our speaking or acting improperly. A wise man employs the most proper means for success ; a prudent man the safest means to avoid being brought into danger.

With, by.-Both these particles express the connexion between some instrument, or means of effecting an end, and the agent who employs that instrument or those means : with expresses a more close and immediate, by a more remote connexion. The

tion in the use of these particles is elegantly marked in a passage of Dr. Robertson's History of Scotland. When one of the old Scotish kings was making an enquiry into the tenure by which his nobles held their lands, they started up, and drawing their swords, “ By these,” said they, “we acquired our lands, and with these we will defend them.” The following instances further exemplify the distinction. “ He was killed by a stone which fell from the steeple.”—“ He was killed with a

. . stone by Peter.” Here with refers to the instrument, and by to the agent.

CHAP. VI.

OF THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES.

Of a sentence or period, various definitions have been given. According to Aristotle, it is “a quantity of sound which bears a certain signification according to its combination, and of which some detached part is also significant.”* Against this definition some objections might perhaps be urged ; it is however sufficient for our present purpose.

A sentence always implies some one complete pro

• Λόγος δί έστι φωνή σημαντική κατά συνθήκην, ης των μερών τι σημανFixóv šoto xixwpropivov. (Aristoteles de Interpretatione, cap. iv.) See likewise his treatise De Poetica, p. 72. edit. Tyrwhitt.

position, or enunciation of thought; but every sentence does not confine itself to a single proposition.

A sentence consists of component parts, which are called its members; and as those members may be either few or many, and may be connected in several different ways, the same thought, or mental proposi

, tion, may often be either compressed into one sentence, or distributed into two or three, without the material breach of any rule.

Upon surveying the annals of past ages, it seems that the greatest geniuses have been subject to this historical darkness; as is evident in those great lights of antiquity, Homer and Euclid, whose writings indeed enrich mankind with perpetual stores of knowledge and delight; but whose lives are for the most part concealed in impene. trable oblivion.-- Taylor's Life of Orpheus.

The same meaning may thus be expressed in three sentences : “ Upon surveying the annals of past ages, it seems that the greatest geniuses have been subject to this historical darkness. This is evidently the case with regard to those great lights of antiquity, Homer and Euclid. The writings of these illustrious authors enrich mankind with perpetual stores of knowledge and delight ; but their lives are for the most part concealed in impenetrable oblivion." i With regard to the precise length of sentences, no positive rule can be laid down ; in this particular the writer must always be regulated by his own taste. А short period is lively and familiar ; a long period, requiring more attention, makes an impression grave and solemn. There may be an extreme on either side. *

By means of too many short sentences, the sense is divided and broken, the connexion of thought weakened, and the memory burdened, by being presented with a long succession of minute objects ; and, on the other hand, by the too frequent use of long periods, an author overloads the reader's ear and fatigues his attention. In general, a writer ought to study a due mixture of long and short periods, which prevents an irksome uniformity, and entertains the mind with a variety of impressions. Long sentences cannot be

properly introduced till the reader's attention is completely engaged: they ought never to be placed at the beginning of discourses of any description.

:

Nor in the field of war
The Greeks excel by discipline alone,
But from their manners. Grant thy ear, O king,
The diff'rence learn of Grecian bands, and thine.
The flow'r, the bulwark of thy pow'rful host
Are mercenaries. These are canton'd round
Thy provinces. No fertile field demands
Their painful hand to turn the fallow glebe.
Them to the noon-day toil no harvest calls.
The stubborn oak along the mountain's brow
Sinks not beneath their stroke. With careful eyes
They mark not how the flocks or heifers feed.

Glover.

So saying they approached
The gate. The centinel, soon as he heard
Thitherward footsteps, with uplifted lance
Challenged the darkling travellers. At their voice,
He draws the strong bolts back, and painful turns
The massy entrance. To the careful chiefs
They pass. At midnight of their extreme state
Counselling they sat, serious and stern. To them
Conrade. Assembled warriors ! &c.

Southey.

The French critics make a proper distribution of style 'into the two general classes of périodique and coupé. In the style périodique, the sentences are composed of several members linked together and depending upon each other, so that the sense is not completely unfolded till the close.

Something of a doubtful mist still hangs over these Highland traditions ; nor can it be entirely dispelled by the most ingenious researches of modern criticism ; but if we could with safety indulge the pleasing supposition that Fingal lived, and that Ossian sung, the striking contrast of the situation and manners of the contending nations might amuse a philosophic mind. The parallel would be little to the advantage of the more civilized people, if we compared the unrelenting revenge of Severus with the generous clemency of Fingal ; the timid and brutal cruelty of Caracalla, with the bravery, the tenderness, the elegant genius of Ossian; the mercenary chiefs who, from motives of fear or interest, served under the imperial standard, with the freeborn warriors who started to arms at the voice of the king of Morven; if, in a word, we contemplated the untutored Caledonians, glowing with the warm virtues of nature, and the degenerate Romans, polluted with the mean vices of wealth and slavery.–Gibbon's Hist. of the Roman Empire.

It is well known that constitutions framed for the preservation of liberty, must consist of many parts; and that senates, popular assemblies, courts of justice, magistrates of different orders, must combine to balance each other, while they exercise, sustain, or check the executive power. If any part is struck out, the fabric must totter or fall; if any member is remiss, the others must encroach. In assemblies, constituted by men of different talents, habits, and apprehensions, it were something more than human that could make them agree in every point of importance ; baving different opinions and views, it were want of integrity to abstain from disputes ; our very praise of unanimity, therefore, is to be considered as a danger to liberty. We wish for it at the hazard of taking in its place the remissness of men growing indifferent to the public; the venality of those who have sold the rights of their country; or the servility of others, who give implicit obedience to a leader, by whom