EXERCISE 109.

Subject for Essay: The Echoes of the Past.

HINTS.-Great difference in degrees of susceptibility to impression in different people.-Extraordinary degree of such susceptibility in the writer of the above passage. With most the whispering gallery a mere momentary curiosity. How circumstances may bring out such susceptibility when latent.-How trivial acts and words return upon the doer or speaker in after years. -How such then often affect us.-Effect of dwelling too much upon such reminiscences.-Tendency in some persons to magnify the effect of a definite act.-Seldom that a life is permanently ruined by one false step.-Depressing effect of dwelling upon *the past, being unalterable.-How far painful reminiscences may be beneficial.

§ 211. The scope of the present work precludes the insertion of a complete series of illustrative passages. In addition to those authors which have been treated above, the following may be mentioned, with such of their works as seem specially worthy of the attention of the student :JOHN BUNYAN: 1628-1688.

(Shaw, p. 237; Rowley, p. 131.)

'Pilgrim's Progress,' and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.' (His Autobiography.)

ISAAC WALTON: 1593-1683.

(Shaw, p. 245; Rowley, p. 134.)

Lives of Hooker, G. Herbert, &c., and 'Complete Angler.'

THOMAS GRAY: 1716-1771.

(Shaw, p. 388; Rowley, p. 202.)

Correspondence with Mason and others.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH: 1728-1774.

(Shaw, p. 350; Rowley, p. 185.)

'Vicar of Wakefield;''Citizen of the World.'

DAVID HUME: 1711-1776.

(Shaw, p. 355; Rowley, p. 188.)

Essays;'History of England.'

WILLIAM ROBERTSON: 1721-1793.

(Shaw, p. 358; Rowley, p. 189.)

'Charles V.;' 'History of the Discovery of America,' &c.

'Letters.'

WILLIAM COWPER: 1731-1800.
(Shaw, p. 390; Rowley, p. 203.)

SIR WALTER SCOTT: 1728–1811.

(Shaw, p. 412; Rowley, p. 212.)

'Waverley;' 'Old Mortality;'Antiquary,' &c.

ROBERT SOUTHEY: 1774-1843.

(Shaw, p. 474; Rowley, p. 240.)

'Life of Southey;' 'Life of Wesley,' &c.

THOMAS HOPE: 1770-1831.

(Shaw, p. 500; Rowley, p. 251.)

'Anastasius.'

CHARLES LAMB: 1775-1834.

(Shaw, p. 518; Rowley, p. 262.)

'Essays of Elia.'

THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY: 1800-1859.

(Shaw, p. 509; Rowley, p. 255.)

"History of England,' especially Chapters I., III., VII., VIII.

PUNCTUATION.

§ 212. POINTS or STOPS are used to mark the divisions of sentences. The following are the principal stops :—

1. Period or Full Stop ( • )

2. Colon ( : )

3. Semicolon ( ; )

4. Comma (,)

5. Note of Interrogation (?)

6. Note of Exclamation ( ! )

Other marks in common use are the dash ·; parenthesis ( ); inverted commas or Quotation marks" "; brackets [ ]or().

§ 213. Good punctuation is essential to clearness in writing. The practice of correct authors, however, varies; especially in the use of the lightest point, the comma.

The essential thing is that punctuation should indicate structure. If this end is secured, the use of a comma more or less-or of a colon for a semicolon or vice versa―becomes of comparatively little importance. It is better to use too few stops than too many; an excess of commas tending to obscure the correlation of the parts of

a sentence.

The following are the rules generally observed.*

$214. A FULL STOP or PERIOD marks the end of a sentence, whether simple or complex.

§ 215. A COLON is used after a member of a sentence which makes a complete and independent sense by itself: especially when the succeeding member is not linked to it by a Conjunction: as—

"The fifth race, which succeeds to the Heroes, is of iron: it is the race to which the poet himself belongs, and bitterly does he regret it." (Grote, Hist. Gr. i. 90.)

"Among the Commons there was a strong opposition, consisting partly of avowed Republicans, and partly of concealed Royalists: but a large and steady majority appeared to be favourable to the plan of reviving the old civil constitution under a new dynasty." (Mac. H. E. i. p. 142.)

"But Mr. Pendennis wanted to see him, and begged him, with a smile, to enter: whereupon Mr. Foker took off the embroidered tarboosh or fez . . . and advanced, bowing to the gentlemen and smiling on them graciously." (Pendennis, ch. xiii.)

"How she became Madame Fribsby, nobody knows: she left Clavering to go to a milliner's in London as Miss Fribsby. " (Ib. ch. xvi.)

It is sometimes difficult to decide whether a Colon or a Full Stop is more appropriate: but the Colon is preferable whenever the succeeding member is closely connected with the former one.

A Colon is used before a quotation; often with a dash :—

* Reprinted from the Author's School Manual of English Grammar.'

N

"The most sensible thing said in the House of Commons, on this subject, came from Sir William Coventry :- Our ancestors never did draw a line to circumscribe prerogative and Ilberty."" Mac. H. E. i. p. 223.)

§ 216. A SEMICOLON marks a less complete pause than a colon. It is used

(1) After a member of a sentence which, while it makes a complete sense by itself, is yet closely connected with a succeeding one, the connection being usually marked by a Conjunction: as

"In this morass the Roman army, after an ineffectual struggle, was irrecoverably lost; nor could the body of the emperor ever be found." (Gibbon, ch. x.)

"The conflict was terrible; [for] it was the combat of despair against grief and rage." (Ib.)

"His pride was flattered by the applause of the senate; and medals are still extant, representing him with the name and attributes of Hercules the Victor and of Mars the Avenger." (lb.)

"The pike had been gradually giving place to the musket; and, at the close of the reign of Charles the Second, most of his foot were musketeers." (Mac. H. E. i. 297.)

(2) Between the co-ordinate members of a period combining a number of statements:

"The Samaritans were condemned; the leaders of the insurrection adjudged to death; the rest of the people expelled and interdicted from settling again in Naplous; and, by a strange edict, the Samaritans were no longer to inherit the property of their fathers." (Milm. H. of Jews, iii. 65.)

"The first line of the Goths at length gave way in disorder; the second advancing to sustain it shared its fate; and the third only remained entire, prepared to dispute the passage of the morass, which was imprudently attempted by the presumption of the enemy." (Gibbon, ch. x.)

"He attended his beloved master during the trial; undertook to plead his cause; indeed, began a speech which the violence of the judges would not allow him to continue; and pressed his master to accept a sum of money sufficient to purchase his life." (Lewes, Plato.)

§ 217. A COMMA is the slightest pause of all. It serves to mark off members of a sentence which do not make a complete sense of themselves. A comma is used

(1) Before and after all phrases and sentences enlarging the Subject or other Noun: as

"His father, the Marquess of Argyle, had been the head of the Scotch Covenanters." (Mac. H. E. i. 537.) "The court, sick of the importunities of two parties, at length relieved itself from trouble by dictating a compromise." (b. 188.)

...

"Dunkirk, won by Cliver from Spain, was sold to Lewis the Fourteenth, king of France." (lb. 191.)

Faith is one of these [words], which was formed upon the French foi, Anglicised foy." (Earle, p. 267.)

"The aristocracy, which was held in great honour by the middle class and by the populace, had put itself at the head of the movement against Charles the First . . ." (Mac. H. E. i. 187.)

3

But when a Relative sentence is merely defining and restrictive (§ 233), commas are not used: a36

"The design was disapproved by every Scotchman whose judgment was entitled to respect." (Ib. 185.)

(2) When two or more Adverbs or Adverbial phrases come together, to mark off one from the other: as

"Then, at length, tardy justice was done to the memory of Oliver." (Ib. 192.) "Lastly, in our own days, Mr. Finlaison, an actuary of eminent skill, subjected the ancient parochial registers of marriages, baptisms, and burials, to all the tests which the modern improvements in statistical science enabled him to apply." (Ib. 284.)

(3) Before and after any single Adverbial phrase when let into the body of a sentence and brought before the Verb to which it refers: as

"Such inquiry, according to him, was out of their province." (Ib. 196.)

"But, both in public and in the closet, he, on every occasion, expressed his concern that gentlemen so sincerely attached to monarchy should unadvisedly encroach on the prerogative of the monarch." (16.)

"Everywhere it was remembered how, when he ruled, all foreign powers had trembled at the name of England." (Ib. 193.)

"But, though she had rivals on the sea, she had not yet a superior." (Ib. 201.)

But a comma is not needed when the Adverbial comes at the end of the sentence: as

"The Chevalier was pacing down below in the hall of the inn when Pen descended from the drawing-room." (Pendennis, ch. xxvii.)

"I will keep what I had to say till you come home." (Ib.)

The same rule is usually observed in the case of the Conjunctions therefore, however: as,

"The Long Parliament, however, had passed ordinances which had made a complete revolution in church government," (Mac. H. E. i. 158.)

"These ordinances, therefore, were never carried into full execution." (Ib. 159.)

(4) When more than two Nouns or other words are brought together in the same connection, a comma is placed after each one excepting the last: as

"Everywhere men magnified his valour, genius, and patriotism." (b. 193. "And after three days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother.

(Matt. xvii. 1.)

(C. Prayer.)

"To love, honour, and succour my father and mother..." (Catechism.) "With an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart Similarly, when words are arranged in pairs, each connected together by and, a comma is used after each pair.

that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations." (C. Prayer.)

Temperance and abstinence, faith and devotion, are in themselves[,] perhaps[,] as Laudable as any other virtues." (Spect. No. 243.)

(5) After various impersonal phrases followed by a Nounsentence which is the real Subject: as