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ably high. And what of St. Peter's'? what of the dome'? Well it's not badly scooped out/ but there's nothing in it. Did I go up Vesuvius'? Yes I was taken up. What did I see? I saw it smoke'. Did I look in the crater? Yes I did but there was nothing in it`. What's the bay'? Inferior to Dublin'. What's the Campagna'? A swamp'. What's Greece'? A morass'. Athens'? A bad Edinboro'. Egypt'? A desert. Pyramids'? Sugar loaves on an extensive scale. Charles Mathews.

(85.) OBEDIENCE.

I hear much of "obedience""-how that the kindred virtues are prescribed and exemplified by Jesuitism'; the truth of which'/ and the merit of which'/ far be it from me to deny'. Obedience'/ a virtue universally forgotten in these days/ will have to become universally known again. Obedience is good' and indispensable'; but if it be obedience to what is wrong' and false there is no name for such a depth of human cowardice and calamity/ spurned everlastingly by the gods'. Loyalty! Will you be loyal to Beelzebub'? Will you make "a covenant with death' and hell"? I will not be loyal to Beelzebub'; anything and everything is venial to that.-Carlyle.

(86.) THE BETTER LAND.

"I hear thee speak of a better land:
Thou call'st its children a happy band;
Mother! Oh where is that radiant shore?
Shall we not seek it/ and weep no more?
Is it/ where the flower of the orange blows/
And the fire-flies dance through the myrtle-boughs?"
"Not there not there/ my child!"

"Is it/ where the feathery palm-trees rise/
And the date grows ripe under sunny skies?
Or/ midst the green islands of glittering seas/
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze;
And strange/ bright birds/ on their starry wings/
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?"
"Not there/ not there/ my child!"

"Is it far away/ in some region old/

Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold?

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Where the burning rays of the ruby shine;
And the diamond lights up the secret mine;
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand?
Is it there/ sweet mother/ that better land?"
"Not there/ not there/ my child!"

Eye hath not seen it/ my gentle boy!
Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy!
Dreams cannot picture a world so fair!
Sorrow and death may not enter there!
Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom:
For beyond the clouds/ and beyond the tomb/
It is there/ it is there/ my child!"-Mrs. Hemans.

(87.) THE ORATOR.

At the furthest table/ nearest the fire/ with his face towards the door at the bottom of the room/ sat a stoutish man of about forty/ whose short/ stiff/ black hair curled closely round a broad high forehead/ and a face to which something besides water and exercise had communicated a rather inflamed appearance. He was smoking a cigar with his eyes fixed on the ceiling/ and had that confident oracular air which marked him as the leading politician/ general authority/ and universal anecdote-relater/ of the place. "You are a slave/" said the red-faced man/ “and the most pitiable of all slaves. A willing slave/ resigning the dearest birthright of your children, -neglecting the sacred call of Liberty-who/ standing imploringly before you/ appeals to the warmest feelings of your heart/ and points to your helpless infants/ but in vain. What is a man'? What is an Englishman'? Is he to be trampled upon by every oppressor'? Is he to be knocked down at everybody's bidding? What's freedom'? Not a standing army'. What's a standing army? Not freedom'. What's general happiness'? Not universal misery'. Liberty is not the window-tax/ is it'? The Lords are not the Commons/ are they'?” And the red-faced man/ gradually bursting into a radiating sentence/ in which such adjectives as "dastardly" "oppressive/" "violent" and "sanguinary/" formed the most conspicuous words/knocked his hat indignantly over his eyes/ left the room/ and slammed the door after him.-Dickens.

EXERCISE ON THE CIRCUMFLEX.

The circumflex is a blending of the rising and falling inflection on the same word, and is chiefly used in irony.

(88.) CASSIUS INSTIGATING BRUTUS.

Ye gods! it doth amaze me/ a man of such a feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world/ and bear the palm alone'. Why/man/ he doth bestride the narrow world/ like a Colossus; and we/ petty men/ walk under his huge legs/ and peep about/ to find ourselves dishonourable graves. Men/ at some time/ are masters of their fates: the fault/ dear Brutus/ is not in our st'ars/ but in ourselv'es/ that we are underlings. Brutus-and Cæsar! What should be in that Cæsar? Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together; yours is as fair a name; sound them; it doth become the mouth as well. weigh them; it is as heavy: conjure with them; Brutus will start a spirit/ as soon as Cæsar.

Now/ in the names of all the gods at once/ upon what meats doth this our Cæsar feed/ that he is grown so great? Age/ thou art shame'd; Rome/ thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods. When went there by an age/ since the great flood/ but it was famed with more than with one man? When could they say/ till now/ that talked of Rome/ that her wide walks encompassed but one man? Oh/ you and I have heard our fathers say there was a Brutus on'ce that would have brooked the infernal demon to keep his state in Rome/ as easily as a king!-Shakspere.

RULE VII.

Raise the voice at the end of a negative sentence; drop it at the end of an affirmative or an imperative.

EXERCISES ON RULE VII.

(89.) MERCY.

The quality of mercy is not strained'; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven' upon the place beneath'. It is twice blessed'; it blesseth him that gives' and him that takes'. 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes the throned monarch better than his throne': his sceptre shows the force of temporal power/ the attribute to awe'

and majesty' wherein doth sit the fear' and dread of kings'. But mercy is above' the sceptred sway' it is enthroned in the hearts' of kings. It is an attribute to God himself.-Shakspere.

(90.) ELECTION FOR BEADLE.

The ex-church warden rose to propose Thomas Spruggins for beadle'. He had known him long. The parish required a man that could be depended upon. He would not advert to a gentleman who had once held a high rank in the service of Her Majesty'; he would not say that that gentleman was no gentleman'; he would not assert that that man was no man'; he would not say that he was a turbulent parishioner'; he would not say that he had grossly misbehaved himself/ not only upon this' but upon all former occasions'; he would not say that he was one of those treasonable spirits who carried confusion and disorder' wherever they went'; he would not say that he had harboured in his heart envy' and hatred/ and uncharitableness'; no/ he wished to have everything comfortable and pleasant'/ and therefore he would say nothing about him'.—Dickens.

(91.) MORNING.

There is something inexpressibly fine in the calm of a clear bright April Sabbath morning. In the country everything wears an aspect of poetic beauty and spiritual holiness/ in which there is no element of austerity. At that season the earth is in the hopeful mood. All things are growing from less to more-springing and expanding/ flushing into new colours/ and becoming lovelier in form; the air purer and sweeter; the fields/ woods/ and hills more fascinating to the eye and attractive to the fancy and imagination; and the sky/ with its sea-like spaces of ineffable blue/ crossed and recrossed with all manner of fine fantasticalities of cloud/ is itself a region of divinest marvels. Interfuse all this with every kind of music/ from the almost visible twinkle of the wren's voice/ deep in a green dingle/ to the rounder and more persistent melodies of the mavis and the blackbird/ and up to the holy and passionate lyric-ripple of the lark-and the earth on a Sabbath morning will seem to the sympathetic and intelligent soul a dwelling-place as fit for immortals as for mortal men and women.-W. Freeland.

RULE VIII.

Read a parenthesis, simile, or quotation faster or slower, according to its importance.

Note.-Let the pupil mark for himself in the following Exercises which are the important parenthetical clauses.

EXERCISES ON RULE VIII.

(92.) The late Mr. Bardell (after enjoying for many years the esteem and confidence of his sovereign as one of the guardians of his royal revenues) glided almost imperceptibly from the world/ to seek elsewhere for that repose and peace which a customhouse can never afford. At this touching allusion to the decease of Mr. Bardell (who had been knocked on the head with a quart-pot in a publichouse cellar) the learned serjeant's voice faltered/ and he proceeded with some emotion.- Dickens. Shakspere had a mind reflecting ages past and present. His genius shone (like the sun) on the evil and the good, on the wise and foolish/ the monarch and the beggar. "All corners of the earth; kings/ queens/ and states; maids/ matrons; nay the secrets of the grave are hardly hid from his searching glance." He was like the genius of humanity/ changing places with all of us at pleasure. Harmless fairies "nodded to him/ and did him courtesies/" and "the nighthag bestrode the blast" at the command of his "so potent art."-Hazlitt. Nobody ever stopt him in the street to say/ with gladsome look: "My dear Scrooge/ how are you; when will you come to see me?" No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle; no children asked him what it was o'clock; no man or woman/ ever once in his life/ inquired the way to such and such a place of Scrooge. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him; and/ when they saw him coming on/ would tug their owners into doorways and up courts/ and then wag their tails as though they said: "No eye at all is better than an evil eye/ dark master."Dickens.

(93.) SOCIETY.

As we look on the world which man has added to that which came from the hand of its Maker/ we are struck with the variety of its objects/ and the contradiction between them. There are institutions to prevent crime; institutions that of necessity perpetuate crime. Thus we see palaces and hovels; jails and asylums for the weak/ arsenals and churches/ huddled together in the strangest and most

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