Young as he was, the gentleman earned the approbation of his friends, and at length became M.D., F.R.S., F.A.S. (Rule III. and first of Remark a.)

Constantine the Great was advanced to the sole dominion of the Roman world, A.D. 325, and soon after openly professed the Christian faith. (Rule III.; Rule IV., last portion of Remark b.)

LECTURE II.-The later Literature of the Greeks. Their Sophists and Philosophers. The Alexandrian Age

(Rule II. and Remark a.)

29

Thomas Campbell wrote some beautiful lines on the Scottish king, James IV., who fell at the battle of Flodden. (Rule III.; and Remark a, first portion.)

The sentiments which chivalry inspired had a wonderful influ ence on manners and conduct during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. (Remark e, under Rule III.)

"Why so crusty, good sir?"-"Zounds!" cries Will, in a taking,
"Who wouldn't be crusty with half a year's baking?"

(Remark g, under Kule III.)

There are only two common principles on which every work of imagination must more or less proceed, 1st, On the expression of those feelings which are common to all men of elevated thinking; and, 2d, On those patriotic feelings and associations peculiar to the people in whose language it is composed, and on whom it is to exert its nearest and most powerful influence. (Remark e, under Rule III.)

INTRODUCTION. 1. The Early Years of Elizabeth's Reign; Summary of their Literature. 2. Literary Greatness of the next Eighty Years; Division into Three Eras. REIGN OF ELIZABETH FROM 1580.-3. Social Character of the Time; its Religious Aspect; Effects on Literature.-4. Minor Elizabethan Writers; their Literary Importance; the Three Great Names. (Rule II. and Remark b.)

The following are some of the marble statues, in the Museum of Naples, which most impressed me:

Psyche; a fragment, but full of feeling, grace, and beauty; by some, ascribed to Praxiteles.

A bust of Caracalla, animated and lifelike.

Two equestrian statues of Balbus and his son, found at Herculaneum; simple, noble, and dignified.

A beautiful bas-relief of Dædalus and Icarus.

A fine head of Alexander.

(Kule II.)

BESIDES the Comma, the Semicolon, the Colon, and
the Period, which are properly regarded as the most
essential points in bringing out the sense of a written
or printed composition, there are a few other marks,
partly grammatical and partly rhetorical, well deserv-
ing the attention of those who desire to have their
writings, whether of an epistolary or of a more elabo-
rate nature, easily understood:

1. The NOTE OF INTERROGATION
2. The NOTE OF EXCLAMATION

3. The MARKS OF PARENTHESIS
4. The DASH.

In classifying these points as both grammatical and rhetorical, we mean to imply, not that those which have come under consideration afford no facilities in delivery, but that the Marks of Interrogation, Excíamation, and Parenthesis, and the Dash, have a more direct bearing on that art. They are rhetorical, in proportion to the degree in which they exhibit the force and intensity of a style that is rhetorical in its structure; but they are also grammatical, because they often serve to indicate, in connection with other marks, the nature, construction, and sense of the passages in which they occur.

SECT. I. — THE NOTES OF INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION.

1. The NOTE OF INTERROGATION [?] shows that a question is denoted by the words to which it is annexed.

2. The NOTE OF EXCLAMATION [!] indicates passion or emotion.

REMARKS.

a. The notes of interrogation and exclamation do not mark the relative pauses of the voice; occupying, as they do, sometimes the place of the comma or the semicolon, and sometimes that of the colon or the period. But they are usually put at the end of sentences, and are equivalent to a full point; requiring, therefore, in the majority of instances, the word that follows to begin with a capital letter, as after the period.

b. In some cases, it is difficult to distinguish the difference between an interrogative and an exclamatory sentence. As a general rule, however, it may be observed, that after words in which an answer is implied, or to which one is expected to be given, the note of interrogation is added; and after those, though apparently denoting inquiry, where no answer is involved or intended, the note of exclamation is the proper and distinctive mark. If the writer of such passages has a clear conception of his own meaning, he can be at no loss which of the points should be used; but if the language is ambiguous, and requires to be punctuated by a printer or an editor, either of the marks may, under the circumstances, be regarded as admissible.

c. In treating of the interrogative and exclamative marks, writers on punctuation, laying too much stress on the rhetorical character of these points, are wont to say that they cause an elevation of the voice. But, though it must be acknowledged that they assist much in the proper delivery of the passages in which they occur, it will

not be denied that this results only from a knowledge of a writer's meaning, and from the kind of phraseology which he employs. That the notes of interrogation and exclamation have far less to do with the inflections of the voice than is commonly imagined, will be fully apparent from the following sentences, some of which require a rise, and others a fall, in their pronunciation: "Shall we in your person crown' the author of the public calamities, cr shall we destroy him?"-"What is the happiness that this world can give? Can it defend us from disasters'?"-"Oh that these lips had language!"-"How mysterious are the ways of Providence!"

RULE I.

Expressions in the Form of Questions.

An interrogative mark is placed at the termination of every question, whether it requires an answer, or, though in its nature assertive, is put, for the sake of emphasis, in an interrogative form.

EXAMPLES.

1. Why, for so many a year, has the poet or the philosopher wandered amid the fragments of Athens or of Rome; and paused, with strange and kindling feelings, amid their broken columns, their mouldering temples, their deserted plains? It is because their day of glory is past.

2. How can he exalt his thoughts to any thing great or noble who only believes, that, after a short term on the stage of existence, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for ever?

REMARK S.

a. The first of these passages exemplifies a sentence expressive of direct inquiry; the second, one that is assertive in its meaning, but interrogative in its structure or form.

b. The mark of interrogation should not be used when it is only affirmed that a question has been asked, and the expression denoting inquiry is put in any other shape than that of a direct question; as, "I was asked if I would stop for dinner." If put in the interrogative form, this sentence would be read and punctuated according to the rule: "I was asked, 'Will you stop for dinner?""

c. In some instances, however, a question may be assertive in its form, but interrogative in its sense; as, "You will stop for dinner?" In order to distinguish a sentence of this kind from one that is affirmative both in form and signification, it is obvious that the note of interrogation should be employed.

d. It is a common error, both with writers and printers, to make one interrogative mark represent several successive questions, which, though connected in sense, are in construction distinct and separate; and to substitute semicolons or dashes where notes of interrogation should be used. In the following passage, therefore, each question should be distinguished by its appropriate mark, and not by dashes, which are used in the original: "What is civilization? Where is it? What does it consist in? By what is it excluded? Where does it commence? Where does it end? By what sign is it

known? How is it defined? In short, what does it mean?"

e. When, however, the expressions denoting inquiry cannot be separated, and read alone, without materially injuring the sense, one mark of interrogation, placed at the end of all the questions, will be sufficient; as, "Ah! whither now are fled those dreams of greatness; those busy, bustling days; those gay-spent, festive nights; those veering thoughts, lost between good and ill, that shared thy life?"

f. When sentences or expressions which were affirmative when spoken or originally written are quoted by a writer in the form of a question, the interrogative point should be put after the marks of quotation [""], and not before them; as,

"The passing crowd" is a phrase coined in the spirit of indifference. Yet, to a man of what Plato calls "universal sympathies," and even to the plain, ordinary denizens of this world, what can be more interesting than "the passing crowd"?

But, for the sake of neatness, any of the four grammatical points, when required, should be put before the quotation-marks, as they are not likely to give a false meaning to the words cited.

g. The interrogative mark should be inserted immediately after a question which formally introduces a remark or a quotation; as, "Who will not cherish the sentiment contained in the following words of Washington? The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is, in some degree, a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.'"