ORAL EXERCISES.

State the principles in the seventh Rule (p. 57), and show how they may be applied to the sentences that follow:

Avoid rudeness of manners, which must hurt the feelings of others.
Every good man must love the country in which he was born.
The child was much attached to Jane, who loved him dearly.
Those who are wealthy have great influence over others.
Virtue is that to which the man himself contributes.

What is more wonderful than the human eye, that sees all around?
The subject should be held up in every light of which it is capable.
Death is the season which brings our affections to the test.
Turn not back from the good path on which you have entered.
Cherish true patriotism, which has its root in benevolence.
Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.
Christianity is a religion whose origin is unquestionably divine.
He who reads in a proper spirit can scarcely read too much.
War is a tremendous evil, to which many have unhappily resorted.

Mention the reasons, given in the Remarks (pp. 57–60), for inserting or omitting commas in such sentences as the following:

Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised above his fellows, spake. The eye, that sees all things, sees not itself.

Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days.

The credulity which has faith in goodness is a sign of goodness.
He that is slow to anger is better and nobler than the mighty.
Where is the philosopher, the man, who would thus live and die?
He questioned me of the battles, sieges, fortunes, that I have passed.
The large book, which I bought years ago, has not yet been read.
No faculty lives within us which the soul can spare.
Nothing is in vain that rouses the mind to thought and reflection.
There is a craving for enjoyment, which cannot be destroyed in man
William left the city of New York, where he was doing well.

Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony.

Adopt a plan of life founded on religion and virtue.

A great mind gazeth on the sun, glorying in its brightness.

Genius addresses the consciousness existing in all men.

Physical science, separate from morals, parts with its chief dignity.
Socrates was one of the greatest sages the world ever saw.
Such as are careless of themselves are seldom mindful of others.

EXERCISE TO BE WRITTEN.

Punctuate, or leave unpointed, the following sentences, as required by the preceding Rule and Remarks (pp. 57-60):

We should trace in all events the wisdom and benevolence of God from whom descendeth every good and perfect gift. (Rule, § I.)

We read, with a reverential love, of men devoting themselves to the interests of humanity. (Last of Remark k.)

The lever which moves the world of mind is emphatically the printing-press. (Rule, § II.; and Remark c.)

Youth is introductory to manhood to which it is a state of preparation. (Rule, § 1.)

To the Father of lights in whom there is no darkness are we indebted for all the blessings we enjoy. (Rule, § I.; and Rem. b, n.) There was nothing in the mind of Jesus of which you have not the principle and the capacity in yourself. (Remark h.)

Some countries are infested with bands of robbers who attack travellers in the open day. (Rule, § 1.)

Set at nought the grosser pleasures of sense whereof others are slaves. (Remark i, compared with h.)

There is a philosophic spirit which is far more valuable than any limited acquirements of philosophy. (Rule, § 11.)

The entrance on a new course awakens new energies and powers which rapidly unfold into life and vigor. (Rule, § 1.)

Science and Poetry alike recognizing the order and the beauty of the universe are alike handmaids of Devotion. (Remark m.)

The brightest part of thy life is nothing but a flower which withers almost as soon as it has blown. (Rule, § 1.)

Columbus was sent to the university of Padua where he acquired such knowledge as was then taught. (Remarks i, o.)

Does the sentiment of patriotism reign in the common soldier who hires himself to be shot at for a few cents a day? (Rule, § 1.)

A government directing itself resolutely and steadily to the general good becomes a minister of virtue. (Remark m.)

May we be living flowers in those everlasting gardens of the Lord where angels and seraphs are the guardians! (Remarks i and g.) What are the moral influences of poverty its influences on character which deserve our chief attention? (Remark d.)

The Greeks may well boast of having produced a Euclid whose works are esteemed even by the profoundest mathematicians in modern times. (Rule, § I.)

Go not from the world with the joyless consciousness of those to whom the fountains of its purest bliss have been sealed. (Rule, § II.) You may treat life as a problem which has to be wrought out to a successful result. (Rule, § 1.)

There is no charm in the female sex which can supply the place of virtue. (Rule, § II.; and Remark f.)

Aid in reforming those social abuses the existence of which casts such a gloom and blight on the happiness of all. (Last of Rem. h.) The benefit arising to us from an enlarged understanding cannot well be overrated. (Last of Remark k.)

The moral character is modified in some degree by the tastes and habits of feeling imbibed from the situation in which men are placed. (Remark j; and Rule, § 11.)

A good reader will often pause where no grammarian would insert a point; and, on the other hand, he will sometimes neglect the commas he finds inserted by the writer. (Remarks i and n.)

The memory of the eyes that hung over a man in infancy and childhood will haunt him through all his after-life. (Rule, § 11.; and Remark c.)

Macpherson who has given us some highly original images spoils half his work by forgetting that his bard was a Gaul. (Rule, § I.; and Remark b.

The superior wisdom of the present day consists in the better knowledge derived from experience of the limits of our faculties. (Remark 1, last portion.)

Antiquity would have raised altars to that vast and mighty genius who, for the advantage of human kind, could tame the rage of thunder and of despotism. (Remark e.)

He only is filled with the true spirit of devotion who recognizes, in the outward forms of beauty, the mind of Him who has chosen this mode of intercourse with his trustful and adoring offspring. (Remark f; and Rule, § II.)

A peace worth all the specious goods which this world has at its disposal will ever be found in a simple and contented mind, in an affectionate heart, and in a pure and honorable life. (Last of Remark 1; and Rule, § II.)

That the memories of those most justly venerable and dear should throng around us with a new vitality, as life's evening draws on, is scarcely reconcilable with the supposition, that the spirit of which such remembrances are the most precious possession is itself on the point of expiring for ever. (Rem.j, lines 8-11; and h, first portiou.)

RULE VIII.

Parenthetical Phrases and Clauses.

Expressions of a parenthetical or intermediate nature are separated from the context by commas.

EXAMPLES.

1. The sun, with all its attendant planets, is but a very little part of the grand machine of the universe.

2. Books, regarded merely as a gratification, are worth more than all the luxuries on earth.

8. The man of refinement and sensibility finds himself, as it were, in accordance with universal nature.

4. A man of more than ordinary intellectual vigor may, for want of the faculty of expression, be a cipher in society.

REMARKS.

a. In punctuation there is perhaps no rule so well adapted as this for showing the construction and sense of passages, and yet none seems to be less understood or observed by writers and printers. To prevent, therefore, any mistake, on the part of the pupil, as to the meaning of a parenthetical phrase or clause, and to enable him to insert the right points by distinguishing it with some degree of accuracy from the parenthesis, from which it derives its name, we may have to anticipate a little what will be laid down and illustrated in the next chapter.

b. A parenthesis and a parenthetical expression are alike in this respect, that each is a sentence, or a part of a sentence, enclosed within another. But the difference between these two kinds of intermediate sentences or phrases is, that parentheses are so used as to be susceptible of omission, without affecting either the sense or the construction of the main passage; while parenthetical expressions cannot be omitted, without diminishing the force or changing the import of that by which they are preceded and followed. The following examples will illustrate the difference spoken of, and at the same time exhibit the proper modes of punctuation:

1. It is probable that every planet (as the Creator has made nothing in vain) is inhabited.

2. The benevolent and pious man, even when persecuted, is, on the whole, a happy man.

The first of these sentences exemplifies the parenthesis, with its appropriate marks; the second, such expressions as are merely parenthetical or intermediate. In the former sentence, the main sentiment would be perfect, both as to its sense and the construction of the language, if the intermediate clause were thrown out from its present place; in the latter, the omission of the phrases between the commas even when persecuted," and "on the whole ” — would sensibly affect the meaning intended to be conveyed. For the sake of distinction and convenience, this easy kind of parenthesis loses the more generic name, and is commonly termed a parenthetical expression.

c. Many short expressions which were formerly enclosed within marks of parenthesis, and which, on account of their construction differing from that of the other portions of the sentence, may properly be called parentheses, are now usually pointed off by commas; as, "Study, I beseech you, to store your minds with the exquisite learning of former ages." "Thirst for glory,' says a great writer, 'is often founded on ambition and vanity.'' As these short expressions interfere but slightly with the unity of thought conveyed in the context, commas are preferable to the parenthetical marks.

d. Many writers are accustomed to omit the comina, in all cases, after a conjunction; but it is evident, that, when a word of this or any other part of speech is divided by a phrase or clause from the portion of the sentence to which it belongs, such intervening expression should have a comma before as well as after it, as in the following example: "Agamemnon still lives before us in the 'tale of Troy divine;' but, were not his name embalmed in that imperishable song, there would not now be a wreck of it."

e. Short phrases of a parenthetical kind, when closely united in sense to the context, and particularly when introduced into what is itself parenthetical, should be left unpointed; as, "Poesy can portray with much energy the excesses of the passions." This is further exemplified in the intermediate clause of the remark just made, "when closely united in sense to the context;" in which the Italicized words partake somewhat of the nature of a parenthetic phrase, but are better read in union with the words that precede and follow them.

f. Conjunctions, adverbs or adverbial phrases, words or expressions in a direct address, and absolute or other phrases, are sometimes used parenthetically; but, occurring as they do in a variety of ways, their punctuation will be best explained under different rules.