er! Be ye blotted from my mind forever! He is fallen! The foe is gone! We meet again this night! They are gone togethThat was well! So said the spectre! I appeal to history! The war is actually begun! The throne is in danger! Talk of hypocrisy after this! She murmured in a hollow voice! I shudder to see thee approach my couch! Never shall they return! The serenest beam of your glory is extinguished in the tomb! Pour into their hearts the spirit of departed heroes! There stands the mighty Mansfield! Our brethren are already in the field! May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth! May I be the last victim sacrificed to the furious spirit of party! God grant to those few friends courage to declare themselves in opposition to your formidable enemies! The shaft of fate Strikes the devoted victim to the ground! Lo! unveiled The scene of those dark ages! The starless grave shall shine The portal of eternal day! The might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, It gives birth To sacred thought in souls of worth! The call of each sword upon liberty's aid, Shall be written in gore on the steel of its blade! Far along, From peak to peak, the rattling crags among, REMARK.-The declarative exclamatory sentence is not always entire: it is often a mere fragment, the complement of which must be supplied, perhaps inferred, from the context: e. g. Impossible! Beautiful! Happy day! What is life? A shadow! Did you, sir, throw up a black crow? Not I! Cruel fortune! Delusive hopes! Piercing thought! This to me! The complete sentence in each of these cases is as follows: It is impossible! This is a happy day! That is beautiful! Life is a shadow! I did not throw up a plack crow! This is a cruel fortune! These are delusive hopes! It is a piercing thought! This is said to me! 2. INTERROGATIVE; which are so called, because they assume interrogative forms. They are definite, indefinite, and indirect. 1. THE DEFINITE. Examples. Art thou my father! Is he dead! Was it not terrible! Are such things possible! Darest thou provoke me, insolent! Could he think of it in such circumstances! Has it come to this! Were they so infatuated! Am I, with undoubted right on my side, to be thus despoiled! Will this unhappy contest, already quite too protracted for the reputation of the parties, never come to an end! Can it be possible! Is that little insignificant creature the cause of all this turmoil ! This sentence appears for the most part in fragments. I subjoin numerous examples. They are delivered precisely as when complete. Examples. Liberty! It is for noble minds.-I am charged with being an emissary of France. An emissary of France!-Sell my country's independence to France! And for what -Not inferior to this was the wisdom of him who resolved to shear the wolf. Shear a wolf!-As their parents are, so are they destined to become. Destined!-Is a man possessed of talents adequate to the occasion? Adequate !-To send forth the merciless cannibal thirsting for blood! Against whom? Mr. H. And why were they overworked pray ! Mr. H. To carry water! And what were they carrying water for ! Stew. Sure, sir, to put out the fire. Mr. H. Stew. ground. Fire! What fire! Oh, sir, your father's house is burnt down to the Mr. H. My father's house burned down! And how came it set on fire ! Stew. I think, sir, it must have been the torches. Mr. H. Torches ! What torches ! Stew. At your mother's funeral. Mr. H. My mother dead! Thou here! And have not prison gloom, 2. THE INDEFINITE. Examples. What sounds these are! What a scene is this! How beautiful it appears! How he glares! What an honorable testimony this from a vanquished adversary! What a noble idea doth it give of that wonderful orator's action! With what force, in particular, does he maintain the doctrines of grace! With what feelings must an intelligent heathen approach his final catastrophe! Oh why am I thus! Where could my thoughts have been! How wretched the condition of that infatuated man! How pleasing is the prospect! What a deal of pains for little profit! How great the command over his passions! What an affecting gracefulness in his instructions! Who ever thought In such a homely piece of stuff, to see The mighty senate's tool! What bare-faced shifting! What real fierceness could grow tame so soon! Fragmentary indefinite exclamations are common; but there is too little variety in them to require much illustration. Examples. Who! When! What! Where! Which! Why!--For A mess of pottage.-How! To whom ! How beauWhat greatness of conception! How pale! impertinence! How shameful! What a spectacle ! what! tiful! What Simple indefinite exclamations, like simple indefinite interrogatives, frequently call for a repetition of a previous declaration or question either not understood, or of such an extraordinary character as to appear improbable if literally understood · in which case their delivery is in like manner reversed. Generally, however, such exclamations consist merely of interrogative pronouns and adverbs, as, for the most part, in the examples subjoined. Examples. How! Will you suffer your glory to be sullied?—What! Shall we be told that the exasperated feelings of a people were exerted?-What motive, then, could have such influence in their bosom ! What motive! That which nature, the common parent, plants in the bosom of men.-Not inferior to this was the wisdom of him who resolved to shear a wolf. What! Shear a wolf? But how, and by what means! When all the world were out to play. 3. THE INDIRECT. 1. Examples of the first kind. Then You will not go there! He was not a hypocrite! we shall not see him pass by with chains on his legs! He went! Thou wert unarmed! Thou hearest him deny the atrocious deed! You have not read it, then! Thou art not wont to join in idle tales! You never met the like but once! You did not see him, then! They were all present in that hour! Ye will not murder him! Then saw you not his face! You would not screen a traitor from the law! Thou wouldst not have me make a trial of my skill upon my child! You witnessed the horrid spectacle! They saw nothing in that transaction to disgrace them forever! You left them on the verge of the precipice! These sentences, like the interrogatives from which they are derived, are often fragmentary; and when so employed, it is difficult to distinguish them from simple declarative and simple definite interrogative exclamations. If, however, the emotion be either purely or in part that of contempt, scorn, or disgust, the fragment, it is pretty certain, is indirect. Examples. Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame, Wal. Alasco, this is wild and mutinous : An outrage, marking deep and settled spleen Alas. Authority! Show me authority in honor's garb, And I will down upon the humblest knee, Val. Indeed, when you turned justice into rigor, Van. To moderate! What would you moderate My indignation? Val. Did not the Romans civilize you? Van. No. Val. We found you naked. Van. And you found us free. Val. Would you be temperate once and hear me out. A frugal, hardy people, like the Britons, 2. Examples of the second kind Let me not Give us this Spare him! Grant me this favor for once! perish in this horrid manner! Let me live! day our daily bread! For heaven's sake, permit me to go with you! The rare occurrence of this exclamation, in books, must be my apology for so few examples. The interrogative is very scarce, but the exclamation is still more so. 3. Examples of the third kind. You are surely mistaken in that supposition! She will certainly get lost in this wilderness of streets! You surely will not deprive me of my only pleasure in life! Verily, it is a wonderful thing! Surely I have seen you in very different circumstances! Surely it is unnecessary for a man to make a fool of himself to pass for a man of fashion! How is this, my father! You are not angry, sure! What have I done! 3. COMPELLATIVE. These are single names, used in the direct address.* Delivered properly with the bend. Examples. 1. Of simple compellatives not repeated. Gentlemen', I rise to address you on one of the most interesting subjects that can engage the human mind. Ladies', the consequence of such a step on your fame and happiness would be too serious to be lightly incurred. Husbands', love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church. Children', obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ. * "We make use of speech only to communicate our thoughts to others; and consequently our language is always addressed to some one. That those to whom we speak, may know that we are addressing them, we call upon them, either by name, or some equivalent expression, proper to fix their attention. Thus: I say, Victor, you are not attentive: Lord! I am thy creature: Sir, are you my friend? These words Victor,' 'Lord,' 'Sir,' make no part of the proposition. I shall call this part of speech a Compellative, from a Latin word which signifies 'to address, to accost.'" (DE SACY. Principles of General Grammar.) |