Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/301

 feeble. He aimed only to make the deepest and most efficient impression; and he employed for this purpose, the plainest, the fewest, and the most emphatic words."--Ib., p. 68.

"The high eloquence which I have last mentioned, is always the offspring of passion. A man actuated by a strong passion, becomes much greater than he is at other times. He is conscious of more strength and force; he utters greater sentiments, conceives higher designs, and executes them with a boldness and felicity, of which, on other occasions, he could not think himself capable."--Blair's Rhet., p. 236.

"His words bore sterling weight, nervous and strong,   In manly tides of sense they roll'd along."--Churchill.

"To make the humble proud, the proud submiss,   Wiser the wisest, and the brave more brave."--W. S. Landor.

LESSON II.--PARSING.

"I am satisfied that in this, as in all cases, it is best, safest, as well as most right and honorable, to speak freely and plainly."--Channing's Letter to Clay, p. 4.

"The gospel, when preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, through the wonder-working power of God, can make the proud humble, the selfish disinterested, the worldly heavenly, the sensual pure."--''Christian Experience'', p. 399.

"I am so much the better, as I am the liker[184] the best; and so much the holier, as I am more conformable to the holiest, or rather to Him who is holiness itself."--''Bp. Beneridge''.

"Whether any thing in Christianity appears to them probable, or improbable; consistent, or inconsistent; agreeable to what they should have expected, or the contrary; wise and good, or ridiculous and useless; is perfectly irrelevant."--M'Ilvaine's Evidences, p. 523.

"God's providence is higher, and deeper, and larger, and stronger, than all the skill of his adversaries; and his pleasure shall be accomplished in their overthrow, except they repent and become his friends."--Cox, on Christianity, p. 445.

"A just relish of what is beautiful, proper, elegant, and ornamental, in writing or painting, in architecture or gardening, is a fine preparation for the same just relish of these qualities in character and behaviour. To the man who has acquired a taste so acute and accomplished, every action wrong or improper must be highly disgustful: if, in any instance, the overbearing power of passion sway him from his duty, he returns to it with redoubled resolution never to be swayed a second time."--''Kames, Elements of Criticism'', Vol. i, p. 25.

"In grave Quintilian's copious work, we find   The justest rules and clearest method join'd."--Pope, on Crit.

LESSON III.--PARSING.

"There are several sorts of scandalous tempers; some malicious, and some effeminate; others obstinate, brutish, and savage. Some humours are childish and silly; some, false, and others, scurrilous; some, mercenary, and some, tyrannical."--Collier's Antoninus, p. 52.

"Words are obviously voluntary signs: and they are also arbitrary; excepting a few simple sounds expressive of certain internal emotions, which sounds being the same in all languages, must be the work of nature: thus the unpremeditated tones of admiration are the same in all men."--Kames, Elements of Crit., i, 347.

"A stately and majestic air requires sumptuous apparel, which ought not to be gaudy, nor crowded with little ornaments. A woman of consummate beauty can bear to be highly adorned, and yet shows best in a plain dress."--Ib., p. 279. "Of all external objects a graceful person is the most agreeable. But in vain will a person attempt to be graceful, who is deficient in amiable qualities."--Ib., p. 299.