dance on mankind, for that commendation at which he is always aiming, he endeavours to insure their admiration, although he excite, at the same time, their contempt. The proud man, on the contrary, disdains even commendation as a favour, but claims it as a debt, and demands respect as an homage to which he is entitled. Reverence is not a prize which he must win, but a property which it is injustice to withhold from him. The vain are objects of ridicule, but hot of detestation. The proud are both contemptible and odious.'

To remark, observe. We remark, in the way of attention, in order to remember; we observe, in the way of examination, in order to judge. A traveller remarks the most striking objects he sees; a general observes all the motions of his enemy.

Surprised, astonished, amazed, confounded.-I am surprised at what is new or unexpected; I am astonished at what is vast or great; I am amazed at what is incomprehensible; I am confounded by what is shocking or terrible.

Tranquillity, peace, calm.---Tranquillity respects a situation free from trouble, considered in itself; peace, the same situation with respect to any causes that might interrupt it; calm, with respect to a disturbed

• Sermons by William Laurence Brown, D. D. Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen. Edinb. 1803, 8vo.-In the essential qualities of originalty and energy, these sermons are greatly superior to Dr. Blair's. The fourth of them, "On the Nature, the Causes, and the Effects, of Indifference with regard to Religion,” I

consider as the best discourse which I have ever read.

situation

situation going before, or succeeding it. A good man enjoys tranquillity in himself; peace with others; and calm after the storm.

Wisdom, prudence. - Wisdom leads us to speak and act with propriety. Prudence prevents our speaking or acting improperly. A wise man employs the most proper means for success; a prudent man the safest means to avoid being brought into danger.

With, by.-Both these particles express the con-nexion between some instrument, or means of effecting an end, and the agent who employs that instrument or those means: with expresses a more close and immediate connexion; by a more remote one. The proper distinction in the use of these particles is elegantly marked in a passage of Dr. Robertson's History of Scotland. When one of the old Scottish kings was making an inquiry into the tenure by which his nobles held their lands, they started up, and drew their swords: "By these," said they," we acquired our lands, and with these we will defend them." The following instances will further exemplify the distinction. "He was killed by a stone which fell from the steeple." "He was killed with a stone by Peter."

CHAP. VI.

OF THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

OF a sentence or period, various definitions have

been given. According to Aristotle, it is "a quantity of sound which bears a certain signification acco ding to its combination, and of which some detached part is also significant."* Against this definition some objections might perhaps be urged: it is, however, sufficient for our present purpose.

A entence always implies some one complete proposition, or enunciation of thought: but every sentence does not confine itself to a single proposition.

A sentence consists of component parts, which are called its members; and as these members may be either few or many, and may be connected in several different ways, the same thought, or mental proposition, may often be either compressed into one sentence, or distributed into two or three, without the material breach of any rule.

Upon surveying the annals of past ages, it seems that the greatest geniuses have been subject to this historical darkness; as is evident in those great lights of antiquity, Homer and Euclid, whose writings indeed enrich mankind with perpetual stores of knowledge and delight; but whose lives are for the most part concealed in impenetrabl oblivion.-Taylor's Life of Orpheus.

The same meaning may thus be expressed in three sen

* « Λόγος δὲ ἐστὶ φωνὴ σημαντικὴ κατὰ συνθήκην, ἧς τῶν μερῶν τί offμartixby lot) xexwproμívwv.-Aristot. de Interpretatione, cap. iv.

tences:

tences: "Upon surveying the annals of past ages, it seems that the greatest geniuses have been subject to this historical darkness. This is evidently the case with regard to those great lights of antiquity, Homer and Euclid. The writings of these illustrious authors enrich mankind with perpetual stores of knowledge and delight; but their lives are for the most part concealed in impenetrable oblivion."

With regard to the precise length of sentences, no positive rule can be laid down : in this the writer must always be regulated by his own taste. A short period is lively and familiar: a long period, requiring more attention, makes an impression grave and solemn. There may be an extreme on either side.* By means of too many short sentences, the sense is divided and broken, the connexion of thought weakened, and the memory

A series of short periods produces a very disagreeable effect in poetry. The subsequent quotations will justify this assertion.

So saying they approach'd

The gate. The centinel, soon as he heard
Thitherward footsteps, with uplifted lance

Challenged the darkling travellers. At their voice, ies. He draws the strong bolts back, and painful turns The massy entrance. To the careful chiefs

They pass. At midnight of their extreme state
Counselling they sat, serious and stern. To them

qua Conrade. Assembled warriors! &c.

Nor in the field of war

** The Greeks excel by discipline alone,

Southey.

But from their manners. Grant thy ear O king,
The diff'rence learn of Grecian bands, and thine,
The flow'r, the bulwark of thy pow'rful host

C 2

memory burdened, by being presented with a long succession of minute objects. And, on the other hand, by the too frequent use of long periods, an author overloads the reader's ear and fatigues his attention. In general, a writer ought to study a due mixture of long and short periods, which prevents an irksome uniformity, and entertains the mind with a variety of impressions. Long sentences cannot be properly introduced till the reader's attention is completely engaged. They ought never to be placed at the beginning of discourses of any description.

The French critics make a proper distribution of style into the two general classes of périodique and coupé. In the style périodique, the sentences are composed of several members linked together, and depending upon each other, so that the sense is not completely unfolded till the close.

Something of a doubtful mist still bangs over these Highland traditions; nor can it be entirely dispelled by the most ingenious researches of modern criticism : but if we could with safety indulge the pleasing supposition that Fingal lived, and that Ossian sung, the striking contrast of the situation and manners of the contending nations might 'amuse a philosophic mind. The parallel would be little to the advantage of the more civilized people, if we compared the unrelenting revenge of Severus with the generous clemency of Fingal ; the timid and brutal cruelty of Caracalla, with the bravery, the tenderness, the elegant genius of Ossian; the mercenary chiefs who,

Are mercenaries. These are canton'd round
Thy provinces. No fertile field demands
Their painful hand to turn the fallow glebe.
Them to the noon-day toil, no harvest calls.
The stubborn along the mountain's brow

Sinks not beneath their stroke. With careful eyes
They mark not how the flocks or beifers feed.

Glover.