CHAPTER V. Sentences requiring the application of the Dash; of the Notes of Interrogation and Exclamation; and of the Parenthetical characters. Grammar, p. 267. Key, p. 127. BEAUTY and Strength combined with Virtue and Piety how lovely in the sight of men how pleasing to Heaven peculiarly pleasing because with every Temptation to deviate they voluntarily walk in the Path of Duty. Something there is more needful than expense "I'll live to-morrow" will a wise man say To-morrow is too late then live to-day. Gripus has long been ardently endeavouring to fill his Chest and lo it is now full Is he happy and does he use it Does he gratefully think of the Giver of all good Things Does he distribute to the Poor Alas these Interests have no Place in his breast. What is there in all the pomp of the world the Enjoyments of Luxury the Gratification of Passion comparable to the tranquil Delight of a good Conscience. To lie down on the Pillow after a Day spent in Temperance in beneficence and in piety how sweet is it. We wait till to-morrow to be Happy alas Why not to-day Shall we be younger Are we sure we shalt be healthier Will our passions become feebler and our love of the world less. What shadow can be more vain than the life of a great Part of Mankind Of all that eager and bustling Crowd which we behold on Earth how few discover the path of true Happiness How few can we find whose Activity has not been misemployed and whose Course terminates not in Confessions of Disappoint ments. On the one Hand are the Divine Approbation and immortal Honour on the other remember and beware are the stings of Conscience and endless Infamy. As in riper Years all unseasonable Returns to the Levity of Youth ought to be avoided an Admonition which equally belongs to both the Sexes still more are we to guard against those intemperate Indulgences of Pleasure to which the young are unhappily prone The bliss of man could pride that blessing find Is not to act or think beyond mankind. Or why so long in life if long can be Lent Heav'n a parent to the poor and me. CHAPTER VI. Promiscuous examples of defective punctuation. SECTION 1. EXAMPLES IN PROSE. See the Key, p. 129. 1 WHEN Socrates was asked what man approached the nearest to perfect happiness he answered That Man who has the fewest Wants.. She who studies her Glass neglects her Heart. Between Passion and Lying there is not a Finger's breadth. The freer we feel ourselves in the Presence of others the more free are they he who is free makes free. Addison has remarked with equal Piety and Truth that the Creation is a perpetual Feast to the Mind of a good Man. He who shuts out all evasion when he promises loves truth. The laurels of the Warrior are dyed in Blood and bedewed with the Tears of the Widow and the Orphan. Between Fame and true Honour a Distinction is to be made The former is a loud and noisy Applause the latter a more silent and internal Homage Fame floats on the Breath of the Multitude Honour rests on the Judgment of the Thinking Fame may give Praise while it withholds Esteem true Honour implies Esteem mingled with respect The one regards Particular distinguished Talents the other looks up to the whole character. There is a certain species of religion if we can give it that Name which is placed wholly in Speculation and Belief in the Regularity of external Homage or in fiery Zeal about contested Opinions. Xenophanes who was reproached with being timorous because he would not venture his Money in a Game at Dice made this manly and sensible Reply I confess I am exceedingly timorous for I dare not commit an evil Action. He loves nobly I speak of Friendship who is not jealous when he has Partners of love. Our happiness consists in the Pursuit much more than in the Attainment of any Temporal Good. Let me repeat it He only is Great who nas the Habits of Greatness. Prosopopoeia or Personification is a Rhetorical Figure by which we attribute Life and Action to inanimate objects as the Ground thirsts for Rain the Earth smiles with Plenty. The proper and rational Conduct of Men with Regard to Futurity is regulated by two Considerations First that much of What it contains must remain to us absolutely Unknown Next that there are also Some Events in it which may be certainly known and foreseen. The Gardens of the World produce only deciduous flowers Perennial ones must be sought in the Delightful Regions Above Roses without Thorns are the Growth of Paradise alone. How many Rules and maxims of Life might be spared could we fix a principle of Virtue within and inscribe the living Sentiment of the Love of God in the affections He who loves righteousness is Master of all the distinctions in Morality. He who from the Benignity of his Nature erected this World for the abode of Men He who furnished it so richly for our accommodation and stored it with so much Beauty for our Entertainment He who since first we entered into Life hath followed us with such a Variety of Mercies this Amiable and Beneficent Being surely can have no pleasure in our Disappointment and Distress He knows our Frame he remembers we are dust and looks to frail Man we are assured with such Pity as a Father beareth to his children. One of the first Lessons both of Religion and of Wisdom is to moderate our Expectations and Hopes and not to set forth on the Voyage of Life like Men who expect to be always carried forward with a favourable Gale Let us be satisfied if the Path we tread be easy and smooth though it be not strewed with Flowers. Providence never intended that the Art of living happily in this World should depend on that deep Penetration that acute sagacity and those Refinements of Thought which few possess It has dealt more graciously with us and made happiness depend on Uprightness of Intention much more than on Extent of Capacity. Most of our Passions flatter us in their Rise But their Beginnings are treacherous their Growth is imperceptible and the Evils which they carry in their Train lie concealed until their Dominion is established What Solomon says of one of them holds true of them all that their Beginning is as when one letteth out Water It issues from a small Chink which once might have been easily stopped but being neglected it is soon widened by the Stream till the Bank is at last totally thrown down and the Flood is at Liberty to deluge the whole plain. Prosperity debilitates instead of strengthening the Mind Its most common effect is to create an extreme sensibility to the slightest Wound It foments impatient Desires and raises Expectations which no Success can satisfy It fosters a false Delis cacy which sickens in the midst of Indulgence By repeated Gratification it blunts the feelings of Men to what is pleasing and leaves them unhappily acute to whatever is uneasy Hence the Gale which another |