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THE COLON.

The COLON [] is used to divide a sentence into parts which are less connected than those separated by a semicolon, but which are not so independent as separate, distinct sentences.

RULE I.

A SENTENCE CONSISTING OF TWO PARTS, CONNECTED IN SENSE, BUT NOT IN CONSTRUCTION.

A colon is used after the member of a sentence which is complete in itself, but which is followed by some remark depending on it in sense, though not in construction; as,

Study to acquire the habit of thinking: no study is more important. The discourse consisted of two parts: in the first was shown the necessity of exercise; in the second, the advantages that would result from it.

EXERCISES.

Write the following sentences, and insert the colon between the members:

It is the prerogative of great men to conquer envy merit gives it birth, and merit destroys it. Endeavour to excel much may be accomplished by perseverance. - There is no mortal truly wise and restless at the same time wisdom is the repose of the mind. Young was a poet poets, with reverence be it spoken, do not make the best parents. When the Roman historians describe an extraordinary man, this always enters into his character as an essential part of it he was of incredible industry and of remarkable application. Virtue is too lovely and useful to be immured in a cell the world is the sphere of her action. That book contains a full discussion of the subject the first part illustrates the theory; the last, the practice of the science. - There is no greater monster in being than a very bad man, of great talents he lives like a man in a palsy, with one side of him dead. — Keep close to thy business it will keep thee from wickedness, poverty, and shame.

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RULE II.

A CONJUNCTION UNDERSTOOD BETWEEN TWO MEMBERS.

A colon is used where the first member of a sentence is complete in sense, and the next begins with a conjunction understood, not expressed; as,

Cowards die many times: the valiant never taste of death but once. Do not flatter yourselves with the hope of perfect happiness: there is no such thing in the world. The path of truth is a plain and safe path that of falsehood is a perplexing maze.

REMARK 1. When the latter member begins with a conjunction, the connection is rendered closer in construction, if not in sense; and then a semicolon is preferable: as, "Cowards die many times; but the valiant never taste of death but once." "Do not flatter yourselves with the hope of perfect happiness; for there is no such thing in the world."- See SEMICOLON, Rule I. page 44.

REMARK 2. When the verb expressed in the former member is omitted in the latter, whether the members be connected by conjunctions or otherwise, the insertion of a semicolon would point out a closer relation, and would therefore be preferable to that of the colon; as, "The path of truth is a plain and safe path; that of falsehood, a perplexing maze."

EXERCISES.

Write and point the following sentences:—

--

Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. A friend exaggerates a man's virtues an enemy inflames his crimes. Harbour no malice in thy heart it will be a viper in thy bosom. - Be upon thy guard against flattery it is an insidious poison. Avoid affectation it is a contemptible weakness. -Do not despise human life it is the gift of God. Do not insult a poor man his misery entitles him to pity. The prodigal robs his heir the miser robs himself. — Religion raises men above themselves irreligion sinks them beneath the brutes.A friend cannot be known in prosperity an enemy cannot be hid in adversity. You must never be satisfied with the surface of things probe them to the bottom, and let nothing go till you understand it as thoroughly as your powers will enable you. Men's evil manners live in brass their virtues we write in water.. - A good word is an easy obligation not to speak ill requires only our silence, which costs us nothing.

RULE III.

MEMBERS DIVISIBLE INTO CLAUSES.

When a sentence consists of two members which are connected by a conjunction or an adverb, and divisible into clauses separated by semicolons, then should a colon be used before the particle; as,

Patriots have toiled, and in their country's cause
Bled nobly; and their deeds, as they deserve,
Receive proud recompense. We give in charge
Their names to the sweet lyre. The historic Muse,
Proud of the treasure, marches with it down
To latest times; and Sculpture, in her turn,
Gives bond in stone and ever-during brass,
To guard them, and to immortalize her trust:
But fairer wreaths are due, though never paid,
To those who, posted at the shrine of truth,
Have fallen in her defence.

EXERCISES.

Write, and punctuate with colons, the following sentences, agreeably to the preceding rule:—

As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did not see it moving; and it appears that the grass has grown, though nobody ever saw it grow so the advances we make in knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are only perceivable by the dis tance. I allow the Greeks learning, and fluency of tongue; and, if you praise them for their excellence, I shall not contradict you but that nation was never eminent for tenderness of conscience, and regard to faith. If any man think it convenient to seem good, let him be so in reality; and then his goodness will appear to every one's satisfaction for truth is convincing, and carries its own light and evidence along with it; and will not only commend us to every man's conscience, but even to God, who searcheth the heart. When once our labour has begun, the comfort that enables us to endure it is the prospect of its end for, though in every long work there are some joyous intervals of self-applause, when the attention is recreated by unexpected facility, and the imagination soothed by incidental excellencies not comprised in the first plan; yet the toil

* The example begins here.

with which performance struggles after idea is so irksome and disgusting, and so frequent is the necessity of resting below that perfection which we imagined within our reach, that seldom any man obtains more from his endeavours, than a painful conviction of his defects, and a continual resuscitation of desires which he feels himself unable to gratify.

RULE IV.

ENUMERATION OF PARTICULARS, DEPENDING ON THE CONCLUSION OF A SENTENCE.

When a sentence consisting of an enumeration of particulars, all or some of which are separated by means of semicolons, has its sense suspended till the last member, that member is preceded by a colon.

EXAMPLES.

A divine Legislator, uttering his voice from heaven; an almighty Governor, stretching forth his arm to punish or reward; informing us of perpetual rest hereafter for the righteous, and of indignation and wrath awaiting the wicked: these are the considerations which overawe the world, which support integrity, and which check guilt.

Oh! how canst thou renounce the boundless store
Of charms that Nature to her votary yields!
The warbling woodland, the resounding shore,
The pomp of groves, the garniture of fields;

All that the genial ray of morning gilds,

And all that echoes to the song of even;

All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields,

And all the dread magnificence of heaven:

Oh! how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven!

By doing, or at least endeavouring to do, our duty to God and man; by acquiring an humble trust in the mercy and favour of God, through Jesus Christ; by cultivating our minds, and properly employing our time and thoughts; by correcting all unreasonable expectations from the world and from men; and, in the midst of worldly business, habituating ourselves to calm retreat and serious recollection: by such means as these, it may be hoped, that, through the divine blessing, our days shall flow in a stream as unruffled as the human state admits.

REMARK. After the colon terminating a series, some punctuators put a dash [-], which serves to aid the eye, and more clearly to bring out the meaning of such a passage, when of considerable length.

EXERCISES.

Write the passages that follow; inserting, in their respective places, the semicolon, according to the rule in page 46, and the colon, agreeably to the preceding rule:—

The affections which spread beyond ourselves, and stretch far into futurity the workings of mighty passions, which seem to arm the soul with an almost superhuman energy the innocent and irrepressible joy of infancy the bloom, and buoyancy, and dazzling hopes of youth the throbbings of the heart, when it first wakes to love, and dreams of a happiness too vast for earth woman, with her beauty, and grace, and gentleness, and fulness of feeling, and depth of affection, and blushes of purity, and the tones and looks which only a mother's heart can inspire these are all poetical.

Ancient Greece! That combination of words designates a combination of circumstances for developing, to an unparalleled degree, men's capacity, in a few to produce, in the many to appreciate, the noblest productions of the chisel. Why have their architecture and sculpture been never, in any country, rivalled? Because, though not every particular, yet the aggregate, was peculiar to their fine climate. * Their romantic and picturesque country the affinity of their first rude huts with the finest architectural forms and proportions the abundance of the most beautiful material to which those forms could be transferred the eminently poetical character of their mythology their public manners and democratic institutions the honour in which talent and art were held, when ministering to the common enjoyment the glory of rearing buildings and carving statues, of which this should be a temple, and that a deity the emu. lation of individuals in the adornment of a city, and the rivalry of cities and states, each large enough for the inhabitants to combine with effect, and small enough to give the motive its full force on each individual mind these, operating merely on the capacities and talents which belong everywhere and always to human nature, made Athens the marble paradise of earth; filling it with gods, and the abodes of gods, whose forms of stone seemed instinct with the taste and genius which gave them being, and gained such a perfection of symmetry and beauty, as almost to require for posterity the certifying testimony of authentic history, that these indeed were man's creation.

* The enumeration of particulars commences here.