On the one Hand are the Divine Approbation and immortal Honor on the other remember and beware are the stings of Conscience and endless infamy

"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"

PARENTHESIS.

281. The parenthesis includes a clause or sentence which contains some useful information, and which may be omitted without injury to the grammatical construction; as,

"Know then this truth, (enough for me to know,)
Virtue alone is happiness below."

"And was the ransom paid? It was; and paid-
(What can extol his bounty more,) for thee."

REMARK. The clause or sentence included in the parenthesis, should be uttered more rapidly and with a lower tone than the principal sentence.

RULE I.

The parenthesis ends with the same kind of stop which the member has that precedes it, the note of interrogation and exclamation excepted. The point should be included within the parenthesis; as, "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" "While they wish to please, (and why should they not wish it,) they disdain dishonorable means."

False Punctuation.

66

"To gain a posthumous reputation is to save four or five letters for what is a name besides from oblivion." "He found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy." It was represented by an analogy oh how inadequate which was borrowed from the religion of paganism.”

OTHER CHARACTERS.

RULE I.

§ 282. ['] The apostrophe is a comma placed above a word and denotes either the possessive case of nouns, or the elision of one or more letters of a word; as, “A man's property;" "A woman's ornament." 'Tis, for 'Twas, for it was. Condemn'd, for condemned. Thro' for through. E'er, for ever.

it is.

A

RULE II.

[^] A caret resembles an inverted v, and shows where a letter, word or sentence should be inserted which has been accidentally omitted; as, "I am de

[A] The circumflex, like the caret, is an inverted v, and denotes that the vowel over which it is placed, has a broad sound; as, "Eclât."

RULE IV.

[-] The hyphen is a short dash, and unites the simple parts of a compound word; as, pre-existence; singsong. Placed at the end of a line either in writing or printing, it shows that one or more syllables of a word are carried forward to the next line.

[

RULE V.

] or [****] The ellipsis is a long dash or a number of stars placed in succession, and denotes the omission of some letters or words; as, The k

for, the king.

RULE VI.

[] The brace unites a triplet, or separate terms that have the same common relation.

[§] The section marks the smaller divisions of a book or chapter.

RULE VII.

A para

[T] The paragraph denotes the beginning of a new subject, and is principally used in the Bible. graph should be distinguished by beginning a new line and placing the first word a little before or after the last word in the preceding paragraph.

RULE VIII.

[*] The star, [†] the obelisk, [+] the double dagger, [] the parallel, and also the letters of the alphabet, or numerical figures, refer to marginal notes.

[F] The index points to some remarkable passage.

RULE IX.

([]) The crotchets usually inclose a word or sentence for the purpose of explanation, or for correcting mistakes; as, "He [the king] is innocent."

RULE X.

[ ... ] The diæresis consists of two points placed over the latter of two vowels, and shows that they are not a diphthong.

[-] The macron denotes that the vowel or syllable over which it is placed is long; as, "A name."

[/] The acute accent is turned to the left, and denotes that the syllable over which it is placed requires the principal stress in pronunciation; as, “ágency, nóble." This character is sometimes used as opposed to the grave accent, to denote a short syllable, or the rising inflection.

RULE XI.

[] The grave accent points to the right, and is used in opposition to the acute, and denotes a long vowel, or the falling inflection.

RULE XII.

[~] The breve shows that the vowel over which it is placed is short.

RULE XIII.

[""] The quotation marks denote words, phrases or sentences, taken from another author. Two inverted commas are placed at the beginning of the word or sentence quoted, and two in the direct position at the close of it. A quotation within a quotation is set off by single commas.

VERSIFICATION.

283. Versification teaches the proper method of constructing words into lines of correspondent length, in such a manner as to produce harmony by the regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity.

QUANTITY.

$284. The quantity of a syllable is the relative time occupied in pronouncing it.

A syllable is either long or short.

A long syllable requires double the time occupied in pronouncing a short one.

REMARK. In determining the quantity of syllables, the sound of the vowel or diphthong should not be regarded; but the force of accent placed upon a syllable, requiring that the voice should be continued a longer or shorter time.

RHYME.

§ 285. Rhyme is the correspondence of the last syllable in one line to the sound of the last syllable in another.

REMARK. Blank verse, is verse without rhyme.

POETICAL FEET.

286. A poetical foot is a combination of two or more syllables of a certain quantity.

All feet in poetry consist of either two or three syllables. There are eight different feet used in poetry. Four have two syllables, and four have three.

§ 288. FEET OF THREE SYLLABLES.

Dactyl .. a long and two short; as,
Anapost two short and one long; as,
Tribrach three short; as,

pássible.

contravene.

inimitable.

Amphibrach, a short, a long and a short; as, domestic.

METRE.

§ 289. "Metre is an arrangement of syllables and feet according to certain rules."

Metre is divided into Trochaic, Iambic, Dactylic, and Anapastic.

VERSE.

§ 290. "A verse is a certain number of feet arranged in a regular order and constituting a line in poetry."

REMARK 1. Two verses are called a distich; a half a verse, a hemistich.

REM. 2. A verse, with respect to the metres which it contains, may be complete, deficient or redundant.

REM. 3. A verse which is complete is acatalectic.

REM. 4. When a verse is wanting, it is called catalectic. REM. 5. When a verse has a redundant syllable, it is called hypermetre.

SCANNING.

291. Scanning is dividing a verse into the feet of which it is composed.

TROCHAICAL VERSE.

§ 292. In Trochaic verse the accent is laid upon the odd syllable. Single rhyme trochaic omits the final short syllable, that it may end with a long one.