Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

The difference between would and should, when viewed as futures in connection with past tenses, is the same as that between shall and will; would promises or threatens in the first person, and simply foretells in the other persons. Should simply foretells in the first person, and promises or threatens in the other persons. Would is used to express a wish. In the AngloSaxon, willan to will, had wolde for the imperfect of the conditional as well as for the imperfect of the declarative; hence would God, as in German wollte Gott, is, might God will, or please. Would to God, may be the termination wolde (wollte). Would sometimes stands alone, its subject being omitted; as, would that I had seen him.

ADJECTIVE ACCESSORY SENTENCES are introduced by a relative pronoun referring to a demonstrative adjective pronoun expressed or understood. The relative is not required to agree with its antecedent in case, the case of the relative depending on its position in its own clause.

It is generally convenient to use that after superlatives; after who when used as an interrogative, and when the antecedent consists of persons and things.

That is used as the relative to the same, when the relative is not under the government of a preposition. That is sometimes equivalent to in which; as, in the day that thou eatest thereof, &c.

As is the proper relative word after such; as, there are in that book such contradictions as are sufficient to destroy its value.

It has been absurdly laid down as a rule, that a preposition should not stand last in a proposition. In the relative clause this is often the best place for it; for if prefixed to the relative it will interrupt the flow of the sentence. What is it now that I must warn you of,-is preferable to of which, &c.,

ADVERBIAL ACCESSORY SENTENCES are such as stand in the relation of place, time, or manner. The subject and verb may be omitted as in this sentence. The eagle,

when intent on seizing its prey, will hover over its intended victim that is, when it is intent, &c.

When, as, whilst, mark co-existence with another act or state; as long as, so long as,-for the whole continuance of the act or state.

Than, as a conjunction of comparison, marks excess or defect; as marks equality; as—as affirm equality in degree-this is as good as that. So as is used when the principal sentence is negative; this is not so good as that. So as express equality of manner. As he thinks so he speaks: abbreviated into, he speaks as he thinks. The conjunctions as, because, since, for, express a cause that produces an effect, or a reason from which we infer a conclusion; because is chiefly used of a cause in the strict sense, since of a reason. A sentence with if is called the conditional clause; a sentence without if the consequent clause. But if is often omitted; then the conditional clause will take the verb before its nominative case; as, had you informed me I would not have delayed. The conditional clause is often put in the form of a command. "Confess your fault, and I will forgive you;" that is, if you confess, &c. Provided that, so that, suppose that, are conditional particles ;-as also in case, in the event of,-with a participial substantive.

Unless and except denote a condition, without which the consequence cannot, or could not follow. But that may be used conditionally; as, a learned profession would have been his choice, but that he disliked the labour of the preparatory studies.

A negative or preventive clause is introduced, omitting if, by "were it not for," or, were it not for that."

[ocr errors]

Adversative sentences seem to have a kind of opposition in them; the assertion in the principal sentence being one which the fact asserted in the subordinate sentence would not lead us to expect. The first of two adversative propositions, may assume an imperative form; as, remove a virtuous man where you will-if y f you remove, &c., he will continue to be virtuous.

A participial substantive governed by without, often stands in an adversative relation. The same remark applies to substantives governed by without, with. He pretends to be a philosopher without understanding the elements of philosophy-though he does not understand, &c. A companion may be very amusing with little literature—though he may possess little literary knowledge.

Participles and attributes assume an assertion. The soldier, having a sword, drew it; that is, besides stating that the soldier drew his sword, it is affirmed that he had

one.

A participle may be changed into a verb of the same tense as the principal verbs in the sentence; he being badly wounded was carried in a litter, and committed to the care of the surgeon:-He was badly wounded, carried in a litter, and committed, &c. To avoid the repetition of the conjunction and, a verb may be changed into a participle; and he leaping up, stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple.

Exercises in Syntactical Analysis.

The truly eloquent must possess an exalted and noble mind. In fact our words not only are signs, but they may be considered as the pictures of our thoughts. In Greece and Rome, the corruption of literature was a con

sequence of the corruption of manners. Good language is determinate and absolute. The qualities of good language are perspicuity, simplicity, elegance, energy, and harmony. Proper words in proper places, is Swift's definition of a good style. A man who, in tempestuous weather, sits snug in a close house, near a good fire, and hears the wind and rain beating upon the windows and roof, will naturally think of his own comfortable situation, compared with that of a traveller who is exposed to the violence of the tempest. Language is according to nature, when it is suitable to the supposed condition of the speaker. With all his powers of incantation, Garrick himself will never be able to charm us into a belief that he is really Macbeth. A book is of some value if it yield harmless amusement. Of sympathy all men are not equally susceptible. They are mistaken who think the Italian an effeminate language. Some notes when sounded together have an agreeable, and others a disagreeable effect; the former are concords, the latter discords.

Man from his birth is prone to imitation, and takes great pleasure in it.

The action of Paradise Lost commences not many days before Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden of Eden. The architecture of the Arabians possessed neither the simplicity nor the unity of the Grecian orders, but it displayed an imposing grandeur, and an air of vast magnificence.

There dwelt not on our plains a lovelier maid,
Or one of sweeter nature: modesty,

Calm innocence, and mild simplicity,

Spread their chaste colours o'er her spotless form.

It should therefore be a principle early inculcated into

the minds of our youth, that to be happy, is to be beloved,
and that our enjoyment will be commensurate to our
efforts in relieving the distress and the misery of others.
'Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more;
I mourn, but ye woodlands, I mourn not for you;
For morn is approaching, your charms to restore,
Perfumed with fresh fragance and glittering with dew.
Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn;

Kind nature the embryo blossom will save.
But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn !
O, when shall it dawn on the night of the grave!

The sailor blesses the plank that brought him ashore from the shipwreck; and the passionate man, and sometimes even the philosopher, will say bitter words to the stumbling block that gave him a fall. Shakspeare penetrates the heart by a single effort, and can make us as sad in the present scene, as if we had not been merry in the former one. The notes of a man's voice, well tuned and well managed, have a mellowness, variety, and energy, beyond those of any instrument; and a fine female voice, modulated by sensibility, is beyond comparison the sweetest and most melting sound in nature. Poetry, and indeed every art whose end is to please, must be natural ; and must exhibit real matter of fact, or something like it ; that is, it must be according to truth, or to verisimilitude.

The Arabians have been shepherds from the earliest ages of the post-diluvian world, and have preserved their manners and customs, their liberty and dominion, with a uniformity and success which partake almost of the miraculous. The liberal and benevolent spirit of our religion, which, when rightly understood, conduces both to our

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »