Q. What is 'Prosopopoeia? A. Personification, or the making of things inanimate into animated and rational beings: as in Henry the Fourth's soliloquy : "O gentle Sleep! Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee." Q. What is Apostrophe ? A. An abrupt and unexpected turn of the speech in addressing some new person: as, "Thou Sun, said I, fair Light! "And thou enlighten'd Earth, so fresh and gay, "Tell, if ye saw, how I came thus, how here?” 66 A. A half uttered threat, or other exclamation broken off in the midst, as in Terence, "0 thou of all-" he would have said "of all A. The force of contrast; as in the following passage of Denham, 2 66 66 Though gentle, yet not dull, ' πρόσωπον, persona ; and ποιέω, facio. árò, ab; and σrpépoual, convertor. ano, ab; and riwráw, abrumpo vocem. Q. What is 'Irony? A. A mode of speech of which the meaning is contrary to the words; as when Anthony says of Brutus, "He is an honourable man," he would fain call him a traitor. A. The repetition of the same letter in order to assist the sense, as Gray repeats the H to express the loftiness of one poet, and the L to express the softness of the other. "To high-born Hoel's harp, and soft Llewellyn's lay." Q. What is Climax? 2 A. A sentence rising gradually till it reaches some noble idea at its close, more forcible, or more agreeable than any that has preceded it; as in the well known passage of Shakspeare: "What a piece of work is Man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a God!" A. Description so distinct and lively, that the picture cannot but present itself to the eye of the mind; as in this passage from King John: "With wrinkled brow, with nods, and rolling eyes, "I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus, "The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, Q. What is Amplification? A. The Soul of Poetry and Eloquence, expanding and enriching its subject with numerous and unexpected images. So Diogenes taunts Alexander in the Dialogues of the Dead : And Pr'ythee, Prince, since your arrival here, how like you to think of the splendours which you have left behind-of the body guards, the great officers of State, and the Persian satraps in your train-of the treasures of the East, and the adoration of the world-of great Babylon, and Bactra, and the elephants which followed in your Indian march of the honours which distinguished your return, the lofty chariot in which you rode, the white turban that encircled your head, and the imperial purple that was buckled with diamonds upon your breast?" ANCIENT CHRONOLOGY. Q. What is the space of time from the Creation to the birth of our Saviour? A. About 4000 years. Q. What is the date of the Deluge? A. 1656 years after the Creation. Q. What is the date of the call of Abraham? A. The half way of the whole space, that is 2000 years after the Creation, and 2000 years be fore Christ. Q. What great Empires were founded about this time? A. The Assyrian and Ægyptian Empires, and some of the most ancient of the Phenician and Grecian cities. Q. What is the date of the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt. A. 2500 years after the Creation. Q. What is the date of the building of Solomon's Temple? A. 3000 years after the Creation, or about 1000 years before Christ. Q. What great law-giver lived about the time of Solomon ? A. Lycurgus. F Q. What great poet? A. Homer. Q. What is the date of the Trojan War? Q. What Kings reigned in Israel and Judah about 900 years before Christ? A. King Ahab in Israel, and King Jehosaphat in Judah. Q. What happened to the Assyrian Empire about 800 years before Christ? A. It was divided at the death of Sardanapālus. Q. How did the Greeks compute their time? Q. What is that? A. A space of four years: The Olympic games were held in the first month of every fifth year. Q. What is the date of the first Olympiad? A. The three sevens, or 777 years before Christ?' Q. What is the date of the building of the city of Rome? A. About 750 years before Christ. Q. How did the Romans compute their time? A. By the number of years from the building of the city-A.U.C. anno urbis conditæ. Q. When was Israel taken captive by the Assyrians? A. About 700 years before Christ. Q. What is the date of the Babylonish Captivity? The last or 364th Olympiad took place A.D. 440. |