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Testament, the Gospel of Matthew, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle to the Ephesians, the Revelation, the Psalms, &c. In like manner, a capital is used in giving the names of other sacred writings, as the Koran, the Zend Avesta, the Puranas, &c.

RULE 19. Words of Special Importance.- Words describing the great events of history, or extraordinary things of any kind, which have acquired a distinctive name, begin with a capital; as, the Reformation, the Revolution, the war of Independence, the Middle Ages, Magna Charta, the Gulf Stream, &c.

RULE 20. Personification. In cases of strongly marked personification, the noun personified should begin with a capital; as,

"Hope for a season bade the world farewell,

And Freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell."

NOTE. This rule, like that in regard to words of special importance, requires discretion on the part of the writer. Young and inexperienced writers are prone to apply it too frequently.

Miscellaneous Examples for Practice.

[Punctuate the following sentences, and make the necessary corrections in regard to capitals, giving your reasons for each alteration.]

1. Charles notwithstanding the delay had left england to work his way as best he might out of his Difficulties

2. the scots therefore at the break of day entered the Castle

3. Fashion is for the most part the ostentation of Riches

4. besides if you labor in moderation it will conduce to Health as well as to Wealth

5. Sir Peter Carew for some unknown reason had written to ask for his pardon

6. The Man when He saw this departed

7. the crowd as Throgmorton left the court threw up their caps and shouted

8. Elizabeth who had been requested to attend was not present 9. The frost had set in the low damp ground was hard the Dykes were frozen

10. a brown curling beard flowed down upon his chest

11. she thought the isle that gave her birth

the sweetest mildest land on earth

12. The first Seven carried maces swords or pole-axes
13. She plans provides expatiates triumphs there
14. Who to the enraptured heart and ear and eye

Teach beauty virtue truth and love and melody

15. Give me a sanctified and just a charitable and humble a religious and contented spirit

16. Now a man now a seraph and now a beast

17. the dragon stands the hieroglyph of evil and gnaws at the tree of life

18. The ocelot a beautiful and striped fiend hisses like a snake 19. He that calls upon thee is Theodore the hermit of Teneriffe 20. Hate madness ruled the hour

21. We saw a large opening or inlet

22. The Egyptian serpent the ass-headed devil deserves the first mention as among the oldest personifications of the spirit of evil 23. Well Sir Nicholas what news

24. Zaccheus make haste and come down

25. The conspiracy being crushed without bloodshed an inquiry into its origin could be carried out at leisure

26. Thus preciously freighted the spanish fleet sailed from Corunna 27. Cruel and savage as the persecution had become it was still inadequate

28. Faith is opposed to infidelity hope to despair charity to enmity and hostility

29. Allegory kills the symbolical as prose poetry

30. Elizabeth threw herself in front of Marie Antoinette exclaiming I am the queen

31. Kant said give me matter and I will build the world

32. Whatever happens Mary exclaims Elizabeth I am the wife of the Prince of Spain crown rank life all shall go before I will take any other husband.

33. In the regions inhabited by angelic natures unmingled felicity forever blooms joy flows there with a perpetual and abundant stream nor needs any mound to check its course

34. In this way we learned that miss Steele never succeeded in catching the doctor that Kitty Bennett was satisfactorily married by a clergyman near Pemberton that the "considerable sum" given by Mrs. Norris to William Price was one pound and that the letters placed by Churchill before Jane Fairfax which she swept away unread contained the word pardon

35. The daring youth explained everything he presented philosophy in a familiar form he brought it home to men's bosoms he made all smooth and easy

36. Then he shivers his sword in pieces he longs to die the veins of his neck start out they burst his noble blood wells forth

37. Ars in latin is the contrary of in-ers it is the contrary of in-action it is action

38. Make hay while the sun shines for clouds will surely come 39. there are five moods the indicative the potential the subjunctive the imperative and the infinitive

40. Princes have courtiers and merchants have partners the voluptuous have companions and the wicked have accomplices none but the virtuous have friends

41. in his last Moments He uttered these words i fall a sacrifice to sloth and luxury

42. Length n A S lengdh equivalent to lengu lencg from lang long the longest measure of any object in distinction from depth thickness breadth or width the extent of anything from end to end the longest line which can be drawn through a body parallel to its sides as the length of a church the length of a rope *

43. John Tillotson Archbishop of Canterbury obtained great celebrity as a preacher his sermons at his death were purchased for no less sum than two thousand five hundred guineas they continue to the present time to be read and to be held in high estimation as instructive rational and impressive discourses

44. Sir Roger L'Estrange enjoyed in the reigns of Charles II and James VII great notoriety as an occasional political writer he is known also as a translator having produced versions of Esop's Fables Seneca's Morals Cicero's offices Erasmus's Colloquies Quevedo's Visions and the works of Josephus

45. Another lively describer of human character who flourished in this period was Dr Walter Charleton physician to Charles II a friend of Hobbes and for several years president of the college of physicians in London

46. Bacchanalian pertaining to the festivals of Bacchus the god of wine which were celebrated by a triumphal procession wherein men and women went about rioting dancing and indulging in all sorts of licentious extravagance

47. Horologe horo hour and loge that which tells or notes is from two greek words signifying together that which tells the hour a sun dial a clock a timepiece

48. Bacon Francis usually known as Lord bacon was born in London England Jan 22 1560 and died 1626 he was famous as a

referring to any Such exercises

*The teacher may multiply indefinitely examples of this kind by large Dictionary containing the derivation and definition of words. are of the greatest importance and value in teaching punctuation. A like use may be made of the sums in Arithmetic and Algebra.

scholar a wit a lawyer a judge a statesman a politician but chiefly as a philosopher

49. Early one morning they came to the estate of a wealthy farmer they found him standing before the stable and heard as they drew near that he was scolding one of his men because he had left the ropes with which they tied their horses in the rain all night instead of putting them away in a dry place ah we shall get very little here said one to the other that man is very close we will at least try said another and they approached

50. The clear conception outrunning the deductions of logic the high purpose the firm resolve the dauntless spirit speaking in the tongue beaming from the eye informing every feature and urging the whole man onward right onward to his object this this is eloquence or rather it is something greater and higher than all eloquence it is action noble sublime godlike action

51. But it will be urged perhaps sir in behalf of the California gold that though one crop only of gold can be gathered from the same spot yet once gathered it lasts to the end of time while our vegetable gold is produced only to be consumed is gone forever but this Mr president would be a most egregious error both ways 52. Polonius do you know me my Lord

Hamlet excellent well you are a fishmonger

Pol not I my lord

Ham Then I would you were so honest a man

Pol honest my lord

Ham ay sir to be honest as this world goes is to be one man picked out of ten thousand

Pol that's very true my lord
Ham Have you a daughter
Pol I have my lord

CHAPTER II.

DICTION.

Diction is that part of Rhetoric which treats of the selection and the right use of words.

Command of Words Important. -No one can be successful as a writer or a speaker, who has not a great number of words at his command, and who has not such a knowledge of the precise meaning of each as to be able in all cases to select just that word which expresses most perfectly the idea intended.

How Obtained. It is not in the power of rules to give one a command of words. To this end, two things chiefly are necessary; an enlarged course of reading, and a habit of observation in regard to the words met with. Linguistic studies are particularly suited to enlarge one's vocabulary. Habitual association with persons of education and refinement has likewise a tendency to increase one's stock of words. Some persons have by nature a special talent for this species of acquisition, and words on almost every subject seem to come at their bidding. Such a talent, whether natural or acquired, is of the greatest importance.

Extemporaneous Translation.—One method, strongly recommended by Prof. Marsh,* for acquiring a ready and wide command of words, is the practice of extemporaneous translation, that is, of reading off into English a book, or a newspaper, which is in a foreign language. Authors who are accustomed to express only their own thoughts, form for themselves unconsciously a comparatively narrow vocabulary. The practice of extemporaneous translation forces one into new trains of thought, demanding new words and forms of expression, and thus enlarges continually his vocabulary, and lifts him out of the rut of

* Lectures on the English Language, by G. P. Marsh, p. 616.

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