Macaulay, of Rothley. Four volumes of his "History of England" appeared during his life; a fifth, which had not received the full benefit of his final revision, has been published since his death, which took place in his 60th year, December 28th, 1859. Lord Macaulay was a most brilliant essayist; his sentences are never complicated; his language exhibits a purity which has been guarded by an instinctive jealousy. Foreign idioms or even foreign words, which come naturally to the pens of other writers, are by him most carefully eschewed; not a phrase which is not English can be found throughout his volumes. Following up the advice we gave in our article "How to become an Orator," we strongly recommend all students to read Macaulay's elegant productions. RICHARD COBDEN: the distinguished advocate and promoter of free trade; was born at Dunford, near Midhurst, in Sussex, in 1804 A.D. After serving an apprenticeship in a London warehouse, he became, in 1830, partner in a firm in the cotton trade at Manchester. As he took deep interest in the political activity of the time-the discussions on, and the passing of, the Reform Bill-he set out in 1834 on a tour through Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and the United States. On his return he commenced his career as political economist by the publication of his pamphlets "England, Ireland and America," and "Russia." About this time he took an active part in founding the Manchester "Athenæum." In 1838 the Anti-Corn Law League was formed. In 1841 Mr. Cobden entered parliament as member for Stockport, for which he had unsuccessfully stood four years earlier, and in 1846 his great earnestness and unremitting labour were rewarded by the repeal of the corn laws. He then made a continental tour, and was received in the chief cities with high honours. His services were acknowledged by a national subscription, and during his absence he was elected M.P. for the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1847. He again visited America, and while absent was elected for Rochdale. In 1859 he was offered by Lord Palmerston the presidentship of the Board of Trade, which he declined. The offer of a baronetcy and a seat in the Privy Council was made to him and declined, as well as other important offices. He died in London, 2nd April, 1865. (To be continued.) CHAPTER VI. THE QUESTIONS ASKED AT THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION HELD ON THE 17TH AND 18TH DAYS OF JULY, 1872, WITH the answers. Candidates were requested to write an essay or letter, not less than two pages in length, on one of the following subjects: (1.) Continental Travelling. (2.) English Writers of Sonnets. (4.) Influence. (5.) Cave ab homine unius libri. 1. What are the principles on which a perfect alphabet should be constructed? and show to what extent the English alphabet falls short of this perfection. II. English Language. A perfect alphabet should contain a distinct symbol for each simple sound, and no sound should have more than one symbol. Moreover, similar sounds should be represented by similar symbols. Now, in the English alphabet, "A" has four sounds: the open ("father"), and the short (“mat”), the broad (“gall”), and the long (" came"). The last two of these four sounds are represented also by aw ("bawl"), by ou (" bought") and au ("taught"); by ay ("pay"), ey and ei ("they,' their"), and by ea and ai (“pear," pair"). 99.66 "O" has three sounds, the short ("cot"), the long or open (" wrote"), and the broad ("move"). "E" has a long and a short sound ("beet," "bed"). The first is represented also by i ("machine"), by eo ("people"), ea (" dear"), ei ("conceive"); and the second before r by short i ("dirty"), and by eo ("jeopardy"). Of the four diphthongal sounds, Eu is represented by u ("mule"), eu (" feud"), ue ("ague"); Oi ("voice") is represented by oy ("boy"), and Ou ("mouse"), by ow (" blow"). In the vowel sounds, therefore, there are five single letters and four diphthongs to represent sixteen sounds, and these sounds are again represented by some twenty vowels, either singly, or in union with others. Upon examination, seven of the consonants will be found to represent eighteen different sounds. There are in fact twenty-six letters to represent forty-two 2. What are the different ways in which the masculine and feminine genders are distinguished in English? Give examples. 3. Give rules for the formation of the plural of words ending in f, fe, lf, ff, rf. How do you explain the plural meaning of the phrase "horse" and "foot?" 4. State rules for the formation of degrees of comparison in English. What is " most," in such words as "utmost" and "hindmost?" sounds. We conclude, then, that the English language, as respects its alphabet, is uncertain, inconsistent, erroneous, deficient and redundant; and far from conforming to the principles laid down. There are three ways of distinguishing the masculine from the feminine gender: (1) By employing a different word for each sex: (2) By prefixing a word indicating the sex: buck-rabbit, doe-rabbit. Sometimes prefixing a descriptive word: (3) By a suffix: land-lord, land-lady. earl, countess. (a) When the masculine undergoes no change: (b) When the ending of the masculine is changed or lost: (c) When the root-vowel and the ending of the masculine are changed: duke, duch-ess. (d) When both masculine and feminine have distinctive suffixes: govern-or, govern-ess. Note.-In the words bride-groom, bride; gander, goose; widower, widow; wizard, witch, the masculine has been formed from the feminine. Nouns of Anglo-Saxon origin ending in ƒ (except those in ff, Nouns ending in f suffix s, as, "serf," "serfs," but a few Note.-Staff has forms of the plural staffs and staves. es. 5 In the phrase "Horse and Foot," the words italicized are either collective nouns, used just as in (cavalry) is in Greek, or they are the first parts of the compound expressions horsemen, footmen; the ellipsis being allowable on account of the clearness of the sense. In modern English the comparative degree is formed by suffixing "er" to the positive; as bright, brighter. When the positive ends in "y," the "y" is changed into "i," and er is suffixed as before; as holy, holier. A final consonant preceded by a short vowel is usually doubled; as thin, thinner. When the adjective consists of more than two syllables, it is usual to express the comparative by placing the adverb "more" before the positive; as beautiful, more beautiful. This method is sometimes employed with dissyllabic and monosyllabic adjectives; as more graceful, more true. The superlative degree is formed by suffixing "est" to the positive; as bright, brighter, brightest: or by prefixing “most,” as most amiable. In the Anglo-Saxon language there were two superlative suffixes (1) ema, (2) est or ost. In utmost and hindmost the "m" is a relic of the first suffix; "ema" and "ost" is the second. The double formation has arisen through ignorance of the fact that the "m" in these words was part of a superlative termination. 6. Into what classes may adverbs be divided? 7. Write down a list of prepositions formed (1) from substantives, (2) from adjectives. 8. Write down the principal rules of syntax. Adverbs may be classed in two ways:- hanged sewn (1) Time: once, always, ever, never. (a) Some are originally monosyllabic Saxon words : Place: in, up, fore, &c. (b) Other adverbs are derivatives, and may be classified according to the parts of speech whence they are taken, or according to the "case." Some are formed from nouns needs, ashore; from pronouns: here, there; from numeral adjectives: either, cardinal; very many from adjectives, by adding "ly" to the root: richly, darkly, &c.; from particles: lovingly, learnedly; from prepositions: besides, between. 1. A board, across, astride, athwart, atour (i.e., about, around or over), below, beside, behind, &c. 2. After, along, nigh, near, next, beyond, &c. I. A verb must agree with its nominative in number and person: as, I speak; he talks. II. When the infinitive mood or a part of a sentence is the nominative the verb is used in the third person singular: as, To see the sun is pleasant. III. The subject of a verb must be in the nominative case: as, He and she went away yesterday. IV. Every part of a verb, except the infinitive mood and the participle, has a nominative expressed or understood; as, Speak now or never, that is, you speak. V. A noun or pronoun joined to a participle, without being connected with any other word in the sentence, is called the nominative absolute; as, The terms being favourable we agreed to them. This is also called the dative absolute. VI. Two or more nominatives in the singular number, connected by and, require a verb and pronoun in the plural; as, Cato and Cicero were learned men, and they loved their country. VII. When two nouns in the singular number are connected by with or by such words and phrases as like, as well as, &c., the verb is in the singular: as McMahon as well as Vinoy deserves praise. VIII. Two or more nominatives in the singular number, connected by or or nor, require a verb and pronoun in the singular: as, Napoleon or the Prince Imperial intends to accompany them. IX. Two or more nominatives in the same number, but of different persons, joined by or or nor, require the verb to agree with the last as, Either he or I am to blame. X. When the nominatives are in different numbers and connected by or or nor, the verb and pronoun are used in the plural: as, Neither the prince nor his courtiers have arrived; they were expected this morning. XI. The relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender, number and person: as, The man who speaks the truth shall be honoured. Etc., etc. 9. State all you know about the gerund in Engfish, its history, origin and use. The term gerund, from the Latin (gero, I bear, or carry on), has been applied by English grammarians to that part of the English verb, which closely resembles in construction and meaning the Latin gerund. It is so applied because, in this form, the verb acts independently of its subject, and so bears or carries on the whole action alone. It can be shown, from the Anglo-Saxon language, that the gerund is really the dative case of the infinitive mood, which was thus declined: N. and A. Writan. D. To Writanne or Writenne. When, in later times, the inflectional endings were lost, the origin of the separate forms write and to write was forgotten, and the preposition was inaccurately applied to all cases of the infinitive mood. The two forms are thus distinguished: (a) Infinitives are always either the subject or the object of a verb. For example:-" To err is human." "He told me to go." (b) The gerundial form is found after intransitive and passive verbs. For example:-"He came to learn" (for learning). "They were slain to make a Roman holiday." We use also another gerundial form, ending in "ing." This is a corruption of the gerundial infinitive, referred to above, which ended in "anne," or "enne." |