cause of religious liberty in general was indebted:"-Grattan, one of the greatest men of his age, and than whom "it would not be easy to point out any statesman or patriot, in any age of the world, whose fame stands higher for his public services, or to name any one, the purity of whose reputation has been stained by so few faults, and the lustre of whose renown is dimmed by so few imperfections:"-Wilberforce, "who among the greatest benefactors of the human race, holds an exalted station, whose genius was elevated by his virtues, and exalted by his piety, and whose eloquence was of the highest order, enriched by the thoughts and the spirit that touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire:"- Canning, whose " principles were throughout those of a liberal Tory, above the prejudices of the bigots who had rendered Toryism ridiculous, and free from the corruption that has sometimes made it hateful;" and yet who, "if ever man was made for the service and the salvation of a party, was raised up for that of the Tories:"-Romilly, whose extraordinary reach of thought, whose great powers of attention, and of close reasoning, whose memory quick and retentive, whose fancy eminently brilliant, with his persevering industry, and with the stimulus of a lofty ambition, "rendered him unquestionably the first advocate, and the most profound lawyer of the age he flourished in -placed him high among the ornaments of the senate; and would, in all likelihood, have given him the foremost place among them all:"—Eldon, who "to great legal experience, and the most profound professional learning, united a thorough knowledge of men ;" and who "had a sagacity almost unrivalled-a penetration of mind at once quick and sure-a sublety so nimble, that it materially impaired the strength of his other qualities by lending his ingenuity an edge sometimes too fine for use:"-Horne Tooke, than whom 66 no man out of office all his life, and out of parliament all but a few months of his later period, ever acted so conspicuous a part in the political warfare of his times; who from his earliest years had devoted himself to the cause of liberty, and who had given up the clerical profession because its duties interfered with secular controversy, which he knew to be his proper element:"-Castlereagh, of "the safe and middling men, meaning very little, nor meaning that little well," was in some respects the least inconsiderable, for "scarce any man of any party bore a more important place in public affairs, or occupied a larger space in the history of his times :"Liverpool, who, from the age of manhood, passed his whole life in the public service, and whose long and but little interrupted course of official prosperity, was such as was never, perhaps, enjoyed by any other statesman; for "the years during which the helm of the state was entrusted to his hands, were those of the greatest events alike in negotiation, in war, in commerce, and in finance, which ever happened to illustrate or to chequer the annals of Europe:"-King, with whom must be associated Ricardo and Horner, who bore "the principal share in the controversy respecting the depreciation, and who may be considered as the guides of the sounder policy which led to a restored currency:"- Curran, who was "the greatest orator after Grattan and Plunket that Ireland ever produced, and in every respect worthy of being placed in a line with those great masters of speech:"-Ellenborough, who was originally, like the rest of his family, a moderate Whig, and who occasionally suffered the strength of his political feelings to break forth, and to influence the tone and temper of his observations, "but who was never known upon any one occasion to deviate one hair's breadth from justice in the discharge of his office:"- Wellesley, the scion of a family "which, like the Gracchi at Rome, peculiarly excelled all others in the virtues and in the renown of its members: -Holland, "the vigilant enemy of abuses-the staunch supporter of the constitution as established in 1688-the friend of peace abroad, and of liberty all over the world-the champion, especially, of religious liberty and the sacred rights of conscience, and that upon sound principles of universal freedom," and than whom no man certainly could better deserve the universal affection of which he was the object." With the virtues and the vices of such men before them, it will be a happy day for our England when "those who voluntarily assume the government of nations are taught to regard their duties as paramount to their interests, and made to learn that ignorance of their craft is in their calling criminal, by having placed before their eyes the examples of others-their signal punishment to deter from vice, their glorious reward to stimulate in welldoing. This salutary lesson will be taught, if the friends of mankind, the votaries of duty, of peace, of freedom, be held up to veneration, while their enemies, themselves the slaves of ambition or avarice, and who would forge fetters for their fellow-creatures or squander their substance or their blood, are exhibited to the scorn and hatred of after-ages. CHAPTER IV. SPENSER, JONSON AND SHAKSPEARE. THE characters of these three great masters of English poetry are sketched by Fuller, in his "Worthies of England." It is a literary morsel that must not be passed by. The criticisms of those who lived in or near the times when authors flourished merit our observation. They sometimes elicit a ray of intelligence, which later opinions do not always give. He observes on Spenser.-"The many Chaucerisms used (for I will not say affected by him) are thought by the ignorant to be blemishes, known by the learned to be beauties, to his book; which, notwithstanding, had been more saleable, if more conformed to our modern language." On Jonson.-"His parts were not so ready to run of themselves, as able to answer the spur; so that it may be truly said of him, that he had an elaborate wit, wrought out by his own industry.-He would sit silent in learned company, and suck in (besides wine) their several humours into his observation. What was ore in others he was able to refine himself. "He was paramount in the dramatic part of poetry, and taught the stage an exact conformity to the laws of comedians. His comedies were above the Volge (which are only tickled with downright obscenity), and took not so well at the first stroke as at the rebound, when beheld the second time; yea, they will endure reading so long as either ingenuity or learning are fashionable in our nation. If his latter be not so spriteful and vigorous as his first pieces, all that are old will, and all who desire to be old should, excuse him therein." On Shakspeare." He was an eminent instance of the truth of the rule, poëta non fit, sed nascitur; one is not made, but born a poet. Indeed his learning was but very little; so that as Cornish diamonds are not polished by any lapidary, but are pointed and smoothed, even as they are taken out of the earth, so Nature itself was all the art which was used upon him. "Many were the wit-combats betwixt him and Ben Jonson, which two I behold like a Spanish great galleon, and an English man of war. Master Jonson (like the former) was built far higher in learning; solid, but slow in his performances. Shakspeare, with an English man of war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention." Had these "wit-combats," between Shakspeare and Jonson, which Fuller notices, been chronicled by some faithful Boswell of the age, our literary history would have received an interesting accession. A letter has been published by Dr. Berkenhout relating to an evening's conversation between our great rival bards, and Alleyn, the actor. Peele, a dramatic poet, writes to his friend Marlow, another poet. The doctor, unfortunately, in giving this copy, did not recollect his authority. "Friend Marlow, "I never longed for thy companye more than last night: we were all very merrye at the Globe, where Ned Alleyn did not scruple to affirm pleasantly to thy friend Will, that he had stolen his speech about the qualities of an actor's excellency in Hamlet his tragedy, from conversations many fold which had passed between them, and opinions given by Alleyn touching this subject. Shakespeare did not take this talk in good sorte; but Jonson put an end to the strife by wittylie remarking, this affair needeth no contention: you stole it from Ned, no doubt, do not marvel; have you not seen him act times out of number?" This letter is one of those ingenious forgeries which the late George Steevens practised on the literary antiquary; they were not always of this innocent cast. The present has been frequently quoted as an original document. CHAPTER V. THE QUESTIONS ASKED AT THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION HELD ON THE 12TH AND 13TH OF MAY, 1875, WITH THE ANSWERS. I. English Composition. Candidates were required to write an essay or letter, not less than two pages in length, on one of the following subjects. 66 (1.) Happiness is in the mind." (2.) "He tires betimes who spurs too fast betimes." (3.) Your past life. (4.) Your favorite book. (5.) On the modern English school of painting. II. English Language. 1. How many letters are there in the English alphabet? How many sounds? Classify the sounds in their relation to the organs that produce them. In what respects is the alphabet (1) redundant, (2) deficient ? There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet, representing forty-two sounds. The sounds are classified as guttural, palatal, lingual, dental, nasal. The alphabet is redundant inasmuch as a single vowel sound has sometimes several combinations of letters to represent it, as the broad sound of a in fall is represented also by aw in bawl, by ou in bought, and by au in taught. Single consonants are redundant, as c, representing always either k or s; j is represented by g; q is always km, and a is a double letter, being equal to gs or ks, or it is a single letter with the power of z. The letters y and w are superfluous. It is deficient (1) Inasmuch as it expresses several distinct sounds by one symbol; e.g. thirteen vowel sounds are represented by five letters f expresses v in of and ƒ in fat. g expresses a guttural in gate and a sibilant in gem. s expresses 8 in sun, sh in sure, z in dogs, and zh in pleasure. (2) The same two symbols sometimes represent two or more distinct sounds, (3) Many distinct sounds have no separate symbols to represent them, e. g. th (thin), th (thine). 2. Discuss the parts of speech in English. Show how the commonly-received number may be reduced. There are nine parts of speech in English-Article; noun; adjective; pronoun; verb; adverb; preposition; conjunction; interjection. A noun is the name of anything we can apprehend, either through the senses or through the understanding. An adjective is a word used with a noun to express some peculiarity of time, place, number, quality or quantity. Pronouns are short words used to represent nouns without naming them. Verb is the grammatical term for an action or sometimes merely for a state of being. Adverbs are words used to qualify verbs, or any other words that express an attribute, such as adjectives, &c. Prepositions, being the modern equivalents of case-endings, are employed with nouns to mark the relation in which these nouns stand to other words of the sentence. Conjunctions are words used to connect prepositions. Interjections have properly no place in grammar, but are merely emotional exclamations. Some grammarians reduce the number to three classes, (1) nouns and pronouns, (2) verbs, (3) particles. Another classification: (1) names of things, i. e., nouns and pronouns; (2) attributes, i. e., verbs, adjectives and adverbs; (3) relations between words and sentences, prepositions and conjunctions; (4) extra-grammatical utterances : interjections. 3. Discuss the following suffixes as to their meaning and origin :-ster; hood; age; et; dom; ess; ness; ery; tion. The usual feminine suffix in Anglo-Saxon was-estre or istre; in later English -ster; e. g. as in maltster, brewster, spinster, &c., these occupations having in times been carried on exclusively by women. Hood is a termination expressing condition, as in manhood. Age is a Latin suffix expressing act, state, being, quality; as in bondage, homage. Et is a French diminutive termination, as in lancet, floweret; also denoting instrument, as in hatchet. Dom (A.-S. dam) expresses state or condition. Ess is the French feminine termination, as in duch-ess, count-ess, &c. Ness (A.-S. nes) forms abstract nouns from adjectives; as in weak-ness, &c. Ery (A.-S. ra, ru) has a collective meaning; as in heronry, rook-ery, &c.; also state or condition, as in slavery. Tion (Lat. tio) is an abstract termination, as in motion. 4. Classify English pronouns. State what you know of the history of their inflexions. Pronouns are substantive and adjective. Substantive pronouns are divided into: (1) Personal: as I, thou, he, she, it, we, ye, they. (2) Reflexive: self. (3) Indefinite and distributive: as one, any, other, who, whoever, either, &c. Adjective pronouns are divided into: (1) Possessive: his, its, mine, thine, &c. (2) Reflexive: my own, &c., &c. (3) Indefinite distributive pronouns: any, each, either, &c. (4) Relative and interrogative: which, what, whatever, &c. (5) Demonstrative: this, that, such, &c. I and thou are the only true personal pronouns. I in A.-S. was written ic, and in O. E. ich, ic, ik. We sometimes find cham ich am, &c. Thou in A.-S. and O). E. was written thu. In Shakespeare's time it was frequently expressive of familiarity or contempt: "If thou thouest him some thrice, it shall not be amiss." (Twelfth Night.) -ne in mine and thine is a genitival suffix. Observe also the forms ourn (ours) yourn (yours). Me was the same in Anglo-Saxon, but mo in O. E. Me in A.-S. was spelt in different ways: mech, mec, meh, me. It is not derived from I. Its (A.-S. and O. E. hi-s) was generally adopted for the neuter in Dryden and Milton's time. He, she and it are derived from hit. In A.-S. we find masc. he, fem. heo, nout. hit. The following words convey some idea of the history of their inflection:-hi-s, hi-m, he-r, the-m, t-hi-s, he-re, hen-ce, the-re, thi-ther, who-se, who-m, &c. &c. 5. What is meant by strong, weak, auxiliary and reflective verbs? State what you know of the origin of the inflexions of the verb " to be." Strong verbs are such as form the preterite tense by a change of the root vowel, or by some internal change; weak verbs by adding a suffix. Auxiliary verbs are such as aid in forming moods or tenses of principal verbs. When the subject and the object of the verb is the same, the verb is called reflexive. The inflexions of the verb "to be" are Anglo-Saxon, with the exception of the plural are, which is Scandinavian, and was first introduced by the Danes into the northern dialects of England. 6. What are adverbs? How are they formed, and how may they be classified? Adverbs are indeclinable words, employed to modify the meaning of adjectives, participles, verbs, prepositions, nouns, pronouns, other adverbs and compound phrases. Some are originally monosyllabic Saxon words - now, aye, up, ill, well; others are derived from nouns - ashore, aboard, backward, &c.; others from pronounshere, there, &c.; some from adjectives and participles-darkly, lovingly, &c.; some from prepositions - besides, outside, &c. They may be classified according |