tion, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."

i. In reports of speeches, where a particular reference is sometimes made either to the present or a former speaker, or where the sense of the auditors is expressed by approbation or disapprobation, it is usual to enclose the inserted words within marks of parenthesis; as, "The lucid exposition which has been made of the object of the meeting by the Right Reverend Bishop (M'Ilvaine) lightens the task of recommending it to an audience like this. I do not know but I should act more advisedly to leave his cogent and persuasive statement to produce its natural effect, without any attempt on my part to enforce it. (No.)"

j. Some writers would put within parenthetical marks such words as are thrown into sentences to correct grammatical errors; as, "I am now as well as when you was (were) here." But, as will be shown hereafter, it is better to use brackets, that the language introduced may be clearly distinguished from the original; as (to take the same example), "I am now as well as when you was [were] here."

k. Sometimes marks of parenthesis are used to enclose an expression standing apart from the context, and added by way of explanation, or in reference to some other passage. Examples of this kind may be seen in the "Exercises to be written," which occur in the present treatise. The same marks are also used, particularly in dictionaries and in didactic and scientific works, to enclose the Arabic figures or the letters of the alphabet, when enumerating definitions of words, or subjects treated of; as, "(A.) The unlawfulness of suicide appears from the following considerations: (1.) Suicide is unlawful on account of its general consequences. (2.) Because it is the duty of the self-murderer to live in the world, and be useful in it. (3.) Because he deprives himself of all further opportunity to prepare for happiness in a future state." But, unless it is necessary to distinguish the letters or figures from the simpler modes of specification, the marks of parenthesis are better omitted.

7. When a parenthetical expression is short, or coincides with the rest of the sentence, the marks of parenthesis may be omitted, and commas used instead; as, "Every star, if we may judge by analogy, is a sun to a system of planets." The intervening words says I, says he, and others of a similar character, should all be written only with commas. See p. 65, Remark c.

ORAL EXERCISE.

Show how the Rule and the Remarks apply to the punctuation of these

sentences:

I have seen charity (if charity it may be called) insult with an

air of pity.

The Tyrians were the first (if we may believe what is told us by writers of high antiquity) who learned the art of navigation.

Pleasure (whene'er she sings, at least) 's a siren,

That lures, to flay alive, the young beginner.

The profound learning and philosophical researches of Sir William Jones (he was master of twenty-eight languages) were the wonder and admiration of his contemporaries.

Know, then, this truth (enough for man to know):

Virtue alone is happiness below.

Whether writing prose or verse (for a portion of the work is in prose), the author knows both what to blot, and when to stop.

Do we,

then (for this one question covers the whole ground of this subject), do we observe the strict conditions of our vast and unsurpassably momentous work?

The most remote country, towards the East, of which the Greeks had any definite knowledge (and their acquaintance with it was, at the best, extremely imperfect), was India.

While they wish to please, (and why should they not wish it?) they disdain dishonorable means.

I am so ill at present, (an illness of my own procuring last night: who is perfect?) that nothing but your very great kindness could make me write.

She had managed this matter so well, (oh, how artful a woman she was!) that my father's heart was gone before I suspected it was in danger.

Perhaps (for who can guess the effects of chance?)

Here Hunt may box, or Mahomet may dance.

Consider (and may the consideration sink deep into your hearts!) the fatal consequences of a wicked life.

Edward, lo! to sudden fate

(Weave we the woof: the thread is spun.)

Half of thy heart we consecrate.

(The web is wove; the work is done.)

The air was mild as summer, all corn was off the ground, and the sky-larks were singing aloud (by the way, I saw not one at Keswick, perhaps because the place abounds in birds of prey). She was one

Fit for the model of a statuary

(A race of mere impostors when all's done: I've seen much finer women, ripe and real,

Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal).

A certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

From an original and infinitely more lofty and intellectual state of existence, there remains to man, according to the philosophy of Plato, a dark remembrance of divinity and perfection.

Yet, in the mere outside of nature's works, if I may so express myself, there is a splendor and a magnificence to which even untutored minds cannot attend without great delight.

"You say," said the judge, "that the bag you lost had a hundred and ten dollars in it?" -"Yes, sir.". "Then," replied the judge, "this cannot be your bag, as it contained but a hundred dollars."

EXERCISE TO BE WRITTEN.

Introduce the marks of parenthesis into their respective places : —

Not a few are the incitements of the working classes would they were greater! to the accumulation of property, and even to the investment of land. (Remark e.)

The finest images which Joseph Hall conjures up and many of them are wonderfully fine never displace the great truths for the sake of which they are admitted. (Remark a.)

There is nothing that we call a good which may not be converted into a curse that is, nothing that is providential or external, and not of the soul; nor is there an evil of that nature which is not thoroughly a good. (Remark b.)

There is a power have you not felt it? in the presence, conversation, and example of a man of strong principle and magnanimity, to lift us, at least for the moment, from our vulgar and tame habits of thought, and to kindle some generous aspirations after the excellence which we were made to attain. (Remarks 1.)

Under God, and by those spiritual aids which are ever vouchsafed in exact proportion to our endeavors to obtain them, how gracious and glorious is this truth! we are morally and religiously, as well as intellectually, the makers of ourselves. (Remark c.)

Sir, I hope the big gentleman that has just sat down Mr. Francis Archer will do me the justice to believe, that, as I receive little satisfaction from being offended, so I am not sedulous to find out cause for offence. Applause. (Remark i.)

I mention these instances, not to undervalue science it would be folly to attempt that; for science, when true to its name, is true knowledge, but to show that its name is sometimes wrongfully assumed, and that its professors, when not guided by humility, may prove but misleading counsellors. (Remark b.)

And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. For I say unto you, that unto every one who hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. (Remarks 1, h.)

66

"Young master was alive last Whitsuntide," said the coachman. "Whitsuntide! alas!" cried Trim extending his right arm, and falling instantly into the same attitude in which he read the sermon, what is Whitsuntide, Jonathan" for that was the coachman's name, "or Shrovetide, or any other tide or time, to this?" (Remark b.)

No lesson of a practical kind and all lessons ought to be practical requires to be so often repeated as that which enjoins upon the mind a state of passivity; for what an electrical thing is it! How does it dart forth after this and that, flitting from sweet to sweet for it never willingly tastes of bitter things, and "feeding itself without fear"! (Remarks a, b.)

Inquiring the road to Mirlington, I addressed him by the name of Honesty. The fellow whether to show his wit before his mistress, or whether he was displeased with my familiarity, I cannot tell directed me to follow a part of my face which, I was well assured, could be no guide to me, and that other parts would follow of consequence. (Remarks a, b.)

Socrates has often expressly said, that he considered human life in general and without doubt the state of the world in his day must have eminently tended to make him so consider it in the light of an imprisonment of the soul, or of a malady under which the nobler spirit is condemned to linger, until it be set free and purified by the healing touch of death. (Remark a.)

The DASH [-] is a straight horizontal line, used for the purposes specified in the following rules.

REMARK S.

a. Notwithstanding the advantages resulting from the proper use of the dash, the most indistinct conceptions have been formed in regard to its nature and its applications. Many authors, some of them of high standing in the literary world, as well as a majority of letter-writers, are wont to employ this mark so indiscriminately as to prove that they are acquainted neither with its uses, nor with those of the other points whose places it is made to supply. Some use it instead of a comma; others, instead of a semicolon; not a few, where the colon is required; and a host, between every sentence and after every paragraph. Others go even further, by introducing it between the most commonplace words and phrases, apparently to apprise the reader, through the medium of his eye, what perhaps he could not discover by his judgment, that the composition before him is distinguished for brilliance of diction, tenderness of sentiment, or force of thought. But surely the unnecessary profusion of straight lines, particularly on a printed page, is offensive to good taste, is an index of the dasher's profound ignorance of the art of punctuation, and, so far from helping to bring out the sense of an author, is better adapted for turning into nonsense some of his finest passages.

b. From these abuses in the application of the dash, some writers have strongly questioned its utility in any way as a sentential mark. So long, however, as modes of thought are different, and the style of composition corresponds with the peculiarities of an author's mind, so long will it be necessary occasionally to use the dash. The majestic simplicity of Scripture language may dispense with the use of this mark; but the affected and abrupt style of a Sterne, the broken and natural colloquialisms of a Shakspeare, the diffusive eloquence of a Chalmers, and the parenthetical inversions of a Bentham or a Brougham, will scarcely admit of being pointed only with the more common and grammatical stops.