Who appear to speak with too much vehemence for their own emolument.

But it must be most attentively considered by those, who have the care of education,

What is the particular bent and disposition of those, whom they instruct.-(Three members may easily be effected here by beginning with the relative who.)

Who then can censure, or in justice be angry with me,

If those hours, which others employ in business, in pleasures, in celebrating public solemnities, in refreshing the body and unbending the mind ;

If the time which is spent by some in midnight banquetings, in diversions and in gaming,

I myself employ in reviewing and retracing those studies? Ut quemadmodum, sicut, &c. followed by sic: quanquam, followed by tamen, &c.

Beware, citizens, beware lest, as it was glorious for them to transmit so extensive an empire to posterity,

Your inability to preserve and defend it prove not infamous for you.

Though this past behaviour of thine was beyond all patience,

Yet have I borne with it as I could.

The structure of a period will be easily understood from these examples; but as some difficulty will arise, where the simple idea does not immediately supply materials for the formation of the period, and as nothing contributes more to the true elegance of style, a few general rules are given, which, as far as it can be done, will enable the scholar to find out the necessary clauses or members proper to be inserted.

In considering a simple proposition, which you wish to extend, and distribute into the parts of a period, it will be easy to discover whether it includes the idea of cause, condition, concession, time, place, &c., and may with propriety admit the insertion of the particles mentioned above, proper to express that idea. Suppose the subject is, the Destruction of Corinth. The first idea that arises is the simple fact that L. Mummius overthrew Corinth. A scholar, therefore, in order to give it the first requisite mentioned by Cicero, the

Latinè, would say, L. Mummius Corinthum funditus àelevit. But if he wished to give it the form of a more finished period, the question might be started, Why he did it: what reasons could influence the Roman commander to destroy that city, at that time the celebrated seat of arts. This question, being resolved, will immediately give the sentence the form and structure of a period.

L. Mummius, because he himself was very ignorant of the liberal arts,

Overthrew Corinth with unparalleled barbarity.

And, by dwelling a little more on the circumstance of the overthrow, the consideration that this famous city was the seat of the arts, may give another member, and, indeed, more ornament to the period.

L. Mummius, being himself very ignorant and illiterate, Destroyed, with the most unparalleled barbarity, the famous city Corinth,

Which was, as it were, the eye and the parent of Greece. Thus an additional clause explanatory of the subject, or denoting concession, &c., may very easily be found out; as, Industry without genius is of very little use;

It will soon occur to the mind that industry is very com- . mendable, and that will form a period.

Industry, though in itself very commendable,

Is of little use without the help of genius. Or, Industry, if it be, or which is, without genius, &c.

There are other methods of giving to a simple sentence the form of a period, which are more simple, and which use will soon render familiar and easy; as by changing one word into another. Thus an adjective or a participle might be changed into qui, &c. A fortunate unhoped-for hour will arrive; say, which shall not be hoped for. Propter, ob, may be changed into quia, cùm, &c. All men respect your brother for his great learning, say, because he is endowed with learning. This might indeed be effected by using a periphrasis, or any kind of circumlocution.

In the structure, however, of a period, let it be repeated, that great care must be taken that the aptè and congruenter, mentioned by Cicero, be diligently observed; that the adoption of additional clauses be appropriate and illustrative of the subject, and that they do not extend beyond fr members.

OF PROSE-MEASURE OR HARMONY.

To what has been said concerning the structure of the period, it will not be unnecessary to add a few observations concerning the harmony of prose, or that measured equality of numbers and exact proportion of parts, which forms so great a part of a finished period, or, rather, which seems naturally to arise from its formation. This ratio pedum, which Quintilian pronounces to be even more difficult in prose than in verse, and to which Cicero attributes an incredible force, is more easily felt than explained, and rests more upon the judgment of the ears, than upon any rules of art. Why, for instance, in the structure of a period, when the sense is completed, does there sometimes seem something wanting? As in Neminem vestrum ignorare, arbitror, judices, hunc per hosce dies sermonem vulgi, atque hanc opinionem populi Romani fuisse. Why hosce instead of hos? Why did not the sentence end at sermonem vulgi fuisse, when the sense admitted it? Merely because the period is better rounded and finished, and pleases the ear better. And indeed Cicero, and many of the ancient writers, bestowed so much attention on the composition of their sentences, that they observed that concinnitas, not merely in the principal members of the period, but even in the other subdivisions of those members, which they call incisa, commata, and those artificial stops, which a nice observer will easily distinguish, and which depend upon the respiration as in the reading of this line, Animadverti, judices-omnem accusatoris orationem-in duas-divisam esse partes. Here it is easy to observe that concinnitas in each word that forms the clausula. Some of these clausula might appear very lame, if suffered to end too abruptly, though the sense might permit it; but when they are taken up and supported by other words that follow, the course of the sentence becomes clear and smooth, as, Non vult, P. R. obsoletis criminibus accusari Verrem. It is easy to observe a harshness in this conclusion, but this is corrected by the continuation, nova postulat, inaudita desiderat, which completes the sentence.

But

This harmony of numbers may be defined, a certain measure or part of any thing, as of a sentence, made equal to the other parts, each to each; as in poetical numbers, the feet are equal to each other; the two syllables, for instance, of a dactyle being equal in time to the long syllable of the spondee, the dactyle and the spondee are equal to each other. This measured equality or proportion of parts, being connected together, and answering to one another, contributes indeed greatly to perspicuity and smoothness of style. to be too solicitous on this subject would be a foolish and superstitious adherence to rules, which might often sacrifice the sense to the wish of pleasing the ear. For it must be observed, in the construction of these harmonic numbers, that the sense and the subject must afford materials for it, and then it may be easily effected by variation and copiousness. Nor is it necessary to mention what feet and what measure are most adapted to create harmony, but merely that it is their proper disposition, which produces it, and briefly to state that long syllables have more weight and authority, and render sentences more dignified, but may also tend to make them too heavy that short syllables have more rapidity, and thus, by being properly mixed with the long, make the sentences run smoothly. But it would be wrong to study too much precision in these things, for though the sentence may have its members, it is not to have a regular quantity nor is it necessary to observe that minuteness, which some recommend, of noun answering to noun, and even syllable to syllable; but that there should be some equality preserved between each member of the period; with this exception, that if there is a difference, the sentence should rise by a kind of climax, and that the last member should be longer than the preceding. For this reason, Quintilian recommends that more attention should be paid to the ending of the sentence, that it may leave a good impression upon the reader or hearer, as that is the place where he is, as it were, to breathe and refresh himself before he enters upon the next sentence: and therefore Cicero prefers, for the ending, a ditrochee [~~-~] as cōmpròbāvit, or a pæon tertius [~~~~] esse věděátur: this last he also assigns to the beginning of a sentence; and chiefly the dochimus, which consists of the bacchic and iambic [---], or of the iambic and cretic

- Servare quam plurimōs; as it would be wrong to say, Pater, postquam literas ad te missas legerat,• et se rescripturum esse promiserat, obiit. There is here an evident inequality between the last member of the sentence and the two preceding, which may be easily corrected by lengthening the last, obiit, and saying, præter omnium obiit opinionem.

What has been said concerning numbers may be further illustrated. Nemo potest, sine labore, ad doctrinam accedere. Here the two nouns labore and doctrinam answer to each. other. But Nemo sine laboris assiduitate ad doctrinam accedere, the two members will be unequal; and, therefore, we should add, nemo potest, sine laboris assiduitate, ad doctrinæ suavitatem accedere. Here is a complete harmony of numbers.

1. What Caius studied to do through love, that Titius tried to prevent through hatred. (Render the first member unequal by the addition of another word; induced by his love, for instance, and you will see the necessity of having, also, a participle to answer it in the last member, and to say, Titius impelled by his hatred.)

2. For who will grant you that mankind, dispersed at first in the woods and mountains, sheltered themselves within the walls of towns, more by the advice of the prudent, than the oratory of the eloquent? (Here the opposition will be, in the members of the sentence, between the advice of the prudent and the oratory of the cloquent, which answer to each other. But make it each a member of three words instead of two, and you must add a participle to each, applicable to the idea of each member, and to agree with mankind.)

3. For this, my lords, is not a written but an innate law-we have not been taught it by the learned, we have not received it from our ancestors, we have not taken it from books; but it is derived from, it is forced upon us by nature, and stamped in indelible characters upon our very frame. It was not conveyed to us by instruction, but wrought into our constitution; it is the dictate, not of education, but instinct, that, if our lives should be at any time in danger from concealed or more open assaults of robbers or private enemies, every honourable method should be taken for our security. (Here the opposition will be seen to be equally supported between written and innate; and the three next members will be equally answered by the three that relate to nature; and the same opposition in the three different members continued to the end.)

4. It certainly was the custom of the Pythagoreans, both when they awoke, to rouse their minds by the sound of the lyre, that they might be more ready to act; and, when they composed themselves to rest, to lull their mind by the same sound, that they might hush such perturbed ideas as might harass them.