feigned, though substantially authentic, account of that dreadful calamity when it broke out at a much later period, and with it we must close our extracts.

"It was as if Heaven had repented the making of mankind, and was shovelling them all into the sepulchre. Justice was forgotten, and her courts deserted. The terrified jailors fled from the felons that were in fetters; - the innocent and the guilty leagued themselves together, and kept within their prisons for safety; the grass grew in the market-places; the cattle went moaning up and down the fields, wondering what had become of their keepers; the rooks and the ravens came into the towns, and built their nests in the mute belfries; silence was universal, save when some infected wretch was seen clamouring at a window.

"For a time all commerce was in coffins and shrouds; but even that ended. Shrift there was none;-churches and chapels were open, but neither priest nor penitent entered; all went to the charnel-house. The sexton and the physician were cast into the same deep and wide grave; the testator and his heirs and executors were hurled from the same cart into the same hole together. Fires became extinguished, as if its element too had expired ;- the seams of the sailorless ships yawned to the sun. Though doors were open, and coffers unwatched, there was no theft; all offences ceased, and no crime but the universal woe of the pestilence was heard of among men. The wells overflowed, and the conduits ran to waste; the dogs banded themselves together, having lost their masters, and ran howling over all the land; horses perished of famine in their stalls;-old friends but looked at one another when they met, keeping themselves far aloof; creditors claimed no debts, and courtiers performed their promises; - little children went wandering up and down, and numbers were seen dead in all corners. Nor was it only in England that the plague so raged; it travelled over a third part of the whole earth, like the shadow of an eclipse, as if some dreadful thing had been interposed between the world and the sun-source of life."

The good Lady de Crosby died, the gentle Beatrice died, and Sir Amias, followed at a distance by Ralph Hanslap, went murmuring every where in quest of the infection, but he could not die.

He confessed aloud, to every one he met, the wrongs he had done to the widow and the orphan, but no one heeded his tale; for all were flying, they knew not whither, from the pestilence.

He ran to the house of Adonijah the Jew to make restitution. The door was open, and he rushed in; but a swarm of horrible flies came buzzing into his face, and he heard the sound of swine grovelling in the darkness within.

He turned slowly round, and seeing Ralph Hanslap standing in the street, he beckoned him towards him, but was refused. He darted back in his frenzy into the house; and the cries of the

swine, driven from their devouring, were heard, and two that were black came raging out.

At that epoch, for a short time there was a silence, and every person in the street for a moment stood still: and London was as dumb as a church-yard. Again the sound of a bell was heard; for it was that sound, so long unheard, which arrested the fugitive multitude, and caused their silence. At the third toll an universal shout arose, as when a herald proclaims the tidings of a great battle won, and then there was a second silence.

The people fell on their knees, and with anthems of thankfulness rejoiced in the dismal sound of that tolling death-bell; for it was a signal of the plague being so abated that men might again mourn for friends, and hallow their remains with the solemnities of burial.'

Of the three stories inserted to eke out the third volume, we must speak in terms of qualified commendation.

ART. VIII. A Practical Guide to the Composition and Application of the English Language; or, a compendious System of English Grammar, Literary Criticism, and Practical Logic, illustrated by appropriate Definitions, Rules, Examples, and Exercises; arranged upon a Plan entirely new, and adapted to explain the Principles of these important Branches of Education. By Peter Smith, A. M., Teacher of English Composition, &c., Edinburgh. 12mo. pp. 436. 10s. 6d. Boards. Whittakers. 1824.

MUCH

UCH is promised in the title-page of this compilation, and much has been performed. We have rarely met with an elementary work designed for the use of the younger students of English literature better adapted to its end. It conducts them through the successive stages of grammar, criticism, and logic, by easy and gradual steps; and its rules are illustrated by clear and impressive examples. The nature of such a book must divest it of all claim to originality: but, though in many respects a compilation only, it contains much ingenious and useful reflection conveyed in neat and perspicuous language.

We doubt, whether grammar, properly so called, be the best entrance into language. It is certain that, in ordinary practice, time and labor are often most unprofitably wasted in "hovering," as Cicero expresses it, "about the elements." The analogy between words and reason is too remote from apprehension for undisciplined minds; and abstract rules are merely mechanical exercises of the memory. Experience, however, is an oracle to which we are bound to defer; and the long succession of able teachers who have kept the beaten

track

track ought to make us scrupulously careful how we arraign a method so long established. Granting, then, that it is indispensably necessary for the learner to be conducted through the vestibule of grammar into language, it is of the utmost moment that the rules and definitions, as they are severally and successively impressed upon his mind, should be each accompanied with a sufficiency of examples to shew their use and application. In this respect, as well as in the arrangement of the rules of syntax, it is that the common English Grammars are most defective; and in the first part of his work Mr. Smith has judiciously labored in the accomplishment of these objects. Let him, however, explain his entire plan in his own words:

With respect to the plan of this work, the author may be permitted to say that it is either entirely new, or at least very different from that of any other with which he is acquainted. The first part, denominated "Principles of English Grammar," contains new definitions of the parts of speech and rules of construction, illustrated by copious examples and exercises arranged throughout upon a systematic plan, and by appropriate directions for understanding prosody and punctuation; together with an explanation of the most common Scotticisms, and phrases borrowed from foreign languages, and various other appendages necessary for those who would speak or write the English language with propriety. - The second part, entitled "Sketches of Literary Criticism,' illustrates those higher properties of language, which consist in the choice of such words and phrases as are pure and perspicuous, appropriate and precise in their application, in their suitable arrangement for promoting perspicuity and unity, vivacity and harmony in the structure of sentences, and in those ornaments of speech and sentiment, whereby simplicity, elegance, and sublimity of style, may be best attained by the student of English composition. The third part, containing "Elements of Practical Logic," is intended to direct the student how to exercise his reasoning powers in the discovery of truth; and explains shortly the intellectual capacities of the human mind; the nature and qualities of its ideas; the relations and laws of their association ; the nature of propositions, syllogisms, and arguments; the various kinds of reasoning and of evidence; the topics for proving any point or discussion; and the method of writing on any kind of subject. All these branches of Logic are illustrated by appropriate rules, examples, and exercises, adapted to point out a regular plan of arranging our ideas in the most natural order, and expressing them in the most conclusive manner, either in speech or in writing. In the course of this extensive plan, it has been the object of the author to furnish the student with every thing necessary for unfolding the elementary principles of a classical education; and, though the work should be found to contain nothing that deserves the attention of the learned, and may even

be

be chargeable with several imperfections, if it prove useful to those who are engaged in their academical studies, or who are endeavouring, by their own private labours, to acquire a knowledge of the art of speaking, writing, and reasoning accurately in their native language, his purpose in composing it will be fully attained.'

We must dismiss his principles of grammar with observing, that Mr. S. has consulted the most eminent authorities, Lowth, Priestley, Crombie, and Lindley Murray. Harris and Horne Tooke are also occasionally cited. Notwithstanding, however, his general precision, among the examples of the rule by which the plural of foreign nouns used in the English language is formed, we notice the following errors: Animalculum, animalcula,' is evidently wrong; as is also genius, geniuses.' (P. 18.) There is no Latin plural of genius but genii. Geniuses, used as the plural, is formed by a vicious analogy.

The most original part of the work is that which treats of criticism, or the art by means of which the student of English composition may be enabled not only to relish but also to imitate the excellences of style which he admires; and to dislike and avoid faults in writing. It is not enough to merely experience pleasure or displeasure from what we read: we ought to ascertain the precise species of composition from which either results, and to be able to refer it to the sentiment or the expression, to the design or the execution, — to sublimity or beauty, to wit or humor. True criticism requires a classification of our emotions; and a just attachment of each to its particular cause. Admiration, indulged involuntarily, without reference to the principles according to which we admire, is the source of half the false taste in literature. To afford an instance of Mr. Smith's mode of illustrating his rules by passages from eminent writers, and of then shewing, by analysis, their adaptation to those rules, we make the following extract:

But as the proper choice of words in the formation of sentences will be best illustrated by observing the manner in which they are employed by an eminent English author, the following quotation from Mr. Addison may serve as an example of the preceding definition.

"Illust. - "Man, considered in himself, is a very helpless, and a very wretched being. He is subject every moment to the greatest calamities and misfortunes. He is beset with dangers on all sides, and may become unhappy by numberless casualties which he could not foresee, nor have prevented, had he foreseen them." -Spect. No. 441.

These

66

man

These three sentences exhibit the most correct choice of words for expressing the precise meaning of those ideas which they contain. The first word, man, is an appellative for the human race, and universally used in this sense by our best authors: considered by himself," signifies-man as existing by himself, and unconnected with all other beings. In this state, says our author, he is a very helpless and a very wretched being." The term helpless denotes "the want of power to succour one's self;" and surely, it is evident that if man were left to himself in infancy, he would perish; for, if he had not parents or guardians to support and instruct him in youth, he could make no exertion to acquire either bodily sustenance or mental endowments; and if he were altogether detached from society in manhood, he could have no means of procuring either the necessaries or the comforts of life.

• But man, considered by himself, is not only a very helpless, but also "a very wretched being." The term wretched, as applied in this passage, signifies unhappy, or miserable, and is more expressive of the meaning, than if any of these other terms had been chosen. Though unhappy, miserable, and wretched, may appear to express nearly the same idea, yet there is a great difference in the meaning of each of these words. Unhappy denotes merely the uneasiness of a man, who may be happy if he pleases; as the discontented are unhappy, because they think others more prosperous than themselves; — miserable is a term applicable to the condition of persons whose minds are tormented by the stings of conscience, agitated by the violence of passion, or harassed by worldly vexations; and accordingly, we say that wicked men are miserable; but wretched, derived from the Saxon word wrecca, an exile, signifies cast away or abandoned; — and hence appears the proper application of the word in this sentence; as man, if abandoned to himself, might indeed exist in a solitary state, without being either miserable or unhappy, provided his bodily wants were supplied; though he certainly would be a very wretched being, when deprived of all the comforts of social life, and all the endearments of friends and kindred. "He is subject," continues our author, " every moment to the greatest calamities and misfortunes.' The adjective subject here implies that man is "exposed, liable, or obnoxious" to any thing; but none of these words would have expressed the meaning so exactly as subject does in this passage. For, exposed conveys the idea of a passive state into which we may be brought either through our own means or that of others, as a man who ruins himself by his folly is exposed to contempt;-liable implies the idea of suffering evils which we may avoid by proper care;―as delicate people, by exposing themselves to the night air, are liable to catch cold; obnoxious signifies that we have brought ourselves into a certain state, and must suffer the consequences; as a criminal has rendered himself obnoxious to punishment; whereas subject, the word which our author has chosen, denotes that we cannot avoid the evils of humanity; as we are subject to accidents, diseases, and

death.