spire respect and veneration; third, the figures of speech.

II. EXERCISE.

Point out in your Rhetorical Reader some passage which contains the sublime style. Show the ideas and words which seem to you high and dignified.

III.-EXERCISE.

Find an example wherein the rules of the sublime style have not been observed; or commit some violations in a good one, and make a criticism.

IV. EXERCISE.

THEME." It well becomes man, the masterpiece of creation, to be immortal." In amplifying this

sentence, use the sublime style.

V.-EXERCISE.

Read your own composition, and state what style you have used, and prove it by the rules before given.

ARTICLE II.

OF THE SIMPLE OR FAMILIAR STYLE.

1. The simple or familiar style "is that which expresses plain or simple ideas, in plain and simple language."

(1.) What is the simple, or familiar style?

2. The requisites of the simple style are especially three-first, clearness; second, purity; third, simplicity of ornament.

Clearness of style means, that the ideas must be clearly conceived, and properly expressed, by using appropriate words.

Purity of style means, that neither the ideas, nor the language must be vitiated by the mixture of foreign idioms or words.

Simplicity of ornament means, that poetical imaginations, vivid figures of speech, flowery diction, are to be avoided in the simple style.

3. Virgil affords an example of the simple style, in the first Ecloga :

66

'I, a simple man, thought once, O Melibeus, that the city which they call Rome was like this village of ours, where we shepherds are accustomed to gather our lambs. For so, I was wonted to compare little dogs to their fathers, and little goats to their mothers, and little things to great things."

4. Also the following description of the rose plucked after it had been washed by a shower, as it contains simple ideas in simple language, is an example of the simple style :

(2.) What are the requisites of the simple style?

THE PLUCKED ROSE.

"The rose had been washed, just washed in a shower, Which Mary to Anna conveyed;

The plentiful moisture encumbered the flower,
And weighed down its beautiful head.

The cup was all filled, and the leaves were all wet,

And it seemed, to a fanciful view,

То weep for the buds it had left with regret,
On the flourishing bush where it grew.

I hastily seized it, unfit as it was

For a nosegay, so dripping and drowned;
And swinging it rudely, too rudely, alas !
I snapped it; it fell to the ground.
And such, I exclaimed, is the pitiless part
Some act by the delicate mind,

Regardless of wringing and breaking a heart
Already to sorrow resigned.

This elegant rose, had I shaken it less,

Might have bloomed with its owner awhile; Thus the tear that is wiped, with a little address, May be followed perhaps by a smile."

I. EXERCISE.

In the extracts just given, point out the qualities of clearness, purity and simplicity, which are peculiar to the simple style.

II.—EXERCISE. ·

Find in your Rhetorical Reader a passage which illustrates the simple style.

Point out

the three qualities of the simple style, viz : Clearness, Purity and Simplicity.

III.-EXERCISE.

Find a contrary example, and analyze it like

wise.

IV.-EXERCISE.

THEME." I had just fallen asleep, when methought I saw "-here relate a dream, using the simple style.

V.-EXERCISE.

Read your own composition. style you have used, and prove it.

ARTICLE III.

OF THE MIDDLE STYLE.

State what

1. Middle style is that which holds an intermediate place, between the sublime and simple, or in which the ideas and words are neither too lofty, nor too familiar, but partake of both qualities.

2. The middle style is also called flowery, because to it all the flowers and ornaments of diction rightly belong.

3. Virgil furnishes an example of the middle. style, in the first book of the Georgics :

"It is often expedient to kindle the dry field, and burn in the flames the light grass. Whether it be

(1.) What is the middle style?

(2.) Why is it called flowery?

(3.) Furnish an example of the middle style, from an ancient author?

that by this means the soil gains an invisible strength, or an invigorating substance, or that internal impurities are purified by fire; or that the heat opens new ways, and the pores are unobstructed, whereby fresh humor is infused in the new grass; or whether it hardens more and closes the open channels, lest they may be burned by light rain, or by the strong power of the sun, or by the penetrating cold of Boreas."

4. Byron's description of the destruction of Sennacherib may also serve as an example of the middle style. The student must remark, that in these examples, ideas and words are neither too lofty, nor too familiar; hence, they belong to the middle style:

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB. "The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of his spears was like stars on the sea, When the wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest, when Autumn is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen; Like the leaves of the forest, when Autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed on the face of the foe as he passed;

(4.) Give another example from a modern classic?