should be put between those which are least connected in sense, and a comma only between the others; as, "The woods may disappear, but the spirit of them will never now; for it has been felt by a poet, and we can feel for ever what he felt." ORAL EXERCISE. Repeat the preceding Definition and Rule, and say why semicolons are inserted in the following sentences: — All cannot be great; and nobody may reasonably expect all the world to be engaged with lauding his merits. Idleness is the parent of every vice; but well-directed activity is the source of every laudable pursuit and worldly attainment. Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared; for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer. An entire retreat from worldly affairs is not what religion requires; nor does it even enjoin a long retreat from them. Religion must be the spirit of every hour; but it cannot be the meditation of every hour. A clownish air is but a small defect; yet it is enough to make a man disagreeable. We have carved a cross upon our altars; but the smoke of our sacrifice goes up to Thor and Odin still. Reasoning implies doubt and uncertainty; and therefore God does not reason. Endless existence is a great truth; but an immortality of pure affections and holy employments is far greater. Men must have recreation; and literature and art furnish that which is most pure, innocent, and refining. Do not think yourself perfect; for imperfection is natural to humanity. Pope had perhaps the judgment of Dryden; but Dryden certainly wanted the diligence of Pope. Life is felt to be a great and gracious boon by all who enjoy its light; and this is not too much felt. Never value yourself upon your fortune; for this is the sign of a weak mind. Virtue is a real honor; whereas all other distinctions are merely titular. Distracted and surprised with deep dismay EXERCISE TO BE WRITTEN. Let the following sentences be punctuated agreeably to the preceding Rule and Make a proper use of your time for the loss of it can never be regained. Truth will pass down in fragments to posterity but posterity will collect and compose them into a whole. Ivy is the beauty of old ruins and your faith is not unlike it for it springs up so strongly from amidst fallen hopes. (Remark b.) Mere knowledge may be idle but belief and love will, and must, go forth in action. He is a freeman whom the truth makes free And all are slaves beside. Chaucer followed nature everywhere but never went beyond her. (Remark a.) Good and evil are inseparable companions but the latter often hides behind the back of the former. Liberal dealing is better than almsgiving for it tends to prevent pauperism, which is better than to relieve it. The proud have no friends in prosperity for then they know nobody and none in adversity for then no one knows them. (Rem. b.) Property left to a child may soon be lost but the inheritance of virtue will abide for ever. Outward suffering is the lot of human nature and it is cheering to see it bravely borne even on the battle-field. A good conscience is a continual feast and proves a spring of joy amidst the greatest distresses. (Remark a.) The study of truth is perpetually joined with the love of virtue for there is no virtue which derives not its original from truth. A little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds to religion. Infidelity is not always built upon doubt for this is diffident nor philosophy always upon wisdom for this is meek. (Remark b.). Some persons make a long story short but most persons make a short story long. Scott built a castle but he broke his heart. We promise according to our hopes but perform according to our fears. (Remark a.) The esteem of wise and good men is the greatest of all temporal encouragements to virtue and it is the mark of an abandoned spirit to have no regard to it. RULE II. Expressions divided into Simpler Parts. A semicolon is placed between two or more parts of a sentence, when these, or any of them, are divisible by a comma into smaller portions. EXAMPLES. 1. Men are not to be judged by their looks, habits, and appearances; but by the character of their lives and conversations, and by their works. 2. The noblest prophets and apostles have been children once; lisping the speech, laughing the laugh, thinking the thought, of boyhood. 8. As we perceive the shadow to have moved, but did not perceive it moving; so our advances in learning, as they consist of such minute steps, are perceivable only by the distance. REMARK S. a. It is obvious, that, if the smaller portions of a sentence require to be separated by a comma from each other, the construction and sense of the whole passage will be more readily perceived, if the larger divisions are set apart by the insertion of a point indicating a less intimate connection. This will show the propriety of putting a semicolon, in the first example, between the negative and the affirmative portion of the sentence; in the second, between the clause and the series of phrases; and, in the third, between the members. b. When, however, in a sentence resolvable into two or more larger portions that require to be separated by a semicolon, the last ends with a series of phrases, of which only the final one is capable of subdivision, the comma will usually be found sufficient to distinguish all the final terms. Thus: "As, with a small telescope, a few feet in length and breadth, man learns to survey heavens beyond heavens, almost infinite; so, with the aid of limited senses and faculties, does he rise to the conception of what is beyond all visible heavens, beyond all conceivable time, beyond all imagined power, beauty, and glory." c. When the insertion of a semicolon would tend to break up the harmony or the dependencies of the thought expressed, the larger portions of a sentence, though its smaller parts are susceptible of being grammatically divided, should be separated only by a comma, as in the following passage: "Like one of those wondrous rocking stones reared by the Druids, which the finger of a child might vibrate to its centre, yet the might of an army could not move from its place, our Constitution is so nicely poised and balanced, that it seems to sway with every breath of opinion, yet so firmly rooted in the heart and affections of the people, that the wildest storms of treason and fanaticism break over it in vain." This sentence, though containing seven grammatical parts, or pointed groups of words, is divisible into two main portions, the first ending with the word "place;" but these larger portions cannot be more separated from each other than the smaller ones, because they are so compactly and finely bound together, that any other mark than a comma would tend to loosen their connection, and to mar the unity which runs throughout the whole passage. ORAL EXERCISE. Assign the reason for the insertion of semicolons in the following sentences : — Prosperity is naturally, though not necessarily, attached to virtue and merit; adversity, to vice and folly. The furnace of affliction may be fierce; but, if it refineth thy soul, the good of one meek thought shall outweigh years of torment. Every thing that happens is both a cause and an effect; being the effect of what goes before, and the cause of what follows. There is a fierce conflict of good and evil throughout the universe; but good is in the ascendant, and must triumph at last. Argument, as usually managed, is the worst sort of conversation; as it is generally, in books, the worst sort of reading. The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn; and Egypt, Greece, Rome, Gaul, Britain, America, lie folded already in the first man. He was respectful, not servile, to superiors; affable, not improperly familiar, to equals; and condescending, not supercilious, to those beneath him. The little, bleak farm, sad and affecting in its lone and extreme simplicity, smiled like the paradise of poverty; when the lark, lured thither by some green barley-field, rose ringing over the solitude. As a malicious censure, craftily worded and pronounced with assurance, is apt to pass with mankind for shrewd wit; so a virulent maxim in bold expressions, though without any justness of thought, is readily received for true philosophy. It is the first point of wisdom to ward off evils; the second, to make them beneficial. The look that is fixed on immortality wears not a perpetual smile; and eyes, through which shine the light of other worlds, are often dimmed with tears. The golden rule is a protest against selfishness; and selfishness, cleaving as it does to the inmost core of our being, is the besetting sin of the world. Books are standing counsellors and preachers, always at hand, and always disinterested; having this advantage over oral instructors, that they are ready to repeat their lesson as often as we please. EXERCISES TO BE WRITTEN. Agreeably to the Rule (p. 116), insert semicolons in the following sentences : — By granting that intellectual improvement was unfavorable to productions of the imagination, we should look to the least cultivated minds for bolder flights than to Milton, Pope, or Byron the absurdity of which is seen by the mere statement of it. Wordsworth, in his poetry, works out wisdom as it comes from the common heart of man, and appeals to that heart in turn causing us to recognize the truth, that there is something in humanity which deserves alike our love and reverence. The most precious of all possessions is power over ourselves power to withstand trial, to bear suffering, to front danger power over pleasure and pain power to follow our convictions, however resisted by menace and scorn the power of calm reliance in scenes of darkness and storms. There, cold and lifeless, is the heart which just now was the seat of friendship there, dim and sightless, is the eye whose radiant and enlivening orb beamed with intelligence and there, closed for ever, are those lips on whose persuasive accents we have so often and so lately hung with transport. But who the melodies of morn can tell? The wild brook, babbling down the mountain-side The pipe of early shepherd, dim descried |