The treasury of knowledge and library of reference / [Samuel Maunder].

  • Maunder, Samuel, 1785-1849
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treasury of knowledge and library of reference / [Samuel Maunder]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ^ calf 1011^ ejafllis]^ ©rammar. 33 correspondence should be preserved, so tence, the latter answer correctly to the former: as. or community reforming.” “It were rare sailing, if winds and weather were either at command orforeseen.” Whether — or : “ The time draws on, when not a single burial spot, whether on land, or in the spacious sea, but must give back its long-committed dust.” JS’either—nor: “The heads of birds are small; so that neither the action of their . wings, nor the progress of their bodies through the air, ts retarded.” Though, although — yet, nevertheless: “ 2'hough our passage through this world ’ be ever so tempestuous, yet we shall arrive i at a safe port.” “ Although the fig-tree blossom not, nor fruit be in the vine ; the labour of the olive foil, and the fields yield no meat; the fiock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls; yet will I rejoice in the God of my salvation.” quence : thus, “ Teach us so to number our days, as to apply our hearts unto wis- : dom.” “ We are so accustomed to the > beauties of nature, tAat we neglect to ad- \ mire the wisdom of their divine Author. RULE XXXII. The interjections 0, oh, and ah, require the objective case of a pronoun in the first person after them; a^ “ yl A me! how fleet- injc all our joys are found 1” but the no- minative case in the second person ; as “ 0 thou, who dry’st the mourner’s tears!” Look down with pity, oh, ye pow’rs above 1’ OF STYLE. .“ Style may be defined to he the par- ticular manner in which we express our conceptions by means of language. “ The qualities of agood style areperspi- enity and ornament. Perspicuity is, how- ever, the more important quality. It is, indeed, the only quality that is indispen- ; sable. No merit, with respect to matter or ornament, can compensate for its ab- sence. By perspicuity, says Quintilian, ^ care is taken not merely that the reader may understand, but that he cannot fail “ To write with perspicuity, the primary requisite is, to possess clear ideas. Per- ful attention to two things i 1st, the choice of single words and phrases ; and 2d, the conformable arrangement of them in pe- riods or sentences. Perspicuity in the choice of words and phrases implies purity and propriety. Their apt an-angement is founded on the rules of syntax, and the natural associations of the ideas. “ To write with grammatical purity, three things are essential: 1st, that all the words be of that language : 2d, that they be arranged according to the rules of its syntax; and 3d, that they express the precise meaning which good usage has affixed to them. PROPRIETY. “ It is a species of impropriety, producing ambiguity, to ermiloy a word or a phrase susceptible of different meanings j or to bornness of spfing with jarring and con- founding attrition.' Obscure and unintelligible expressions are improper : —“ Yet when that Jlood hi its own depths was drown'd. One great source of these is the affecta- tion of excellence or jine writing;—' Per- sonifications, however rich their depic- tions and unconstrained their latitude,— analogies, however imposing the objects of parallel, and the media of comparison, —can never expose the consequences of sin to the extent of fact, or the range of demonstration.” Nearly allied to theimintclligiblc arc the marvellous, thcpuerile, and the learned. Marvellous “ My wound is great, be- cause it is so small.” The bombastical nonsense of which was thus properly exposed by the Duke of Riickiiigham : — “It would be greater were it none at all. I’ucrilc.—“From harmony, from hea- venly harmony. This iinivcrsiil frame licgan : From harmony to hiirmoiiy. Through all tliccoinpassof the notes it ran, 'i'lic diapason closing full in mau.” KEY THE WAGES OF SIN ARE PEATII.