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that she was nursing into strength, powers which were to be exerted for the misery of that great or narrow circle, in which they were to move; and which to her were to be a source, not of blessing, but of grief and shame and despair! Dr. Thomas Brown.

SEC. CXXXIV. THE FOLLY OF REGRETTING THE BREVITY OF
LIFE, PLEASANTLY EXPOSED.

"Tell me," says Micromegas, an inhabitant of one of the planets of the Dog Star, to the secretary of the Academy 1 of Sciences in the planet Saturn, at which he had recently arrived in a journey through the heavens: "tell me how

many senses have the men on your globe?"—“ We have 2 seventy-two senses," answered the academician; “and we are, every day, complaining of the smallness of the number. 3 Our imagination goes far beyond our wants. What are seventy-two senses! and how pitiful a boundary, even for beings 4 with such limited perceptions, to be cooped up within our ring, and our five moons! In spite of our curiosity, and in spite of as many passions as can result from six dozen sen5 ses, we find our hours hanging very heavily on our hands; and we can always find time enough for yawning.”—“ I can very well believe it," says Micromegas, "for, in our globe, 6 we have very near one thousand senses, and yet, with all these, we feel a sort of listless inquietude, and vague desire, which are forever telling us that we are nothing; and that there are beings infinitely nearer perfection. I have trav7 elled a good deal in the universe, I have seen many classes of mortals far beneath us, and many as much superior, but I have never had the good fortune to find any, who had not always more desires than real necessities to occupy their 8 life. And, pray, how long may you Saturnians live with your few senses ?" continued the Sirian.—“ Ah! but a very 9 short time, indeed!" said the little man of Saturn, with a sigh.

"It is the same with us," said the traveller: "we are forever 10 complaining of the shortness of life: it must be an univer11 sal law of nature."-" Alas!" said the Saturnian, "we live 12 only five hundred great revolutions of the sun.* You see

Our

well, that this is to die almost the moment one is born. 13 existence is a point: cur duration, an instant: our globe, an atom. Scarcely have we begun to pick up a little knowl14 edge, when death rushes in upon us, before we can have

* That is, about fifteen thousand of our years.

acquired any thing like experience. As for me, I cannot venture even to think of any project, for I feel myself but like a drop of water in the ocean; and, especially, now, 15 when I look to you and to myself, I really feel quite ashamed of the ridiculous appearance which I make in the universe."

"If I did not know that you are a philosopher," replied 16 Micromegas, "I should be afraid of distressing you, when I tell you, that our life is seven hundred times longer than yours; but what is even that? When we come to the last 17 moment, to have lived a single day, and to have lived a whole eternity, amount to the very same thing. I have been 18 in countries where they live a thousand times longer than

with us, and yet I have always found them murmuring, just 19 as we do ourselves.-But you have seventy-two senses, and 20 they must have told you something about your globe. How

many properties has matter with you?"- "If you mean es21 sential properties," said the Saturnian," without which our globe could not subsist, we count three hundred: extension, impenetrability, mobility, gravitation, divisibility, and so forth. ""That small number," replied the gigantic traveller, 22 "may be sufficient for the views which the Creator must have had with respect to your narrow habitation. Your globe is 23 little its inhabitants are so too: you have few senses: 24 your matter has few qualities. In all this Providence has suited you most happily to each other."

25 The academician was more and more astonished with every thing which the traveller told him. At length, after communicating to each other a little of what they knew, 26 and a great deal of what they knew not, and reasoning as well and as ill, as philosophers usually do, they resolved to set out together, on a little tour of the universe.

Voltaire.

Sentence 1st.-This sentence is an example of how slight a change in the ar rangement of words is necessary to produce a different sentence. If the have in the interrogative portion stood after men, it would be a compound close declarative; but with have where it is, the sentence is semi-interrogative, with a loose connection. The long circumstance at the beginning should end therefore with partial close. (See Circumstance.) Observe all the circumstances of the same kind, in this exercise.

SEC. CXXXIV.

HORATIO ANNOUNCES TO HAMLET THE APPEAR-
ANCE OF HIS FATHER'S GHOST.

1

Hor. Hail to your lordship!

2 Ham.

Horatio, or I do forget myself.

I am glad to see you well:

3 Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. Sir, my good friend: I'll change that name with

4

5

Ham.
you;

And what make you from Wittengburg, Horatio ?

Hor.

A truant disposition, good my lord.

Ham. I would not hear your enemy say so, 6 Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, To make it truster of your own report Against yourself: I know you are no truant.7 But what is your affair in Elsinore?

8 We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.

9

10

11

12

Hor. My lord, I came to see your father's funeral. Ham. I pray you, do not mock me, fellow student: I think it was to see my mother's wedding.

Hor. Indeed, it followed hard upon.

Ham. Thrift thrift, Horatio: the funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. 13 Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven, Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!

14 My father,―methinks I see my father

15

16

17

18

Hor.

My lord?

Oh where,

Ham. In my mind's eye, Horatio.

Hor. I saw him once; he was a goodly king.
Ham. He was a man: take him for all in all,

I shall not look upon his like again.

19 Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight. 20 Ham.

Saw who?

Hor. My lord, the king your father.

21

22

Ham.

Hor.

The king, my father!

Season your admiration for a while
23 With an attentive ear, till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
The marvel to you.

24

Ham. For God's love, let me hear.

Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen Marcellus and Benardo, on their watch,

In the dead waste and middle of the night,

25 Been thus encountered: a figure like you father,
Armed at all points, exactly, cap-a'-pie',

Appears before them, and, with solemn march,
Goes slow and stately by them.

Thrice he walked,

26 By their oppressed and fear-surprised eyes,
Within his truncheon's length, whilst they, distilled
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
Stand dumb and speak not to him.

This to me,

In dreadful secrecy, impart they did;

27 And I, with them, the third night kept the watch; Where, as they had delivered, both in time

Form of the thing, each word made true and good, 28 The apparition comes. I knew your father;

29

30

31

32

These hands are not more like.

Ham.

But where was this?

Hor. My lord, upon the platform where we watched.
Ham. Did you not speak to it?

Hor.

My lord, I did.
But answer made it none: yet once, methought,
It lifted up its head, and did address

33 Itself to motion, like as it would speak,
But, even then, the morning cock crew loud;
And, at the sound, it shrunk in haste away,
And vanished from our sight.

34

Ham.

'T is very strange! Hor. As I do live, my honored lord, 't is true; 35 And we did think it writ down in our duty,

To let you know of it.

36 Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.— 37 Hold you the watch to-night?

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Hor. O yes, my lord: he wore his beaver up.
Ham. What? looked he frowningly?

In sorrow than in anger.

A countenance more

40

Hor.

41

Ham.

42

43

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Very like stayed it long?

Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.

Ham. His beard was grizzled ? 56 No? Hor. It was as I have seen it in his life: A sable silvered.

Very like:

ཐ་ལྔ་

55

57

58 Ham. I will watch to-night: Perchance 't will walk again.

59 Hor.

I warrant you it will. Ham. If it assume my noble father's person, 60 I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape, And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, If you have hitherto concealed this sight, 61 Let it be tenable in your silence still; And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,— Give it an understanding, but no tongue : 62 I will requite your loves. So fare you well.

63 Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve, I'll visit you.

Shakspeare.

Sentence 2d." Either it is Horatio, or," &c. Sentence 3d.-" As the same, so your," &c. Sentence 4th." Sir! you are my good friend." Sentence 6th.-A double compact decl., with the first and second propositions. Sentence 8th.-The fragment of a single compact declarative: the second part understood; viz., "for or because drinking deep is the order of the day here; the common practice." If the reader can turn to the place in Hamlet, and read Johnson's note on this sentence, he will perceive why this is said. Sentence 11th." It followed hart upon," or, "that it followed hard upon, I must admit." Sentence 13th.-Or is here a substitute for than. "Would I had rather, &c., than," &c. Sentence 17th." I saw him only once, indeed, but I then thought he was a goodly king, if ever one was." Such I suppose to be the connection of ideas, here evidently but partially expressed. Sentence 18th.-" I shall not," &c., the first proposition of a double comp.: all the others suppressed. Sentence 20th.- Who for whom. Sentence 28th." As I knew so." Sentence 34th.-Indirect interrogative, simple. Sentence 35th.-"Yes but as," &c. Sentences 43d, 49th, 55th, are indirect interrogatives. Sentence 46th.-Either a fragmentary mixed sentence, "He bore a countenance that was more," &c., ending with perfect close, or the fragmentary mixed first part of a single compact: the reason for the assertion, or the part beginning with because, being understood

SEC. CXXXVI. THE SUPERIOR WORLDLY ADVANTAGES OF
ILLITERATE MEN, NO GROUND FOR COMPLAINT.

We should consider this world as a great mart of com1 merce, where fortune exposes to our view various commodities riches; ease; tranquillity"; fame"; integrity"; 2 knowledge. Every thing is marked at a settled price. Our 3 time, our labor, our ingenuity, are so much ready money, which we are to lay out to the best advantage. Examine 4 compare, choose, reject, but stand to your own judgment, and do not, like children, when you have purchased one thing, repine that you do not possess another which you did not purchase. Such is the force of well-regulated in5 dustry, that a steady and vigorous exertion of our faculties, directed to one end, will generally insure success. Would 6 you, for instance, be rich? do you think that single point 7 worth the sacrifice of every thing else? You may then

be rich. Thousands have become so from the lowest be8 ginnings, by toil, and patient diligence, and attention to the

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