*Where smiling Spring its earliest visit paid,

And parting Summer's lingering blooms delayed."

Goldsmith.

Psalm cxiv. contains several examples of personification :"The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs." Personification is a kind of metaphor.

(8) Apostrophe is a turning aside from the direct course of the subject to address some person or thing.

This figure is allied to Personification, when it is used to address inanimate objects or abstract qualities. There are many examples of it in the Bible.

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" -1 Cor. xv. 55. See also Isaiah xiv. 8–20.

The following are examples from the poets :

"O Tiber! father Tiber,

To whom the Romans pray,

A Roman's life, a Roman's arms

Take thou in charge this day!"-Macaulay.

"Must we but weep o'er days more bless'd?
Must we but blush? Our fathers bled.
Earth! render back from out thy breast
A remnant of our Spartan dead!
Of the three hundred grant but three

To make a new Thermopyla."-Byron.

(9) Antithesis is a figure which is founded on the contrast or opposition of objects or ideas. The following are examples :— "If he had not been a great fool, he would not have been a great writer."-Macaulay.

"Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage, without o'erflowing, full."—Denham. "So true, so brave; a lamb at home,

A lion in the chase."-Spencer.

"Men have done brave deeds,

And bards have sung them well."-Emerson.

"For men may come, and men may go,

But I go on for ever."-Tennyson.

(10) Climax is a heightening of the thoughts or ideas contained in a sentence or passage, so as to produce a strong effect at the close. Thus Cæsar said: "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Another example is contained in the line from Byron :

"And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before.”

The following verse (taken in connection with the circumstances to which it refers) is an example of climax in narration. "Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken (1 Sam. iv. 17). Here the character of the tidings gradually becomes more and more painful to Eli, till the last and most dreadful statement of all, that the ark of God was taken, so overwhelms him that "he fell from the seat backward, and his neck brake, and he died."

(11) Anti-climax is the converse of climax, and is used by satirical writers, to throw ridicule on some person or object. The following examples are from Pope, who is fond of this figure :

"Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast

When husbands or when lap-dogs breathe their last.” "Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take-and sometimes tea."

(We may here observe, in passing, with reference to the rhyme in the last two lines, that at the time when Pope wrote, the word "tea" was pronounced "tay.")

PUNCTUATION.

Punctuation (Lat. punctum, a point) is the art of marking a written composition with certain points or stops, so as to divide it into clauses or members in such a way as to indicate the different pauses which are required by the sense.

In English, the marks employed in punctuation are properly four-the Comma, the Semicolon, the Colon, and the Period, or Full Stop.

(1) The Comma (,) is the stop most frequently used, and represents a pause of the shortest duration. It is employed to separate those parts of a sentence which, though closely connected in sense and construction, yet require a pause between them.

The following are the principal rules for its proper use, or omission.

(a) It is generally wrong to separate the subject of a simple sentence from the predicate, even when the former is somewhat complicated, or consists of a substantive sentence. Thus :

"Better late than never' is a very old proverb."

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." "But no artifice by which notoriety can be obtained is thought too abject for a man of letters."

"How soon faction again began to ferment is well known.” This rule is, however, not universally observed. Some good authors place a comma after a substantive sentence which forms a subject.

(b) A comma is employed before and after a sentence or phrase introduced in a parenthetical manner.

"Mr. Locke, I think, recommends the study of geometry." “The knight, in order to follow so laudable an example, laid aside his helmet."

(c) Sometimes even a single word used parenthically is separated by commas from the rest of the sentence, in a similar manner.

"Few, however, are those who venture into that world of independent thought."

C

"I have resolved, sir, to attempt an assault."

(d) Noun phrases used in apposition are particular examples of parenthetical members which require a comma before and after them.

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Young Colonel Sidney, the celebrated Algernon, sat in the House this morning."

"Charles, second of the name, King of Spain, died.

(e) An adjective sentence, not inseparably connected with the antecedent of its relative pronoun, is preceded and followed by a comma. Here the adjective sentence is merely parenthetical. "Shakspeare, who is horribly unjust to Joan of Arc, has put a sublime speech into her mouth."

"Poor Sophia, who now first heard of her little Tommy's fate, shed a shower of tears."

(f) If, however, the adjective sentence be closely connected with the antecedent of its relative pronoun, no comma should be used. The adjective sentence is then necessary to complete the sense.

"I lately met with two or three odd instances of that general respect which is shown to the good old Knight."

“In the poetical quarter, I found there were poets who had no monuments, and monuments which had no poets.”

"The alarm which brings the blood in the swiftest current to a seaman's heart was now heard in the depths of the vessel." (g) No comma should, as a rule, be used before a substantive sentence forming the object to another sentence.

"But we feel that we have already deferred too long the duty of paying some tribute to his memory."

(h) Two or more nouns in the same construction, two or more adjectives or participles belonging to the same noun, or two or more adverbs qualifying the same word or clause, are separated by commas. But when a pair of nouns, etc., is joined by the conjunctions "and" or "or," no comma is used.

"Books, paintings, music, horses, dogs, and sporting implements of all kinds, are at hand."

"John Bull is a plain, downright, matter-of-fact fellow."

"He was happy in being loved, esteemed, and respected." "Success generally depends on acting prudently, steadily, and vigorously."

"Their valour and ferocity had made them conspicuous." "We are fearfully and wonderfully made."

(i) Two or more verbs having the same nominative, and immediately following one another, are separated by commas.

If, however, the verbs are connected by a conjunction, the comma is omitted.

"In a letter, we may advise, exhort, comfort, request, and discuss."

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Examine, compare, choose, reject; but stand to your own judgment."

"The study of natural history expands and elevates the mind."

(k) Two co-ordinate sentences, when closely connected in meaning, are usually separated by a comma. Two sentences fully expressed, and introduced by co-relative conjunctions, are also generally separated by a comma.

"The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks."

"Believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour."

"As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God."

(1) Words contrasted with or opposed to each other are often separated by a comma.

"Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull."

(m) Words used emphatically, or to address a person, are sometimes followed by a comma.

"He honoured his master; nay, he adored him."

"Well, upon my word, you have the finest children in the world."

"Why, did you not tell me that it was absolutely impossible for you to marry my daughter ?"

"But, Sir John, one thing more."