to be stated somewhere; and it may be the smaller evil to append them to a sentence with only a very slight bond of connection. Take the following example :

Dr. Crombie, an alumnus of Aberdeen, well known as the author of the "Gymnasium," and, among other works, of an excellent treatise on the "Etymology and Syntax of the English Language," was the man who, by the publication of the Gymnasium in 1812, and his distinguished success as a teacher at Greenwich, gave the great impulse, which was then so much needed, to the more careful cultivation of Latin Prose Composition in England, where it had been comparatively neglected for the writing of sense and nonsense verses, as if the ready knowledge of long and short syllables were the chief object, and therefore afforded the best proof of superior classical culture.'

This sentence becomes loose after England'; were it to end there, it would be an unexceptionable sentence. Whether the remaining part should be added on, depends (1) upon whether or not the explanatory circumstance needs to be stated, and (2) upon whether or not a better position can be found for it, in some preceding or following sentence, or else in a re-arrangement of the present sentence. In fact, the question of Unity often carries us into the consideration of several contiguous sentences and brings the quality into relation with the laws of the Paragraph.

The same remarks would apply to the following sentence:-Nor is he altogether unlike Mirabeau in the style of his eloquence, our better appreciation of which, as well as our better knowledge of Pym and of this the heroic age of our history in general, we owe to the patriotic and truly noble diligence of Mr. John Forster, from whose researches no small portion of my materials for this lecture is derived.'

26. Clauses of Consequence, of Explanation or Reason, of Iteration, of Exemplification, of Qualification, and Obverse Clauses, are often separated by a semicolon or colon from the main statement, without necessarily marring the Unity of the Sentence.

Now surely this ought not to be asserted, unless it can be proved; we should speak with cautious reverence upon such a subject.' Here the second clause is a reason or justification of the main statement, and is properly included in the sentence. Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures; the

A SENTENCE OFTEN CONTAINS SEVERAL FACTS. 87 productions of nature are the materials of art.' This last clause may be viewed either as Explan tion or as Iteration. Examples under all the heads indicated are of frequent

occurrence.

27. In all styles of composition, it is often requisite to give in the same sentence several distinct facts; in which case, the only guiding consideration is comparative closeness of relationship.

If every distinct statement were always followed by a full stop, the style would be disagreeably broken up into curt sentences. Moreover, we should lose the advantage of having a division intermediate between a single affirmation and a paragraph. Every sentence may contain a plurality of statements, more closely allied than the matter of two successive sentences.

The following is an example of what is meant. By night sweet odours, varying with every hour of the watch, were wafted from the shore to the vessel lying near; | and the forest trees, brought together by the serpent tracery of myriads of strange parasitical plants, might well seem to the fancy like some great design of building, | over which the lofty palms, a forest upon a forest, appeared to present a new order of architecture.' Here three separate facts are expressed, and the including of them in one sentence is justified by their being more closely allied in meaning to one another than to the sentence following-In the back-ground rose the mist, like incense'.

A narrator may often have to include in a sentence as many particulars as are contained in the following from Johnson's Life of Prior, which is adduced as a violation of unity:

'He is supposed to have fallen, by his father's death, into the hands of his uncle, a vintner, near Charing Cross, who sent him for some time to Dr. Busby, at Westminster; but, not intending to give him any education beyond that of the school, took him, when he was well advanced in literature, to his own house, where the earl of Dorset, celebrated for patronage of genius, found him by chance, as Burnet relates, reading Horace, and was so well pleased with his proficiency that he undertook the care and cost of his academical education.'

The following description of the heart will illustrate farther the limitations of the rule :

'The heart is a hollow muscle, its cavity being completely divided internally, by a longitudinal septum, into a right and a left lateral

chamber.' As the general plan of the description that follows, this is appropriately embraced in one sentence, though including particulars that are quite distinct.

'Each chamber consists of two cavities, one called an auricle, the other a ventricle, marked off from each other by a transverse constriction, which forms on the surface the auriculo-ventricular groove.' Unity would be satisfied here, even on the most rigid principles.

'The auricle and the ventricle of the same side open into each other, but those of the opposite sides do not communicate.' All occupied with the communications of the chambers.

"The two auricles are placed at the base of the heart; their walls are thin; they are separated from each other by the median septum, and receive blood from large veins.' Contains four distinct facts, no one of which can be called principal or subordinate. Yet their inclusion in one sentence is justified by the considerations that they are very short statements and together sum up all that is to be said about the auricles.

The two ventricles lie below the auricles, have walls of considerable thickness, and form the most solid part of the organ; each is connected with a large artery.' Similar remarks would have to be repeated here as have just been made of the last sentence.

Two longitudinal furrows, one anterior, the other posterior and less defined, correspond with the position of the median partition which separates the two ventricles within.' Two facts, though closely connected, are given here: the name of the 'longitudinal septum,' and the description of the corresponding external furrows.

"The right ventricle occupies more of the anterior, and the left ventricle more of the posterior, surface of the heart; the left ventricle reaches lower than the right, and so forms alone the apex of the heart, the longitudinal furrows and septum terminating a little to the right of the apex.' There might be a question raised whether the last clause should be included; but it is closely connected with the preceding statements, and is better given along with them.

The following expository passage illustrates yet more forcibly the point under consideration.

'The vague expectation of gaining advantages without employing proper means may be seen in those who are perpetually in search of short and easy roads to knowledge; flattering themselves, that by the indolent perusal of abridgments and compendiums, or the sacrifice of an occasional hour at a popular lecture, they will, without much application, imbibe that learning, which they see confers so much distinction on others. They forget that, from the very nature of the case, science cannot be obtained without labour; that ideas must be frequently presented to the mind before they become familiar to it; that the faculties must be vigorously exerted to possess much efficiency; that skill is the effect of habit ; and that habit is acquired by the frequent repetition of the same act. Application is the only means of securing the end at which they aim ; and they may rest assured, that all schemes to put them in possession of intellectual treasures, without any regular or strenuous efforts on their part, all promises to insinuate learning into their minds at so small an expense of time and labour that they shall scarcely be sensible of the process, are mere delusions, which can terminate in nothing but disappointment and mortification. It cannot be too deeply impressed on the mind, that application is the price to be paid for mental aequisitions, and that it

PUNCTUATION NOT RULED SOLELY BY GRAMMAR.

89

is as absurd to expect them without it as to hope for a harvest where we have not sown the seed.'

Here every sentence contains a number of distinct statements; yet none of the sentences can be considered to violate a true conception of Unity. The justification is that the statements of each sentence are more closely connected than with those that precede or follow.

28. Inasmuch as it is by stops, or punctuation, that sentences are visibly separated, and their constituent parts marked off, punctuation should follow the structure of the sentences.

The comma, semicolon, colon, and full stop, are the points that indicate gradation in the breaks of meaning; and the propriety of each is governed by that circumstance.

To profess to give complete rules for punctuation, under Grammar, is to mistake the uses of the principal stops. Thus, within the sentence, the respective places of the comma and of the semicolon, do not depend upon Grammar, but upon meaning. The full stop is used to mark the end of the sentence; but whether or not the sentence is closed at the proper place, depends on the meaning.

The following passages exemplify the more ordinary violations of Unity.

Luther was called to the Diet of Worms. He held fast to his statements, and caused his name to be published abroad to the world, and died at his birthplace on February 16, 1546.' The last clause is much too great a leap from the preceding one, especially considering the closeness of connection with the former sentence. If the first sentence and the first clause of the second be united, the last two clauses might then be allowed as one sentence.

'I will suppose that you have no friends to share or rejoice in your success in life, -that you cannot look back to those to whom you owe gratitude, or forward to those to whom you ought to afford protection ; but it is no less incumbent on you to move steadily in the path of duty: for your active exertions are due not only to society, but in humble gratitude to the Being who made you a member of it, with powers to serve yourself and others.' The sentence should certainly be completed at protection'; the break is too great for a mere separation of clauses, the first being a case supposed, and the second the discussion of it. About the next break there may be some doubt; but a full stop would leud greater emphasis to the important statement here contained in the second clause. The 'for' would then be dropped, and a third sentence would begin, Your active exertions,' &c.

'One man pursues power in order to wealth, and another wealth in order to power, which last is a safer way, and generally followed' (Swift). Standing alone, this sentence may be considered to violate Unity; the second half seems too far apart in meaning from the first, while it also interferes with the force of the antithetical statement. Yet the decision must really depend on what follows.

Imagination is that faculty which arouses the passions by the im pression of exterior objects; it is influenced by these objects, and consequently it is in affinity with them; it is contagious; its fear or courage flies from imagination to imagination; the same in love, hate, joy, or grief; hence I conclude it to be a most subtle atmosphere.' There is too much here for one sentence, and it illustrates a common result of such overcrowding; all the particulars are made to appear co-ordinate, while really holding different relations to each other. The second clause is closely connected with the first, being a farther explanation of it. These two should stand as one sentence. The third clause, it is contagious,' is a new and independent assertion, not at all implied in the definition just given. It should begin a distinct sentence; and as the following clauses are all intended to expand or confirm it, they also should be included along with it.

Contrast this with the following: 'I found it to be true, that a truebred merchant is the best gentleman in the nation; that in knowledge, in manners, in judgment of things, the merchant outdid many of the nobility; that having once mastered the world, and being above the demand of business, though having no real estate, he was then superior to most gentlemen, even in estate; that a merchant in flush business and a capital stock is able to spend more money than a gentleman of £5000 a year estate; that when a merchant spent, he only spent what he got, and not that; and that he laid up great sums every year. That an estate is a pond; that a trade is a spring; that if the first is once mortgaged, it seldom gets clear, but embarrassed the person for ever; but the merchant had his estate continually flowing' (Defoe). Though there are a great number of separate particulars given here, the sentence cannot be objected to on grounds of Unity; they are all in the same position as things that were found'. The chief consideration in a case of this kind is the danger of weariness by prolonging the sentence without a pause; and accordingly, though the construction is not interrupted, a period is used before the end. The place chosen is a sufficient pause, and the effect would be aided by repeating 'I found'.

The next case violates Unity, though very much shorter: 'It is just a year and a half since the foundation stone was laid, and the cost of the building is £10,000'. The two things are so distinct that they should stand in independent sentences.

The following is from Barrow: 'There are extant numberless books, wherein the wisest and most ingenious of men have laid open their hearts, and exposed their most secret cogitations unto us; in pursuing them we may sufficiently busy ourselves, and let our idle hours pass gratefully; we may meddle with ourselves, studying our own dispositions, examining our own principles and purposes, reflecting on our thoughts, words, and actions, striving thoroughly to understand ourselves; to do this we have an unquestionable right, and by it we shall obtain vast benefit.' There is matter for several sentences. The first and second members might be included in one sentence, while the third should make a sentence by itself. As to the last member, the first clause of it would require the separation of a distinct sentence, though the second clause, if standing alone, might have united with the preceding sentence.