change of their predicates, by any of the modes described in this chapter. It must be remembered that the object is not to improve the style, but simply to familiarize the pupils with the various modes of expressing a thought; the selection of the best mode being reserved for a future chapter.

§ 300. There is a certain order in which the elements of a sentence are said to come naturally; an order which results mainly from the fact that, according to the genius of the English language, the grammatical relations between the words are indicated, to a very large extent, by their relative position. The rules for this arrangement are given in some grammars. It is not necessary to rehearse them here. It may be stated, however, that in the arrangement of adjuncts, clauses, and members, a very great freedom is allowed, and to some extent, also, in the arrangement of the essential and accidental elements of a proposition. The following examples will best illustrate this:

(1.) The verb placed before the subject.

Ebbs the crimson life-tide fast.

Fell the snow o'er all the landscape.

(2.) Attribute and subject transposed.

Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
The gist of the matter is this.

(3.) Object and verb transposed.

The withering tree its blossoms shed.

The depths of the ocean its presence confessed.

(4.) Subject and object transposed.

Eyes have they, but they see not.

Sweet strains of music hear we then.

NOTE. This form of transposition, as well as the preceding, can rarely be made without endangering the sense, unless either the subject or the object is a pronoun.

(5.) Object placed before the subject.

Lands he could measure; times and tides presage.

Yet a few days, and thee the all-beholding sun shall see no more in all his course.,

(6.) Adverbial adjunct thrown to the beginning.

In power and wealth, exult no more.

Into that glorious world, he constantly beckons us to follow him. To public opinion, all states must, in a measure, bow.

(7.) Adverbial adjuncts interchanged in position.

(1.) The throat of the animal was closed at last, as if by a vice, by the gladiator's hands.

(2.) The throat of the animal was closed as if by a vice, at last, by the gladiator's hands.

(3.) The throat of the animal was closed by the gladiator's hands at last, as if by a vice.

(1.) Seizing the monstrous carcass, he threw it, with an oath, far from him, as a trophy, beneath the imperial box.

(2.) Seizing the monstrous carcass, he threw it far from him, as a trophy, with an oath, beneath the imperial box.

(3.) Seizing the monstrous carcass, he threw it beneath the imperial box, far from him, as a trophy, with an oath.

(4.) Seizing the monstrous carcass, he threw it as a trophy, with an oath, far from him, beneath the imperial box.

(8.) Subordinate clause and leading clause transposed. Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. What is the right path, few take the trouble of inquiring.

All you hear believe not.

When a nation determines on war, it is wisdom to intrust their chief with plenary powers.

If there is danger that he turn out to be a Cromwell or a Napoleon, that should make them weigh well the necessity for the war.

He is a freeman, whom the truth makes free.

Because the night was dark, they could not proceed.

Let

The foregoing embrace those forms of transposition that ordinarily occur. the pupil now be trained to a free use of all of them, in the transposition of the sentences in the following:

EXERCISE I.

He did not read that valuable history which you lent him.

Virgil has justly contested the praise of judgment with Homer.

A little rivulet flowed at the bottom of the garden.

There is a calm fountain of sober thought underneath our happiest mirth.

Sensible men have a strong antipathy to egotists and pedants.

We show ourselves superior to injuries by forgetfulness of thern. We approach one another in approaching the summit of a mountain. Idleness is the most incorrigible of all evil habits.

The evening star has lighted her crystal lamp.

Books can not be profitably read without much thought.
Distinct articulation is an essential requisite of good delivery.

Try to find a reason for not being angry, before giving way to

anger.

Man catches a glimpse of the vast significance of the unseen and the eternal through the dim veil of the visible and perishing.

The Muse of History, too often blind to true glory, has handed down to posterity many a destroyer of thousands of his fellow-men; she has left us in ignorance of the name of this real hero, of Haarlem.

A man can not take the full measure of his knowledge before he is hurried out of life's school; hence we are forced to regard this as only the lowest form of our existence.

EXERCISE II.

Let the teacher select some piece, and require the pupils to vary all the sentences it contains by one or more of the foregoing methods, and also by the use of synonyms.

MODEL.

1. But in all his disputations, it was an invariable maxim with him never to interrupt the most tedious or confused opponents; though, from his pithy questions, he made it evident that, from the first, he anticipated the train and consequences of their reasonings.

2. But in all his debates, his invariable rule was never to interrupt the most irksome or confused antagonists; though he proved by his pithy interrogatories that, from the first, he foresaw whither their reasonings tended, and where they would end.

3. But it was a rule from which he never swerved in all his disputations, never to break in upon the remarks of his opponents, however tedious and confused they might be; though his significant questions made it evident that he anticipated, from the first, the drift and consequence of their arguments.

4. But in all his discussions, though from his pithy questions it was made evident that he anticipated the train and consequences of his opponents' reasonings from the first; yet he made it an invariable rule never to interrupt them, no matter how irksome and prolix they might be.

5. But though he made it evident, by his pithy questions, that he foresaw from the first the train and consequences of the reasonings of his opponents in all his disputations, yet it was his invariable maxim never to check them, however tedious or confused they might be.

6. But though he anticipated from the first, the drift and conclusions of his opponents' arguments, as was made evident by his pithy questions, yet it was a maxim from which he never swerved in any disputation, not to interrupt even the most tedious and confused of them.

7. But to interrupt opponents, however tedious or confused in their remarks, was what he never allowed himself to do in any of his disputations; though it was made evident by his pithy questions that, from the first, the train and consequences of their reasonings were anticipated by him.

II. RECASTING THE SENTENCE.

§ 301. The mode of varying the expression, which is called "recasting the thought in a different sentence," is one that is not subjected to any fixed rule or described by definite terms. It is the imitation of just such differences as constitute the peculiarities of individual styles. What words a writer may select to express a thought depends on an incalculable combination of accidents, and the variety of possible expressions for any thought it is impossible to designate. All the exercises under this head must be purely the result of the pupil's own ingenuity. The following model will show what is intended:

It is required to recast in different sentences the expression, All men must die.

1. We must all die.

2. All mankind must die.

3. Death is the fate of all men.

4. It is fated that all men shall die.

5. Death is the inevitable lot of all.

6. The dissolution of our existence is fated.

7. It is a law of nature that human life shall have its termination. 8. Human life is limited.

9. There is nothing more certain than death.

10. Death is the fate that awaits all men.

11. Death is the unavoidable destiny of all that live.

12. Nothing is more certain than that we all must die. 13. Man is mortal.

14. Mortality is a necessary condition of human nature.

15. All the paths of life lead unto the grave.

16. Every man must pay the debt of nature.

17. We must all return to the dust.

18. Every man must surrender his hold on life.

Let the teacher dictate short and easy sentences to be thus varied by recasting, to the extent of the pupil's abilities.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE TRANSLATION OF POETRY INTO PROSE.

§ 302. Before applying the principles of the preceding chapter to the rendering of English poetry into English prose, such as will not transgress any of the rules of style yet delivered, it is necessary to explain and enumerate what are called poetic licenses. These are forms of expression, more or less opposed to what the rules of prose style require, which the poets are allowed to use, partly to compensate for the restrictions laid upon them by the demands of meter and rhyme, and partly because the very irregularity thus allowed them imparts an indefinable charm to their phraseology. Yet these irregularities must not be looked upon as innovations. On the contrary, nearly all are ancient forms that were in common use when the language was in the freedom of its youth. What the poets demand is that they shall not be forced by the usages of modern prose to lay aside these ancient forms, now invested with the peculiar charm of antiquity. Those poetic licenses which can not be thus