14. I think that I am not mistaken in an opinion which I have so well considered.

15. Let us not give too hasty credit to stories which may injure our neighbour: perhaps they are the offspring of calumny or misapprehension.

16. It is grievous to think with what eagerness two or three eminent personages have obstinately persisted in the introduction of such barbarisms.

2. PROPRIETY.

Exercise 49.

Rudiments, p. 92.

1. He is not in any degree better than those he so liberally condemns.

2. The meaning of the phrase, as I understand it, is very different from the common acceptation.

3. The favourable moment should be embraced, for he does not continue long of one mind.

4. I exposed myself so much among the people, that I was once or twice in danger of getting my head broken.

5. He is very dexterous in penetrating the views and designs of others.

6. You may perceive at a glance the difficulties to which such conduct will expose you.

7. This performance is much the same as the other.

8. Every year a new flower, in his judgment, excels all the old ones, though it is much inferior to them in both colour and shape.

9. His name must descend to posterity with distinguished honour in the public records of the nation.

10. If all men were exemplary in their conduct, things would soon take a new aspect, and religion receive a mighty encouragement.

11. Learning and arts were but then in their infancy.

12. It happened unfortunately, that two of the principal persons disagreed, and had a fatal quarrel.

13. Most of the sailors were asleep in their berths, when a heavy wave broke over the ship, and swept away the pinnace and binnacle. The cabin windows were secured, or the vessel would have filled. The mainmast was so damaged, that we were obliged to strengthen it, and sail for the nearest port.

Exercise 50.

Rudiments, p. 93.

1. Let us consider the works of nature and of art with proper attention.

2. He is engaged in a treatise on the interests of the soul and the body.

3. Some productions of nature rise or sink in value, according as they more or less resemble those of art.

4. The Latin tongue was never spoken in its purity, in this island.

5. For some centuries, there was a constant intercourse between France and England, by reason of the dominions which we possessed there, and the conquests which we made.

6. He is impressed with a true sense of the importance of that function, when chosen from a regard to the interests of piety and virtue.

7. The wise and the foolish, the virtuous and the vile, the learned and the ignorant, the temperate and the profligate, must often, like the wheat and the tares, be blended together.

Exercise 51.

Rudiments, p. 94.

1. An eloquent speaker may give more numerous, but cannot give more convincing arguments, than this plain man offered.

2. These persons possessed very moderate intellects, even before they had impaired them by the indulgence of their passions.

3. True wit is nature dressed to advantage; but some works have more ornament than does them good.

4. The sharks that prey upon the inadvertency of young heirs, are more pardonable than those, who trespass upon the good opinion of such as treat them with great confidence and respect.

5. Honour teaches us properly to respect ourselves, and to violate no right or privilege of our neighbour. It leads us to support the feeble, to relieve the distressed, and to scorn to be governed by degrading and injurious passions. That must, therefore, be a false and mistaken honour, which prompts the destroyer to take the life of his friend.

Exercise 52.

Rudiments, p. 94.

1. When our intimacy is considered, how is it possible that I should not grieve for having lost such a friend?

2. The hen being in her nest, was killed and eaten there by the eagle; or, The eagle killed the hen, carried her to his nest, and there ate her.

3. It may be justly said, that no laws are better than those of England.

4. They who have pretended to polish and refine the language, have been the chief agents in multiplying its abuses and absurdities.

5. The adventurers, degenerating from the customs of their own nation, were gradually assimilated to the natives, instead of reclaiming them from their uncultivated manners.

6. Solomon, the son of David, and the builder of the temple of Jerusalem, was the richest monarch that reigned over the Jewish people.

7. The Divine Being, ever liberal and faithful, heapeth favours on His servants.

Exercise 53.

Rudiments, p. 95.

1. I seldom see a noble building, or any great piece of magnificence and pomp, but I think, how little is all this to satisfy the ambition of an immortal soul.

2. When the waters of the deluge had subsided, they left behind them false and slippery ground.

3. That man is not qualified for a bust, who has not a good deal of wit and vivacity.

4. However deep I sink, a lower deep,

Still threatening to devour me, opens wide.

5. No fewer than two hundred scholars have been educated in that school.

6. The business, however laudable the attempt, was found to be impracticable.

7. He is our common benefactor, and deserves our respect and obedience.

8. Vivacity is often promoted by presenting a sensible object to the mind, instead of an intellectual one.

9. The house is a cold one, for it has a northern exposure. 10. The proposal for each of us to relinquish something was complied with, and produced a cordial reconciliation. 11. It is difficult for him to speak three sentences successively.

12. The neglect of timely precaution was the cause of this great loss.

13. Disputing should be always so managed, as to remind us that the only end of it is truth.

14. We have increased our family and expenses, and enlarged our garden and fruit orchard.

15. By proper reflection, we may be taught to correct what is erroneous, and supply what is defective.

16. The good man is not overcome by disappointment, when that which is mortal dies, when that which is mutable begins to change, and when that which we know to be transient passes away.

3. PRECISION.

Exercise 54.

Rudiments, p. 96.

1. This great politician desisted from his designs, when he found them impracticable.

2. Though raised to an exalted station, she was a pattern of piety and virtue.

3. The human body may be divided into the head, the trunk, and the limbs.

4. His end soon approached, and he died with great fortitude.

5. Poverty induces dependence; and dependence increases corruption.

6. There can be no order in the life of that man who does not allow a due share of his time to retirement and reflection.

7. His cheerful, happy temper keeps up a kind of daylight in his mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

Exercise 55.

Rudiments, p. 97.

1. The first day was spent in forming rules of order, and the second in presenting resolutions.

2. The birds were clad in their brightest plumage, and the trees in their richest verdure.

3. The occurrence which the sentinel told the sergeant, he repeated to the captain, who reported it to the general.

4. Notwithstanding the rapidity with which time flies, men spend their lives in trifles and follies; although reason and religion declare, that not a moment should pass without improvement.

5. He was in the practice of employing many expressions not generally in use.

6. Mankind first wrote on tables of stone.