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ment, and disposition of business'; for expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshaling of affairs, come best from those that are learned.

2. To spend too much time in studies', is sloth'; to use too much for ornament', is affectation'; to make judgment wholly by their rules', is the humor of a scholar': they perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.

3. Crafty men' contemn studies'; simple men' admire them'; and wise men use them': for they teach not their own use, but that there is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.

4. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested;—that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else, distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things.

5. Reading' maketh a full man'; conversation' a ready man'; and writing' an exact man': and therefore, if a man write little', he had need have a great memory`; if he confer little', he had need have a present wit'; and if he read little', he had need have much cunning, to seem to know what he doth not.

6. Histories' make men wise'; poets', witty'; the mathematics', subtile'; natural philosophy', deep'; moral philosophy', grave'; logic and rhetoric', able to contend'. Indeed, there is no stand or impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body may, by appropriate exercises.

7. Bowling is good for the back'; shooting for the

lungs and breast'; gentle walking for the stomach'; riding for the head and the like: so, if a man's wits be wandering', let him study the mathematics'; for, in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again.

8. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences', let him study the disputations of the schoolmen`; if he be not apt to beat over matters', and to call upon one thing to prove and illustrate another', let him study the lawyers' cases: so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

LESSON XXV.

THE TWO WEAVERS.

HANNAH MORE.

[This excellent and accomplished person, who was born in England in 1745, and died in 1833, has probably done as much, by her writings, to improve mankind,—to make them wiser and better for both worlds-as any other writer of ancient or modern times.

Simile, metaphor, and allegory are often used to convey instruction. See pp. 69, 76, and 78. In the following poem, which is in the colloquial style (see p. 228), the simile of the carpet is used to show that we are not to judge of the entire scheme of God's providence by the very small part of it which falls under our observation.]

1. As at their work two weavers sat, .
Beguiling time with friendly chat,
They touch'd upon the price of meat',-
So high, a weaver scarce could eat.

2. "What with my brats, and sickly wife,"
Quoth Dick, "I'm almost tired of life;
So hard my work', so poor my fare',
"Tis more than mortal man can bear.

3. "How glorious is the rich man's state'10!
His house so fine! his wealth so great'!
Heaven is unjust, you must agree;
Why all to him'3? why none to me13?

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4. In spite of what the Scripture teaches,
In spite of all the parson preaches ̄,

This world (indeed I've thought so long)
Is ruled, methinks, extremely wrong.

5. "Where'er I look', howe'er I range',
"Tis all confused, and hard, and strange';
The good are troubled and oppress'd,
And all the wicked are the bless'd."

6. Quoth John, "Our ignorance is the cause
Why thus we blame our Maker's laws;
Parts of his ways alone we know ;-
"Tis all that man can see below.

7. "Seest thou that carpet, not half done, Which thou, dear Dick, hast well begun'1? Behold the wild confusion there',

So rude the mass', it makes one stare'!

8. "A stranger', ignorant of the trade',
Would say', no meaning's there convey'd';
For where's the middle', where's the border3 ?
Thy carpet now is all disorder."

9. Quoth Dick, "My work is yet in bits',
But still, in every part it fits';
Besides, you reason like a lout-

Why', man', that carpet's inside out."

10. Says John, "Thou say'st the thing I mean,
And now I hope to cure thy spleen;

This world, which clouds thy soul with doubt,
Is but a carpet inside out.

11. “As when we view these shreds and ends,
We know not what the whole intends;
So, when on earth things look but odd,
They're working still some scheme of God.

12. "No plan', no pattern', can we trace'; All wants proportion', truth', and grace'; The motley mixture we deride,

Nor see the beauteous upper side.

13. "But when we reach that world of light',
And view those works of God aright',
Then shall we see the whole design,
And own the workman is divine'.

14.

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What now seem random strokes', will there
All order and design appear';

Then shall we praise what here we spurn'd',
For then the carpet shall be turn'd.”

15. "Thou'rt right," quoth Dick; "no more I'll grumble That this sad world's so strange a jumble;

My impious doubts are put to flight,
For my own carpet sets me right."

ABIDING RICHES.

Trans., adapted, from MARTIAL.

[MARTIAL was a celebrated Latin epigrammatist (see p. 205), who was born in Spain about A.D. 40; died about A.D. 100.

In the following brief instructive poem, which is designed to teach that what is well given is not lost, the truth embraced in the last four lines is all the more strongly enforced by the preceding illustrations of the uncertainty of earthly riches.]

YOUR slave may with your gold abscond,

The fire your home lay low;

Your debtor may disown his bond,

Your farm no crops bestow.

Your steward false may prove a cheat;
Your freighted ships the storms may beat;
That, only, from mischance you'll save

Which to your friends is given;

The only wealth you'll always have‍
Is that you've lent to heaven.

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[Analysis.-1. Of what we have thus far treated, and what we are next to consider. -2. A good supply of suitable words.-3. Redundancy-its two forms. Where frequent, and why.-4. How good taste is violated in a choice of words. Foreign ex. pressions.-5. Bryant: his advice to a young writer.-6. Rule for the use of new words. Pope's advice.-7. Ambiguity of expression. Importance of guarding against it.-8. How ambiguity and obscurity are occasioned. (Note Illustrations.)-9. Extract from Tilton on the selection and use of words.]

1. HAVING treated briefly of the three earliest, easiest, and most natural forms in which language is used in continuous discourse', under the heads of Narrative, Descriptive, and Didactic Writings2, which stand in the same relation to all written language that the four fundamental rules in Arithmetic hold to all mathematics'2, we come next to consider those principles of rhetoric on which is based the ART of correct and elegant writing, in all the departments of English composition. And here, the first subject that claims our attention is the proper selection and use of words.

2. To endeavor to speak or write without a good supply of words'2, is as absurd as to endeavor to till the earth without the necessary implements'2, or to build a house without sufficient material'. A writer should use a sufficient number of suitable words to convey his meaning fully and clearly, avoiding the fault of poverty of expression on the one hand', and of redundancy on the other'.

3. Redundancy, which is opposed to precision, consists either in using more words than are necessary to express the thought, or in the repetition of the same thought by different forms of expression. Both modes of this fault are not only frequent in poor writers and poor speakers, who strive to

a, b. For references a, b, see next page.

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