Do I not know you for a favourer

Of this new sect? You are not sound. Shakspeare.

Here the vines wed each her elm.

Rogers.

As a step towards this end, Wallenstein now demanded the cession of Mecklenburg. Schiller.

Some place the bliss in action, some in ease,

Those call it pleasure, and contentment these. Pope.

Opposed in the act of disembarking, the troops rushed into action, section by section, and company by company, as they gained the land. Gleig.

Coleridge, in one of the essays in the Friend, has very happily illustrated the matter we are now considering, in discussing the origin of a proverb, "which, differently worded, is to be found in all the languages of Europe," viz. "Fortune favours fools."

Pages blushed at him, and men of heart

Looked wondering each at other. Shakspeare.

J. S. Mill.

It was the chronicler's opinion, as an eye-witness, that few on either side would have been left alive. Southey.

He desired them to disclose their plans to him as a friend.

Thirlwall.

The king wept when he found himself detained a prisoner; but the master of Glamis said, "No matter for his tears: better that boys weep than bearded men ;”. an expression which James

could never afterwards forgive. Hume.

To his last moments he never forgot the early friendship which he had borne their father; a strong proof of the good dispositions

of the prince. Hume.

Before morning, a troop of about fifty horse was raised and equipt with cavalry armour, and 200 Rhodians had been induced to offer their services as slingers. Thirlwall.

Under the Conqueror and his immediate successors, the heavy feudal cavalry wore hauberks of double mail, that is to say, shirts of mail made of iron ringlets linked together like a net, which covered the whole body, or habergeons, consisting of small round plates of iron, laid one over the other on a coat of leather, like fishes' scales. Gleig.

Officers and men embraced one another with tears of joy.

Thirlwall.

'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours,
And ask them what report they bore to Heaven,
And how they might have borne more welcome news:
Their answers form what men experience call,—

If wisdom's friend, her best; if not, worst foe. Young.

It is now three years since I last saw him. Two provinces, namely, Crete and Cyrene, were assigned, the one to Brutus, the other to Cassius. You say it was your fellow-townsmen. Bear ye one another's burdens. It must have been I that informed you. He continued inactive in Bohemia, —a conduct equally unintelligible to friend and foe. Whom do they suppose it to be? Misc.

CHAP. XII.

ABSOLUTE CLAUSES.

1. AN absolute clause is one containing no expression that relates it grammatically to a preceding or following clause; and such is generally said to be the nature of a clause containing what is called a nominative absolute. It will appear, however, if we consider the effect of the participle which always belongs to this nominative, that that participle involves the power of a conjunction; thus, "The weather being favourable, we set out," is equivalent to " We set out as (or when) the weather was favourable;" so also "Weather permitting, we shall go" means "We shall go, if the weather permit."

The imperfect participle always accompanies the nominative absolute; but, if it be the imperfect participle of the substantive verb, auxiliary to a perfect participle of some other verb, it is often understood; as, "That (being) excepted, we did well."

The participial forms notwithstanding and during, the latter of which is commonly called a preposition, and the former a preposition or a conjunction, are in reality the participles of a nominative absolute; thus, "I went notwithstanding the danger" means "I went, the danger not withstanding, or preventing;" "I continue during the king's good pleasure" means “I continue, the king's good pleasure enduring, or while the king's good pleasure endures."*

The relative is not much used as a nominative absolute. The following sentence contains an instance of it; "There are certain bounds to imprudence and misbehaviour, which being transgressed, there remains no place for repentance in the natural course of things." Bp. Butler.

2. An infinitive or participial phrase sometimes appears to be so loosely connected with a sentence as to deserve the name of an absolute clause; as, " To confess the truth," I did not see him;" that is, "I say, in order to confess," &c. "Speaking generally, I am as well prepared as he is;" that is, "I speaking generally affirm that," &c.

Many other species of clauses may be introduced so abruptly in a sentence as to be justly termed absolute. Of this nature is the parenthetic clause in the following sentence; "In those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of the names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled," &c. (Acts i. 15).

3. EXERCISES.

With regard to similies, no poet so much abounds with them.

Blair.

He has lost much of that sternness (dignity my father calls it) which used to chill me when I approached him. Mackenzie. Men, wanting terms to suit their precise notions, will, notwith

* In Latin, Non obstante periculo; English verb dure is now obsolete.

Durante regis bene placito. The See in Scripture, Matt. xiii. 21.

standing their utmost caution, be forced often to use the same word in somewhat different senses. Locke.

That done, Sir Thomas was desired to withdraw, and every one to deliver his opinion. Southey.

Of the first twenty Roman emperors, counting from Cæsar to Severus, above the half were authors. Hume.

Napoleon, he himself, no less,

Wrapt in his cloak, — I could not be deceived, -
Reined in his horse, and asked me as I passed,

How far 't was to St. Remi. Rogers.

To take the most obvious case first, the impelling force to most of the improvements effected in the arts of life, is the desire of increased material comfort. J. S. Mill.

His uneasiness - not to say apprehensions his followers. Cooper.

was shared by all

Notwithstanding the confident assertions of Antony Wood, there can be no doubt that Cambridge was, during the whole of this reign, at least on a level with the sister university, and indeed, to speak plainly, above it. Hallam.

I raised him, and I pawned

Mine honour for his truth: who being so heightened,
He watered his new plants with dews of flattery,
Seducing so my friends.

Shakspeare.

The distance of Saturn from the Sun (to say nothing of the Georgium Sidus) is nearly five-and-twenty times that of Mercury. Paley.

At this moment, his position, take it for all in all, was, I am inclined to believe, what no other man had won for himself by the pen alone. Lockhart.

Philip had no other resource than to send his rival a vain challenge, to meet him in the open field; which being refused, he was obliged to decamp with his army. Hume.

Marathon became a magic word,

Which uttered, to the hearer's eye appear

The

camp, the host, the fight, the conqueror's career.

Byron.

To be candid with you, I am quite aware of his purpose. During

these transactions, the gates of Delhi were kept shut. Supposing me to be as you say, what follows? Notwithstanding he being your relative, act impartially. Misc.

CHAP. XIII.

STRUCTURE OF COMPOUND SENTENCES.

1. THE principal connecting forms by which two or more simple sentences are converted into clauses, that is, made constituent parts of a compound sentence, are, as formerly stated, (a) Conjunctions, (b) Conjunctive Adverbs, (c) Relative Pronouns, and (d) Imperfect Participles. (See p. 70.)

For the construction of an example of each kind, we may take the two simple independent sentences" The boy revealed the truth;" "The boy was no longer able to conceal the truth." These two may be made to constitute one compound sentence, thus ;

(a.) The boy revealed the truth, because he was no longer able to conceal it.

(b.) The boy revealed the truth, when he was no longer able to conceal it.

(c.) The boy revealed the truth which he was no longer able to conceal.

(d.) The boy revealed the truth, being no longer able to conceal it.

2. Let it be observed that, in these examples, the connective words make addition to the meaning of each simple sentence. Thus; the conjunction because assigns the boy's inability to conceal as the cause of his revealing; the conjunctive adverb when signifies that the time of the boy's inability and the time of his revealing were identical; the relative which signifies that the truth which could not be concealed and the truth which was revealed were identical;

H