I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. [Abell rings.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven, or to hell.

6. Overcoming his fear, he entered the king's apartment, and dispatched him with a single stroke of his dagger. Macbeth returned to his waiting and guilty wife, who took the bloody weapon, and placed it in the room of the king's servants where they slept, having first smeared their faces with the blood, that the murder might be laid to their charge.

7. When morning dawned, and the murder was discovered, Macbeth affected great grief, but so managed as to be proclaimed king of Scotland. But the usurper's reign was short, for he was slain by Macduff; and Malcolm, Duncan's son and Scotland's lawful king, ascended the throne, amid the acclamations of the nobles and people.

MODIFICATIONS OF VISION.

I. THE PROGRESS OF MIND.

BORN into the world in ignorance, man is impelled by imperious instinct to know. "Seek," whispers a voice in his soul," and thou shalt find." He seeks, he observes, he inquires. He ascends the mountain of knowledge-rugged, precipitous; he climbs with difficulty from crag to crag. On the topmost peak, in the clear evening of an intellectual life, he beholds, not the sterile boundaries of a universe explored, but an ocean of knowledge yet to be traversed, a Pacific of truth stretching on and on into the deeps of eter nity.

II. NEWTON'S ATTAINMENTS.

Newton declared, a short time before his death, "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a child playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a pebble, or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

CHARACTER OF REPETITION.

[Analysis.-1. Why repetition is generally to be avoided.-2. Cases in which it may be used with good effect. Example.-3. Beautiful examples of repetition in Virgil.-4. Example from "Pierpont's Airs of Palestine."-5. Description of the Bible.-6, 7. A beautiful example of this figure in one of Cicero's Orations.-8, 9, 10. A pleasant example of repetition from Milton.-11, 12. An example from Herbert Spencer.-13, 14, 15. An example from Daniel Webster.]

1. As a general rule of composition, a repetition of the same words, or of the same meaning in different words, is to be avoided, as tending to weaken the impression; and especially is the fault of redundancy an unpardonable one in narration, and in didactic writings, the great ornament of which is a concise and comprehensive stylea.

2. But there are cases, nevertheless, in which repetition may be used with good effect, to give a dramatic air of truth to some theme of great magnitude, on which both author and reader love to dwell. Thus David, in his lament over Absalom, in the earnestness of his soul gives utterance to his grief, using again and again nearly the same words; and our sympathy fondly indulges him in the repetition. "Oh my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, oh Absalom, my son, my son!"

3. Virgil uses this figure with much beauty, in the lamentation of Orpheus for his beloved Eu ryd'i ce:

"Thee', his loved wife, along the lonely shores;
Thee', his loved' wife', his mournful song deplores;
Thee', when the rising morning gives the light,
Thee', when the world was overspread with night.”

And with poetic license the fond lover is represented as continuing his lament even in death:

"His last, last voice, his tongue, now cold in death',

Still named Eu ryd'i ce with parting breath';

'Ah! lost Eu ryd'i ce'!' his spirit sighed,

And all the rocks ̄ Eu ryď'i ce replied."—Georgics, b. iv.

4. In the following, from Pierpont's "Airs of Palestine," the repetition, instead of weakening the impression, gives it additional force and beauty:

II. PALESTINE.

"Greece and her charms I leave for Palestine.
There purer streams through happier valleys flow,
And sweeter flowers on holier mountains blow.
I love to breathe where Gilead sheds her balm ;
I love to walk on Jordan's banks of palm;
I love to wet my foot in Hermon's dews;
I love the promptings of Isaiah's muse!
In Carmel's holy grots I'll court repose,

And deck my mossy couch with Sharon's deathless rose."

5. The following is a specimen of repetition appropriate to the magnitude of the subject:

III. THE BIBLE.

"It is the book of the world's Creator', and the world's governor'; the record of the world's history', and the world's duty'; of the world's sin', and the world's salvation'; and it will endure while that world lasts', and continue to claim its present authority' as long as God's government over the present world may continue'."

6. There is a beautiful example of this figure in Cicero's second oration against Antony, which was composed soon after Cæsar's death, when Antony was aiming at supreme power. The whole oration is a most bitter invective on the life of Antony, whom Cicero accuses of being the author of nearly all the evils which then distracted the republic. After recapitulating the treasonable acts and designs of Antony, the orator thus proceeds:

IV. INVECTIVE AGAINST ANTONY.

7. "As trees and plants necessarily arise from seeds, so are you, Antony', the seed of this most calamitous war. You mourn, oh Romans! that three of your armies have been slaughtered':-they were slaughtered by Antony'. You lament the loss of your most illustrious citizens': they were torn from you by Antony'. The authority of the senate is deeply wounded':-it is wounded by Antony'. In short, all the calamities we have ever since beheld (and what calamities have we not' beheld' ?), if we reason rightly, have been entirely owing to Antony'. As Helen was of Troy, so the bane, the misery, the destruction of this state-is Antony."

8. In the following, in which Eve is represented as addressing Adam, the pleasant repetition, in the second verse, of the scenes mentioned in the first, doubly enforces the beauty of the sentiment. It is a great charm in Milton, that, whenever possible, he makes the reader a spectator and listener, which gives a dramatic interest to the scene, far beyond that of mere narration.

V. EVE TO ADAM.

9. "With thee conversing', I forget all time':

All seasons, and their change, all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn'; her rising sweet',
With charm of earliest birds'; pleasant the sun,
When first, on this delightful land, he spreads
His orient beams on herbs, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glist'ning with dew'; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers'; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful evening mild`; the silent night
With this her solemn bird'; and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heaven', her starry train'.

10. "But neither breath of morn, when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds'; nor rising sun
On this delightful land'; nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glist'ning with dew'; nor fragrance after showers`;

Nor grateful evening mild'; nor silent night,
With this her solemn bird'; nor walk by moon,
Or glittering starlight', without thee is sweet'd "
Paradise Lost, B. iv.

11. Herbert Spencer, in an able educational article on "What. Knowledge is of most Worth?" gives additional force to the impression he would make, of the value of science, by the frequent emphatic repetition of the word.

VI. THE VALUE OF SCIENCE.

12. "Thus to the question with which we set out-What knowledge is of most worth?—the uniform reply is-Science'. This is the verdict on all the counts. For direct self-preservation, or the maintenance of life and health, the all-important knowledge is-Science. For that indirect selfpreservation which we call gaining a livelihood, the knowledge of greatest value is-Science. For the due discharge of parental functions, the proper guidance is to be found only in Science. For that interpretation of national life, past and present, without which the citizen can not rightly regulate his conduct, the indispensable key is Science. Alike for the most perfect production and highest enjoyment of art in all its forms, the needful preparation is still -Science. And for purposes of discipline-intellectual, moral, religious-the most efficient study is, once moreScience.

VII. THE LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE OF BUNKER HILL.

MONUMENT.-WEBSTER.

13. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot, which must forever be dear to us and our posterity. We wish, that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold that the place is not undistinguished, where the first great battle of the Revolution was fought. We wish, that ' this structure may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event, to every class and every age. We wish, that infancy may learn the purpose of its erection from maternal

lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by the recollections which it suggests.