[Breed's] Hill? These questions occur to one who reads the paragraph. 8. Make definite the inference that the retention of the same ministers in office for so long a time shows their great influence over the king.]

1. The colonies were in a state ripe for freedom. The French and Indian Wars were over. The colonies felt no need of England for protection. They had been neglected by England. Their governments were chiefly popular. 2. Burke's speech was given to the English Parliament in the year 1775. The time had come when some government must be decided upon for the colonies, and Burke did his best to persuade Parliament toward reconciliation. 3. The sonnet is a short poem consisting of one stanza of fourteen lines. It is usually rather condensed, on account of its definite limits. It is often used for subjective poetry, and is useless for any narrative. 4. The fleet was first sighted from the English coast on July 19, 1588. The English ships sent out to intercept the Spanish vessels were so much lighter and smaller that they would get around a large Spanish ship like a flock of king-birds around an eagle, and after destroying her would go after another. And so it continued for some time, the Spaniards sustaining severe losses. Then when the Spanish fleet was in the harbor of Calais, the English sent fire-ships against it, and almost destroyed it. 5. The subject on which he was going to speak was a very important one—it was just a week before the battle of Lexington as the American colonies were very valuable possessions. 6. His orders were carried out. The poor men were thrown into a dungeon about forty feet square. The windows were small; it was the height of the Indian summer; and when the guards came back in the morning only twenty-three prisoners out of one hundred and forty-three were left alive. 7. On his way to Charlestown, Colonel Prescott came to a hill, called Bunker Hill,

which sloped down gently to the south. All that night, and till eleven the next day, he kept his men at work building fortifications. 8. George III. was really king only in name, for he was ruled by his ministers. He had had six ministers in office twenty years.

CHAPTER XI

KINDS OF WORDS

116. LONG WORDS AND SHORT WORDS. 117. ANGLO-SAXON WORDS AND LATIN WORDS. 118. THE ANGLO-SAXON ELEMENT IN ENGLISH. 119. THE LATIN ELEMENT IN ENGLISH. 120. THE CHOICE BETWEEN THE TWO ELEMENTS. EXERCISE 54.-121. SIMPLE WORDS AND AFFECTED Words. — EXERCISE 55. -122. SPECIFIC OR DEFINITE WORDS.- EXERCISE 56.

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116. Long Words and Short Words. Long words should not be used because they are long words, nor short words merely because they are short. If the word you want to express your meaning exactly is a long word, use it, but do not hunt for long and pompous words. As a rule, say what you have to say as simply as possible, preferring, for the sake of brevity, short words to long words.

Notice, for instance, the simplicity and directness of the following passage, an effect largely produced by the use of short words:

"And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And

the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon." - Judges ix. 7–15.

117. Anglo-Saxon Words and Latin Words. - Closely connected with the difference in effect between short words and long words is that between words of Anglo-Saxon origin and words of Latin origin. Of the difference between these two kinds of words it is essential that the pupil should have a clear idea.

118. The Anglo-Saxon Element in English. — The original inhabitants of England belonged to the Celtic race, were called Britons, and spoke a language somewhat like Welsh. They were conquered by the Romans, who made Britain a province of the Roman Empire, built roads and towns, and carried on mining and a considerable commerce. The great bulk of the Celtic population, however, was uninfluenced by Roman civilization, and only slight traces of Latin were left in the British language. In the fifth century, when the Roman military occupation ceased, the island relapsed into its previous condition of barbarism, and was in the course of a century overrun

and conquered by three closely allied Low German tribes, the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. The Britons were driven into the west and north of the island. Those who remained under English rule were made slaves. The different dialects spoken by the conquering tribes then became the language of the country. Anglo-Saxon or Old English is the English used before the French-speaking Normans conquered the island and changed the language so radically. It belongs to the Teutonic family of languages and is closely akin to the languages of the Germans, Dutch, and Scandinavians.

119. The Latin Element in English. The Norman conquerors of England (eleventh century) were Scandinavians by origin, but they had been for a century and a half settled in North France, had intermarried with the people of the country, and spoke a dialect of the French language. For a century and more after the settling of the Normans in England, there were two languages spoken there, French by the Normans, English by the native English population. Gradually, however, the two parts of the population became less distinct, and the two languages were fused into one. The new English which the amalgamated population spoke we call Middle English, because it is the second of the three great historical divisions of the language, i.e. Old English, Middle English, and Modern English. Middle English is most familiar to us through Chaucer, who wrote in the fourteenth century, and was the greatest writer of