LESSON III.—­PARSING.

“Most of the objects in a natural landscape are beautiful, and some of them are grand:  a flowing river, a spreading oak, a round hill, an extended plain, are delightful; and even a rugged rock, and a barren heath, though in themselves disagreeable, contribute by contrast to the beauty of the whole.”—­See Kames’s El. of Crit., i, 185.

“An animal body is still more admirable, in the disposition of its several parts, and in their order and symmetry:  there is not a bone, a muscle, a blood-vessel, a nerve, that hath not one corresponding to it on the opposite side; and the same order is carried through the most minute parts.”—­See ib., i, 271.  “The constituent parts of a plant, the roots, the stem, the branches, the leaves, the fruit, are really different systems, united by a mutual dependence on each other.”—­Ib., i, 272.

“With respect to the form of this ornament, I observe, that a circle is a more agreeable figure than a square, a globe than a cube, and a cylinder than a parallelopipedon.  A column is a more agreeable figure than a pilaster; and, for that reason, it ought to be preferred, all other circumstances being equal.  An other reason concurs, that a column connected with a wall, which is a plain surface, makes a greater variety than a pilaster.”—­See ib., ii, 352.

   “But ah! what myriads claim the bended knee! 
    Go, count the busy drops that swell the sea.”—­Rogers.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

ERRORS RESPECTING ARTICLES.

LESSON I.—­ADAPT THE ARTICLES.

“Honour is an useful distinction in life.”—­Milnes’s Greek Grammar, p. vii.

[FORMULE.—­Not proper, because the article an is used before useful, which begins with the sound of yu.  But, according to a principle expressed on page 225th, “A is to be used whenever the following word begins with a consonant sound.”  Therefore, an should here be changed to a; thus, “Honour is a useful distinction in life.”]

“No writer, therefore, ought to foment an humour of innovation.”—­Jamieson’s Rhet., p. 55.  “Conjunctions require a situation between the things of which they form an union.”—­Ib., p. 83.  “Nothing is more easy than to mistake an u for an a.”—­Tooke’s Diversions, i, 130.  “From making so ill an use of our innocent expressions.”—­Wm. Penn.  “To grant thee an heavenly and incorruptible crown of glory.”—­Sewel’s Hist., Ded., p. iv.  “It in no wise follows, that such an one was able to predict.”—­Ib., p. viii.  “With an harmless patience they have borne most heavy oppressions,”—­Ib., p. x.  “My attendance was to make me an happier man.”—­Spect., No. 480.  “On the wonderful nature of an human mind.”—­Ib.,