“The high eloquence which I have last mentioned, is always the offspring of passion.  A man actuated by a strong passion, becomes much greater than he is at other times.  He is conscious of more strength and force; he utters greater sentiments, conceives higher designs, and executes them with a boldness and felicity, of which, on other occasions, he could not think himself capable.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 236.

   “His words bore sterling weight, nervous and strong,
    In manly tides of sense they roll’d along.”—­Churchill.

    “To make the humble proud, the proud submiss,
    Wiser the wisest, and the brave more brave.”—­W.  S. Landor.

LESSON II.—­PARSING.

“I am satisfied that in this, as in all cases, it is best, safest, as well as most right and honorable, to speak freely and plainly.”—­Channing’s Letter to Clay, p. 4.

“The gospel, when preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, through the wonder-working power of God, can make the proud humble, the selfish disinterested, the worldly heavenly, the sensual pure.”—­Christian Experience, p. 399.

“I am so much the better, as I am the liker[184] the best; and so much the holier, as I am more conformable to the holiest, or rather to Him who is holiness itself.”—­Bp.  Beneridge.

“Whether any thing in Christianity appears to them probable, or improbable; consistent, or inconsistent; agreeable to what they should have expected, or the contrary; wise and good, or ridiculous and useless; is perfectly irrelevant.”—­M’Ilvaine’s Evidences, p. 523.

“God’s providence is higher, and deeper, and larger, and stronger, than all the skill of his adversaries; and his pleasure shall be accomplished in their overthrow, except they repent and become his friends.”—­Cox, on Christianity, p. 445.

“A just relish of what is beautiful, proper, elegant, and ornamental, in writing or painting, in architecture or gardening, is a fine preparation for the same just relish of these qualities in character and behaviour.  To the man who has acquired a taste so acute and accomplished, every action wrong or improper must be highly disgustful:  if, in any instance, the overbearing power of passion sway him from his duty, he returns to it with redoubled resolution never to be swayed a second time.”—­Kames, Elements of Criticism, Vol. i, p. 25.

   “In grave Quintilian’s copious work, we find
    The justest rules and clearest method join’d.”—­Pope, on Crit.

LESSON III.—­PARSING.

“There are several sorts of scandalous tempers; some malicious, and some effeminate; others obstinate, brutish, and savage.  Some humours are childish and silly; some, false, and others, scurrilous; some, mercenary, and some, tyrannical.”—­Collier’s Antoninus, p. 52.