“A Verb is a word whereby something or other is represented as existing, possessing, acting, or being acted upon, at some particular time, past, present, or future; and this in various manners.”—­White, on the English Verb, p. 1.

“Error is a savage, lurking about on the twilight borders of the circle illuminated by truth, ready to rush in and take possession, the moment her lamp grows dim.”—­Beecher.

“The science of criticism may be considered as a middle link, connecting the different parts of education into a regular chain.”—­Ld.  Kames, El. of Crit., p. xxii.

“When I see a man walking, a tree growing, or cattle grazing, I cannot doubt but that these objects are really what they appear to be.  Nature determines us to rely on the veracity of our senses; for otherwise they could not in any degree answer their end, that of laying open things existing and passing around us.”—­Id., ib., i, 85.

“But, advancing farther in life, and inured by degrees to the crooked ways of men; pressing through the crowd, and the bustle of the world; obliged to contend with this man’s craft, and that man’s scorn; accustomed, sometimes, to conceal their sentiments, and often to stifle their feelings; they become at last hardened in heart, and familiar with corruption.”—­BLAIR:  Murray’s Sequel, p. 140.

   “Laugh’d at, he laughs again; and stricken hard,
    Turns to his stroke his adamantine scales,
    That fear no discipline of human hands.”—­Cowper’s Task, p. 47.

LESSON II.—­PARSING.

“Thus shame and remorse united in the ungrateful person, and indignation united with hatred in the hearts of others, are the punishments provided by nature for injustice.”—­Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. i, p. 288.

“Viewing man as under the influence of novelty, would one suspect that custom also should influence him?—­Human nature, diversified with many and various springs of action, is wonderfully, and, indulging the expression, intricately constructed.”—­Id., ib., i, 325.

“Dryden frequently introduces three or four persons speaking upon the same subject, each throwing out his own notions separately, without regarding what is said by the rest.”—­Id., ib., ii, 294.

“Nothing is more studied in Chinese gardens, than to raise wonder and surprise.  Sometimes one is led insensibly into a dark cavern, terminating unexpectedly in a landscape enriched with all that nature affords the most delicious.”—­Id., ib., ii, 334.

“The answer to the objection here implied, is obvious, even on the supposition of the questions put being answered in the affirmative.”—­Prof.  Vethake.

“As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also, he will deliver it; and, passing over, he will preserve it.”—­Isaiah, xxxi, 5.