“When, in considering the structure of a tree or a plant, we observe how all the parts, the roots, the stem, the bark, and the leaves, are suited to the growth and nutriment of the whole; when we survey all the parts and members of a living animal; or when we examine any of the curious works of art—­such as a clock, a ship, or any nice machine; the pleasure which we have in the survey, is wholly founded on this sense of beauty.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 49.

“It never can proceed from a good taste, to make a teaspoon resemble the leaf of a tree; for such a form is inconsistent with the destination of a teaspoon.”—­Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 351.

“In an epic poem, a history, an oration, or any work of genius, we always require a fitness, or an adjustment of means to the end which the author is supposed to have in view.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 50.

“Rhetoric, Logic, and Grammar, are three arts that should always walk hand in hand.  The first is the art of speaking eloquently; the second, that of thinking well; and the third, that of speaking with propriety.”—­Formey’s Belles-Lettres, p. 114.

   “Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees,
    Rock’d in the cradle of the western breeze.”—­Cowper.

LESSON II.—­NOUNS.

“There goes a rumour that I am to be banished.  And let the sentence come, if God so will.  The other side of the sea is my Father’s ground, as well as this side.”—­Rutherford.

“Gentlemen, there is something on earth greater than arbitrary or despotic power.  The lightning has its power, and the whirlwind has its power, and the earthquake has its power.  But there is something among men more capable of shaking despotic power than lightning, whirlwind, or earthquake; that is—­the threatened indignation of the whole civilized world.”—­Daniel Webster.

“And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Padan Aram, unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, and brother of Rebecca, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.”—­See Gen., xxviii, 5.

“The purpose you undertake is dangerous.”  “Why that is certain:  it is dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink; but I tell you, my Lord fool, out of this nettle danger, we pluck this flower safety.”—­Shakespeare.

“And towards the Jews alone, one of the noblest charters of liberty on earth—­Magna Charta, the Briton’s boast—­legalized an act of injustice.”—­Keith’s Evidences, p. 74.

“Were Demosthenes’s Philippics spoken in a British assembly, in a similar conjuncture of affairs, they would convince and persuade at this day.  The rapid style, the vehement reasoning, the disdain, anger, boldness, freedom, which perpetually animate them, would render their success infallible over any modern assembly.  I question whether the same can be said of Cicero’s orations; whose eloquence, however beautiful, and however well suited to the Roman taste, yet borders oftener on declamation, and is more remote from the manner in which we now expect to hear real business and causes of importance treated.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 248.