56. No one, who has the slightest acquaintance with the different teachers of punctuation, can appreciate these remarks too highly. Possibly, when Brenan wrote this pleasing chapter, he little expected being reduced to the necessity of giving us information like this: "A very good general direction might be, to confine yourself, except in details, to one dash in a sentence." And yet he might furnish us with sentences with two and three dashes!

57. When an example is given merely after the manner of a parenthetical phrase, the comma is quite sufficient to precede. When intended as a distinct quotation, entirely independent of the parenthesis, the colon may precede the words quoted. When, however, you break a quotation into a separate paragraph, always supply the colon and dash. In No. 23, I might, had I not been desirous to keep is as far apart from the rule as possible, have accompanied it by the, instead of the In No. 25, you will see the, after runs and thus. I merely employ the, instead of the : because these words have a very near connexion with and and the, immediately following the quotations introduced by runs and thus. A similar liberty, I take in many other instances, which you will not fail to notice. As I shall, shortly, have occasion to speak, frequently, on the colon, I will proceed to the dash. But, before you can advance with safety, you must put to your self the inquiry, "Are the leading features of the comma, semicolon, and colon, duly impressed upon my mind?" This is an

essential inquiry, and one, upon the affirmative of which, your qualification for the succeeding chapter much depends.

THE DASH.

58. The dash, which I exhibited in No. 6, has latterly assumed a position of considerable prominence in novel-like and romantic literature, and, to many, promises fairly, the precision of the half and the full colon. Justin Brenan has, more especially, discovered its sufficiency as an absolute stop between the comma and period, and has vainly endeavoured to urge its claims to pre-eminence over the united demand of the semicolon and colon. But, in defiance of every claim of the dash, aided by the supercilious and superstitious disquisitions of the most powerful of its advocates for supremacy, I assert its inadequacy to the broad and necessary latitude of application so beautifully maintained by the colons. I know the mystery in which the colons have been involved; the defects of their teachers; their worse than fruitless cavils; their unwillingness to disclose the truth-that their defects, and not those of the colons, have made the inroads for new stops and new systems, and I, therefore, am the more firm in holding out a revelation of the created mysteries of the colons, in opposition to novel and imperfect contrivances. And in doing this, I am aware, that a thirst for novelty, may, at times,

promp a man to presume too far upon the credulity of an enlightened people, and the same appetite may urge the credulous to indulge in the contents of a new dish too eagerly for digestion. But has not Brenan, in his avidity, grasped at the shadow instead of the real object? This question, after you have gone through a few of the following pages, must remain for your own decision.

59. The succeeding extract, from Locke's Government, Book i. Sect. 56, Brenan marks out as his starting post:

"The dens of lions and nurseries of wolves know no such cruelty as this: these savage inhabitants of the desert obey God and nature in their being tender and careful of their offspring: they will hunt, watch, fight, and almost starve for the preservation of their young; never part with them, never forsake them, till they are able to shift for themselves."

We are favoured with this quotation as a specimen of punctuation before the dash, the alarmer of the old legitimates of calumny and imposition, and the subduer of the colon and semicolon faction, made its appearance. The introduction of Brenan's dash into this extract, we are informed, contributes an indisputable expressiveness, of which it is now void of the least particle :

"The dens of lions, and the nurseries of wolves, know no such cruelty as this. These savage inhabitants of the desert, obey God and nature, in their being tender and careful of their offspring. They will hunt, watch, fight, and almost starve for the perservation of their young-never part with them, never forsake them, till they are able to shift for themselves."

On the dense darkness in which the conjurations of ancient superstition had concealed so pleasing a de

scription of the tenderness and care of wolves and lions, Brenan has, with the greatest ease and accommodation to his self, reflected a ray of light, which penetrates the mysterious curtain, and exposes the necromancy and deception! But let us see by what all this important change is effected. The colons are entirely rejected, and substituted by periods. I confess, that this is an important amendment. To you, however, I need not make further observations on this head.. You remember my adverting to the period, as being decidedly preferable to the semicolon or colon, when you are not apprehensive of endangering the sense or reading by substitution. The dash, which you see before you, is the instrument for which Brenan is so tenaciously stickling. It is by this weapon that he would reduce the colon to a nonentity, aye, and its half brother, the semicolon, too. As such expressiveness is obtained by this substitution, why has he not added still more strength by a dash before never forsake them? it is correspondent to the abruptness which, in his mind, summoned the dash preceding never part with them. A colon, instead of the dash, would not, in my opinion, and, I doubt not, in yours, have been, in the least, detrimental to the passage, either as it regards sense, strength, or beauty. In what, then, does the superiority exist? In Brenan's imagination!

60. As we have only yet mounted the first step towards the dash ascendancy, we will not, like the envious dog, crossing the brook with a piece of meat in his mouth, grasp at the shadow in the stream, and lose sight of the substance. We will advance to the next

stage, which will illustrate to us another instance of the beauty of the dash, with its powers of expulsion:

"If it had been the professed object of Captain Hall to write a political work, all this would have been very well, although, even then, it would have been quite possible to shew that a government, under which the inhabitants of the United States have lived, upwards of forty years, in the enjoyment of domestic tranquillity, and of almost uninterrupted peace-a government, which has carried them triumphantly through a war with the most powerful nation of Europe-under which pathless forests have been converted into fruitful plains-insignificent villages have sprung into noble cities-commercial intercourse has been established with every region of the earth-education has been fostered-knowledge of every kind has been promoted-religion has flourished, and a greater degree of personal happiness and comfort has been enjoyed, than has fallen to the lot of any nation in Europe-it would, we say, have been quite possible to shew that a government that has produced such effects as these, cannot really be quite so bad as the aristocratic prejudices of Hall induced him to think."

Now the quibble begins! It is thus Brenan would impose upon us the dash-pre-eminency. He would tell us, that such is the expulsive power of this line, that, on its appearance, the semicolon and colon are rendered insignificant and unavailing. However he may be disposed to pun us with the imagined significency he so vauntedly would exhibit in the detail passage before us, it remains with our selves as to the magnanimity being positive or mere fantasy. He desires it to be understood, that he has no objection to the colon and semicolon in the titles of books. There, show and appearance are allowable, and, he says, "an author should consign their punctuation to the better judg