of Sir Henry Bohun in sight of the whole array of England and Scotland, such are the heroes of a dark age. 3. In such an age, bodily vigor is the most indispensable qualification of a warrior. 4. At Landen, two poor sickly beings who, in a rude state of society, would have been regarded as too puny to bear any part in combats, were the souls of two great armies. 5. In some heathen countries they would have been exposed while infants. 6. In Christendom they would, six hundred years earlier, have been sent to some quiet cloister. 7. But their lot had fallen on a time when men had discovered that the strength of the muscles is far inferior in value to the strength of the mind. 8. It is probable that, among the hundred and twenty thousand soldiers who were marshalled round Neerwinden under all the standards of Western Europe, the two feeblest in body were the hunchbacked dwarf who urged forward the fiery onset of France, and the asthmatic skeleton who covered the slow retreat of England.

-MACAULAY: History of England, Vol. 1, chap. xx.

A loose sentence is one which may be broken at some point before the end and up to that point be grammatically a complete sentence. A sentence of this type is in danger of becoming slovenly, a mere string of clauses and phrases, unless it is kept well in hand. Yet, when the clauses and phrases are well-placed, as in the following selection, the effect of loose sentences is the pleasing effect of conversation.

1. One afternoon' we visited a cave, some two miles down the stream, which had recently been discovered. 2. We squeezed and wriggled through a big crack or cleft in the side of the mountain for about one hundred feet, when we emerged into a large, dome-shaped passage, the abode, dur

ing certain seasons of the year, of innumerable bats, and at all times of primeval darkness. 3. There were various other crannies and pit-holes opening into it, some of which we explored. 4. The voice of running water was everywhere heard, betraying the proximity of the little stream by whose ceaseless corroding the cave and its entrance had been worn. 5. This streamlet flowed out of the mouth of the cave, and came from a lake on the top of the mountain; this accounted for its warmth to the hand, which surprised us all.

- BURROUGHS: Wake-Robin; Adirondack.

Many good sentences, perhaps the majority of good written sentences, are composite in structure, partly loose and partly periodic. When the phrases and clauses to be brought in are numerous, some will be placed early in the sentence, making it periodic for a time, and one or more will be left to the end, causing the sentence to close as a loose sentence. Thus the following sentence is periodic up to the dash, the added thought making it loose.

Poems and noble extracts, whether of verse or prose, once reduced into possession, and rendered truly our own, may be to us a daily pleasure;-better far than a whole library unused.

The important thing to work for in writing a sentence is not to secure one form rather than another, but to secure such a placing of words, phrases, and clauses that the exact meaning cannot be misunderstood.

Arrangement of Parts.

39. Sentences are flexible in the making. Their parts, while being put together, can be turned and adjusted and transposed until the sentence is made to

say precisely what the writer intended, no more and no less. Good sentences are logical and immediately intelligible. The danger besets all kinds of sentences of placing words so that the meaning may be misunderstood. Two different things ought to be meant by the two sentences in each pair below:

1. The theory is now accepted with confidence in the world of science.

2. At first she continued regularly to feed them, not seeming to notice that they were captives.

3. He looked back with

1. In the world of science, the theory is now accepted with confidence.

2. She continued regularly to feed them, not seeming at first to notice that they were captives.

3. He looked back upon

regret upon those years those years which he had which he had spent in wan- spent in wandering with redering. gret.

The following sentences show the correct placing of the expressions in italics. The carets show the points in the sentence at which a careless writer is likely to insert the italicized expression.

Λ

The condition of the poor is only ameliorated by the philanthropy of the rich (i.e. no lasting reform is brought about).

The condition of the poor is Λ ameliorated only by the philanthropy of the rich (i.e. there is no other ameliorating agency).

Sir Walter Scott's works were exceedingly popular not only with his countrymen, but also with the educated classes in every other civilized country.

Λ

They intend to pass not only another high tariff bill, but also a reciprocity bill.

He ought at least to apologize for his conduct.

A

He was now compelled to defer to men for whose opinions he had never entertained much respect A.

In the best sentences the parts are so placed that a person reading aloud is compelled by the arrangement of the words and phrases to reproduce by his voice the distribution of emphasis which the writer had in mind. It is a good plan to test by the ear what one has' written, and to rearrange the parts of sentences so that the sentence will emphasize itself.

The following sentences illustrate how the emphasis of a phrase or a clause shifts with every change of position:

you have 1. It is not very hard to write, provided you have plenty of good ideas.

1. Provided plenty of good ideas, it is not very hard to write.

2. The hand of death was upon him; he knew it; and the only wish which he uttered was that sword in hand he might die.

2. The hand of death was upon him; he knew it and the only wish which he uttered was that he might die sword in hand.

3. It is always difficult to separate the literary character of a man who lives in our own time from his personal

3. It is always difficult to separate the literary character of a man who lives in our own time from his personal character. It is peculiarly character. difficult in the case of Lord Byron to make this separation.

4. Believe me, nothing except a lost battle is so terrible as a won battle.

It is peculiarly difficult to make this separation in the case of Lord Byron.

4. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost is so terrible as a battle won.

5. The framers of the constitution had to give to the government a permanent and conservative form.

6. Knowledge is the indispensable condition of expansion of mind, and the instrument of attaining to it.

5. The framers of the constitution had to give to the government a form permanent and conservative.

6. The indispensable condition of expansion of mind, and the instrument of attaining to it, is knowledge.

Summary.

1. See that every sentence you write says one thing, and says what you want it to say, no more, no less.

2. Use short sentences for abruptness and rapidity.

3. Use long sentences for dignity and grace.

4. Use the loose sentence for its easy conversational effect.

5. Use the periodic sentence for its firmness and dignity.

A. In the paragraph from Burroughs (p. 15), what kinds of sentence are used, and what is their effect respectively? Change any five of the sentences to a different form, and note the resulting change in emphasis.

B. In the selection from Bryce (p. 26), underline the words that you are compelled to emphasize most strongly, as you read the selection.

C. In the paragraph from Froude (p. 48), what phrase or clause in each sentence is made emphatic by position?

D. In the paragraph from Hosmer (p. 46), second sentence, what is the most emphatic word? Change the position of the if-clause and note the change in emphasis.

E. In the paragraph from Carlyle (p. 49), explain the use of the colon in the first sentence and in the fourth. Which of the sentences are completely periodic?