Ju. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, Shy. Why, then, the devil give him good of it! Ju. Tarry, Jew: The law hath yet another hold on you. The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive, And the offender's life lies in the mercy Of the court only. Shy. Take my life, then, and all, and pardon not that. Ju. But the forfeiture of thy estate Comes not within our power to remedy; The law is strict in its demands of justice. Shy. I pray you, give me leave to go from herce; Where I may die in peace: Since what I hold dearer than my Is taken from me. Ju. The court has mercy on your life; Go, repent, and live, And with a softer heart, remember mercy too. SHAKSPEARE. GUESTIONS.-Why did Shylock choose the pound of flesh rather than the payment of his debt? What does he mean by saying "my deeds upon my head ?" In whose favor does the judge decide? How does he eventually relieve Antonio from his danger? How is Shylock punished? Was his punishment just? Why? In the last three lines, which are the verbs? Which of them is in the indicative mode? Which are in the imperative mode? What does the word indicative mean? Why is this mode so called? What does the word imperative mean? See Pinneo's Analytical Grammar, page 63. LESSON LXXIII. REMARK.-Be careful not to read in a faint and low tone, but give due force and emphasis to each word, PRONOUNCE the following words correctly.-(The fault consists in inserting a vowel between consonants which should coalesce): Supply, not sup-pul-ly: press, not per-ess: prose, not per-ose: ca-pri-cious, not ca-per-icious: Dry-den, not Der-y-den: bright-er, not ber-ight-er: flights, not ful-ights: Par'-al-lel, n. a comparison made. 2. Al-lot'-ed, p. granted, given. La'-tent, a. secret, hidden. E-ject'-ed, v. dismissed, cast out. 3. Punc-til'-ious, a. very particular. 6. Scho-las'-tic, a. scholar-like. 7. Pred-e-ces'-sor, n. one who has gone before another in the same capacity. Ex-u'-ber-ance, n. an overflowing quantity. 8. In-ert', a. powerless, inactive. 9. Dil'-a-to-ry, a. slow, delaying. PARALLEL BETWEEN POPE AND DRYDEN. 1. POPE professed to have learned his poetry from Dryden,, whom, whenever an opportunity was presented, he praised through his whole life with unvaried liberality; and perhaps his character may receive some illustration, if he be compared with his master. + 2. Integrity of understanding, and nicety of discernment, were not allotted in a less proportion to Dryden than to Pope. The rectitude of Dryden's mind was sufficiently shown by the dismission of his poetical prejudices, and the rejection of unnatural thoughts and rugged numbers. But Dryden never desired to apply all the judgment that he had. He wrote, and professed to write, merely for the people; and when he pleased others, he contented himself. He spent no time in struggles to rouse latent powers; he never attempted to make that better which was already good, nor often to mend what he must have known to be faulty. He wrote, as he tells us, with very little consideration: when occasion or necessity called upon him, he poured out what the present moment happened to supply, and, when once it had passed the press, ejected it from his mind; for, when he had no pecuniary interest, he had no further +solicitude. 3. Pope was not content to satisfy; he desired to excel, and therefore always endeavored to do his best; he did not court the candor, but dared the judgment of his reader, and, expecting no indulgence from others, he showed none to himself. He examined lines and words with minute and punctilious observation, and retouched every part with indefatigable diligence, till he had left nothing to be forgiven. 4. For this reason he kept his pieces very long in his hands, while he considered and reconsidered them. The only poems which can be supposed to have been written with such regard to the times as might hasten their publication, were the two satires of Thirty-eight: of which Dodsley told me, that they were brought to him by the author, that they might be fairly copied. "Every line," said he, 66 was then written twice over; I gave him a clean + transcript, which he sent sometime afterward to me for the press, with every line written twice over a second time." 5. His declaration, that his care for his works ceased at their publication, was not strictly true. His parental attention never abandoned them: what he found amiss in the first edition, he silently corrected in those that followed. He appears to have revised the Iliad, and freed it from some of its imperfections; and the Essay on Criticism received many improvements after its first appearance. It will seldom be found that he altered without adding clearness, elegance, or vigor. Pope had perhaps the judg ment of Dryden; but Dryden certainly wanted the diligence of Pope. + + 6. In acquired knowledge, the superiority must be allowed to Dryden, whose education was more scholastic, and who, before he became an author, had been allowed more time for study, with better means of information. His mind has a larger range, and he collects his images and illustrations from a more extensive circumference of science. Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, and those of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, and more certainty in that of Pope. 7. Poetry was not the sole praise of either; for both excelled likewise in prose; but Pope did not borrow his prose from his predecessor. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe and leveled by the roller. 8. Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates: the superiority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden. It must not be inferred, that of this poetical vigor Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more; for every other writer since Milton must give place to Pope and even of Dryden it must be said, that if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. 9. Dryden's performances were always hasty, either excited by some external occasion or + extorted by domestic necessity; he composed without consideration, and published without correction. What his mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, was all that he sought, and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all that study might produce, or chance might supply. If the flights of Dryden, therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If the blaze of Dryden's fire is brighter, the heat of Pope's is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight. 10. This parallel will, I hope, when it is well considered, be found just; and if the reader should suspect me, as I suspect myself, of some partial fondness for the memory of Dryden, let him not too hastily condemn me: for meditation and inquiry may, perhaps, show him the reasonableness of my determination. JOHNSON. QUESTIONS.-What is meant by a parallel as used in this lesson? In comparing these two authors, Pope and Dryden, which is considered as excelling in genius? Which in education? Which bestowed the most labor on his poems? What motive, do you suppose, influenced Pope, in preparing his poems? By what motive was Dryden influenced? Can you mention any of the poems of either author? What inflections, in this lesson, are explained by Rule VI, §1? Which are the verbs in the last paragraph? Let the pupil parse each one of them. Which are the pronouns, and how is each one of them parsed? ARTICULATION. Thwack, bludgeon, athwart, brittle, fall'n, draggl'd, brine. Thwack went the bludgeon athwart the brittle beam. The fall'n flag was draggl'd in the brine. Blotch'd and bloated, the blear-eyed swag. gerer staggered onward. The high bred Briton braves the battle-field. The chill precincts of the dreaded tomb. Shot madly from its sphere. Life's fitful fever over, he rests well. LESSON LXXIV. PRONOUNCE correctly.-Per-son-a-ges, not per-son-ij-is: prin-cipal, not prin-ci-pul: sac-ri-fice, not sa-cri-fis: in-car-nate, not in-car-nit: com-fort, not com-fut: rec-ords, not rec-uds: ex-hi-bi-tions, not ex-er-bitions: mor-al-i-zing, not mor-er-li-zing. 11. Teem'-ing, p. being full. Fan-tas'-tic, a. unsteady, whimsical. Ca-pri'-ces, n. (pro. ca-pree'-ses) sudden starts of the mind, whims. 12. Po'-e-sy, n. poetry. 13. Mi-nu'-tiæ, n. the smaller particulars. HENRY MARTYN AND LORD BYRON. 1. By reasoning from the known laws of mind, we gain the position, that obedience to the Divine law, is the surest mode of securing every species of happiness attainable in this state of existence. 2. The recorded experience of mankind does no less prove, that obedience to the law of God is the true path to happiness. To exhibit this, some specific cases will be selected, and perhaps a fairer illustration can not be presented than the contrasted records |