RULE III.

A Series of Expressions having a Common Dependence.

When, in a series of expressions, the particulars depend on a commencing or a concluding portion of the sentence, they should be separated from each other by a semicolon, if they form distinct propositions, or are of a compound nature.

EXAMPLES.

1. Philosophers assert, that Nature is unlimited in her operations; that she has inexhaustible treasures in reserve; that knowledge will always be progressive; and that all future generations will continue to make discoveries, of which we have not the slightest idea.

2. To give an early preference to honor above gain, when they stand in competition; to despise every advantage which cannot be attained without dishonest arts; to brook no meanness, and stoop to no dissimulation, the indications of a great mind, the presages of future eminence and usefulness in life.

are

3. If we think of glory in the field; of wisdom in the cabinet; of the purest patriotism; of the highest integrity, public and private; of morals without a stain; of religious feelings without intolerance and without extravagance, the august figure of Washington presents itself as the personation of all these ideas.

REMARK S.

a. The first sentence exemplifies a series of clauses, being each a distinct proposition, but depending all on the words that precede them; namely, "philosophers assert." The second example illustrates a series of expressions, the first two consisting each of a phrase and a clause; the third, of two coupled phrases; and all depending on the portion which concludes the sentence, -on the predicate," are the indications of a great mind," &c. The third example exhibits a series of phrases, which, according to Rule XVI., p. 57, would be punctuated only with a comma, were it not for the compound phrase, "of the highest integrity, public and private," the subdivision of which requires to be distinguished by a point less significant than that between the other phrases.*

b. Commas are sometimes preferable to semicolons, when none of the particulars in a series of expressions, except perhaps the last, are

*TO THE TEACHER. -If he think it requisite, the teacher may explain to his class, that a dash appended to a comma, as in the second and third examples under the rule, is put after the last particular, to show more clearly the relation of all the particulars to the portion on which they depend. (See Chap. III., Sect. III., Rule II.)

divisib.e into simpler portions; as, "Poetry | reveals to us the loveliness of nature, brings back the freshness of early feeling, revives the relish of simple pleasures, keeps unquenched the enthusiasm which warmed the spring-time of our being, refines youthful love, strengthens our interest in human nature by vivid delineations of its tenderest and loftiest feelings, spreads our sympathies over all classes of society, knits us by new ties with universal being, and, through the brightness of its prophetic visions, helps faith to lay hold on the future life." (See p. 57.)

Show how the Rule (p. 73) may be applied to the insertion of semicolons in the following sentences:

Is there any splendor to be found in distant travels beyond that which sits its morning throne in the golden east; any dome sublimer than that of heaven; any beauty fairer than that of the verdant and blossoming earth; any place, though invested with all the sanctities of old time, like that home which is hushed and folded within the embrace of the humblest wall and roof?

Happy, thrice happy, he who relies on the eternity of the soul; who believes, as the loved fall one after one from his side, that they have returned to their native country; who feels that each treasure of knowledge he attains, he carries with him through illimitable being; who sees in virtue the essence and the element of the world he is to inherit.

There are men whose powers operate in leisure and in retirement, and whose intellectual vigor deserts them in conversation; whom merriment confuses, and objection disconcerts; whose bashfulness restrains their exertion, and suffers them not to speak till the time of speaking is past; or whose attention to their own character makes them unwilling to utter at hazard what has not been considered, and cannot be recalled.

If thou hast never tasted the holy peace which descends into the simplest heart, when it fervently realizes the presence of God; if no gleam from the future life ever brightens thy earthly way; if the sores and irritations of thy contact with the world are never soothed and softened by the healing consciousness of a divine love, — thou hast studied to little purpose, and the fountains of a true happiness are yet sealed up to thee.

That benevolence which prompted Jesus to incessant exertion; which supported him through unparalleled suffering; which was alike the soul of his discourses, his actions, and his miracles; which shone through his life and his death; whose splendors were around his brow, when he expired on the cross, and when he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,— what is it but a glorious revelation of the glorious truth, that God is love?

EXERCISES TO BE WRITTEN.

Insert semicolons or commas between the particulars of each series in these sentences, in accordance with the Rule and Remarks (pp. 73–4):—

The great tendency and purpose of poetry is to carry the mind above and beyond the beaten, dusty, weary walks of ordinary life to lift it into a purer element and to breathe into it more profound and generous emotion.

To have even our earthly being extended in everlasting remembrance to be known wherever the name of virtue can reach and to be known as the benefactors of every age, by the light which we have diffused, or the actions which we have performed or prompted, — who is there that does not feel some desire of this additional immortality? Benevolence remembers the slave pleads his cause with God and man recognizes in him a human brother respects in him the sacred rights of humanity and claims for him, not as a boon but as a right, that freedom without which humanity withers, and God's child is degraded into a tool or a brute. (Remark b.)

The bad phenomenon of character, which is mainly to be traced to impulse, is that of uncertainty of a being on whom no dependence can be placed who is driven hither and thither by every wind that blows who receives impressions one day from one quarter, another day from another who has neither fixed principles in his intellect, nor harmony and consistency in his conduct.

No matter in what language the stranger's doom may have been pronounced no matter what complexion, incompatible with freedom, an Indian or an African sun may have burned upon him no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery, the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust his soul walks abroad in her own majesty his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that burst from around him and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disinthralled by the irresistible Genius of Universal Emancipation.

In the light of beauty that floats over the changing aspects of the material universe in the grand, interpreting thought which pervades the broken story of the ages, and translates it into coherency in the spirit which comes to you from the smiles of gladness and the tears of sorrow, and softens your heart in genial sympathy with human weal and human woe in the interchange of ideas which kindles enthusiasm, and draws a higher meaning and purpose out of life, — acknowledge realities which transcend the limits of sense own a spiritual world whose mysteries encompass you on every side, by whose laws you are bound, and in whose issues of endless unfolding you are yourself perhaps destined to be involved.

---

RULE IV.

Short Sentences slightly Connected.

When several short sentences follow one another, slightly connected in sense or in construction, they should be separated by a semicolon.

EXAMPLES.

1. Stones grow; vegetables grow and live; animals grow, live, and feel. 2. Every thing grows old; every thing passes away; every thing disappears. 3. She presses her child to her heart; she drowns it in her tears; her fancy catches more than an angel's tongue could describe.

REMARKS.

a. It will be seen that each example under the rule consists of a number of short sentences, which are somewhat allied in thought and in mode of expression. They are, therefore, separated not by full points, but by semicolons.

b. When, in a series of short sentences, each particular is constructed alike, and the last is preceded by the conjunction and, the separation may be indicated by a comma, instead of a semicolon; as, "The pride of wealth is contemptible, the pride of learning is pitiable, the pride of dignity is ridiculous, and the pride of bigotry is insupportable." (See p. 57, Rule, and Remark b.)

What is the reason for the insertion of semicolons in these sentences?

The wind and rain are over; calm is the noon of day; the clouds are divided in heaven; over the green hill flies the inconstant sun. The old men sit at their doors; the gossip leans over her counter; the children shout and frolic in the streets.

There is good for the good; there is virtue for the faithful; there is victory for the valiant; there is spirituality for the spiritual.

When a writer reasons, we look only for perspicuity; when he describes, we expect embellishment; when he decides or relates, we desire plainness and simplicity.

The Christian orator speaks the truth plainly to his hearers; he awakens them; he shows them their impending danger; he excites them to action.

The temples are profaned; the soldier's curse resounds in the house of God; the marble pavement is trampled by iron hoofs; horses neigh beside the altar.

EXERCISES TO BE WRITTEN.

Separate these short sentences by means of semicolons, in accordance with the preceding Rule and Remarks:

He is poor perhaps his plans have been defeated he finds it difficult to provide for the exigencies of life sickness is permitted to invade the quiet of his household long confinement imprisons his activity.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods there is a rapture on the lonely shore there is society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar.

Full many a gem, of purest ray serene, the dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desert air.

In reading a classical poet, we feel as if we had entered a marble temple, where a cool silence reigns a few quiet statues gleam around us, pure and naked a few short inscriptions tell of the deeds of heroes all is calm, grand, and simple, to the highest perfection of art.

Genius, mental power, has surrounded your homes with comfort it has given you the command of the blind forces of matter it has exalted and consecrated your affections it has brought God's immeasurable universe nearer to your hearts and imaginations it has made flowers of paradise spring up even in poor men's gardens.

The world is fair around thee the bright and blessed sun shineth on thee the green and flowery fields spread far, and cheer thine eye, and invite thy footstep the groves are full of melody ten thousand creatures range freely through all the paths of nature: but thou art not satisfied as they are.

There is a God. The herbs of the valley, the cedars of the mountain, bless him the insect sports in his beams the elephant salutes him with the rising orb of day the bird sings him in the foliage the thunder proclaims him in the heavens the ocean declares his immensity. Man alone has said, "There is no God."

. It is pleasant to be virtuous and good, because that is to excel many others it is pleasant to grow better, because that is to excel ourselves it is pleasant to mortify and subdue our lusts, because that is victory it is pleasant to command our appetites and passions, and to keep them in due order, within the bounds of reason and religion, because that is empire.

Saints have established our religion by their lives martyrs have confirmed it by their deaths hypocrites have added strength to it by their dissimulation tyrants have purified it by their persecutions infidels have corroborated it by their opposition the arrows of its enemies have served for its protection the resistance which it has met with from the combined wit and genius and malice of mankind have brought forth those illustrious and immortal defences which establish its truth upon the basis of demonstration.