Or rustling turn the many twinkling leaves
Of aspen tall. Th' uncurling floods, diffused
In glassy breadth, seem, thro' delusive lapse,
Forgetful of their course. 'Tis silence all,
And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks
Drop the dry sprig, and, mute-imploring,
Eye the falling verdure. Hushed in short suspense,
The plumy people streak their wings with oil
To throw the lucid moisture trickling off;

And wait the approaching sign to strike at once
Into the general choir. Ev'n mountains, vales,
And forests seem, impatient, to demand

The promised sweetness.

6. Convert the following figurative expressions into plain language.

EXAMPLE. He bore away the palm.
CHANGED.-He obtained the prize.

EXERCISES.

How beautiful is night! The clouds of adversity soon pass away. Who is like unto thee, O God, in Heaven above, or in the earth beneath? He was one of the brightest luminaries of the age. Vain is the tree of knowledge without fruits. The waves rose to Heaven. She shed a flood of tears. The Emperor Caligula assumed the purple on the death of Tiberius. Have you read Pope? Nature in spring is covered with a robe of light green. Night spreads her sable mantle over the earth. The vessel ploughs the deep. Alfred was a shining light in the midst of darkness. The Cross will at last triumph over the Crescent.

BOOK II.

ON ILLUSTRATIONS.

INTRODUCTION.

THE exercises in this book are designed to cultivate the taste of the pupil, as well as to awaken and bring into active operation his discriminative faculties. While the miscellaneous character of the subjects presented for illustration will conduce to his advancement in the art of composition, his reflective powers will be strengthened, and his grasp of thought widened, by exercises in the perception of analogy and distinction. His general knowledge keeping pace with these acquirements, his subsequent progress will be comparatively easy. Though the models are generally as short and condensed as a fair treatment of the subject will permit, the pupil, at this stage, should rather be encouraged than checked in excursion of idea and luxuriance of expression. In the three last sections, where the exercises might be too difficult for his unaided efforts, the skeletons, it is conceived, will afford him the necessary assistance.

SECTION I.

EMBLEMS.

1. Write a short illustration of the following Emblems.

MODEL.

Spring-an Emblem of Youth.

The different periods of human life are often beautifully and appropriately represented by the seasons of the year. Spring, which ushers in the train, diffusing universal joy and freshness throughout nature, we at once hail as a fit emblem of that brief but delightful period of our existence-youth. How naturally do the rapid changes of rain and sunshine that diversify the face of an April sky, typify the transient and capricious bursts of youthful emotion, whether of joy or of sorrow! And how strikingly does the vital energy that succeeds the refreshing shower represent the irrepressible buoyancy of youth, when tears are shed only to be followed by some freak of exuberant gladness! As nature in spring abounds everywhere in the liveliest attractions, so does the world present an inexhaustible source of enjoyment to the ardent hopes of the young. But, as it is in spring that the husbandman sows the seed which autumn is to ripen for his support, so must the foundation of our happiness and prosperity in after-life be diligently laid in our early years. If the proper period of improvement be neglected, either in the natural or the moral world, nothing but disappointment and regret will ensue. It is in this view that the emblem is worthy of our serious study; and happy is he who deeply considers and wisely applies it.

2. Write a short illustration of the following Scripture Emblems.

MODEL.

The Righteous shall flourish as the Palm Tree.

The emblems of Scripture are remarkable for their fitness no less than for their beauty. The palm tree, on account of its lofty and graceful figure, affords a pleasing and appropriate representation of the comeliness of virtue; while, in respect of the benefits it confers upon the countries in which it grows, it is equally emblematical of the blessings bestowed upon society by the example and exertions of the righteous. Every part of the palm tree-fruit, leaves, sap, and trunkmay be rendered available to the wants of man. It affords food, drink, medicine, and a variety of useful and indispensable materials. It grows abundantly and thrives best in places where there is no corn, thus supplying the deficiency of that important article, and furnishing nearly all the subsistence of the inhabitants. How much, therefore, must it be esteemed by the natives of the East, and how suggestive to them of the qualities of a good man! But an important point of resemblance remains to be noticed. The palm tree flourishes with a crown of evergreen and unfading foliage, which may be regarded as typical of that crown of everlasting glory which is to be inherited by the just, and of that perpetual freshness in which men delight to preserve their memory.

EXERCISES.

1. The harvest is the end of the world. 2. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed. 3. I (Christ) am the light of the world. 4. Ye (Christians) are the salt of the earth. 5. Wicked men are like the troubled sea. 6. Envy is the rottenness of the bones.

3. Write a short illustration of the Emblems contained in the following passages of poetry.

MODEL.

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries."

In this allegory, the course of human events is finely represented under the emblem of the ebb and flow of the ocean. Man, freighted with destiny, is the vessel that is launched into the great stream of life, and, with swelling hopes, is borne forward on the proud tide of prosperity, or, it may be, tossed about by the winds and waves, and finally wrecked amid the rocks and shoals of adversity. A similar figure is frequently used by the poets, as in the following elegant lines by Pope :

"On life's vast ocean diversely we sail,

Reason the card, but passion is the gale.”

In order fully to comprehend the application of the passage under review, it may be necessary to take into consideration the circumstances in which it is supposed to have been spoken. Shakspere, in his noble play of Julius Cæsar, represents Brutus and Cassius, the assertors of Roman liberty, as discussing the propriety of engaging, at that particular time, the forces of Antony and Augustus, who were then marching on them. Cassius, unwilling to stake the freedom of Rome on a single engagement, urges various reasons for delay; but Brutus, with arguments that appear equally forcible, insists upon an opposite course of action, and in his speech gives utterance to these celebrated lines.

The poet, we conceive, intends chiefly to describe the fatality attending the fortunes of such men as sometimes act a great part on the theatre of life. Hannibal, Pompey, Cæsar, Antony, the Norman conqueror, Charles the Swede, and Napoleon, may be considered as representatives of the class. With such men, there is seldom