ADVANCED TEXT-BOOK OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION, IN PROSE AND VERSE. BY WALTER SCOTT DALGLEISH, M.A. EDIN., LATE ENGLISH MASTER IN THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE, AUTHOR OF "THE PROGRESSIVE ENGLISH GRAMMAR,' ," "GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS," ETC. New Edition, Revised. EDINBURGH: OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT. Price 2s.; or bound with the INTRODUCTORY TEXT-BOOK, 2s. 6d 15 MAY 3 OXFORD SCHOOL-BOOKS BY W. SCOTT DALGLEISH, M.A., LATELY ONE OF THE MASTERS IN THE INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE, London. OUTLINES OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND ANALYSIS. For ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, with EXERCISES. New Edition. 6d. in stiff wrapper, or 8d. cloth.--KEY, 18. PROGRESSIVE ENGLISH GRAMMAR, WITH EXERCISES. From DR JOSEPH BOSWORTH, Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford; " Quite a practical work, and contains a vast quantity of important information, well arranged, and brought up to the present improved state of philology. I have never seen so much matter brought together in so short a space.' OUTLINES OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION. For ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, with EXERCISES. 6d. KEY, 4d. INTRODUCTORY TEXT-BOOK OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION; BASED ON GRAMMATICAL SYNTHESIS: Containing SENTENCES, PARAGRAPHS, and SHORT ESSAYS. New Edition. 1s. ADVANCED TEXT-BOOK OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION; Treating of STYLE, PROSE THEMES, and VERSIFICATION. New Edition. 2s. *Both Books bound together, 2s. 6d. KEY, 2s. 6d. GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS, WITH PROGRESSIVE EXERCISES. New Edition. 9d.-KEY, 2s. Dr Schmitz, Head Master of the International College London.-"I scarcely know any work which, in so small a compass, contains so complete and lucid an exposition of the subject it treats of." PRINTED BY OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGIL. PREFACE. THE Author has taken advantage of the publication of his work on English Composition in two parts, to adapt the present portion of it specially to the requirements of the higher classes in schools. He has accordingly prefixed to the Part on the Structure of Themes a series of chapters oN STYLE, in which he has embodied the remarks on the Selection of Words and on Figurative Language which formerly appeared in an earlier part of the work. Instead of introducing Exercises after each chapter, he has increased the number of illustrations in the text, and has appended to the Part ON STYLE a series of extracts from standard authors for critical examination. To assist the pupil in this useful exercise, a few questions, chiefly by way of suggestion, are appended to each extract. As these selections are arranged chronologically, they afford a view, though necessarily an imperfect one, of the progress of English Prose Style. The plans suggested for Theme writing will, it is believed, be found at once less ambitious, and more practical,—more within the comprehension and the powers of school boys and girls,— than those usually adopted. They are, in fact,—as a reference to Exercises 22, et seq., will show,-a simple carrying out in a higher form of the "Object Lessons" of our elementary schools, and are designed to exercise the observing powers of the young mind long before the reflective powers are called into play. The exercises are at the same time carefully graduated, from the simplest and briefest narration of daily occurrences, and description of every-day objects, to the more abstract argumentative themes, which, in the case of advanced pupils, will form an introduction to the study of Rhetoric proper, as treated of in the works of Whately, Blair, and Campbell. In the present edition, the number of skeleton Themes has been greatly increased, in order to afford both pupils and teachers greater facilities for applying the principles of Style. At the same time, great importance is attached to "Scheme-making," or the preparing of outlines from which themes or paragraphs are to be written. For this exercise special directions have been given at § 68; and it is suggested that teachers should encourage the idea that this is as important an exercise as that of writing the complete theme. It is so in reality; for on the completeness and accuracy of the outline, the true excellence of the after composition, as an expression of connected thought, mainly depends. In the chapters on Versification, the author has made the experiment at once of discarding the classical names hitherto usually employed in English Prosody, and, at the same time, of very much simplifying the treatment of this part of the subject. The chief reason for adopting such a change was the evident impropriety of using terms which in Latin apply to length and shortness of sound, for what in English denote strength and weakness of accent. In Classical Prosody, an Iambus means a short and a long syllable; in English, it means a weak and a strong accent, a difference, the neglect of which cannot but lead to misconceptions as to the nature both of accent and of quantity. It may be expected, on the other hand, that a clearly marked distinction between these two principles may tend to give greater prominence, in Classical Prosody, to the rhythm of the verse, as distinct from its quantitative measure. Whether the classification here proposed (§§ 93, 106, et seq.) is adequate or satisfactory is a different question,-one which this is not the proper place to discuss. In this part of the work, the further experiment has been made of giving practical exercises in English Prosody. Some of these exercises are not new. Others, however, such as Exercises 32, 33, were, so far as the author is aware, suggested for the first time in this work; and he is glad to find that his own experience of their utility in training the ear and improving |