Hor. Do not, my lord. `

Ham. Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life at a pin's fee;
And, for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?

It waves me forth again. I'll follow it.

Hor. What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord; Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,

That beetles o'er his base into the sea;

And there assume some other horrible form,

Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it.
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain,
That looks so many fathoms to the sea,
And hears it roar beneath.

Ham. It waves me still.-Go on, I'll follow thee.
Mar. You shall not go, my lord.

Ham. Hold off your hands.

Mar. Be ruled; you shall not go.

Ham. My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body

As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.

Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen.

EPIC.

None among the choice and prime

Of those Heaven-warring champions could be found
So hardy as to proffer or accept,

Alone, the dreadful voyage; till at last

Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised

Above his fellows, with monarchal pride

Conscious of highest worth, unmoved, thus spake:
O Progeny of Heaven, empyreal thrones !
With reason hath deep silence and demur
Seized us, though undismay'd. Long is the way,
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light;
Our prison, strong; this huge convex of fire,
Outrageous to devour, immures us round
Ninefold; and gates of burning adamant,
Barred over us, prohibit all egress.
These passed, if any pass, the void profound
Of unessential Night receives him next,
Wide gaping, and with utter loss of being
Threatens him, plunged in that abortive gulf.
If thence he 'scape into whatever world,
Or unknown region, what remains him less
Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape?
But I should ill become this throne, O Peers,
And this imperial sovereignty, adorned

Shakspeare.

With splendour, armed with power, if aught proposed

And judged of public moment, in the shape
Of difficulty or danger, could deter

Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume
These royalties, and not refuse to reign,
Refusing to accept as great a share

Of hazard as of honour, due alike

To him who reigns, and so much to him due
Of hazard more, as he above the rest
High honoured sits ?

Milton.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

Under what two heads may all kinds of composition be classed? How are these distinguished from each other? What is prose ? What is metre or verse? Give an example of each. What two kinds of verse are there? What is rhyme? What is blank verse? What is essential to English metre? Is rhyme essential? Give an example of rhyme. Of blank verse. What are the advantages of blank verse over rhyme? What are the advantages of rhyme over blank verse? What is a couplet ? Give an example. What is a triplet? Give an example.

What is a quatrain? What do you understand by a stanza? What is necessary to constitute a perfect rhyme? Give an example of a perfect rhyme. Give an example of an imperfect rhyme. Give an example of words rhyming to the eye but not to the ear. What do you understand by a double rhyme? What by a treble rhyme? Give an example of each. What is a poetic foot? How many kinds of feet in English verse? Name the dissyllabic feet, giving examples. Name the trisyllabic feet, giving examples. Define an iambus. A trochee. A spondee. A pyrrhic. An anapæst. A dactyl. An amphibrach. A tribrach. Which are the principal feet, and why so called? Which are the secondary feet, and why so called? What three feet rarely

form distinct words of themselves?

How many lines form a verse? What is the difference between iambic and trochaic verse? What do you understand by heptameter verse? Hexameter verse? Pentameter? Tetrameter verse? Trimeter verse? Dimeter verse? Monometer verse? Hypermeter verse? How many feet may iambic verse contain? Which are the most common iambic verses? Give an example of iambic verse of one foot. Of one foot and an unaccented syllable. Of two feet. Of two feet and an unaccented syllable. Of three feet. Of three feet and an unaccented syllable. By what name is this latter measure called? What constitutes what is called Gay's Stanza ? ' Give an example of this stanza. Give an example of four feet iambic verse. Name some writers who wrote in this measure. For what purposes is it used?

Give an example of five feet iambic verse. For what purpose is this measure mostly used? By what name is it usually called? Name some great poems written in this measure. What constitutes the elegiac stanza? Why is it so called? Give an example of this stanza. Give an example of six feet iambic verse. By what name is this measure sometimes called, and why? Name a long poem written in this measure. Of what does Spenserian verse consist? Name a poem written in this measure. Give an example of Spenserian verse. What remark did Pope make on the Alexandrine verse? Give an example of seven feet divided by modern writers. By what names is the shortened form called? Mention any pieces written in it. Give an example of a stanza containing almost every species of iambic verse.

Why does each line of trochaic verse generally consist of an odd number of syllables? What is the exception? Of how many feet may trochaic verse consist? Give an example of trochaic verse of one foot. Of one foot and an accented syllable. Of two feet. Of two feet and an accented syllable. Of three feet. Of three feet and an accented syllable. By what name is this measure usually called? Is it much used? Give an example of four feet trochaic verse. With what other measure is it generally used? Give an example of this variety. Give an example of four feet and an accented syllable. Of five feet. Of five feet and an accented syllable. Of six feet. Give an example of a passage containing a mixture of trochaic and iambic verse.

How many feet may anapæstic verse contain ? Of what may the first foot of anapæstic verse consist? Give an example of anapæstic verse of one foot. Of two feet. Of three feet. Of four feet. Of four and three feet alternately. Of four feet and an unaccented syllable. Repeat the table of measures on page 297. Give an example of a verse containing a pyrrhic. Of a verse containing a spondee. Of a verse containing an amphibrach. Of a verse containing a dactyl. Of a verse consisting wholly of dactylic feet. Of a verse consisting wholly of amphibrachs.

What is scanning? What are the directions given for scanning? Is a mixture of different feet considered a defect in the verse? In what ways may the metre of

verses be explained? What is meant by poetical license? Enumerate the principal poetical licenses, giving examples. Name the principal contractions used in English poetry.

What is alliteration? Give an example or two. Upon what principle were the verses of the Anglo-Saxons constructed? From whom was the practice of rhyming borrowed? Give an example of rhyine and alliteration subsisting together in the same poem. For what purpose has alliteration been found useful? Mention some common proverbs constructed on this principle.

Into what different kinds is poetry usually divided? Of what does pastoral poetry treat? Name any writers who have written pastorals. What is lyric poetry? Name some of the lyric poets and their works. What is descriptive poetry Name some of the descriptive poets and their works. For what purpose is elegiac poetry usually employed? Name some writers who have written elegies. For what purpose is didactic poetry usually employed? Name some of the most successful of the didactic poets and their works. To what is dramatic poetry devoted? In what respect does it differ from all other kinds of poetry? What are the two principal kinds of dramatic poetry? Name the most eminent dramatic poet. Mention other writers of dramatic poetry of considerable merit. Of what does epic or heroic poetry treat? Of what kind of composition is it? Mention some of the noblest specimens of epic poems. What is a sonnet? An epitaph? An elegy? An ode ? A stanza? A Pindaric ode? An acrostic? What is a poem called which contains an obscure question to be explained? Give a specimen of pastoral poetry. Of lyric. Of descriptive. Of elegiac. Of didactic. Of dramatic. Of epic or heroic.

GENERAL QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES.

NOTE.-The following questious and exercises are selections from those given at the general examinations for Government Certificates and Queen's Scholarships, during the past ten or twelve years.*

1. Through what successive stages has our language passed since the time of the Anglo-Saxons ?

2. Name the poets of the Elizabethan period, and their principal works.

3. To what reigns and what periods in the history of English literature do the following writers respectively belong: - Sir John Mandeville, Robert of Glo'ster, Chaucer, Wickliffe, Raleigh, Steele, Burnet, Scott, Shenstone, Wordsworth? State what you know of the life and writings of one of them.

4. If the English at present in use be compared with the AngloSaxon of the ninth century, what principal points of difference will be observed ?

5. What English words are derivable from the following:-'sto,' 'jungo,' 'mors,' loquor,' 'dens,' 'fluo,'' mordeo,' 'facio'?

6. Mention the most usual poetic licenses, and give instances.

7. Give the rule for the independent or absolute nominative, and construct a sentence to exemplify the rule.

8. Enumerate and account for the exceptional forms of the plural substantive.

9. What kind of words are derived from the Greek? Give instances.

10. Make out a list of the principal prefixes derived from the Latin. 11. What are the elementary sounds in the English language? How

✦ All candidates for Queen's Scholarships or Certificates would do well to answer these questions, in writing, before presenting themselves for examination.

P

are they expressed? Which letters of the alphabet may be considered to be redundant?

12. Give examples of English words in which differences of (a) number, (b) gender, (c) person, (d) case, (e) mood, (ƒ) tense, are marked by changes in the form of the word.

13. Enumerate the derivative forms of adjectives, with the general meaning of each form.

14. Who were the chief Anglo-Saxon writers? What is meant by 'Middle English?' Give an example.

15. Show the various modes in which nouns are formed from verbs. 16. When did the following writers flourish? Name the principal works of each :-Chaucer, Spenser, Addison, Pope, Thomson, Burke. 17. Examine the syntax in the following expressions : — These twenty years,' 'like him,' 'forty feet deep,' 'what I want is well known,' come what may,' he came, notwithstanding the rain.'

·

18. Explain the metre of these lines :

'My right there is none to dispute.'
'I can fly, or I can run.'

"Quickly to the green earth's end.'

Give examples of other principal metres used by English poets. 19. Compare together

like her better than them.'

(a) {We like her better than they.

(b) {

(c)

This is a picture of a friend.'

'This is a picture of a friend's.'

S'I am the schoolmistress who fix the lessons here.'
'I am the schoolmistress who fixes the lessons here.'

20. What historical events have had most influence in the formation of our language?

21. To what periods in the history of the English language do the following writers respectively belong:-Robert of Gloucester, the Venerable Bede, Wickliffe, Spenser, Ben Jonson, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Thomas More ?

22. What is meant by Early English?' Are there any specimens of it extant ?

23. Give examples of the different kinds of verbs, and explain the grammatical terms used to designate each class.

24. What are the rules for forming the comparatives and superlatives of adjectives and adverbs? Why is the comparative' degree so called? Can the 'positive' be called, in strict language, a degree of 'comparison?'

25. Name the authors contemporary with Cowper, and their principal works.

26. Make a list of words derived from these roots, with the exact meaning of each :-jaceo, latus, ligo, licet, modus.

27. Examine the construction in the following expressions :-The King of Prussia's cavalry.' 'It is they who are the real conspirators.' 'Either John or I was in fault.' Neither John nor I were in fault.'

28. State what English words are derived respectively from-mitto, fero, sto, pono, solvo, mors, pes, radix, insula.

29. Show in what respects the English alphabet is deficient, and in what respects redundant; and enumerate the elementary sounds, distinguishing vowels, mutes, and liquids.

30. Classify the irregular verbs according to their forms.

31. Enumerate the various plural forms of nouns. Account for these forms-loaves, chiefs, kine, alms, pence, mice.

32. Enumerate the principal terminations of English nouns. Give the signification of each.

33. Make a list of words to illustrate the sounds represented by each of the vowel signs.

34. Arrange the consonants in order; which of them have variable sounds? When are s and d pronounced like z and t, and for what reasons?

35. State and account for the redundancies and deficiencies in our alphabet.

36. Give the meaning and derivation of technical terms commonly used in lessons upon geography or natural history.

37. Give an account of the changes which the English language underwent until the time of Chaucer.

38. Enumerate the authors who flourished during the Tudor dynasty. Give some account of one of the most distinguished.

39. Explain what is meant by accent, quantity, metre, rhyme, alliteration-with examples of each.

40. Make a table of liquid and mute consonants, showing, by examples of assimilation or permutation, which stand peculiarly related to each other.

41. What kind of words are derived from the Greek language? Give examples.

42. What different kinds of verbs exist in our language? Give examples of each.

43. Put the following into modern phraseology :'I had as lief not be as live to be

In awe of such a thing as myself.'

:

For which they were as glad of his commyng,
As foule is faine when ye sonne upryseth.'

'Belike they had some notice of the people,
How I had moved them.'

Explain and derive the words in italics.

44. How do nouns ending in y, fe, and f, respectively form their plurals ? Give a reason for the rule in the last case, and state the exceptions. How do nouns ending in y form the possessive case? 45. Distinguish between the uses of shall and will. What rule is applicable to this distinction ?

46. Give an example of an dicate, and define these terms. than nouns or pronouns used used ? 47. What are the different sounds of the vowels? 48. Give examples of which have no singular. in the possessive case? out the s?

assertion, point out its subject and preGive examples of other parts of speech as subjects. In what sense are they so

nouns which have two plurals, and of nouns How do you explain the use of the apostrophe What nouns merely add the apostrophe with