CLASS II....LESSON VII.

OF RHETORIC AND ORATORY.

2. What is rhetoric?

A. The art of expressing ourselves well, and ornamentally, on any subject; to please, to touch the passions, and to persuade, whether in speaking or writing. A speech made according to the rules of this art, is called an oration, and the speaker an orator, or an eloquent man.

tor?

What are the qualifications of a good ora

A. He should have the following requisites: I. A knowlege of the subject, names, and properties of the matters to be spoken of.

II. Memory, which is the power of the mind to retain the things he has learnt.

III. Invention, by which he finds out such reasons and arguments as are adapted to persuade or gain belief.

IV. Pronunciation, which relates to the delivery of a discourse or oration in a distinct and agreeable manner; with a pleasing modulation of voice, and becoming gesture of the body.

V. Disposition or arder, that he may know how to dispose or arrange his arguments in a proper order or method.

VI. Elocution, which is a clear and distinct manner of expression, harmonious to the ear; so full and deliberate as to be clearly heard and understood.

VII. A knowlege of logic, or a logical mind. 2. What else is necessary to the completion of rhetoric or eloquence?

A. Simplicity of style is ever the most impressive; but as there are various modes of

eloquence, so in some a figurative language is allowed; and indeed more of our general discourse is of the figurative kind, than may at first sight be supposed.

2. Are figures of only one kind?

A. No; they are divided into two classes.... tropes and figures.

2. What are tropes and figures?

A. A trope is an elegant and beautiful turning of a word from its proper signification to another. As charity is cold....You read Virgil, i. e. the writings of Virgil....The clouds drop fatness, &c.

2. What are figures?

A. Some of them regard the meaning of words; as, if we ride, let's ride, i. e. go forward; some depend on the sound, as he is not a friend, but a fiend; some refer to the order, as, meats are for the belly, not the belly for the meats; relate to the subject of actions as they change their soil, not their minds, who plough the main.

some

When an Indian of our woods speaks, he resorts to figures....as, "We have planted the tree of peace"...." I have buried the tomohawk, let us brighten the chain of friendship."

2. Are there not various kinds of figures? A. The principal figures are personification, apostrophe, comparison, metaphor, allegory; and these have their separate classes.

Personification is the boldest of figures, as it bestows life and motion on inanimate things.... Now summer with her wanton court is gone To revel on the south side of the world, While winter rising pale from northern seas, Shakes from his hoary locks the drizzling rheum. ARMSTRONG,

Let none with heedless tongue from truth disjoin
The reign of virtue,

AKENSIDE.

Here summer, and winter, and virtue, are personified.

Look the morn in russet mantle clad,

Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.

SHAKSPEARE.

Apostrophe very much resembles the preceding figure, as it consists in bestowing ideal presence on persons dead or absent....example,

Weep on the rocks of roaring winds O maid of Innistore, bend thy fair head o'er the waves, thou fairer than the ghost of the hills when it moves in a sunbeam over the silence of Morven ! He is fallen! Thy youth is low; pale beneath the sword of Cuchcullin. OSSIAN.

The dead are also invoked in the apostrophe.

Hyperbole is a diminishing or magnifying of an object contrary to reality or strict truth.... example.

"He was owner of a bit of ground not larger than a Lacedemónian letter;"

This is a ludicrous hyperbole.

Comparison is a familiar figure....example, The music of Carryl was like the memory of joys that are past, pleasant and mournful to the soul. OSSIAN.

Some think the spirit is apt to feed on the flesh like hungry wines upon raw beef. SWIFT. Collins's ode entitled the passions, is throughout, a beautiful personification of the several passions.

AN EPITOME

OF THE

ARTS AND SCIENCES.

i

CLASS III....LESSON I.

OF MATHEMATICS.

What is meant by mathematics?

A. The science of numbers, or quantity, magnitudes, and extension; or whatever is capable of being numbered or measured.

2. What is the use of mathematics?

A. Upon this science the most sublime and interesting of all others depend....astronomy, geography, and even the ordinary transactions of business; beside that the study opens and extends our mental faculties, strengthens and corrects our judgment, and by giving us just ideas of proportions and distances, enables us to reason accurately.

2. What concern has it with our ordinary business?

A. Arithmetic, which is only a branch of mathematics, renders us great service.

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OF ARITHMETIC.

. What is arithmetic?

The art of numbering, or calculating truly by simple numbers, with ease and expedition. 2. Describe arithmetic ?

A. It consists of certain rules or modes of employing numbers in calculation; they are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division $

upon these four rules all mathematical calculations are founded.

The operation of arithmetic is performed with certain signs or characters which represent numbers, borrowed from the nations of Asia, and answer in number to the fingers on the hands.... whence they have been called digits.

They are of the greatest antiquity in the Hindu writings; they were introduced into Europe by the Arabians or Moors, and brought into use by Pope Sylvester the Second, in place of the old tedious and confused Roman mode of computation by alphabetical letters; they are as follow:

The first nine of these are called significant figures, to distinguish them from the cypher, which has no value alone; but being placed on the right side of a whole number encreases its value; as 1 is only a single number; and 2, double the number one; by placing a cypher on the right of one, it becomes ten; thus 10, means ten times one. So placing the cypher on the right of 2, thus 20, it becomes two times ten, or twenty times one. Again, if any of those figures, say, 3, 4, or 5, stand alone, they mean no more than three, four, five times one;

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