and does not

er talk of the celebrated writers of our own country in

former ages, than of any among their contemporaries ?”

Immediately-Instantly.

An act is performed instantly when no time is allowed to elapse before we set about it; it is performed immediately when no occupation is allowed to intervene between the present act and the one proposed. To do a thing instantly, we leave our occupation. To do a thing immediately, we may finish what we have in hand before commencing what is required of us. What is done instantly is done sooner than what is done immediately. One who is writing a letter may promise to go somewhere immediately, and yet not go till he have finished his letter; but he must begin nothing else before he goes. One who is writing and promises to go instantly, must leave off writing, and go at once.

[K. Rich. Now put it, heaven, in his physician's mind To help him to his grave immediately.

Art. Delay not, Cæsar; read it instantly

Rich. II., i. 4.

Jul. Cæsar, iii. 1

"The poor man has caught cold on the river; for our order reached him when he was just returned from certain visits in London, and he held it a matter of loyalty and conscience to set forth again."

spread all over the

This good news arrived yesterday, and was town, so that this morning there was not a soul in the place unacquainted with all the circumstances.

Seeing his friend struggling hard in the water, and in imminent danger of his life, he stripped off his coat, and jumped into the river to his assistance.

"Moses mentions the

cause of the Deluge, the rains and the waters; and St. Peter mentions the more remote and fundamental cause, viz. the constitution of the heavens."

Middle is from the Anglo-Saxon mid, and dael, a part or portion. Midst is the superlative or intensive form of middle, and is a contraction of middlemost; thus: middlemost-middest-midst.

The middle is that part of a substance which is at an equal distance from both its ends. Midst is that point in a substance which is at an equal distance from all parts of its circumference. The middle of the street is half-way between the houses on one side, and those on the other. The middle of June is half-way between the beginning and the end of the month. The midst of the forest is that point which is at an equal distance from all parts of its circumference. In an abstract sense, midst is more frequently used. Thus, we have: In the midst of danger-of difficulties, &c.

The man had laid a wager that he would swim across the river at its widest part in less than ten minutes; he had accomplished half his task with ease, in less than half the allotted time; but just when he had reached the of the stream, he was carried away by the force of the current, and

drowned.

Extended on the burning sand in the

of the desert, and suffering

the greatest pain from fever brought on by excessive fatigue and want of proper nourishment, I should have perished, had it not been for the extreme kindness and attention of my Arab guides.

In the

of these imminent and appalling dangers, he did not betray a sign of fear, but gave his orders with the same calmness and composure as

usual.

"A

station of life is within reach of those conveniences which the lower orders of mankind must necessarily want, and yet without embarrassment of greatness."

While is from the Saxon hwile, and signifies time. Whilst is a superlative form, or a more intensive degree of while, and is used for during the whole time. "I shall write while you work," means that during the time that you are working, I shall occupy myself (perhaps occasionally) in writing. "I shall write whilst you work," means that during the whole time that you are occupied in working, I shall not cease from writing.

Whilst is also used to mark a contrast or strong distinction between two things or actions.

bear my misery."

"Make your mirth whilst I

[Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.

The two ruffians rushed out upon the traveller unawares; and having

the other rifled his pock

knocked him down, the one held his hands

ets of his watch and money.

How did these two men behave in the same circumstances? The one seized with a malicious joy the opportunity thus offered him of gratifying his revenge; the other, with a noble generosity, pardoned his enemies for those offences against him which he could have then so easily punished. we were all engaged in conversation, we heard some beautiful music under our windows, which was continued at intervals during the remainder of the evening.

"Can he imagine that God sends forth an irresistible strength against some sins; in others he allows men a power of repelling his grace?"

Cæsar was at Rome, an insurrection broke out among his troops, who were too impatient to wait for the triumph, and the advantages they hoped to derive from it.

SECTION IV.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SYNONYMES.

ANOTHER principle by which we may frequently discover a difference between two approximating meanings, is where one term is positive, and the other negative; that is, where the first expresses some idea independently, and the second, the negation of another idea. The two verbs, to shun and to avoid, show a difference of this sort; to shun is positively to turn away from, to avoid is merely not to approach, or go in the way of. Between many approximating words, we shall have no difficulty in distinguishing, by the application of this test. The difference between unable and not able, inability and disability, and many others, becomes thus immediately clear. The two words have the same idea in common, but the one has a negative quality not found in the other, and thus a distinction can be made. The pairs of words treated in this section differ from each other in consequence of this principle.

Despair-Hopelessness.

Despair is positive; hopelessness is negative. spairs, once hoped, but has now lost his hope

He who de

The hopeless

man may never have hoped; desperate is deprived of hope; hopeless is wanting hope. Affairs are said to be hopeless when their state is such as not to raise any hope of their being successful. An enterprise is said to be desperate when all hope is lost which we once entertained of its success. To be desperate, we must have previously hoped.

[Hel. Oft expectation fails, and most oft there

Where most it promises; and oft it hits,

Where hope is coldest and despair most sits. All's Well, &c., ii. 1.

Richard II., i. 3

P. L., iv. 74.

S. A., 648

K. Rich. The hopeless word of-never to return,
Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.
Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair!
Nor am I in the list of them that hope :
Hopeless are all my evils, all remediless.
And oft his cogitations sink as low
As, through the abysses of a joyless heart,
The heaviest plummet of despair can go.
For years to me are sad and dull;
My very moments are too full
Of hopelessness and fear.

Exercise.

WORDSWORTH. 'Dion.'

'Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots."]

"In a part of Asia, the sick, when their case comes to be thought

are carried out and laid on the earth, before they are dead, and left there." Are they indifferent, being used as signs of immoderate and

entation for the dead?

I am a man of

lam

fortunes, that is, a man whose friends are dead;

for I never aimed at any other fortune than in friends.

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is the thought of the unattainableness of any good, which works differently in men's minds, sometimes producing uneasiness or pain, sometimes rest and indolence."

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of ransom, and condemned to lie

In durance, doomed a lingering death to die."

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in

"Before the ships a

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stand they made,

And fired the troops, and called the gods to aid."

[He] watches with greedy hope to find

His wish and best advantage, us asunder;
to circumvent us joined, where each

To other speedy aid might lend at need."