Among the many enemies of friendship, may be reckoned suspicion and disgust.

"Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours,

And ask them what report they bore to heaven.

Had the man of dissipation listened to the remonstrances of reason, his ruin might have been prevented.

Were we to devote our leisure hours to the attainment of useful knowledge, how large and valuable a stock might be collected in a few years!

Though some affect to despise riches, and all admit their tendency to corrupt the heart, yet who would refuse riches were they within his reach?

Religion raises men above themselves, irreligion sinks them beneath the brutes; this binds them down to a poor pitiable speck of earth, that exalts them to the skies.

Let no reproach make you lay aside religion: the smiles of the world are nothing to the favor of God.

Though at times the ascent to the temple of virtue appear steep and craggy, persevere until thou gain the summit, there all is order, beauty, and pleasure.

The cares, and toils, and necessities, the refreshments and delights of common life, are the great teachers of common sense; whoever lives far removed from this kind of tuition, rarely makes much proficiency in that excellent quality of the intellect.

Deal with another as you'd have
Another deal with you;

What you're unwilling to receive,
Be sure you never do.

SYNTAX.

Q. WHAT is Syntax?

A. Syntax is that part of grammar which treats of the proper arrangement and connection of words in a sentence.

Q. What is a sentence?

A. A sentence is a number of words so arranged as to have a distinct sense.

Q. How many sorts of sentences are there?

A. Sentences are of two sorts, simple and compound.

Q. What is a simple sentence?

A. A simple sentence expresses but one distinct sense; as, Man is mortal.

T. Describe a compound sentence.

P. A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences; as, Man is mortal, and life is uncertain.

Q. What is a clause?

A. Each of the simple sentences which form a compound sentence is called a clause.

Q. What is a phrase?

A. A phrase is two or more words put together so as to express a certain relation between our ideas without making any distinct assertion; as, In truth. To be plain with you.

Q. What are the principal parts of a simple

sentence?

A. The principal parts of a simple sentence are the subject or nominative, and the predicate.

T. Give an explanation of the chief parts of a

sentence.

P. The subject is the person or thing chiefly

spoken of; the predicate is that which is affirmed of the subject, and may be either an intransitive verb, or a transitive verb and an object.

T. Illustrate this by an example.

P. In the sentence, "A father loveth his children,” a father, is the subject; loveth his children, the predicate or thing affirmed.

Q. What are the subordinate parts of a sentence called ?

A. All the parts of a sentence, except the subject, the predicate, and the object, are called adjuncts. Q. How many sentences be classed with regard to their subjects?

A. Sentences are either affirmative, as, I love Charles; interrogative, as, Does Charles love me? or imperative, as Remember thy Creator.

RULE I.

The subject of the verb.

Q. How must the subject of the verb be expressed?

A. The subject of the verb must be in the nominative case; as, I am. He is. They speak. He and thou are companions.

"Them are happy;"

A. In the sentence, "Them are happy;" the pronoun them is the subject of the verb are, and should therefore be expressed in the nominative they, instead of the objective them; it should be They are happy.

The nominative generally comes before the verb, but it sometimes follows it; in interrogative and imperative sentences this is always the case.

The relative is sometimes the subject of the verb; as, Him who committed the offence thou shouldst correct; who is the subject of the verb committed.

God whom rules over all.
If he will not hear his best
friend, whom shall ad-
monish him?

Whom is expected to under

take the business?

Whom for his great service was liberally rewarded?

The verb is sometimes understood, as in the sentences, "Who was present?-He;" that is, He was present. "He is as good as she;" that is as she is. Not supplying the words that are wanting is the cause of very frequent error.

Who came in last? It was

him (came in last).
Who spilled the ink? Not me.
Who brought that book? Her.
Who discovered the secret?
Not us, but them.

You are not so tall as me (am).
John is wiser than him.
You are older than her.
You are as happy as either us
or them.

RULE II.

The subject of the Verb.

Q. In what does a verb agree with its nominative case?

A. A verb must agree with its subject or nominative case in number and person; as, I read. Thou readest. He writes. They walk. The boy plays. The birds sing.

*The compound pronouns himself, herself, themselves, myself, &c., are used both in the nominative and objective cases.

Q. In what do the nominative and verb differ in the sentence, "My books is lost?"

A. In the sentence, "My books is lost," the verb does not agree with the nominative, books, which is in the plural, and therefore it must be are: My books are lost.

Exercises.

I loves, I knows, I says, We looks, We tells, We calls, He hate, He weep, She hope, She see, It freeze, They smiles, You laughs, They runs, You spells, Thou drinks, Thou sleep.

We am, He are, You was, She were, It have been, Thou is, They has been, We was there, You has an estate, He have seen it, They was at home.

The agreement of the verb with its nominative is not affected by any of the adjuncts of the nominative; as, His eloquence, not his virtue, renders him popular; The ship with all her crew was lost.