RULE II. EXPRESSIONS OF PASSION OR EMOTION. An exclamatory mark is used after expressions which denote an ardent wish, admiration, or any other strong emotion; after interjections, or verbs used as interjections, and clauses containing them; and after words in an address, corresponding to the vocative case in Latin, when particularly emphatic. CLASSIFIED EXAMPLES. 1. AN ARDENT WISH. - Would that we had maintained our humble state, and continued to live in peace and poverty! How noble 2. ADMIRATION.—What a piece of work is man! in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! 3. OTHER EMOTIONS. We shall be so happy!-Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought! -A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! Farewell! a long farewell to all my greatness! 4. INTERJECTIONS, OR VERBS USED AS INTERJECTIONS. — Alas! poor Yorick!-Oh! how happy are we surrounded with so many blessings! - Live! live! ye incomparable pair! - 5. WORDS IN AN EMPHATIC OR A SOLEMN ADDRESS. - Fathers! senators of Rome! the arbiters of nations! to you I fly for refuge. O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? REMARK 1. With the exception of the dash [-], there is perhaps no point respecting which more indefinite and inaccurate conceptions are entertained, than in regard to the application of the exclamatory mark. Some authors freely make use of this point where the language itself does not indicate the least iota of feeling, admiration, or any other emotion —— for the obvious reason, that they are unable, by means of words and sentences, to express those sentiments which they rather affect than feel. Others, again, indulge their questionable taste for the same mark, by using it on all occasions where their diction actually conveys emotion to others, but where the structure of the phrases and expressions employed will not admit of the point. Generally speaking, only those sentences or clauses require the note of exclamation which commence with any of the interjections, with verbs in the imperative mood, of an exciting nature, with the adverbs how, when, or INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION. 65. what, unless they denote inquiry, or with the case of address, when emphasised by the particle O. "It may not be improper," says the Rev. Cecil Hartley, who is quoted by Smallfield, in his excellent little work, entitled The Principles of English Punctuation, p. 42,—"It may not be improper to caution the young inexperienced writer against the immoderate use of exclamations. Whenever we see a page in prose, profusely interspersed with notes of admiration, we generally find it full of unnatural reveries, rant, and bombast. The Sacred Writings, and particularly the Psalms, abound with expressions of the warmest piety, and the most elevated descriptions of the Divine nature; but our translators, in conformity to the sober majesty of the original, have seldom introduced the note of admiration." REMARK 2.- Between the interjections O and oh, there exists an essential difference, which is frequently neglected even by some of our best writers. The former is properly prefixed to an expression in a direct address; but the latter ought never to be so employed. O should be used without the mark of exclamation immediately after it; but oh, sometimes with, and sometimes without it, according to the construction and sense of the passage in which the word occurs. The following sentences will illustrate these observations: -"When, O my countrymen! when will you begin to exert your vigour?”. "Oh! what a glorious part does a good and intelligent mother act on the great theatre of humanity!" "Oh that the working classes in general received an intellectual, a moral, and a religious education!" In the first of these examples, the particle O may be justly regarded as the sign of what was once termed the vocative case, which by its assistance conveys a feeling of greater emphasis or passion, and is therefore terminated by the note of exclamation; in the second example, the expressions that follow oh form sense without this interjection, and are consequently separated from it by the appropriate mark; and, in the third, the same interjection is closely connected with the following words, because, were it omitted, there could be no meaning whatever in the example, which for that reason will not bear the insertion of the exclamatory mark before the end of the sentence. REMARK 3.-When sentences or certain expressions which were affirmative when spoken or originally written are quoted by a writer in the form of a question or of an exclamation, the points indicating inquiry, astonishment, or any other passion, ought to be put after the marks of quotation [""], not before those which denote the conclusion of the extract; as, "The Passing Crowd" is a phrase coined in the spirit of indifference. Yet, to a man of what Plato calls "universal sympathies," and even to the plain, ordinary denizens of this world, what can be more interesting than "the passing crowd"! "It is perfectly allowable," says Lord Suffolk, "to use all the means which God and nature have put into our hands." My lords, we are called upon, as members of this house, as men, as Christians, to protest against such horrible barbarity! "That God and nature have put into our hands"! What ideas of God and nature, that noble lord may entertain, I know not; but I know, that such detestable principles are equally abhorrent to religion and humanity." It is evident that this is the only fair mode of pointing such extracts; the notes of interrogation and exclamation denoting altogether different sentiments from those felt by the persons to whom the words quoted belong. EXERCISES. Write the following sentences, and punctuate them with the mark of interrogation or of exclamation, according to the nature of the sentiments expressed: Behold the reverential awe with which the words and opinions of the upright and conscientious are heard and received — Daughter of Faith, awake arise illume the dread unknown, the chaos of the tomb Behold the daughter of Innocence · Is this the man that made the earth to tremble; that shook the kingdoms; that made the world like a desert; that destroyed the cities Would an infinitely wise Being make such glorious beings for so mean a purpose Can he delight in the production of such abortive intelligences, such short-lived reasonable beings Would he give us talents that are not to be exerted, capacities that are not to be gratified - Do not, then, O Athenians demand of me to do such things towards you as I deem to be neither beautiful, nor just, nor holy.-Oh what a fall was there, my countrymen-How sweet are the slumbers of him who can lie down on his pillow, and review the transactions of every day, without condemning himself To purchase heaven, has gold the power Can gold remove the mortal hour Are friendship's pleasures to be sold- Are you desirous that your talents and abilities may procure you respect Display them not ostentatiously to public view. Would you escape the envy which your riches might excite Let them not minister to pride, but adorn them with humility.— How happy the station which every minute furnishes opportunities of doing good to thousands how dangerous that which every moment exposes to the injury of millions — If any man were to be envied, Baron de Humboldt might; for his recollections and representations of man and of nature were of a very effective kind What varied pictures he had seen of mankind What splendid and magnificent objects had he seen in nature What peopled regions, and what majestic solitudes, had impregnated his imagination- Whom are we to charge as the deceiver of the state Is it not the man whose words are inconsistent with his actions On whom do the maledictions fall, usually pronounced in our assemblies Is it not on this man Can we point out a more enormous instance of iniquity in any speaker, than this incon INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION. 67 sistency between his words and actions - Human nature is familiar in all its bearings to most men; yet how novel does every symptom of it appear, as shown forth by a child - Bow down your heads unto the dust, O ye inhabitants of the earth-Whither shall I turn? Wretch that I am to what place shall I betake myself Shall I go to the Capitol alas it is overflowed with my brother's blood; or shall I retire to my house-yet there I behold my mother plunged in misery, weeping and despairing. O God my only hope of bliss above Source of all wisdom Fountain of all love- Oh teach my stubborn spirit to resign Pride, passion, lust, and every vicious art; That I may understand and choose the better part. I shall notice but one more movement of the age, as indicating the tendency to universality; and this is its industry. How numberless are the forms which it takes Into how many channels is human labour pouring itself forth How widely spread is the passion for acquisition, not for simple means of subsistence, but for wealth What vast enterprises agitate the community What a rush into all the departments of trade How next to universal the insanity of speculation What new arts spring up Industry pierces the forests, and startles with her axe the everlasting silence. The drama answers a high purpose, when it places us in the presence of the most solemn and striking events of human history, and lays bare to us the human heart in its most powerful, appalling, and glorious workings. But how little does the theatre accomplish its end How often is it disgraced by monstrous distortions of human nature, and still more disgraced by profaneness, coarseness, indelicacy, low wit, such as no woman, worthy of the name, can hear without a blush, and no man can take pleasure in, without self-degradation. Is it possible that a Christian and a refined people can resort to theatres, where exhibitions of dancing are given, fit only for brothels, and where the most licentious class in the community throng, unconcealed, to tempt and to destroy That the theatre should be suffered to exist in its present degradation is a reproach to the community. Were it to fall, a better drama might spring up in its place. In the meantime, is there not an amusement, having an affinity with the drama, which might be usefully introduced among us I mean, recitation. 68 MARKS OF PARENTHESIS. · MARKS OF PARENTHESIS consist of two curved lines ( ), which serve to indicate that a sentence, or part of a sentence, is enclosed within another, and may be omitted without materially affecting the sense, or at all injuring the construction, of the main passage. RULE. WORDS THROWN OBLIQUELY INTO THE BODY OF A SENTENCE. The marks of parenthesis enclose such words only as are thrown indirectly into the body of a sentence, and which, though of use for the full comprehension of the passage, may be omitted without injury to the construction; as, Consider (and may the consideration sink deep into your hearts) the fatal consequences of a wicked life. Exception. When the incidental clause is short, or coincides with the rest of the sentence, the parenthetical characters may be omitted, and commas inserted in their place; as, Every star, if we may judge by analogy, is a sun to a system of planets. REMARK 1.- Marks of parenthesis were formerly used in greater abunance than they are at the present day; many of the expressions of a parenthetical character now pointed by commas having been enclosed by curved lines. The distinction, however, will be understood by the rule laid down in the Exception, namely, that those expressions which are less harsh or abrupt, or which coalesce with the structure of the sentence into which they are thrown, are more easily read by means of commas, than by the help of marks of parenthesis; and, on the other hand, that, when a whole sentence, or the part of a sentence which is constructed differently from the main passage, is introduced into the body of another, the proper parenthetical points are better adapted to assist the eye in passing over the portion inserted. -See COMMA, Rules XVIII. and XIX. pp. 34, 35. |