The English Miscellany

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Don Quixote The empiricist philosopher, John Locke (1632 – 1704), is best know for his Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) and Two Treatises of Government (1689). Also important are his Letters concerning Toleration (1689, 1690, 1692) and Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693). But it was just today that I came across a reprint of his manuscript Some thoughts concerning reading and study for a gentleman (1703) which Dr Johnson's quotes from in his dictionary definition of rhetorick. I was particularly interested to reflect on Locke's notion of connectness in education. Since the text is interesting in its own right I have copied the extracts that follow from it. The first is from the opening; the second praises Cervantes' novel Don Quixote (1605) Locke concluded his thoughts by recommending the use of dictionaries and encyclopaedias. [p. 405] Reading is for the improvement of the understanding. The improvement of the unders...

Strictures on The School for Scandal (1777) from The London Magazine (April 1783), pp. 169-172. A Play composed by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Charles , to whom the affections of the audience are chiefly conciliated, is a young profligate spark of fashion, without œconomy, temperance, or consideration; who having spent his all, minds nothing but how to get more, without the vulgar means of industry; who cares not how much he squanders of what is not his own, provided he can be a rogue in an honest way, or possess another's property without risquing his neck; in short, he is one of thole modern fine gentlemen, who devote their whole substance, time, and talents, alternately, to wine, gambling, and gallantry. Surely a character of this kind, endowed with so many agreeable qualities as meet in him, is the very worst spectacle our youth can behold. From such polluted and enchanting scenes the increasing profligacy of the nation mull originate. What can be a grosser pros...

Connected Brain Zones § 371. IV. The use of connectives . The words of connection and transition between clauses, members, and sentences, may be made, according to the skill or the awkwardness of the writer, sources of strength or of weakness. It is always a source of weakness for two prepositions, having different antecedents, to be co-ordinated in connection with a common subsequent . This mode of expression has been called "the splitting of particles;" a name not very applicable to it as it occurs in English construction. The proper name for it is the one implied in the italicized words above. The following is an example. "Though personally unknown to, I have always been an admirer of, Mr. Calhoun." The way to correct it is to complete the first clause, and let the last, if either, be elliptic; thus: "Though personally unknown to Mr. Calhoun, I have always admired him," or "been an admirer of him." It is pro...

Order of Sentences in a Paragraph Classic Advice on the construction of a paragraph ... § 365. III. The arrangement of sentences in a paragraph .*  In every extended paragraph the bearing of every sentence upon what precedes should be explicit and unmistakable. This is principally effected by the use of conjunctions and contextual phrases, the rules for which will be given in the next division of the chapter. § 366. When several consecutive sentences develop or illustrate the same idea, they should, as far as possible, be formed alike. This is called the rule of Parallel Construction. § 367. The opening sentence of a paragraph, unless obviously preparatory, should indicate with some prominence the topic of the paragraph. § 368. In the course of the paragraph there should occur no dislocations , that is, sudden turns of thought, such as would create confusion. But the entire paragraph should possess unity, having a definite purpose, and avoiding all...

In A Manual of the Art of Prose Composition: For the Use of Colleges and Schools (1867), John Mitchell Bonnell explained the value of Extemporaneous Composition;   Debating by the Class; and proposed a list of topics for debate. This is an extract from his book. The following list presents a few of the questions that afford good fields for debate. Does wealth exert more influence than intelligence? Should a criminal be capitally condemned on circumstantial evidence? Are banks more beneficial than injurious? Ought military schools to be encouraged? Should colleges be endowed? Did the French revolution advance the cause of liberty in Europe? Is there any real danger of the over-population of the globe? Is country life more favourable to the cultivation of virtue than life in a city? Is history a more useful study than biography? Is ambition more destructive of personal happiness than avarice? Is it the duty of good ...

In A Manual of the Art of Prose Composition: For the Use of Colleges and Schools (1867), John Mitchell Bonnell explained the value of Extemporaneous Composition;   Debating by the Class; and proposed a list of topics for debate. This is an an extract from his book. EXTEMPORANEOUS COMPOSITION. § 489. No course of instruction and discipline in the Art of Prose Composition would be complete without a portion devoted to extemporaneous composition. By this is meant the framing of thoughts on any given subject, and the proper expression of them, either without any preparation, or with the mere pre-arrangement of the plan, leaving the language to be suggested at the time of the delivery. It was a recommendation made by no less an orator than Henry Clay to young men seeking to qualify themselves as public speakers, to spend at least fifteen minutes each day in uttering, in solitude, without any premeditation, their thoughts upon a subject selected at random. This recommen...