state grows soft and effeminate, they may be sure of a

"When a war."

They proceeded in a kind of

66

their law before they drew their sword."

justice with enemies, offering them

"She, using so strange and yet so well-succeeding a temper, made her

These two words, though approximating very closely in signification, do not convey exactly the same meaning. The distinction between them depends on the active or passive sense of the words which they qualify. Inevitable respects some fixed law of nature over which no human power can prevail; whereas unavoidable qualifies some measure or step which we cannot help taking. That is unavoidable which circumstances will not allow us to escape from doing; that is inevitable which our condition, as human beings, will not allow us to escape from suffering. Death, fate, and ruin, are represented as inevitable; a bankruptcy or a marriage may be unavoidable.

[Cor. 'Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes As 'tis to laugh at them.

Coriolanus, iv. 2.

The

His affairs were so deeply involved, that an exposure was become consequences of extravagance are ruin and misery. In consequence of the non-arrival of the packet, we were at the custom-house.

delayed

Had not the storm abated, we should have been — shipwrecked. Oppression on one side, and ambition on the other, are the

sions of war.

The evils to which every man is daily exposed are

This step was, as without it, our ruin was

occa

"If our sense of hearing were exalted, we should have no quiet or sleep in the most silent night, and we must

a clap of thunder."

-ly be struck deaf, or dead, with

"The day thou eat'st thereof, my sole command

Transgrest,ly thou shalt die."

Single acts of transgression will, through weakness and surprise, be to the best guarded.

son.

SECTION III.

SYNONYMES OF INTENSITY.

IN examining the explanations in this section, it will be found that they are all based upon one leading principle, viz. intensity—that is, the difference between the one and the other word will be, that the second expresses a more intensive degree of the first. Here again, the student must be cautioned against confounding this principle with grammatical compariIn grammar, the comparative is a more intensive form of the same word, (the adjective,) and is confined to one class of words; but here, the second word is wholly unlike the first in form, though it expresses a more intensive degree in signification. We may refer to this principle the difference between the two verbs to hear and to listen. To hear is a simple act, to listen is an intensive act. We cannot help hearing, but we listen with intention. The same may be said of to see and to look. It costs us no effort of the sense, to see it is but opening the eye, and the scene enters;" but in looking, there is an effort, a desire, an act, in fine, of the mind as well as of the eye, which is not found in the former word. This principle operates to a great extent in language, and a very great number of differences are to be explained by its application. Whenever we find a difference of this sort between two terms, they may be ranged under the head of " Synonymes of Intensity."

Act-Action.

An act is the simple exertion of physical or mental power. An action is a continued exertion of the faculties. An action takes up more time than an act. Many acts make up an action. We set about doing a kind action, viz. to reconcile two friends. Many acts are requisite to effect this purpose: e.g., the act of speaking to both parties; the act of walking, perhaps, from one to the other, &c. There is this difference between an act of folly and a foolish action: an act of folly is one in which folly is represented as the impulse; a foolish action is one which is qualified or specified as such when done. The degree of our merit depends upon our actions, not upon our acts. Acts are single; actions habitual.

[Lod. This heavy act with heavy heart relate Othello, v. 2.
When our actions do not,

L. Macd.
Our fears do make us traitors.

This day will be remarkable in my life
By some great act —

High actions and high passions best describing
Resting upon his arms each warrior stood,
Checked in the very act and deed of blood.

WORDSWORTH.

our state

Enjoins, while firm resolves await

On wishes just and wise,
That strenuous action follow both,
And life be one perpetual growth
Of heaven-ward enterprise.

Exercise.

He had raised his hand, and was in the

Macbeth, iv. 2.

S. A., 1388.
P. R., iv. 266.

'Sonnets to Liberty.'

'The Wishing-Gate Destroyed.']

of striking the prince,

when a foot-soldier, perceiving his purpose, rushed in between the combat

ants, and received the blow upon his arm.

For this brave

he was handsomely rewarded by his commander,

and immediately promoted to the rank of a sergeant.

Many persons judge wrongly of their neighbours, from not sufficiently considering the motives of their

He was in the of shaking hands with a neighbour, when he was suddenly seized with a fit, and fell back senseless into an arm-chair. Our —are generally caused by instinct or impulse; frequently the result of thought or deliberation.

"Many of those

are more

which are apt to procure fame are not in their

nature conducive to ultimate happiness."

"I desire that the same rule may be extended to the whole fraternity of the heathen gods; it being my design to condemn every poem to the flames, in which Jupiter thunders or exercises any of authority which does not belong to him."

Anguish-Agony.

A struggling against pain is the idea common to both these words. Agony denotes the bodily feeling, whilst anguish regards the state of mind. The throbbing of a wound produces agony; a mother feels anguish at the idea of being separated from her child. The word agony is used in a secondary sense to express the climax of any state of feeling, as found in the expressions, "an agony of doubt, an agony of suspense," &c. -i. e. the highest possible state of painful doubt or suspense. The agonies of death; the anguish of despair.

"The sun had now gone down-another day had passed without bringing us relief-several of the party had begun to suffer dreadfully from intense thirst, and two were in the

The

of death."

of the father when he heard of the fate of his wretched child is to be imagined rather than described; he fainted immediately on receiving the news, and it was a long time before he recovered his senses.

They had persecutors, whose invention was as great as their cruelty. Wit and malice conspire to find out such deaths, and those of such incredible that only the manner of dying was the punishment, death itself the deliverance.

The thoughts not only of what he himself was about to suffer, but also of the forlorn condition of his wife and family in the event of his death, filled his mind with

and despair.

from the wound in his leg, that he could pro

He suffered such ceed no further on his journey.

"There is a word in the vocabulary more bitter, more direful in its import, than all the rest. Reader, if poverty, if disgrace, if bodily pain be your unhappy fate, kneel and bless Heaven for its beneficent influence, so that you are not tortured with the of remorse."

Artisan-Artist.

The word artisan signifies one who exercises a mechanical art: the word artist is properly applied only to those who practise the fine arts. Carpenters, masons, and shoemakers, are artisans; poets, musicians, and sculptors, are artists. The artisan works by rule, and uses his hands; the artist's occupation requires the exercise of a refined intellect and lively imagination. We shall thus easily distinguish the sign-painter from the historical painter. In an intellectual scale, the artisan ranks above the labourer, but below the artist. Ingenuity and contrivance are the qualities of a good artisan; creative power and refined taste are requisite for a great artist.

[Agam. The wise and fool, the artist and unread

"This poor woman's husband, who was an ingenious

had come

up to London in hopes of finding employment; but having failed in his attempt, had set off to return to Scotland, and was on his way back when I fell in with him."

of

Dannecker, the sculptor, one of the most celebrated modern Germany, was born at Stuttgard, October the 15th, 1758. Two of his works, viz." Mourning Friendship," and the " Ariadne reclining on a Leop ard," are distinguished for beauty and expression.

The close and densely-populated parts of London are inhabited chiefly by labourers, journeymen, and whose health is undoubtedly as much impaired by the situations in which they are obliged to reside, as by the circumstances which force them to work so hard for their daily bread.