found of practical utility in teaching pupils to hit
the mean. Rules and illustrations have therefore been given, and the
different kinds of metre and varieties of the same metre have been
explained at considerable length.

This Chapter may seem to some to enter rather too much into detail. We
desire, however, to urge as an explanation, that in all probability
the study of English metre will rapidly assume more importance in
English schools. At present, very little is generally taught, and
perhaps known, about this subject. In a recent elaborate edition of
the works of Pope, the skill of that consummate master of the art of
epigrammatic versification is impugned because in one of his lines he
suffers _the_ to receive the metrical accent. When one of the
commonest customs (for it is in no sense a license) of English
poets--a custom sanctioned by Shakspeare, Dryden, Milton, Wordsworth,
Byron, Shelley, and Tennyson--can be censured as a fault, and this in
a leading edition of a leading poet of our literature, it must be
evident that much still remains to be done in teaching English Metre.
At present this Part may seem too detailed. Probably, some few years
hence, when a knowledge of English Metre has become more widely
diffused, it will seem not detailed enough.

The Fourth Part (like the Chapter on Metaphor) is concerned not more
with English than with other languages. It treats of the different
Styles of Composition, the appropriate subjects for each, and the
arrangement of the subject-matter. We hope that this may be of some
interest to the general reader, as well as of practical utility in the
higher classes of schools. It seems desirable that before pupils begin
to write essays, imaginary dialogues, speeches, and poems, they should
receive some instruction as to the difference of arrangement in a
poem, a speech, a conversation, and an essay.

An Appendix adds a few hints on some Errors in Reasoning. This
addition may interfere with the symmetry of the book; but if it is
found of use, the utility will be ample compensation. In reading
literature, pupils are continually meeting instances of false
reasoning, which, if passed over without comment, do harm, and, if
commented upon, require some little basis of knowledge in the pupil to
enable him to understand the explanation. Without entering into the
details of formal Logic, we have found it possible to give pupils some
few hints which have appeared to help them. The h