a comma while they might count _one_; at a semicolon, _one, two_;
at a colon, _one, two, three_; at a period, _one, two, three, four_. This
may be of some use, as teaching them to observe the necessary stops, that
they may catch the sense; but the standard itself is variable, and so are
the times which good sense gives to the points. As a final stop, the period
is immeasurable; and so may be the pause after a question or an
exclamation.

OBS. 2.--The first four points take their names from the parts of
discourse, or of a sentence, which are distinguished by them. The _Period_,
or _circuit_, is a complete _round_ of words, often consisting of several
clauses or members, and always bringing out full sense at the close. The
_Colon_, or _member_, is the greatest division or _limb_ of a period, and
is the chief constructive part of a compound sentence. The _Semicolon, half
member_, or _half limb_, is the greatest division of a colon, and is
properly a smaller constructive part of a compound sentence. The _Comma_,
or _segment_, is a small part of a clause _cut off_, and is properly the
least constructive part of a compound sentence. A _simple sentence_ is
sometimes a whole period, sometimes a chief member, sometimes a half
member, sometimes a segment, and sometimes perhaps even less. Hence it may
require the period, the colon, the semicolon, the comma, or even no point,
according to the manner in which it is used. A sentence whose relatives and
adjuncts are all taken in a restrictive sense, may be considerably complex,
and yet require no division by points; as,

"Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge
On you who wrong me not for him who wrong'd."--_Milton_.

OBS. 3.--The system of punctuation now used in English, is, in its main
features, common to very many languages. It is used in Latin, French,
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, and perhaps most of the
tongues in which books are now written or printed. The Germans, however,
make less frequent use of the comma than we; and the Spaniards usually mark
a question or an exclamation _doubly_, inverting the point at the beginning
of the sentence. In Greek, the difference is greater: the colon, expressed
by the upper dot alone, is the only point between the comma and the period;
the ecphoneme, or note of exclamation, is hardly recognized, though some
printers of the classics have occasionally introduced it; and the eroteme,
or note of interrogation, retains