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From The Saturday Review.
THE ART OF PARAPHRASING.

an invaluable gift to waiters, commercial travellers, principals of educational establishments, and the literary public in general. Till this great want is supplied, we must put up with Mr. Hunter's grammar and exercise book, and we must do their author the justice to say that, by a careful use of them, a man may do a good deal towards unlearning his mother tongue.

A FEW months back,* we unearthed the two hundred and thirty-fifth edition of the Spelling-Book of a certain Mr. Butter, which we felt sure must have helped in no slight measure towards the change going on from plain English into the odd tongue which is now fast usurping its place. A man whose books reach a two hundred and thirty-fifth Though Mr. Hunter is, as far as we know, edition must be prepared for imitators. the first person who has reduced the art of Such success as that of. Mr. Butter would "Paraphrasing" to a system, he can by no naturally kindle a generous emulation in means claim the honor of being the first many minds. Many a man may be tempted Paraphrast. Who has not seen "Scripture to string together a few hard words on the Paraphrases," in which the meaning of the chance of obtaining only the tenth part of sacred writings and the vigorous English Mr. Butter's success. We have no doubt of their translators are alike improved away? that he has many pupils and followers. He A great master in this way was Bishop Sicertainly has a most promising one in a cer- mon Patrick, who, when the Collects were, tain Rev. John Hunter, A.M., who describes in 1689, voted " too short and too dry,” was himself as formerly Vice-Principal of the set to make them longer and more ornamenNational Society's Training College at Bat-tal. But the art in those days was in its intersea. Mr. Hunter's works have not yet fancy, and, compared with modern masters, reached their two hundred and thirty-fifth edition, but, as one of them went through three editions between 1858 and 1861, he may congratulate himself on treading in the steps of his great original as nearly as he can reasonably expect to do.

Mr. Hunter has, we think, achieved a great work. He has successfully reduced the practice of the grand style to a system. He has given us a great many rules and a great many examples to guide us in the task of turning good English into bad. One thing only is wanted-Mr. Hunter should really give us a dictionary. It is quite needful to accomplish his object. That object is, to teach people how to exchange the good straightforward words which will first come into their heads for the more elaborately ornamented and more ambitiously grandiloquent phraseology of the penny-a-liner. But for this end dull wits will want a dictionary. A pupil of Mr. Hunter will, of course, scorn such a poor word as "begin; " but it may be that "inaugurate" may not at once suggest itself to him-he may be driven to put up with so comparatively feeble a substitute as "commence." He may wish for some expression less homely than "cock-fight," but it is not everybody across whose mind Mr. Butter's "alectoromachy" would flash unbidden. A dictionary of the High Polite Style, by Mr. Hunter, would be *Living Age No. 940.

Patrick was a mere bungler. Something, in another tongue, was done about the same time by the editor of the Delphin Classics, who, in the "Interpretatio" of each book, paraphrased a vast deal of good Latin into bad. But all these attempts, though highly creditable in their way, were still more desultory. Mr. Hunter is the first to teach the art upon system. We are probably displaying our own monstrous ignorance when we say that, till we got hold of Mr. Hunter's little books, we had no sort of idea that "paraphrasing" was an acknowledged art, taught by adepts like any other art. But we gather from Mr. Hunter's preface that the art has long been taught traditionally. He has now won the honor of being the first to set down its principles in a book, but he has long lived in fear that some one else would be quick enough to snatch his unplucked laurels from him. In his own words-words which show how well he can teach by example as well as by precept-" The utility of that species of scholastic exercise called Paraphrasing has been for so many years generally recognized among teachers, that the author of this little work long expected some anticipation of his own treatise to issue from the press." The same preface teaches us two or three more things about paraphrasing. It is a somewhat difficult subject." Mr. Hunter has

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"not yet seen any other publication pro- condensed, vigorous, or antiquated, supply fessing to methodize and teach it." But the most suitable passages for exercises in there are persons "who are desirous of at- paraphrasing." What can be more containing facility in composing, or in teaching densed and vigorous than the passage which to compose, a good paraphrase." To such we chose ? and its language is a little antipersons Mr. Hunter "has been induced to quated into the bargain. But Mr. Hunter contribute such assistance as his experience tells us that "frequently the original will be enables him." Mr. Hunter further, with all found more simply and clearly expressed the authority of a former Vice-Principal of than the paraphrase." We have not the the National Society's Training College at slightest doubt of it, and we think our examBattersea," would venture to recommend to ple shows it wonderfully well; only if the schoolmasters the frequent employment of original be more simply and clearly expressed this species of exercise, as a very useful aux- than the paraphrase, what becomes of Mr. iliary to other means of instruction in Eng- Hunter's own definition of a paraphrase? lish composition, as its tendency is to form "To paraphrase," according to the first sena taste and promote an aptitude for the tence of his book, "means to explain some proper expression of original thought, as passage in a book by changing the author's well as for a due appreciation of the writings language, and developing the scope of his of others." ideas, so as to exhibit his meaning with By this time we begin to understand what greater clearness, particularity, and fulness." paraphrasing means. It clearly means that Now, what "developing the scope of the the boys and girls of our National Schools author's ideas" may mean, we do not know are, whenever schoolmasters can be found the least bit. But is it not rather odd that, silly enough to do so, to be set to translate if the object of paraphrasing be to "explain out of the plain English of their Bibles and passages" and to "exhibit the author's Prayer-Books into the jargon of Mr. Hunter meaning with greater clearness," the result and the penny newspapers. We really did of paraphrasing should be that "frequently not know that such an art was anywhere de- the original will be found more simply and liberately taught. The opposite process in- clearly expressed than the paraphrase?" deed we have sometimes amused ourselves This result is, indeed, only just what we by trying. We have both tried ourselves, should expect; but, if so, "the utility of and made others try, to translate bits of this species of scholastic exercise" is somenewspaper language into English, but we thing which we should have great difficulty had no idea whatever that boys and girls in "recognizing." were deliberately set to translate English into newspaper. Let us, however, before we put ourselves under Mr. Hunter's guidance, see what we can ourselves do by the light of nature. Here is as good a piece of plain English as ever was written, though, to be sure, its matter is too light to be quite the thing for National Schools :

"If a body kiss a body,

Need a body tell?

Again, Mr. Hunter, after telling us to pick out as our guides writers whose style is condensed, vigorous, or antiquated, goes on to say, with praiseworthy modesty, "it must always be remembered that the language of a good author generally loses both force and beauty by such transformation, and that no such attempt should be expected to produce something as good as the original." If so, one cannot help asking, why make the at

Will not Mr. Hunter give us his first prize tempt at all? Why turn the original into when we paraphrase this into

On the supposition that an individual salutes an individual,

Does an individual lie under an obligation to

make a statement of the fact ?

On turning over Mr. Hunter's pages, we find that all his precepts strengthen our belief that our own first attempt is really a firstrate paraphrase. He tells us that "the poets, and those prose writers whose style is

something which confessedly is not so good? Why subject the language of a good author to a transformation which avowedly takes away both its force and beauty? Where, in short, is the recognized utility of this species of scholastic exercise? By Mr. Hunter's own account, then, paraphrasing consists in turning good English into bad. We hold, therefore, that our own specimen paraphrase is really perfect. We believe

The tempest itself lags behind,,
And the swift-winged arrows of light,”

that we have successfully destroyed all the force and beauty of the original. We feel sure that we have produced something which This perfectly clear and good English theyno one will think as good as the original.are to "paraphrase" into the following jarIf so, we have, according to Mr. Hunter, fully accomplished the objects of a paraphrase. The goodness of a paraphrase consists in its badness, and, on that showing, we hold our own to be firstrate.

But we must, in fairness, let Mr. Hunter speak once more to explain the objects of his own art, and the powers required of those who would excel in it:

"By paraphrasing, as a scholastic exercise, we mean an explanatory variation of the language of a given portion of discourse, prescribed in order to ascertain the degree in which the pupil understands the passage, to promote in him the habit of general attention to the meaning and spirit of what he reads, to cultivate his power of discerning the force and beauty of literary composition, and to assist in making him skilful and expert in the expression of his own thoughts.

"In this species of exercise, care should be taken not to exceed those reasonable limits within which a faithful interpretation of the sense and significancy of the original may be comprehended. The tendency to over-expansion and embellishment must be duly restrained, the legitimate object and proper utility of the exercise being always kept in view.

"Ability to paraphrase may be said to depend, particularly, on familiarity with the principles of grammatical formation and arrangement, on appreciation of the significancy of words in themselves and in their relations and idiomatic uses, and on the power of readily recollecting synonymous expressions."

We copy these sentences without wholly understanding them. Indeed we know that we have no right to ask to understand them. As far as we can make out any meaning, it would seem to mean that boys and girls are to be set to "paraphrase," in order, first, to see whether they understand what they read, and, secondly, to teach them to write good English themselves. To accomplish these two ends they are to be taught to paraphrase good English into bad-to change every Teutonic word into a Latin one. Thus, they are given this piece of Cowper's :— "How fleet is a glance of the mind!

Compared with the speed of its flight,

gon :

"How rapid is the transition of thought! In comparison with its velocity, the sweep of the tempest, and the swift dashing of the rays of light, are but sluggish movements."

So again :—

Can flattery soothe the dull cold ear of death?"

becomes in Mr. Hunter's hands

"Can the language of flattery gratify the ear which death has sealed in cold insensibility?"

When Milton says

"O unexpected stroke, worse than of death! Must I thus leave thee, Paradise! thus leave Thee, native soil! these happy walks and shades,

Fit haunt of gods! where I had hoped to spend,

Quiet, though sad, the respite of that day
That must be mortal to us both!"
Mr. Hunter turns it into-

"Oh, this unlooked-for calamity, more distressful than the doom of death! O Paradise, must I as a banished one depart from thee! Must I in that manner leave the spot where my life began, thus bid adieu to these blissful walks and shades, worthy to be frequented by celestial beings, and amidst which I had cherished the soothing expectation of spending in quietness, though mournfully, the allowed remainder of that day in which, by Divine decree, we both must die."

Our notions of good English doubtless differ from Mr. Hunter's, so it may be vain to try to prove to him that his process will do the exact opposite of “assisting in making the pupil skilful and expert in the expression of his own thoughts." But we may perhaps dispute a little as to its use in "ascertaining the degree in which the pupil understands the passage." To us it seems that to translate what is clear into what is obscure-to translate what is easy into what is hard-can serve no purpose of the kind. If the pupil is encouraged in the use of big words to which he is not accustomed, and which cannot convey their meaning with the same distinctness as the words of his own daily talk, he has at once a means afforded him of cloaking his ignorance under a cloud of sounding syllables. The real way of finding out whether a boy understands what he

teads is hot to bid him paraphrase it into A. "He performed his ablutions and imthe high-polite style, but to bid him tell the mediately proceeded to partake of refreshstory in the plainest words of daily life. A ments." child in a National School was asked, Mr. Hunter would most likely think this "What did David do when they told him a sign of great skilfulness and expertness in that the child was dead?" "Please, sir, he the expression of thought; but would it cleaned himself and took to his victuals." show the same "habit of general attention All honor to a child who had so thoroughly to the meaning and spirit of what he reads," entered into the story that he could at once as was shown by the little fellow who had tell it in just the words which he would use so thoroughly called up the doings of David every day with his playmates. In Mr. before his mind's eye? We know not to Hunter's style the question and answer what extent Mr. Hunter's theories and procmight stand thus:esses are adopted by teachers, but if this sort of thing goes on in the National Schools generally, there is indeed something for Mr. Lowe and the school inspectors to look to.

Q. "What course of action did David pursue when he received intelligence of the demise of his infant ? "

MR. HALL'S ARCTIC EXPEDITION.-The | men's-boats, and found on one of the Lower arrival of this expedition has been announced by telegraph. The Newfoundland papers contain additional particulars informing us that Mr. Hall has secured a large quantity of relics of Frobisher's expedition, gathered at various points. These are described as follows:

"The coal has been overgrown with moss, and a dark vegetable growth; the brick looks quite as bright as when it was turned out of one talle ship of Her Majesties, named the Ayde, of nine score tunnes, or thereabouts,'the vessel in which Frobisher departed on his second voyage, after having 'kissed Her Majesties hand, and been dismissed with gracious countenance and comfortable words.' The pieces of wood are merely oak chips which have been well preserved, having been embedded in coal dust for nearly three hundred years. The piece of iron ballast is much decomposed and rusted. "Mr. Hall found upon one of the islands a trench twenty feet deep and one hundred feet long, leading to the water, in which a party of Frobisher's men, who had been captured by the Esquimaux, and with the assistance of their captors, had built a small vessel, intending therein to set sail for England. After putting to sea, they experienced such severe weather that they were obliged to return, all of them being frost-bitten. They lived many years among the Esquimaux, who treated them very kindly, and all of them eventually died there. These facts are related by the Esquimaux of that region as a matter of tradition.

Respecting the two boats' crews of Franklin, Mr. Hall learned that a few years since a party of Innuits had seen two Codluna-white

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Savage Islands which commence near the mainland on the north side of Hudson's Strait what they termed 'soft stones.' One of the Innuits, who had become possessed of a gun and ammunition from the Hudson's Bay Company, recognized them as bullets.

"Sir John Franklin, not knowing how long he might be detained in the Arctic seas, carried out a large quantity of ammunition, and Mr. Hall has not a particle of doubt that the crews of these two boats, in their endeavor to get down through Hudson's Straits, and on to the Labrador, had thrown out these bullets so that their progress might not be impeded.

"Mr. Hall has with him a very interesting Esquimaux family, consisting of a father, mother, and son, who are excellent specimens of their race. This family, excepting the child, have been in the civilized world before. They were taken across the Atlantic to England, some years ago, and presented to Her Majesty the Queen.

"Mr. Hall has a number of interesting memorials of the social life of the Innuits, among whom he dwelt so long. They consist of little articles very neatly cut from bone or ivory, representing the polar bear, seals, walrus, and These show a great deal of patient ducks, etc. perseverance with the rude tools with which they must have been worked. Mr. Hall says life, in these high latitudes, is not so difficult of preservation as is generally supposed-the snow and ice houses of the Innuits being exceedingly tight and comfortable, and their coarse animal food rendered exceedingly palatable by the sharpness of appetite engendered by the keen atmosphere of an extreme northern climate."

From The London Review. IMMIGRATION IN THE WEST INDIES.

at every corner of a street and meeting of cross-roads, their thriving stores attest the At a time when the most numerous and national genius for trade. With this toilthe wealthiest section of our industrial pop-ing, self-denying, and parsimonious race the ulation has been dragged down to penury luxurious and improvident negro finds the and ruin by the dearth of the raw material contest hopeless. The negro consumes which feeds its industry, no apology is needed himself the best that he has in his store, for calling attention to any subject which and sells the refuse; while the Portuguese has a practical bearing upon the question of trader is content to starve himself and his a cotton supply. The plant, as is now well family, and hoard his rapid gains in squalid known, can be grown in many regions; and discomfort. We doubt, indeed, if there is at the conference recently held with a view a single store in the whole colony now kept to insure a future supply, the representatives by a black man. But the native Creole of various countries, extending almost "from regards the immigrant with a blind and China to Peru," attended upon the invita- ignorant jealousy, which every honest mind tion of the manufacturers, and stated what must deplore; for to this colony immigrathey had and what they had not of the req-tion is the sheet-anchor of wealth and prosuisites for cotton-growing. One country perity. Already has immigration raised it wants labor, another capital, and a third from a slough of despond to a flourishing asks only for fair play on the part of its condition; and immigration alone can degovernment: all, however, want more or velop its vast resources to their full capabilless of time, and meanwhile there is many ities. a gloomy home in Lancashire. But it is with the West Indies, and more especially with British Guiana, that we have now to do. This colony can grow cotton of a quality second only, we believe, to the famous Sea Island cotton. In the times before the emancipation, cotton was its chief export; and it might become so again were it not for the scarcity of labor. And if it is hoped to make the colony hereafter the abundant source of excellent cotton, this desirable consummation can be achieved only by the continuance of that immigration, of which we now propose to give a brief sketch.

The sea-coast line of British Guiana exceeds two hundred miles in length; and running southwards from the sea, the colony has, practically, no limits. "To the rear there is," as a traveller observed, “an eternity of sugar and cotton capability in the mud." The planter "may cultivate canes up to the very Andes if he could only get Coolies." The sight of the broad rivers rolling down in tranquil majesty their dark and turbid waters, where all around is unutterably flat and green, recalls to memory the poet's image of the old Nile,

"Et viridem Ægyptum nigrâ fæcundat arenâ." Over boundless acres of the richest virgin soil there broods the awful stillness of a tropical forest. The silence of the wilder

It has been the good fortune of British Guiana to absorb into its thin population, during the last fourteen years, a steady influx of Portuguese immigrants; who, according to the returns published by the Emigra-ness reigns unbroken by the foot or voice of tion Commissioners, in the course of last session, already numbered more than eleven thousand, while only two thousand of them were scattered over the rest of the West Indies. This immigration, wisely encouraged by the local government, has been of incalculable benefit to the colony; and to the wine-growing peasants of Maderia, reduced to penury by the vine-disease, the land has become once more the El Dorado of riches. Steadily they rise from laborers to wandering hucksters, from hucksters to storekeepers, and perhaps to wealthy merchants and land-owners. In every village,

man, save where the scanty remnant of the Carib Indians-the dispossessed and doomed inheritors of the soil-still hunt and fish, and weave their simple fabrics, till they pass away and their place knows them no more. At the present time there is no more than a thin and much broken line of cultivation running along the coast and penetrating a little distance up the rivers. A hundred miles of coast, now for the most part a waste of tropical vegetation, was once a vast and blooming cotton-field. There is not an estate in the colony which has not a water frontage; and the facilities and economy of

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