Bernardo. It was about to speak when the cock crew.

Horatio.

And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The extravagant and erring spirit hies
To his confine: and of the truth herein

This present object made probation.

Marcellus. It faded on the crowing of the cock.

Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

B

Explain this. Illustrate the passage by quotations from other

3. "And at his warning,

4.

5.

Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,

The extravagant and erring spirit hies

To his confine."

What popular belief is alluded to in the line

"Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air"?

In what sense do you understand the words " extravagant" and "erring"? In what significations are they more frequently used?

"And of the truth herein,

This present object made probation."

What is the meaning of "made probation"? Of what truth did the object make "probation"?

"Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes

Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,

The bird of dawning singeth all night long."

What is the name of that season, "wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated"?

What bird is it which is here called "the bird of dawning"?

Explain the grammatical construction of the words " 'gainst that season comes."

6. Explain the lines, "then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallow'd and so gracious is the time."

[cious"?

What circumstance made the time" so hallow'd and so gra

7. "But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,

Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill."

Turn these lines into plain prose.

Quote a similar description of "morn" from Shakespear himself, or from Milton.

8. Explain

"As needful in our loves, fitting our duty."

9. Give a correct paraphrase of the following passage, substituting, in every instance, common expressions for those which are figurative.

66

So, oft it chances in particular men,

That for some vicious mode of nature in them,

As, in their birth (wherein they are not guilty
Since nature cannot choose his origin),
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit, that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners; that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect;
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo),

Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault."

APHORISM 59.

BACON'S NOVUM ORGANUM.

Afternoon Paper.

"But none are so troublesome as the idols of the market, which insinuate themselves into the mind from the association of words and terms. For though men believe that their reason governs words, it also happens that words retort, and reflect their force upon the understanding; whence philosophy and the sciences have been rendered sophistical and unactive.

Words are generally imposed according to vulgar conceptions, and divide things by lines that are most apparent to the understanding of the multitude: and when a more acute understanding, or a more careful observation, would remove these lines, to place them according to nature, words cry out and forbid it. And hence it happens that great and serious disputes of learned men frequently terminate about words and terms, which it were better to begin with, according to the prudent method of the Mathematicians and reduce them to order by definitions. But in natural and material things, even these definitions cannot remedy the evil; because definitions themselves consist of words, and words generate words." APHORISM 73.

"But of all the signs of philosophies, none are more certain and noble than those taken from their fruits; for fruits, and the discoveries of works, are as the vouchers and securities for the truth of philosophies.

And, therefore, as it is a caution in religion that faith be manifested by works; an admirable rule may be hence derived into philosophy that it be judged by its fruit, and held as vain if it prove barren; and this the more, if, instead of grapes and olives, it produce the thistles and thorns of disputes and altercations."

1. "For though men believe that their reason governs words, it also happens that words retort and reflect their force upon the understanding." Explain this sentence, and point out the concealed figure in the latter part of it.

"Words are generally imposed according to vulgar conceptions, and divide things by lines that are most apparent to the understanding of the multitude." Explain this, and shew that the opinion is correct. What is the meaning of " words cry out?"

3. Does not the objection that "definitions consist of words, and words generate words," apply to the terms used in mathematics as well as to those which denote "natural and material things?" Or is there any fundamental difference between the two subjects, which makes the objection apply to one of them but not to the other?

4. "For fruits and the discoveries of works are as the vouchers and securities for the truth of philosophies." Give some examples in illustration of this truth.

5. What things are meant by the figurative expressions grapes and olives" and "thistles and thorns"? Give examples from History of systems of philosophy which, instead of " grapes and olives" have produced "the thistles and thorns of disputes and altercations."