of some irresistible power. The choice word, the correct phrase, are
instruments that may reach the heart, and awake the soul if they fall upon
the ear in melodious cadence; but if the utterance be harsh and discordant
they fail to interest, fall upon deaf ears, and are as barren as seed sown
on fallow ground. In language, nothing conduces so emphatically to the
harmony of sounds as perfect phrasing--that is, the emphasizing of the
relation of clause to clause, and of sentence to sentence by the
systematic grouping of words. The phrase consists usually of a few words
which denote a single idea that forms a separate part of a sentence. In
this respect it differs from the clause, which is a short sentence that
forms a distinct part of a composition, paragraph, or discourse. Correct
phrasing is regulated by rests, such rests as do not break the continuity
of a thought or the progress of the sense.

GRENVILLE KLEISER, who has devoted years of his diligent life to imparting
the art of correct expression in speech and writing, has provided many
aids for those who would know not merely what to say, but how to say it.
He has taught also what the great HOLMES taught, that language is a temple
in which the human soul is enshrined, and that it grows out of life--out
of its joys and its sorrows, its burdens and its necessities. To him, as
well as to the writer, the deep strong voice of man and the low sweet
voice of woman are never heard at finer advantage than in the earnest but
mellow tones of familiar speech. In the present volume Mr. Kleiser
furnishes an additional and an exceptional aid for those who would have a
mint of phrases at their command from which to draw when in need of the
golden mean for expressing thought. Few indeed are the books fitted to-day
for the purpose of imparting this knowledge, yet two centuries ago
phrase-books were esteemed as supplements to the dictionaries, and have
not by any manner of means lost their value. The guide to familiar
quotations, the index to similes, the grammars, the readers, the