He loves to sit and hear me sing, Then laughing, sports and plays with me; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty. BLAKE, _Songs of Innocence_, 1789 4. (_a_) Classify the styles of the following extracts into plain, ornate, or middle, and give reasons for your classification in each case. (_b_) How far does the style of each suit the subject? (_c_) Give a short account of each of the authors represented. (_d_) How far does the style in each case reveal the character of the author? (1) Sir, your throne cannot stand secure upon the principles of unconditional submission and passive obedience; on powers exercised without the concurrence of the people to be governed; on Acts made in defiance of their prejudices and habits; on acquiescence procured by foreign mercenary troops, and secured by standing armies. These may possibly be the foundation of other thrones; they must be the subversion of yours. It was not to passive principles in our ancestors, that we owe the honour of appearing before a sovereign, who cannot feel that he is a prince without knowing that we ought to be free. The Revolution was a departure from the ancient course of the descent of this monarchy. The people, at that time, re-entered into their original rights; and it was not because a positive law authorised what was then done, but because the freedom and safety of the subject, the origin and cause of all laws, required a proceeding paramount and superior to them. At that ever-memorable and instructive period, the letter of the law was superseded in favour of the substance of liberty. To the free choice, therefore, of the people, without either king or parliament, we owe that happy establishment, out of which both King and Parliament were regenerated. From that great principle of liberty have originated the statutes, confirming and ratifying the establishment from which your majesty derives your right to rule over us. Those statutes have not given us our liberties; our liberties have produced them. Every hour of your majesty’s reign your title stands upon the very same foundation, on which it was at first laid; and we do not know a better, on which it can possibly be placed. BURKE, _Address to the King_ (2) (_Evelina, a demure young miss, is describing her experiences in a letter to her friend Miss Mirvan._) I burst into tears: with difficulty I had so long restrained them; for my heart, while it glowed with tenderness and gratitude, was oppressed with a sense of its own unworthiness. “You are all, all goodness!” cried I, in a voice scarce audible; “little as I deserve,--unable as I am to repay, such kindness,--yet my whole soul feels,--thanks you for it!”