Are banks beneficial?

Are monopolies consistent with our republican institutions?

Ought there to be duties on imported goods to encourage domestic manufacture?

Ought there to be any restriction to emigration? Is the botanic system of medicine a good one? Are rail-roads and canals a benefit to the country?

Has the invention of gunpowder been beneficial to the world?

Have steam-boats been the cause of more good than hurt?

Is pride a mark of talent?

Ought females to be allowed to vote?

Is corporeal punishment necessary in schools, or in the army and navy ?

Are gold and silver mines upon the whole beneficial to a nation?

Who is the most useful member of society, the farmer or mechanic, the merchant or sailor? Does civilization increase happiness?

Ought circumstantial evidence to be admitted in criminal cases?

Ought a witness to be questioned as to his religious belief?

What were the causes of the fall of the ancient empires?

Which is the most important acquisition, wealth or knowledge?

What advantages has a republic over a monarchy ?*

Can there be any true virtue without piety?

REMARK. The introduction of à subject should be brief and vivid. Arguments may consist of the following: example, testimony, cause and effects, analogy.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

Watts on the Mind. Mason on Self-Knowledge. Whaley's and Dr. Campbell's Rhetoric. Morley's Practical Guide to Composition. Alison on Taste.

* VENETIAN POLICE.-An anecdote is related which serves to show the despotic nature of the Venetian government in a strong light. An English gentleman one day entered into conversation with a Neapolitan, at one of the taverns of the city, and the discourse happening to turn on the Venetian government, the Neapolitan greatly condemned, while the Englishman as warmly commended, some of its institutions.

In the middle of the night the Englishman was aroused by a loud knocking at the door of his hotel, and presently after the officers of justice entered his apartment, and commanded him to rise. As soon as he was dressed, a handkerchief was bound over his eyes, and he was put on board a gondola.

After being rowed for some time, he was landed and led through long passages, until he reached a large hall, where his eyes were unbound, and he was desired to notice what he saw. The Neapo litan was suspended from a beam by the neck.

Shocked at the sight, he inquired its meaning, and was informed that he was thus punished for the free animadversions he had made on the Venetian government; and that, although the Englishman had refuted his arguments, the republic was displeased with him for entering on such a topic, as it needed no advocates, and commanded him to quit its territories in twenty-four hours on pain of death.

Kaime's Elements of Criticism. Dick's Works. Wayland's Moral Science. Dymond on the Principles of Morality. Dr. Comstock's Natural Philosophy. Turner's Chemistry. Chapel's Agricultural Chemistry. Mi ton. Young. Pollock. Addison's Spectator. The Cold Water Man, published by the New-York Temperance Society. Dodd's Index Perum. Haw's Lectures to Young Men, Sprague's Lectures to Youth. Pike's Persuasives to Early Piety, Do. Guide to Young Disciples. Abercrombie's Mental and Moral Philosophy, and on the Christian Character, and Culture, and Discipline of the Mind. Butler's Analogy, and, above all, the Bible.

APPENDIX.

EPITOME OF RHETORIC.

Figurative Language.—A figure of speech is a departure from simplicity. They are divided into two classes; viz.: figures of words, and figures of thought. The former are TROPES, the latter MET

TROPE means to turn. As "to the upright there ariseth light in darkness; " light is turned from its original meaning, to signify joy or prosperity, and darkness adversity.

METAPHOR means a transfer. A metaphor is a figure, in which the words are used in their original signification; but the idea which it conveys, is transferred from the subject, to which it properly belongs, to some other which it resembles; thus we speak of a distinguished statesman: "He is the pillar of the state."

An ALLEGORY is the representation of one thing by another. Parables, fables, and riddles, are alle gories.

A HYPERBOLE is an exaggeration; thus, "as quick as lightning."