E.— lα,

8

resumed the pudding having taken a chair what cried Tom having taken a chair you said a pudding no no replied John colouring rather a chair the idea of a stranger coming to my rooms at half-past eight o'clock in the morning and taking a pudding having taken a chair Tom a chair amazed me by opening the conversation thus I believe you are acquainted sir with Mr. Thomas Pinch no cried Tom his very words I assure you. 5. Correct anything you see amiss in the following : — (a.) There are certain things which a bank should not touch, as the saying is, with a pair of tongs as a security. (6.) It had never before occurred to that good woman to treat a new customer, arriving in a coroneted carriage with liveries that lighted up the whole street, with indifference. (c.) Twenty balls were bowled and twenty runs made, so that each ball averaged one run. (d.) The rain came down and continued during the time the cyclists had their competition, clearing off about half-past twelve, and continuing fine the remainder of the day. (<3.) Mrs. Brown presents her compliments to Mrs. Eobinson. She has been referred to her by Miss Jones. She states that she has been in her service for three years. She would be obliged if she would tell her whether she found her efficient. :|: 6. Criticize the following extracts, noting and commenting on any characteristics of style, and any use, accurate or otherwise, of metaphorical illustration : — (a.) I can assure your lordships that if we had considered our own ease and comfort, if we had considered anything but the imperative calls of duty, if we had not been prepared to sacrifice our private convenience to the public interest, there was not one of my colleagues who would not with me have joyfully accepted the alternative I have pointed out, who would not have embraced with satisfaction the opportunity of relieving himself from the cares, labours, and responsibilities of office, and who would not contentedly have withdrawn into the retirement of private life. (b.) He that goeth about to persuade a multitude that they are not so well governed as they ought to be shall never want attentive and favourable hearers; because they know the manifold defects whereunto every kind of regiment! is subject, but the secret lets and difficulties, which in public, proceedings are innumerable and inevitable, they have not ordinarily the judgment to consider. (c.) He had never heard such sparkling and vivacious talk as went on round this particular table. It never paused or flagged. There was Amory, all alight and stirred by every conversational ripple which passed him; there was Miss Varien, scintillating and casting off showers of sparks in the prettiest and most careless fashion ; there was Laurence Arbuthnot doing his share without any apparent effort; there was Mrs. Sylevestre, her beautiful eyes making speech almost superfluous, and Mrs. Merrian occasionally casting into the pool some neatly weighted pebble, which sent its circles to the shore; and, in the midst of the coruscation, Blundel found himself, somehow, doing quite his portion of the illumination. *?,. The following passage, as here written, is miserably feeble; re-write it so as to give it vigour and animation. Begin " High above these," and end with " name ":— The stately monument of Chatham towers high above these venerable graves, and his effigy from above, which is graven by a cunning hand, seems still to bid England to be of good cheer, and to hurl defiance at the foes of England, with eagle face and arm stretched out. The generation has disappeared which reared that memorial of him, and the time has come when history may calmly revise the judgments, formed with rashness and without discrimination, which were passed on him by those who lived at the same time as he did; and while history notes his many errors for the warning of natures that are vehement and daring, she will yet pronounce, not without deliberation, that scarcely one of the eminent men whose bones lie near his bones has left a more stainless name, and that none has left a more splendid one. 8. Write an essay describing the influence of associates and circumstances upon character, illustrated by reference to any one of Shakspeare's plays or any considerable work of fiction; or, upon esprit de corps, how it is developed, and its advantages or defects. 9. As a test of spelling, write words dictated by the Supervisor.

Part of a Paper on English Grammar and Composition. — For Class D. 0. The Supervisor will be so good as to read through and then slowly dictate to the Candidates the following words : — Eeconnoitre, circuit, mimicry, anthracite, hyperbolical, interstices, schismatic, anachronism, yachting, exorbitant, indictment, avoirdupois, armistice, synonymous, hydraulics, chandelier, anonymous, ecstatic, chagrin, giraffe, rhapsody, chrysalis.

English. — For Glass E, and for Junior Civil Service. Time allowed: 3 hours. 1. As a test of spelling, write the words and sentences dictated by the Supervisor. 2. " The castle royally is manned, my lord, Against thy entrance." " Thy thrice-noble cousin, Harry Bolingbroke, doth humbly kiss thy hand." " His coming hither hath no further scope Than for his lineal royalties." " Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays, That look too lofty in our commonwealth."

* Ihese are alternative questions. Either 6or 7 must be attempted, but not both. t Regimcnfc = govemment.