E.—la.

English Grammar and Composition, ll. — For Civil Service Junior. Time allowed: Two hours. 1. Write an essay on one of the following subjects, paying great attention to expression, punctuation, and neatness of form : — (a.) The uses of knowledge. (b.) Night. (c.) " Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good." 2. As a test of spelling, write the passage and words dictated by the Supervisor. [The candidate is requested to number the words, to write them in a column, and to use a fresh page for each of the spelling exercises. No marks will be given for a word that contains a doubtful letter. The letter "c " must be looped, the letter "i" must be dotted, and the letter " t " must be crossed.]

Dictation and Spelling (Part of a Paper on English Grammar and Composition). — For Junior Civil Service. [The Supervisor is requested to draw the attention of the candidates to the directions given with regard to Question 2. The following passage for dictation, and the list of words for spelling, with the explanation given of each, are first to be read aloud once ; the passage, and the words without the explanations, are then to be dictated slowly to the candidates, and are afterwards to be read out again to afford opportunity for correction.] Passage foe Dictation. The plan to which I allude is, that when any subject becomes unmanageable by the inductive method, whether from the impossibility of experimenting upon it, or from its extreme natural complexity, or from the presence of immense and bewildering details collected around it, we may in all such cases make an imaginary separation of inseparable facts, and reason upon trains of events which have no real and independent existence, and which are nowhere to be found except in the mind of the inquirer. A result obtained in this way cannot be strictly true ; but, if we have reasoned accurately, it will be as near truth as were the premises from which we started. To make it perfectly true we must confront it with other results which we have arrived at in a similar way and from the same subject. These separate inferences may eventually be coordinated into a single system; so that, while each inference contains only an imperfect truth, the whole of the inferences when put together will contain perfect truth. Wobds to be Spelt. 1. Appurtenance (an adjunct). 2. Eucharist (the Lord's Supper). 3. Cochineal (a dye-stuff). 4. Mischievous (harmful). 5. Erroneously (mistakenly). 6. Apostasy (renunciation of a faith). 7. Escutcheon (shield displaying heraldic bearings). 8. Vizor (part of a helmet). 9. Philippic (discourse abounding in invective). 10. Anachronism (error in chronology). 11. Colonnade (a series of columns). 12. Aggrieve (annoy). 13. Codicil (clause added to a will). 14. Poniard (dagger). 15. Schismatic (one who creates a schism ; a heretic). 16. Plebeian (vulgar). 17. Gallinaceous (resembling common fowls). 18. Tyrannize (to act the tyrant). 19. Seneschal (a steward). 20. Criterion (a standard of comparison).

English Language and Literature. — For Civil Service Senior. Time allowed: Three hours. 1. Discuss the history and use of the infinitive mood in English. 2. Write a short essay on one of the following subjects : — (a.) Shakespeare's treatment of history as exemplified in " King Henry IV." (b.) The Arthurian legend in English literature. (c.) " Two voices are there; one is of the sea, One of the mountains; each a mighty voice." 3. Write short explanatory notes on the following passages, mentioning in each case the speaker and the occasion on which the words were uttered : — (a.) If all the year were playing holiday To sport would be as tedious as to work. (b.) Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries ? (c.) See how this river comes me cranking in. (d.) All plumed like estridges that with the wind Baited like eagles having lately bathed. (c.) I'll murder all his wardrobe, piece by piece. 4. Give as full an account as you can of either Falstaff or Hotspur, describing his actions and his character, and illustrating by quotations from Shakespeare's " King Henry IV." 5. Give in your own words the gist of one of the following essays by Charles Lamb : (a) The South Sea House; (b) Imperfect Sympathies; (c) A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People. 6. What do you consider the various elements of Charles Lamb's humour ? Illustrate as fully as you can from the " Essays of Elia." 7. What is an idyll ? How far, in your opinion, was Tennyson justified in adopting the title of "Idylls of the King"? Trace what you consider to be the connecting link that unites the separate idylls and gives the whole the unity of a single poem. 8. Write short explanatory notes on the following expressions : (a) The Siege Perilous; (b) the lily maid of Astolat; (c) Excahbur ; (d) Lords of the White Horse ; (c) the Tournament of Youth ; (/) Avilion ; (g) Azure, an eagle rising or, the sun In dexter chief; the scroll, " I follow fame." 9. What was the Holy Grail ? Give Tennyson's version of the legend, and compare it, if you can, with earlier versions.

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