RECAPITULATION.

In the preceding part of this chapter we felt it necessary to give many examples, and enter upon some discussion of styles. To save time and trouble in turning many leaves to find some particular rule, we give below, all the rules in compact form, with but brief, if any, examples in il­lus­tra­tion.

RULE I. The initial letter of every sentence should be a capital.

This rule has been long established. It scarcely requires an example.

RULE II. The first letter in every line of poetry should be a capital.

What though my wingèd hours of bliss have been

Like angel-visits, few and far between.—Campbell.

RULE III. Principal words in the titles of books, of important documents, of proclamations, of edicts, of conventions, and words of especial distinction in monographs, should be put up.

There is in the library a book entitled, “An Interesting Narrative of the Travels of James Bruce, Esq., into Abyssinia, to Discover the Source of the Nile.” {p193}

RULE IV. Names and appellations of the Supreme Being should be capitalized.

RULE V. Names of ancient Greek and Roman divinities, and of all pagan and heathen gods, should be put up.

Æsculapius restored many to life, of which Pluto complained to Jupiter, who struck Æsculapius with thunder, but Apollo, angry at the death of his son, killed the Cyclops who made the thunderbolts.—Lempriere.

RULE VI. The pronoun I, and the interjection O, should always be put up.

Here am I; send me, O king!

RULE VII. Some words which are put down when spelled in full, are put up when contracted.

The honorable the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Hon. the Secretary of the Treasury.

RULE VIII. Names of persons, of things personified, of nations, countries, cities, towns, streets, ships, etc., should be put up.

And well may Doubt, the mother of Dismay,

Pause at her martyr’s tomb.—Campbell.

RULE IX. A word usually put down may be put up, or vice versa, by reason of propinquity to some other word which is in the opposite category as to cap­i­tal­i­za­tion.

The Secretary of War complimented the Secretary of the Typographical Union, upon his skill with the shooting-stick.

Shall the Choctaw Nation or this Nation adjust the northern boundary? {p194}

Before leaving the subject of cap­i­tal­i­za­tion, we must observe that there is diversity among authors and printers in regard to the use of capitals when two or more questions occur in succession. The rule generally given is, “Capitalize each question”: but the exceptions are so numerous, depending on some common relation to a term expressed or understood (see Obs. 30 and 31, Rule 29, Chap. V., ante), that we forbear indorsing the rule to which we have above referred. Indeed, it often happens that questions occurring singly are so connected with what goes before, that they do not require to be capitalized. Each case must be settled by the judgment of editor or author,—there is no common standard of reference, as can easily be shown by comparing different editions of the same work. In Buckingham’s Shakspeare, printed in Boston, we read in As you Like It, Act 5, Sc. 2:

Orl. Is’t possible that on so little acquaintance you should like her? . . . And will you persever, etc.,

the last question having a capital A; but in the London edition of French & Co., we have—

Orl. Is’t possible that on so little acquaintance you should like her? . . . and will you persever, etc.,

in which the last of the several questions has a lower-case a. Every editor endeavors to capitalize correctly—by suiting himself.