much as we?"-Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 111. "Who delivers his sentiments in carnest, as they ought to be in order to move and persuade.”—Kirkham's Elocution, p. 151.

UNDER NOTE X.-DO, USED AS A SUBSTITUTE.

"And I would avoid it altogether, if it could be done."-Kames, El. of Crit., i, 36. "Such a sentiment from a man expiring of his wounds, is truly heroic, and must elevate the mind to the greatest height that can be done by a single expression.”—Ib., i, 204. "Successive images making thus deeper and deeper impressions, must elevate more than any single image can do."-Ib., i, 205. "Besides making a deeper impression than can be done by cool reasoning."—Ib., ii, 273. "Yet a poet, by the force of genius alone, can rise higher than a public speaker can do.”—Blair's Rhet., p. 338. "And the very same reason that has induced several grammarians to go so far as they have done, should have induced them to go farther."-Priestley's Gram., Pref., p. vii. "The pupil should commit the first section perfectly, before he does the second part of grammar."— Bradley's Gram., p. 77. "The Greek ch was pronounced hard, as we now do in chord."—Booth's Introd. to Dict., p. 61. "They pronounce the syllables in a different manner from what they do at other times."-Murray's Eng. Reader, p. xi. "And give him the formal cool reception that Simon had done."-Dr. Scott, on Luke, vii. "I do not say, as some have done.”—Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 271. "If he suppose the first, he may do the last."-Barclay's Works, ii, 406. "Who are now despising Christ in his inward appearance, as the Jews of old did him in his outward.” -Ib., i, 506. "That text of Revelations must not be understood, as he doth it."—Ib., iii, 309. "Till the mode of parsing the noun is so familiar to him, that he can do it readily."-Smith's New Gram., p. 13. Perhaps it is running the same course which Rome had done before."-Middleton's Life of Cicero. "It ought even on this ground to be avoided; which may easily be done by a different construction."-Churchill's Gram., p. 312. "These two languages are now pronounced in England as no other nation in Europe does besides."-Creighton's Dict., p. xi. many ran the same risk that Italy had done.”—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 211: seo Priestley's Gram., p. 196.

UNDER NOTE XI.-PRETERITS AND PARTICIPLES.

"Ger

"The Beggars themselves will be broke in a trice."-Swift's Poems, p. 347. "The hoop is hoist above his nose."-Ib., p. 404. "My heart was lift up in the ways of the Lord. 2 CHRON." -Joh. Dict., w. Lift. "Who sin so oft have mourned, Yet to temptation ran."-Burns. "Who would not have let them appeared.”—Steele. "He would have had you sought for ease at the hands of Mr. Legality."-Pilgrim's Progress, p. 31. "From me his madding mind is start, And woocs the widow's daughter of the glen."-SPENSER: Joh. Dict., w. Glen. The man has spoke, and still speaks."-Ash's Gram., p. 54. "For you have but mistook me all this while."Beauties of Shak., p. 114. "And will you rent our ancient love asunder."-Ib., p. 52. "Mr. Birney has plead the inexpediency of passing such resolutions."-Liberator, Vol. xiii, p. 194. "Who have wore out their years in such most painful Labours."-Littleton's Dict., Pref. "And in the conclusion you were chose probationer."-Spectator, No. 32.

"How she was lost, took captive, made a slave;

And how against him set that should her save.”—Bunyan.

UNDER NOTE XII-VERBS CONFOUNDED.

"But Moses preferred to wile away his time."-Parker's English Composition, p. 15. "His face shown with the rays of the sun."--Calvin's Inst., 4to, p. 76. "Whom they had sat at defiance so lately."-Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 320. "And when he was set, his disciples came unto him."-Matt., v, 1. "When he was set down on the judgement-seat."-Ib., xxvii, 19. "And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them."-Luke, xxii, 55. "So after he had washed their fect, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?"-John, xiii, 12. "Even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."-Rev., iii, 21. "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." —Heb., viii, 1. "And is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."-Ib., xii, 2.* "He sat on foot a furious persecution."-Payne's Geog., ii, 418. "There layeth an obligation upon the saints, to help such."-Barclay's Works, i, 389. "There let him lay."-Byron's Pilgrimage, C. iv, st. 180. "Nothing but moss, and shrubs, and stinted trees, can grow upon it."--Morse's Geog., p. 43. "Who had lain out considerable sums purely to distinguish themselves."-Goldsmith's * The two verbs to sit and to set are in general quite different in their meaning: but the passive verb to be set sometimes comes pretty near to the sense of the former, which is for the most part neuter. Hence, we not only find the Latin word sedeo, to sit, used in the sense of being set, as, "Ingens coena sedet," "A huge supper is set," Juv., 2, 119; but, in the seven texts above, our translators have used is set, was set, &c., with reference to the personal posture of sitting. This, in the opinion of Dr. Lowth and some others, is erroneous. "Set," says the Doctor, can be no part of the verb to sit. If it belong to the verb to set, the translation in thece passages is wrong. For to set, signifies to place, but without any designation of the posture of the person placed; which is a circumstance of importance, expressed by the original."-Lowth's Gram., p. 53; Churchill's, 205. These gentlemen cite three of these seven examples, and refer to the other four; but they do not tell us how they would amend any of them-except that they prefer sitten to sat, vainly endeavouring to restore an old participle which is certainly obsolete. If any critic dislike my version of the last two texts, because I use the present tense for what in the Greek is the first aorist; let him notice that this has been done in both by our translators, and in one by those of the Vulgate. In the preceding example, too, the same aorist is rendered, "am set," and by Beza, sedeo;" though Montanus and the Vulgate render it literally by "sedi," as I do by sat. See Key to False Syntax, Rule XVII, Note xii.

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Greece, i, 132. "Whereunto the righteous fly and are safe."-Barclay's Works, i, 146. "He raiseth from supper, and laid aside his garments."—Ib., i, 438. "Whither-Oh! whither shall I fly?"-Murray's English Reader, p. 123. "Flying from an adopted murderer."-Ib., p. 122. "To you I fly for refuge."-Ib., p. 124. "The sign that should warn his disciples to fly from approaching ruin."-Keith's Evidences, p. 62. "In one she sets as a prototype for exact imitation."-Rush, on the Voice, p. xxiii. "In which some only bleat, bark, mew, winnow, and bray, a little better than others."-Ib., p. 90. "Who represented to him the unreasonableness of being effected with such unmanly fears."-Rollin's Hist., ii, 106. "Thou sawedst every action."-Guy's School Gra n., p. 46. "I taught, thou taughtedst, he or she taught."-Coar's Gram., p. 79. "Valerian is taken by Sapor and flead alive, A. D. 260."-Lempriere's Chron. Table, Dict., p. xix. "What a fine vehicle is it now become for all conceptions of the mind!"-Blair's Rhet., p. 139. "What are become of so many productions?"- Volney's Ruins, p. 8. "What are become of those ages of abundance and of life?"-Keith's Evidences, p. 107. "The Spartan admiral was sailed to the Hellespont."-Goldsmith's Greece, i, 150. "As soon as he was landed, the multitude thronged about him."-Ib., i, 160. "Cyrus was arrived at Sardis."-Iv., i, 161. "Whose year was expired."-Ib., i, 162. "It had better have been, 'that faction which.'"-Priestley's Gram., p. 97. This people is become a great nation."-Murray's Gram., p. 153; Ingersoll's, 249. "And here we are got into the region of ornament."-Blair's Rhet., p. 181. The ungraceful parenthesis which follows, had far better have been avoided.”—Ib., p. 215. "Who forced him under water, and there held him until drounded."-Indian Wars, p. 55.

171.

"I had much rather be myself the slave,

And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him."- Cowper.

UNDER NOTE XIII.-WORDS THAT EXPRESS TIME.

"I had finished my letter before my brother arrived."-Kirkham's Gram., p. 139. "I had written before I received his letter."-Blair's Rhet., p. 82. "From what has been formerly delivered."-lb., p. 182. "Arts were of late introduced among them."-Ib., p. 245. "I am not of opinion that such rules can be of much use, unless persons saw them exemplified.”—Ib., p. 336. "If we use the noun itself, we should say, 'This composition is John's. "-Murray's Gram., p. "But if the assertion referred to something, that is not always the same, or supposed to be so, the past tense must be applied."-Ib., p. 191. "They told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by."-Luke, xviii, 37. "There is no particular intimation but that I continued to work, even to the present moment."-R. W. Green's Gram., p. 39. "Generally, as was observed already, it is bat hinted in a single word or phrase."-Campbell's Rhet., p. 36. "The wittiness of the passage was already illustrated."-Ib., p. 36. "As was observed already."-Ib., p. 56. "It was said already in general.”—Ib., p. 95. As I hinted already."-Ib., p. 134. "What I believe was hinted once already."-Ib., p. 148. "It is obvious, as hath been hinted formerly, that this is but an artificial and arbitrary connexion."-Ib., p. 282. "They have done anciently a great deal of hurt."-Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 109. "Then said Paul, I knew not, brethren, that he is the High Priest."-Dr. Webster's Bible: Acts, xxiii, 5. Most prepositions originally denote the relation of place, and have been thence transferred to denote by similitude other relations."-Lowth's Gram., p. 65; Churchill's, 116. "His gift was but a poor offering, when we consider his estate." -Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 194. "If he should succeed, and should obtain his end, he will not be the happier for it."-Murray's Gram., i, p. 207. "These are torrents that swell to-day, and have spent themselves by to-morrow."-Blair's Rhet., p. 286. "Who have called that wheat to-day, which they have called tares to-morrow."-Barclay's Works, iii, 168. "He thought it had been one of his tenants."-Ib., i, 11. But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent."— Luke, xvi, 30. "Neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”—Ib., verse 31. "But it is while men slept, that the archenemy has always sown his tares."-The Friend, x, 351. "Crescens would not fail to have exposed him."-Addison's Evidences, p. 30.

"Bent was his bow, the Grecian hearts to wound;

Fierce as he mov'd, his silver shafts resound."-Pope, Iliad, B. i, 1. 64.

UNDER NOTE XIV.-VERBS OF COMMANDING, &c.

"Had I commanded you to have done this, you would have thought hard of it."—G. B. “I found him better than I expected to have found him."-Priestley's Gram., p. 126. "There are several smaller faults, which I at first intended to have enumerated."-Webster's Essays, p. 246. "Antithesis, therefore, may, on many occasions, be employed to advantage, in order to strengthen the impression which we intend that any object should make."-Blair's Rhet., p. 168. "The girl said, if her master would but have let her had money, she might have been well long ago."-See Priestley's Gram., p. 127. "Nor is there the least ground to fear, that we should be cramped here within too narrow limits."-Campbell's Rhet., p. 163; Murray's Gram., i, 360. "The Romans, flushed with success, expected to have retaken it."-Hooke's Hist., p. 37. "I would not have let fallen an unseasonable pleasantry in the venerable presence of Misery, to be entitled to all the wit that ever Rabelais scattered."-STERNE: Enfield's Speaker, p. 54. "We expected

that he would have arrived last night."-Inst., p. 192. "Our friends intended to have met us."-Ib. We hoped to have seen you."—Ib. "He would not have been allowed to have entered."-Ib.

UNDER NOTE XV.-PERMANENT PROPOSITIONS.

"Cicero maintained that whatsoever was useful was good."—"I observed that love constituted the whole moral character of God."-Dwight. "Thinking that one gained nothing by being a good man."-Voltaire. "I have already told you that I was a gentleman."-Fontaine. "If I should ask, whether ice and water were two distinct species of things."-Locke. "A stranger to the poem would not easily discover that this was verse.' e.”—Murray's Gram., 12mo, p. 260. "The doctor affirmed, that fever always produced thirst."-Inst., p. 192. "The ancients asserted, that virtue was its own reward."-Ib. "They should not have repeated the error, of insisting that the infinitive was a mere noun."-Diversions of Purley, Vol. i, p. 288. "It was observed in Chap. III, that the distinctive or had a double use."-Churchill's Gram., p. 154. "Two young gentlemen, who have made a discovery that there was no God."-Swift.

Adam.

RULE XVIII.—INFINITIVES.

The Infinitive Mood is governed in general by the preposition To, which commonly connects it to a finite verb: as, "I desire to learn."-Dr. "Of me the Roman people have many pledges, which I must strive, with my utmost endeavours, To preserve, To defend, To confirm, and To redeem."-Duncan's Cicero, p. 41.

"What if the foot, ordain'd the dust To tread,

Or hand To toil, aspir'd ro be the head?"-Pope.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XVIII.

OBS. 1.-No word is more variously explained by grammarians, than this word TO, which is put before the verb in the infinitive mood. Johnson, Walker, Scott, Todd, and some other lexicographers, call it an adverb; but, in explaining its use, they say it denotes certain relations, which it is not the office of an adverb to express. (See the word in Johnson's Quarto Dictionary.) D. St. Quentin, in his Rudiments of General Grammar, says, "To, before a verb, is an adverb;" and yet his "Adverbs are words that are joined to verbs or adjectives, and express some circumstance or quality." See pp. 33 and 39. Lowth, Priestley, Fisher, L. Murray, Webster, Wilson, S. W. Clark, Coar, Comly, Blair, Felch, Fisk, Greenleaf, Hart, Weld, Webber, and others, call it a preposition; and some of these ascribe to it the government of the verb, while others do not. Lowth says, "The preposition TO, placed before the verb, makes the infinitive mood."-Short Gram., p. "Now this," says Horne Tooke, "is manifestly not so: for TO placed before the verb loveth, will not make the infinitive mood. He would have said more truly, that To placed before some nouns, makes verbs."-Diversions of Purley, Vol. i, p. 287.

42.

OBS. 2.—Skinner, in his Canones Etymologici, calls this To "an equivocal article.”—Tooke, ib., i, 288. Nutting, a late American grammarian, says: "The sign To is no other than the Greek article to; as, to agapan [, to love]; or, as some say, it is the Saxon do."-Practical Gram., p. 66. Thus, by suggesting two false and inconsistent derivations, though he uses not the name equiv ocal article, he first makes the word an article, and then equivocal—equivocal in etymology, and of course in meaning.* Nixon, in his English Parser, supposes it to be, unequivocally, the Greek article 7, the. See the work, p. 83. D. Booth says, "To is, by us, applied to Verbs; but it was the neuter Article (the) among the Greeks."-Introd. to Analyt. Dict., p. 60. According to Horne Tooke, "Minshew also distinguishes between the preposition to, and the sign of the infinitive TO. Of the former he is silent, and of the latter he says: To, as to make, to walk, to do, a Græco articulo rò.' But Dr. Gregory Sharpe is persuaded, that our language has taken it from the Hebrew. And Vossius derives the correspondent Latin preposition AD from the same source."— Diversions of Purley, Vol. i, p. 293.

OBS. 3.—Tooke also says, "I observe, that Junius and Skinner and Johnson, have not chosen Nutting, I suppose, did not imagine the Greek article, r, the, and the English or Saxon verb do, to be equivalent or kindred words. But there is no knowing what terms conjectural etymology may not contrive to identify, or at least to approximate and ally. The ingenious David Booth, if he does not actually identify do, with ro, the, has discovered synonymes and cognates that are altogether as unapparent to common observers: as, "It and the," says he, "when Gender is not attended to, are synonymores. Each is expressive of Being in general, and when used Verbally, signifies to bring forth, or to aid to what we already see. The, it, and, add, at, to, and do, are kindred words. They mark that an addition is made to some collected mass of existence. To, which literally signifies add, like at and the Latin ad,) is merely a different pronunciation of do. It expresses the junction of an other thing, or circumstance, as appears more evidently from its varied orthography of too."-Introd. to Analut. Dict., p. 45. Horne Tooke, it seems, could not persuade this author into his notion of the derivation and meaning of the, it, to, or do. But Lindley Murray, and his followers, have been more tractable. They were ready to be led without looking. "To," say they, "comes from Sazon and Gothic words, which signify action, effect, termination, to act, &c."-Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 133; Fisk's, 92. What an admirable explanation is this! and how prettily the great Compiler says on the next leaf: "Etymology, when it is guided by judgment, and [when] proper limits are set to it, certainly merits great attention!"-I.. p. 135. According to his own express rules for interpreting "a substantive without any article to limit it." and the "relative pronoun with a comma before it," he must have meant, that "to comes from Saxon and Gothic words" of every sort, and that the words of these two languages "signify action, effect, termination, to get, &c." The latter assertion is true enough; but, concerning the former, a man of sense may demur. Nor do I see how it is possible not to despise such etymology, be the interpretation of the words what it may. For, if to means action or to act, then our little infinitive phrase, to be, must mean, action be, or to act be; and what is this, but nonsense?

to give the slightest hint concerning the derivation of ro."-Ibid. But, certainly, of his adverb TO, Johnson gives this hint: "To, Saxon; te, Dutch." And Webster, who calls it not an adverb, but a preposition, gives the same hint of the source from which it comes to us. This is as much as to say, it is etymologically the old Saxon preposition to which, truly, it is—the very same word that, for a thousand years or more, has been used before nouns and pronouns to govern the objective case. Tooke himself does not deny this; but, conceiving that almost all particles, whether English or any other, can be traced back to ancient verbs or nouns, he hunts for the root of this, in a remoter region, where he pretends to find that to has the same origin as do; and though he detects the former in a Gothic noun, he scruples not to identify it with an auxiliary verb! Yet he elsewhere expressly denies, "that any words change their nature by use, so as to belong sometimes to one part of speech, and sometimes to another."-Div. of Pur., Vol. i, p. 68. OBS. 4.-From this, the fair inference is, that he will have both to and do to be " stantive" still! "Do (the auxiliary verb, as it has been called) is derived from the same root, and is indeed the same word as тo.”—Ib., Vol. i, p. 290. "Since FROM means commencement or beginning, To must mean end or termination."—Ib., i, 283. "The preposition to (in Dutch written TOE and TOT, a little nearer to the original) is the Gothic substantive TANI or TAnh TS, i. e. act, effect, result, consummation. Which Gothic substantive is indeed itself no other than the past participle of the verb TANCAN, agere. And what is done, is terminated, ended, finished."-Ib., i, 285. No wonder that Johnson, Skinner, and Junius, gave no hint of this derivation: it is not worth the ink it takes, if it cannot be made more sure. But in showing its bearing on the verb, the author not unjustly complains of our grammarians, that, "Of all the points which they endeavour to shuffle over, there is none in which they do it more grossly than in this of the infinitive."-Ib., i, 287.

nouns sub

OBS. 5.-Many are content to call the word To a prefix, a particle, a little word, a sign of the infinitive, a part of the infinitive, a part of the verb, and the like, without telling us whence it comes, how it differs from the preposition to, or to what part of speech it belongs. It certainly is not what we usually call a prefix, because we never join it to the verb; yet there are three instances in which it becomes such, before a noun: viz., to-day, to-night, to-morrow. If it is a "particle." so is any other preposition, as well as every small and invariable word. If it is a "little word,” the whole bigness of a preposition is unquestionably found in it; and no "word" is so small but that it must belong to some one of the ten classes called parts of speech. If it is a "sign of the infinitive," because it is used before no other mood; so is it a sign of the objective case, or of what in Latin is called the dative, because it precedes no other case. If we suppose it to be a "part of the infinitive," or a "part of the verb," it is certainly no necessary part of cither; because thero is no verb which may not, in several different ways, Le properly used in the infinitive without it. But if it be a part of the infinitive, it must be a verb, and ought to be classed with tho auxiliaries. Dr. Ash accordingly placed it among the auxiliaries; but he says, (inaccurately, however,) "The auxiliary sign seems to have the nature of adverbs."-Grammatical Institutes, p. 33. The auxiliary [signs] are, to, do, did, have, had, shall, will, may, can, must, might," &c. -Ib., p. 31.

OBS. 6.-It is clear, as I have already shown, that the word to may be a sign of the infinitive, and yet not be a part of it. Dr. Ash supposes, it may even be a part of the mood, and yet not be a part of the verb. How this can be, I sce not, unless the mood consists in something else than cither the form or the parts of the verb. This grammarian says, In parsing, every word should be considered as a distinct part of speech: for though two or more words may be united to form a mode, a tense, or a comparison; yet it seems quite improper to unite two or more words to make a noun, a verb, an adjective, &c."-Gram. Inst., p. 28. All the auxiliaries, therefore, and the particle to among them, he parses separately; but he follows not his own advice, to make them distinct parts of speech; for he calls them all signs only, and signs are not one of his ten parts of speech. And the participle too, which is one of the ten, and which he declares to be "no part of the verb," he parses separately; calling it a verb, and not a participle, as often as it accompanies any of his auxiliary signs. This is certainly a greater impropriety than there can be in supposing an auxiliary and a participle to constitute a verb; for the mood and tense are the properties of the compound, and ought not to be ascribed to the principal term only. Not so with the preposition to before the infinitive, any more than with the conjunction if before the subjunctive. These may well be parsed as separate parts of speech; for these moods are sometimes formed, and are completely distinguished in each of their tenses, without the adding of these signs.

OBS. 7.—After a careful examination of what others have taught respecting this disputed point in grammar, I have given, in the preceding rule, that explanation which I consider to be the most correct and the most simple, and also as well authorized as any. Who first parsed the infinitive in this manner, I know not; probably those who first called the to a preposition; among whom were Lowth and the author of the old British Grammar. The doctrine did not originate with me, or with Comly. or with any American author. In Coar's English Grammar, published in London in 1796, the phrase to trample is parsed thus: "To--A preposition, serving for a sign of the infinitive mool to the verb Trample-A verb neuter, infinitive mood, present tense, gov crned by the preposition To before it. RULE. The preposition to before a verb, is the sign of the infinitive mood." See the work, p. 263. This was written by a gentleman who speaks of his "long habit of teaching the Latin Tongue," and who was certainly partial enough to the principles of Latin grammar, since he adopts in English the whole detail of Latin cases.

OBS. 8.-In Fisher's English Grammar, London, 1800, (of which there had been many carlier editions,) we find the following rule of syntax: When two principal Verbs come together, tho latter of them expresses an unlimited Sense, with the Preposition to before it; as he loved to learn; I chuse to dance: and is called the infinitive Verb, which may also follow a Name or Quality; as, a Time to sing; a Book delightful to read." That this author supposed the infinitive to be governed by to, and not by the preceding verb, noun, or adjective, is plain from the following note, which he gives in his margin: "The Scholar will best understand this, by being told that infinite or invariable Verbs, having neither Number, Person, nor Nominative Word belonging to them, are known or governed by the Preposition To coming before them. The Sign to is often understood; as, Bid Robert and his company (to) tarry."-Fisher's New Gram., p. 95.

OBS. 9. The forms of parsing, and also the rules, which are given in the early English grammars, are so very defective, that it is often impossible to say positively, what their authors did, or did not, intend to teach. Dr. Lowth's specimen of "grammatical resolution" contains four infinitives. In his explanation of the first, the preposition and the verb are parsed separately, as above; except that he says nothing about government. In his account of the other three, the

two words are taken together, and called a "verb, in the infinitive mode." But as he elsewhere calls the particle to a preposition, and nowhere speaks of any thing else as governing the infinitive, it seems fair to infer, that he conceived the verb to be the regimen of this proposition.* If such was his idea, we have the learned Doctor's authority in opposition to that of his professed admirers and copyists. Of these, Lindley Murray is doubtless the most famous. But Murray's twelfth rule of syntax, while it expressly calls to before the infinitive a preposition, absurdly takes away from it this regimen, and leaves us a preposition that governs nothing, and has apparently nothing to do with the relation of the terms between which it occurs.

OBS. 10.-Many later grammarians, perceiving the absurdity of calling to before the infinitive a preposition without supposing it to govern the verb, have studiously avoided this name; and havo either made the "little word" a supernumerary part of speech, or treated it as no part of speech at all. Among these, if I mistake not, are Allen, Lennie, Bullions, Alger, Guy, Churchill, Hiley, Nutting, Mulligan, Spencer, and Wells. Except Comly, the numerous modifiers of Murray's Grammar are none of them more consistent, on this point, than was Murray himself. Such of them as do not follow him literally, either deny, or forbear to affirm, that to before a verb is a preposition; and consequently either tell us not what it is, or tell us falsely; some calling it "a part of the verb," while they neither join it to the verb as a prefix, nor include it among the auxiliaries. Thus Kirkham: "To is not a preposition when joined to a verb in this mood; thus, to ride, to rule; but it should be parsed with the verb, and as a part of it."—Gram. in Familiar Lect., p. 137. So R. C. Smith: "This little word to when used before vcrbs in this manner, is not a preposition, but forms a part of the verb, and, in parsing, should be so considered."-Productive Gram., p. 65. How can that be "a part of the verb," which is a word used before it? or how is to "joined to the verb," or made a part of it, in the phrase, "to ride?" But Smith does not abide by his own doctrine; for, in an other part of his book, he adopts the phraseology of Murray, and makes to a preposition: saying, "The preposition TO, though generally used before the latter verb, is sometimes properly omitted; as, 'I heard him say it;' instead of 'to say it.'"-Productive Gram., p. 156. See Murray's Rule 12th.

OBS. 11.-Most English grammarians have considered the word to as a part of the infinitive, a part of the verb; and, like the teachers of Latin, have referred the government of this mood to a preceding verb. But the rule which they give, is partial, and often inapplicable; and their exceptions to it, or the heterogeneous parts into which some of them divide it, are both numerous and puzzling. They teach that at least half of the ten different parts of speech "frequently govern the infinitive:" if so, there should be a distinct rule for cach; for why should the government of one part of speech be made an exception to that of an other? and, if this be done, with respect to the infinitive, why not also with respect to the objective case? In all instances to which their rule is applicable, the rule which I have given, amounts to the same thing; and it obviates the necessity for their numerous exceptions, and the embarrassment arising from other constructions of the infinitive not noticed in them. Why then is the simplest solution imaginable still so frequently rejected for so much complexity and inconsistency? Or how can the more common rule in question be suitable for a child, if its applicability depends on a relation between the two verbs, which the preposition to sometimes expresses, and sometimes does not?

OBS. 12.-All authors admit that in some instances, the sign to is "superfluous and improper," the construction and government appearing complete without it; and the "Rev. Peter Bullions, D.D., Professor of Languages in the Albany Academy," has recently published a grammar, in

So, from the following language of three modern authors, one cannot but infer, that they would parse the verb as governed by the preposition; but I do not perceive that they anywhere expressly say so:

(1.) The Infinitive is the form of the supplemental verb that always has, or admits, the preposition To before it; as, to move. Its general character is to represent the action in prospect, or to do; or in retrospect, as to have done. As a verb, it signifies to do the action; and as object of the preposition To, it stands in the place of a noun for the doing of it. The infinitive verb and its prefix to are used much like a preposition and its noun object."-Felch's Comprehensive Gram., p. 62.

(2.) The action or other signification of a verb may be expressed in its widest and most general sense, without any limitation by a person or agent, but merely as the end or purpose of some other action, state of being, quality, or thing; it is, from this want of limitation, said to be in the Infinitive mode; and is expressed by the verb with the preposition to before it, to denote this relation of end or purpose; as, He came to see me;' 'The man is not fit to die;' It was not right for him to do thus.'"-Dr. S. Webber's English Gram., p. 35.

(3.) RULE 3. A verb in the Infinitive Mode, is the object of the preposition To, expressed or understood."— S. W. Clark's Practical Gram., p. 127.