and made me accountable to him." "They desired me to call them brethren." "He seems to have made him what he was."

We sometimes meet with such expressions as these: "They were asked a question ;" "They were offered a pardon "He had been left a great estate by his father." In these phrases, verbs passive are made to govern the objective case. This license is not to be approved. The expressions should be; "A question was put to them;" "A pardon was offered to them;""His father left him a great estate."

RULE XII.

ONE verb governs another that follows it, or depends upon it, in the infinitive mood: as, "Cease to do evil: learn to do well :" "We should be prepared to render an account of our actions."

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."

See Vol. ii. Part 3. Exercises. Chap. 1. Rule 12.

THIS rule refers to principal, not to auxiliary verbs. If the student reflects, that the principal and the auxiliary form but one verb, he will have little or no difficulty, in the proper application of the present rule.

The verbs which have commonly other verbs following them in the infinitive mood, without the sign to, are, bid, dare, need, make, see, hear, feel; and also, let, not used as an auxiliary; and perhaps a few others: as, "I bade him do it ;" "Ye dare not do it ;" "I saw him do it ;" "I heard him say it;""Thou lettest him go."

This irregularity extends only to active or neuter verbs: for all the verbs abovementioned, when made passive, require the preposition to before the following verb: as, "He was seen to go;" "He was heard to speak in his own defence;""They were bidden to be upon their guard."

1. In the following passages, the word to, the sign of the infinitive mood, where it is distinguished by Italic characters, is superfluous and improper. "I have observed some satirists to use," &c. "To see so many to make so little conscience of so great a sin." "It cannot but be a delightful spectacle to God and angels, to see a young person besieged by powerful temptations on every side, to acquit himself gloriously, and resolutely to hold out against the most violent assaults; to

behold one in the prime and flower of his age, that is courted by pleasures and honours, by the devil, and all the betwitching vanities of the world, to reject all these, and to cleave steadfastly unto God."

This mood has also been improperly used in the following places: "I am not like other men, to envy the talents I cannot reach." "Grammarians have denied, or at least doubted, them to be genuine." "That all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always what is righteous in thy sight."

The infinitive is frequently governed by adjectives, substantives, and participles: as, "He is eager to learn;"" She is worthy to be loved;" "They have a desire to improve ;" "Endeavouring to persuade."

The infinitive sometimes follows the word as: thus, “An object so high as to be invisible ;" "A question so obscure as to perplex the understanding."

The infinitive occasionly follows than after a comparison : as, "He desired nothing more than to know his own imperfections."

The infinitive mood has much of the nature of a substantive, expressing the action itself which the verb signifies, as the participle has the nature of an adjective. Thus the infinitive mood does the office of a substantive in different cases: in the nominative: as, "To play is pleasant:" in the objective: as, "Boys love to play :" "For to will is present with me ; but to perform that which is good, I find not."

The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently on the rest of the sentence, supplying the place of the conjunction that with the potential mood: as, "To confess the truth, I was in fault" "To begin with the first ;" "To proceed;" "To conclude;" that is, "That I may confess," &c.

The preposition to, signifying in order to, was anciently preceded by for: as, "What went ye out for to see." The word for before the infinitive, is now, in almost every case, obsolete. It is, however, still used, if the subject of the affirmation intervenes between that preposition and the verb: as, "For holy persons to be humble, is as hard, as for a prince to submit himself to be guided by tutors."

RULE XIII.

In the use of words and phrases which, in point of time, relate to each other, a due regard to that relation should be observed. Instead of saying, "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away;" we should say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." Instead of, "I know the family more than twenty years;" it should be, "I have known the family more than twenty years."

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See Vol. ii. Part 3. Exercises. Chap. 1. Rule 13.

It is not easy, in all cases, to give particular rules, for the management of words and phrases which relate to one another, so that they may be proper and consistent. The best rule that can be given, is this very general one, "To observe what the sense necessarily requires." It may, however, be of use, to exhibit a number of instances, in which the construction is irregular. The following are of this nature.

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"I have completed the work more than a week ago;" "I have seen the coronation at Westminster last summer." These sentences should have been; "I completed the work," &c.; "I saw the coronation," &c.: because the perfect tense extends to a past period, which immediately precedes, or includes, the present time; and it cannot, therefore, apply to the time of a week ago, or to last midsummer.

"Charles has lately finished the reading of Henry's History of England :" it should be, "Charles lately finished," &c. ; the word lately referring to a time completely past, without any allusion to the present time.

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They have resided in Italy, till a few months ago, for the benefit of their health:" it should be, "they resided in Italy," &c.

"This mode of expression has been formerly much admired:" it ought to be, "was formerly much admired."

"The business is not done here, in the manner in which it has been done, some years since in Germany :" it should be," in the manner in which it was done," &c.

"I will pay the vows which my lips have uttered, when I was in trouble:" it ought to be, "which my lips uttered," &c. "I have, in my youth, trifled with health; and old age now

prematurely assails me:" it should be, "In my youth I triflea with health," &c.

The five examples last mentioned, are corrected on the same principle that the preceding examples are corrected.

"Charles is grown considerably since I have seen him the last time:" this sentence ought to be, "Charles has grown considerably, since I saw him the last time."

"Payment was at length made, but no reason assigned for its being so long postponed:" it should be, "for its having been so long postponed."

"He became so meek and submissive, that to be in the house as one of the hired servants, was now the utmost of his wishes :" it ought to be, 66 was then the utmost of his wishes."

"They were arrived an hour before we reached the city :" it ought to be, "They had arrived," &c.; because arrived, in this phrase, denotes an event not only past, but prior to the time referred to, by the words, "reached the city."

"The workmen will finish the business at mid summer." According to the meaning, it ought to be; "The workmen will have finished," &c.

"All the present family have been much indebted to their great and honourable ancestor :" it should be, "are much indebted."

"This curious piece of workmanship was preserved, and shown to strangers, for more than fifty years past;" it ought to be, "has been preserved, and been shown," &c.

"I had rather walk than ride;" it should be, "I would rather walk than ride."

"On the morrow, because he should have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him :" it ought to be," because he would know :" or rather, "being willing to know."

"The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight;""If by any means I might attain unto the resurrec tion of the dead :" in both these places may would have been better than might

"I feared that I should have lost the parcel, before I arrived at the city :" it should be, "I feared that I should lose," &c.

"It would have afforded me no satisfaction, if I could perform it ;" it ought to be, "If I could have performed it;" or, "It would afford me no satisfaction, if I could perform it."

To preserve consistency in the time of verbs, and of words and phrases, we must recollect that, in the subjunctive mood,

the present and the imperfect tenses often carry with them a future sense and that the auxiliaries should and would, in the imperfect time, are used to express the present and future, as well as the past. See Section 5 of the 6th Chapter of Etymology, pages 72, 73.

1. With regard to verbs in the infinitive mood, the practice of many writers, and some even of our most respectable writers, appears to be erroneous. They seem not to advert to the true principles, which influence the different tenses of this mood. We shall produce some rules on the subject, which, we presume, will be found perspicuous and accurate. "All verbs expressive of hope, desire, intention, or command, must invariably be followed by the present, and not the perfect of the infinitive." "The last week I intended to have written," is a very common phrase; the infinitive being in the past time, as well as the verb which it follows. But it is evidently wrong for how long soever it now is since I thought of writing, "to write" was then present to me; and must still be considered as present, when I bring back that time, and the thoughts of it. It ought therefore to be; "The last week, I intended to write."

The following sentence is properly and analogically expressed: "I found him better than I expected to find him." "Expected to have found him," is irreconcilable to grammar and to sense. Every person would perceive an error in this expression; "It is long since I commanded him to have done it:" yet, "expected to have found," is not better. It is as clear, that the finding must be posterior to the expectation, as that the obedience must be posterior to the command.

Some writers on grammar contend, that the sentence, "I intend to have written," is correct and grammatical; because it simply denotes, as they assert, the speaker's intention to be hereafter in possession of the finished action of writing. But to this reasoning the following answers may be given: that the phrase," to have written," is stated, in English grammars, as the established past tense of the infinitive mood; that it is as incontrovertibly the past tense of the infinitive in English as scripsisse is the past tense of the infinitive in Latin; that no writers can be warranted in taking such liberties with the language, as to contradict its plainest rules, for the sake of supporting an hypothesis; that these writers might, on their own principles, and with equal propriety, contend, that the phrase, "I intend having written," is proper and grammatical; and that, by admitting such violations of established grammatical distinctions, confusion would be introduced, the fanguage would be disorganized, and the most eccentric sys