Part 62 (1/2)

--_Id_, B x, l 60

OBS 33--Some of the Friends (perhaps from an idea that it is less formal) misemploy _thee_ for _thou_; and often join it to the third person of the verb in stead of the second Such expressions as, _thee does, thee is, thee has, thee thinks_, &c, are double solecisain, raht, soht i of the third person, for that of the second Three or four instances of this, occur in the exa, and many more, in the works of the poet Burns; who says of his, I lish scholar; and, by the tie, I was a critic in substantives, VERBS, and particles:”--”But when thou _pours_;”--”There thou _shi+nes_ chief;”--”Thou _clears_ the head;”--”Thou _strings_ the nerves;”--”Thou _brightens_ black despair;”--”Thou _comes_;”--”Thou _travels_ far;”--”Now _thou's turned_ out;”--”Unseen thou _lurks_;”--”O thou pale orb that silent _shi+nes_” Thisthe verb, confounds the persons; and, as it has little advantage in sound, over the regular contracted forht to be avoided With this author it may be, perhaps, a Scotticism: as,

”Thou _paints_ auld nature to the nines, In thy sweet Caledonian lines”--_Burns to Ramsay_

”Thou _paintst old_ nature,” would be about as slish This confounding of the persons of the verb, however, is no modern peculiarity It appears to be about as old as the use of _s_ for _th_ or _eth_ Spenser, the great English poet of the sixteenth century, may be cited in proof: as,

”Siker, _thou's_ but a lazy loord, And _rekes_ much of thy swinke”--_Joh Dict, w Loord_

OBS 34--In the solemn style, (except in poetry, which usually contracts these forular of the present indicative, and that of the irregular preterits, commonly end in _est_, pronounced as a separate syllable, and requiring the duplication of the final consonant, according to Rule 3d for Spelling: as, I _run_, thou _runnest_; I _ran_, thou _rannest_ But as the termination _ed_, in soleular preterits for _st_, without further increase of syllables: as, I _loved_, thou _lovedst_; not, ”_lovedest_,” as Chandler lish Grammar, p 41, Edition of 1821; and as Wells's rule, above cited, if literally taken, would ular preterits, _wast, didst_, and _hadst_, are perh _doest_ and _diddest_ are sometimes seen in old books

_Saidst_ is ular, than _saidest Werest_ has long been contracted into _wert_: ”I would thou _werest_ either cold or hot”--_W Perkins_, 1608[251] The auxiliaries _shall_ and _will_ change the final _l_ to _t_, and becoht, could, would_, and _should_, the terenerally written with _st_ only, and pronounced asthe Scriptures, very often charges _htst_, &c Some other perrammarians call the solemn style; as _bidst_ for _biddest, fledst_ for _fleddest, satst_ for _sattest_:

”Riding sublime, thou _bidst_ the world adore, And humblest nature with thy northern blast”

--_Thomson_

”Fly thither whence thou _fledst_”

--_Milton, P L_, B iv, l 963

”Unspeakable, who _sitst_ above these heavens”

--_Id, ib_, B v, l 156

”Why _satst_ thou like an enemy in wait?”

--_Id, ib_, B iv, l 825

OBS 35--The forular of verbs, is _now_ precisely the same as that of the plural number of nouns: as, _love, loves; show, shows; boast, boasts; fly, flies; reach, reaches_ This for of the sixteenth century The ending seems once to have been _es_, sounded as _s_ or _z_: as,

”And thus I see aes Eche care _decayes_, and yet es_”--_Earl of Surry_

”With throte yrent, he _roares_, he _lyeth_ along”--_Sir T Wyat_

”He _dyeth_, he is all dead, he _pantes_, he _restes_”--_Id_, 1540

In all these instances, the _e_ before the _s_ has become improper The _es_ does not here form a syllable; neither does the _eth_, in ”_lyeth_”

and ”_dyeth_” In very ancient tiular appears to have been for _th_ or _eth_ nearly asadd _s_ or _es_[252] Afterwards, as in our co in _e_, and _eth_ to all others; as, ”For he that _eateth_ and _drinketh_ unworthily, _eateth_ and _drinketh_ damnation to himself”--_1 Cor_, xi, 29 ”He _quickeneth_ man, who is dead in trespasses and sins; he _keepeth_ alive the quickened soul, and _leadeth_ it in the paths of life; he _scattereth, subdueth_, and _conquereth_ the eneton_ This method of inflection, as now pronounced, always adds a syllable to the verb It is entirely confined to the solemn style, and is little used _Doth, hath_, and _saith_, appear to be permanent contractions of verbs thus formed In the days of Shakspeare, both terminations were common, and he often mixed them, in a hich is not very proper now: as,

”The quality of entle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd; It _blesseth_ hiives_, and him that _takes_”

--_Merchant of Venice_

OBS 36--When the second person singular is eard to correctness, it is usually forous to that which is now adopted in the third person singular When the verb ends with a sound which will unite with that of _st_ or _s_, the second person singular is for _s_ only; and the number of syllables is not increased: as, I _read_, thou _readst_, he _reads_; I _know_, thou _knowst_, he _knows_; I _take_, thou _takest_, he _takes_; I _free_, thou _freest_, he _frees_ For, when the verb ends in mute _a_, no termination renders this _a_ vocal in the familiar style, if a synaeresis can take place To prevent their readers fro the pronunciation of the soleenerally marked such words with an apostrophe: as,

”Look what thy soul holds dear, io'st_, not whence thou _com'st_”--_Shak_

OBS 37--But when the verb ends in a sound which will not unite with that of _st_ or _s_, the second and third persons are for _est_ and _es_; or, if the first person end in mute _e_, the _st_ and _s_ render that _e_ vocal; so that the verb acquires an additional syllable: as, I _trace_, thou _tracest_, he _traces_; I _pass_, thou _passest_, he _passes_; I _fix_, thou _fixest_, he _fixes_; I _preach_, thou _preachest_, he _preaches_; I _blush_, thou _blushest_, he _blushes_; I _judge_, thou _judgest_, he _judges_ But verbs ending in _o_ or _y_ preceded by a consonant, do not exactly follow either of the foregoing rules In these, _y_ is changed into _i_; and, to both _o_ and _i, est_ and _es_ are added without increase of syllables: as, I _go_, thou _goest_, he _goes_; I _undo_, thou _undoest_,[253] he _undoes_; I _fly_, thou _fliest_, he _flies_; I _pity_, thou _pitiest_, he _pities_ Thus, in the following lines, _goest_ host_; otherwise, we spoil the oest_ not noith battle, and the voice Of war, as once against the rebel hosts; Thou _goest_ a Judge, and _findst_ the guilty bound; Thou _goest_ to prove, condemn, acquit, reward”--_Pollok_, B x

In solemn prose, however, the teroest_, he _goeth_; I _undo_, thou _undoest_, he _undoeth_; I _fly_, thou _fliest_, he _flieth_; I _pity_, thou _pitiest_, he _pitieth_