itg af Received... ^^^ ..I&70, mi* OVER 1000 MISTAKES CORRECTED. LIVE AO LEARN: A GUIDE FOR ALL, WHO WISH TO SPEAK AND WHITE CORRECTLY: PARTICULARLY INTENDED AS / / / A BOOK OF REFERENCE FOR THE SOLUTION OF DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH GRAMMAR, COMPOSITION, PUNCTUATION, ETC., ETC. WITH EXPLANATIONS OF LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS AND PHRASE& OF FREQUENT OCCURRENCE IN NEWSPAPERS, REVIEWS, PERIODICALS, AND BOOKS IN GENERAL ; CONTAINING EXAMPLES OF ONK THOUSAND MISTAKES OF DAILY OCCURRENCE, IN SPEAKING, WRITING, AND PRONUNCIATION ; TOGHTHBR WITH DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING FOR THE PRESS, AND FORMS OF ARTICLES IN THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF NEWSPAPER LITERATURE. " There are hundreds of persons, engaged in professional and commer- cial pursuits, who are sensible of their deficiencies on many points con- nected with the grammar of their own tongue, and who, by self-tuition, are anxious to correct such deficiencies, and to acquire the means of speaking and writing, if not with elegance, at any rate with a due regard to grammatical accuracy, to whom this little work is INDISPENSABLE." u "What more important than a correct knowledge of one's own tongue? " CONDORCET. NEW YO EK : OARRJUTT & COMPANY, NO 18 ANN STREET. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by GARRETT & CO., In the Clerk's Office'of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. OF the practical value of a pocket manual, to which we can refer in cases of grammatical embar- rassment, as well as for literary information and suggestions, there can be no doubt. In the prepa- ration of the present volume it has been the aim of the author to make such a work. Whether he has succeeded, is a question to be decided by the reader. There are hundreds of persons engaged in profes- sional and commercial pursuits*, who are sensible of their t deficiencies on many points connected with the grammar of their own tongue, and who, by self- tuition, are anxious to correct such deficiencies, and to acquire the means of writing and speaking, if not with elegance, at any rate with a due regard to grammatical accuracy. For such persons this little volume is more par- ticularly intended, though it is believed that few can peruse it without deriving advantage, and also acquiring some additional knowledge. It is a conventional, and, unfortunately, a widely- spread error, that correctness in speaking and writ- ing comes as a matter of course, and especially when the individual has received what is called " a CLASS- 4 PREFACE. ICAL education." A glance at the article on " In- stances of False Syntax, Errors, &c., &c., (see page 73,) occurring in the writings of authors of emi- nence," [men educated at the Public Schools and Universities,] will at once prove the fallacy of this impression. Our little volume will also be found useful by those who desire to write for the press. To all such, the forms of department articles will prove both in- teresting and valuable. A careful examination of these forms will enable the student to obtain an in- telligent understanding of the various departments in newspaper literature, and also furnish him with materials for deciding for which to qualify himself editing or reporting. CONTENTS. PACT? 1. Rules for the Use of Capitals and Italics 1 2. Division of Words into Syllables . . 5 3. On the Hyphen . . 6 4. Rules for Spelling .... 8 5. On Nouns . . . . . 12 6. On Gender . . ... . 13 7. On the Formation of the Plural Number of Nouns 21 8. On the Verb 28 9. On the Participle ..... 29 10. On Shall and Will ." . . .33 11. On Irregular Verbs .... 34 12. Corresponding Conjunctions . . . .41 13. Miscellaneous Observations on Points that occasion difficulty to the Student ... 42 On the letters w and y: see No. 1. On a and an : see Nos. 2, 10, and 13. On the possessive case ; see No. 3. On the degrees of comparison : see Nos. 4, 14, 18, 19, 38, 40, and 64. On the pronouns you, thou, your, thy, &c. : see Nos. 6, 7, and 80. On the pronouns who, that, which, and what : see Nos. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, 34, and 88. On each, every, either, and neither : see Nos. 28, 29, 37, and 46. On the participles : see Nos. 44, 48, 50, and 51. On the omission of the sign to before certain verbs : see No. 52. On negatives ; see Nos. 55, 56, 57, and 58. On the right position of adverbs : see Nos. 59 and 60. (5) VI CONTENTS. FAGB Miscellaneous Observations, &c. (cont.) On idiomatic expressions : see Nos. 42, and 79. On the expressions two first, two last, &c. : see No. 85. On each other and one another : see No. 92. On this and that in the sense of former and latter: see No. 104. On other important peculiarities see the remain- ing Numbers. 14. Hints on the current improprieties of expression in writing and speaking, with rules for their correc- tion, . . . . . .77 15. On Composition .... 96 16. On Punctuation ..... 108 17. Figures of Speech . . .121 18. Explanation of Latin words and phrases of frequent occurrence in newspapers, reviews, periodicals, and books in general .... 129 19. Explanation of French words and phrases of frequent occurrence in newspapers, reviews, periodicals, and books in general .... 141 20. On Abbreviations ..... 145 21. Over 500 mistakes of daily occurrence, in speaking, writing and pronunciation, corrected . . 149 22. Rhetorical Composition, . . . .194 23. On Composition for the Press, with Forms of Arti- cles in the various departments of Newspaper Literature, . . . . . .200 A GUIDE FOR ALL, WHO WISH TO SPEAK AND WRITE CORRECTLY, 11ULES FOB THE USE OF CAPITALS AND ITALICS. THE following classes of words should commence with capital letters : 1. The first word of a sentence. 2. The first word of every line in poetry. 3. The first word of a direct quotation. Examples: And Nathan said unto David, " Thou art the man.' ; Remember this ancient maxim : "Know thyself.' 7 An indirect quotation may be introduced without the use of a capital. Example : It is recorded of him, who " spake three thousand proverbs," that "his songs were a thousand and five." 4. Words used as names of the Deity. Examples : " Our Father, who art in Heaven." " Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth." "And chiefly thou, Spirit, that dost prefer. Before all temples, the upright heart and pure." Milton. (7) 8 RULES FOR THE USE OF 5 Proper names and honorary titles. Examples: "The City of London" "The Honorable Henry Erskine :" " Sir Matthew Hale" 6. Common nouns personified. Examples : " If Pain comes into a heart, he is quickly followed by Pleasure ; and if Pleasure enters, you may be sure that Pain is not far off." Addison. " And Discipline at length, O'erlooked and unemployed, fell sick and died; Then Study languished, Emulation slept, And Virtue fled." Cowper. 7. Every important word in a phrase used as a title. Examples: "Hume's History of England :" " Virtue the only true Source of Nobility :" " The Board of. Trade" " The French Revolution" The pronoun J and the interjection O should also be written in capitals. Examples: "Mast I endure all this?" "Come forth, O ye children of gladness, come!" Most adjectives, derived from proper names, should commence with capitals. Examples : " A Grecian education was consi- dered necessary to form the Roman orator, poet, or artist." " The Copernican system is that which is held to be the true system of the world." A personal pronoun referring to the Deity, is often commenced with a capital. Examples: "All that we possess is God's, and we are under obligation to use it all as He wills." CAPITALS AND ITALICS. 9 " Will He not hear tliee Who the young ravens heareth from their nest 1 Will He not guard thy rest ?" Hemans. There are also numerous cases in which words may commence either with capitals or small letters, according to the taste of the writer. Short detached pieces of writing are often com- posed entirely of capitals. [For examples, see title- pages, heads of chapters and sections, monumental inscriptions, cards, &c.] Italic letters are those which stand inclining, This sentence is printed in Italics. When an author wishes to distinguish any parti- cular word or phrase for the sake of emphasis, or for any other purpose, it is generally printed in Italics. Examples : " If we regard enunciation and pronunciation as the mechanical part of elocution intiection, emphasis, and pausing, may be desig- nated as its intellectual part." Russell. " To be perfectly polite, one must have great presence of mind, with a delicate and quick sense of propriety." Mrs. Chapone. Sentences of special importance are often printed entirely in Italics. When a particular word, phrase, or sentence is designed to be made still more conspicuous than it would be, if expressed in Italics, it is printed in small capitals. Examples : " OBSERVATION and EXPERIMENT constitute the basis of the science of Mechanics. 7 ' " To the numerous class of young men who are mainly dependent on their own resources for know- 10 RULES FOR THE USE OF ledge, or respectability, one of tlie most important councils of wisdom, which can be addressed, is STUDY YOUR OWN CHARACTER AND PROSPECTS." When a word or phrase in an Italic sentence is to be distinguished from the rest, it should be printed in Roman letters. If it is particularly important, it may be expressed in capitals. Examples : *' The, grand clue to all syntactical parsing is the sense." " HYDROSTATICS is that branch of Natural Philosophy which treats of the mechanical properties and agencies of LIQUIDS." "To find the surface of a REGULAR SOLID." When a word is used merely as a word, it should generally be printed in Italics. Examples : " The adjective same is often used as a substitute." " Who is applied to per- sons, and which to animals and inanimate things." Words and phrases introduced into English writ- ings from foreign languages, are generally expressed in Italics. Example: "All adjournment sine die is an adjournment without fixing the time for resuming business.' 7 In the common English version of the Scriptures. Italics are used to indicate those words, which are not found in the original. Examples : "After two days was the feast ofilie passover :" in the original, "After two days was the passover.' 7 " There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest :" in the original, " There are yet four months, and the harvest cometh." CAPITALS AND ITALICS. 11 In writing, it is customary to underline such words as would be italicised in printing. Example. u Jb (^006 n/cb 6-eew/ io^6u>le< ei^ew/ ofcet, tfve of out/ DIVISION OF WORDS INTO SYLLABLES. As a general principle, it may be observed that the syllables of a word are those divisions which are made in a correct pronunciation of it. The following are, perhaps, the only definite rules, that can be given on this subject. 1. Two consonants forming but one sound, as ng, ck, tli, sh, pk, ivk, are never separated. Thus, we write churck-es, wor-tliy, feath-er, ring-ing, a-wJiile. 2. The terminations cean, dan, ceous, cious, cial, tian, lion, tious, tial, geon, gian, geous, gious, sion, and sicr, are seldom divided. Thus, we write, na- tion, o-cean, capa-cions pi-geon, cap-tious. 3. Compound words are commonly separated into the simple words, of which they are composed; as, care-less, lee-hive, rail-road. 4. The termination ed, though not always pro- nounced separately, is regarded in writing as a dis- tinct syllable ; as lov-ed, burn-ed. 5. Derivative and grammatical terminations should generally be separated from the radical word : as, great-ly, teach-er, rush-est, prov-est. 12 ON THE HYPHEN. The Hyphen [-] is used at the end of a line, when the whole of a word cannot be got into it, and shows that the rest of the word is at the beginning of the following line. Some compound words are connected with the hyphen, others without it. Writers are not agreed on the subject of inserting and oinit-ting the hyphen. The following REMARKS may be of use : 1. When each of two contiguous nouns retains its original accent, the hyphen is not used ; as, Master Luilder. 2. When two nouns are in opposition, and each is separately applicable to the person or thing desig- nated, the hyphen is not used ; as The Lord Chan- cellor, who is both a Loud and a Chancellor. 3. When the first noun is used as an adjective, and expresses the matter or substance, of which the second consists, and may be placed after it with of not denoting possession, the hyphen is not used; as, a silk gown, a cork jacket; that is, a gown of silk, a jacket of cork. When the first noun is not used as an adjective, does not express the matter or substance of the second, and may be placed after it with ^ denoting possession, or wither, belonging' to, &c., the hyphen is used : as, a silk-mill, a mill for silk ; a cork-screw, a screw for corks ; a horse-dealer, a dealer in horses ; a kitchen-grate, a grate for a kitchen. When the words readily coalesce, are easily pro- nounced as one, have long been associated together ON THE HYPHEN. 13 and are in. frequent use, the hyphen is often omitted, and both nouns are printed or written as one ; thus, Bookseller, a seller of books ; Schoolmaster, the master of a school. The necessity of attending to the hyphen will be evident from the following examples : A glass house, a tin man, an iron mould, a negro merchant, pro- nounced as separate words, and each with its natural accent, will mean a house, made of glass, a man made of tin, a mould made of iron, a merchant, who is a negro; but a glass-house, a tin-man, an iron-mould, a negro- merchant, taken as compound nouns, with the accent on the first syllable, will mean a house for the manu- facture of glass, a man who works or deals in tin, a mould for casting iron, or a mould or stain caused Ly the rust of iron, a merchant, who buys and sells negroes. It would, perhaps, be an improvement in such cases, to use a hyphen similar to that which is used by some foreign printers [=], as this would enable the student, on meeting with a compound word, printed part of it at the end of one line, and part at the beginning of the following line, to know whether the words should be connected with a hyphen or not. If they should be connected by a hyphen, this one = would be used ; if not, the common hyphen -. 4. When a compound noun consists of an adjective and a noun, no hyphen is used; as, High Sheriff, Chief Magistrate. When the adjective and its noun are used together as a kind of compound adjective to another noun, a hyphen is inserted between the two former ; thus, The High- Church doctrine. 14 RULES FOR SPELLING. o. When an adjective or adverb, and a participle immediately following, are used together as a kind of compound adjective, merely expressing a quality, without reference to immediate action, and precede the noun to which they are joined, a hyphen is used ; as, A quick-sailing vessel ; The above-men tioned circumstances. When they imply immediate action, and follow the noun, the hyphen is not used ; as, The ship quick sailing o'er the deep [or, Quick sailing o'er the deep, the ship\ pursues her course. The, circum- stances above mentioned. RULES FOR SPELLING. 1. Final consonants are generally single ; as in man, book, repeat. The final letters in add, ebb, odd, jagg, egg, err, purr, burr, inn, butt, and buzz, are exceptions to this rule. We must also except f, I, and s, immediately preceded by a single vowel, or by gu or qu, and a single vowel. Under these circumstances, f, and, in monosyllables, I and s, are doubled, as in rebuff, call, guess, quill ; except in as, has, was, gas, his, is, this, thus, us, yes, is, if, of and its compounds hereof, whereof, fyc. Concerning I and s in words of more than one syllable, no certain rule can be given. C assumes k at the end of all monosyllables, ex- cept lac, zinc, and arc. K was formerly used after c, in many words of more than one syllable ; but it is now generally omitted, except in some few words; as, attack, hillock, bullock. RULES FOR SPELLING. 15 2. Words ending in y preceded by a consonant, change y into i on receiving an addition,* unless this addition is 's, or a syllable beginning with i ; as, carry, carries, carrier ; fancy, fancied, fanciful ; lady, lady's ; carry, carrying. 3. But words ending in y preceded by a vowel r generally retain the y on taking an increase ; as, boy, boys, boyish, EXCEPTIONS. Paid, laid, lain, saith, said, and most of their compounds, as, unpaid, mislaid, are exceptions to this rule. 4. Words ending in silent e, generally reject the e, before an additional syllable beginning with a vowel ; as, move, movest,\ moving, 'movable. Exc. 1. Words ending in oe, retain the final e ; as, shoe, shoeing ; hoe, hoeing. Exc. 2. When c is preceded by c or g, it is retained before ous and able ; as, courageous, peace- able. Exc. 3 The e is retained in a few words to prevent ambiguity ; as in singeing, to distinguish it from singing ; in dyeing [colouring], to distin- guish it from dying [expiring]. Exc. 4. Words terminating in ee 9 drop the final letter only when the addition begins with e; &s, see, seer, seeth ; flee, fleest ; agree, agreed. Final ie, besides dropping e, changes i into y, before an additional syllable beginning with i; as, lie, lying. The 2nd, 4th. and 6th rules are not intended to include such additions as form compound words. f Maccst is formed in accordance with the rule, by dropping the e in move, and adding est. 16 RULES FOR SPELLING. 5. Words ending in silent e generally retain e on receiving an additional syllable beginning with a consonant ; as, large, largely. Exc. Dull/, truly, wholly, awful, judgment, abridgment, aclcnowledgment, and argument, are exceptions. Before^ and ty, e is sometimes changed into i; as, pure, purity, purify. 6. Monosyllables and words accented on the last syllable, ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, generally double the final consonant, on taking an additional syllable beginning with a vowel ; as, tan, tanner ; fulfil, fulfilling. Exc. 1. X and z are never doubled; and when the accent is shifted, the final letter re- mains single ; as, wax, waxen ; confer, conference. Excel follows the general rule ; as in excellence. jExc. 2. The derivatives of gas have only one s ; as, gases, gasify. When a diphthong precedes the final letter, or when the accent is not on the last syllable, the consonant is not doubled, on assuming an additional syllable; as, boil, boiling ; visit, visitor. Respecting words ending in I and p, which are not accented on the last syllable, usage is not settled. In many words these letters are most frequently doubled ; as, travel, traveller, worship, worshipper. Many words ending in c assume k on taking an additional syllable beginning with e, i, or ?/ ; as, frolic, frolicked, frolicking. 7. Words ending in a double consonant generally RULES FOR SPELLING. 17 retain both consonants on receiving an addition ; as, call, calls, caller, calling. Exc. Some words ending in 11 drop one I on receiving an increase beginning with a consonant ; as , full, fuln ess, fully . S. Compound words are usually spelled in the same manner as the simple words, of which they are composed ; as, here-after, ice-7iouse. Exc. An c is dropped in wherever ; and words ending in II often drop one I in composition ; as, witk-al, un-til, al-ready. E is inserted before s, in forming the plural of nouns and the third person singular of verbs, ending in ch soft, sli, s, x, z, o, or y, preceded by a consonant ; as, churclies, wishes, kisses, cooes, t flies. Exc. Cameo, embryo, and nouns ending in io, form the plural by adding s alone. In the fol- lowing words*e is commonly, but not uniformly, omitted : Canto, solo, grotto, junto, quarto, octavo, portico, tyro, zero, and a few others. Many words in our language admit of two or more- different modes of spelling ; as, connection, connex- ion ; inquire, enquire ; negotiate, negociate ; riband, ribband ; ribon, ribbon ; chemistry, cliymistry. In such cases, the prevailing usage is to be learnt by observing the practice of the standard authors of the present day, and by consulting the best dic- tionaries. In some kinds of writing, such as bills and inscrip- tions, symbols are often used to represent either whole words or parts of words ; as, XII, 18, 29th, 18 ON NOUNS. &e. But in literary compositions, elegant usage generally rejects these, except in giving dates, and the several divisions of a subject. ON NOUNS. A noun is a word used to express the name of an object; as, Europe, boy, slate, honor. Nouns are of two kinds ; -proper and common. A. proper noun is the name used to distinguish an in&ividual object from others of the same class; as, Thomas, Dublin, Severn^jfltna, August. A common noun is a name which may be applied to any one of a whole class of objects ; as, desk, cottage, village, scholar. Common nouns embrace also the particular classes, termed abstract, verbal or participial, and collective. An abstract noun is the name of a quality consid- ered apart from the object to which it belongs; as, hardness, strength, wisdom, benevolence. Thus, in beautiful flower, the quality expressed by the word beautiful, when considered as separated from the object flower, forms the abstract noun beauty. A participial noun is a word which has the form of a participle, and performs the office of a noun ; as, " They could not avoid submitting to this influence." A collective noun, or noun of multitude, is a name, that denotes a collection of many individuals ; as, school, floclc, veoplc, assembly. 19 ON GENDER. Gender is the distinction of objects with regard to sex. There are three genders ; the masculine, the feminine-) and the neuter. Nouns, which denote males, are of the masculine gender; as, man, brother, king, father. Nouns, which denote females, are of the feminine gender ; as, woman, sister, queen, mother. Nouns, which denote objects neither male nor fe- male, are of the neuter gender ; as, rock, loind, paper, knowledge. Some nouns are equally applicable to both sexes : as, cousin, friend, neighbour, parent, person, servant. The gender of these is usually determined by the context. To such words some grammarians have ap- plied the unnecessary and improper term common gender. Murray justjy observes, " There is no such gender belonging to the language. The business of parsing can be effectually performed without having recourse to a common gender" The term is more useful, and less liable to objection, as applied to the learned languages ; but with us it is plainly a solecism. Nouns of the masculine or feminine gender are frequently used in a general sense, including both sexes; as, "And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and Ms rider,' 7 Jer. li. 21. " Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be wise/ 1 Prov. vi. 6. 20 ON GENDER. When we speak of males and females of our own species without regard to sex, we generally employ a term in the masculine gender ; as, " Man is mor- tal ;" " The authors and poets of the age/' In speaking of young children, and of animate ob- jects, whose sex is unknown, we often employ the neuter pronoun it; as, " The child was well, when I saw it;" "He caught the bird, but it soon escaped from him." In the English language the gender of nouns fol- lows the order of nature ; but in the Greek, Latin, and German tongues, the grammatical genders are frequently assigned without regard to sex ; while in the French, Italian, &c., which have no neuter gen- der, every object is, of necessity, regarded as either masculine or feminine. By a figure of speech called Personification, gen- der is sometimes attributed to objects without sex. Thus the sun, time, death, &c., are usually consider- ed as masculine ; and the earth, a ship, virtue, &c.. are commonly characterised a& feminine. This figurative mode of expression, by which we give life and sex to things inanimate, contributes greatly to the force and beauty of our language, and renders it, in this respect, superior to the po- lished languages of Greece and Rome. No fixed rule can be given to determine, in all cases, which gender should be assigned to inanimate objects personified. Those, which are distinguished for boldness or strength, are generally regarded as masculine ; and those, which are distinguished for beauty or timidity, are generally characterised as ON GENDER. 21 feminine. Abstract nouns, and the names of ships, cities, and countries, are usually considered as fe- minine. Examples: " They arrived too late to save the ship, for the violent current had set lier more and more upon the bank." Irving. " Statesmen scoffed at Virtue, and she avenged herself "by bringing their counsels to naught." Russell. " Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.' 7 Coleridge. " Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound, Save his own dashings." Bryant. " The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould." Bryant. " Child of the Sun, refulgent Summer comes : He comes attended by the sultry hours, And ever-fanning breezes, on his way ; While, from his ardent looks, the turning Spring Averts her blushful face." Thomson. ON THE FORMATION OF THE PLURAL NUMBER OF NOUNS. The plural of nouns is generally formed by ad- ding s or es to the singular. Words ending in a sound, which will unite with the sound of s, form the plural by adding s only ; as, herd, herds ; tree, trees. Words ending in a sound, which will not unite with the sound of s, form the plural by adding es as, fox, foxes ; lash, lashes. 22 ON THE FORMATION OF THE "Words ending in silent e, whose last sound will not combine with the sound of s, add s only for the plural ; as, rose, roses ; voice, voices. Most nouns ending in o, preceded by a consonant, form the plural by the addition of es; as, cargo, car- goes; hero, heroes; but the following nouns are com- monly written in the plural with s only : canto, folio, grotto, junto, motto, memento, nuncio, punctilio, portico, quarto, octavo, solo, zero, seraglio, and tyro. There are also a few others, with respect to which, usage is not uniform. Several nouns ending in forfe change their ter- mination into ves in the plural ; as, leaf, leaves; life, lives ; beef, beeves ; shelf, shelves ; knife, knives. Others, as, chief, dwarf, Jive, grief, gulf, handker- chief, hoof, proof, roof, reproof, safe, scarf, strife, surf, turf, and most of those ending in ff\ form the plural regularly ; as, gulf, gulfs; muff, muffs. Staff' has staves in the plural, but its compounds are re- gular ; as, flagstaff, flagstaff s. Nouns ending in y after a consonant form the plural by changing y into ies ; as, lady, ladies. But nouns ending in y after a vowel form the plural re- gularly ; as, day, days. Many words ending in y were formerly spelled with ie in the singular; as, glorie, vanitie. The termination ie in the singular is now laid aside for y, while the old plural termination ies is retained ; as, glory, glories ; vanity, vanities. The plurals of the following nouns are variously formed: man, men; woman, women; child, child- ren; ox, oxen; mouse, mice; tooth, teeth; goose, geese;^ PLURAL NUMBER OF NOUNS. 23 foot, feet; brother, brothers [when applied to persons of the same family] ; brother, brethren [when applied to persons of the same society or profession]; die, dies [stamps for coining] ; die, dice [small cubes for gaming] ; genius, genii [aerial spirits] ; genius, ge- niuses [men of genius] ; pea, pease [the species] ; pea, 2 }cas [the seeds as distinct objects] ; penny -, pence [in computation] ; penny, pennies [as distinct pieces of coin]. Spoonful, mouse-trap, earner a-obscur a, Are-Maria, and other similiar compound nouns form the plural regularly ; as, spoonfuls, mouse-traps, camera-ob- scuras, Ave- Marias. But words, composed of an adjective and a noun, or of two nouns connected by a preposition, generally form the plural by adding s to the first words; as, court-martial, courts-martial; knight -err ant, knights-errant; aide-de-camp, aides- de-camp; cousin-merman, cousins-german; son-in-law, sons-in-law. Letters and numeral figures are gener- ally pluralised by adding an apostrophe with the letter s; as, Twelve a?s; three 5's. The plural of words, considered as words merely, is formed in the same manner. Examples: ' I busied myself in crossing my t's and dotting my i's very industriously." Wil- lis. "The first or leading figures change from 9\? to 0V Hutton. "Who, that has any taste, can endure the incessant, quick returns of the also's, and the likewise's, and the moreover's, and the koweve?*'s, and the notwithstanding' s ?" Camp" bell's "Philosophy of Rhetoric." 24 ON THE FORMATION OF THE Many nouns adopted from foreign languages re- tain their original plurals. Alumnus Arcanum Automaton Amanuensis Antithesis Analysis Axis Apex Appendix Basis Bean Bandit Criterion Crisis Calx Chrysalis Cherub Datum Desideratum Dogma Diaeresis Ellipsis Emphasis Ephcmeris Effluvium Encomium Erratum Focus Fungus Formula alumni arcana automata, automatons amanuenses antitheses analyses axes apices, apexes appendices, appendixes bases beaux banditti, bandits criteria, criterions crises calces, calxes chrysalides cherubim, cherubs data desiderata dogmas, dogmata diaereses ellipses emphases ephemerides effluvia encomiums, encomia errata foci fungi, funguses formulas, formulae PLURAL NUMBER OF NOUNS. Gymnasium gymnasia, gymnasiums Genus genera Hypothesis hypotheses Ignis fatuus ignes fatui Index indices [referring to alge- braic quantities] Index indexes [pointers or tables of contents] Lamina laminae Larva larvae Medium media, mediums Memorandum memoranda, memorand- ums Momentum momenta, momentums Metamorphosis metamorphoses .Miasma miasmata Monsieur messieurs Nebula nebulae Oasis oases Phenomenon phenomena Parenthesis parentheses Phasis phases Badius radii Scholium scholia, scholiums U Stratum strata Stamen stamens, stamina Stimulus stimuli Seraph seraphim, seraphs Speculum specula Thesis theses Vortex vortices Some nouns have the same form in both numbers ; 2 26 ON THE FORMATION OF THE as, deer, sheep, swine, trout, salmon, congeries, series, species, means, odds, belloios; ethics, mathe?natics, metkaphysics, pneumatics, optics, and other similiar names of sciences. There are also several nouns of number, which do not commonly vary their forms in the plural ; as, " Six dozen;" " Three score and ten." The words horse, foot, and infantry, denoting bo- dies of soldiers, are singular in form, but plural in signification. Cavalry is often used in the same manner. The words cannon, sail, and head, are also frequently employed in a plural sense. Examples : " Nelson now proceeded to his station with eight sail of frigates under his com- mand.' 7 Southey. "A body of a thousand horse was sent forward to reconnoitre the city." Ro- t bertson. " He ordered two cannon to be fired." Irving. The following words, though sometimes used as singular nouns, are more properly plural : alms, amends, pains, riches, wages. The following are used only in the plural : Annals Drawers [an article of Archives dress] Ashes Dregs r Assets Embers Billiards Entrails Bitters Goods Bowels Hatches Breeches Hose [stockings] Clothes Hysterics Calends Ides PLURAL NUMBER OF NOUNS. 27 Literati Pleiads Lees Snuffers Letters [literature] Scissors Lungs Shears Minutiae Shamblers Manners Tidings Morals Tongs Nippers Thanks Nones Vespers Orgies Vitals Pincers Victuals Nouns, denoting objects, which do not admit of plurality, are used only in the singular ; as, gold, silver, wheat, ivine, flour, industry, pride, wisdom. When, however, different kinds or varieties are spoken of, words of this class "sometimes take the plural, form; as, "The waters of Germany;" "The wines of France." The different species or classes are here signified, and not a number of individuals of the same class. The word news is now regarded as singular, though it was formerly used in both numbers. Shakspeare has it most frequently in the plural. Proper names are sometimes pluralised like other nouns : as, The two Scipios, the Howards, the John- sons; but these plural names are not used to desig- nate individuals, and may with more propriety be classed with common nouns. In forming the plural of a proper name and a title, taken as one complex noun, the plural termina- tion is most frequently annexed to the title only : 28 ON THE VERB. Examples : " The Misses Vanhomrigh." Edin- burgh Journal. " Messrs. Percy ." Southey. In forming the plural of proper names, to which titles are prefixed, usage is still unsettled. While a decided majority of our popular writers pluralise the title and not the name, as the " Misses Mor- gan," there is also a large class of writers equally reputable, who pluralise the name and not the title ; as, " The Miss Morgans." Examples : " The Miss Thomsons" Fuller. " The two Miss Flamboroughs." Goldsmith. Beside the two forms already exhibited, there is still another, in which the plural termination is an- nexed to both the name and the title ; as, " The Misses Morgans." This form, though not very common, is not entirely destitute of authority. Examples : " The Messrs. Wilsons." Jones. " The two Misses Beauvoirs." Blackwood. The proper names of nations, societies, groups of islands, and chains of mountains, are generally plu- ral ; as, The French, The Moravians, The Azores, The Alps, The Andes. ON THE VERB. A Verb* is a word, which expresses an assertion or affirmation ; as, I am ; I teach ; I am taught. Verbs are divided into regular and irregular. * The term verb is derived from the Latin verbum, which signifies a word. This part of speech is so called, because the verb is the principal word in the sentence. ON THE PARTICIPLE. 29 A regular verb is one, which forms its past tense and perfect participle by adding d or ed to the pre- sent ; as, present, love ; past, loved ; perfect parti- ciple, loved ; call, called, called. E/egular verbs terminating in silent e form their past tense and perfect participle by the addition of d only, and those ending in any other letter, by the addition of ed. The verbs hear, pay, say and lay, which do not end in e, and which add d only for the past tense and perfect participle, are classed with irregular verbs. An irregular verb is one, which does not form its past tense and perfect participle by adding d or ed to the present ; as, present, see ; past, saw ; perfect participle, seen ; go, went, gone. ON THE PARTICIPLE. The participle is a mode of the verb, partaking of the properties of the verb and the adjectire ; as, seeing, seen, having seen, having been seen. Participles may be classed under two general di- visions : imperfect* and perfect. ** "The distinguishing characteristic of this participle is, that it denotes an unfinished and progressive state of the being, action, or passion ; it is therefore properly denominated the IMPERFECT participle." Brown. * * All that is peculiar to the participles is, that the one sig- nifies & perfect and the other an imperfect action." Pickbourn.. 11 The most unexceptionable distinction which grammarians make between the participles, is, that the one points to the continuation of the action, passion, or state denoted by the verb, and the other to the completion of it." Murray. 2* 30 ON THE PARTICIPLE. An imperfect participle denotes the continuance of an action or state ; as, calling, seeing, being seen. Imperfect participles relate to present, past, or future time, according as they are connected with verbs in the present, past, or future tense. A perfect participle denotes the completion of an action or state ; as, called, seen, having seen. Participles are also divided into simple and com- pound. A simple participle is a participle that consists of only one word ; as, doing, done. A compound participle is a participle that is com- posed of two or more words ; as, being seen, having seen, having leen seen. Being seen is a compound im- perfect participle ; having seen and having leen seen are compound perfect participles. Participles, like other modifications of the verb, have a transitive, an intransitive, and a passive use. Thus, seeing and having seen are transitive ; being and walking^ intransitive ; seen and having been seen, passive. Participles often lose their verbal character, and become adjectives; as, "Amoving spectacle ;" "A revised edition." They are then called participial adjectives. Participles are also used to perform the office of nouns ; as, " They could not avoid submitting to this influence.'' When used in this manner, they are called participial nouns. ON THE PARTICIPLE. 31 RULES FOR FORMING PARTICIPLES FROM REGULAR VERBS. ' The Imperfect participle is formed by adding ing to the verb ; as, call, calling. The Perfect participle is formed by adding d to verbs that end in silent e ; as, love, loved ; and ed to verbs that end in any other letter ; as, call, called. But Verbs ending in silent e, on assuming ing, omit the e; as, love, loving. Excerption 1. Singeing, swingeing, and dyeing, the imperfect participles of singe, swinge, and dye, retain the e, to distinguish them from singing, swinging, and dying, the participles of sing, swing, and die. Exception 2. Verbs ending in ie omit the e, and change the i into y before ing ; as, Tie, tying. Verbs of one syllable ending in a single conso- nant, preceded by a single vowel, [or by two vow- els, if the first is u,,] on assuming ing or ed, double the jinal consonant ; as, Ship, shipping, shipped ; Quit, quitting, quitted. Exceptions. Suit, suiting, suited ; bruit, bruit- ing, bruited Verbs ending in a single consonant, preceded by more than one vowel [unless the one before the last be u or w,] do not double the Jinal consonant, on assuming ing; as, Lead, loading, loaded ; Swab, swabbing, swabbed. Exception. Recruit, recruiting, recruited. Verbs of more than one syllable ending in a single consonant, preceded by a single vowel, [or by two 32 ON THE PARTICIPLE. vowels, if the first is u or w,~] and having the accent on the last syllable, double the final consonant, on assuming ing or ed ; as, Defer, deferring, deferred ; Acquit, acquitting, acquitted. Verbs of more than one syllable ending in a single consonant, preceded by a single vowel, and not ac- cented on the last syllable do NOT double the final consonant on assuming ing ; as, Recover, -recovering; Quiet, quieting. Note. The affix from quiet seems to contradict or form an exception to the Rule, as the final conso- nant is preceded by more than one vowel ; but the Eule applies only to the last syllable, which con- tains no more than one vowel. Verbs ending in y, preceded by ^consonant, change the y into i on assuming cd ; as Study, studied. Verbs ending in y, preceded by a vowel, on assum- ing cd, do not change the y ; as, Journey, journeyed. Verbs ending in ee, omit the latter e, on assuming ed; as, agree, agreed; fee, feed. Verbs ending in c assume k before ing and ed; as, Frolic, frolicking, frolicked ; Mimic, mimicking, mimicked ; Traffic, trafficking, trafficked. Shoe makes shoeing ; Hoe, hoeing, hoed; Eye, eying, eyed. The following words ought not to double the final consonant when a termination is added : Apparel, barrel, benefit, bias, bigot, billet, buffet, cancel, carol, cavil, channel, counsel, cudgel, dial, dri- vel, duel, equal, fillet, gallop, gambol, gibbet, gossip, gravel, grovel, handsel, jewel, kennel, kidnap, level, hbel, limit, marshal, marvel, model, parallel, parcel, ON "SHALL" AND "WILL." 33 pencil, pommel, quarrel, revel, rival, rivet, shovel, shrivel, snivel, trammel, travel, wainscot and worship* ON "SHALL 7 ' AND " WILL." In affirmative sentences, sliall, in the first person, simply foretells ; as, " I shall write." In the sec- ond and third persons, sliall is used potentially, de- noting a promise, command, or determination; as, " You shall be rewarded ;" " Thou shalt not kill ;" " He shall be punished." Will, in the first person, is used potentially, denoting promise or determina- tion ; as, " I will go at all hazards." In the sec- ond and third persons, will simply foretells ; as "You will soon be there;" "He will expect you." In interrogative sentences, shall, in the first per- son, may either be used potentially to inquire the will of the person addressed, as, " Shall I bring you another book ?" or it may simply ask whether a certain event will occur ; as, " Shall I arrive in time for the train ?" When shall is used interrogatively in the second person, it simply denotes futurity ; as, " Shall you be in Edinburgh next week?" Shall, employed interrogatively in the third person, has a potential signification, and is used to inquire the will of the person addressed ; as, " Shall John order the carriage ?" Will, used interrogatively in the second person, is potential in its signification ; as, " Will you go 1" Will may be used interrogatively in the third person, to denote mere futurity ; as, " Will the boat leave to-day 1" Or it may have a potential signification, inquiring the will of the per- 34 ON IRREGULAR VERBS. son spoken of; as, " Will he hazard his life for the safety of his friend ?" In the subjunctive mood, shall, in all the persons, denotes mere futurity ; as, " If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault." Will, on the contrary, is potential in its significa- tion, having respect to the will of the agent or sub- ject ; as, " If he will strive to improve, he shall be duly rewarded." ON IRREGULAR VERBS. The following list comprises nearly all the simple irregular verbs in our language. When more forms than one are used in the past tense, or perfect participle, that which stands first is to be preferred. Compound verbs [except welcome and bcJiavc, which are regular] are conjugated like the simple verbs, from which they are formed ; &$, foresee, fore- saw, foreseen. LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS. Present. Past Perf. Part. Abide Abode Abode Ain Was Been Awake Awoke, Awaked Awaked Bear Bore Born [to bring forth] Bear,jfor- Bore Borne [to sustain] Beat Beat Beaten, Beat Begin Began Begun ON IRREGULAR VERBS. 35 Present. Bend, un- Bereave Beseech Past. Perf. Part. Bent, Bended. Bent, Bended Bereft, Bereaved Bereft, Bereaved Bind, un- re- Bite Bleed Blow Break Breed Bring Build, re- up- Burst Buy Cast Catch Chide Chid Choose Chose Cleave[to adherejCleaved Cleave [to split] Clave, Cleft Cling Clung Clothe Come, be- over- Cost Besought Bade, Bid Bound Bit Bled Blew Broke Bred Brought Built, Builded Burst Bought Cast Besought Bid Bound Bitten, Bit Bled Blown Broken Bred Brought Built, Builded Burst Bought Cast Creep Crow Cut Dare* [to venture] Deal Caught, Catched Caught, Catched Chid Chosen Cleaved Cleft Clung Clothed Clothed Came Come Cost Cost Crept Crept Crew, Crowed Crowed Cut Cut Dared, Durst Dared Dealt Dealt *Dare< to challenge, is regular. 36 IRREGULAR VERBS. Pres. Dig Do, Past. Dug Did Perf. Part. Dug Done un-, mis-, over- Draw, with" Drew Drawn Drink Drank Drunk Drive Drove Driven Dwell Dwelt, Dwelled Dwelt, Dwelled Eat Ate Eaten Fall, be- Fell Fallen Feed Fed Fed Feel Felt Felt Fight Find Fought Found Fought Found Flee Fled Fled Fly Fling Forsake Flew Flung Forsook Flown Flung Forsaken Freeze Froze Frozen Get, be, for- Gild Got Gilt, Gilded Got Gilt, Gilded Gird, Girt, Girded Girt, Girded be-, un-, en- Give,yb;'-, mis- Gave Given Go, for-, under- Grave, eft- Went Graved Gone Graved Grind Ground Ground Grow Grew Grown Have Had Had Hang* Hung Hung * Hang, to take away life "by hanging, is regular ; as, ' das departed, and went and hanged himself. " Jo- ON IRREGULAR VERBS. 37 Pres. Past. Perf. Part. Heave* Heaved, Hove Heaved, Hoven Hear, over- Heard Heard Hew Hewed Hewn, Hewed Hide Hid Hidden, Hid Hit Hit Hit Hold, Held Held be-, with-, up- Hurt Hurt Hurt Keep Kept Kept Kneel Knelt Knelt Knit Knit, Knitted Knit, Knitted Know,/0rc- Knew Known Lade Laded Laded Load, un-, over- Loaded Loaded Lief Lay Lain [to lie down] Lay Laid Laid [to place], in- Lead, mis- Led Led Leave Left Left Lend Lent Lent Let Let Let Light Lighted, Lit Lighted, Lit Lose Lost Lost Make Made Made Mean Meant, Meaned Meant, Meaned Meet Met Met Mow Mowed Mown, Mowed The irregular past tense and perfect participle of this verb are employed in sea language ; but the latter rarely, f Lie, to tell a falsehood, is regular. 3 38 ON IRREGULAR VERBS. Pres. Past. Per/. Part. Pay, re- Paid Paid Pen [to enclose]* Penned, Pent Penned, Pen Put Put Put Quit Quitted, Quit Quit, Quitted Read Read Read Rend Rent Rent Rid Rid Rid Ride Rode Ridden Ring Rang, Rung Rung Rise, - Rose Risen Rive Rived Riven Run, out- Ran Run Saw Sawed Saw, Sawed Say, un-, gain- Said Said See,jfore- Saw Seen Seek Sought Sought Sell Sold Sold Seethe Seethed, Sod Seethed Send Sent Sent Set, be- Set Set Sit Sat Sat Shake Shook Shaken Shed Shed Shed Shine Shone Shone Shoe Shod Shod Shoot, over- Shot Shot Shew or Show Shewed ^Showed Shewn or Shown Shred Shred Shred Shrink Shrunk Shrunk Pen, to write, is regular. ON IRREGULAR VERBS. 39 Pres. Past. Perf. Part. Shut Shut Shut Sing Sang, Sung, Sung Sink Sank, Sunk Sunk Slay Slew Slain Sleep Slept Slept Slide Slid Slid Sling Slung Slung Slink Slunk Slunk Slit Slit Slit Smite Smote Smitten Sow Sowed Sown, Sowed Speak, be- Spoke Spoken Speed Sped Sped Spend, mis- Spent Spent Spill Spilt, Spilled Spilt, Spilled Spin Spun Spun Spit* Spit Spit Split Split Split Spread, over-, be- Spread Spread Spring Sprang, Sprung Sprung Stand,-z0^,-w/ ider-Stood. Stood Steal Stole Stolen Stick Stuck Stuck Sting Stung Stung Stink Stank, Stunk Stunk Stride, be- Strode Stridden Strike Struck Struck String Strung Strung Strive Strove Striven * Spit, to put on a spit, is regular. 40 ON IRREGULAR VERBS. Prcs. Past. - Perf. Past. Strowor Strew, fo-Strowed,Strewed Strown, Strewed Strewn, Strewed Swear, for- Swore Sweat Sweated Sweep Swept Swell Swelled Swim Swam, Swum Swing Swung Take, mis-, under- Took be-, re-, over-, Teach, un-, mis- Taught Tear Tore Tell, fore- Told Think, be- Thought Thrive Sworn Sweated Swept Swelled,SwolIen Swum Swung Taken Taught Torn Told Thought Throve, Thrived ThrivenThrived Thrown Thrust Trodden Worn Woven Wept Won Wound Wrung Written Obs. When the past tense is a monosyllable not ending in a single vowel, the second person singular of the solemn style is formed by the addition of est; as, heardest, fleddcst, lookest. Hadst, wast, saidst 9 and didst, are exceptions. Throw, over- Threw Thrust Thrust Tread, re- Trod Wear Wore Weave, un- Wove Weep Wept Win Won Wind, un- Wound Wring Write Wrung Wrote CORRESPONDING CONJUNCTIONS. 41 N.B. The words beholden, bounden, cloven, drun- ken, graven, laden, molten, sodden, shaven, shorn, sunken, stricken, stringed, and wrought, which were formerly used as perfect participles, are now used only as adjectives. CORRESPONDING CONJUNCTIONS. 1. Some conjunctions are composed of two cor- responding words. The following list embraces most of this class of connectives, and exhibits the correct mode of employing them : Both and : " It is the work of a mind fitted both for minute researches and for large speculations." Macaulay. Though, although yet, still, nevertheless: " Though deep, yet clear though gentle, yet not dull ;" " Though a thousand rivers discharge themselves into the ocean, still it is never full." Whether cr : " Whether it were I or they." Either or: "No leave ask'st thou of either wind or tide." Neither nor : "Neither act nor promise hastily." 2. Some conjunctions are used in correspondence with adverbs or adjectives. The following are the principal connectives of this class : As as, so: " She is as amiable as her sister ;"- "As he excels in virtue, so he rises in estimation." So as: " ISTo riches make one so happy as a clear conscience ;" " Speak so as to be understood." So that, expressing a consequence : " She speaks *o low that no one can hear what she is saying." 42 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. Not only but, but also : " He was not only pru- dent, but also industrious." Such as: " There never was such a time as the present. Such that : "Suck is the emptiness of human enjoyment that we are always impatient of the present." More, sooner, &c. than: " They have more than heart could wish ;" " The Greeks were braver than the Persians/ 7 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. ON POINTS, THAT OCCASION DIFFICULTY TO THE STUDENT. 1. The letters 20 and y are consonants, when they precede a vowel in the same syllable : as in wine, twine, youth in other situations they are vowels. 2. A and An are one and the same article. A is used, whenever the following word begins with a consonant as, A man, a tree ; or with an aspirated h as, a house, a horse ; or, with a consonant sound as ; such a one, a university, a ewe, a eulogy. N.B. The words university, ewe, and eulogy, begin with the consonant sound of y, and the word one with the consonant sound of w. An is used, whenever the following word begins with a vowel as, an army, an ounce ; or, with an k not sounded as, an hour, an heir. An is also employed by most writers before words beginning with an aspirated h,, when the accent falls on the second syllable as, " An historical piece ;" MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 43 "An hereditary government ; " "An harmonious whole." A or an is the Saxon word ane or an, signifying one. 3. The possessive case, denotes ownership or posses- sion : as, "John's book " " The sun's rays." The possessive singular of nouns is generally formed by adding an apostrophe, with the letter ?, to the nominative : as, nom. man; poss. marts. The possessive of singular nouns ending in the sound of s or z, is sometimes formed by adding only the apostrophe; as, "Achilles' shield." In poetry, this omission of the additional s must be regarded as fully sanctioned by usage. It is also allowable in prose, when the use of the s would require the utterance of several hissing sounds in rapid succes- sion ; as, "Moses' disciples" "Dames' Surveying" "For conscience? sake" "For righteousness'' sake" but, say, "The witness's testimony." In all other cases the regular form is to be preferred; as, "Col- lins's Odes" "Erasmus's Dialogues." "Achilles' shield his ample shoulders spread, Achilles' helmet nodded o'er his head." Pope. " A train of heroes followed through the field, Who bore by turns great Ajax' seven-fold shield." Ibid. Plural nouns ending in s, form the possessive by adding an apostrophe only ; as, nom. fathers: poss. fathers'. Plural nouns, that do not end in s, form the pos- sessive by adding both the apostrophe and s ; as, 44 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS nom. men; poss.mens. The import of the possessive may, in general, be expressed by the particle of. Thus, for "man's wisdom,'* we may say, "The wis- dom of man" When the singular and plural are alike in the nominative, the apostrophe ought to follow the s in the plural, to distinguish it from the singular; as " a sheep's head ;" " shceps* heads." The sign 's is a contraction of es or is. Thus man's, king's, were formerly written manes or manis, hinges or Idngis. N. B. The Rev. Dr. M'Culloch, in his admirable " Manual of English Grammar," says " It has been supposed that the termination ['s] of the English possessive is a contraction of the possessive pro noun. his. Thus* John's book' has been said to be an abreviation of * John his book.' But this opinion is evidently erroneous. The termination ['*] cannot always be resolved into the pronoun his. We cannot resolve ' queen's crown' into * queen his crown,' or * children's bread' into ' children his bread.' The fact seems to be, that the English possessive termination is one of the parts of our language, which we have preserved from the Sax- on. The casal termination of the Saxon possessive is es or is, as appears in such phrases as Godes sight' l hingis crown? The progress of change in the termination seems to have been es, is, 's." Several respectable authors and critics have fallen into the error of regarding this possessive termina- tion as a contraction of the pronoun his. " The game single letter [s], on many occasions, does the ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 45 office of a whole word, and represents the 7iis or her of our forefathers." Addiscn. It is true that the word his was frequently writ- ten after words to form the possessive, by Spenser, Dryden, Pope, and other popular authors, during a period of two or three centuries, as, " Christ Jiis sake" " Socrates fys rules ;" but the present con- tracted form of the possessive was in use still earlier, and our ablest philologists have uniformly referred its origin to the old Saxon termination. 4. Adjectives have three degrees of comparison : the positive, the comparative, and the superlative; but it has been objected to the positive form, that, as it denotes the quality in its simple state, without increase or diminution, it cannot properly be called a degree. It should, however, be borne in mind that all adjectives imply a general comparison of qualities. Thus, when we say that a man is dis- creet, we obviously mean that he has more discre- tion than the generality of men. So also when we say that a man is tall, it is implied that he is tall compared with other men. Hence arises the differ- ence between the height of a tall man and that of a tall tree, each being compared with others of the same kind. In this sense, therefore, the positive is strictly and properly a degree of comparison. The following adjectives are compared irregu- larly : Positive. Comparative. Superlative. Good, Better, Best, Bad, evil, or ill, Worse, Worst, 46 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS Positive. Comparative. Superlative. Far, Further, Farther,Farthest, Furthest. Late, Later, Latest, [referring to time.] Last, [in order.] Little, Less, Least. Much, or many, More, Most. Near, Nearer, Nearest, [Refer- ring to place.] Next [in order.] Old, Older, Elder, Oldest, Eldest, N. B. Elder and eldest are applied to persons ; and, according to the best usage, only in comparing members of the same family. Thus an elder bro- ther, the eldest sister : but Wellington was little older than Napoleon ; the oldest street in the town. D'Orsey. Some adjectives in the superlative degree are formed by adding most to the comparative, or to the word, from which the comparative itself is made ; as, hind, hinder, hindermost or hindmost : nether, nethermost : up, uppermost or upmost : in, innermost, or inmost. Diminution of quality is expressed by less and least, whether the adjective be of one syllable or more than one ; as, bold, less bold, least bold. 5. There seems to be no good reason for joining an and other. An here excludes any other article : and analogy and consistency require that the words be separated. Their union has sometimes led to an ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 47 improper repetition of the article ; as, " Mother such a man," for " An other such man." 6. The pronoun you was originally plural in sig- nification, but it is now universally employed in popular discourse to represent either a singular or a plural noun. "No usage of our language is more fully established than that, which recognizes you as the representa- tive of nouns in the singular number. Brightland, one of the earliest of our English grammarians, who wrote in 1710, classes you with the singular pronouns /, thou and he. Greenwood, in his celebrated grammar, which appeared the fol- lowing year, says " Thou or you is of the second person singular." The same opinion was enter- tained by many other grammatical writers of the last century. Lindley Murray's Grammar first appeared in 1795. Following the' practice of the Society of Friends, the community, in which he was edu- cated, he restricted you to the plural number ; and such was the influence of his example that this word was, for a time, very generally excluded from the list of singular pronouns. There has, however, always existed a respecta- ble class of authors, who have treated this pronoun you as singular, when used to personate an individ- ual : and, during the last forty years, the number of this class has very rapidly increased. " It is altogether absurd to consider you as exclu- sively a plural pronoun in the modern English lan- guage. It may be a matter of history, that it was 48 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS originally used as a plural only : and it may be a matter of theory, that it was first applied to individ- uals on a principle of flattery : but thejfac is, that it is now our second person singular. When ap- plied to an individual, it never excites any idea either of plurality or of adulation : but excites, pre- cisely and exactly, the idea, t^iat was excited by the use of thou, in an earlier stage of the language/' J e ff re yi i n ^ ie Edinburgh Review. " If a word, once exclusively plural, becomes, by universal use, the sign of individuality, it must take its place in the singular number. That this is the fact with you, is proved by national usage." Web- ster. 7. The " Soctety of Friends'" profess to use thou in addressing a single individual many of them, however, [perhaps from an idea that it is less for- mal,] misemploy thee. for thou, and often join it to the third person of the verb, instead of the second. Such expressions as tl thee does, thee is, thee has, thee thinks" &c., are double solecisms; they set all grammar at defiance. We have, however, in Scrip- ture, an instance of similar inaccuracy : "For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands; O well is thee [that is to say, O thee is well,] and happy shalt thou be." Psalm cxxviii. 2. Prayer Book Trans- lation. 8. Never say " I have come " " He has risen " " They were once in good circumstances, but have now fallen " but " I am come " " He is risen" " They Tvere, &c., but arc, now fallen." 9. We nearly always see can and not written as ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 49 one word : thus, cannot. This is not always correct. The rule for the junction or non-junction is very simple : When power is denied, can and not are united to prevent ambiguity : as, " I cannot go." But when the power is affirmed, and something else is denied, the words are written separately : as, " The Christian apologist cannot merely expose the utter baseness of the infidel assertion, but he has also positive ground for erecting an opposite and confronting assertion in its place." 10. When adjectives are connected, and the qual- ities belong to things individually different, though of the same name, the article should be repeated : as, " A black and a white horse." When adjectives are connected, and the qualities all belong to the same thing or things, the article should not be repeated : as, "A black and white horse." N.B. By a repetition of the article before several adjectives in the same construction, a repe- tition of the noun is implied ; but without a repeti- tion of the article the adjectives are confined to one and the same noun. To avoid repetition, inconsistent qualities are sometimes joined to a plural noun : as, " The old and new testaments," for " The old and the new testament." 11. Were is sometimes used for would be or should be : as, " Ah ! what were man should Heaven refuse to hear ? Had is also occasionally employed for would liavc or should liave; as, " I had not known sin but by the law." 50 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS 12. The verb need is often used in the third per- son singular of the indicative present, without the personal termination : as, " The truth need, not be disguised :" " There was one condition, which need not be mentioned. 7 ' 13. When the article a or an is placed before the words few or little, it* generally changes their mean- ing from negative to positive. Thus, when we say, " There wereyew; persons present," the wovdfew is used in a negative sense, in distinction from many, to denote the smallness of the number. But when we say, " There were a few persons present," the word Jew is used in a positive sense, in distinction from none, to denote that there were some persons present. The expressions, " He needs little aid," and " He needs a little aid," serve also to illustrate this remark. 14. When two nouns following a comparative re- fer to different persons or things, the article should bo repeated before the second noun : but when the two nouns refer to the same person or thing, the article should not be repeated. Thus, in the sen- tence, " He is a better soldier than a scholar," the terms soldier and scholar relate properly to different individuals, and it is implied that he is a better soldier than a scholar would be. But, in the sentence, " He is a better soldier than scholar,' 7 the terms soldier and scholar are limited to one individual, and it is implied that he is better in the capacity of a sol- dier than in that of a scholar. 15. Adjectives, that imply unity or plurality, must agree with their nouns in number: as, ''That sort ;" " Those sorts*" Never say, " Those sort of persons " a very common expression. ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 51 16. When the adjective is necessarily plural, the noun should be made so too : as, " Twenty pounds}'' not " Twenty pound :" a very common mistake. N.B. In some peculiar phrases, however, this rule appears to be disregarded ; as, " Tub hundred penny- worth of bread is not sufficient." John vi. 7. ll Twen- ty sail of vessels." "A hundred head of cattle." 17. The noun means has the same form in both numbers : it should, therefore, be used with an ad- jective of the singular or plural number, as the sense requires : as, " By this means they bear witness to each other." Mean, in this sense, is not in good use. 18. When the comparative degree is employed, the latter term of comparison should never in- clude the former : as, "Iron is more useful than all the metals." It should be, " than all the, other metals." 19. When the superlative degree is employed, the latter term of comparison should never exclude the former : as, "A fondness for show is, of all other follies, the most vain.' 7 The word other should be expunged. 20. An explanatory clause should never be inser- ted between a positive noun and the word by which it is governed. The following sentence is faulty in this respect : " She began to extol the farmer's, as she called him, excellent understanding.' 7 It should be, " She began to extol the excellent understand- ing of the farmer, as she called him." 21. The pronoun who should not be used to rep- resent a name, which is taken merely as a word. Thus, " The court of Queen Elizabeth, who was but 52 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS another name for prudence and economy/' should be, "The court of Queen Elizabeth, whose name was but another word for prudence and economy." 22. The word what should not be used for the conjunction that, nor that for the compound relative what, that is to say, for the relative pronoun what, as equivalent in signification to that which, or those which. The following sentences are in this respect faulty : " They would not believe Imtwhat he was guilty :" " We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen." 23. What is sometimes used adverbially, in the sense of partly, or in part : as, " What with < wood- ing' at two or three places, and what with the ex- citement of the day, we were too fatigued to give more than a glance and a passing note of admira- tion to the beauty of the scene." 24. Relatives should be so placed as to prevent all ambiguity in regard to the words which they are intended to represent. The following sentence is, therefore, objectionable : "He is unworthy of the confidence of a fellow-being that disregards the laws of his Maker." Corrected : " He that disregards the laws of his Maker is unworthy of the confidence of a fellow-being." " I am the man, who command you." This sen- tence is ambiguous, and may be corrected in two different ways. If who is intended to refer to J, we should say, "I, who command you, am the man." But if who is intended to refer to man, then we should say, "I am the man who commands you." 25. In familiar language the relative is sometimes ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 53 improperly omitted. Thus, l ' He is a man I greatly esteem,' 7 should be, ft He is a man whom I greatly esteem." So, also, " I am dissatisfied with the man- ner I have spent my time," should be, "I am dis- satisfied with the manner in which I have spent my time." 26. Whatever is sometimes employed merely for the purpose of rendering a word or phrase emphatic : as, "No condition whatever" 27. In order to determine, in difficult cases, whether an adjective or an adverb is required, the student should carefully attend to the definition of these parts of speech, and consider whether, in the case in question, quality or manner is to be ex- pressed: if the former, an adjective is proper: if the latter, an adverb. The following examples will illustrate this point : " She looks cold : she looks coldly on him." " I sat silent : I sat silently mus- ing." " Stand firm : maintain your cause^rwZy." 28. The pronominal adjectives, each, every, either, and neither, are always in the third person singular ; and when they are the leading words in their clauses, they require verbs and pronouns to agree with them accordingly : as, "Each of you is entitled to his share." 29. Either and neither relate to two things only : when more are referred to, any and none should be used instead of them : as, " Any of the three " not "Either of the three." " None of the four " not "Neither of the four." 30. Which, as well as who, was formerly applied to persons ; as, " Our Father, which art in heaven." 54 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS It may still be applied to a young child : as, " The child which died." 31. Nouns of multitude, unless they express per- sons directly as such, should not be represented by the relative who : to say, " The family ', whom I visited," would hardly be proper: that would here be better. When, however, such nouns are strictly of the neuter gender, the pronoun which may rep- resent them : as, " The committees which were ap- pointed." o'-2. An adverb should not be used, where a pre- position and a relative pronoun would better express the relation of the terms : as, "A cause where justice is so much concerned :" say, "in which justice," &c. 33. Where a pronoun or a pronominal adjective will not express the meaning clearly, the noun must be repeated. In the following sentence the mean- ing is not clearly expressed : " we see the beautiful variety of colour in the rainbow, and are led to consider the cause of it" say, " the cause of that variety. 34. The relative that may be applied either to persons or to things. In the following cases it is preferable to who or which : 1. After an adjective of the superlative degree : as, " He was the first, that came." 2. After the adjective same : as, " This is the s:ime person that I met before." 3. After the antecedent who : as " Who, that has common sense, can think so V 4. After a joint reference to per- sons and things : as, " He spoke of the men and things, that he had seen." 5. After an unlimited antecedent : as, " Thoughts, that breathe, and ivords, ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 55 that burn." 6. After an antecedent introduced by the expletive it : as, " It is you, that command." " It was J, that did it." 7. And, in general, where the propriety of who or which is doubtful : as, " The little child, that was placed in the midst." 35. A collective noun conveying the idea of unity, requires a noun in the third person singular, neuter : as, " The nation will enforce its laws." Most collective nouns of the neuter gender may take the regular plural form, and be represented by a pronoun in the third person plural, neuter: as, " The nations will enforce their laws." 36. The adjuncts of the nominative do not con- trol its agreement with the verb : as, " Six months' interest was due." " The propriety of these rules is evident" " The mill, with all its appurtenances, was destroyed." 37. Either is occasionally employed by good writers in the sense of each : as, " On either side the giant guards divide." Southey. " The Sabine hills and the Albanian mountains stretch on cither hand." Irving. "N. B. This practice, however, should be carefully avoided. 38. In the use of comparative and superlative ad- jectives, care should be taken not to include a noun or pronoun in a class, to which it does not belong, nor exclude it from a class, to which it does belong. Thus, it would be improper to say, " Socrates was wiser than any Athenian," because Socrates was himself an Athenian, and could not be wiser than himself. The correct form would be, " Socrates was wiser than any other Athenian," or, " Socrates was 56 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS I the wisest of the Athenians.'' The following sentence is also erroneous : " The vice of covetousness, of all others, enters deepest into the soul." Covet- ousness is not one of the other vices, as the con- struction of the sentence would imply. Correct- ed : " Of all the vices, covetousness enters deepest into -the soul." 39. The word " self," when used alone, is a noun : as, "The love of self is predominant." 40. Double comparatives and superlatives, as worser, most straitest, should he carefully avoided. The word lesser is, however, sometimes employed by good writers : as, " Of lesser note." Goldsmith. ** Lesser graces" Blair. " Like lesser streams." Coleridge. 41. The verbs need and want are sometimes em- ployed in a general sense, without a nominative, expressed or implied : as " There needed a new dis- pensation of religion for the moral reform of so- ciety." Eceleigh. " There needs no better picture of his destitute and piteous situation, than that fur- nished by the homely pen of the chronicler." Irv- ing. " Wheresoever the case of the opinions came in agitation, there wanted not patrons to stand up and plead for them." Sparks. " Nor did there want Cornice, or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven." Milton. 42. Idiomatic expressions sometimes occur, in which intransitive verbs are followed by objectives depending on them : as ' l Perhaps we have wanted ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 57 the spirit, the manliness, to look the subject fully in the face." Channing. "They laughed him to scorn." Matt. ix. 24. " The broken soldier, kindly hid to stay, Sat by his fire, and talked the night away." Goldsmith. 43. The verb learn is often improperly used for teach : as, " It is of little utility to learn scholars that certain words are signs of certain moods and tenses." Insert teach in the place of learn. 44. The imperfect participle of a transitive verb is sometimes employed in a passive sense : as " The fortress was building. Different opinions have long existed among critics respecting this passive use of the imperfect partici- ple. Many respectable writers substitute the com- pound passive participle : as, " The house is being built :" " The book is being printed.' 1 The pre- vailing practice, however, of the best authors, is in favour of the simple form : as, " The house is building" 11 The propriety of these imperfect passive tenses has been doubted by almost all our grammarians : though I believe but few of them have written many pages without condescending to make use of them. Dr. Beattie says, ' One of the greatest de- fects of the English tongue, with regard to the verb, seems to be the want of an imperfect passive participle.' And yet he uses the imperfect parti- ciple in a passive sense as often as most writers." Pickbourn's " Dissertation on the English Verb." 58 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS A distinguished Reviewer thus expresses himself in reference to this point : " Several other expres- sions of this sort now and then occur, such as the new-fangled and most uncouth solecism l is Icing done,' for the good old English idiomatic expression 'is doing,' an ahsurd periphrasis, driving out a pointed and pithy turn of the English language." 45. When the nominative is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the verb must agree with it in the plural number : as, " The council were divided." 46. When a verb has nominatives of different persons or numbers, connected by or or nor, it must agree with that which is placed nearest to it, and be understood to the rest, in the person and num- ber required : as, " Neither he nor his brothers were there." "Neither you nor I am concerned." But when the nominatives require different forms of the verb, it is, in general, more elegant to ex- press the verb, or its auxiliary, in connexion 'with each of them : as, " Either thou art to blame, or I am" Neither were their numbers, nor was their destination known," 47. The speaker should generally mention him- self last ; as, " Thou or I must go ;" "He then ad- dressed his discourse to my father and mz." But in confessing a fault he may assume the first place: as, "land Robert did it." 48. Participles have the same government as the verbs from which they are derived. The preposi- tion of, therefore, should not be used after the par- ticiple, when the verb does not require it. Thus, in ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 59 phrases like the following, of is improper : " Keep- ing of one day in seven ;" " By preaching of re- pentance ;" " They left off beating of Paul." When participles are compounded with something that does not belong to the verb, they become ad- jectives ; and as such, they cannot govern an object after them. The following sentence from "Jones's Church History " is, therefore, inaccurate : "When Caius did anything unbecoming his dignity." When a transitive participle is converted into a noun, of must be inserted to govern the object fol- lowing. An imperfect or a compound participle, preceded by an article, an adjective, or a noun or pronoun in the possessive case, becomes a verbal noun ; and as such, it cannot govern an object after it. A word, which may be the object of the participle in its proper construction, requires the preposition of, to connect it with the verbal noun : as, 1. [By the par- ticiple.] "By exercising the body, health is promo- ted." 2. [By the verbal noun.j " By the exercising of the body, health is promoted." Again: 1. [By the participle.] "Much depends on observing this rule." 2. [By the verbal noun.] " Much depends on their observing of this rule." When the use of the preposition produces ambi- guity or harshness, the expression must be varied. Thus the sentence, " He mentions Newton's writing of SL commentary,' 7 is both ambiguous and awkward. If the preposition be omitted, the word writing will have a double construction, which is inadmissible. Some would say, "He mentions Newton writing a 60 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS commentary." This is still worse, because it makes the leading word in sense the adjunct in construction. The meaning may without difficulty Le correctly expressed. Thus : " He mentions that Newton wrote a commentary.' 7 " By Jiis studying the Scriptures he became wise." Here Jiis serves only to render the sentence incorrect. 49. The verbal noun should not be accompanied by any adjuncts of the verb or participle, unless they be taken into composition : as, " The hypo- crite's hope is like the giving-up of the ghost. 7 ' The following phrase is therefore inaccurate : *' For the more easily reading of large numbers." Yet, if we say, " For reading large numbers the more easily" the construction is different, and not inaccurate. 50. In sentences like the following, the participle seems to be improperly made the object of the verb : " I intend doing it." " I remember meeting him." Better, "I intend to do it." " I remember to have met him." 51. A participle construed after the nominative or the objective case, is not equivalent to a verbal noun governing the possessive. There is some- times a nice distinction to be observed in the appli- cation of these two constructions, as the leading word in sense should not be made the adjunct in construction. The following sentences exhibit a disregard to this principle, and are both inaccurate : " He felt his strength's declining." " He was sensi- ble of his strength declining." In the former sen- tence the noun strength should be in the objective ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 61 case, governed by felt ; and in the latter, in the possessive, governed by declining. 52. When the infinitive follows the transitive verbs lid, dare, feel, sec, let, make, need, and hear, the sign to is usually omitted : as, " I felt my strength return:" "Nothing need be said:" "We heard the thunder roll :" " Pride guides his steps, and bids him shun the great.'' The sign of the infinitive is also omitted, in some instances, after the verbs have, behold, observe, per- ceive, know, and help: as, "Would they have us reject such an offer P 53. In the use of verbs, those tenses alone should be employed which correctly express the sense in- tended. Although this rule is somewhat indefinite, yet when taken in connection with the definitions and illustrations of the tenses, that, are given in many grammars, it will, in most cases, be a sufficient guide to the student. It is violated in the following ex- ample : "After I visited* Europe I returned to America." The verb visited in this sentence relates to a time previous to that denoted by the verb re- turned. It should, therefore, be in the past perfect tense. Corrected : "After I had visited Europe I returned to America.' 1 " I expected to have seen you," is also incorrect. The verb " to have seen" cannot here relate to a time prior to that denoted by the verb " expected." It should not, therefore, be in the past perfect tense. Corrected : " I ex- pected to see you." 54. Never is sometimes improperly used for ever : 62 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS as, " They might be extirpated, were they never so many." Corrected : " They might, &c., were they ever so many." 55. A negation is properly expressed by the use of one negative only. The following sentence is therefore erroneous : " I never did repent for doing good, Nor shall not now." Shakspere. 56. Two negatives in the same clause are gen- erally equivalent to an affirmative, and are some- times elegantly employed to express a positive assertion : as, " The pilot was not & acquainted with the coast :" u Nor did he pass amoved the gentle scene." The intervention of only, or some other word of kindred meaning, preserves the ne- gation : as, " He was not only ^/liberal, but cov- etous/ 7 57. A repetition of the same negative renders the negation more emphatic : as, " I would never lay down my arms: never, never, never" Pitt. 56. The adverb no is often improperly used for not : as, " Whether he will or no, he must be a man of the nineteenth century.'' Macaulay. 59. Adverbs should be placed in that situation which contributes most to the harmony and clear- ness of the sentence, and which accords best with the usage of the language. This rule is violated in the sentence, " Thoughts are only criminal when they are first chosen and then voluntarily contin- ued." Johnson. As it now stands, the adverb only properly qualifies criminal, whereas the author in- tended to have it qualify the clause following when. ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 63 Corrected : " Thoughts are criminal only when they are first chosen, and then voluntarily contin- ued." The following sentence is also faulty: -"It is not the business of virtue to extirpate the affections of the mind, but to regulate them/* Corrected: "The business of virtue is not to ex- tirpate the affections of the mind, but to regulate them. 7 ' 60. An adverb should not be placed immediately after the infinitive particle to. This rule is violated in the following sentence: ''Teach scholars to carefully scrutinize the sentiments advanced in all the books they read:" say "Teach scholars to scrutinize carefully" &c., or "carefully to scruti- nize/ 7 &c. 61. Than should be used to correspond with rather, and with all comparative*. The clause following other is also more properly introduced by than, though good writers occasionally employ some other term. N.B. " In the Book of Common Prayer we have, * Thou shalt have no other gods but me :' and the same expression occurs in Addison, Swift, and other contemporary writers. Usage, however, seems of late to have decided almost universally in favour of than." Dr. Crombie. 62. The conjunction so is occasionally used in the sense ofifoT provided that : as, " It signifies little whether it be very well executed or not, so it be reasonably well done, and without any glaring omissions or errors." Lord Brougham. 63. The word both should not be used with ref- erence to more than two objects or classes of ob- 64 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS jects. The following example is, therefore, erro- neous : " He paid his contributions to literary undertakings, and assisted both the Tatler, Specta- tor, and Guardian.' 7 Johnson. Both should be omitted. 64. The conjunction as, used in connection with an adjective or adverb in the positive degree, is sometimes improperly coupled with a comparative, and followed by than : as, " The latest posterity will listen with as much or even greater pleasure than their contemporaries." Everett. Corrected : "The latest posterity will listen with as much pleasure as their contemporaries, or even greater." 65. A preposition and its object should be so placed as to leave no ambiguity in regard to the words which the preposition is intended to connect. The following sentence is faulty in this respect : " The message Avas communicated by an agent, who had never before discharged any important office of trust, in compliance, with the instructions of the ex- ecutive." In is here intended to show the relation between was communicated and compliance; whereas the present arrangement indicates that it expresses the relation between had discharged and compliance. Corrected.: li The message was communicated in compliance with the instructions of the executive, by an agent, who had never before discharged any im- portant office of trust." 66. Care should be taken to employ such prepo- sitions as express clearly and precisely the rela- tions intended : as " He went to Glasgow :" " He arrived at Liverpool :" " He rode into the country:" ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 65 " He resides in London :" " He walks with a staff &?/ moonlight :" "The mind is sure to revolt from the humiliation of being thus moulded and fashioned, in respect to its feelings, at the pleasure of another." Whately. 67. But is sometimes employed as a preposition, in the sense of except : as, " The boy stood on the burning deck, Whence all but him had fled." Hemans. 68. " O'clock" is an eliptical expression, con- tracted from "Of the clock:" "At seven of the dock: 1 Spectator. "By five of the dock." Shalcspere. 69. The preposition into expresses a relation pro- duced by motion or change : and in, the same rela- tion, without reference to motion : hence, " to walk into the garden/' and, " to walk in the garden," are very different. 70. Between or betwixt is used in reference to two things or parties : among or amidst, in refer- ence to a greater number, or to something, by which another may be surrounded : as, " Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear." Byron. " The host between the mountain arid the shore." Id. "To meditate amongst decay, and stand A ruin amidst ruins." Byron. 71. Two separate prepositions have sometimes a joint reference to the same noun : as " He boasted of, and contended for, the privilege." This con- struction is formal, and scarcely allowable, except 66 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS in the law style. It is better to say, " He boasted of the privilege, and contended for it." 72. By the customary [but faulty] omission of the negative before but, that conjunction has ac- quired the adverbial sense of only : and it may, when used with that signification, be called an adverb. Thus the text, " He hath not grieved me but in part, [2 Cor. ii. 5] might drop the negative and convey the same meaning : " He hath grieved me but in part." " Reason itself but gives it edge and power." Pope. " Born but to die, and reasoning but to err." Idem. 73. A noun, governing the possessive plural, should not be made plural, unless the sense require it. Thus : say, " We have changed our mind" if only one purpose or opinion is meant. A noun, taken figuratively, may be singular, when the literal meaning would require the plural : such expressions as " Their face" " Their neck" "Their hand" "Their head" "Their heart" u Our mouth' 1 " Our life" are frequent in the Scriptures, and are not improper. 74. Never say, " He was paid the money" but, " The money was^paid him" 75. The adjective worth is followed by the ob- jective case, governed, perhaps, by of understood : as, " The book is worth a sovereign." Some sup- pose that worth in this construction is a noun, and that there is a double ellipsis of the preposition : as, " The book is [of the] worth [of] a sovereign." After the kindred adjectives worthy and unworthy, ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 67 #/* should be expressed: as, "It is worthy of re- mark.'' " It is unworthy of notice/' Worth was anciently a verb signifying be, and was used in every part of the conjugation. Some traces of this usage are found in modern writings : as, " Wo worth the chase, wo worth the day, That cost thy life, my gallant gray !" Scott. Here worth is a verb, and to is understood after it : the meaning being, " Wo be to the chase," &c. 76. In connecting words, that express time, the order and fitness of time should be observed. Thus : instead of, " I have seen him last week,' 9 say, " I saw him last week :" and instead of, " I saw him this week," say, "I have seen him this week" 77. Verbs of commanding, desiring, expecting, hoping, intending, permitting, and some others, in all their tenses refer to actions or events, relatively present or future: one should, therefore, say "I hoped you would come," not "would have come:" and, "I intended to do it," not, "to have done it :" &c. 78. Propositions, that are at all times equally true or false, should generally be expressed in the present tense : as, " He seemed hardly to know that two and two make four, 7 ' not, " made." 79. Idiomatic expressions sometimes occur, in which a transitive verb is used intransitively in a sense nearly allied to the passive : as, " The goods sell rapidly :" " The cloth tears : " Mahogany planes smooth :" " These lines read well." 80. When two or more personal pronouns in the 68 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS second person are employed in the same connection, they should be made to correspond in style. The following passages are, therefore, inaccurate: 1. "Enjoy your dear wit, and .gay rhetoric, That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence : Tliou art not fit to hear ^?/A > e// > convinced." Milton. N.B. Your should be thy, to correspond with tlwu and thyself. 2. " As in that loved Athenian bower, You learned an all-commanding power, Thy mimic soul, O nymph endear'd, Can well recall what then it heard." Collins. N.B. Thy should be your, to correspond with you. 81. We sometimes find adverbs used after the manner of nouns : as, " The Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Matt. viii. 20. " The Son of God was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. 11 2 Cor. i. 10. "An eternal now does always last." Cowley. " To say aye and no to every thing I said ! Aye and no too was no good divinity I" Shakspere. " Till now they had paid no taxes."- Inglis. "On the following day Columbus came to where, the coast swept away to the north-east for many leagues." Irving. " Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight." Gray. " Till then, who knew the force of those dire arms ?" Milton. N. B. At once, and by far, are in general use ; and the adverbial phrases from hence, from thence, from whence, constitute an authorized idiom. Such expressions, however, as from where, from there, to here, from far, since when, since then, till now, are ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 69 seldom employed by the best prose writers. In poetry, their occurrence is more frequent. 82. In former times, the infinitive was sometimes preceded by for as well as to ; as, " I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.' 7 Acts xxiv. 11. "What went ye out for to see V 1 Luke vii. 2G. "Learn skilfullie how Each grain for to laie by itself on a mow." Tusser. Modern usage rejects the former preposition. 83. A singular nominative and an objective after with are sometimes made to form the joint subject of a plural verb ; as, " Pharaoh with all his host were drowned in the Eed Sea." This copulative use of with is occasionally adopted by good writers ; it would, however, be better, in most cases, either to put and in the place of with, or to employ the singular form of the verb. Thus instead of saying " This noble ship, with her gallant crew, were buried beneath the waves," it would be better to say " This noble ship and her gallant crew were buried beneath the waves." So, also " This brave officer, with a company of only fifty men, have succeeded in quelling the insurrection,' 7 would be better ex- pressed by saying ; " This brave officer, with a com- pany of only fifty men, has succeeded in quelling the insurrection." " Examples : " This principle, with others of the same kind, supposes man to act from a brute impulse." Johnson. " He himself, with others, was taken." Moore. "A body of two thousand 70 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS men succeeded in surprising the quarters of the Marquis of Cadiz, who, with his followers, was exhausted by fatigue and watching." Prescott. 11 This phraseology," says Dr. Crombie, " though not strictly consonant with the rules of concord, fre- quently obtains both in ancient and modern lan- guages ; in some cases, indeed, it seems preferable to the syntactical form of expression." 84. In a familiar question or negation the com- pound form of the verb is preferable to the simple ; as, "Does he come to town every week?" Not "Comes he to town,' 1 &c? But in the solemn or the poetic style, the simple form is more dignified and graceful ; as, " Under sf, and est thou what thou readest ?" " Of whom spcaketh the prophet this?" Acts viii. 30, 34. " What ! Heard ye not of low- land war?" Scott. 85. Some grammarians object to the use of the numerals two, three, four, &c., before the adjectives first and last. There seems, however, to be no good reason for the objection, and the expressions two first, three last, &c., are fully sanctioned by good usage. Examples : " My two last letters." Addison. " The two first lines are uncommonly beautiful.' 7 Blair. "At the two last schools." Johnson. "The four first are altogether and unequivocally poet- ical." Cheever. "The three first of his longer poems.' 1 Southey. The expressions first three,, last two, &c,, are also iu good use, and, in some cases, are to be preferred, Examples : "The first eighteen years." ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 71 Robertson. " The history of the world for the last fifty years." Everett. "During the last seven or eight years." Brougham. N.B. " It has been fashionable of late to write the first three, and so on, instead of the three first. Persons write in this way to avoid the seeming ab- surdity of implying that more than one thing can be the first ; but it is, at least, equally absurd to talk about the first four, when [as often happens] there is no second four." Arnold. " Surely, if there can be only 'one last,' 'one first,' there can be only ' a last one,' ' a first one.' I need only observe that usage is decidedly in favor of the former phrase- ology." Grant. " The only argument against the use of two first, and in favor of substituting first two, so far as I can recollect, is this : In the nature of things, there can be only one first and one last, in any series of things. But is it true that there can never be more than one first and one last ? If it be so, then the adjectives first and last must al- ways be of the singular number, and can never agree with nouns in the plural. We are told that the first years of a lawyer's practice are. seldom very lucrative. The poet tells us that his first es- says were severely handled by the critics, but his last efforts have been well received. Examples like these might be produced without number. They occur every \\her 3 in all our standard writers. . . . When a numeral adjective and a qualifying epithet both refer to the same noun, the general rule of the English language is to place the numeral first, then the qualifying epithet, and afterwards the noun. 72 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS Tkus we say, ' the two ivise men,' * the two tall men;' and not 'the wise two men/ * the tall two men.' And the same rule holds in superlatives. We say ' the two wisest men/ ' the two tallest men;' and not * the wisest two men/ 'the tallest two men/ Now if this be admitted to be the general rule of the English language, it then follows that we should generally say, ' the two first,' ' the two last' &c., rather than l i\\v first two,' 'the last two, 1 &c. This, I say, should generally be the order of the words. Yet there are some cases in which it seems prefer- able to say, ' the first two,' l the first three,' &c." Dr. Murdoch. 86. " Of the two forms, 'him excepted' and 'he cx- cepted,' the former [contrary to the sentiment of the majority of grammarians] is the correct one." Latham. 87. His was formerly employed as the possessive both of he and it. Examples : " Put up again thy sword into his place/' Matt. xxvi. 52. " Learning hath his infancy, when it is but beginning, and almost childish." Bacon. N.B. "The possessive its does not appear before the seventeenth century." Booth. "Its is not found in the Bible, except by misprint." Brown. 88. Who is usually applied to persons only ; which, though formerly applied to persons, is now confined to animals and inanimate things ; what [as a mere pronoun] is applied to things only ; that is applied indifferently to persons, animals or things. 89. The word than was formerly used as a pre- ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 73 position, and still retains this character in the phrase than whom; as, " Beelzebub, than whom, Satan ex- cept, none higher sat.'* Milton. OBS. The phrase than which is also sometimes used in a similar manner; as, " A work than which the age has certainly produced none more sure of bequeathing its author's name to the admiration of future times." Russell. 90. The second person singular of the simple verb do is now usually written dost ; being contracted in orthography as well as in pronunciation. This anomaly seems unnecessary. In the words undoest and overdoest no contraction takes place. 91. An is sometimes a conjunction signifying if; as, "Nay, an thou'lt mouthe, I'll rant as well as thou." Sha&spere. 92. To express a reciprocal action or relation, the pronominal adjectives each other and one another are employed; as, " They love each other;" "They love one another" The words separately considered are singular ; but taken together, they imply plu- rality; and they can be properly construed only after plurals, or singulars taken conjointly. EacJi other is usually applied to two objects ; and one an- other to more than two. The terms, though recip- rocal and closely united, are never in the same con- struction. If such expressions be analyzed, each and one will generally appear to be in the nomina- tive case, and other in the objective; a&, "'They love each other ;" that is, each loves the other. Each is properly in apposition with they, and other is governed by the verb. The terms, however, admit 74 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS of other constructions ; as, " Be ye helpers one of another" Bible. Here one is in apposition with ye, and another is governed by of. " Ye are one another's joy." Bible. Here one is in apposition with ye, and another's is in the possessive case, being governed by joy. " Love will make you one an- other's joy." Here one is in the objective case, being in apposition with you, and another } s is gov- erned as before. The Latin terms alius, alium, alii, olios, &c., sufficiently confirm this doctrine. 93. When the verb has different forms, that form should be adopted which is the most consistent with present and reputable usage, in the style employed ; thus, to say familiarly, " The clock hath stricken ;" " Thou laughedst and talhcdst when thon oughtest to have been silent ;" " ^Hizreadcth smdwritetk, but he doth not cipher," would be no better than to use dont, won't, can't, shan't, and didn't in preaching. 94. Adjectives should be employed to qualify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. It is therefore incor- rect to say, " She writes elegant;" "Thine often in- firmities." 95. Conjunctions should not be unnecessarily ac- cumulated ; as, "But AND if that evil servant shall say in his heart," &c. Matt. xxiv. 48. 96. Those verbs and participles which require a regimen, should not be employed without it ; as, ' She endeavored to ingratiate [herself] with the family ;" " I will not allow of it." Leave out of. 97. Those verbs and participles which do not ad- mit a regimen should not be used transitively ; as, ON DIFFICULT POINTS. 75 " The planters grow cotton :" say raise, or culti- vate. N.B. Some verbs, however, may govern a kin- dred noun, or its pronoun, but no other; as, "He lived & virtuous life;" "Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed" Gen. xxxvii. 6. 98. Beside should be used as a preposition, and besides only as an adverb. 99. Passive verbs of asking, giving, teaching, and some others, are often employed to govern a noun or pronoun in the objective. Examples : " He was asked his opinion" Johnson. " They were denied the indulgence" Macaulay. " He was taught the science in its strictly logical form ;" " They had been refused shelter;" "And all are taught an avarice of praise." Goldsmith. 100. There are some verbs which may be used either transitively or intransitively ; as, " He will return in a week;" "He will return the book;" " The wind blows violently ;" " The wind blows the chaff'." 101. Mussulmen is used by many writers as the plural of Mussulman, which is decidedly incorrect. We say Frenchmen^ Dutchmen, Irishmen, &c., and not Frenchmans, Dutchmans, Irishmans, because Frenchman, Dutchman, and Irishman are respect- ively compounded of French and man, Dutch and wan, Irish and man, and because men is the plural of man. But, as to the word Mussulman, though it may be a compound in the Arabic, in which lan- guage it signifies a believer in the true rdi ion, yet 76 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. considered as an English word, it is not compoun- ded, but simple, as we have no such word as Mussul in the English tongue. It is the same with the words Ottoman and Ger- man, which, considered as English wordsr are not compounded, whatever they may be in the countries where they were coined. We, therefore, say* Otto- mans and Germans in the plural ; and no one ever yet took it into his head to say Ottomen or Ger- men. ' We ought, on the same principle, to say Mussul- mans in the plural, and not Mussulman. 10,2. Co- ought to be used only when the word with which it is joined begins with a vowel, as in co-eval, co-existent, co-incident, co-operate, &c. Con-, when the word begins with a consonant, as in con- temporary, conjuncture, &c. There is but one ex- ception, which is co-partner. 103. Extemporary is preferable as an adjective to extempore, which is properly an adverb, and ought, for the sake of precision, to be confined to that use. Thus we say with propriety, an extemporary prayer, an extemporary sermon ; but, he prays extempore, he preaches extempore. On the same principle, scarcely as an adverb ought to be preferred to scarce, which is an adjective ; and exceedingly as an adverb, to exceeding, which is a participle. 104. When this and that are used in the sense of former and latter, this and these correspond with latter, that and those with former. Exa?nplcs: " Religion raises men above them- selves ; irreligion sinks them beneath the brutes; ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 77 this [if religion] binds them down to a pitiable speck of earth, that [religion] opens for them a prospect to the skies." " The palaces and lofty domes arose ; These for devotion, and for pleasure those" Pope. HINTS ON THE CURRENT IMPROPRIETIES OF EX- PRESSION IN WRITING AND SPEAKING, WITH RULES FOR THEIR CORRECTION. 1. SOME people speak of " so many spoonsfull" instead of " so many spoonfuls." The rule on this subject says, " Compounds ending in ful, and all those in which the principal word is put last, form the plural in the same manner as other nouns ; as " handfuls, spoonfuls, mouthfuls," etc., etc. Logic will demonstrate the propriety of this rule : Are you measuring by a plurality of spoons ? If so, " so many spoonsful! " must be the correct term ;. but if the process of measuring be effected by re- filling the same spoon, then it becomes evident that the precise idea meant to be conveyed is, the quan- tity contained in the vessel by which it is measured,, which is a "spoonful" CURRENT IMPROPRIETIES OF EXPRESSION. 2. It is a common mistake to speak of " a dis- agreeable effluvia." This word is effluvium in the singular, and effluvia in the plural. The same rule should be observed with automaton, arcanum, erra- tum, phenomenon, memorandum, and several others which are less frequently used, and which change 7* 78 FALSE SYNTAX. the um or on into a, to form the plural. It is so common a thing, however, to say memorandums 9 that I fear it would sound a little pedantic, in collo- quial style, to use the word memoranda ; and it is desirable, perhaps, that custom should make an ex- ception of this word, as well as of encomium, and allow two terminations to it, according to the taste of the speaker and the style of the discourse : memorandums or memoranda, like encomiums or encomia. 3. We have heard pulse and patience treated as pluralities, much to our astonishment. 4. It seems to be a position assumed by all gram- marians, that their readers already understand the meaning of the word " case/' as applied to nouns and pronouns ; hence, they never enter into a clear explanation of the simple term, but proceed at once to a discussion of its grammatical distinctions, in which it frequently happens that the student, for want of a little introductory explanation, is un- able to accompany them. But I am not going to repeat to the scholar how the term " case " is de- rived from a Latin word signifying "to fall," and is so named because all the other cases fall or de- cline from the nominative, in order to express the various relations of nouns to each other which in Latin they do by a difference of termination, in English by the aid of prepositions ; and that an orderly arrangement of all these different termina- tions is called the declension of a noun, etc., etc. etc. I am not going to repeat to the scholar the things he already knows; but to you, my gentle readers. ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 79 to whom Latin is still an unknown tongue, to whom grammars are become obsolete things, and gram- matical definitions would be bewildering prelimina- ries, " more honoured in the breach than in the ob- servance " to you I am anxious to explain, in the clearest manner practicable, all the mysteries of this case, because it was a cruel perplexity to my- self in days of yore. And I will endeavour to make my lecture as brief and clear as possible, request- ing you to bear in mind that no knowledge is to be acquired without a little trouble ; and that whoso- ever may consider it too irksome a task to exert the understanding for a short period, must be con- tent to remain in inexcusable and irremediable ignorance. Though I doubt not, when you come to perceive how great the errors are which you daily commit, you will not regret having sat down quietly, for half an hour, to listen to an unscholas- tic exposition of them. 5. We all understand the meaning of the word " case," as it is applied to the common affairs of life ; but when we meet with it in our grammars we view it as an abstruse term; we won't consent to believe that it means nothing more than position of affairs, condition, or circumstances, any one of which words might be substituted for it with equal propriety, if it were not indispensable in grammar to adhere strictly to the same term when we wish to direct the attention unerringly to the same thing, and to keep the understanding alive to the justness of its application ; whilst a multiplicity of names to one thing would be likely to create confusion. 80 FALSE SYNTAX. Thus, if one were to say " this is a very hard case:" or " a singular case occurred the other day ;" or "that poor man's case is a very deplorable one;" we should readily comprehend that by the word " case " was meant circumstance," or " situation;" and when we speak, in the language of the gram- mar, of " a noun in the nominative case," we only mean a person or thing placed in such circumstances as to become merely named, or named as the per- former of some action; as lf the man;" or " the man walks." In both these sentences, " man " is in the nominative case; because, in the first he is simply named, without reference to any circum- stance respecting him ; and in the second he is named as the performer of the act of walking men- tioned. When we speak of a noun in the posses- sive case, we simply mean a person or thing placed under such circumstances as to become named as the possessor of something; and when we speak of a noun in the objective case, we only intend to express a person or thing standing in such a situation as to be, in some way or other, affected by the act of some other person or thing; as, " Henry teaches Charles." Here Henry is, by an abbreviation of terms, called tJie no?ninative case (instead of the noun in the nom- inative case), because ho stands in that situation in which it is incumbent on us to name him as the performer of the act of teaching ; and Charles is, by the same abbreviating license, called the objec- tive case) because he is in such a position of affairs as to Twelve the act of teaching which Henry per- forms. I will now tell you liow you may always ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 81 distinguish the three cases : read the sentence at- tentively, and understand accurately what the nouns are represented as doing : if any person or thing be represented as performing an action, that person or thing is a noun in the nominative case ; if any person or thing be represented as possessing something, that person or thing is a noun in the : possessive case ; and if any person or thing be rep- resented as neither performing nor possessing, it is a noun in the objective case, whether directly or in- directly affected by the action of the nominative, because as we have in English but three cases, which contain the substance of the six Latin cases, whatever is neither nominative or possessive must be objective. Here I might wander into a long di- gression on passive and neuter verbs, which I may seem to have totally overlooked in the principle just laid down ; but I am not writing a Grammar, nor attempting to illustrate the various ramifications of grammatical laws to people who know nothing at all about them any more than I am writing for the edification of the accomplished scholar to whom purity of diction is already familiar. I am writing, chiefly, for that vast portion of the educated classes who have never looked into a grammar since their school-days were over, but who have ingeniously hewn out for themselves a middle path between ig- norance and knowledge, and to whom certain little hillocks in their Way have risen up, under a dense atmosphere, to the magnitude of mountains : I merely wish to give to them, since they will not take the trouble to search for themselves, one broad 82 FALSE SYNTAX. and general principle, unclogged by exceptions, to guide them to propriety of speech ; and, should they afterwards acquire a taste for grammatical dis- putation, they will of course apply to more exten- sive sources for the necessary qualifications. 6. It is scarcely possible to commit any inaccu- racy in the use of these cases when restricted to nouns, but in the application of them to pronouns a woful confusion often arises ; though even in this confusion exists a marked distinction between the errors of the ill-bred and those of the well-bred man. To use the objective instead of the nomina- tive is a vulgar error ; to use the nominative instead of the objective is a genteel error. No person of de- cent education would think of saying " Him and me are going to the play." Yet how often do we hear even well-educated people say " They Avere coming to see my brother and /,-" " The claret will be packed in two baskets for Mr. Smith and I/' " Let you and I try to move it ;" " Let him and I go up and speak to them." " Between you and I," etc., etc. All faults as heinous as that of the vul- garian who says " Him and me are going to the play," and with less excuse. Two minutes' re- flection will enable the scholar to correct himself, and a little exercise of memory will shield him from a repetition of the fault ; but for the benefit of those who may not be scholars, we will accompany him through the mazes of his reflections. Who are the persons who are performing the act of " coming to see ?" " They" Then the pronoun they must stand in the nominative case. Who are ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 83 the persons to whom the act of " coming to see" ex- tends ? "my brother and- I." Then " my brother and I," being the objects affected by the act of the nominative, must be a noun and pronoun standing in the objective case ; and as nouns are not suscep- tible of change on account of cases, it is only the pronoun which requires alteration to render the sentence correct : " They were coming to see my brother and me.'' The same argument is applicable to the other examples given. In no language is the imperative mood of a verb conjugated with a pronoun in the nominative case, therefore " Let you and /try to move it," " Let him and /go up and speak to them," are manifest improprieties. A very simple test may be formed by taking away the first noun or pronoun from the sentence alto- gether, and bringing the verb or preposition right against that pronoun which you use to designate yourself: thus, "They were coming to see 1 ;" " The claret will be packed in two hampers for 1 ;" " Let /try to move it," etc. By this means your own ear will correct you, without any reference to grammatical rules. And bear in mind that the number of nouns it may be necessary to press into the sentence will not alter the case respecting the pronouns. " Between you and I/> is as erroneous an ex- pression as any : change the position of the pro- nouns, and say, " Between I and you ;" or change the sentence altogether, and say " Between I and the wall there was a great gap ;" and you will soon see in what case the first person should be ren- 84 FALSE SYNTAX. dered. " Prepositions govern the objective case/' therefore it is impossible to put a nominative after a preposition without a gross violation of a rule which ought to be familiar to everybody. 7. The same mistake extends to the relative pro- nouns " who" and "whom :" we seldom hear the objective case used either by vulgar or refined speakers. " Who did you give it to?" " Who is this for?" are solecisms of daily occurrence ; and when the objective " whom" is used, it is generally put in the wrong place ; as " The person whom I expected would purchase that estate ;" " The man whom they intend shall execute that work." This intervening verb in each sentence, " I expected " and " they intend," coming between the last verb and its own nominative (the relative pronoun), has no power to alter the rule, and no right to violate it ; but as the introduction of an intervening verb, in such situations, is likely to beguile the ear and confuse the judgment, it would be better to avoid such constructions altogether, and turn the sentence a different way ; as " The person whom I expected to be the purchaser of that estate ;" " The man whom they intend to execute that work." If the reader will cut off the intervening verb, which has nothing to do with the construction of the sentence except to mystify it, he will perceive at a glance the error and its remedy : " The person whom would purchase that estate ;" " The man whom shall execute that work." This fault is wholly chargeable upon the should- ers of the educated idle ; for, except in interrogative ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 85 sentences, vulgar people generally use the relative "which " in both cases, and say, " The man which paid me the money ;" " The man which the money was paid to. 19 8. But though illiterate people may say which, instead of who and whom, with impunity, there is something too repugnant to good taste, too deroga- tory to understanding, in the use of a superfluous '* which," in such sentences as the following, from the lips of persons of respectable education : " I know a lady living at Eichmond, who had two daughters, which the eldest married a captain in the navy ;" " I was going to the bookseller's when I met Edward, which I had no idea he had returned to town. 7 ' Will anybody have the kindness to ex- plain the utility of this ' gratuitous " which ?" When people have not had the opportunity of learning, ignorance is excusable ; but in ladies and gentlemen who sin with their eyes open " Oh ! the offence is rank." 9. It is very easy to mistake the nominative when another noun comes between it and the verb, which is frequently the case in the use of the in- definite and distributive pronouns, as " One of those houses were sold last week;" " Each of the daughters are to have a separate share ;" " Every tree in those plantations have been injured by the storm ;" " Either of the children are at liberty to claim it." Here it will be perceived that the pro- nouns " one," " each," " every," " either," are the true nominatives to the verbs ; but the intervening noun in the plural number, in each sentence, deludes 86 FALSE SYNTAX. the ear, and the speaker, without reflection, renders the verb in the plural instead of the singular num- ber. The same error is often committed when no second noun appears to plead an apology for the fault ; as " Each city have their peculiar privileges;" " Everybody has a right to look after tlmr own in- terest ;" " Either are at liberty to claim it." This is the effect of pure carelessness. 10. There is another very common error, the re- verse of the last-mentioned, which is that of ren- dering the adjective pronoun in the plural number instead of the singular in such sentences as the fol- lowing : " These kind of entertainments are not conducive to general improvement ;" " Those, sort of experiments are often dangerous." This error seems to originate in the habit which people insen- sibly acquire of supposing the prominent noun in the sentence (such as "entertainments" or "ex- periments") to be the noun qualified by the adjec- tive " these " or " those ;" instead of which it is " kind," " sort/" or any word of that description immediately following the adjective, which should be so qualified, and the adjective must be made to agree with it in the singular number. We confess, it is not so agreeable to the ear to say " This kind of entertainments," " That sort of experiments ;" but it would be easy to give the sentence a different form, and say "Entertainments of this kind;" " Experiments of that sort ;" by which the requi- sitions of grammar would be satisfied, and those of euphony too. 11. But the grand fault, the glaring impropriety, ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 87 committed by " all ranks and conditions of men," rich and poor, high and low, illiterate and learned, except, perhaps, one in twenty and from which not even the pulpit or the bar is totally free is the substitution of the active verb lay for the neuter verb lie (to lie down). The scholar knows that " active verbs govern the objective case," and there- fore demand an objective case after them; and that neuter verbs will not admit an objective case after them except through the medium of a preposition : he, therefore, has no excuse for his error, it is a wil- ful one for him the following is not written ; and here I may as well say, onte for all, that whilst I would remind the scholar of his lapses, my instruc- tions and explanations are offered only to the class which requires them. Murray has nicely divided active verbs into ac- tive-transitive and active-mtransitive, leaving the term neuter to comprise the se verbs which signify a state of existence without action ; as " I sleep," " I sit," " I grow," " I lie," " I die," etc. The words transitive and mtransitive seem to me to ex- plain themselves, for it is natural to suppose that " transitive " or transitory, means passing away; and that " intransitive " means not passing away. The term active-transitive is applied only to such verbs as describe an action taking place in one per- son or thing upon or towards another person or thing, without requiring the aid of a preposition to express it, as " I love George." Here the act of loving is performed by me, but its effect is not con- fined to me, because it passes over to or concerns 88 FALSE SYNTAX. George, who thereby stands in the objective case because he is the object affected by another person's act. You perceive, therefore, that " to love" is an active verb requiring an objective case after it; and will now know the meaning of the expression " ac- tive verbs govern the objective case," because, if I love at all, I must love something or somebody, I cannot love nothing. An active intransitive verb is the very reverse of this, because, not admitting an objective case after it, unless preceded by a preposition, the action which the verb describes has no object on which immediately to fall or Become transferred to (keep in mind the connexion between this word and trans- itive,) as " I laugh." Here the act is confined to the source in which it originates ; I cannot say " I laugh George;" or "I laugh you;" I am not obliged to find an objective case for it at all, I may laugli from an emotion of the mind, or I may laugh, as thousands daily do, and not know why. But if I am disposed to find an objective case for it, I can- not do it without the intervention of a preposition, an adverb, or some other part of speech, as " I laugh at such things," " I laugh heartily," etc. The neuter verb obeys the same law as the ac- tive intransitive, as " I sit," or " I sit on a chair ;" "I sleep," or "I sleep uneasily;" "I grow," or " I grow very slowly /" " I lie," or " I lie doitm ;" " I lie on a sofa." " To lay " is an active transitive verb, like love, demanding an objective case after it, ivithout the intervention of a preposition. " To lie " is a neuter ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 89 verb, not admitting an objective case after it, except through the intervention of a ftrcposition ; yet this "perverse generation" will go OH substituting the former for the latter. Notlmig can be mo;e errone- ous than to say, as people constantly do, "I shall go and lay down." The question which naturally arises in the m'nd of the discriminating hearer, is " What are you going to lay down ? money, car- pets, plans, or what ?" for, as a transitive verb is used, an object is wanted to complete the sense. The speaker means, in fact, to tell us that lie (him- self) is gning to lie down, instead of which he gives us to understand that he is going to lay down, or put down, something which he has not named, but which it is necessary to name before we can un- derstand the sentence ; and this sentence, when completed according to the rules of grammar, will never convey the meaning he intends. One might as well use the verb " to put " in this situation, as the verb " to lay," for each is a transitive veib re- quiring an objective case immediately after it. If you were to enter a room, and, finding a person lying on a sofa, were to address him with such a question as " What are you doing there ?" you would think it ludicrous if he were to reply " 1 am putting down;" yet it would not be more absurd than to say " I am laying down ;" but custom, whilst it fails to reconcile us to the error, has so familiarised us with it, that we hear it without sur- prise, and good breeding forbids our noticing it to the speaker. The same mistake is committed through all the tenses of the verb : how often are 90 FALSE SYNTAX. nice ears wounded by the following expressions, " My brother lays ill of a fever ;" " The vessel lays in Brooklyn Docks ;" " The books were lay- ing on the floor ;" " He laid on a sofa three weeks ;" " After I had laid down, I remembered that I had left my pistols laying on the table." You must perceive that, in every one of these instances, the wrong verb is used; correct it, therefore, according to the explanation' given : thus, " My brother lies ill of a fever ;" " The vessel lies in Brooklyn Docks;' 7 " The books were lying on the floor;" "He lay on a sofa three weeks/' " After I had lain down, I remembered that I had left my pistols lying on the table." It is probable that this error has originated in the circumstance of the present tense of the verb " to lay " being conjugated precisely like the im- perfect tense of the verb " to lie ;" for they are alike in orthography and sound, and different only in meaning; and in order to remedy the evil which this resemblance seems to have created, 1 have con- jugated at full-length the simple tenses of the two verbs, hoping the exposition may be found useful ; for it is an error which must be corrected by all who aspire to the merit of speaking their own lan- guage well. VERB ACTIVE. VERB NEUTER. To lay. To lie. Present tense. Present tense. 4 Thouliest 1 down ' too long, He r-es I on a sola We lie f __ I ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 91 I laid VERB ACTIVE. To lay. Imperfect tense. uu , ., , money, Thoulaidest carpetg> He laid We laid - plans, I an y You laid | ,/>,-,; They laid VERB NEUTER To lie. Imperfect tense. i 1 down > ulayest too W, \ ay i on a sofa, We ay Y? ul *y They lay Present Participle, Laying. Present Participle, Lying. Perfect Participle, Laid. Perfect Participle, Lain. In such sentences as these, wherein the verb is used reflectively " If I lay myself down on the grass I shall catch cold ;" " He laid himself down on the green sward ;" the verb " to lay " is with propriety sub- stituted for the verb " to lie ;" because the addition of the emphatic pronoun myself, or himself, consti- tuting an objective case, and coming immediately after the verb without the intervention of a preposi- tion, renders it necessary that the verb employed should be active, not neuter, because " active verbs govern the objective case." But this is the, only construction in which " to lay " instead of " to lie" can be sanctioned by the rules of grammar. 12. The same confusion often arises in the use of the verbs sit and set, rise and raise. Sit is a neuter verb, set an active one ; yet how often do people most improperly say, " I have set with him for hours ;" " He set on the beach till the sun went down ;" " She set three nights by the patient's bed- Side. " What did they set potatoes, traps, or what V for as an objective case is evidently implied by the use of an active verb, an object is indispen- sable to complete the sense. No tense whatever of 92 FALSE SYNTAX. the verb " to sit " is rendered " set," which has but one ivord throughout the whole verb, except the active participle " setting ;" and " sit " has but two words " sit " and " sat," therefore it is very easy to correct this error by the help of a little attention. 13. Raise is the same kind of verb as set : active- transitive, requiring an objective case after it ; and it contains only two words, raise and raised, besides the active participle " raising" Rise is a neuter verb, not admitting an objective case ; it contains two words, rise and rose, besides the two participles, rising and risen. It is improper, therefore, to say, " He rose the books from the floor ;" " He rises the fruit as it falls;" " After she had risen the basket on her head," etc. In all such cases use the other verb raise. It occurs to me, that if people would take the trouble to reckon how many different words a verb contains, they would be in less danger of mistaking them ; " lay" contains two words, " lay" and " laid," besides the active participle " laying ;" "Lie" has also two words, "lie" and "lay," besides the two participles "lying" and "lain;" and from this second word " lay" arises all the con- fusion I have had to lament in the foregoing pages. 14. To the scholar I would remark, the prevalent impropriety of adopting the subjunctive instead of the indicative mood in sentences where doubt or uncertainty is expressed, although the former can only be used in situations in which " contingency and futurity" are combined. Thus, a gentleman, giving an order to his tailor, may say, " Make me a coat of a certain description, if it fit me well I will ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 93 give you another order," because the " fit " alluded to is a thing which the future has to determine ; but when the coat is made and brought home, he cannot say, " If this cloth be good I will give you another order," for the quality of the cloth is already determined ; the future will not alter it ; it may be good, it may be bad, but whatever it may be it already is ; therefore, as contingency only is im- plied, without futurity, it must be rendered in the indicative mood, "If this cloth is good," etc. We may with propriety say, " If the book be sent in time, I shall be able to read it to-night," because the sending of the book is an event which the future must produce ; but we must not say, " If this book be sent for me, it is a mistake," because here the act alluded to is already performed the book is come. I think it very likely that people have been beguiled into this error by the prefix of the conjunction, forgetting that conjunctions may be used with the indicative as well as with the sub- junctive mood. 15. Some people use the imperfect tense of the verb " to go," instead of the past participle, and say, " I should have went" instead of " I should have gone." This is not a very common error, but it is a very great one, and I should not have thought it could come within the range of the class for which this book is written, but that I have heard the fault committed by people of even tolerable education; one might as well say, " I should have was at the theatre last night," instead of " I should 94 FALSE SYNTAX. have been at the theatre," etc., as say, " I should have went" instead of " I should have gone''' 16.*0thers there are who invert this error, and use the past participle of the verb "to do/' instead of a tense of the verb, saying, "I done " instead of " I did" This is inadmissible. " I did it," or "I have done it," is a phrase correct in its formation, its application being, of course, depend- ent on other circumstances. 17. There are speakers who are too refined to use the past (or perfect) participle of the verbs " to drink " " to run," " to begin," etc., and substitute the imperfect tense, as in the verb "to go:" thus, instead of saying, " I have drunk," " he has run,-' " they have begun," they say, " I have drank" " he has ran," " they have began" etc. These are minor errors, I admit, still, nice ears detect them. 18. I trust it is unnecessary to warn any of my readers against adopting the flagrant vulgarity of saying " don't ought," and " hadn't ought," instead of " ought not." 19. Many people have an odd way of saying, "I expect," when they only mean " I think," or "I conclude;" as, "I expect my brother is gone to Richmond to-day;" " I expect those books were sent to New York last year." This is wrong : ex- pect can only relate to future time, and must be fol- lowed by a future tense, or a verb in the infinitive mood : as, " I expect my brother will go to Rich- mond to-day ;" " I expect to find those books were sent to New York last year." Here the introduc- ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 95 tion of a future tense, or of a verb in the infinitive mood, rectifies the grammar without altering the sense : but such a portion of the sentence must not be onutted in expression, as no such ellipsis is allowable. 20. The majority of speakers use the imperfect tense and the perfect tense together, in such sen- tences as the following : " I intended to have called on him last night;" " I meant to have purchased one yesterday ;". or a pluperfect tense and a perfect tense together, I have sometimes heard, as, " You should have written to have told her." These ex- pressions are illogical, because, as the intention to perform an act must be 2 )rior to the act contemplated, the act itself cannot with propriety be expressed by a tense indicating a period of time previous to the intention. The three sentences should be cor- rected thus, placing the second verb in the infini- tive-mood, " I intended to call on him last night;" " I meant to purchase one yesterday ;" " You should have written to tell her." But the imperfect tense and the perfect tense are to be combined in such sentences as the follow- ing : " I remarked, that they appeared to have un- denrone great fatigue ;" because here the act of " un- O O O ' dergoing fatigue " must have taken place previous to the period in which you ha\e had the opportu- nity of remarking its effect on their appearance ; the sentence, therefore, is both grammatical and logical. 21. Another strange perversion of grammatical propriety is to be heard occasionally in the adop- 96 FALSE SYNTAX. tion of the present tense of the verb " to have," most probably instead of the past participle, but in situations in which the participle itself would be a redundance; such as, "If I had have knqwn ;" " If he had Have come according to appointment ;" "If you had Have sent me that intelligence," etc. Of what utility is the word " have," in the sentence at all ? What office does it perform ? If it stands in place of any other word, that oilier word would still be an incumbrance ; but the sentence being com- plete without it, it becomes an illiterate superfluity. " If I had Have known that you would have been there before me, I would have written to you to Have waited till I had Jiave come." What a con- struction from the lips of an educated person ! and yet we do sometimes hear this slip-slop uttered by people who are considered to " speak French and Italian well," and who enjoy the reputation of being 41 accomplished !" Though not at all disposed to be malicious, I cannot avoid being often forcibly reminded of Byron's description of a Spanish Blue : " She knew the Latin that is, " The Lord's Prayer ;" And Greek the Alphabet I'm nearly sure ; She read some French romances here and there, Although her mode of speaking was not pure ; For native Spanish shejmd no great care, At least her conversation was obscure," If our own language is so mean and insignificant as to be unworthy a little attention, why do we not banish it from good society altogether speak French and German in common conversation, and ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 97 leave vulgar English to the ''canaille?" We con- fess ourselves, as a nation, under great obligations to those men of genius and erudition who have assisted to purify and extend our language, and who have raised it gradually to its present standard of elegance and refinement, but our own share of the obligations will be small if we will not avail ourselves of the benefit of their exertions. And is it demanding too much of the educated, to inquire that they should speak correctly that language which the accomplished natives of other countries take infinite pains to acquire ? Is it being too fas- tidious, u too particular," to suggest attention to these nice distinctions of right and wrong, of purity and corruption, in those to whom we have a right to look for models of English eloquence ? If so ; if it is impossible to exercise the perfection of the scholar without the affectation of the pedant, then aim not at a change which would only alter your con- dition without improving it for it would be bet- ter to commit all the errors which this little book de- nounces, than stiffen into pedantry. 22. It is amusing to perceive the broad line of demarcation which exists between vulgar bad gram- mar, and genteel bad grammar, and which charac- terises the violation of almost every rule of syntax. The vulgar speaker uses adjectives instead of ad- verbs, and says, " This letter is written shocking ;" the genteel speaker uses adverbs instead of adjec- tives, and says, " This writing looks shockingly." The perpetrators of the latter offence may fancy they can shield themselves behind the grammatical 9 98 FALSE SYNTAX. law which compels the employment of an adverb, not an adjective, to qualify a verb ; and behind the first rule of syntax, which says " a verb must agree with its nominative ;"' but which is the nom- inative in the expression alluded to ? which per- forms the act of looking the writing or the speaker? To say that a thing looks when we look at it, is an idiom peculiar to our language, and some idioms are not reducible to rules ; they are conventional terms which pass current, like bank-notes, for the sterling they represent, but must not be submitted to the test o/ grammatical alchemy. It is improper, therefore, to say " The Queen looks beautifully ;" 4< The flowers smell sweetly ;" " This writing looks shockingly ;" because it is the speaker that per- forms the act of looking, smelling, etc., not the noun looked at ; and though, by an idiomatical construction necessary to avoid circumlocution, the sentence imputes the act to the thing beheld, the qualifying word must express the quality of the thing spoken of, adjectively, instead of qualifying the act of the nominative understood, adverbially. What an adjective is to a noun, an adverb is to a verb ; an adjective expresses the quality of a thing, and an adverb the manner of an action. Consider what it is you wish to express, the quality of a thing, or the manner of an action, and use an ad- jective or adverb accordingly. But beware that you discriminate justly, for though you cannot say, " The Queen looked majestically in her robes," be- cause here the act of looking is performed by the spectator, who looks at her ; you can and must say, ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 99 " The Queen looked graciously on the petitioner ;'* " The Queen looked mercifully on his prayer ;" be- cause here the act of looking is performed by the Queen. You cannot say, "These flowers smell sweetly," because it is you that smell, and not the flowers; but you can say, "These flowers perfume the air delieiously," because it is they which impart the fragrance, not you. You cannot say, " This dress looks badly," because it is you that look, not the dress ; but you can say, " This dresses badly,"" because it is the dress that performs the act of fit- ting-, either well or ill. There are some peculiar idioms which it would be better to avoid altogether, if possible, but if you feel compelled to use them r take them as they are ; you cannot prune and re- fine them by the rules of syntax, and to attempt to- do so shows ignorance as well as affectation. 23. There is a mistake often committed in the use of the adverbs of place, hence,- thence, whence. People are apt to say, "He will go from thence to- morrow, etc." The preposition " from " is included in these adverbs, therefore it becomes tautology in sense when prefixed to them. 24. " Equally as well," is a very common ex- pression, and a very incorrect one ; the adverb of comparison " as " has no right in the sentence. " Equally well," " equally high," " equally dear," should be the construction ; and if a complement be necessary in the phrase, it should be preceded by the preposition "with," as "The wall was- equally high with the former one ;" " The goods at Smith's are equally dear with those sold at the iGO FALSE SYNTAX. shop next door," etc., etc, " Equally the same," is tautology. 25. "Whether," sometim es an adverb, son? etimes a conjunction, is a word that plainly indicates a choice of things (of course, I cannot be supposed to mean & freedom of choice), it is highly improper, therefore, to place it, as many do, at the head of each part of a sentence, as " I have not yet made up my mind whether I shall go to France, or whether I shall remain in America." The conjunc- tion should not be repeated, as it is evident the al- ternative is expressed only in the combination of the two parts of the sentence, not in either of them taken separately; and the phrase should stand thus : " I have not yet made up my mind whether I shall go to France, or remain in America." 26. There is an awkwardness prevalent amongst all classes of society in such sentences as the fol- lowing : " He quitted his horse, and got on too. stagecoach;" lf He jumped on to the floor ;" "She laid it on to a dish ;" " I threw it on to the fire." Why use two prepositions where one would be quite as explicit, and far more elegant ? Nobody in the present day, would think of saying, " He came up to New York for to go to the Exhibition," because the preposition " for " would be an awkward super- fluity ; so is " to " in the examples given, in each of which there is an unwieldiness of construction which reminds one of the process of glueing, or fastening, one thing " on to " another. Expunge the redundant preposition, and be assured, gentle reader, the sentence will still be found " an elegant ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC, 101 sufficiency." There are some situations, however,, in which the two prepositions may with propriety be employed, though they are never indispensable, as " I accompanied Such-a-one to High Bridge, and then walked on to Harlem." But here two motions are implied, the walking onward, and the reaching of a certain point. More might be said to illustrate the distinction, but we consider it will not be: deemed necessary. 27. There seems to be a natural tendency to deal in a redundance of prepositions: many people talk of " continuing on" I should be glad to be in- formed in what other direction it would be possible to continue. ? 28. It is most illiterate to put the preposition of after the adverb off* as " The satin measured twelve yards before I cut this piece off of it ;" " The fruit was gathered off of that tree." Many of my read- ers will consider such a remark quite unnecessary in this volume ; but many others, who ought to know better, must stand self-condemned on reading it. 29. There is a false taste extant for the preposi- tion " on " instead of " of" in songs, poetry, and many other situations in which there is still less ex- cuse for borrowing the poetic license; such as,. * Wilt thou think on me, love ?" " I will think on thee, love V" u Then think on the friend who once- welcomed it too," etc., etc., etc. But this is an error chiefly to be met with among poetasters, and melo- dramatic speakers. 30. Some people add a superfluous preposition at the end of a sentence '* More than you think for!* 102 FALSE SYNTAX. This, however, is an awkwardness rarely committed by persons of decent education. 31. Never speak of a thing looking well or ill "at" candle-light; &?/ candle-light is the proper construction. " By day or night, or any kind of light." 32. That " Prepositions govern the objective case " is a golden rule in grammar ; and if it were only well remembered, it would effectually correct that mistake of substituting the nominative for the objective pronoun, which has been complained of in the preceding pages. In using a relative pro- noun in the objective case, it is more elegant to put the preposition before than after it, thus, " To whom was the order given?" instead of " Whom was the order given to?" Indeed, if this practice was invariably adopted, it would obviate the possi- bility of confounding the nominative with the ob- jective case, because no man would ever find him- self able to utter such a sentence as, "To who was this proposal made ?" though he might very uncon- sciously say, " Who was this proposal made to ?" and the error would be equally flagrant in both in- stances. 33. There is a great inaccuracy connected with the use of the distinctive conjunctions or and nor t which seem to be either not clearly understood, or treated with undue contempt by persons who speak in the following manner : " Henry or John are to go there to-night ;" " His son or his nephew have since put in their claim;" " Neither one nor the other have the least chance of success." The con- ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 103 junctions disjunctive " or " and " nor " separate the objects in sense, as the conjunction-copulative unites them ; and as, by the use of the former, the things stand forth separately and singly to the com- prehension, the verb or pronoun must Jbe rendered in the singular number also ; as, " Henry or John is to go there to-night;" " His son or his nephew lias since put in his claim," etc. If you look over the sentence, you will perceive that only one. is to do the act, therefore only one can be the nomina- tive to the verb. 34. Many people improperly substitute the dis- junctive "but" for the comparative "than," as, "The mind no sooner entertains any proposition, but it presently hastens to some hypothesis to bot- tom it on ;" Locke. " No other resource but this was allowed him;" "My behaviour,'' says she, " has, I fear, been the death of a man who had no other fault but that of loving me too much." - Spectator. 35. Sometimes a relative pronoun is used instead of a conjunction in such sentences as the following : " I don't know but what I shall go to Philadelphia to-morrow ;" instead of " I don't know but that, 9 etc. 36. Sometimes the disjunctive " but " is substi- tuted for the conjunction that, as " I have no doubt but he will be here to-night." Sometimes for the conjunction " if,' 9 as, " I shouldn't wonder but that was the case." And sometimes two conjunctions are used instead of one, as "If that I have offended him;" " After that he had seen the parties," etc. 104 FALSE SYNTAX. All this is very awkward indeed, and ought to be avoided, and might easily be so by a little attention. If a man who is desirous of attaining propriety of speech, would sometimes take up his grammar con amorc, and search into this or that dubious point which negligence and bad example have contributed to obscure for him, acquaint himself with the mechanism of certain rules, and unmake and re- make a few sentences constructed on them, he would soon acquire sufficient information for his own guidance. It is not necessary that he should make an Herculean labour of it should begin with the first page of Etymology, and go plodding through to the last of Prosody, a process which seems to be looked on as so inevitable by the mass, that they therefore eschew Grammars altogether; but dip into syntax, my friend, take up the rules indiscriminately, if that be lighter labour for the mind, and if you had ever " done grammar-lessons" before, you will soon master the few remaining diffi- culties, will acquire a purity of style in your own writing and conversation, and add your mite to- wards refining the language of your fathers. 37. It is obsolete now to use the article an be- fore words beginning with long u, or with eu, and it has become more elegant, in modern style, to say, " a University," a " useful article," " a Euro- pean," "a euphonious combii ation of sentences," etc., etc., etc. It is also proper to say " such a one," not " such an one." 38. Some people pronounce the plural of hand- kerchief, scarf, wharf, dwarf, handkcrchicvcs f scarvc& r ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 105 wharves, dwarves. This is an error, as these words, and perhaps a few others, are exceptions to the rule laid down, that nouns ending in f or fe, shall change these terminations into ves to form the plural. 39. There is an illiterate mode of pronouncing the adverb too, which is that of contracting it into the sound of the preposition to, thus : " I think I paid to much for this gun ;" " This line is to long by half." The adverb too should be pronounced like the numeral adjective two, and have the same full distinct sound in delivery, as " I think I paid two much for this gwn ;" " This line is two long by half." 40. One does not expect to hear such words as " necessi'ated," " preventative," etc., from people who profess to be educated, but one does hear them, nevertheless, and many others of the same genus, of which the following list is a specimen, not a col- lection. " Febuary " and "Febbiwerry" instead of Febru- ary. 9 " Seckaterry " instead of secretary. " Government " " government. " Eve'min " " evening. " Sev'm " " seven. " Holladiz " " holidays. u Chapped " according to orthography, instead of chopped according to polite usage. And we have even heard " continental" pro- nounced cdntinential, though upon what authority we know not Besides these, a multitude of others 106 FALSE SYNTAX. might be quoted, which we consider too familiar to particularize, and " too numerous to mention. " 41. There is an old jest on record of a person hearing another pronounce the word curiosity, "curosity," and remarking to a by-stander, "That man murders the English language ;" "Nay, "replies the person addressed, " he only knocks an eye (i) out." And I am invariably reminded of this old jest whenever I hear such pronunciations as the following: " Lat'n" for latin, and " sat'n" for satin ; of which a few examples will be given on a subse- quent page, not with the wild hope of comprising in so short a space all the perversions of Prosody which are constantly taking place, but simply with the intention of reminding careless speakers of some general principles they seem to have forgot- ten, and of the vast accumulation of error they may engraft upon themselves by a lazy adherence to the custom of the crowd. Before, however, pro- ceeding to the words in question, it may be satis- factory to our readers to recall to their memory the observations of Lindley Mumiy on this subject. He says, " There is scarcely anything which more distinguishes a person of a poor education from a person of a good one, than the pronunciation of the unaccented vowels. When vowels are under the accent, the best speakers, and the lowest of the people, with very few exceptions, pronounce them in the same manner; but the ^accented vowels in the mouths of the former, have a distinct, open, and specific sound ; while the latter often totally sink them, or change them into some other sound/' The ERRORS, INACCURACIES, ETC. 101 words that have chiefly struck me are the follow- ing, in which not only the i but many of the other vowels are submitted to the mutilating process, or, as I have heard it pronounced, mutulating, American instead of American. Lat'n " Latin. Sat'n " Satin. Patt'n " Patten. Curt'n " Curtain. Cert'n " Certain. Bridle " Bridal. Idle "' Idol. Meddle " Medal. Moddle " Model. Mentle " Mental. Mortle ' Mortal. Fatle " Fatal. Gravle " Gravel. Travle " Travel. Sudd'n " Sudden. Infidle " Infidel. Scroop* -lous " Scrn-pu-\o>Vi$. And a long train of et ceteras, of which the above examples do not furnish a tithe. Note. That to sound the e in garden and often, and the i in evil and devil, is a decided error : they should always be pro- nounced gard'n and ofCn ; ev'l and dev'l. 42. It is affected, and contrary to authority, to deprive the s of its sharp hissing sound in the words precise, desolate, design, and their deriv- atives. 108 ON PUNCTUATIOX. 43. I would venture to ask, with all humility, why the word chariot should he made to rhyme with carrot ? If this mispronunciation, were con- fined to the lower and middle classes I would, with- out hesitation, denounce it as a flagrant illiteracy ; hut having heard it occasionally from patrician lips, I naturally approach the subject with a degree of reverence, lest, to deform and vulgarize the lan- guage as much as possible, should be some myste- rious aristocratic privilege, that we, in common life, are unacquainted with. N PUNCTUATION. Punctuation treats of the points or marks inserted in written composition, for the purpose of showing more clearly the sense intended to be conveyed, and the pauses required in reading. The principal points or marks employed in punc- tuation are the comma [,], the semicolon [;], the colonf:], the period [.], the note of interrogation [?], the note of exclamation[!], and the dash[ ]. The comma requires a momentary pause : the semicolon, a pause somewhat longer than the com- ma ; the colon, a pause somewhat longer than the semicolon ; and the period, a full stop. The note of interrogation, or the note of exclamation, may take the place of any one of these, and accordingly re- quires a pause of the same length as the point for which it is substituted. The duration of these pauses depend? on the ch- ON PUNCTUATION. 109 racter of the composition ; the grave style requiring much longer intervals than the lively or impassioned. The sense of a passage often requires a pause in reading, where usage does not allow the insertion of a point in writing; as in the sentence, "Our schemes of thought in childhood | are lost in those of youth." On the other hand, points are some- times inserted merely to indicate the syntactical construction, without requiring a suspension of the voice in reading; as in the phrase, "No, Sir." THE COMMA. Rule 1. When a relative and its antecedent are separated from each other by one or more words, a comma should generally be inserted before the rela- tive; as, " Think not man was made in vain, who has such an eternijj^y reserved for him." Spectator. " There is a pleasure in poetic pains, Which only poets know." Coivper. Exception : When, however, the intervening word is an adverb, the comma is more commonly omitted ; as, " It is labor only which gives a relish to pleasure." Rule 2. When two or more words come between the adjective and its noun, a comma is placed after the intervening words ; as, "To dispel these errors, mid to give a scope to navigation, equal to the gran- deur of his designs, Prince Henry called in the aid of science." Irving. Rule 3. When the subject of a sentence consists 10 110 ON PUNCTUATION. of several nominatives, or of a single nominative fol- lowed by an adjunct consisting of several words, a comma should be inserted before the following verb. Examples : "Many of the evils, which occa- sion our complaints of the world, are wholly imaginary." " The effect of this universal diffu- sion of gay and splendid light, was to render the preponderating deep green more solemn." Rey- nolds. " The golden sun, 'The planets, all the infinite hosts of heaven, Are shining on the sad abodes of death." Hule 4. When a sentence or clause is used as the nominative to a preceding or following verb, it should be separated from the verb by a comma ; as, "How clearly America remembered the parent island, is 'told by -the English names of its towns." Sparks. Rule 5. Two successive words, in the same con- struction, without a conjunction expressed, are gen- erally separated by a comma ; as, "An aged, vener- able man." "Has Nature, in her calm, majestic march, Faltered with age at last ?" An apparent exception to this rule often occurs in the case of two successive adjectives; as in the expression, "A venerable old man." But the two adjectives, in this example, are not in the same con- struction, since old qualifies man, while venerabl-e qualifies the phrase, old man. A comma may also be inserted before a conjunc- ON PUNCTUATION 111 tion expressed, if either of the words connected is followed by an adjunct consisting of several words; as, " Intemperance destroys the vigour of our bodies, and the strength of our minds." Rule 6. Three or more distinct, successive words in the same construction, with or without a conjunc- tion expressed, should be separated by commas ; as y " Beside the bed where parting life was laid, And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismayed, The reverend champion stood." Goldsmith " An elegant sufficiency, content, Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease and alternate labor,. useful life, Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven." Thomson. " How poor, how rich, how abject, how august. How complicate, how wonderful, is man !" Young. The same apparent exception occurs in this rule as in the last. In the expression, " A light bluish green tint," bluish modifies green, and light modifies the phrase bluish green ; while the three words t light bluish green, taken together, qualify tint. Rule 7. Successive pairs of words should be separated from each other by commas ; as, " The authority of Plato and Aristotle, of 7*cno and Epi- curus, still reigned in the schools." Rule 8. When the different members of a com- pound sentence contain distinct propositions, they are generally separated from each other by commas. Examples : " They shrunk from no dangers. 112 ON PUNCTUATION. and they feared no hardships." " And thus their physical science became magic, their astronomy became astrology, the study of the composition of bodies became alchemy, mathematics became the contemplation of the spiritual relations of number and figure, and philosophy became theosophy." WJmoell. llule 9. When the different meipbers of a sen- tence express a mutual comparison, contrast or op- position, they should generally be separated from each other by commas. Examples : " The more I reflected upon it, the more important it appeared." Goldsmith. " The Quaker revered principles, not men ; truth, not power." " As the hart panteth after the wa- ter-brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee," Psalm xlii. 1. Rule 10. To prevent ambiguity in cases of Ellipsis, a comma is sometimes inserted in the place of the word or phrase omitted. Example : As a companion he was severe and satirical ; as a friend, captious and dangerous; in his domestic sphere, harsh, jealous, and ira- scible." Rule 11. When two or more successive clauses and with words sustaining a common relation to some words in a following clause, a comma should generally be inserted after each. Examples: "The truest mode of enlarging our benevolence, is, not to quicken our sensibility towards great masses* or wide-spread evils, but to ON PUNCTUATION. 113 approach, comprehend, sympathize witli, and act upon a continually increasing number of indivi- duals." Ckanning. " Such compulsion is not merely incompatible with, but impossible in &free* or elective government." When, however, the word in the following clause is not accompanied by several words, the comma before it is often omitted ; as, " We may, and often do ejnploy these means." Rule 12. 'When several words intervene between the verb of a principal clause and the commence- ment of a subordinate clause, the jclauses should be separated from each other by a comma; as, " Had we stopped here, it might have done well enough." " He was nineteen years of age, when he bade adieu to his native shores." flule 13. When the connexion of a sentence is interrupted by one or more words, not closely re- lated in construction to what precedes, a comma should generally be inserted both before and aftQr the word or words introduced ; as, " He, like the world, his ready visit pays, Where fortune smiles." Young. Rule 14. The independent case, and the mfini- tive absolute, with their adjuncts should be sepa- rated from the rest of the sentence by commas. Examples : " To foster industry, to promote union, to cherish religious peace, these were his honest purposes." "The play writers, where are they ? and the poets, are their fires extinguished ?'* H. More. 10* 114 ft ON PUNCTUATION. " Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done, Shouldered his crutch and showed how fields were- won." Goldsmith. t " Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your hells." Shakspcre. Rule 15. When either of two words in apposi- tion is accompanied by an adjunct, the latter of them, with the words depending upon it, should he set off from the rest of the sentence hy commas ; as, "The following is a dialogue between Socrates, the great Athenian philosopher, and one Glaucon, a private individual." Rule 16. When a word or phrase is repeated for the sake of emphasis, a comma should be inserted both before and after it; as, "here, and here only,, lies the peculiar character of the revolution." " Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprang and stood, In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood 1 ?" Note. Whan the word or words to be set off ac- cording to the three preceding rules stand at the beginning or end of a sentence, one of the comma* is, of course, necessary. THE SEMICOLON* Rule 1. When to a sentence complete in con- struction, a clause is added containing a reason, an explanation, an inference, or a contrast, it should ON PUNCTUATION 115 generally be preceded by a semicolon ; as, " The past seems to promise it ; but the fulfilment depends on the future." " To the latter it is a double ad- vantage; for it diminishes their pain here, and re- wards them with heavenly bliss hereafter." Gold- smith. Rule 2. When several successive clauses have a common connexion with a preceding or following clause, a semicolon is generally inserted after each. Examples : " Children as they gamboled on the beach ; reapers, as they gathered the harv- vest ; mowers, as they rested from using the scythe ; mothers, as they busied themselves about the household; were victims to an enemy, who disappeared the moment a blow was struck, and who was ever present, where a garrison or a family ceased its vigilance." " Reason as we may, it is impossible not to read, in such a fate, much, that we know not how to interpret ; much of provocation to cruel deeds and deep resent- ment ; much of apology for wrong and perfidy ; much of doubt and misgiving as to the past ; much of painful recollections ; much of dark fore- boding." Rule 3 When several particulars are enume- rated in a sentence, some of which are expressed in several words, they are often separated from each other by semicolons ; as, " The Aragonese cortes was composed of four branches or arms ; the ricos hombres, or great barons ; tha lesser nobles, com- 116 ON PUNCTUATION. preh ending the knights; the clergy; and the com- mons." Robertson. Rule 4. Two or more successive short sentences having no common dependence, are often separated b v semicolons instead of periods. Example : " As we have already noticed, its bruised leaves afforded a paste, from which paper was manufactured ; its juice was formed into an intoxicating beverage, pulque, of which the na- tives, to this day, are excessively fond ; its leaves supplied an impenetrable thatch for the more humble dwellings; thread, of which coarse stuffs were made, and strong cords, were drawn from its tough and twisted fibres; pins and needles were made of the thorns at the extremity of its leaves; and the root, when properly cooked, was con- verted into a palatable and nutritious food." Prescott. THE COLON. The colon is much less used now than formerly : its place being supplied by the period, the semico- lon, or the dash. At present, our best writers sel- dom use this point, except in the following cases : Ilule 1. When a quotation or enumeration is introduced by such expressions as in these words, the following, as follows, either expressed or implied, the quotation or enumeration may be preceded by a colon. Examples : " The following items of the trib- ute furnished by different cities, will give a more ON PUNCTUATION. 117 precise idea of its nature : 20 chests of tea; 40 pieces," &c. " Mr. Tierney rose and said : * Mr. Speaker, the honoiir,' " &c. " All were attentive to the godlike man, When from his lofty couch he thus began : 1 Great Queen,' " &c. Drydcn. In the case of enumeration, a semicolon is fre- quently employed instead of a colon. * Rule 2. It is customary in title pages to insert a colon between the name of the place, at which the book is published, and the name of the publisher ; as, " London : John Murray, Albemarle Street." " Edinburgh : Oliver and Boyd, Tweeddale Court." Note. Every verse of the Psalms and Litany in the book of Common Prayer is divided by a colon ; as, (< My tongue is the pen : of a ready writer." This point is inserted for the use of choirs, where such parts of the service are chanted; and is merely used to divide the verse for that purpose. No attention should be paid to this point in reading the Psalms, unless when it happens to coincide [which it sometimes does] with the rules of punctuation. THQ PERIOD. The period is placed at the end of a complete sentence. A period is sometimes inserted between two com- plete sentences, which are connected by a conjunc- tion : as, " By degrees the confidence of the natives s^as exhausted ; they had welcomed powerful guests, 118 ON PUNCTUATION. who had promised to become their benefactors, and who now robbed their humble granaries. But the worst evil in the new settlement was the character of the emigrants. The period should be used after all abbreviation^, as, " Bucks.," " M.D.," " Aug.," " Esq.," " Mrs.," " Mr." Such expressions as 4th, 10th, 4's, 9's, 4to, 8vo,JL2mo, do not require the period after them, since they are not strictly abbreviations, the figures supplying the place of the first letters of the words. THE DASH. The dash is used, where a sentence is left un- finished ; where there is a sudden turn or an abrupt transition ; and where a significant pause is required. Examples : " Let the government do this the people will do the rest." Macaulay. "Ah, that maternal smile ! it answers Yes!" Cowper. " He suffer'd, but his pangs are o'er ; Enjoyed, but his delights are fled; Had friends, his friends are now no more ; And foes, his foes are dead.'' Montgomery. Modern writers often employ dashes in place of the parenthesis. THE NOTE OF INTERROGATION. The note of interrogation is placed at the end of a sentence, in which a direct question is asked; as, "What is to be done?" ON PUNCTUATION. 119 THE NOTE OF EXCLAMATION. The note of exclamation is used after expressions of sudden emotion or passion, and after solemn in- vocations and addresses; as, " Liberty ! Freedom ! Tyranny is dead : Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets ! " Shakspere. " Night, sable goddess ! from her ebon throne, In rayless majesty now stretches forth Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world. Silence how dead ! and darkness how profound!" Young. " Hail, holy light ! offspring of heaven first born!" Milton. When the interjection Oh is used, the point is generally placed immediately after it ; but when O is employed, the point is placed after one or more intervening words, as, " Oh ! my offence is rank, it smells to heaven/* Shakspere. " But thou, Hope ! with eyes so fair, What was thy delighted measure?" Collins. The following characters are also tmployed in Composition : The parenthesis ( ) generally includes a word, phrase, or remark, which is merely incidental or explanatory, and which might be omitted without injury to the grammatical construction ; as, " The tuneful Nine (so sacred legends tell,) First waked their heavenly lyre these scenes to tell." Campbell. 120 ON PUNCTUATION. "Know then tins truth, (enough for man to know,) Virtue alone is happiness below." Pope. The parenthesis is now employed less frequently than formerly ; commas or dashes being used to supply its place; as, " The colonists such is human nature desired to burn the town in which they had been so wretched." Robertson. The apostrophe (') is used to denote the omission of one or more letters; as, o'er, tlw\ It is likewise the sign of the possessive case, being used instead of a letter, which was formerly inserted in its place; as, marts for manes, or, manis. Marks of quotation (" ") are used to indicate that the exact words of another are introduced ; as, " In my first parliament," said James, "I was a novice." When a quotation is introduced within a quota- tion, it is usually distinguished by single inverted commas; as, " I was not only a ship-boy on the ' high and giddy mast/ but also in the cabin, where every menial office fell to my lot." If both quota- tions commence or terminate together, this com- mencement or termination is indicated by the use of three commas ; as, " In the course of this polite at- tention, he pointed in a certain direction, and ex- claimed, * That is Mr. Bradley, of York, a man, whose benevolence is proverbial.' " When a point is inserted immediately after a quo- tation, it should be placed within the quotation marks. A marJc of accent (') is sometimes placed over a syllable to denote that it requires particular stress in pronunciation. F'GUHES OF ,'PEECH. 121 A diaeresis ( ) is sometimes placed over the lat- ter of two successive vowels to show that they do not form a dipthong; as, cooperate, aerial. The cedilla ( J is a mark, which is sometimes placed under the letter c to show that it has the sound of,?; as in "facade." The paragraph (H) is used in the Old and New Testaments to denote the beginning of a new subject. In other books, paragraphs are distinguished by commencing a new line further from the margin than the beginning of the other lines. This is called indenting. FIGURES OF SPEECH. A figure of speech is a departure from the ordi- nary form of words, from their regular construction^ or from their literal signification. Departures from the usual form of words are called figures of Etymology. Departures from the regular construction of words are, called figures of Syntax. Departures from the literal signification of words are called figures of Rhetoric. Figures of Etymology. The figures of Etymology are Aphacrcsis, Syn- cope, Apocope, Prosthesis, Paragoge, Synaeresis, Diaeresis, and Tmesis. 1. Aphaeresis is the taking of a letter or syllable from the beginning of a word/ as, 'neath for be- neath ; 'gainst for against. 122 FIGURES OF SPEECH. "But his courage 'gan fail, For no arts could avail." 2. Syncope, is the elision of one or more letters from the middle of a word ; as, ling ring for linger- ing ; lov'd for loved. 3. Apocope is the elision of one or more letters, from the end of a word ; as, thro 1 for through ; th' for the. 4. Prosthesis is the addition of one or more letters to the beginning of a word; as, beloved for loved ; encliain for chain ; adown for down. 5. Paragoge is the addition of one or more letters to the end of a word ; as, awaken for awake ; boun- den for bound ; deary for dear. 6. Synaeresis is the contraction of two syllables into one ; as, s~2st for s"-est ; alienate for a-li-in-ate. N.B. Alienate in three syllables, as if written ale-yen-ate. 7. Diaeresis is the separation of two vowels standing together, so as to connect them, with differ- ent syllables ; as, cooperate, atrial. 7. Tmesis is the separation of a compound word into two parts, by introducing another word be- tween them ; as, " Thy thoughts, which are to us ward'' for "Thy thoughts, which are toward us;" "Hoiv high soever''' for "Howsoever high." Figures of Syntax. The principal figures of Syntax are Ellipsis, Pleonasm, Enallage, and Hyplrbaton. 1. Ellipsis is the omission of one or more words, which are necessary to complete the grammatical FIGURES OF SPEECH. 123 construction. The following examples will serve to illustrate this figure : 1. Nouns; as, " St. Peter's" [church]; " The twelve " [apostles]. 2. Adjectives ; as, " Every day and [every] hour; " " A gentleman and [a] lady." 3. Pronouns; as, " I am monarch of all [which] I survey ;" " He left in the morning, and [he] returned the same day." 4. Verbs ; as, " To whom the angel " [spoke] ; [Let] " No man eat fruit of thee." 5. Adverbs; as, " He spoke [wiselj] and acted wisely." 6. Prepositions ; as, " He was banished [from] England ;" " He lived like [to] a prince." 7. Conjunctions ; as, " I came, [and] I saw, [and] I conquered. 8. Phrases and entire clauses ; as, " I love you for nothing more than [I love you] for the just esteem you have for all the sons of Adam." Swift. 2. Pleonasm is the use of more words to express ideas than are necessary ; as, " I know thee who tkou art." N. Test. " What we have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears'' The repetition of a conjunction is termed Poly- syndeton ; as, " We have ships and men and money and stores." 3. Enallage is the use of one part of speech for another;* as, * Deviations of this kind are, in general, to be considered aolecisrns ; otherwise, the rules of grammar would be of no 124 FIGURES OF SPEECH. " Slow rises merit, when by poverty depressed." "Sure some disaster has befell." Gay. 4. Hyperbaton is the transposition of words ; as, "All price beyond" for "Beyond all price." " He wanders earth around " for " He wanders around the earth." Figures of Rhetoric. The principal figures of Rhetoric are Simile, Metaphor, Allegory, Antithesis, Hyperbole, Irony, Metonymy, Synecdoche, Pcrsonrficdticn, Apostrophe, Interrogation, Exclam&tion, Vision, and Climax. 1. A Simile is a direct and formal comparison ; as, "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water." "As, down in the sunless retreats of the ocean, Sweet flowrets are springing no mortal can see ; So, deep in my bosom, the prayer of devotion, Unheard by the world, rises silent to thee." Moore. 2. A Metaphor is an implied comparison ; as, "Wild fancies in his moody brain Gambol 1 d unbridled and unbound." Hogg. 3. An Allegory is a continued metaphor. In the following beautiful example, found in the 80th Psalm, the people of Israel are represented under the symbol of a vine : use or authority. There are, however, some changes of this kind, which the grammarian must not condemn, though they do not agree with the ordinary principles of construc- tion. FIGURES OF SPEECH. 125 " Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt : thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou pre- paredst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs there- of were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they, which pass by the way, do pluck her ? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it." 4. An Antithesis is an expression denoting oppo- sition or contrast ; as, " Contrasted faults through all their manners reign; Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain; Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue; And e'en in penance, planning sins anew." GoldsmitJi. " The wicked flee when no man pursueth ; but the righteous are bold as a lion." 5. An Hyperbole is an exaggeration in the use of language, representing objects as greater or less, better or worse, than they really are. Thus, David speaking of Saul and Jonathan, says, when persons or States reduce men to the condition of chat- 1ST REGARD TO SLAVERY. 13 tels, without divine authorization, they are guilty j of subverting a divine institution ; and, since it is the prerogative of God to determine what shall be property, they are chargeable with a presumptuous usurpation of divine prerogative, > in making property, so far as human force and law can do it, of those whom Jehovah has created in his own image, and invested with all the original rights of men. The soundness of the principle contained in these remarks, both in law and in biblical inter- pretation, will not be questioned. In the light of it, let us examine briefly the justifications of slavery as derived from the Bible. Happily the principle itself saves the labor of minute and protracted criticism. We first consider the curse pronounced upon Canaan by Noah. Admitting all that is neces- sary to the support of slavery, namely, that that curse constituted the descendants of Canaan the property of some other tribe or people, upon whom it conferred the right of holding them as property, yet even so this passage does not j justify but condemns American slavery; for that curse does not touch the African race: . they are not descendants of Canaan;* and it * Genesis, 10th Chapter. Vide, Kitto's Cyclopaedia, for views in this connection. 14 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY gives no rights to American States. In later times the Canaanites were devoted to destruc- tion for their sins. The Hebrews were the agents appointed by Jehovah to this work of retribution. It was not, however, accomplished in their entire extermination. In the case of the Gibeonites it was formally commuted to servitude, and other nations occupying the promised land were made tributary. Thus the curse upon Canaan was ful- filled by authorized executioners of divine justice. What light does the whole history now throw upon slavery ? It is plain the curse was a judi- cial act of God concerning Canaan. It follows that conquest with extermination or servitude was a judgment of God, which he appointed his chosen people to execute. It follows further, that those, who, without his commission, reduce to bondage men who are not descendants of Ca- naan, do inflict a curse on those whom he has _l not cursed; and thus virtually assume his most awful prerogative as the Judge of guilty nations. We then inquire whether the States of the South have received warrant for enslaving any portion of mankind. Has God given them the African race as property? Where is the com- mission ? The argument fails to justify modern | slavery for the same reason identically that it fails to justify offensive war and conquest. God IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 15 has not given the right has neither proclaimed the curse, nor jcommissioned the agent of the curse. Christian States in America seize it, and lay it upon those whom he has not cursed. The passage of his word which has been considered affords them no sanction. We proceed to another passage. It is sup- posed by many to be an incontrovertible defence of modern slavery, that the Hebrews were au- j thorized to buy bondmen and bondmaids of the heathen round about them. Let us candidly ex- amine this defence. Why were the Hebrews authorized by God in express terms to buy servants, and possess them as their " money ? " Evidently because they did not \ otherwise have this authority. Human beings, as we have seen, were not "given" in the grant of property. They do not, therefore, fall within the scope of the general laws of property. If they had so fallen, the special statutes, by which the Hebrews purchased them, would have been as gratuitous as special enactments for buying ani- mals, trees, and minerals. Of all nations they only have possessed this right; for they only re- ceived it by special bestowment. The rest of man- kind have ever been prohibited from assuming it by fundamental laws. If ever there was a case in which the exception proves the rule, that case 16 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY is before us ; and therefore a chasm yawns be- tween the premise and the conclusion defensive of slavery, which no exegesis and no logic can bridge over. To illustrate the strength of this argument, let the fact be observed, that, if it could be set aside, it would follow, by parity of reasoning, that the clergy of our country, regardless of fundamental laws, have right to take possession of a tenth part of the estates and incomes of their fellow- citizens, because the Levites in this manner re- ceived their inheritance among their brethren. It is plain, however, that, as in regard to other interests no less important than liberty or slavery, so also in regard to slavery itself, the special laws of the Old Testament are no longer in force; whence it follows that the vital doctrine of the system, " masters have the same right to their slaves which they have to any other property," is totally erroneous. The institution which claims solid foundation here is built on nothing. We cannot forbear to adduce an instance of unexceptionable testimony to the validity of this reasoning. In one or two famous articles on slavery and abolitionism, the Princeton Reper- tory adopts it, with another application, and says, " So far as polygamy and divorce were permitted under the old dispensation they were lawful, and IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 17 became so by that permission ; and they ceased | to be lawful when that permission was with- drawn, and a nevfc law given. That Christ did give a new law is abundantly evident," In the same manner, ( so far as ' slavery ' was permitted under the old dispensation it was lawful, and became so by that permission ; and it ceased to be lawful when that permission was withdrawn, and a new law given.' It is true, however, only in a qualified sense, that Christ gave " a new law" concerning polygamy and divorce. His law restored the original institution of marriage, as in Eden ; and this was " new " to the Jews, because there had been departure from it. In like manner the New Testament, if not the very words of Christ, now gives a new law concerning slavery in the same sense ; that is, as will ap- pear, in the sequel, the Christian precepts restore the original institution concerning property as well as concerning marriage. The laws which allowed polygamy and slavery, and therefore the right, passed away together. Here we leave the Old Testament. No other passages need examination ; for all consist with these positions. So far as that sacred volume gives light, the world are bound by the laws and have equal right to the full blessings of three di- vine institutions, whose foundations were laid in 2 18 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY Paradise, and whose complete and glorious pro- portions will encompass the universal, millennial felicity. The defence of slavery from the New Testa- ment now demands brief notice. We desire to allow it full force, while we ask the reader's can- did judgment of the conclusion. Of course, the New Testament sanctions now what it sanctioned in the days of its authors. That must have been Roman, not Hebrew, sla- very; for they lived and wrote to men under Roman law. Besides, there is reason to believe, as Kitto states, that the Jews at that time held no slaves. In point of historic truth, it appears that the Mosaic law, finding slavery in existence, practically operated as a system of gradual eman- cipation for its extinction. " There is no evi- dence that Christ ever came in contact with sla- very." This sufficiently explains why he did not give a "new law" concerning it in specific terms. The occasion did not arise, as it did arise in re- gard to polygamy and divorce, with which he did come in contact. Furthermore, there was no need of new law, other than was actually given. The argument from the New Testament for the rightfulness of slavery is twofold, being built on the instructions given to masters and servants. It fails on both sides. IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 19 For, first, the precepts addressed to servants convey no authority to national rulers or to private individuals to set aside the institution of Jehovah by reducing men to the condition of slaves. These precepts simply enjoin the conduct which Christianity required in their act- ual situation. They do not vindicate the law and usage by which they were held as property. This is abundantly evident in the texts them- selves, and more emphatically, when they are compared with the parallel cases. Christ promulgated these rules. " I say unto you that ye resist not evil ; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Does this empower States to legal- ize fraud and violence ? Does it transmute all the evil which Jesus' disciples have endured into righteousness of those who have inflicted the evil ? Does it wash the crimsoned hands of persecutors in innocency? Does it justify the wilful smiter? All men know better. No one contends for such exposition. Yet it is indis- pensable to the interpretation which finds a jus- tification of slavery in precepts which enjoin obedience on slaves. That obedience is re- quired on other grounds. 20 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY Another example. The New Testament ex- plicitly commands citizens to submit to the civil power. Does this sanctify the tyranny of a Nero or a Nicholas? In the enjoined submis- sion of subjects, has the despot, or the state, full license for edicts and acts of oppression and iniquity? Yet they are logically compelled to admit this, and thus, in theory at least, banish freedom from the whole earth, who find in com- mands addressed to servants power conferred on legislators and masters to make them slaves, that is, to hold them as property. Instead of this, the rights and obligations of rulers, and of those who claim to be owners of their fellow men, aie defined in a very different class of in- structions. Secondly, the instructions addressed to masters forbid the exercise of the right which is assumed in slavery. To make this clear, we observe, primarily, there is no passage in the New Testa- ~l ment which institutes the relation of men held in ownership by men. There is no direct refer- ence to the civil laws which constituted this relation. They are passed by silently, as are the laws that established idolatry, and kindled the fires of persecution. Their existence is tacitly acknowledged in the use of the terms which des- ignate masters and servants; and that is all IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 21 Hence those who find here an apology for slavery are obliged to refer to secular history for the facts and definitions on which their argument rests. Accordingly, no passage in the New Tes- tament would be void of meaning, though slav- 1 ery should cease. In this respect the Constitu- tion of the United States resembles the sacred books ; for not one word of that instrument, in- terpreted on just principles as the palladium of liberty, needs to be obliterated in the abolition I* of slavery. Furthermore, and this covers our position, the New Testament, disregarding the Roman law, refers masters exclusively to the i^, law of God as their rule for the treatment of servants. A single citation, with which all pas- sages agree, is sufficient to show this. " Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." Now, as none can find in such pre- cepts a right to destroy God's primary institu- tion concerning the family, no more can they find in them a right to destroy his primary and uni- versal institution concerning property. Stronger than this, the conclusion is inevitable, that the very precepts which are relied upon to support American slavery do condemn and destroy it; for the law of God, by which they bind masters, ordaining from Eden what is just and equal 22 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY between men, abolishes the fundamental and central law of the system.* * Col. 4 : 1 ; "Ye masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal." That is, act towards them on the principles of justice and equity. Justice requires that all their rights, as men, as husbands, and as parents, should be regarded. And these rights are not to be determined by the civil law, but by the law of God. . . . But God concedes noth- ing to the master beyond what the law of love allows. Paul requires for servants not only what is strictly just, but rTjv iodrrjTa. What is that ? Literally, it is equality. This is not only its signification, but its meaning. Servants are to be treated by their masters on the principles of equal- ity. Not that they are to be equal with their masters in authority or station or circumstances ; but that they are to be treated as having, as men, as husbands, and as parents, equal rights with their masters. It is just as great a sin to deprive a servant of the just recompense for his labor, or to keep him in ignorance, or to take from him his wife or child, as it is to act thus towards a free man. This is the equality which the law of God demands, and on this principle the final judgment is to be administered. Christ will punish the mas- ter for defrauding the servant as severely as he will punish the servant for robbing his master. The same penalty will be inflicted for the violation of the conjugal or parental rights of the one as of the other. For, as the apostle adds, there is no respect of persons with him. At his bar the ques- tion will be, " What was done ? " not " Who did it ? " Paul carries this so far as to apply the principle not only to the acts, but to the temper of masters. They are not only to act towards their servants on the principles of justice and equity, but are to avoid threatening. This includes all mani- IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 23 It is argued, indeed, that slavery is right, be- cause masters, as well as fathers and rulers, may require obedience. The argument fails utterly ; for there is at the foundation no analogy in the \ cases. The family and the State are divine institutions, having sanction in the Bible ; but ^ slavery subverts a divine institution. Fathers and rulers, as such^ have duties and rights suit- able to the relations they sustain by the will of God. Masters, as such, have no rights ; for their \r relation, as holding property in men, is contrary to his will. Their duty, to which they are bound by the solemn consideration that he is their Master, is practically to restore to their ser- vants the rights which he confers upon all ; for nothing less than this can be just and equal in his sight. This view discloses the harmony of the whole Bible concerning slavery ; and, in the light of the two Testaments, the institution stands as a le- galized violation of the positive will of Jehovah. festation of contempt and ill temper, or undue severity. All. this is enforced by the consideration that masters have a Master in heaven, to whom they are responsible for their treatment of their servants. . . . Believers will act in con- formity with the Gospel in this. And the result of such obedience, if it could become general, would be, that first . the evils of slavery, and then slavery itself, would pass away naturally, and as healthfully as children cease to be minors, Prof. Hodge's Commentary. 24 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY We now condense the whole argument into its briefest form, in the following syllogisms. The entire right of men to hold property is given by the Creator. He gives to American States and citizens no right to hold property in men. Therefore they have no such right. Again. An institution is sinful, which, with- out divine warrant, holds property in men, thus assuming a divine prerogative, and subverting a divine institution. American slavery does this. Therefore it is a sinful institution. The purpose of this tract now introduces a new series of topics. The argument demands its application ; and the exigencies of the times present momentous questions, which it must answer. Hitherto we have spoken of the system of slavery. We come now to persons connected with it. Because the system is sinful, the ques- tion immediately occurs, who are chargeable with the sin ; for there is no sin without sinners. The answer is obvious. They are chargeable who founded it, and all who wilfully implicate themselves with it. Practically, they are always chargeable who adopt it as their own in theory and practice, who support it in the State, conse- crate it in the Church, and labor for its exten- sion. They are chargeable, for they bring heresy IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 25 into creeds, unrighteousness into legislation, and crime into popular usage. If they are masters, they stand in the same moral relations with per- secutors and tyrannical rulers, guilty for all per- sonal injuries they inflict under color of unjust laws ; and, whether masters or not, they are guilty for exerting their influence to sustain laws which set aside the authority of God, and withhold the rights he has given. Such men are accountable to God and to society for de- liberate, organized, aggressive iniquity. The " organic sin " of the State is their sin, the sin of each in his own measure ; for they are the individuals who determine the acts and the character of the slave-holding State as such. But are there no exceptions among slave- holders ? We trust there are many. There is a plain distinction between wicked laws and the personal acts of men who live under those laws. Some may approve them, and use or abuse them to the injury of their fellow men. Others may disapprove them, and refuse, by means of them, to do or justify a wrong. Christians may be- come in a legal sense owners of slaves, while they heartily deprecate the system of oppression, while they are ready to unite with good men in feasible and wise measures for its removal, and while they obey the Christian precepts towards 26 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY their servants, rendering unto them what is just and equal to men and brethren in Christ. Such Christians and such men do not hold slaves in the sense which God forbids ; and they cannot be charged with the wickedness of laws by which they, as well as the slaves, are oppressed. On their estates a higher law than that of slavery has sway. To them their slaves, though legally property, are morally and actually men. The Bible sustains their position. They are the Phil- emons to whom Paul gives fellowship, and Ones- imus returns, not as a slave, but a brother be- loved. In the trials of their situation they should receive the cordial sympathy of Christians every- where. It is, indeed, to their sound convictions and their political influence the world must look, in part at least, for the ultimate, peaceful extinc- tion of American slavery. Without them, what would the South become ? With the Scriptures in our hand we earnestly say to them, " Throw the weight of your influence against unright- eous laws, fulfil to servants the law of God, and you shall have the sympathy and confidence of good men everywhere. Nay, more ; you, with their help, and they with your help, will confine the spreading curse, till, with God's blessing, it shall cease ; and Christian and civilized man shall have no more communion with it." IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 27 These discriminations answer certain ecclesi- astical questions, which have occasioned much perplexity and discord. When properly applied, they take away whatever support a wicked insti- tution has found by leaning upon the Church; at the same time they award to consistent Chris- tians what is due to them by the religion of Jesus. If it shall be said, there will be practical difficulty in applying these discriminations, it is sufficient to answer, it will be less than the diffi- culty of disregarding them. The question now arises, what can be done for the restriction and ultimate extinction of sla- very as it is ; for, since it is sinful, Christianity and patriotism declare it should be restrained and abolished. First. The extension of slavery can and should be prevented by the Federal Government. The Scriptures have shown us, that the people in their sovereignty have not the right to create a slave State or a slave. Of course, the legislators and presidents, who receive in trust the power which emanates from the people, have no such right. If the Constitution assumed to confer this power, it would be the first national duty to amend that instrument in this particular. There is no power on earth competent to set aside either of the Creator's original institutions for man. But, ac- 28 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY cording to the sound and established principle of strict construction, the Constitution as it is does not create slavery, or even acknowledge its exist- ence, except by inference. Hence there is no legal objection to the measure which religion her- self ordains. The religious and the political obli- gations of all citizens and all legislators coincide to protect, under the jurisdiction of Congress, the right of every man to be exempt from the condi- tion of property, and to enjoy the property which he honestly earns. Thus the question concerning slavery and the territories is morally settled by divine authority; and to this no real objection can be made, except by that great interest, whose ex- istence is inherently unrighteous and irreligious. Secondly. In the slave States, legislation should restore to the enslaved population the primitive rights which God has given to all men, establishing for them, on humane and Christian principles, such relations as are suitable to their condition of poverty, ignorance, and depend- ence, and are adapted to secure at once their improvement and the general welfare. This is the logical conclusion to be derived from the premises. As the central wrong of sla- very consists in making men articles of property by law, the rectification is to lift from them by law the curse of the false and irreligious doctrine, IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 29 that they can be rightfully held as property. Thus the axe is laid to the root of the tree. This is also the conclusion to which we are forced by other moral principles bearing on the case. For men to receive services of men is right. Accordingly, the New Testament allows masters to receive services of those who are slaves in the sense of human law; but at the same time the sacred book requires masters, with all who employ labor, to make the recompenses which are just and equal towards men ; for sla- very is not right; and legislators, on their re- sponsibility to the Ruler of nations, are bound to adjust the laws in harmony with the first princi- ples of individual and moral obligation. Furthermore, this is the only practical conclu- sion. By inevitable necessity, the slaves, as a body, must remain on the soil of their bondage. Only exceptional cases of removal can occur. They are the laborers of the South ; and no State will, or can, or is bound, to remove its laborers. It is simply bound to protect and treat them with Christian equity and kindness. Banishment of them would be injustice and cruelty, violating perhaps no less than restoring divine rights. Moreover, no practicable means of removing them have ever been seriously proposed ; and, till they shall be, the point needs no discussion. 30 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY But the question may be raised, " Are the slaves to endure their present wrongs until the laws shall be thus renewed, or perhaps forever ?" We reply, in showing how slave-holders can cease from guilty connection with slavery; we have also shown how the situation of the slaves be- comes one of practical righteousness, before the laws can be readjusted ; and for this great obli- gation of the body politic, sufficient time must be allowed. Moral principles do not exact natural impossibilities. The elevation of op- pressed millions can be accomplished only in harmony with great natural and social, as well as ethical laws, which the wisdom of God has ordained. It remains therefore, that, for a period of which no man can see the end, the slaves must, in most cases, dwell within the present boundaries ; but it is incumbent on the citizens and legislators of the South to institute immediate measures for restoring to them the inviolable rights of men. So long as they continue, by the necessities of the case, in the relation of servants and laborers, mas- ters should deal with them according to the rules of humane and Christian equity, paying to them in suitable ways their just earnings, holding sa- cred their family ties, and securing to them the privileges of education and religion. Meanwhile, IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 31 the legislatures of the several States, by wise enactments, should cooperate with masters in training their servile population for the position which the Creator designed for men. When these things shall come to pass, a con- sideration, in which many good men have sought relief in regard to slavery, will have multiplied force. The providential wisdom of God, in bringing millions of the children of Africa from a land of pagan darkness and violence to a land of freedom and Christianity, will shine with new lustre, when they shall receive from American hands, together with true religion, every divine right, and shall thus be qualified and enabled to convey to the dark habitations of their fathers the infinite blessings of enlightened liberty and of the gospel of eternal salvation. These things are practicable. So long as "righteousness exalteth a nation," a great, free, and Christian people can do what they should do ; and thus only can they secure, under the di- vine blessing, their own highest prosperity and glory. To prove this would be simply to repeat the familiar facts which exhibit the legitimate ef- fects of slavery on general intelligence, enterprise, and virtue. But what shall produce the true and wide spread public sentiment, which is indispensable to usher in so radical a change in the laws and 32 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY institutions of proud and powerful States ? Truth must accomplish this great work THE TRUTH that our Creator does not place those who bear his image in bondage to their fellow men as property, but invests them with a common and inviolable right of dominion over inferior things. The vivid light which this truth sheds on the social relations of men has been extinguished at the South ; and it has been dimmed at the North. In every right way and in every place, therefore, it should be made to shine again unob- scured. Expounders should bring it forth from the Holy Oracles ; for Jehovah has hallowed it there, and made it equal in authority with the Sabbath. The press should publish it ; for it is the function of the press to convey unceasingly to the public mind whatever will establish and crown the public integrity and welfare. All men should seal it in their hearts ; for it is the divine rule and bond of brotherhood in the universal dominion. It surrounds them with protected families, and builds their safe firesides and their altars of worship. The question arises here, can general agree- ment be expected in regard to this primary truth, and measures which legitimately proceed from it. It is to be supposed there are men in whose hearts there is no fear of God or love of their fellow beings. With such men these views IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 33 may be powerless ; but for men of Christian principle, we are confident they show a common foundation for united sentiments and efforts. There is now a general, practical, vital con- sent that government and society should respect the divine institutions of the family and the Sabbath. Beneath all superficial strifes and ir- relevant issues, there is the same sure ground for a living and earnest agreement, that govern- ment and society should respect the equal and coeval institution of the right of property. Christian and conservative men can unite in the proposed measures and the truth which ap- points them ; for they desire to preserve only what is right. Christian and progressive men can unite in them ; for they desire to abolish only what is wrong. Politics can approve them ; for they are constitutional and patriotic. Phi- lanthropy can be satisfied with them ; for they promise all that in the nature of the case can be promised for the early relief of the slaves. Re- ligion sanctions them ; for they restore her own institutions. Good men of the South can unite in them with those of the North ; for they have equal authority North and South. They proffer only that moral aid which great communities, sharing common interests and responsibilities, should render and receive with intimate and 3 34 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY cordial confidence. They honor the sovereignty of proud and jealous States ; for each of them, exercising the power which springs from its own people in its own way, will discharge its politi- cal obligations to all within its boundaries. A few years or even months of combined efforts will suffice to convey this truth with vital energy to millions of minds and hearts. In due time it will manifest its efficacy in the public sentiment and public policy. We trust in its power. It is invincible ; it will be victorious ; for it is from God. Its absence from the popu- lar and legislative mind well explains many of the evils that have been precipitated upon the nation. Its future prevalence, under divine mercy, will arrest the progress of events which would be, as we judge, not remedy, but retribu- tive destruction, on account of slavery. This leads us to the final question. Are the principles and measures advocated in this tract or their equivalents, with the contemplated re- sult, essential to the welfare of our country? We are compelled to believe so. We present, for the consideration of citizens and statesmen, this fact. In harmony with that law of fitness which pervades the Creator's works, all men are constituted with a nature correspond- ing with the dominion they have received. They IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 35 feel that they have a right to hold property, and should not be held as property. Slaves feel this. Masters often show that they feel it. They who make laws for slavery, North and South, show that they feel it. The little property which slaves are often allowed to possess, so far from furnishing apology for slavery, is an unwitting tribute to the living principle that destroys the system. Here is a philosophical demonstration that slavery cannot stand in perpetuity. This vital element in human nature, to which a divine institution itself is but an index, is subterranean fire beneath the pyramid of oppression. Though long crushed and silent, it will not always sleep. Do men expect to control forever, by law and force, that sense of rights which burns inextin- guishable in every human breast, which God himself kindled in Eden ? As well pile rocks on volcanoes to suppress earthquakes. " Vital in every part, It can but by annihilating die." In this light, it is no prediction to say, if slavery survives to consummate its own results it will destroy our country. The great political and religious problem of the slave-holding States, on which their welfare really depends, is not, how shall we extend sla- 36 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY very ? but, how shall we lay legal foundation for the rights of our servile population as men ? Un- less it shall be anticipated and prevented, by re- storing to them the dominion which the Creator bestowed, a day is as sure to come on natural principles as the sun to rise, when the masses of human property will assert for themselves the in- destructible rights of their being. Generations may not see it ; but woe betides the States im- plicated in this oppression, when that day shall dawn ; and the longer it tarries the greater the woe. To our mind, the statesmen are infatuated who do not in their policy regard this universal sense of rights. It is this which is now making so bit- ter conflict on the prairies of Kansas. It will always make conflict, till slavery expires. In connection with the general welfare, there is another consideration, which we solemnly urge upon every man who respects the Bible. It is the displeasure of God for slavery. He gave the rights which it denies ; and he will assuredly vindicate his own institutions. It would contra- dict his word and history, which is but the story of his providence, to suppose that he will perpet- ually allow myriads of men, in this land of light, to hold as property other myriads and even mill- ions of their fellow men and fellow Christians, IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 37 whom he has endowed, as bearing his own im- age, with equal rights. With Jefferson we have reason to tremble for our country, when we be- hold her support of slavery and remember that God is just. France abolished the Sabbath; and thrones have gone down in blood. America may abolish another divine institution ; and for this her proud States may be convulsed. The previous topic shows, indeed, that God has so constituted the social elements, of this world, that a great wrong, like slavery, ultimately provides for its own retribution. The oppressor himself treasures up the vials of wrath for Him who tak- eth vengeance. In view of all the considerations which have now passed before our minds, is it too much to believe, that the diffusion of kindly and scriptu- ral sentiments, with the blessing of heaven pro- ducing general agreement in principles and measures, must be the means of our country's salvation from the guilt and perils of slavery ? If it is not extended, misguided, infatuated men may, indeed, threaten to dissolve the Union. Still we fear that extension most ; for religion teaches \ us to fear God more than man. It allows us but this alternative, to keep his commandments, and trust that he will make the wrath of man to praise him. We hold that national righteous- 38 THE ERROR AND THE DUTY, ETC. ness in his sight, " first pure, then peaceable," is better and safer than union and slavery with his frown. Let justice be done, and the heavens will not fall. Whatever purposes God may conceal in the cloudy future, present duties are ours. He seals them in his word. Notwithstanding all the heats and perversions of parties and interests, we trust there will yet be a single voice of our nation's good men. Citizens will speak the truth, legis- lators will enact the truth, churches will hallow the truth, vital to civilization and Christianity, that, by Jehovah's will, man is not the property of man. Then, under the benediction of our Father in heaven, all his children in mutual protection and benevolence will enjoy their property, their homes, and their Sabbath ; and he will more richly bless the land of the free and the just. FRIENDLY LETTERS TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. KEY. A. C. BALDWIN. (39) LETTER I. INTRODUCTION. SOUTHERN COURTESY AND HOSPITALITY. CHARACTERISTICS OP THE SOUTH AND NORTH. NO ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE AT HEART. THEY SHOULD UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER BETTER. A FREE INTERCHANGE OF SENTIMENT DE- SIRABLE. SINCERE PATRIOTISM AND PIETY COMMON TO BOTH. THESE AN EFFECTUAL SAFEGUARD TO OUR UNION AND GOOD-FELLOWSHIP. MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER, I embrace the first moment at my command since leaving your pleasant home, to express the gratification afforded me by my recent visit to the " Sunny South." The kind hospitality and polite atten- tions shown me by yourself and other Christian friends, during my recent interesting sojourn with you, will ever be gratefully remembered. I had previously heard " by the hearing of the ear" of the open, frank warm-heartedness and generous impulses of southern people, but now I can fully appreciate them. The lessons taught us by experience, whether they be pleasant or painful, are the most profitable, and are most (41) 42 FKIENDLY LETTERS deeply engraven upon the memory. If there are any persons who think or speak lightly of the reputed complaisance and Christian courtesy of those who live south of " Mason and Dixon's line," I have only to say to them, go and make the acquaintance of those families which give the tone and character to society there, and enjoy the hospitalities which they almost force upon you with so much politeness and delicacy as to make you feel that by sharing them you are conferring rather than receiving a favor, and your skepticism on this point will be .happily and effectually removed. You will not understand me, my dear sir, as implying that our southern brethren have really more heart than we at the North, although there seems to be " primd facie" evidence in your favor; at least, so far as polite and generous attention to strangers is concerned. In this last particular, you are constantly teaching us im- portant lessons. Still, I contend that the Nor- therner has as large and generous a soul, when you get at it, as anybody. We have hearts which beat warm and true, but our cautious habits and constitutional temperament (phleg- matic sometimes) conceal them from view; whereas you carry yours throbbing with gen- erous emotions in your hands, exposed to the TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 43 gaze of everybody. The Southron is artless and impulsive, as well as noble ; the Northerner is no less noble, but having been taught more frequently the doctrine of " expediency " than his southern brother, he stops and " calculates " when, and in what circumstances, it is best to exhibit his whole character. In both cases, the pure gold is there ; but in the former it lies upon the surface or in the alluvial, while in the latter it is often imbedded deep in the quartz-rock ; it requires some labor to get it out, but the ulti- mate yield is most rich and abundant. It is very desirable that a greater degree of social intercourse be kept up between the North and South. We are brethren of one great family, and there is no good reason why this family should not be a united and happy one. To a considerable extent it is so. It is true we do not all think alike on every subject, and some of these subjects are of vast importance, and intimately connected with our prosperity and happiness. We need to understand each other better, and to this end there should be more intimacy, and a frequent and free inter- change of views ; not for strife and debate, but for mutual edification and enlightenment. There was probably never a family of brothers, however strong their love for each other, whose views 44 FRIENDLY LETTERS of domestic policy were exactly alike ; but there need be no lack of fraternal confidence and har- mony for all that. There are certain great fundamental principles which underlie every thing else, and form the basis of the family compact. These principles are filial reverence, fraternal affection, love for home, and a watchful jealousy of aught that can in the least interfere with the happiness or reputation of their beloved family circle. Falling back upon these principles to preserve good-will and harmony, they are not in the least afraid to discuss those topics on which there is an honest difference of opinion; on the contrary, they take pleasure in doing so, for the result is a strengthening of the ties which bind them to each other, and a modification and partial blending of opinions that seemed antag- onistic. Thus it should be in our great political and religious brotherhood. The North and South have each their peculiar views of what pertains to their own interests, and the interests of the great family of the Republic. But do not let us stand at a distance and look at each other with an eye of jealousy because of these differ- ences. Surely we can meet as fellow-citizens, and discuss matters of common interest, and the TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 45 interests of common 'humanity, without losing our temper or engendering any ill feeling or fam- ily discord. It is affirmed by some, that there are certain subjects, at least one, of so peculiar and delicate a nature as to forbid discussion, lest the result should be heart-burnings, alienation, and perhaps disunion in our happy fraternity. I cannot for a moment admit the sentiment. It is an ungener- ous reflection upon the courtesy, Christian can- dor, piety, and good-sense, both of the North and South. I hold that good citizens and good Christians can, if they will, discuss any subject without giving the least occasion for offence, or endangering that compact which so happily binds us together. As it is in the family circle, there are certain great principles most dear to us all, on which we can fall back, and which, if we are true to ourselves and to them, will prove effi- cient safeguards to our temper and good-fellow- ship. The first of these is Patriotism. We have a common country, and we love it, and we love each other for our country's sake. We are children of a common mother, whose kind arms have encircled us, and whose bosom has nour- ished us bounteously and with impartiality, and God forbid, that, as wayward, ungrateful children, 46 FRIENDLY LETTERS we should wring her maternal heart with an- guish by our unfraternal conduct toward each other. We shall not do it, either at the North or at the South. We are true patriots, and in our very differences, love of country come in as an important element to shape and modify our opinions ; and while we may be adopting differ- ent theories, we are conscientiously seeking the same end, namely, the greatest good of our be- loved country. The second is piety. We love our country well, but we love our Saviour more, and for his sake we will love and treat each other as brethren, and not fall out by the way because we may not see through the same optic-glasses. We will cheerfully hear what each has to say on what- ever pertains to Christian morals and practice. There are thousands of sincere, warm-hearted Christians, whose love to Christ raises them immeasurably above sectionalism and prejudice, and who daily inquire, " what is truth ? " and " what is duty ? " and they entertain that " char- ity " which " suffereth long and is kind ; is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, en- dureth all things ; " and " never faileth." When this love is in exercise, Christian brethren may TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 47 open their hearts freely to each other on any subject, whether it be " for doctrine, or reproof, or for instruction in righteousness." Whatever may be true of others, I hope that you and I will be able to demonstrate to the world, that, although one of us lives at the North and the other at the South, yet we can commu- nicate with each other unreservedly on an almost interdicted topic, with mutual kind feelings, if not to edification. Respectfully and fraternally, Yours, &c. LETTER II. A DIFFICULT AND DELICATE SUBJECT PROPOSED. AGITATION OP IT UNAVOIDABLE. CHRISTIANS NORTH AND SOUTH SHOULD GIVE THE DISCUSSION OF IT A RIGHT DIRECTION. WE ARE ALL INTERESTED IN THE ISSUE. NORTHERN DISCLAIMERS. MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER, In my last I intimated that I hoped you and I, by our cor- respondence, would be able to furnish the world a practical illustration of good-nature and kind feeling in the discussion of a subject that has been a fruitful source of trouble and unchristian invective. You have already anticipated my theme it is DOMESTIC SLAVERY. It must be confessed that this is the most difficult and deli- cate of all topics to be agitated by a Northerner and a Southerner, and yet I have the fullest con- fidence that neither of us will give or take of- fence. I need offer you no apology for calling your attention to this subject at the present time. Not only is it a theme of vast importance in itself, involving, either directly or indirectly, in- (48) FRIENDLY LETTERS, ETC. 49 terests most dear to you and to me, and to every one who has at heart the welfare of his country and his race, but it is a subject that must be dis- cussed, there is no avoiding it, however much you or I or other individuals may desire it. It has come before the public mind in such a man- ner as peremptorily to demand the attention of every Christian and every patriot. Whether we approve or deprecate the peculiar causes that have made this topic so prominent in our coun- try, both North and South, we have to take things as they are, and turn them to the best possible account. Politicians and demagogues are all discussing American slavery, and will continue to do so for the purpose of forwarding their own favorite schemes ; and any attempt to silence them would be as futile as an effort to ar- rest the gulf-stream in its course. It remains only for brethren, both at the South and North, to take up the subject as we find it brought to our hands in the inscrutable provi- dence of God, and, under the guidance of his Spirit, given in answer to our prayers, take a truly Christian view of some of its leading feat- ures, and then inquire, What is duty ? I think you will not claim, with some of your southern friends, that slavery is a subject with which we at the North " have nothing to do." As patriots, we 4 50 FRIENDLY LETTERS have something to do with every thing that af- fects the interests of our common country ; and as Christians, we sustain responsibilities which we cannot shake off toward all our brethren of the human family, whether it be at the North or South whether they be bond or free. u Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us ? " " We are many members, but one body, and whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it ; or one member be hon- ored, all the members rejoice with it." Your candor will not impute to me any un- kind or improper motive in entering upon this discussion ; and you will permit me, in the outset, to enter a few disclaimers, in order that you may be the better able to appreciate what I have to say. In the first place, it is not my design to throw down the glove for the purpose of enlisting you, or any of your friends, in a controversy; this would be an unpleasant and profitless undertak- ing. Nor is it to advocate the doctrine, that sustain- ing the legal relation of master to a slave for a longer or shorter time is in all possible cases sin. I will admit that there may be circumstances in which the relation may subsist without any moral delinquency whatever ; as, for instance, TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 51 persons may become slaveholders in the eye of the law without their own consent, as by heir- ship ; they sometimes become so voluntarily to befriend a fellow-creature in distress, to prevent his being sold away from his wife and family ; persons sometimes purchase slaves for the sole purpose of emancipating them. In these, and other circumstances which might be mentioned, no reasonable man either North or South would ever think of pronouncing the relation a sinful one. Nor is it my design to question the conscien- tiousness or piety of all slaveholders at the South, both among the laity and clergy. Whoever makes the sweeping assertion, that "no slave- holder can be a child of God," gives fearful evidence that he himself is deficient in that " charity " which " hopeth all things." There is an obvious distinction between those who hold slaves for merely selfish purposes and regard them as chattels, and those who repudiate this system, and regard them as men having in com- mon with themselves human rights, and would gladly emancipate them were thore not legal obstacles, and could they do it consistently with their welfare, temporal and eternal. Nor is it my purpose to advocate immediate, universal, unconditional emancipation without 52 FRIENDLY LETTERS regard to circumstances. This doctrine is not held by the great mass of northern Christians. There are, no doubt, some cases where imme- diate emancipation would inflict sad calamities, both upon the slaves themselves and the com- munity. The opinions of northern men have often been misunderstood and misrepresented on this subject. The ground that calm, reflect- ing opponents of slavery take, is, that slave- holders should at once cease in their own minds to regard their slaves as chattels to be bought and sold and worked for mere profit, and that they should take immediate measures for the full emancipation of every one, as soon as may be consistent with his greatest good, and that of the community in which he lives. This, it is true, is virtually immediate eman- cipation ; for it is at once giving up the chattel principle, and no longer regarding servants as property to be bought and sold. It is to act on the Christian principle of impartial love, doing to them and with them, as, in a change of cir- cumstances, we would have them do to and with us. This does immediately abolish, as it should do, the main thing in slavery, and brings those who are now bondmen into the common brotherhood of human beings, to be treated, not as chattels and brutes, but on Christian princi- TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 53 pies, according to the exigencies of their condi- tion as ignorant, degraded, and dependent human beings, "endowed, however, by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- ness," which rights should be acknowle dged. and with the least possible delay be granted. ' Nor is it my design to reproach my southern brethren as being to blame for the origin of slavery in these United States. Slavery was introduced into this country by our fathers, who have long been sleeping in their graves, and the North, if they did not as extensively, yet did as truly, and in many cases did as heartily, par- \ ticipate in it, as the South ; so that, in respect to the origin of American slavery, we have not a word to say, nor a stone to cast. And besides, our mother country must come in and share with our fathers to no small extent in the wrong of introducing domestic slavery to these colonies. Happily, as we think, slavery was virtually abol- ished at the North by our ancestors of a pre- ceding generation ; but for their act we are en- titled to no credit. Your ancestors omitted to do this ; but for their omission you are deserving I of no blame. We would never forget, that slavery was entailed upon our southern brethren, and for this entailment they are no more respon- 54 FRIENDLY LETTERS, ETC. sible than for the blood that circulates in their veins. If you will be so kind as to keep these dis- claimers in mind, I think you will better under- stand and appreciate what I shall hereafter say on the subject. With the kindest wishes for you and yours, I remain, in the best of bonds, YOUR CHRISTIAN BROTHER. LETTER III. THE REAL, SUBJECT. NOT TO BE CONFOUNDED WITH ANCIEN1 SERVITUDE. NOR TO BE JUDGED OF BY ISOLATED CASES. NORTHERN MEN COMPETENT AS OTHERS TO DETERMINE ITS TRUE CHARACTER. SLAVERY IGNORES OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. IS INCONSISTENT WITH OUR CONSTITUTION. MY DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER, I propose in this and subsequent letters to take a brief, can- did view of some of the prominent characteristics of American slavery. I speak of servitude, not as it existed in patriarchal times, for that is essentially a distinct matter. While it had some things in common with American slavery, there was so much that was dissimilar in the relation of master and servant, that analogy is in a great measure destroyed. Neither do I speak of slavery as I saw it de- veloped on your plantation, and on those of your immediate neighbors. When I went to the South, I confess I went with strong preposses- sions, (prejudices if you choose so to call them,) (55) 56 FRIENDLY LETTERS against the " peculiar institution." I regarded it an evil, and only an evil. But while my general views of the legitimate workings of the system remain unchanged, candor compels me to admit, that, if all slaves were as well cared for, as kindly treated, as well instructed, and were they all as contented and happy as yours ; and, especially, were there no evils incident to the system greater than I saw with you, I would simply divest slavery of its odious name, and it would virtually be slavery no longer. The plantations at the South would then, perhaps, with some propriety be denominated communities of intelligent, hap- py, Christian peasants. And yet it is slavery, as it really takes away inalienable rights. Would to God that slavery as it exists with you were a fair illustration of the system. But alas ! it is not. Perhaps you may say that " it is impossible for a northern man to speak of slavery so as to do the subject justice." You may indeed know more and better than we do about the state and con- dition of the slaves. But in some respects, where great principles are involved, we at the North are more competent than you, for our judgment is less liable to be biased by self-interest ; and in my remarks I shall confine myself chiefly to those points on which a northern man is at least as well qualified to speak as a slaveholder. TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 57 What, then, are some of the prominent charao teristics of American slavery as a system ? FIRST, Slavery ignores and repudiates the foun- dation-stone on which rests our renowned Decla- ration of Independence. That document, for more than three fourths of a century, has been the boast and glory of America. It is the plat- form on which oar noble ancestors planted their feet, with a consciousness that they stood on the eternal principles of truth and justice. To maintain these principles, relying on God for aid, they pledged to each other "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." Our fathers knew that they were right, and, to carry out the principles embodied in this Declaration, many of them cheerfully poured out their heart's blood to defend the " unalienable rights " of humanity. Now let us turn our attention to the founda- tion paragraph of this memorable Declaration ; I do not mean in that general way in which it is often read, but minutely and particularly ; let us calmly look at it in its full import, and not shrink back and avert our eyes on account of a foreboding that we shall be led to conclusions which we would be glad to avoid. " We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights j 58 FRIENDLY LETTERS that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." These significant words are inscribed upon the scroll of our nation's history, and there they will remain till time shall be no longer. They need no glossary or explanation. He who runs may read them, and he who reads can understand them. The sentiment they embody it is impos- sible to mistake ; it stands out in bold relief, like the sun in the heavens. It is, that every man has received, from a higher than earthly power, a *charte r , which secures to him the unalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- piness. It is impossible for the most ultra advo- cate of " human rights " to paraphrase these words, or give them a rendering so as to make them support his dogmas more strongly than they now do. On the contrary, he would only weaken their force by the attempt. Now, my dear brother, I would candidly, se- riously ask you I would ask all your southern friends I would ask everybody, Can the sen- timent of that Declaration be consistent with American slavery ? Are not slaves men ? Do color and degradation change a creature of God from a human being to a soulless brute ? No ; our southern brethren would as indignantly re- pudiate this infidel view as we at the North. TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 59 Now if a slave is a man, he has received from his Creator an unalienable right to liberty if he chooses to avail himself of it, or else the first principle laid down in our revered Declaration of Independence, so far from being " self evident," is in fact untrue, and ought at once to be taken from its honored position in the archives of these United States, and consigned to the heaps of rubbish of the dark ages. But does the slave enjoy this liberty? or is it within his reach? It will not be pretended. The very name by which his class is designated forbids it. The term free slave is a solecism. His liberty consists in the freedom to do as he is told to do, or suffer punishment for his dis- obedience, and he can pursue happiness only in accordance with the will of his master. There is the same incongruity between slavery and that clause in our constitution which stip- ulates that " no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Now, my brother, does it not require considerable ingenuity and special pleading to avoid con- clusions to which unbiased common sense would arrive in an instant, in the application of these declared rights to persons held as slaves ? I am not going to inflict upon you a disserta- tion, or a series of syllogisms on this hackneyed 60 FRIENDLY LETTERS, ETC. subject, but I beg that you and your friends will calmly look again at what, I doubt not, you have seen before, the palpable incongruity between the system of holding persons perpetually in slavery without their consent, and those de- clared, self-evident, heaven bestowed, unalienable rights professedly secured to all men in these United States by our glorious constitution. Said that great statesman and patriot, Henry Clay: "We present to the world the sorry spec- tacle of a nation that worships Slavery as a household goddess, after having constituted Lib- erty the presiding divinity over church and state." Surely something must be out of joint here. I have looked again and again at this matter, I think with perfect candor, and I have tried to the utmost of my ability to reconcile these apparent inconsistencies, but I cannot do it. Can you ? Believe me, as ever, your sincere friend and CHRISTIAN BROTHER. LETTER IV. SLAVERY TRANSFORMS MEN TO CHATTELS. SOUTHERN LAWS. SLAVE-AUCTIONS. MEN PLACED ON A LEVEL WITH BRUTES. NO REDRESS FOR WRONGS. IGNORANCE PERPETUATED BY LAW. MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND, A second characteristic of American slavery is, It regards human beings, declared to be in the " image of God," as " chattels," things or articles of mer- chandise. " Slaves," say the laws of South Carolina and Georgia, " shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and. possessors, and their executors, administra- tors and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever." * "A slave," says the code of Louisiana, "is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his * See 2 Brevard's Digest, 229 ; Prince's Digest, 446. (61) 62 FRIENDLY LETTERS industry, and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing, but what must belong to his master." * Thus, rational, immortal beings, children of our common Father in heaven, are taken from the exalted scale in which God placed them, and degraded to that of the brute creation. They are, as you know, advertised, mortgaged, at- tached, inherited, leased, bought, and sold like horses and cattle. Like them they are brought to the auction block, and like them subjected to a rigid examination as to their age, and sound- ness of wind, chest, and limb. Said a gentle- man to me : " When I was at , I visited the slave mart ; and as I saw one and another and another of my fellow-beings brought forward to the block, and rudely exposed and minutely examined, in order to ascertain their marketable value in dollars and cents, and then struck off to the highest bidder, amid the gibes and jeers of the vulgar, my heart was nigh unto bursting, and I was obliged to turn away my eyes and weep, exclaiming, O God ! can it be ! thy chil- dren ! my brothers and sisters of humanity, perhaps my fellow-heirs of heaven, precious souls for whom the Saviour died, whose names * Civil Code, Art. 35. TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 63 may be written in the Book of Life, and over whose repentance angels may have rejoiced! Can it be ? " For myself, I never witnessed any such scenes, and heaven grant I never may. It is enough, and too much for me to know, that they exist. I allude to them in this connection, not to awaken and pain your sensibilities, but simply to illustrate the fact, that American slavery sanctions them, and by its operation brings down the noblest work of God to a level of the beasts that perish. As far as it can do so, it dehuman- izes man, and treats him as a thing without a soul. It may be remarked, however, in passing, " A man's a man, for a' that." I might speak in this connection of the obsta- cles which are thrown in the way of the slave's obtaining redress for his wrongs should ha un- fortunately get into the hands of a cruel and unreasonable master, being forbidden to defend himself, and not allowed the testimony of his brethren to be given in his behalf; but there are other features of this system which more ur- gently demand our attention. Neither will I dwell upon the ignorance and mental degradation which are an essential part of the system. You need not be informed, that, in ten States, knowledge is kept from the slave 64 FRIENDLY LETTERS, ETC. by legal enactments, that teaching him to read is regarded a crime, to be severely " punished by the judges." I was happy to find that you and a great many others totally disregard that law, and, in spite of legislators and penal statutes, you teach your slaves to read, and in some cases to write. For this crime ^ I doubt not but heaven, at least, will forgive you. I shall allude to this latter topic again in a future letter. Most truly and affectionately, yours 3 etc. LETTER V. DOMESTIC LIFE. THE MARRIAGE RELATION. DOMESTIC HAP- PINESS A RELIC OF PARADISE. ITS ENDEARMENTS. ITS VALUE. THE BARBARISM OF INVADING THE DOMESTIC SANC- TUARY. AN ILLUSTRATION. MY DEAR BROTHER, I come now, in the third place, to speak of slavery as it is related to the endearments and duties of domestic life. On this subject my heart is full. I am almost afraid to speak, lest I say what I ought not; and yet I cannot keep silence. I can, in a good measure, sympathize with Elihu when he said, " For I am full of words, The spirit within me doth constrain me, Behold I am as wine which hath no vent, I am ready to burst like new bottles, I will speak that I may breathe more freely, I will open my lips and reply." * We now approach a topic more intimately. * Job ch. 32, v. 17-20, Barnes's translation. 5 () 66 FRIENDLY LETTERS connected with the present and future happiness of the human race than almost any other. Man was not completely blest, even in Eden, until God instituted the marriage relation. His Cre- ator gave him a companion to participate in his joys, binding them together by ties which no human power might sunder. Paradise was lost by sin, but as our first parents were exiled thence, God in infinite kindness permitted them to take one of its purest, sweetest sources of joy with them to this world of sorrows. " Domestic happiness ! thou only bliss Of Paradise that has survived the fall ! " You, my dear brother, are a husband and a father, and can appreciate my meaning, when I speak of the richness, the tenderness, the depth, of connubial and paternal love ; how it lights up this dark world with smiles, how it stimulates us to manly exertion, how it lightens the bur- dens of human life, and enables us cheerfully to sustain its ills, while it almost restores to us Eden itself. To understand what is meant by the term domestic happiness, it is necessary for you and me only to look at the circles around our own firesides, and listen to the musical ac- cents of the loved ones who dwell there, as they pronounce the words husband, father, mother, TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 67 brother, sister, and exchange with them kind looks and the affectionate embrace. What earthly joys can be compared with those of home ? What would tempt us to part with them ? All the gold in California and Australia would be spurned in contempt, if offered in ex- change. What should we say, and what should we do, were any power on earth to interfere with our fireside delights, and attempt to wrest them from us ? Suppose Providence had cast our lot under a despotic government, which we will suppose to be for the most part kind and paternal, but hav- ing this peculiarity, every now and then, find- ing its finances embarrassed, it should be in the habit of selling some of its subjects to a foreign power to strengthen its exchequer, and should arbitrarily select its victims from this family and that; how should you feel were the doomed family your own ? What would have been your emotions this morning, had some one come to your room and told you that that bright-eyed boy, " Willie," who last night sat upon your knee and amused you with his innocent prattle, showed you his toys, examined your pockets, played with your hair and features, and finally clasped his little arms around your neck and im- pressed the " good-night " kiss upon your lips, 68 FKIENDLY LETTERS had been seized by an officer, and sold from your sight forever to you know not whom, and to be carried you know not whither ? Nay, more ; * suppose that while he was yet speaking, there came also another with the tidings that the same fate had befallen your first-born, your daughter, just budding into womanhood, the affection- ate, joyous, light-hearted " Kate," whose voice to your ear is sweeter than the music of flowing waters, whose feet are swifter than those of the light gazelle, as with open arms she bounds to meet you on your return from a temporary ab- sence, to welcome you home with a tear of joy in her eye and a kiss upon her lips, that she too had been by the officials of the government clan- destinely abducted from your dwelling, and sold, literally sold, for a valuation put upon her person in dollars and cents, to a hopeless captivity, to spend her days in unrequited toil, or, not unlike^ in ministering to the caprices and brutal passions of a stranger? And while he was yet speaking, and as your wife, half frantic with grief and terror, was en- twining her arms around you, and you were striving to ease your bursting heart, to crown the whole, suppose another official and his posse had entered your apartment, and by force of arms had torn her from your embrace, and with TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 69 thongs upon her hands, and a bandage over her mouth, hurried her away to greet your sight no more ? What a scene ! There go in one direc- tion the children of your body, " bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh," to an unknown but fearful destiny! In another is ruthlessly borne the object dearer to you than all the world beside, one whom you had solemnly sworn to love, cherish, and protect until death, the light of your dwelling, the mother of your children, the mutual sharer of all your joys and sor- rows, the richest and most precious treasure heaven ever gave you ! there she goes in an agony of wo, to toil under a burning sun, com- pelled to call another man her husband, or, it may be, to grace her master's seraglio ! Merciful God ! what meaneth this ? What horde of bar- barians from the dark corners of the earth have found their way hither to lay waste all that is beautiful and lovely ! What fiend from the pit has been let loose to enter this little Paradise to destroy and bear away all the good that was left of the primitive Eden ! No ruthless band of barbarians from benighted lands have found their way to this Christian do- mestic sanctuary, no malignant spirit from be- low has been here to snatch the only type of Heaven that escaped his grasp six thousand 70 FRIENDLY LETTERS years ago. " Think it not strange," brother, "con- cerning this fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened to you." This is only the legitimate working of the patriarchal system of government under which we live. Be calm, this is all done according to law, and with as much kindness as the circumstances will permit. No stripes are inflicted, and no more force is ex- erted than is absolutely necessary to secure the object, and prevent a useless outcry ; no ill- will is entertained toward the victims of these out- rages, it is only because the finances of the gov- ernment are low, and must be replenished, and this is the most convenient, and perhaps at pres- ent the only practical, way of raising the money ! Now, my brother, what should you and I think of living under a government where such things were permitted by the laws ? It would not rec- oncile us to the administration to be told, that such proceedings as I have supposed are of rare occurrence, and that the general character of the government is kind, that it dislikes exceedingly to sell its subjects, and especially that it has a great repugnance to separating husbands and wives, and breaking up of families, and does it only when severely pressed by pecuniary necessity. To your and my mind this would be altogether un- satisfactory ; it would not change our opinion of TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 71 the system. No matter if the heart-rending scene I have supposed were witnessed only once a year, or once in ten years, I think we should loudly protest against a system which allowed the oc- currence of it at all. You will please, my dear sir, apply the fore- going illustration to the liabilities and actual workings of the slave system at the South, just so far as it is applicable, and no further. If there are any points in which the analogy fails, I will thank you to point them out to me in your next. With much love and esteem, I remain yours, most truly. LETTER VI. SACREDNESS OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION. GOD ALONE CAN DISSOLVE IT. THE " HIGHER LAW." SLAVERY SANCTIONS POLYGAMY AND ADULTERY. RELATION OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. FEARFUL RESPONSIBILITY ASSUMED. MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER, My objec- tions to any system of government that inter- feres at will with the family relation, and forcibly separates husbands and wives, parents and chil- dren, do not arise chiefly from the personal wrongs and bitter woes inflicted upon its vic- tims. A contemplation of these is calculated to affect our sensibilities, and excite the tender sym- pathies of our nature ; but there is a more en- larged Christian view which forces itself upon us. If we could by some magic process allay the anguish of the stricken heart, and heal its wounds when the strongest ties of nature are rent asunder, could we even obliterate the sus- ceptibilities of the soul, destroy natural affection, and render man more callous than the brutes, so (72) FRIENDLY LETTERS, ETC. 73 that he could be torn from his home and kindred with less pain than they, in a moral point of view the case would be altered but little. As I have remarked in a previous letter, the marriage relation was instituted by God, and he made it indissoluble. " What God hath joined together let not man put asunder," is the language of " holy writ ; " and whoever, for any cause which God himself has not specified, breaks up this re- lation, encroaches upon God's prerogative, and goes directly in face of his positive commands. Much has been said of late, seriously, sarcasti- cally, and contemptuously, about a " higher law ; " but notwithstanding the improper use often made of that term, there is an important sense in which you, and I, and -every Christian recognize what that term implies. If, on any sub- ject whatever, human enactments do obviously conflict with the enactments of God, then God's law is the " higher" and must be obeyed. To deny this is worse than infidelity. Now, brother, does not the system of slavery in the United States tolerate, and even author- ize, the forcible rending asunder of the marriage tie? Are not husbands, not seldom, but often, sold from their wives, and wives from their husbands, and new matrimonial alliances formed by them, with consent and encouragement of 74 FRIENDLY LETTERS their masters ? Thus is flagrant adultery sanc- tioned in nearly one half of the States of this Christian Republic, and in some cases the crime is almost, if not quite, forced upon the wretched perpetrators of it. When God's law is disre- garded, and an ordinance on which depends all we hold dear in social and Christian life is trampled in the dust by an institution existing in the midst of us, what shall we say ? If slavery were a question merely of expediency, political economy, or even personal wrong and suffering, it would be easier to keep silence; but when God is dishonored, and gross sin sanctioned by law, is it not the duty of his children, North and South, to enter their solemn, earnest, decided protestations ? You will agree with me, that no Christian can or ought to acquiesce in what, either directly or indirectly, violates a positive divine precept; and against what shall he re- monstrate, if not against a system that encour- ages polygamy and legalizes adultery ? * * It is sometimes said that the crime of adultery is neither perpetrated nor encouraged by the breaking up of slave- families, because, generally, the connections formed are not truly marriage, not being solemnized according to forms of law, and hence the marriage obligation cannot be violated. It may be replied, if this be so, it presents slavery in a worse light still, for it encourages and perpetuates a state of universal concubinage. But it is not so. When a slave TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. ' 75 There is another view in which the operation of the system of slavery, in breaking up families, has affected my mind powerfully and painfully. Parents sustain most important relations to their children, as well as to each other. Who can be so much interested in the temporal and eternal well-being of the child as those by whose instru- mentality he had his existence? Who has so much influence over him, or who could direct his feet in the way he should go, so well ? God has imposed upon all parents most important duties, which they may not neglect. These duties are as truly incumbent on the slave-parent as on the master who sustains the same relation. It may be, indeed, extensively true that he does not understand them, and is in a great measure in- competent to discharge them ; and that often the child suffers nothing morally or intellectually by being removed from his influence. But this results in a great measure from the hopeless ignorance in which the parent is involved. There are, however, as you can bear witness, 1 takes a companion, and they consent and engage to live together as husband and wife until deaih, and they thus declare their intentions before others, whether any legal form is gone through or not, they are as truly " no more twain but one flesh " as were Adam and Eve. It has been thus decided by our courts in regard to white persons. 76 FRIENDLY LETTERS multitudes of exceptions. In how many cases are slave-parents truly pious and intelligent, and feel as much solicitude for the eternal interests of their children, as you do for yours, and pray with them as frequently and as fervently. With how much pleasure did you and I listen to your "Jamie," one time when we were taking an evening stroll past his cabin, and overheard his family prayer. With what simplicity and ear- nestness did he pour out his soul to God for the salvation of his " dear children." And do you not remember, too, how with equal importunity he prayed God to " bless dear kind Massa and Missus, and dere precious children, and also Massa's friend, and dat all may meet to praise Jesus togedder in heaven," and how we found it difficult to speak for a minute or two, and how the big tear-drops stood in our eyes, and we could n't help it? You told me there were a great many " Jamies " at the South, and I have no doubt of it ; they love their little ones as well, and who so competent to train them up for Christ ? Who will presume to step in between these parents and their children and say, this family altar shall be broken down, and those who have bowed around it shall be separated, to meet no more till they meet at the judgment ? Who will peril his TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 77 own soul by taking those children away from such an influence, and for a pecuniary considera- tion cast them upon the wide world with none to instruct them, and none to care or pray for them, except their heart-broken parents whom they have left behind? I would not do it, neither would you, for the wealth of the world ; and yet, is it not often done ? In speaking of this sub- ject, one of the most eminent southern divines * uses the following language : " Slavery, as it exists among us, sets up between parents and their children an authority higher than the im- pulse of nature and the laws of God ; breaks up the authority of the father over his own offspring, and at pleasure separates the mother at a return- less distance from her child, thus outraging all decency and justice." I shall refer to the sen- timents of this brother again. I remain as ever, Affectionately yours, etc. * Rev. R. I. Breckenridge, D. D. LETTER VII. THE CROWNING EVIL OF SLAVERY. PRECIOUSNESS OF THE BIBLE. OUR CHART AND COMPASS ON LIFE'S VOYAGE IN- DISPENSABLE. ORAL INSTRUCTIONS INSUFFICIENT. DANGERS. SHIPWRECK ALMOST INEVITABLE. WITHHELD FROM THE SLAVE. SHUTS MULTITUDES OUT OF HEAVEN. AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. TESTIMONY OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY. OF SYNOD OF KENTUCKY. OF DR. BRECKENRIDGE. MY DEAR BROTHER, There is one feature of slavery, fourthly, which gives me more pain by far than any other, and I may say more than all others put together, and that is, it imperils the immortal souls of millions of our fellow-beings by keeping from them the Word of God. Next to the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, the most precious gift God has bestowed on man is the Bible. This volume contains our only per- fect rule of life, and is our only guide to heaven. It teaches us our character and our destiny ; it alone raises the curtain between time and eter- nity, and dissipates the darkness that otherwise would forever enshroud the grave ; it reveals to (78) FRIENDLY LETTERS, ETC. 79 us another state of being, in which we shall be happy or miserable, ages without end. On this Book alone do we depend for our knowledge of the way of salvation by Christ. It is here we read the story of the manger and the cross, and the wonderful plan of redemption through aton- ing blood. What could we do without the Bible ? It is of infinitely greater value than houses and lands, silver and gold, and every earthly good beside. To take from us the Bible, would be like blotting out the sun in the heavens, and enveloping the universe in the gloom and darkness of eternal night. Take from me riches, honors, pleasures, comforts, and even liberty itself; and give me instead thereof poverty, disgrace, pains, affliction, hunger, cold, naked- ness, and a dungeon ; tear me from my friends, bind me with chains, scourge me with the lash, brand my flesh with hot irons, deprive me of every source of earthly good, and inflict upon me every kind of bodily and mental anguish which the utmost refinement of cruelty can invent ; but give me my Bible leave me this precious treasure, which is the gift of my heavenly Father, to teach me his will and guide rne to himself. Torture and destroy my body, if you will, but O ! give me facilities for saving my soul. Turn me not adrift on life's troubled ocean to seek 80 FRIENDLY LETTER alone a far distant shore, exposed continually to storms, breakers, hidden reefs, whirlpools, and shoals, with nothing but a few verbal instruc- tions to direct my way. If I am to make this fearful voyage, (and make it I must,) take not from me my chart and compass. Your verbal directions I shall be likely to forget when I most need them. The polestar, which you tell me may be my guide, is often for a long time concealed by impenetrable clouds. There are fearful maelstroms, near the verge of whose deceptive and destructive circles my course lies, and ere I am aware of it I shall have passed the fatal line, from which no voyager returns. Between me and my desired haven there is a "hell-gate," where are sunken rocks and conflicting currents, and amid all these compli- cated dangers my frail bark will make ship- wreck, without my chart and compass. De- prived of these, I cannot keep my reckoning, I cannot shape my course, I cannot find my haven. I need not tell you, my dear brother, that it is a part of the slaveholding policy to take from thou- sands and millions of immortal beings in our nominally Christian land, this precious chart and compass, the Bible, the only safe guide to heaven. I have often heard you speak of it. TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 81 and deplore it. Those severe laws which forbid teaching the slave to read, do virtually take from him the Bible, his directory to the New Jeru- salem. You may, indeed, give him oral instruc- tion, and in many instances, no doubt, they are blessed to his conversion ; but how utterly inade- quate are they to his spiritual wants, how imper- j feet are they at best, and in how many thousands of cases are even these entirely wanting. Every enlightened and intelligent Christian knows, from his own experience, how hard it is to enter the " strait gate," and to keep in the " narrow way," and how needful to him are all the helps within^ his reach, and then he is but " scarcely saved." What hope is there, then, for the poor slave, who is deprived, not only of most of the ordinary and extraordinary means of grace which we enjoy, but is forbidden the printed Word of God? Is not a fearful responsibility incurred by those who, for any reason, stand between God and his children, and intercept those mes- sages of grace and mercy which are contained in the Holy Scriptures ? That noble institution, the American Bible So- ciety, is multiplying copies of the sacred Word by thousands and hundreds of thousands, and scat- tering them over the land and the world ; it hesi- tates not to thrust them into the hands of the fol- 6 82 FRIENDLY LETTERS lowers of the false prophet, the deluded follow- ers of the man of sin, the disciples of Confu- cius and Zoroaster, the worshippers of Jugger- naut and Vishnoo, and the degraded inhabitants of the South Seas and Caffraria ; it benevo- lently resolves to put a copy of the Bible into the dwelling of every white family in these United States ; but it is obliged by law to pass by the cabin of the slave, and leave more than three millions of immortal beings to find the road to .heaven the best way they can. My brother, I cannot think of these things without the deepest grief, and I know that you fully sympathize with me ; but it is some conso- lation to believe that the great mass of evangeli- cal Christians take the same views of the wrongs inflicted upon the slave that we do, for it is to the Christian sentiment of this country that we must look for the removal of them. Our brethren of the Presbyterian church have borne their testimony most fully and pointedly against the evils of slavery which we have been considering. You doubtless recollect the action of the General Assembly on this subject in 1818. A committee was appointed, to whom was re- ferred certain resolutions^ on the subject of selling a slave, a member of the church, and which was directed to prepare a report to be adopted TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 83 by the Assembly, expressing their opinion in general on the subject of slavery. The report of this committee was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be published. It is, in part, as fol- lows : " The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, having taken into consideration the sub- ject of slavery, think proper to make known their sentiments upon it to the churches. " We consider the voluntary enslaving of the one part of the human race by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature ; as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves ; and as totally irre- concilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, which enjoins that all things 'whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' Slavery creates a paradox in the moral system ; it exhibits rational, accountable, and immortal beings in such cir- cumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they shall receive religious instruction ; whether they shall know and worship the true God ; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel ; whether they shall perform the duties and cherish the endear- 84 FRIENDLY LETTERS ments of husbands and wives, parents and chil- dren, neighbors and friends ; whether they shall preserve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of justice and humanity. " Such are some of the consequences of slavery, consequences, not imaginary, but which con- nect themselves with its very existence. The evils to which the slave is always exposed often take place in fact, and in their very worst degree and form, and where all of them do not take place, as we rejoice to say that in many instances, through the influence of the principles of human- ity and religion on the minds of masters, they do not, still the slave is deprived of his natural right, degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing into the hands of a mas- ter who may inflict upon him all the hardships which inhumanity and avarice may suggest." An Address from the Synod of Kentucky, in 1835, to the Presbyterians of that State, is much more specific in its delineations of the evils of slavery, and in its denunciations of the system, and adopts language far more severe than many northern Christians would think it expedient to use. It presents a picture of its actual workings which could be drawn only by one who had seen the original. If you have not read this address, I beg that you will do so. It is altogether a TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 85 southern document. I have room only for a short extract. Slavery is characterized as "a demoralizing and cruel system, which it would be an insult to God to imagine that he does not abhor ; a system which exhibits power without responsibility, toil without recompense, life without liberty, law with- out justice, wrongs without redress, infamy with- out crime, punishment without guilt, and families without marriage ; a system which will not only make victims of the present unhappy generation, inflicting upon them the degradation, the con- tempt, the lassitude, and the anguish of hopeless oppression ; but which even aims at transmitting this heritage of injury and woe to their children and their children's children, down to their latest posterity. Can any Christian contemplate, with- out trembling, his own agency in the perpetuation of such a system ? " Coincident with the judgment of these two most respectable and revered ecclesiastical bodies is the testimony of one of the most prominent and honored sons of the southern church, the Rev. Dr. R. L Breckenridge. Says he : " What then is slavery ? for the question relates to the action of certain principles of it, and to its probable and proper results ; what is slavery as it 86 FRIENDLY LETTEHS exists among us ? We reply, it is that condition enforced by the laws of one half of the States of this confederacy, in which one portion of the com- munity, caUed masters, are allowed such power over another portion called slaves, as " 1. To deprive them of the entire earnings of their own labor, except so much as is necessary to continue labor itself by continuing healthful existence : thus committing clear robbery. " 2. To reduce them to the necessity of uni- versal concubinage, by denying to them the civil rights of marriage, thus breaking up the dearest relations of life, and encouraging universal pros- titution. " 3. To deprive them of the means and oppor- tunities of moral and intellectual culture, in many States making it a high penal offence to teach them to read, thus perpetuating whatever of evil there is that proceeds from ignorance. " 4. To set up between parents and their chil- dren an authority higher than the impulse of nature and the laws of God, which breaks up the authority of the father over his own offspring, and at pleasure separates the mother at a return- less distance from her child, thus abrogating the clearest laws of nature, thus outraging all decency and justice, and degrading and oppressing thou- TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 87 sands upon thousands of beings, created like themselves in the image of the most high God ! This is slavery as it is daily exhibited in every slave State." Yes, such is the nature and character of an in- stitution in this enlightened Christian republic, claiming to be the freest nation on earth, calling itself " an asylum for the oppressed," inviting the downtrodden subjects of all the despots of the old world to come to this happy land, and place themselves under the protection of the American eagle, and in this " eyrie of the free " taste and enjoy the sweets of liberty! The views presented in the above extracts may be taken, it is to be presumed, as an exponent of the southern Christian sentiment on domestic slavery. There are, indeed, exceptions. It is painful to notice that within a few years some men of reputed piety and worth have been at- tempting to maintain that American slavery is a " divine and patriarchal institution," " sanctioned by the Bible," is "necessary to the highest state of society," and is " to be perpetuated ; " but I am happy to believe that the number of those who hold such views, repudiating those of the Presbyterian church, and at the same time call themselves disciples of Him who said, "what- 88 FRIENDLY LETTERS, ETC. soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," is comparatively small. I close this long letter by subscribing myself, as ever, Your affectionate Friend and Brother. LETTEE VIII. THREE QUESTIONS SUGGESTED. 1. MUST SLAVERY BE PERPET- UAL? 2. DOES THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SUSTAIN ANY RESPON- SIBILITY IN THIS MATTER? 3. WHAT SHALL WE DO? MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND, I fear I shall make myself tedious to you by dwelling so long upon this, to me, painful subj ect, slavery. I will, therefore, in the present letter, finish what I have to say for the present, hoping that our future cor- respondence may be on more grateful themes. There are a few questions which are suggested to us by the brief view we have taken of this most important subject. The first is, Must slavery, with all its attendant evils, be perpetuated ? Must this blot rest upon our beloved country, and tar- nish its escutcheon forever ? I am persuaded that the spontaneous answer from the Christian heart of this nation is, No ! It was never con- templated by Washington nor Jefferson nor Adams, nor by the framers of our Constitution, nor by the great mass of noble patriots who (89) 90 FRIENDLY LETTERS perilled their all for the independence of their country, that slavery was to be handed down to posterity. If you will look at the writings of the leading public men of the last century, you will find, that, almost without exception, they looked upon slavery in the United States as a temporary evil, to be removed as soon as circumstances would permit. They regarded it not only a wrong inflicted upon the slave, but an incubus upon the nation, soon to pass away. The great body of Christians in our land have been looking forward to the time, and praying for its arrival, when all the oppressed within our borders shall go free. That the time will come when slavery shall cease in our land, I as fully believe as I believe that there is a God who pre- sides over and directs the destinies of men. You and I may not live to see the day ; but it will come. Another question suggested is, Does the church of Christ in this country sustain any responsibil- ity in regard to slavery, and has she any duty to discharge in relation to it ? By the church of Christ, I mean the great mass of Christians of every name who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, both North and South. This question is easily answered. There are no evils existing in the Christian's field of labor TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 91 the world in regard to which he has not some responsibility, and for the removal of which he is not bound to do something. As a general truth, the nearer the evils come to our own fire- sides and bosoms, the weightier those responsi- bilities become. The hundreds of millions of heathens in foreign lands lying in sin and degra- dation appeal to our sympathy and efforts, and that appeal we may not disregard. But the heathen in our own land have on us much stronger claims, and our obligations to put forth efforts in their behalf are more imperious. Slavery is a great evil and sin, which affects not only individuals, but our country ; and, both as Christians and patriots, we ought to be sensi- bly alive to every thing that affects our common weal. You who live at the South, it may be, have more responsibility in this matter than we at the North ; but none of us can say, " because I am not personally implicated in inflicting wrongs upon the slave, therefore I have nothing to do for their removal." Should this become the universal sentiment of the church, Satan's kingdom in our world would never come to an end, and wicked ness would prevail forever. The spirit of Christi- anity, although preeminently mild, gentle, patient, and long-suffering, is nevertheless, in an important 92 FRIENDLY LETTERS sense, aggressive. It has ever claimed the right of interesting itself in the welfare of every human creature to exert its influence to check the progress of sin in every form to attack error in principle and in practice to " loose the bands of wickedness," " undo heavy burdens," " break every yoke," " deliver the poor and needy," and to " remember them that are in bonds as bound with them." This, by some, may be called officiousness, but we cannot help it ; it is a part of the Christian's legitimate business to volunteer his influence and his services (in every proper way) in opposing wrong, and to stand up and plead the cause of those who suffer it the world over. He cannot refrain from doing so, without proving himself false to his Master and his Master's cause. Admitting, then, that all Christians have some kind of responsibility and duty devolv- ing on them, a most important question comes up. Thirdly, what shall they do? There are certainly some things which it is perfectly evident we should not do, though we should rebuke this and every sin, we should not give vent to our hatred of the system in ebullitions of wrath, invective, and abuse toward slaveholders. Thus did not TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 93 Christ nor his apostles. This is not in accor- dance with the Christian spirit, and could be productive only of evil. Neither should we endeavor to exert an influ- ence over the slaves to make them restive and disobedient ; none but an enemy to the true in- terests, both of the slave and his country, would do that, unless under some hallucination. Neither should we interfere politically with sla- very beyond the boundaries of our own State, in States where it now exists by the laws of the land. I might go on indefinitely, and specify what we should not do ; but this does not meet the case ; what shall we do ? It would be arrogance in me to attempt a full answer to a question that has engaged the attention of many abler heads and better hearts than mine, but there are some things which have already been said by others, that cannot be too frequently repeated. In the first place, we can commit this whole matter to God in humble, earnest prayer. Here is something which we can all do, North and South, and in which we shall all be agreed. However much we may differ in regard to the safety and expediency of other measures to moderate the condition of the slave and bring about his ultimate emancipation, we are of one mind in regard to the safety and efficacy of 94 FRIENDLY LETTERS prayer. One effect of this will be to unite our own hearts more closely in sympathy and love. There will be no danger of calling each other hard names, bandying unchristian epithets, and biting and devouring one another, if we are in the habit of meeting daily at the throne of grace to pray for a cause in which we take a mutual interest. By prayer we may hope to be enlightened more fully in regard to our duty. " If any man lack wisdom," and surely we all do on this subject, "let him ask of God." In answer to prayer, we have reason to hope that God will open the eyes to teach the hearts of all slaveholders, and lead them to " do justly and love mercy," and also that he will, in his holy and wise Providence, redress the wrongs of his oppressed children, and prepare the way for their ultimate emancipation. Prayer is the Christian's first and last resort. Let us, then, my dear brother, pray over this sub- ject continuously, and with an earnestness com- mensurate with its importance, and then, I doubt not, we shall ourselves be more enlightened than we now are as to our future course. A second duty, hardly less obvious than prayer, is to use all the influence we possess to prevent the extension of the domain of slavery. To this TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 95 end, we should utter our voices long and loud in remonstrance against any such measure. If we and our legislators may not politically interfere with slavery in States where it now exists, we may interfere to prevent it from exerting its bale- ful influence over territory now free. We should do many things for the sake of peace and con- ciliation. We have heretofore made concessions and compromises perhaps too many on this subject; but here is where the people of God, North and South, should make a stand, and declare before heaven and earth, and with an emphasis which cannot be misunderstood, that not another inch of our public domain shall be cursed with slavery for any consideration what- ever, if our influence can prevent it. In our re- monstrances, we will be respectful, but firm. Let our politicians know that all persons who are governed by Christian principle, through the length and breadth of the land, have taken their position, and that the mountains shall be re- moved out of their places, ere they will swerve from it, and there will be but little danger of slave extension. In the third place, we should use every en- deavor to disseminate the gospel of Christ, and bring its principles to bear upon all classes of persons, North and South. If we can do this 96 FRIENDLY LETTERS effectually, it is all sufficient. The Gospel, if faithfully applied, is a sure remedy for every social and moral evil that ever existed. We at the North should demonstrate to our slave- holding friends whom we wish to influence, that we ourselves are governed by its spirit, and actuated by its principle, in all that we do in relation to this subject. It is not ambition, a lust for power, sectional jealousy, a spirit of censoriousness or ill-will, that prompts us to what they have been in the habit of regarding as intermeddling with their affairs, in which we have no concern, but a spirit of love, love not less to them than to their slaves. And then, in the temper of Christ, we will bring the Gospel to bear on the slaveholder's conscience and sense of justice. We will hold up and keep before his mind the great rule of life given by Him who spake as never man spake, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them." Let this rule be once adopted and carried out, and it is enough. Human beings would no more be sold as beasts in the market, and driven to unrequited toil ; the minds of men would no longer be kept in ignorance ; the do- mestic circle would never again be invaded by the hand of sordid avarice separating husbands and wives, parents and children, doing savage violence TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER. 97 to the noblest affections of our nature ; the Bible would be put into the hands of every slave, and he would be taught to read it ; common schools and Sabbath schools would be everywhere es- tablished and maintained, as well for the slave as for the white child ; the master would regard those whom he now holds as property as his own brethren, going with him to the same judg- ment, and destined finally to dwell with him as his equals, in the same heaven, and to wear as bright crowns and sing as rapturous a song as he. He would immediately set himself about preparing his slaves for emancipation, and for the enjoyment of those natural rights, of which they have for so long a time been most unjustly deprived. In short, slavery, as the term is now understood, would cease instantly, and a kind, parental guardianship would take its place, and every southern plantation would be transformed into a moral garden of beauty and happiness, and universal and entire emancipation would fol- low with the least possible delay. And, finally, we should if possible bring the Gospel to bear upon the great body politic, upon our presidents, our governors, our National and State legisla- tors. It would seem that some of our law- makers are much better acquainted with Black- stone and Vattel, than they are with the Lord 7 98 FRIENDLY LETTERS, ETC. Jesus Christ, or they would not disgrace our statute-books with laws which ignore the " higher laws " of God. We should often remind them that this is a Christian, and not a heathen or infidel republic ; and that every enactment, not consistent with the gospel of Christ and inalien- able human rights, does violence to the Christian sentiment and Christian conscience of the nation, and must be repealed. If they will not hear us, we have only to appoint more faithful servants, who will do as they are told. We have no idea of " uniting church and state," but to infuse as much of the Gospel into the state as possible is both a privilege and duty ; and when all our affairs and institutions, public, domestic, and private, are administered on gospel principles, we shall become a free, prosperous, and happy people, and not till then. And now, may God bless you, my dear brother, and guide you, and guide us all, to pursue such a course in regard to the three and a half mil- lions of slaves in our professedly free republic as will afford us the most satisfaction when we meet them as our equals at the judgment-seat of Christ. With high esteem and much affection, T remain your Christian brother, A. C. BALDWIN. AN ESSAY, REV. TIMOTHY WILLISTON. IS AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INSTITUTION WHICH CHRISTIANITY SANCTIONS, AND WILL PERPETUATE ? AND, IN VIEW OF THIS SUBJECT, WHAT OUGHT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO DO, AND REFRAIN FROM DOING ? Homo sum ; human! nihil a me alienum puto. TERENCE. Bear ye one another's burdens. PAUL. (99) ESSAY. A GREAT moral question is, in this nineteenth century, being tried before the church of Christ, and at the bar of public sentiment. It is, Whether the system of servitude known as American sla- very be a system whose perpetuity is compati- ble with pure Christianity ? Whether, with the Bible in her hand, the church may lawfully in- dorse, participate in, and help perpetuate, this sys- tem ? Or whether, on the other hand, the system be, in its origin, nature, and workings, intrinsi- cally evil ; a thing which, if, like concubinage and polygamy, God has indeed tolerated in his church, he never approved of; and which, in the progress of a pure Christianity, must inevitably become extinct ? I feel assured that the latter of these propositions will, without argument, command the assent of the mass of living (101) 102 ESSAY. Christians. But there are those in the church who array themselves on the other side. While they would not justify the least inhumanity in the treatment of slaves, they profess to believe that slavery itself has the approbation of Jeho- vah, and may with propriety be perpetuated in the church and the world. At their hands I would respectfully solicit a patient hearing, while I proceed to assign several reasons for differing with them in opinion. First, Slavery is a condition of society not founded in nature. When God, in his Word, demands that children shall be in subordination to their parents, and citizens to the constituted civil authorities, we need no why and wherefore to enable us to see the reasonableness of these requirements. We feel that they are no arbi- trary enactments, but indispensable to the best interests of families and of society, and there- fore founded in nature. We are prepared, too, from their obvious necessity and utility, to rank them among the permanent statutes of the Divine Legislator. But can as much be said of slavery ? Is there such an obvious fitness and utility in one man's being, against his will, owned and controlled by another, as to prepare us to say that such an ownership is founded in the very con- stitution of things ? None will pretend that ESSAY. 103 there is. Not only is slavery not founded in nature, but, Second. It is condemned by the very instincts of our moral constitution. These instincts seem to whisper that " all men are born free and equal;" equal, not in intellect, or in the petty distinctions of parentage, property, or power; but having, as the creatures of one God, an equal right to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Job's moral instincts taught him, that the fact of all men's having one and the same Creator gave his servants a right to con- tend with him, when wronged ; and that, if he " despised their cause," he must answer it to his God and theirs. That men of all races and grades are essentially equal before God ; that every man has a right to himself, to the fruits of his toil, and to the unmolested pursuit of happi- ness, in all lawful ways ; and hence, that slavery, as existing in these States, is a gigantic system of evil and wrong, are truths which the moral sense of men is everywhere proclaiming with much emphasis and distinctness. If it be not so, what means this note of remonstrance, long and loud, that comes to our ears over the Atlan- tic wave? Why else did a Mohammedan prince,* (to say nothing of what nearly all Chris- * Mehemet Ali. 104 ESSAY. tian governments have done,) put an end to sla- very in his dominions before he died ? And how else shall we account for that moral earthquake which has for years been rocking this great re- public to its very centre ? One cannot thought- fully observe the signs of the times, no, nor the workings of his own heart, methinks, without perceiving that slavery is at war with the moral sense of mankind. If there be any conscience that approves, it must be a conscience per- verted by wrong instruction, or by a vicious practice. And can that be a good institution, and worthy of perpetuity, which an unperverted conscience instinctively condemns ? Third. The bad character of slavery becomes yet more apparent, if we consider the manner in which it has chiefly originated and been sus- tained. Did God institute the relation of master and slave, as he did the conjugal and parental relations ? It is not pretended. In what, then, did slavery have its beginning ? Doubtless the first slaves were captives, taken in war. In prim- itive ages, the victors in war were considered as having a right to do what they pleased with their captives ; and so it sometimes happened that they were put to death, and sometimes that they were made to serve their captors as bondmen. Thus slavery was at first the incidental result of war. ESSAY. 105 But as time rolled on, the love of power arid of gain prompted men to make aggressions on their weaker neighbors, for the very purpose of enslav- ing them ; and, eventually, man-stealing and the slave-trade became familiar facts in the world's history. Upon these has slavery, for centuries past, depended mainly for its continuance. And, although these feeders of slavery are now by Christian nations branded as piracy and strictly vetoed, they are far from being exterminated. Indeed, it seems to be well understood, that, if all commerce in slaves, foreign and domestic, ceases, slavery itself must soon become extinct. Now if man-stealing be an act which the Word of God and the moral instincts of men do most pointedly condemn, and I will attempt no dem- onstration of this here, what shall we say of that which is its legitimate offspring and depend- ant ? Far be it from me to affirm, that, circum- stanced as our southern brethren are, it is just as criminal for them to hold slaves as it would be to go now to Africa and forcibly seize them. But, in the spirit of love, I would ask my slave- holding brother, Can that be a justifiable institu- tion, and deserving to be upheld, which has so bad a parentage ? " Do men gather grapes of thorns ? " " Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? " 106 ESSAY. Fourth. There are, in the Scriptures, many clear indications that slavery has not the appro- bation of God, and hence has not the stamp of perpetuity upon it. Under this head, let us notice several distinct particulars. 1. Had God regarded servitude as a good thing, he would not, in authoritatively predict- ing its existence, have said, " Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his breth- ren." What God visits men with as a curse cannot be intrinsically good and beneficial. 2. The judgments with which God visited Egypt and her proud monarch, for refusing to emancipate the Israelites, and for essaying to re- capture them, when let go, and the wages which he caused his people, when released, to receive for their hitherto unrequited toils, clearly evince that he has no complacency in compulsory, un- rewarded servitude. 3. The same thing is indicated by the fact that God has, by statute, provided expressly for the protection and freedom of an escaped slave ; but not for the recovery of such a fugitive by his master. " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee : he shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place which he shall choose Thou shalt not oppress him." ESSAY. 107 Now be it, if you will, that this statute had refer- ence only to servants who should escape into the land of Israel from Gentile masters ; does it not indicate a strong bias, in the mind of God, to the side of freedom, rather than that of slavery ? And does it not establish the point, that, in God's esti- mation, one man cannot rightfully be deemed the property of another man ? Were it other* wise, would not the Jew have been required to restore a runaway to his pursuing master, just as he was to restore any other lost thing which its owner should come in search of? Or, to say the least, would not the Israelites have been allowed to reduce to servitude among themselves the escaped slave of a heathen master? But how unlike all this are the actual requirements of the statute. God's people must neither deliver up the fugitive nor enslave him themselves ; but allow him to dwell among them as a FREEMAN, just "where it liketh him best." And, in this connection, how significant a fact is it, that the Bible nowhere empowers the master from whom a slave had escaped to pursue, seize, and drag back to bondage that escaped slave. 4. That which constitutes the grand fountain of slavery, the forcible, stealthy seizure of a man, for the purpose of holding or selling him as a slave, was, under the Mosaic dispensation^. 108 ESSAY. punishable with death ; and is, in the New Tes- tament, named in connection with the most hei- nous crimes. "He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." What could more for- cibly exhibit God's disapprobation of one of the distinctive features of slavery, compulsion ? What more impressively show the value that he puts upon a man's personal independence, his right to himself? Now if God doomed that man to die a felon's death who should steal and sell a fellow man, can it be that he would hold him guiltless who should buy the stolen man, know- ing him to have been stolen ? God's people were, indeed, allowed to " buy bondmen and bond- maids " of the strangers that dwelt among them, and of the surrounding heathen. But were they ever allowed to buy persons whom they knew to have been unlawfully obtained, and offered for sale in manifest opposition to their own wishes ? If they were not, and, from the statute just referred to, it seems certain that they were not, does American slavery derive countenance from that which was tolerated in the Jewish church and nation ? True, the slaves now held as such among us were not themselves feloniously seized on a foreign soil, torn away from kindred, homes, and country, and sold into hopeless bondage in a ESSAY. 109 strange land ; but their sires and grandsires were. Man-stealing is confessedly the stock out of which has sprung, and grown to its present dimensions, the vast and overshadowing Upas of American slavery; and if the Bible brands that stock as pestiferous, must not the entire tree partake of the noxious influence ? Again : if, as competent critics assert, the popular sense of the word ren- dered " men-stealers," in 1 Tim. i. 10, be " those who deal in men literally, slave-traders," then trafficking in slaves for mercenary ends is, by Paul, ranked among vices the most abominable ; and American slavery is, if possible, more point- edly condemned by that passage than by the statute found in Ex. xxi. 16. For who does not know that trading in " the persons of men " has ever been, and yet is, a main pillar in the fabric of slavery ? Indeed, man-stealing and slave-trad- ing are to slave-holding precisely what the busi- . ness of the distiller and of the vendor is to the vice of intemperance. There is, in either case, a trio of associated evils ; and it is difficult to say - which member of either trio is the most repulsive and harmful. If, now, it be objected to this argument from; the Bible, that the Mosaic institutes expressly recognize such a thing as involuntary servitude,, and prescribe rules for its regulation, I answer : 110 ESSAY. true, but the servitude thus recognized and regu- lated by statute was of a far milder type than that which is legalized in these American States. For, 1. It allowed the bondman a large amount of leisure, or time which he need not devote to his master's service ; 2. It made it possible for him to accumulate a considerable amount of property ; 3. It placed him on a perfect level with his master, in regard to religious privileges; 4. It gave him his freedom whenever he should be so chastised as to result in permanent injury to his person : thus operating as a powerful pre- ventive of inhumanity in chastising; 5. It re- spected the sanctity of the conjugal and parental relations, when existing among bondmen, and did not authorize a compulsory severing of family ties ; 6. It made no provision for the sale of a servant by his Jewish master, nor for any such domestic commerce in the persons of men as is practised in the southern States of this Union ; 7. It provided for the periodical emancipation of all that were in bondage; thus aiming a fatal blow at the very existence of servitude in the Hebrew commonwealth. I may not, consistently with the necessary brevity of a tract designed for popular perusal, go into any demonstration and shot its branches so far, and so interlaced itself with all surrounding objects, that, to have it instantaneously and unreservedly uprooted, might prove, in many cases, disastrous ; and, at all events, is not to be expected. To say nothing of other obstacles to the immediate abolition of Southern slavery, the highest good of many of the slaves makes it inexpedient. Some, proba- bly many of them, need to pass through an edu- cating process, a kind of mental and moral ap- prenticeship, in order to their profiting largely by the boon of emancipation.* * The publishers understand the writer to mean, that the working of them without wages, the withholding that which is just and equal, should be immediately and uni- versally abandoned, and that emancipation should be granted as speedily as the slaves can be prepared to use and, 9 130 ESSAY. II. We are now to inquire, lastly, what du- ties, positive and negative, this great question devolves on those Christians among whom American slavery has its seat, or who are per- sonally identified with it. Hoping, brethren, that the sentiments thus far advanced are your senti- ments, I shall have your further assent when I say, 1. That the extinction, at the earliest consist- ent date, of the system of servitude existing among you, is a result at which you ought steadily and strenuously to aim. And, as you see, we base this obligation of yours, not on the assumption of any sinfulness which you may sustain to slavery, but on the acknowledged in- justice and woes, past, present, and prospective, of the system as a system, its contrariety, as a system, to the fundamental principles of Chris- tianity. Did we regard you as necessarily sinners, enjoy their freedom. The right should be acknowledged, and the needful means for its security immediately used. The writer does not say, that holding men in bondage is not generally sinful, nor that all sin should not be immediately repented of and forsaken, but only that there may be ex- ceptions where for a time, and under very peculiar circum- stances, it may not be sinful, and cannot consistently with the greatest good be abandoned, without some previous means of preparation. ESSAY. 131 if in any sense you hold slaves, then the least we could ask of you would be, that with contrition of heart you should instantaneously cease to indulge in this sin, for all sin should be immediately abandoned. As it is, we only ask, that, just as fast as your slaves can be prepared for freedom, and as the providence of God may put it in your power to liberate them, you will do so. We are not so unwise as to expect that the work of ex- tinction can be accomplished in a day. We know, too, that you are not, in your church capac- ity, the constituted arbiters of the question as a question of State policy. And, so long as your legislatures and their constituencies are resolved on maintaining the system, perhaps you will be unable to effect as much as you desire in the way of promoting its overthrow. And yet, brethren, there is a way in which we think you can, with entire safety and manifest propriety, contribute largely and directly to the extinction of American slavery. Would the entire Southern church cease all personal participation in slavery, and throw her whole weight and influence into the scale of slavery's complete subversion, that " consumma- tion devoutly to be wished " would soon ensue. Slave-holding, no longer practised or justified by the church, but discountenanced, could not long retain its foothold in the State. Now if this be 132 ESSAY. so, our slaveholding brethren will confess that they are imperiously bound, by motives of Chris- tian duty, to liberate their bondmen with all con- sistent speed. Meantime, and as one important means of qualifying them for freedom, you ought, 2. To see to it that not only your own, but all the bondmen among you, your entire slave population, are furnished with the Bible, and qualified to read and comprehend it; and also with stated preaching. They need a written and preached gospel, were it only to fit them to exchange, with advantage, a state of vassalage for the dignity of freemen ; for all experience proves that the Bible and the pulpit are of all instruments the best to qualify men safely to exercise the right of self-government. But there is a servitude more dreadful by far than any domestic bondage that men have ever groaned under ; and your slaves need the Bible, and the Bible preached, to prove God's instru- ments of breaking the chains imposed by Satan, and making them Christ's freemen. Before God and in prospect of eternity, the distinctions between the master and his slave dwindle into insignificance. Having souls that are alike impure and alike precious, alike remembered by a dying Saviour and alike in need of the ESSAY. 133 regenerating change, they stand alike in need of God's Word, written and preached, as the Spirit's instrument in renewing and sanctifying the soul. Hence the Bible and preaching are as much the rightful inheritance of the slave as of the master. We rejoice that these truths and the obligations resulting therefrom are, to some extent, recognized by southern Christians ; and that, in spite of certain adverse statutes, so much is being done there for the spiritual well-being of the slaves. Go on, brethren, in the good work of evangelizing your slave pop- ulation ; in teaching them the art of reading and the rudiments of knowledge; in putting the Bible into their hands, and affording them stated opportunities to read it, and to hear it expounded by you and by Christ's ministers. Go on, we say, till there be not one southern slave, who, in point of religious privileges, is not on a footing of equality with yourselves. Pros- ecuting this laudable work in the spirit of love, you will probably encounter no serious opposi- tion. The adverse but dead statutes referred to will not, we hope, be galvanized into life, in order to oppose you. It only remains that we name a few things, which we trust our Southern brethren will unite with us in saying that they should refrain from 134 ESSAY. doing. (1.) You ought not to, and we trust . you will not, betray impatience and irritation, whenever we of the North attempt to press the claims of the enslaved on your attention. Your doing this, as you sometimes have, seems to indicate, that, in your opinion, we Northern Christians have no responsibility in regard to slavery and its evils; and that when we discuss this theme we make ourselves " busybodies in other men's matters." To the justness of this opinion we cannot subscribe. While we dis- claim all right or intention to break our compact with you as States, we feel that American slavery is a question of too great moment to ourselves and to unborn generations for us to have no concern with or responsibility for ; and as patriots, as philanthropists, as Christians, we are constrained to do all that we rightfully may for the downfall of this hoary system of wrong and woe. If any of you differ with us in opinion on this theme, we trust you will allow us to dis- cuss it to our heart's content ; and that you will listen to our reasonings with Christian meekness and candor. Not to do so will be construed as an evidence of intrinsic weakness in your cause. (2.) You will freely admit, we presume, that certain practices are authorized by your slave laws, in which you must not indulge even so ESSAY. 135 long as by any necessity you hold slaves. Your slave codes, for example, do not rec- ognize the sanctity of family ties and the do- mestic affections as existing among slaves ; but, as Christian masters, you must. You doubt- less believe, as do we, that the marriage relation, with ah 1 its rights and immunities, was as much designed for the negro as for the white man; that he, as truly as the other, is entitled to " cleave unto his wife," unexposed to the danger of man's putting asunder what God hath so closely joined, that " they are no more twain, but one flesh." You believe, too, that God united hus- band and wife thus indissolubly, not simply that they might be a help and solace to each other in the toilsome pilgrimage of life, but that the chil- dren with which God should bless them might grow up under their supervision, and by them be qualified for a career of usefulness and honor. Thus you believe, and believing thus, you will not, we trust, counteract God's benevolent de- signs, by countenancing, in your own practice, the separation of husbands and wives, or of parents and their offspring. We feel assured, that, whatever your laws may aUow, or non-pro- fessing masters around you may do, you will never ignore the conjugal or parental rights of your servants, or indulge in any thing adapted to 136 ESSAY. mar their domestic enjoyment. Were you to do so, we confess we could not extend to you " the right hand of fellowship " as brethren in Christ Were a church-member of ours to practise thus, we should regard him as amenable to discipline. We should also regard it as disciplinable for a master to overwork, or brutally chastise, or but half feed and clothe his servants; or to hold slaves for mere purposes of gain, or to traffic in them. None of these inhumanities could we reconcile with the obligations of a Christian profession ; and we confidently hope that in these views you will heartily concur, and that with them your practice will correspond. Christian brethren of the North and the South ! The question we have been considering is one of vast moment. Upon the right disposition of it are suspended, under God, interests of immeas- urable value, and which stretch far out into the unseen future of our country and the world. Coming ages and unborn generations are to be affected, favorably or otherwise, by the decision of this vexed question ; and, brethren, unless I misjudge, its right decision is, to a very great ex- tent, lodged in our hands. As decides the Amer- ican church, so, methinks, will decide the American people. And now, may I confess it ? I have dared to hope that the sentiments ESSAY. 137 of this Essay are not only sound, but in unison with the views of the great mass of American Christians. Are we not agreed in this: that American slavery is a system of deep injustice and wrong, not sanctioned by the Word or the providence of God; fraught with incalculable mischief to the interests of both masters, and slaves, and to the social and religious well-being of our whole country ; a blot on the escutcheon both of the nation and of the church ; a weapon for scepticism to wield, and an obstacle to the introduction of millennial glory; and hence, a system which ought speedily to terminate, and which all good men should unitedly oppose and seek to subvert ? If we are thus agreed, let us join hands as well as hearts, and, swerving neither to the extreme of passive indifference on the one hand nor to that of erratic fanaticism on the other, in the majesty of principle let us move calmly onward, a phalanx of Christian philan- thropists, attempting naught but what they are assured God would have them attempt, and em- ploying only such means as are warranted by an enlightened conscience. Leaning prayerfully on Him who hears the sighing of the oppressed, let us push vigorously forward, and, though the year of jubilee has not yet fully come, be assured it wiU come, that proud day, when not only 138 ESSAY. " throughout all the land," but throughout the civilized world, liberty shall be proclaimed " unto** all the inhabitants thereof." Hasten its advent, " O Thou that hearest prayer," and that " de- lightest in mercy ! " Amen and Amen. fc 406 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY