between had discharged and compliance. Corrected :"The message was communicated in compliance with the instructions of the executive by an agent, who had never before discharged any important office of trust."

66. Care should be taken to employ such prepositions as express clearly and precisely the relations intended: as 66 He went to Glasgow:"- "He arrived at Liverpool: “He rode into the country: "_"He resides in London: "-"He walks with a staff by 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 elliptical expression, contracted from " Of the clock"-"At seven of the clock."-Spectator. "By five of the clock."-Shakspere.

69. The preposition into expresses a relation produced by motion or change: and in, the same relation, 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 reference 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 and 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 construction is formal, and scarcely allowable, except 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 acquired 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

66

hand"-"Their head"-"Their heart"—"Our mouth" -"Our life"-are frequent in the Scriptures, and are not improper.

74. Never say, "He was paid the money," but, money was paid him.”

The

75. The adjective worth is followed by the objective case, governed, perhaps, by of understood: as,

"The

book is worth a sovereign." Some suppose 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, of should be expressed: as, "It is worthy of remark."-" 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," 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, 66 He seemed hardly to know that two and two make four,”—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 second person are employed in the same connexion, 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; Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced."-Milton. N.B. Your should be thy, to correspond with thou and thyself.

2. As in that loved Athenian bower,

You learn'd an all-commanding power,

Thy mimic soul, O nymph endear'd,

nay,

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 but in him was yea. 2 Cor. i. 19. "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!"-Shakspere. "Till now they had paid no taxes."-Inglis. 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.

"On

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 expres

sions, however, as from where, from there, to here, from far, since when, since then, till now, are 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."—Acts xxiv. 11.

went ye out for to see?"—Luke vii. 26.

"Learn skilfullie how

"What

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 Red 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," would be better expressed by saying"This brave officer, with a company of only fifty men, has succeded 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 men

F