belonging to the first class, and in the first class the præterite was formed in -ode. Here the vowel o kept the two d's from coming in contact. With words, however, like métan and sendan, this was not the case. Here no vowel intervened; so that the natural præterite forms were met-te, send-de, combinations wherein one of the letters ran every chance of being dropped in the pronunciation. Hence, with the exception of the verbs in the first class, words ending in -d or -t in the root admitted no additional d or t in the præterite. This difficulty, existing in the present English as it existed in the Anglo-Saxon, modifies the præterites of most words ending in -t or -d.

In several words there is the actual addition of the syllable -ed; in other words d is separated from the last letter of the original word by the addition of a vowel; as ended, instructed, &c. Of this e two views may be taken.

1. It may be derived from the original o in -ode, the termination of the first class in Anglo-Saxon. This is the opinion which we form when the word in question is known to have belonged to the Anglo-Saxon language, and, in it, to the first class. Ended, planted, warded, hated, heeded, are (amongst others) words of this sort; their Anglo-Saxon forms being endode, plantode, weardode, hatode, and eahtode, from endian, plantian, weardian, hatian, and eahtian.

2. The form may be looked upon, not as that of the præterite, but as that of the participle in a transferred sense. This is the view when we have two forms, one with the vowel, and the other without it, as bended and bent, wended and went, plighted and plight.

In several words the final -d is changed into t, as bend, bent; rend, rent; send, sent; gild, gilt; build, built; spend, spent, &c.

In several words the vowel of the root is changed; as feed, fed; bleed, bled; breed, bred; meet, met; speed, sped; read, read, &c. Words of this last-named class cause occasional difficulty to the grammarian. No addition is made to the root, and, in this circumstance, they agree with the Strong Verbs. Moreover, there is a change of the vowel. In this

circumstance also they agree with the Strong Verbs. Hence with forms like fed and led we are in doubt as to the Conjugation. This doubt we have three means of settling.

1. By the form of the Participle.-The -en in beaten shows that the word beat is Strong.

2. By the nature of the Vowel.-The Weak form of to beat would be bet, after the analogy of feed and read. By some persons the word is pronounced bet, and with those who do so the word is Weak.

3. By a knowledge of the Older forms.-The A. S. form is beáte, beot. There is no such a Weak form as beáte, bætte. The præterite of sendan is sende, Weak. There is in A. S. no such form as sand, Strong.

In all this we see a series of expedients for separating the præterite form from the present, when the root ends with the same sound with which the affix begins.

The addition of the vowel takes place only in verbs of Class I.

The change from a long vowel to a short one, as in feed, fed, &c., can only take place where there is a long vowel to be changed.

Where the vowels are short, and, at the same time, the word ends in d, the d of the present may became t in the præterite. Such is the case with bend, bent.

Where there is no long vowel to shorten, and nod to change into t, the two tenses, of necessity, remain alike; such is the case with cut, cost, &c., &c.

Words like planted, heeded, &c. belong to Class I.; words like feed, lead, to Class II. Bend and cut belong also to the Second Class; they belong to it, however, by what may be called an etymological fiction. The vowel would be changed if it could.

§ 395. Certain so-called irregularities may now be noticed.— Made, had. In these words there is nothing remarkable but the ejection of a consonant. The Anglo-Saxon forms are macode and hafde, respectively.

Would, should, could.—It must not be imagined that could is in the same predicament with these words. In will and shali

the-l is part of the original word. This is not the case with

can.

Yode. Instead of goed, a regular præterite from go, now obsolete, and replaced by went, the præterite of wend,-he wends his way he went his way. Except that the initial g has become y, and the e follows instead of preceding the d (a mere point of spelling), there is nothing peculiar in this word.

For could, aught, minded, and did, see the following chapters. This is as much as need, at present, be said about the socalled Weak præterites.

Whatever they are, they are anything but Irregular, as may may be seen in chapter xxxiii.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE.

§ 396. THE present participle, called also the active participle and the participle in -ing, is formed from the original word by adding -ing; as, move, moving. In the older languages the termination was more marked, being -nd. Like the Latin participle in -ns, it was originally declined. The Moso-Gothic and Old High-German forms are habands and hapéntér = having, respectively. The -s in the one language, and the -ér in the other, are the signs of the case and gender. In the Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon the forms are -and and -ande; as bindand, bindande = binding. In all the Norse languages, ancient and modern, the -d is preserved. So it is in the Old Lowland Scotch, and in many of the modern provincial dialects of England, where strikand, goand, is said for striking, going. In Staffordshire, where the -ing is pronounced -ingg, there is a fuller sound than that of the current English. In Old English the form in -nd is predominant, in Middle English the use fluctuates, and in New English the termination -ing is universal. In the Scotch of the modern writers we find the form -in.

The rising sun o'er Galston muirs

Wi' glorious light was glintin';
The hares were hirplin' down the furs,

The lav'rocks they were chantin'.

BURNS' Holy Fair.

It is with the oblique cases of the present participles of the classical languages, rather than with the nominative, that we

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must compare the corresponding participle in Gothic; e.g. EXOVT-OS (ekhontos), Greek; habent-is, Latin; hapênt-ér, Old High-German.

§ 397. It has often been remarked that the participle is used in many languages as a substantive. This is true in Greek

Ὁ πράσσων =the actor, when a male.

Ἡ πρασσοῦσα = the actor, when a female.

To páτToy the active principle of a thing.
πράττον

But it is also stated, that, in the English language, the participle is used as a substantive in a greater degree than elsewhere, and that it is used in several cases and in both numbers, e. g.

Rising early is healthy.

There is health in rising early.

This is the advantage of rising early.

The risings in the North, &c.

Archbishop Whately has some remarks on this substantival power, in his Logic.

Some remarks of Mr. R. Taylor, in the Introduction to his edition of Tooke's "Diversions of Purley," modify this view. According to these, the -ing in words like rising is not the -ing of the present participle; neither has it originated in the Anglo-Saxon -end. It is rather the -ing in words like morning, which is anything but a participle of the non-existent verb morn, and which has originated in the Anglo-Saxon substantival termination -ung. Upon this Rask writes as follows:Gitsung, gewilnung desire; suutelung manifestation; clansung = a cleansing; sceawung = view, contemplation; eorð beofung an earthquake; gesomnung = an assembly. This termination is chiefly used in forming substantives from verbs of the first class in -ian; as, hálgung = consecration, from hálgian = to consecrate. These verbs are all feminine."Anglo-Saxon Grammar, p. 107.

Now, whatever may be the theory of the origin of the termination -ing in old phrases like rising early is healthy, it