280 HEWETT — PR0N0UN3 IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. [April 9, 



the additive relative, and are equivalent to a demonstrative with a 

 conjunction, 'and he,' 'and this,' 'and these.' The relative 

 that assumes that its antecedent is not yet fully defined, its office 

 being to complete or restrict its meaning. It may accordingly be 

 called the restrictive relative, and may generally be represented, by 

 way of equivalent, by an adjectival or participial phrase." 



Professor Hill, of Harvard, says : " Few good authors observe the 

 rule that luho or which should be confined to cases in which the rela- 

 tive clause explains the meaning of the antecedent or adds something 

 to it, and that to cases in which the relative clause restricts the mean- 

 ing of the antecedent. This rule, however helpful to clearness it 

 may be in theory, few good authors observe ; considerations of 

 euphony prevent adoption of the rule" {P?inciples of Rhetoric^ 

 revised and enlarged, page 136). 



Meiklejohn, in his English Language, says: ''That is generally 

 employed to limit, distinguish and define. Thus we say ' The 

 house that I built is for sale.' Here, the word that is an adjective 

 limiting or defining the noun house. Hence, it may be called the 

 defining relative. Who or tvhich introduces a new fact about the 

 antecedent; that only marks it off from the other nouns." 



We thus have here representative opinions from English, Scotch 

 and American scholars, who base their judgment mainly upon their 

 practical experience of language and not upon an examination of 

 the literary monuments in different periods. It is our purpose, 

 therefore, to ascertain the historical use of these pronouns and to 

 determine the frequency with which they occur in representative 

 works in literature, since the period of Wiclif 's translation of the 

 Bible. 



An .examination of the two texts of Layamon's Brut, issued 

 about seventy years apart, show how complete the distinction 

 between these pronouns had become in that period. In the older 

 text (of about 1205) the earlier relatives of different genders 

 as well as pe are used, while the later manuscript B. (of about 

 1275) represents these pronouns by a uniform /^^/ (that). 



A. 



(Line 13,827) An alle mine Hue, pe ich, iluued habbe. 



B. 



In al mine Hue, pat ich ileued habbe. 



In the century which follows, who and which occur, but less 

 frequently. In the language of Chaucer (i 340-1 400), that is the 



