190 r HEORr of the 



Yet the thought exprefled by the infinitive is clearly appre- 

 hended, and plainly fliews that the word denoting it is a verb^ 



Non ejl vivERE fed valere vita^ 



Sape etiamjieriles incendere profuit agros, 



At que levem flipulam crepitantibus urere fammh,. 



Pudet hac opprobria nobis 



Et Dici POTUissE, et non potuisse refelli.. 



Reading (fays Bacon) makes a full man, fpeaking a ready 

 man, and writing an exa(5l man. 



(These Englifli words in ing, will be called participles, or per- 

 haps verbal nouns ; they have the form oi participles and verbal 

 nouns, but the meaning of infinitives ; and may be tranflated 

 into Greek and Latin by infinitives. But it is of no confe- 

 quence whether they be called participles or infinitives ; the 

 meaning of them is obvious, and is the fame with that of the 

 Latin infinitives. J 



The meaning or thoughts exprefled by thefe infinitives, are 

 as plainly charaderiflic of verbs as thofe denoted by Vivo fed 

 non valeo. Iiicendite fleriles agros — urite levem flipulam. Oppro- 

 bria dicuntiir nobis. Yet in the latter there is mood, while in the 

 former there is not. Whence it follows that mood, properly fo 

 called, is not eflTential to a verb. It is only the capacity or 

 fufceptibility of mood, that can with propriety be faid to be 

 effential to a verb. This diflindtion, which I think of fome 

 importance, may be fufficiently explained and illuftrated by the 

 following examples. It is not divifion, but divifibility, th^t 

 js effential to a geometrical line ; it is not fluidity, but fufibir 

 lity, that is eflTential to lead ; not motion, but mobility, nor 

 reft, but the capacity of being at reft, that is eflTential to body. 

 But refl is eflTential to fpace, and, for aught I know, motion may 



he fo to light. 



I 



