198 rHEORr of the 



ous kinds ; and of courfe it has the proper regimen of the verb, 

 when it exprelTes a£lion and relation, or, in grammatical lan- 

 guage, is tranfitive ; as in percurrijfc, tentq(fe^ urere^ incendere, 

 in the preceding examples. 



Dico, credo^ puto, -Jitium exijlere^ valere, jacere, cccidijfe, pro- 

 cubiiijje, projecijfe Mcevium., proje6ltm fiiijfe a Mxvio, have the very 

 fame meaning with Dico, &c. quod Titius exijiat, quod jaceat, quod 

 <'eciderit^ procuhuerit, projecerit Mcevium, proje8.us fuerit a Mavio, 



I CANNOT help thinking, that, in thefe cafes, the infinitives, 

 as well as the fubjundtives, are truly verbs, though ftripped of 

 tliat circumAance which is, in flridl propriety of language, 

 called mood. Nor do the infnitivcs as thus vifed acquire any 

 further meaning, in addition to the radical import of the verb 

 with tenfe, like the proper moods ; but the JubjunBives after 

 quod lofe their peculiar meaning as moods, and fignify no more 

 than bare infinitives. 



I THINK fome more llluftration may be given to this fub- 

 jedl, by confidering the import of participles, which partake 

 of the nature both of verbs and of adjecflives ; and that of 

 verbal nouns, which partake of the nature and meaning of 

 verbs and of fubftantive nouns. 



It is an acknowledged fad with refpedl to participles, and 

 it is equally true with refpedt to verbal nouns, that, by means 

 of them, various thoughts, commonly expreffed by the moods 

 of verbs, or by the infinitives of them, may be expreffed with 

 great accuracy, and fometimes with advantage in compofition, 

 by enabling us to leffen the number of verbs in a fentence, or 

 to vary occafionally the ftrudure of it. Nee quicquam tibi pro- 

 dejl morituro tun tentatfo domuum aeriarum^ et cuRSUS tuns circa 

 polum, though a very crabbed inelegalit fentence, has the very 

 fame meaning with Horace's beautiful lines, and with the 

 profe verfion immediately fubjoined to it. 



Why are not tent at io and curfus reckoned verbs, as well as 

 tentaffe and percurrijje ? They arc furely very near akin. 



The 



