154 Latin Cases after the Verb Sum. 



ihp. nest, entirely consumed. I endea- 

 voured to fiiid if there were anj' other 

 paths whieh led from the nest, but 1 

 could not diseovcr any. Tliere were a 

 jrie;it number of ant-hills made by tlie 

 Formica rubnt, or red ant, all around 

 this nest, some within ten or twelve 

 feet ; but the ants of l)oth species seemed 

 to keep quite distinct, and never to in- 

 terfere witij each other. I brought se- 

 veral of the ants home with me; and, 

 upon examination, they appear to me 

 to lie the Formica herculanea, or horse- 

 ant, of Linniens; but I do not conceive 

 tiiey arc peculiar to that part of the 

 , country in wliich I saw them. 



Derby; J. 1). Strutt, 



August 12, 1816. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN reply to your correspondent W. P. 

 vol. 42, p. 18, I desire to inform 

 him, tliat, where the cause of forbidding 

 the banns is such as to form a sufficient 

 legal objection to the marriage — as, if 

 one of tiie persons be not of years of dis- 

 . cretion, and the guardian forbid, or if 

 either of thcni has a husband or wife 

 living, &c. the clergyman is bound to 

 fake notice of the objection, and pioceed 

 no further towards tlie celebration. If 

 he do, he is punishable for his miscon' 

 ^uct, and tlie marriage itself is void. 



Eut your correspondent should be, 

 at (he same time, apprised, that the ob- 

 jection he instances is not such an 

 one as is allowed by the laws of this 

 country. The canon law, in some re- 

 spects, decided differently. But, what- 

 ever doubts niigiit formerly be enter- 

 tained how far, according to the mnnici- 

 pal laws of England, a marriage could 

 be dissolved on account of a prior con- 

 tract, the statute of 26 Geo. ii. c. 33, lias 

 removed every future question on that 

 h<'ad ', and has left the injured party to 

 seek for a compensation in damages by 

 »» action at law. 



Latin cases after the verb sum. 

 To reduce the construction of a lan- 

 jjuage to mles, precise yet eoniprehen- 

 sive, drawn from general principles, and 

 clearly and concisely elucidated aiul ex- 

 plained, is a task which many have 

 aUcmpted, but few have performed with 

 any great degree of success. Tlie phi- 

 losophy of language is a work of pro- 

 jjressive improvement, one that requires 

 the accumulated knowledge of succes- 

 sive ages to ripeu and bring to maturity; 



* iiargrave Co. Lift. 79, b. n. i. 



[Oct. I, 



and, notwithstanding the advantages* it 

 has derived in later times by the more 

 easy and more extended intercourse of 

 nations, the light that has reflected upon 

 it from the splendor of modern philoso- 

 phy, and tlie great advances that indivi- 

 dual exertion and ingenuity have at dif- 

 ferent times made ; we are but still in 

 the portal of this branch of science. W« 

 observe at a distance the dawn ; we trace 

 by a glimmering light the yet indistinct 

 lines of tlie landscape ; but we possess 

 sufficient to point out the track, and 

 mark the direction, of our future labours. 

 Until, however, the more abstruse part 

 of (liis kind of learning shall, by the ef- 

 forts of the skilful, be thoroughly inves- 

 tigated, and the ground-work laid for 

 tlie construction of a philosophical gram- 

 mar of language, it may not be amiss to 

 point out some instances in which those 

 ill present use are defective or errone- 

 ous ; and one general mode of construc- 

 tion, of very frequent occurrence, on 

 which I shall at present trouble you 

 with a few remarks, is the dative cas« 

 following the verb substantive sum ; and 

 I shall previously uiaJke a tievv observa- 

 tions on tlie eases following that verb. 



Tliere are four conditions in which 

 the subslantives foilowing the verb «?*«« 

 are found : 



1st. Wiiere the nouns preceding and 

 succeeding it, or the subject and predi- 

 cate, are both in one case, the latter de- 

 claring simply a character or quality of 

 tlie former. (.See exain])les, Grant. Inst. 

 Syntax, 11. 5.) The two v\ords stand 

 precisely in tlie same relation to each 

 other as the substantive does to the ad- 

 jective qualifving and agreeing with it, in 

 " mulier pufchra," or as two substantives 

 in a|)|)osition, one of them then per- 

 tiirming the olliee of an adjective, in 

 " I'elms Miles Christi;' except that the 

 verb substantive is inteiposcd between 

 them to exjircss the lime and manner 

 of that quidity being united to its subject, 

 whether at jncsent or in future, whether 

 absolutely or conditionally, &c. And, 

 as tliese offices of the veib may be per- 

 formed by adverbs, we find that in the 

 aneient tongues, when the verbs, as be- 

 ing words of latest use and invention, 

 had not acquired that frequency in dis- 

 course they now have, the verb substan- 

 tive was very rarely employed. 



2d. Where (he quality is used, not in 

 cnnvreto, but abstractedly as tlie subject 

 of discourse, (he word expressing the 

 subject to which that quality belongs is 

 necessarily ]iut in tlie genitive, as the 

 source or origin of that quHlity; and 



thut 



