1816.] Interference of Parish Officers respecting drowned Pei'sons. 195 



that whether the substantive verb be in- 

 terposed between the words or not, as, 

 '^ priiilentia est senectutis." The infini- 

 tive mood is sometimes put in the place 

 of tiie abstract noun, as, " Hegis est pu- 

 nire rehelles." 



3d. If the substantive following the 

 Terb denotes the owner of the subject 

 preceding, it is put in the dative, as, 

 " Est mihi pater." Verbs tliat sig:nify 

 acquisition or loss require a dative of the 

 person to whom the same tends or be- 

 longs. To this idea, that of possession 

 or propertj' is nearly related ; and wc, 

 therefore, frequently find the pronoiui 

 denoting the owner or possessor, put in 

 the dative case, as, " Fratri adesjient 

 pervice." Ter. "Brother's-housc;" '■^Mi- 

 hi nifinns ;" " Montihus convexa," Sec. 



4th. When the predicate does not de- 

 note simjily the quality of the subject, 

 but ail clTect or consequence, end or de- 

 sign, it is put in the dative, as, " Divitim 

 honori esse ca-pernnt." Sallust. '* Ho- 

 nour began to be the eflcct or conse- 

 quence of having riches." " Quibus 

 fides, dccus, pietas, postremo honesta at- 

 quf inlionesta omnia (juestui sunt." Sail. 

 " Profit is the end or design in having 

 faith," &c. And this does not depend 

 upon any preposition understood, as 

 Jones, Lat. Gram. p. 131, has stated ; 

 nor is it, as Mr. Grant, lust. p. 194, 

 would seem to suggest, any poetic li- 

 cence or arbitrary mode of expression, 

 but a rule of construction, founded on 

 the general principles and analogy of 

 the language; according to which a 

 word, expressing not the direct action of 

 the verb, but the end or design of it, is 

 put in the dative case. 



Sometimes the preposition pro go- 

 verns a substantive in a like sense, 

 "pro vmnimento habent," — "they have 

 for a defence;" and the preposition cum, 

 where the noun designates a concomi- 

 tant quality, as, " Cui neqne sua cura 

 (quipjfe qH(c nulla sunt) et omni'i cum 

 prctio honesta vidciitnr," " With a price 

 marked or set upon them." 



Shouhl these observations not be in- 

 consistent with the design oi" your valua- 

 ble misc<'llany, I shall be obliged by the 

 jiihcrtion. W. liMNiiRiCGE. 



Alfreton; Aug. 13, 1816. 



To the Editor of the Mmithly Magazine. 

 stu, 



JN the village of Tlamwell,Northamp- 

 tvushire, uu Wednesday, July 24, a 



boy, six years of age, the son of 



Goodman, a labourer, was found drown- 

 ed in a well, into which he had by sorad 

 accident fallen, in his way to school. 

 When taken out, it was uncertain bwW 

 long he had been in the water. The 

 clergyman of the parish, being consulted 

 what should be done with him, advised 

 that he sliould be carried directly home ■ 

 to his mother, not above a hundred step* 

 from the well, and who was, indeed, al- 

 ready about him. But the village con- 

 sists of two parishes, and the mother's 

 house stands within the precincts of fh» 

 other parish. Before the body could be 

 removed, some of the farmers, or lead- 

 ing people of the parish, in which th» 

 well is situated, came, and would not 

 permit the body to be carried to his mo- 

 ther's, from a concept ion that there is a 

 law, that a body so found siiall not be 

 removed from the place or parish whero 

 it is found, till a coroner's jury has set 

 npon it, and from fear that the parish 

 might bo put to trouble or expense 

 about it. The child was accordingly 

 carried to the church, above double th« 

 distance of his mother's house, and 

 there laid out on a cold board. In th» 

 present case, I believe, there was no 

 hope of recovery ; but, had it been 

 otherwise, such proceeding must ha\« 

 cut off all chance of success. And 

 such a law, if such there be, ought sure- 

 ly to be altered or qualified, as it must 

 go near to frustrate alt the ends and ad- 

 vantages of the Humane Society. 



For instance, and it is surely remark- 

 able, this ver) boy, about a year ago, 

 fell over a wooden bridge into a deep 

 water, and was taken out without signs 

 of life ; but, being about the same dis- 

 tance from home as in tiie present in- 

 stance, he was carried immediately to 

 his mother, and was recovered. But, 

 had the same interniption, as in the pre- 

 sent case, taken place, it is probable he 

 would then never have recovered. 



Barmiell; J.Brown. 



Aiignst a. 1816. 



*4* We lemembor a similar r«ee, wlien 

 some medical men liad prepared means of 

 recovery in the iiearCbt linuse on onp side 

 of a river, but, owin^ to the cluircli wardens 

 iusisling on the boily beiii? landed on the 

 opposite side, tlie means could not be ap« 

 plied in time to restore the body to life, 

 which, it was believed, might otherwise 

 have been restored! I'arish as'-essnicnts 

 ou'.'lit to be disbursed from a coutily-fund, 

 and tlien sticli absurdities would be 

 avoided. — Edit. 



9 c « Tt 



