LITKKATI'IJK. 



depends on no other word. But by prefixing \f, I make tho 

 tatoin l.'tit ".f/ I touch:" in, .< now a sup* 



a foot If, it baa boon H.I lhat in, 



in a oontraotod form. In full, therefore, the sentence 

 l-o "give (or suppose) that I form in 



ft twofold N.-iitvnoo consisting of give an.l / tn.h. Those two 

 nniu-d I y that. In ordinary ne, however, tbo two aro 

 and form "if I toncb." Consequently, tho 

 .( I touob " may be called elliptical aa well M dependent 

 In t h i , stance the ellipsis takes place at tho beginning. In 

 the ensuing iuxtanoo, namely, " If ho touch," it take* place in 

 tho middle, that is, between h ami t<n-li ; one of the word*, 

 may, can, shall, should, bring 1, ft out, as, " If ho may touch," 

 " if In) can touch," etc. I will transcribo an illustration from 

 th.. Hible (oomparo 1 Sam. xx. 7; 2 Kings x. G; Honeu 

 John xv. 18). 



! the king laid nnto Zadok, Carry back the ark of (Jod into the 

 city : i/ I naUylnd favour in the eye* of the Lord, ho will bring ma 

 again, and show ma both it, acd his habitation : but if h Una tay, I 

 have no delight iu thee ; behold, here am I, let him do to me as 

 aeemeth good unto him." (2 Sam. xv. 25, 20.) 



Now observe that tho two forma, " if I shall find " and " if he 

 thus say," stand in precisely the same relation to tho remainder 

 of what tho king said. Bearing the same relation, they have 

 mo construction. Consequently, " if I shall find " and " if 

 he say" are grammatically identical forms. Tho second form 

 is therefore elliptical, the word shall being omitted. The two 

 forma might indeed stand thus: 



ELUFriCAL FORM. FULL FOHlf. 



If I find or If I shall liud. 



If he say If he shall say. 



Tho former is elliptical and dependent, and may be called 

 elliptical-dependent; tho latter is simply dependent. 



There are certain verbs which enter into combination with 

 (nearly) all other verbs, and entering' into combination with, 

 other verbs, variously affect and alter their import. They aro 

 commonly called " Auxiliary verbs," because by their aid (iu 

 Latin aiurilium) the other verbs are what is called " conjugated." 

 They are be, have, do, shall, will, may, can, let, must, and pro- 

 bably ought and dare. 



PARADIGM OF THE VERB " TO BE." 

 Principal Part. To be, being, ain, was. 



INDEPENDENT FORM. 



Pres. Tente. Past Tense. 



Sing. I am. I was. 



Thou wast. 

 He was. 

 We were. 

 You were. 

 They were. 



Thou art 

 Hois. 



Plur. We are. 

 You are. 

 They are. 



DEPENDENT FOIUf. 



Pre. Tense. Past Tense. 



Sing. If I be. 



If thou be. 



If he be. 

 Plur. If we bo. 



If you bo. 



If they be. 



If I were. 

 If thou wert. 

 If he were. 

 If wo were. 

 If you were. 

 If they were. 



Indefinite form, to be ; imperative form, be thou, be ye ; pre- 

 sent participle, being ; past participle, been. 



The only forms that really belong to the verb to be, are be, 

 betnj, am, art, is, was, wasi, were, weri. 



Be used to be employed where we now uso am, art, is, etc. ; 

 thus, I be, thou bees, he bist, we be, you be, they be. Hence tho 

 form, commonly called a subjunctive mood, namely, " if I be," 

 "i<fhe be," etc. 



I have given one indefinite form, namely, be in to be; as 

 "To b contents his natural desire." Pop*. 



In this instance tho infinitive occupies tho position of a noun 

 substantive in the nominative caso. 



But being, which appears as a noun as, " our being's end and 

 aim " may also appear as an infinitive, that is, as a second in- 

 definite form; as 



Being good is being happy ; that is, 



To be good is to be happy. 



This second indefinite form, however, is not peculiar to the 

 verb to be. It is found in other verbs; as 

 Rising early conduces to health; 



and does not alter the position of the subject of tho sentence, 

 as in tho old proverb 



" The proof of the pudding is in th eating." 



Parts of the verb to be enter into union with transitive verbs, 

 forming what is called " the passive voice." Take as an ex- 

 ample tho transitive verb to touch. 



Pott Ttntt. 

 King. I vat touched. 



| :. ,. la .. :..-i. 



He <u touched. 

 1'tnr. We vert touched. 

 You rrr touched. 

 They vr touched. 



Present T**M. 

 Sing. I am touched. 



Thou trt touched. 



He ii touched. 

 Plur. We art touched. 



You aft touched. 



They or* touched. 



Dependent Form. 



Sing. If I bt touched. Sing. It I <rert touched. 



If thou It touched. If thoa vwrt touched. 



If he It touched. If 1 vert touched. 



Plur. If wo U touched. Plur. If we rr touched. 



If you It touched. ,a vert toaebed. 



If they It touched. If they vert toucueu. 



Indefinite form, to be touched ; imperative, be thou touched / 

 present participle, being touched. 



LESSONS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. XIV. 



THK ELIZABETHAN PERIOD: THE DRAMATISTS. 



MASSINGER, FORD, WEBSTER, AMD OTHERS. 



PHILIP MASSINUER was born in 1584, and wan the ton of 

 a gentleman who had long been employed in the household 

 of the Earls of Pembroke. He spent some yean at the 

 University of Oxford ; but after the close of bis course there b 

 seems, probably under tho pressure of poverty, to have at one* 

 devoted himself to the dramatic profession. At the beginning 

 of his career it seems likely that he followed the common course 

 of writing in concert with others ; and having established hi* 

 reputation by this means, ho probably advanced to purely inde- 

 pendent authorship. It is plain that ho lived in great poverty ; 

 and from his works there can be little doubt that he must have- 

 become a Roman Catholic at an early age, and continued in that 

 creed through his life. But beyond this we know nothing of 

 his personal history. He died in 1640. 



Massinger is unquestionably entitled to a very high place 

 among tho Elizabethan dramatists : there are some critics, 

 indeed, who would rank him next after Shakespeare, but pro- 

 bably tho majority of readers will scarcely agree in the judg- 

 ment. In the creation of life-like characters, in insight into 

 human nature, in the expression of passion, in the power of 

 pathos, and of arousing our sympathy for tho errors and weak- 

 nesses no less than for tho virtues of humanity, Massinger falls 

 short of many of his contemporaries. His skill lay more in 

 depicting the loftier virtues. In his greatest plays, and those 

 which most powerfully impress the reader, we generally feel 

 more of admiration for the fortitude than pity for the sufferings 

 of the hero. Our sympathy is given rather by an act of tho 

 judgment than won through our emotions. The stories of 

 Massinger's plays are seldom original, but the plots are care- 

 fully worked out ; there is too often, however, a want of unity 

 of effect, a want of harmony between the various parts of tho> 

 play. Massingor's language and versification are wonderfully 

 perfect. His versification combines smoothness and melody 

 with ease and variety to a degree which has never been sur- 

 passed ; while his style is clear and unaffected, but at the same 

 time dignified and impressive. His learning may easily be 

 traced, but is never obtruded upon us. In one respect Mas- 

 singer stands above almost all his brother dramatists ; that is, 

 in tho religious ppirit and the purer tone of morality which 

 pervade his plays. Yet he is not free from the one all-pre- 

 vailing vice of his age the introduction of scenes of the 

 lowest and coarsest buffoonery, unredeemed, in his case, by a 

 single spark of wit or humour, and for tho most part mere pnr 

 poseless excrescences upon the plays in which these objection* 

 able interpolations occur. 



Eighteen of Massinger's plays have been preserved, and % 

 still larger number have perished. Those which remain to us. 

 are of very various classes. 



The " Virgin Martyr " demands particular notice, not only 

 because it is one of the plays by which the name of Massinger 

 is best known, but because it is very different in character from 

 any other play of the age in which it was written. The scene 

 is laid in Cccsarea, in the midst of the great Diocletian perse- 

 cution, and the main human characters are the virgin martyr 

 Dorothea, Theophilns, the chief cf tho persecutors, and othsr 



