event is abruptly mentioned as an object of the wishes of 
the speaker. It may not be easy to shew why a par- 
ticle equivalent to the English word “ for” was prefer- 
red to any other; but, when habitually used in this 
connection, it becomes appropriate. It is thus that w/- 
nam becomes equivalent to oh that,” or « I wish that.” 
. The Greckstiies an optative mood adapted to the 
expression of wishes, though it appears not to be ap- 
plied exclusively to that 
eex- The brevity and force thus created by means of the 
s for moods of verbs ‘are effects of the contrivances of lan- 
, which abound in all the different parts of speech. 
acombination of ideas or an assemblage of thoughts 
or feelings becomes habitual, it receives an appropriate 
condensed expression. We complain of tediousness when 
an idea which om have been expressed by a single 
word or a short phrase is slowly brought out by means 
of a long series of words or of sentences. But when 
we have an unusual assemblage of ideas to express, no 
eircumlocution is to be spared which may be necessary 
to give our language perspicuity, and the beauty of fe- 
licitous contrivance is often conspicuous in the inven- 
tion of means for exhibiting thoughts which servile 
imitators would either not have conceived, or not have 
_ attempted to express. Language is happily used, where 
those phrases and words which are rendered intelligible 
and a iate by established usage are employed ju- 
diciously for expressing complicated ideas. They may 
be placed in a connection with each other fitted to cre- 
ate combinations which are still more complicated, and 
a character of novelty which is rendered neces- 
sary by the purpose of our discourse. In fine, the skill 
of a writer may occasionally be discovered by the-use 
of simple signs, in such a fortunate succession as to ex- 
, apparently by accident, some novel but well de- 
Fined state of feeling and of thought. The expedients 
suited to these purposes are therefore not confined to 
the use of particular moods of the verb, and the act is 
not characteristic of their nature. 
5. The Infinitive Mood. 
| We had oceasion, in describing other of speech, 
to mention the Injinitive of the verb. We observed, 
that it is not an original word, nor the earliest form 
ofthe verb, but cousists of the imperative in compo- 
sition with a sign derived from some different source, 
In explaining the uses of the subjunctive mood, we 
| __— observed that in the Latin language that mood with 
the introductory particle uf may have its sup- 
as ied by the ree Volebat ire is equivalent to vo- 
A: Se ect} ud iret. es now inquire more icular] 
| _ into its nature and uses. rath if 
.. Both its etymology and application shew that it ex- 
a of merely the specific idea conveyed by the parti- 
j. ¢cular-verb to which it belongs, in such a way that it can 
god. be used asa noun by becoming the subject or predi- 
cate of a sentence, or part of either. It does not, like 
the indicative, a to contain the copula, except when 
substituted for that mood by ellipsis, as it frequently 
is by Sallust and other authors in depicting scenes of 
bustling activity or striking interest: “Hence it has. 
by some been ied the properties of the verb, and 
_ considered as in all ing more than an ab- 
_ stract noun. It is formed in’ Latin by adding to the 
___, taddical letters of the verb, as existing in the imperative, 
) the ‘termination re. From ama we have ama-re ; and 
~ from: doce, doce-re.’ 
o- © This termination, being identical with the radical 
“letters of res “ a thing,” seems to be exactly the same 
original sign, and in this application it retains the same 
GRAMMAR) 
435 
meaning. Ama * love ;” ama-re, “ love-thing,” Universal 
i.e. “ love” considered as “ a thing,” or object of Grammar. , 
thought. In English the infinitive consists of the ra- 
dical letters of the verb preceded by the word “ to;” as 
* to love” and “ to teach.” Mr Tooke considers the in- 
finitive as possessing the character to the verb, 
though he does not tell us in what this consists. He 
describes the word “to” as having the power to confer 
the verbal character on a noun, At the same time he 
considers it as originally the same with the verb “ do,’ 
and as meaning « act,” “ effect,” or “ consummation.” 
These suggestions are extremely obscure. It is not easy 
to conceive what influence the additional idea of “ effect” 
or consummation” could have to impress the character 
of'a verb on a word which is otherwise a noun. We must 
therefore leave the opinions of that author in the same 
ambiguous state in which we find them. On some occa- 
sions in the English language this prefixed word is dis- 
nsed with. As ‘ we saw him go away,” and “ we bid 
im write tous when he arriyed at theend of his journey.” 
In whatever light the infinitive mood of the verb may 
be considered, we find that this form of it, as existing in 
the English language, has the same meaning and uses 
with the words formed by such terminations as the Latin 
re, and receiving the sameappellation in other languages, 
The following is the question which claims our pre- 
sent attention. Is the infinitive mood of the verb pro- 
perly and in all sien a noun? Is amare “ to love,” 
for example, a word of the same signification and uses 
with amor ‘amoris “ love?” 
We shall obtain the most advantageous view of the - 
nature of this part of speech, by taking in detail a sur- 
vey of the circumstances in which it resembles the 
noun, and those in which it deviates from it. 
It resembles the noun in being used as a nominative It coincidés 
to a verb; as in the following Latin sentence from Ci- with the 
cero, as well as in the tricslitiod of it into English; "" "> 
Loquor de docto homine et erudito cui vivere est coct “°™* 8? 
tare. “I speak of a man of learning and erudition 
for whom to live is to think.” Itis also, like the noun, 
capable of being governed by an active verb ; as Od/i- 
tus est SCRIBERE, “ He has forgot to write.” On some 
rare occasions in the Latin lan: , an adjective is em- 
ployed to agree with it as with a noun. Thus Cicero 
says, Cum VIVERE ipsum lurpe sit nobis ; also, Totum hoc 
dispticel PHILosopHARI. Persius says, VeLLE suum cuique 
est. ‘Petronius, Meum INTELLIGERE nulla pecunid vendo. 
In these instances vivere is used in the same manner as vi- 
ta; velle as voluntas ; erg as philosophatio, if such 
a noun existed ; and intclligere is used as intellectum, 
the accusative of the noun ixtellectus. Sometimes it is 
employed as the genitive of a noun ; thus Cicero says, 
Tempus est aptre, 4 phrase equivalent to tempus est 
abeundi, Sometimes as an ablative. Thus in Plautus, 
Ego sum defessus REPERIRE, vos defessi QUERERE. 
n other respects, however, it differs from the noun. But differs 
The concordance of an adjective with it in the manner from it in 
now mentioried is a rare occurrence even in the Latin others. 
language, and does not take place in the English and 
others. The additional idea which the adjective would 
express is connected with the infinitive by a different 
sort of syntax. In Latin, meum intellectum, or meam 
intelligentiam is more consonant to general usage than 
meum intelligere. We should not in that language say 
bonum intelligere. If bonus were employed, it would 
be along’ with’ intellectus or some other noun; and, 
if the infinitive indelligere were employed, the additional 
idea would be conjomed by means of a pet of speech 
which we have not yet considered, the adverb ; in this 
instance, bené intelligere. ‘In ‘English we should not 
say, “ my to understand,” but.“ my understanding ;” 
Is it anoun 
or a verb? 
