GRAM IVl A R. 



an 



ever, an abftraA ncun, wlieve fuch cxifts, may be fubftitutcd 

 Tor it.— I dL-firc to learn, i c I dcHre learning.— To excel 

 in learning is honourable, .». e. excellence in learning is 

 honourable. So then, according to Mr. Tooke, to is put 

 before a verb to diftinguilli it as a verb when it has ceaied 

 to be a verb — when, from a verb, it is become a noun. And 

 the reafon why wv fay ke doth love, inilead of he doth lovcth, 

 13 not that the' termination fupplies the place of to, but be- 

 caufe lovclh and /ore are one a verb, the other a noun, which 

 lall does not admit fuch a termination. 



The convcrfion of to into do, fo as to become a verbal 

 index, is a conceit of this writer, equally unwarranti'.ble. Bo, 

 as wc have (lieun, is the identical I^atiii do, to give, to place, ^ to 

 produce, or put firth, where it has fuch meaning, in the tol- 

 iou-ing phrafe — dare operam, to put forth exertion, ;. e. to ex- 

 ert, endeavour. And yet Mr. Tooke has been followed and 

 fupported bv all fubfequent grammarians in the above incor- 

 redand inco'nclulive reafoiiing. " Theform/' fays Dr. Ciom- 

 bie, p. 83, " of the inliiiitive to love, is, doubtlefs, tlie fame as 

 do love, thus denoting the fimple energy of the emotion, figni- 

 tied by the noun, d and t being kindred letters, and eafily con- 

 vertible. To love, therefore, means aS love, do love, the 

 word do or to invelting the noun with a fort of verbal cha- 

 ^acler. The infinitive, then, expreffes fimply the adion or 

 energy of that attribute which is denoted by the verb, un- 

 compouiided with the various accidents of mood, tenle, 

 number, and perfon." This lall fentence is a juil defcrip- 

 lion of the infinitive mood which Dr. Lowth very properly 

 ■lis the fuhjlantive mood ; and it is a correct defcription of 

 1 abllrad verbal noun. How then can to or do inveft the 

 noun with a fort of verbal charafter ; when, if it be an 

 index of any thing, it is an index of a verb changed into a 

 noun ? A refpeftable writer on grammar, in the New 

 Britilb Encyclopedia, p. 31, following the tract which 

 Home Tooke has pointed out, thus adds : " The infinitive 

 mood, as it is commonly called, is the verb divelled of its 

 peculiar force, r;V of aflfirmation, and uncompounded with 

 thofe words which render it expreffive of perfon, number, 

 &c. and in the modern languages of time : but it feems 

 erroneous to confider this as the fundamental form of the 

 verb, where it has any diftinguifhing termination ; it is 

 then the nnmjlale of the word, with a termination added to 

 it, to fliew that it is to be employed as a verb. Thus, in the 

 Anglo-Saxon thean, the is the fundamental form of the verb, 

 and an is the verlali%ing adjwiH. Now, as the imperative 

 form of the verb is nothing more or lefs than the fiinple 

 verbal name, unattended with the inference of affirmation, 

 this may be confidered the fundamental form : and in the 

 Latin ill particular the variations of flexion are traced with 

 the greateil advantage from this fource." 



it is curious to obferve the contradidtions and abfurditics 

 into which writers plunge themfclves, when they haVe 

 adopted erroneous pofitions to account for the phenomena 

 of language. Mr. Tooke, aflenting to the ancient Stoics, 

 thinks the pun II ttate of the verb to be the infinitive, and 

 vet agrees with his follower.; in making affirmation or ajfertion 

 to be the eflence of a verb. But it is allowed that a verb 

 drops its affirm.ation iu the infinitive ; fo that, according to 

 thi^ reafoning, a verb is in its pureil ftate when without its 

 elTence. Again, the infinitive is here not improperly called 

 t'le nounjlate, i. e. an abftratl nOun, with the prefix to in our 

 tongue ; but in the Anglo-Saxon v.-ith the affix an, to ihew 

 that it is a verb : and as this is a new idea, an, in a new lan- 

 guage, is called the •uerhalizing adjunS. But what evidence 

 is there for faying that an performs this office ? No evi- 

 dence at all, but a falfe afi'umption. We have already faid 

 that the Gothic and Anglo-Suxon an is but the Greek in- 



finitive n-i, or (in verbs in zv), «/, which is the fame witfi=» 

 out tlie change of a letter. We have this further evidence 

 of the derivation of the Northern language from the Greek, 

 in this rcfpeft, that in this latter the imperative, inilead oF 

 being the fundamental form of the verb, is, by corruption, 

 derived from the infinitive. Thus, '>;z?!v was tlie o!d in- 

 finitive : -/ftifiv was alio tlie imperative ; but the final » being, 

 by degrees, dropped, it became y-/J.^i- And it is remarkabls, 

 that ill the Anglo-Saxon the imperative is derived from tlie 

 infinitive, in the fame manner precifely as tlie imperative is 

 from the infinitive in Greek ; and this correlpondence, 

 added to the identity of the termination, we deem a fufficient 

 proof that the Northern, in this refpeft, is no otlier than the 

 Greek tongue. The Latin imperative is borrowed from 

 the Greek, as is evident on infpeftion ; — yja??, y^a^nu: ;. 

 fcribe, fcribeto . And the pofition, that the variations of in- 

 flexion may be traced with advantage from the Latin impe- 

 rative, is a fancy, which is contradicted by that broad ana- 

 logy by which the Latin verbs are formed from the prefeirt 

 tenle. It is worthy of remark, that the old Greek accords 

 with the Hebrew, where the imperative is the lame with 

 the infinitive, and fucceeds it in the paradigm of verbs. We 

 iliall only, on this fubjeft, exprefs our iurprife that, if theie 

 fenlible men were deceived by adopting the notions of 

 Mr. Tooke, they were not repelled by what appear to us 

 to be contradictions. This grammarian gravely tells us 

 tliat deliberate art had no concern in the formation of lan- 

 guage : yet, in examining its phenomena, he recurs to 

 minute mechanifm and petty artifices, which, as being un- 

 wiUing to allow the agency of a rational law in the human 

 mind, he calls the contrivances of language. 



We now proceed to confider briefly the ufual divifions of 

 verbs into adive, pajfive,3.n& neuter : and this divifion of verbs, 

 we pronounce to be extremely unphilof'ophical. And firft, 

 as the exprcffion of aftive qualities is effential to verbs, there 

 is no fuch thing as a neuter verb. There are, indeed, verbs 

 which denote rejl, or the cefiiition of motion ; but we cannot 

 life even thefe without connei^ting with them p^ofitive ideas i 

 and as action is neceffary to deltroy or fupport action, wie 

 can refolve all apparent neuter into aftive verbs. Thus 

 to Jtand, is to caufc to Jlop ; tojleep, is to enjoy repofe ; to fit, is ,\> 

 hold one's feat. Secondly, the divifion of verbs into attive 

 and palTive, though convenient in fome ;angu;iges, is incor- 

 rett and even abUird in our own tongue. I'or all active 

 verbs imply paffion ; while all paffive verbs on the other hand 

 imply action. Hence the one may affume the form of the 

 otiicr without altering its nature. Thus, ille amat parentcs, 

 he loves his parents, is the fame in fenfe as parentes amantur 

 ab illo, his parents are loved by him. Tiie only difierence 

 is that, iu the firfl inftance, the agent is nominative, and 

 the objedl accufatrve : in the fecoiid, the objeiit, becominir 

 the fuhjeft of the verb, is put in the nomuiative, and 

 the agent in the ablative. An agent, while it atts, is 

 adted upon. Every aftive verb, therefore, has the com- 

 pound fenfe of active' and paffive. Thus, in the above 

 lenience, he loves his parents, the firit part, he loves, is ac- 

 tive ; the lail, loves his parents, is paffive. In the fame fentence, 

 converted into the paflive form, bit parents arc loved by him,: 

 the firit part is paiiive, and the lalt: adtive. In the infancy 

 of language, the diflinction of active and paffive was in all 

 probability not known. In Hebrew, the difference but im- 

 perfectly exills, and in the early periods of it probably did 

 not exilt at all. In Arabic, the only diitindtion which ob- 

 tains, arifes from the vowel point;,, a late invention, com- 

 pared with the antiquity of that language. And in our own 

 tongue the names of adtive and paiiive would have been un- 

 known, if they liad not been imported from the Greek and 



Laua 



