236 
entered more fully into the fubje& in the 
following paper : 
« Prep yitions are merely ufed to avoid 
quefiions tikely to be put for the fake of 
abtuining circumftantial, ftatements. 
« Sone mayaik, how came it to pafs 
that By myetf, &c. fhould be afed fe as 
to cenote exclufion, in regarti to-all other 
mdividuals not mentioned ? and is it not 
poliible that it ma ry be ufed fo as not to 
denote exclufion, but fland for near my- 
Jey? To antiwer thefe  queftions, I 
mmght content myfelf with one obferva- 
tion. 
“« Every fpeaker fhould firive to ‘com- 
municate his thoughis in a manner at 
ence clear and expeditious ; nor is it 
neceflary when he does this, for us to 
enquire whether he is actuated or not 
merely by the defire ‘of faving, to the 
perfon whom he addrefles, the trouble 
of atking a feries of quettions concerning 
the faét which he fiates. "The truth 1s, 
that he fubjoins to the taét he mentions 
the anfwer he would make if the quef- 
tions were put, and generally pretixes to 
each anfwer fume word equal to place, 
time, manner or way, or companion, &c. 
according ashe has to produce a noun 
fignitying place, time, manner, &c. “Bat 
the obfervation I have juit made requires 
illu{trations, n order to remove objec- 
tions which may be ftarted to my manner 
of refolving the by, in the paflage ad- 
duced as es samples for divifion fecond of 
Evenings of Southill. 
“On hearing a perfon fay ‘ T fall go,’ 
if he be filent after this, I may atk him, 
Place ? (for, name the place); and his 
anfwer may be, the country (for, to the 
country, the place fis] the country). 
After ‘this, or any other aniwer that 
would intorm me where he is to go, I 
may afk, time 2? and his anfwer may be, 
nert Lucid: ~ Wat on next Tuéfday, the 
time fis] next Tuefday). Having ob- 
taived this anfwer, I may as him, com- 
panion ? (for, naine your companion) ; 
and his a atet Tay be, my brother (for, 
with my brother, the companion [is] my 
brother). Thus. thalf I have 
three circunftantial aniwers, Obferve, 
that while each anfwer is precie ‘as to 
Jpot, tune, and concomitance, each alfo 
is cAciutis e as to any other name not 
introduced im regard. to Jpot, tune, and 
cercomitance. Iience, if this third an- 
{wer bad been my/fe/f emphatically, in- 
fiead of my brother, the expretlon my- 
felf would, bea pofition and emphafis, 
“have been of itfelf as exclutive as the 
expreflion my brother? 
On the Origin of English Prepofitions. 
operator, perfor me? 
obta ined : 
[April 1, 
“ Now, if the perfon alluded to as 
the fpeaker choofes to anticipate my 
three queftions, which queftions he has 
reafon to expect I fhall put to him, in 
cafe he fhould leave his ftatement incom- 
plete, he may fubjoin at once to the in- 
tended fact the three anfwers I am likely 
to require, and fay ‘1 fhall go to the 
couatry, en-next Tuefday, with my bro- 
ther; or ) by muyferf (equal to alone). 
After having “heard this intended excur- 
fion fo far cireamfianced, I may take it 
into my head to afk the queftion, how? 
(equal to manner, or name the manner) ; 
and he aay reply, on foot, or on horfe- 
back, &c.; but, about this very circum- 
flance, 1 In regard to the manner, he. might 
bave faved me the trouble of queftioning 
him: for he might have faid at once, I 
fhall go on foot, to the country, on next 
‘Tuefday, with my brother; or by my 
/ felf.: ” 
From ‘the illo tte ation which has jut 
becn given, it may he feen that prepo- 
pofitions (as they are called) are generally 
ufed by way of anticipation, im regard 
to fome queftion or other, the alking of 
which it 1s intended to avoid, from an 
inward conviction that, putting the fe- 
veral queftions to w hich an eveut might 
give po and waiting for the anlwwers, 
not only would be fo “much waited, but 
would confiderably j interrupt the free and 
full communication. of our thoughts ; 
and in fo much that the feveral circum- 
fiances could not, without confiderable 
trouble to the memory, be colleéed. by 
the hearer, and arranged into a perfect, 
clear, and compact image. From that 
illuftration alfo it is evident that, gn aif 
thofe combinations of words wherein by, 
or any ee is 
&c. the reader or 
hearer is to conceive that a“ abbrevi- 
ation in contiruétion is prefented; natne- 
ly, the taét is fiated, and immediately an 
anfwer to an ex pected queftion is fub- 
jomed. to that fiatement, in order to 
avoid being interrupted by the queition, 
or to fave the trouble of the quettion be- 
lng put. 
“Tf the principle T have jut prefented 
fhould not be-attended to, I can have 
no other refource than to complain of 
the prefent age, by repeating a paflage 
of Michaélis, which, tranflated literally, 
would run thus: ‘ Language pep 
errors as well as tr aihs: when a falfe 
opinion has crept in, whether in the de- 
rivation ef a word, or in a whole fen- 
tence, it takes root, and tranfinits itfelf 
to the remotefi polterity ; it becomes a 
Bieiee: 
introduced for - 
: 
a 
§ 
' 
