Magnus, with four thousand of his supposed accomplices, were put to death.— Ibid.

Those whom the splendour of their rank, or the extent of their capacity, have placed upon the summit of human life, have not often given any just occasion to envy in those who look up to them from a lower station.—Johnson's Life of Savage.

He knows not what spleen, languor, or listlessness, are. -Blair's Sermons.

The insolence or caprice of those mercenaries were often no less fatal to their friends, than their valour and discipline were formidable to their enemies.-Robertson's Hist. of Charles V.

The daring soul of the first Cæsar, or the deep policy of Augustus, were scarcely equal to the task of curbing the insolence of the victorious legions.-Gibbon's Hist. of the Roman Empire.

His ignorance or severity were alike unworthy of the important office with which he was entrusted. He gave laws which, according to the lively expression of an orator, seemed to be written, not with ink, but with blood ; since death or banishment were his ordinary penalties for the most trivial offences. -Gillies's Hist. of Greece.

Neither death nor torture were sufficient to subdue the minds of Cargill and his intrepid followers._Fox's Hist. of James the Second. The above errors have apparently been committed through inattention to the proper signification of the particles. *

3

* Similar errors may be found in the best writers of antiquity ; for notwithstanding the suggestions of some very able critics, I am incapable of discovering how such passages, when they occur in an ancient author, are more easily to be reconciled with the strict rules of grammar.

See Ruddiman's Grammatica Latina Institutiones, tom. ii. p. 28. Cortius ad Sallust. Cat. xliii. 1. Hunter ad Horat. tom. i. p. 192.

Remo cum fratre Quirinus

Jura dabunt.- Virgil. Æneid. i. 292. Nam et castra expugnata sunt, atque ipse dux cum aliquot princi. pibus capiuntur.-Livii Hist. lib. xxi. cap. 1x.

Demosthenes cum ceteris, qui bene de republica mereri existima. bantur, populiscito in exilium erant expulsi.-C. Nepotis Vita Phocion.

Each of these words imply some pursuit or object relinquished.. Blair's Lectures.

It is requisite that the language of an heroic poem should be both perspicuous and sublime. In proportion as either of these two qualities are wanting, the language is imperfect Addison, Spectator.

Neither of them are remarkable for precision.—Blair's Lectures. We should reckon every circumstance which enable them to divide and to maintain themselves in distinct and independent communities. -Ferguson's Hist. of Civil Society.

'Tis observable, that every one of the letters bear date after his banishment.-Bentley's Dissert. on Themistocles's Epistles.

Every invention known in the European art of war, as well as every precaution suggested by his long acquaintance with the Indian mode of fighting, were employed to ensure success. -Robertson's Hist. of America.

Adeo ut vel in transitu manumittantur; veluti cum prætor, aut præses, aut proconsul in balneum vel in theatrum eant.-Justiniani Institutiones, lib. i. tit. v. § 2. The excellent edition of Schrader, Berolini, 1832, 4to. reads eat; but the prevalent reading is eant. A MS. in my possession exhibits the reading of eunt, which certainly is not preferable.

My learned friend Dr. Hunter contends that manent is the legitimate reading in the subsequent passage of Horace (lib. i. od. xiii.)

Tunc nec mens mihi, nec color
Certa sede manet.

"Manent omnes Cruquii et multi aliorum MSS. quae vera lectio videtur : : neque, ut grammatici putant, repugnat Latinitas." He afterwards subjoins, "Eodem itaque redit, sive dicas, --- nec mens MANET, nec color MANET, sive nec mens nec color MANENT; aut mens MANET, aut color MANET, sive aut mens aut color MANENT." But the particles nec and aut are manifestly disjunctive; and when they are inserted between two nouns of the singular number, those nouns do not constitute a nominative plural to the verb. This is the rule, and this the general practice of the Latin classics; and any deviation from the rule is, I think, to be considered in no other light than that of an error or oversight.

Here the distributive pronominal adjectives, each, either, neither, and every, are ungrammatically connected with verbs of the plural number.

None, which is a compound of no one, is manifestly singular; but is sometimes improperly connected with a plural verb.

No nation gives greater encouragements to learning than we do; yet at the same time none are so injudicious in the application.Goldsmith on Polite Learning.

None were permitted to enter the holy precincts, without confessing, by their servile bonds and suppliant posture, the immediate presence of the sovereign deity.- Gibbon's Hist. of the Roman Empire.

3. Grammatical Errors in the Use of Participles.

Among the number of grammatical errors, may we be permitted to reckon the use of the past tense active, as the participle perfect passive, in those verbs which admit of a more complete and systematic form?

I had no sooner drank, but (than) I found a pimple rising in my forehead.-Addison, Tatler.

Notwithstanding the prophetical predictions of this critic, I do not find that any science hath throve among us of late, so much as the minute philosophy.-Berkeley's Minute Philosopher.

Had he wrote English poetry in so unenlightened a period, the world would have lost his refined diction and harmonious versification.-Warton's Observations on Spenser.

Every book ought to be read with the same spirit, and in the same manner as it is writ.-Fielding's Tom Jones.

In this respect, the seeds of future divisions were sow'd abundantly. -Bolingbroke's Dissertation on Parties.

The court of Augustus had not wore off the manners of the republic.-Hume's Essays.

A free constitution, when it has been shook by the iniquity of for mer administrations.—Bolingbroke's Idea of a Patriot King.

He is God in his friendship, as well as his nature, and therefore we sinful creatures are not took upon advantages, nor consumed in our provocations.-South's Sermons.

Which some philosophers, not considering so well as I, have mistook to be different in their causes.-Swift's Tale of a Tub.

The greater regard was show'd, and the expectations rais'd higher, as these were of a base nature, or of a more noble, thriving, or innocent quality.-Arbuthnot's Congress of Bees.

Moses tells us, that the fountains of the earth were broke open, or clove asunder.-Burnet's Theory of the Earth.

I easily foresee, that, as soon as I lay down my pen, this nimble operator will have stole it.—Swift's Tale of a Tub.

By this expedient, the public peace of libraries might certainly have been preserved, if a new species of controversial books had not arose of late years.-Swift's Battle of the Books.

The steps which lead to perfection are many; and we are at a loss on whom to bestow the greatest share of our praise; on the first or on the last who may have bore a part in the progress.-Ferguson's Hist. of Civil Society.

In these examples, the past tense active is used instead of the perfect participle. This confusion should upon every occasion be scrupulously avoided. The English language admits not of any great variety of termination, but of such as it does admit, we ought duly to avail ourselves. It is certainly of advantage that the different modifications of verbs should be properly distinguished from each other.

Before we conclude this branch of the subject, it will be proper to warn the reader against permitting a verb to succeed a participle in such an ungraceful manner as appears in the following passages.

The author is informed, that the bookseller has prevailed on several gentlemen to write some explanatory notes, for the goodness of which he is not to answer; having never seen any of them, nor intends it, till they appear in print.-Swift's Tale of a Tub.

Nor is it then a welcome guest, affording only an uneasy sensation,

and brings always with it a mixture of concern and compassion.Fielding's Essay on Conversation.

4. Grammatical Errors in the Use of Adjectives.

Adjectives which have a comparative or superlative signification, do not admit the addition of the words more, most, or of the terminations er, est. The following passages are therefore liable to exception.

The last are indeed more preferable, because they are founded on some new knowledge or improvement in the mind of man.-Addison, Spectator.

From these various causes, which in a greater or lesser degree af. fected every individual in the colony, the indignation of the people became general.—Robertson's Hist. of America.

The chiefest of which was known by the name of Archon among the Grecians.-Dryden's Life of Plutarch.

The two chiefest properties of air, its gravity and elastic force, have been discovered by mechanical experiments.--Arbuthnots Essay on Mathematical Learning.

The chiefest and largest are removed to certain magazines they call libraries.- Swift's Battle of the Books.

The extremest parts of the earth were meditating a submission.-Atterbury's Sermons.

When only two objects are compared together, it is improper to use the superlative degree. It is proper to say the more elegant of the two, the most elegant of the three. This obvious rule has however been neglected by various writers of eminence.

This was in reality the easiest manner of the two.-Shaftesbury's Advice to an Author.

In every well-formed mind this second desire seems to be the strongest of the two.-Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments.

Were it not for this, the secondary rocks, being in position superincumbent on the primary, ought to be the highest of the two.Playfair's Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory.