doubled energy.-Quarterly Review. It should stand "better judges than they were," not "than them were."

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

RULE XIII.-Personal pronouns are employed without any antecedents when the nouns which they represent are assumed to be well known. Thus the pronouns I, THOU, YOU, YE, and WE, representing either the persons speaking or the persons spoken of, are employed without having any antecedents expressed.

You is used indefinitely for any person who may read the work in which the word is thus used; as, "You may trust an honest man.' HE and THEY are used in the same indefinite manner; as, "He seldom lives frugally who lives by chance;" "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Note I.-The pronoun ME is often incorrectly substituted for I; as, "Who is there? me;" "Is she as tall as me."

The rea

son of this erroneous practice seems to lie in the fact that there is less consciousness of personality indicated in the objective me than in the subjective I. Grammatically, too, it seems to us as if I always requires something to follow it.

Note II. Instead of the true nominative YE, we use, with few exceptions, the objective case; as, "You speak;" "You two are speaking." In this we substitute one case for another. Instead of the true pronoun of the second person singular THOU, We use, with few exceptions, the pronoun of the second person plural YE, and that in the objective rather than in the nominative We not only say ye instead of thou, but you instead of ye. GUEST remarks that, at one time, the two forms ye and you seem to have been nearly changing place in our language: "What gain you by forbidding it to tease ye,

case.

It now can neither trouble you nor please ye.”—Dryden. YE, in the accusative, is now sometimes used by poets. Its use should not be encouraged. See § 289.

Note III.-The use of one number for another is current throughout the Gothic languages, as you for thou in the English. A pronoun thus used has been termed pronomen reverentiæ, a pronoun used in the way of respect for the person addressed. In the German and the Danish, the pronomen reverentia is got at by a change not of number alone, but of number and person.

N N

The pronoun of the third person is used instead of that of the second, just as if in English we should say, Will they walk= will you walk; will ye walk; wilt thou walk.

Expressions of respect, like "your Honor," "your Excellency," "your Highness," are followed more generally by pronouns of the third person, but sometimes by pronouns of the second

person.

Note IV. The tenth rule with respect to gender applies only to pronouns of the third person, HE, SHE, IT. I, THOU, WE, YOU, THEY, have the same form for the several genders.

Note V.-a. It is used with verbs called impersonal; as, "It rains." Here there is no antecedent.

b. It is used to introduce a sentence, preceding a verb as the nominative, but representing a clause that comes afterward; as, "It is well known that the Jews were at this time under the dominion of the Romans." Here it represents the whole sentence, except the clause in which it stands.

c. It is used as the representative of the subject of a proposition when the subject is placed last; as, "It is to be hoped that we shall succeed." Here that we shall succeed is the subject which it represents.

d. It is used to represent a plural noun; as, "It was the Romans that aimed at the conquest of the world."

e. Ir is used to represent a pronoun of the first, or the second, or the third person; as, "It is I;" "it is you;" "it is he." f. It is used to represent a noun in the masculine or the feminine gender; as, "It was Judas who betrayed his Master."

g. It is used to express a general condition or state; as, "How is it with you?"

h. Ir is used after intransitive verbs in an indefinite way; "Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it," "The mole courses it not on the ground."

as,

When the sentence admits of two nominatives, we now make it the subject of the verb. Anciently it was the predicate. "It am I

That loveth so hot Emilie the bright,

That I would die present in her sight."-CHAUCer.

Note VI.-ITs is probably a secondary genitive, and is of late origin in the language. The Anglo-Saxon was his, the genitive

of he, for the neuter and the masculine equally. Hence when, in the old writers, we meet his where we expect its, we must not suppose that any personification takes place, but simply that the old genitive common to the two genders is used in preference to the modern one, limited to the neuter and irregularly formed. Thus, "The apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy. I have read the cause of his effects in Galen; it is a kind of deafness."-2 Henry IV., i., 2. "If the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out."-Luke, xiv., 34, 35.

EXERCISES UNDER RULE XIII.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

RULE XIII.-a. Thou and I will attend church to-day. C. S. b. You may hunt through the nation without finding his equal. C. S.

c. He is the wise man who selects the best means for obtaining the best ends. C. S.

d. He is the freeman whom the truth makes free. C. S.

e. They are worthy of confidence from men who have given their hearts to God. C. S.

Note I.-Unless, as I said, messieurs, you are the masters, and not me. F. S.

Note II.-a. Are you two travelers on your way to California? C. S.

b. You, William, when you return to Boston, will proceed to New York. C. S. (Give the two nominatives.)

C.

Yet for my sons, I thank ye gods, 'tis well;

Well have they perish'd, for in fight they fell.

What is ye used for in this example?

Note III.-a. Will they ride? (Give the English equivalent for this German form.)

b. Will your worship furnish me with the opinion of the court? C. S.

Note IV.-I, thou, we, ye, you, they love. He, she, it loves. Note V.-a. It snows, and the night is cold.

b. It was supposed that the French army were marching out of Spain.

c. It is desirable that he should return home.

d. It was the Americans who first applied steam to navigation.

e. Who went to Boston on that business? It was I.
f. It was Murat who led the cavalry in that battle.
g. How is it with our general this morning?
h. In their pride they lorded it over the land.
Come and trip it as you go,

RULE XIV.

On the light fantastic toe.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

Two or more Antecedents, united in construction by the conjunction and, require their representative pronoun to be in the Plural Number; as, "Socrates and Plato were wise; they were the most eminent philosophers of Greece."

Note I.-But if the Antecedents describe one person or thing, though connected by and, they are in apposition, and do not require a plural pronoun; as, "That philosopher and poet spent his life in the service of mankind."

Note II.-If the Singular Antecedents united in construction are of several persons, the second person takes precedence of the third, and the first of both, in forming the plural of the representative pronoun; as, "Thou and he shared it between you," "James, and thou, and I are attached to our country."

Note III-In the Classical languages, the pronoun of the First person is deemed more worthy than that of the Second, and the Second than that of the Third. But though we in like manner place the pronoun of the second person before that of the third, we modestly place the pronoun of the first person after those of the second and third. When a Roman would say, Si tu et Tullia valetis, ego et Cicero valemus, we should say, "If you and Tullia are well, I and Cicero are well."

Cardinal Wolsey, in conformity with the Latin idiom, wrote, Ego et rex meus, "I and my king;" but it gave offense, as if he wished to take precedence of his sovereign.

Note IV. When two antecedents in the Singular Number connected by the conjunction and are contrasted with each other, they do not require a plural pronoun; as, "The captain, and not the lieutenant, was, by the court-martial, removed from his office."

Note V.-When two or more antecedents in the Singular

Number are connected by the conjunction and and preceded by each or every, they do not require a plural pronoun; as, "Each plant and each animal has its peculiar character."

EXERCISES UNDER RULE XIV.,

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

RULE XIV.―a. Virtue and truth is in itself convincing. F. S. b. Webster, Clay, and Calhoun are now numbered with the illustrious dead. They were distinguished patriots and statesC. S.

men.

by the learned world.

c. Demosthenes and Cicero were the most distinguished orators of classic times. Their eloquence has ever been admired They were both eminent patriots. C. S. Note I.-a. My guide, philosopher, and friend, as Pope calls Bolingbroke, devoted his splendid talents to the service of infidelity. C. S.

b. That superficial scholar and critic, like some renowned critics of our own, have furnished most decisive proofs that they knew not the characters of the Hebrew language. F. S.

Note II.-a. In the arrangements thou and he will suit themselves. F. S.

b. Thou, and the gardener, and the huntsmen must share this business among them. F. S.

Note III.-I, and John, and you were present at the inaugu ration. F. S.

Note IV.―a. Principle and not profession is demanded. C.S. b. Good order in our affairs, not mean savings, produce great profits. F. S.

Note V.-Every leaf, every twig, every drop of water teem with life. F.S.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

RULE XV.-Two or more Antecedents in the Singular Number, separated in construction by the Disjunctive Conjunction or, or in any other way, require the pronoun to be in the singular number; as, "John or James will send his book;" "The Bible, and not the Koran, is read there: its influence is salutary;" "Every tree and every plant produces others after its kind."

Note I.-A Plural antecedent and a Singular antecedent, con