Pr. love, lovest, loveth.
Pa. loved, loved'st, loved.

Fu. love, love.

Inf.

Part. pr.

Part. past.

Pl. love, love, love.
Pl. loved, loved, loved.
Pl. love, love.

Verbs are oft times shortened; as

sayest, saist; would, wou'd;
should, shou'd: holpe, hope;

But this is more common in the leaving out of e; as lovea'st, for lovedest;

rubb'd, rubbed; took'st, tookest.

Exception of the time past, for ed, have d or t; as Licked, lickt; leaved, left;

Gaped, gap'd; blushed, blush'd.

Some verbs ending in d, for avoiding the concourse of too many consonants, do cast it away; as lend, lent; spend, spent; gird, girt.

Make, by a rare contraction, is here turned into made. Many verbs in the time past, vary not at all from the present; such are cast, hurt, cost, burst, &c.

CHAP. XVIII.

OF THE SECOND CONJUGATION.

ND so much for the first conjugation, being indeed the most useful forming of a verb, and thereby also the common inn to lodge every strange and foreign guest. That which followeth, for any thing I can find, (though I have with some diligence searched after it) entertaineth none but natural and home-born words, which though in number they be not many, a hundred and twenty, or thereabouts; yet in varia

tion are so divers and uncertain, that they need much the stamp of some good logic to beat them into proportion. We have set down that, that in our judgment agreeth best with reason and good order. Which notwithstanding, if it seem to any to be too rough hewed, let him plane it out more smoothly, and I shall not only not envy it, but, in the behalf of my country, most heartily thank him for so great a benefit; hoping that I shall be thought sufficiently to have done my part, if in tolling this bell, I may draw others to a deeper consideration of the matter: for, touching myself, I must needs confess, that after much painful churning, this only would come, which here we have devised.

The second conjugation therefore turneth the present into the time past, by the only change of his letters, namely, of vowels alone, or consonants also.

Verbs changing vowels only, have no certain termination of the participle past, but derive it as well from the present, as the time past: and that otherwhile differing from either, as the examples following do declare.

The change of vowels is, either of simple vowels, or of diphthongs; whereof the first goeth by the order of vowels, which we also will observe.

An a is turned into oo. Pres. shake, shakest, shaketh. Past. shook, shookest, shook. Fut. shake, shake.

Pl. shake, shake, shake.
Pl. shook, shook, shook.
Pl. shake, shake.

Part. pre. shaking.
shaken.

Part. pa.

This form do the verbs take, wake, forsake, and hang, follow; but hang in the time past maketh hung, not hangen.

Hereof the verb am is a special exception, being thus varied:

Pr. am, art, is. Pl. are, are, are; or be, be, be, of the unused word, be, beest, beeth, in the singular. Past. was, wast, was; or, were, wert, were. Pl. were, were, were.

Fut. be, be. Plur. be, be.

Inf. be.

Part. pr. being.

Part. past. been.

Ea casteth away a, and maketh e short:
Pr. lead. Past. led. Part. pa. led.

The rest of the times and persons, both singular and plural, in this and the other verbs that follow, because they jump with the former examples and rules in every point, we have chosen rather to omit, than to thrust in needless words.

Such are the verbs, eat, beat, (both making participles past; besides et and bet, or eaten and beaten) spread, dread, sweat, tread.

Then a, or o, indifferently;

Hither belong, speak, swear, tear, cleave, wear, steal, bear, shear, weave. So, get, and help; but holpe is seldom used, save with the poets.

And here sometimes i is turned into a and o both.

Par. pa. won.

Of this sort are fling, ring, wring, sing, sting, stick, spin, strike, drink, sink, spring, begin, stink, shrink, swing, swim.

Secondly, verbs that have ee, lose one; as

And one more, shoot, shot; in the participle past, shot, or shotten.

Some pronounce the verbs by the diphthong ew, chewse, shewt; and that is Scottish-like.

CHAP. XIX.

OF THE THIRD CONJUGATION.

HE change of diphthongs is of ay, y, aw, and ow; all which are changed into ew.

This last form cometh oftener than the three former; as snow, grow, throw, blow, crow.

Secondly; some verbs in ite or ide, lose e; as

Likewise, híde, quíte, make hìd, quit.

So, shine, strive, thrive, change i into o in the time past; as shone, strove, throve.

And as i severally frameth either e or o; so may it jointly have them both.

To this kind pertain, smíte, write, bide, ride, climb,