now mentioned; for certain words may, if we please, intervene between the termination soever and the preceding parts of the compounds. Whichsoever, Whatsoever, and Howsoever are the oftenest so written; but we believe that our meaning will be best explained by examples:

'When, or where, soever the election may be held; in what way soever he he may act; whose advice soever he may take; which party soever he may espouse; or, how great soever may be his talents: he is sure to be outvoted, unless he will degrade himself, by resorting to bribery.'

Though these and such like expressions are not elegant, they are, nevertheless, legitimate English.

NEVER is ne-ever, or not ever,—the absence of progress, either in space or duration. When referring to quantity, 'ever so much' and 'never so much' have been always considered as synonymous; because, the ever is used in the sense of over, or beyond; and the words ' so much' designate an indefinite quantity, which may be as great as we please. To have ever so much' is to possess over, or above any specified quantity, assume it as high as we will; and, to have never so much' is to have so much that there can be no increase over, or beyond it. The phrases ever so pleasant' and 'never so pleasant;' 'ever so rich' and 'never so rich,' and others of a similar nature may be explained on the same principle.

In FOREVER, which has but recently become a single word, the ever refers to time. When marking the divisions of duration, we say, 'for an hour,'' for a day,' 'for a year,' &c.; and For-ever is a kindred expression, but leaves the length of the period unfixed, and therefore, by implication, never ending. EVERMORE is always more,--an interminable addition.

Our ancestors were accustomed to clinch every expression which seemed indefinite. Hence the origin of their double negatives and double superlatives; and hence, also, in the case before us, the phrases 'for ever and ever' to denote an unending future, and from everlasting to everlasting' to express the conjunction of an Eternity past with an Eternity to come.

It is pleasing to observe the coincidence between language and philosophy. Negatives are incapable of expressing any abstract idea of nonentity, because no such power of abstraction belongs to the human mind. They either take away the substance of which we speak, and then as to us nothing remains; or, by a process analogous to the infinitesimals of the mathematician, they mark the zero of existence, by the least of conceivable objects. The Greek inseparable preposition, the Latin adverb ne, and our No, denote the absence or want of that to which they refer. They are the opposite of present or possession, ex

B b

pressed by AYE, YEA, YES, or BE. Aye, yea, and yes, are the French imperatives aye and ayez, have thou and have ye, of the verb avoir, to have.

Give or grant me this.' 'YES,' 'have it.' 'No,' or 'NAY' (French n'aye,) away with it.' It is thus that we indicate assent or denial. That absence is the true meaning of the Latin ne may be admitted from its correspondence with the conjunction lest, which, as we have seen, arises from the Saxon lesan, to dismiss or send away. In French, ne and non require some qualifying additions in order to express complete negation. Pas, a step, is a single movement and denotes the smallest motion; ne pas, is not a step. A point is the least mark, and figuratively little or nothing, like iota (and jot) the name of the Greek letter, i; ne point is none, not a iota. This kind of double negative was formerly used in English. He ne did not' is a common phrase in Chaucer; and we have still similar modes of writing; as, 'not at all;'not in the least,' &c. No and Nor have different forms of usage. No is applied to express the negation of things; and Not to express that of actions. No has the effect of an adjective; and Not of an adverb. When we say, 'he has not money,' we assert that he is destitute of money, in opposition to those who say or believe that he has it here the not is applied to the verb has. But when we say he has no money,' we allude to no opinion of others, but use no merely in opposition to some. In this case, no is an adjective to the word money.

We have the privative prefixes NE, NEG, NON, and No from the negatives above mentioned. NE is connected with a few words. NECESSITY, from the Latin cedere to yield or give place to, is what cannot be set aside; and Never, as before mentioned, is ne-ever. The Latin nec or neque is not that, and hence (transforming the c into g) is negare, to deny. NEGATION and NEGATIVE are from this source; and, from legere, to gather, was formed the Latin verb negligere, to NEGLECT. The inseparable preposition Non is equivalent to not, as in NONEXISTENCE, Nonsense, NONRESIDENCE, &c. the composition of which is obvious. No appears in NOTHING, NOWHERE, and in that abstraction of nonentity NOTHINGNESS.

When treating of adverbs, we showed that the initial A is a contraction of the old Saxon on, meaning on, or in. Certain words with this prefix are prepositions; but that character is a consequence of the prefix (itself a preposition), and not of the root with which it is conjoined. The classes of words run into one another; and the same association of letters may, sometimes, be taken either as an adverb, a conjunction, or a preposition, according to the usage which custom has assigned it. ALONG (on length) for example, which we (at page cxxxviii,) spoke of only as an adverb, has been ranked by Mr. Tooke as a preposition.

The prepositive application of the adverbs Along and Alongside is easily accounted for; but there is another preposition, ALONG of (or LONG of, as it was sometimes written) which, though now obsolete, is still heard from the mouths of the vulgar: 'It was along of you that I got into the scrape;' and 'it was along of him that I got out of the difficulty,' are examples. This second usage of the word Along has been referred by some grammarians to a separate source. "The Anglo-Saxons (says Tooke) used two words for these two purposes, Andlang, Andlong, Ondlong, for the first, and Gelang for the second: and our most ancient English writers observed the same distinction, using ENDLONG for the one, and ALONG for the other :" and of this distinction he gives numerous examples from Gower and Chaucer.

We have already remarked that the prepositions are frequently interchangeable. On the length,' by the length,' through the length,' and lengthwise,' all present the same general idea; although, for every particular usage, one shall be found to be more fitted than either of the others. The Saxon on, and the inseparable prefixes, and, or ond, and ge, have, each, been translated by the English A: gelang is Along, and gemang is Among. While Along retained the separate application above stated, the two distinguishing orthographies were likewise retained by accurate writers: on the same principle as the Scotch had but and bot. When one of these usages was lost sight of, the different spellings also ceased to exist. The Scotch never had these distinct usages of Along: a circumstance which, with others of a similar kind, goes to prove that their dialect of the Gothic was not the Anglo-Saxon.

There is more than one method of passing an object endlang, endwise, or in the direction of its length. A person walks along the margin of a stream, a swallow skims along its surface, and a fish swims along, or through the water. It is in the latter sense that the phrase along of him' was understood. It was through him, or by his means (medium) that the effect was produced.

Before taking our leave of the prepositions, we must not forget the classification of Bishop Wilkins. His "Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language" was printed by order of the Royal Society, in the year 1668. Along with much other original and curious matter, the book contains the following account of the Prepositions; which we copy verbatim, as showing the ideas of a very ingenious writer, a hundred years before Mr. Tooke's system of reasoning on language was given to the world.

"Prepositions are such particles whose proper office it is to joyn Integral with Integral on the same side of the Copula, signifying some respect of Cause, Place, Time, or other circumstance either Positively or Privatively. They are herefore here treated of before Adverbs whose office is chiefly to wait upon Verbs.

"There are thirty six Prepositions or eighteen paires of them, or six combinations, which may, with much less equivocalness than is found in instituted languages, suffice to express those various respects which are to be signified by the kind of Particles.

"The two first Combinations of Prepositions do comprehend such as are used to express Causality, and may be stiled Causal.

"The first Combination of Causal Prepositions are either, more General, denoting either the Author, Subject, or Possessor of any thing, expressed in the Latin by the Genitive case: or the Formal or Instrumental Cause, or Manner of doing, expressed in the Latin by the Ablative case: neither of them having any Particle in that Language appointed for them.

Cas. Gen.

Cas. Ablat.

Ab, a, per.

Ob, pro, propter.

Ex, è.

De, circa.

The second Combination of Causal Prepositions doth contain such as do relate either to the notion of

Ideal and exemplary, or Substitutive,

II. Social or circumstance of society; Affirmed, or Denied,

WITH

WITHOUT, Void of

S FOR, on this side

2

Instar, secundum. Pro, vice.

Cum.

Sine, absq.

Adjuvant and agreement with: or opposing and enmity against,

3AGAINST, Opposite unto

Pro.
Contra.

The rest of the Prepositions do primarily refer to Place and Situation; Secondarily to Time; And some of them, by way of Analogy, to Comparison. Some of these are Absolutely determined, either to Motion or to Rest, or the Terminus of Motion. Others are relatively applicable to both; Concerning which this rule is to be observed. That those which belong to motion, cannot signifie rest: But those which belong to rest, may likewise signifie motion in the Terminus.

"The third Combination doth consist of such as respect Space in general, being either

Absolutely determined to

MOTION, either || of Coming, or Going.

1

III.

STO
FROM
FROM

Ad.

A.

Rest, or the Terms of these motions, denoting either; Nearness and

contiguity or Distance.

2

SAT

OFF

Apud.
Procul.

Relative both to motion and rest, with respect to the Intermediate space betwixt those Terms, either || Direct, or Indirect.

3 SOVER

ABOUT

Trans.

Circum.

"The fourth Combination doth consist of such Prepositions, as respect Space, with a particular restriction to the notion of Containing, being either Absolutely determined to

MOTION; whether of || Ingress, or Egress

SINTO

1

OUT OF

IV.

In.

Ex.

Intra.

Extra.

Relative both to Motion and Rest, with respect to the Intermediate space, either || Direct or Indirect

STHOROUGH

3

Beside

Per.

Præter.

"The fifth Combination doth contain such Prepositions as relate to the Imaginary parts of a thing, whether the

Face or Back, being Relative both to Motion and Rest

Ante.

3 {AFTER

BEFORE

Post.