inducing the evanescent idea that none may be something more than one. None, for the adjective No, was at one time generally prefixed to substantives beginning with a vowel, for the purpose of avoiding the hiatus: a practice which, in a few instances, is still retained, as in none other, for no other. In Poetry, instead of the alternative "neither, nor," the nor is occasionally repeated; which not only saves a syllable, but is supposed to add to the elegance of the expression:

And, when bleak winter howl'd around the cave,
For thee, his horrors and his storms I'd brave;
Nor snows nor raging winds should damp my soul,
Nor such a night as shrowds the dusky pole."

Day.

WHY was formerly written forwhy (being the Saxon accusative, forwhy, or forwhon,) and interrogates, for what cause, or reason, any thing is done. It differs from WHEREFORE (for what) in being more abstract; the preposition fore, which denotes cause, being left to be understood, and thus not pointing directly to any reason for the action. The same sort of generalization has taken place in other languages. The Latin cur, why, was once quur, a contraction for quare (qua re) wherefore. There is a conversational use of why, frequent in Shakspeare, which is still uttered by many, and repeated to satiety. It is a practice for which we cannot account, and seems to contradict the old adage that "every why has a wherefore." The speaker introduces his tiresome harangue by such phrases as "why, sir, we were a-walking." "And why, as

I told him," &c. in which the why appears to answer no purpose whatever, unless we are to suppose that the speaker, not knowing what to say, questions himself, in order to gain time to refresh his memory. A young gentleman from Trinidad informed us, the other day, that the slaves in that island universally preface every speech with Mokka, a word which no European understands, and which they, themselves, cannot explain: perhaps, the why of the Londoners is the Mokka of the Negroes.

How, in which the w does not appear, is also, (like why,) a contraction. The Saxon is humeta, from mete, manner, or measure; and the place of the English word is often supplied by the phrase "In what manner?" HOW BEIT and HOW D'YE (contracted from "how do you do," an inquiry concerning health) require no particular explanation. As is the case with other interrogatives, the question contained in the words how and why may be suppressed. Thus "I will show you how I did it," and "you shall hear why the thing was done" might be otherwise written, "how did I do it? I will show you," and "why was the thing done? you shall hear." How is much occupied in inquiring the

extent of any quality (which may admit of degrees. It is usual to ask "how much?" how many?" "how far?" &c. and, on the same principle, the word is employed in those bewildered, or extatic, states of the mind which vent themselves in exclamations: as "how beautiful!" "how glorious!" "how sublime!" &c. These are, in fact, a species of questions, to which no answers are expected.

We formerly remarked that, from the structure of the organs of speech, the sounds of th and s are interchangeable. The Gothic Article, sa, so, thata, in the different genders, corresponds with our the and that; and As and So are English pronouns, differing from it, or that, only in the manner in which they are used. They are generally both Relatives, but are frequently so written as to have a reference to one another, in the same sentence. "I will do so" and "I will do as," both mean "I will do that," but as requires something to follow: for instance, "I will do as he bids me," which completes the sentence. So is the succeeding state: "he bids me do it, and I will do so." So is employed as a relative, when as is a demonstrative. "As the tree falls, so it must lie." In comparative clauses, of equality, as is both the relative and antecedent: "John is as brave as James." But when one of the parts differs from the other in degree, the antecedent is so: "John is not so tall as James." The general rule is that as alludes to likeness and similarity, while so refers to the comparison of extent or degree; and it is in the misapprehension of this English idiom that the natives of Scotland are so apt to err. "I will answer his letter so soon as I receive it," should be written "as soon as," because the point of time is the same. "He is not as rich as he was," should be "so rich, &c." because the states are unequal." "He ran as fast as I did," is equality. "He ran so fast that I could not overtake him," is superiority. As great, as much, and as high, is a bulk, quantity, or height exactly equal to something to which the as relates; but so great, so much, and so high, is a certain degree of bulk, quantity, and height, which requires to be ascertained by a comparison of less, or more.

The adjective SUCH has been already mentioned. This and THUS were originally the same, but have taken different places in the language. Thus is now the so, in such a way, or manner. In many applications, so and thus are identical. When the manner of an action is left to be guessed, we are at liberty to suppose that it has been improper, and that the explanation is suppressed from the delicacy of the speaker, who marks the word with hesitation, and says "he did it so, so," or "but so, so."

We are aware that we have begun to trench upon the other parts of speech. Why, how, and so, are usually included in the list of adverbs, while or, nor, and as, are placed among the conjunctions. Those particles however, with some

"By far

others, we have found it convenient to retain under the present head, for the sake of illustration. The Pronouns are an amphibious race, so much so that it is not always certain to what tribe they belong. "We must never forget the duplication which these words undergo, in almost every dialect from India to the Irish shores; and by which they acquire a general sense. In Teutonic SA-EI, that-that, signifies who relatively, sa being musculine, and EI being of all genders: SE, or SA THA, that that, or who, masculine: SWA-HWA, that-who, whosoever, originally HWA-SWA-AEFRE, who-that-at any time." "The article and the pronominal adjectives, in Greek and Latin, underwent the composition of all the consignificatives. In Greek TOIOS, TO-IGS originally, HOIOS, HWOIGS, and the correlatives, are well known. The Latin expressed these by TA-LIS and QUA-LIS, equivalent to the Gothic THA-LEIKS and HWA-LEIKS, that like and whatlike; in Chaucer's English, THILK and HWILK. The Saxon has swILC or SWA-LEIKS, which first became swILCS, then SWILCH; and now SUCH. Poros, or cozos, in Greek, is, in Latin, qUALIS, and in old English hwilk; so, hwilk men aren thai?' or, "what-like men are thae?" The answer is, "thilk men al-s (for AL-SWA) you see," or, that-like men, all-that men you see.” the most intricate part of the classical philology is that which relates to the use of the obsolete cases of the adjective pronouns: the application of such words as tam, quam, tum, cum, (or quum,) quando, ubi, ibi, inde, jam, ita, sic, dum, uti, utiquam, utique, etiam, nunc, diu, and others in Latin; and of dě, dè pote, hós, pôs, hoi, đẽn, thēn, pou, poi, toi, detha, deron, ede, este, nuni, ce, hou, and the like in Greek. Though these are the links, by which thoughts and sentiments are joined, the grammarians have treated them most absurdly and superficially. Every Article, being a descriptive word, may apply to time, place, all dimensions of quantity, number, and even the objects of thought, and the succession of ideas in the mind. If we consider, for a moment, to how many different purposes the single term that is applied in ordinary conversation, we shall speedily understand the extensive nature of this subject. And notwithstanding that this demonstrative word admits of numerous meanings on account of its applications, the radical and intrinsic meaning, which belongs to it originally, is the only key to these uses. All the dialects employ the pronouns in reference to time, place, quantity and quality; and many of them prefer the accusative, or other oblique cases in these applications; because, the genitive, of, with, relating to,-that, this, which time, place, size, extent, matter; the dative, at, for, to, upon, with,—that, this, which time, place, size, matter; and the accusative, on, acting on, touching, that, this, which time, matter, &c. are phrases which express the meaning more fully than the bare nominatives. The philologist must never forget, that all indeclinable words are nominatives, genitives, datives, or accusatives; the nouns expressive of place, time, matter,

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size, manner, degree, or words similar to these, being always understood. When the subject to which these pronouns refer is not a noun, but an action, or sentence, they are placed in the neuter gender. For instance, "the king has dissolved the parliament: I did not know that.”*

Keeping the preceding observations in view, we have now to proceed to the examination of those pronominal derivatives which assume the guise of Adverbs and Conjunctions: but, before taking leave of the Pronouns, properly so called, we must again advert to the word Ir; the general expression of existence, whether active or passive, verb or noun. In old English it (like that or the it) was unvaried either in case or gender. As we have already said, there was no such word as ITs; and as a relative IT referred indiscriminately to man, woman, or thing. We should not, at present, hesitate to write "that gentleman," or "the gentleman that ;" but Shakspeare in the Winter's Tale, makes a Courtier say, of his young Prince, "IT is a gentleman of the greatest promise." In modern language the it would be contemptuous. We yet use it when speaking of a child whose sex we are not presumed to know. The possessive its does not appear before the seventeenth century. Ben Jonson excluded the word from his Grammar, although it is to be found two or three times in his works. The consequence of this deficiency was that, wherever the possessive was required, the writer had to choose between his and her, the masculine and the feminine pronoun. Grammatically speaking, therefore, at that period every noun must have had a sex, as French nouns have at the present day. Now that we have unsered inanimate objects in ordinary prose, it were well to collect their several genders, as they appear in old English authors, to assist the personifications of modern Poets. These gentlemen are at no loss with such words as are derived from the Greek or Latin, but our forefathers had to personify every noun, and consequently many for which the learned languages afforded no guide. "He that pricketh the heart," says the son of Sirach," maketh it to shew her knowledge." The possessive its is to be found in three or four places of Shakspeare, but (we believe) no where in the authorized verson of the Bible. His, her, and their, are the universal, and exclusive genitives.

* Murray's History of the European Languages.

OF ADVERBS.

The quality of a noun is expressed by an adjective, and its state by a verb; but the former admits of degrees and the latter of modifications. A substance may be more or less white and an action may be more or less violent. The modification of verbs is, however, much more varied than that of the Adjectives. It is dependent on different circumstances, such as time, place, manner, &c. which circumstances may be expressed, in every instance, by means of a substantive (qualified, or not,) and a preposition. "He struck the ball," records a simple act; but "he struck the ball, with force," gives a qualification to the verb. "They treated him, with kindness, (or in a kind manner.") "I shall see him, in a short time, &c. are other examples. The noun, (with its accompaniments) in such qualifying clauses, is a mere by-stander in the construction of the sentence; and, on that account, is separated from the other parts, by means of commas. In languages that have terminations, it is put in one, or other, of the oblique cases: being, as is usually said, governed by the preposition, but, in fact, it is so written because holding an attendant situation in the group of words. The modifications produced by the relations of time, place, manner, &c. are so frequent that the petty clauses, by which they are expressed, are of perpetual recurrence. Repetition naturally induces hasty pronunciation and consequent contraction. The phrase is curtailed by leaving something to be understood, and its remaining parts are compressed into a single word which is then termed an ADVERB. In the preceding examples, the clauses," with force," ""with kindness," and "in a short time," may be, respectively, expressed by the adverbs, forcibly, kindly, and soon.

The far greater part of adverbs, in all languages, answer to the question how, or, in what manner, a state exists, or an action is performed. These modes of existence or of actions being qualities must have a similitude to adjectives; and, accordingly, they differ in English, in most cases, merely by the addition of LY signifying like. Thus a prudent man acts prudently, and a wise man wisely. This termination was formerly noticed as being also in use to change substantives into adjectives. The French and Spaniards add ment and mente in such cases as we add ly; while the Germans turn their adjectives into adverbs, solely by changing their place in the sentence, and depriving them of declensions, which they no longer need. In fact, the German adjective is declined only when it is in contact with the noun, which it qualifies;