The treasury of knowledge and library of reference / [Samuel Maunder].

  • Maunder, Samuel, 1785-1849
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treasury of knowledge and library of reference / [Samuel Maunder]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    EX SCARCE HAD THE SPIRIT OF LAWS MADE ITS APPEARANCE, THAN IT WAS ATTACKED. the measure ; as, “ A sermon txoo hours long;” “An infant three months old;” “ A pillar one hundred andfifUj feet high; “ A pit/our hundred yards deep.” plicable to species or nature, and requires as to correspond to it; thus, “ Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ? ” The word so applies properly to degree; as, “ What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous ? ” C. Such, when signifying those or so many, requires as for its correlative term ; the folloiving sentence is therefore in- correct ; “ None are more ready to shrink in a day of trouble, than such who, while it is distant, seem most daring.” It ought to be, “ such as, while it is distant,” &c. D. The phrase one another, being appli- cable to more than two persons or tlungs, ought not to be used when only two are mentioned : “ Virtue and vice are diame- trically opposed to one another.” It should be, each other; or, the one to the other.” E. Theadjectiveio/ioZe, when it signifies all, should never be joined to a plural noun : “ A grand day of pilgrimage to Mount Ararat being appointed, the whole devotees who have visited Mecca, resort hither.” In tills sentence, “ whole de- votees ” may imply such as were not sick : it ought to have been, either, “ all the de- votees,” or, “ the whole of the devotees.” F. The word universal, also, is equally liable to misconstruction: thus, “ The universal Irish people have made the most ample preparations, to manifest their at- tachment to their sovereign.” In this sentence, universal does not convey the intended idea ; which is, that all, without exception, had mode preparations : the sentence should therefore have been, “ The Irish people, universally, have,” &c. G. Dr. Noah Webster, in the Grammar prefixed to his English Dictionary, Rule xviii., says, Adjectives are used to modify the actions of verbs, and to express the qualities of things in connection with the action hy which they are produced. Ex- “ Open thine hand wide.” We observe in this passage, that wide, the attribute of hand, has a connection udth the verb open; for it is not “ open thy wide hand, hat the attribute is sup- posed to be the effect of the act of opening. Nor can the modifier, widely, be used ; for it is not simply the manner of the act which is intended, but the effect. “ Let us write slow and exact.” We might, perhaps, substitute slowly tor slow, as describing only the manner of writinK : but cannot be substituted for exact, for this word is intended to denote the effect of writing, in the cor- rectness of wliat is written. The adjective expresses the idea with a happy precision and brevity. As this is one of the most common, as well as most licautlful idioms of oiir lan- guage, which has hitherto escaped due ob- servation, the following authorities arc subjoined to illustrate and justify tlic rule. “ We could hear distinctly the bells, which sounded sweetly soft and pensive.” —Chandler's Travels. “ Magnesia feels smooth ; calcareous greasy, or at least smooth ; yet some feels dry and dusty. — Kirwan. “ In Bradley’s work, an apple is. de- scribed, one side of which is sweet and boils so/<; the other sour, and boils/umf.” — Darwin, 1‘hytol. “ The cakes ate short and crisp.” — Goldsmith. “ If you would try to live independent.” — Pope. [“ Thy brother has come ; and thy father has killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.”] , [“ The raw hazy influence spreads wide, sits deep, and hangs Ixeavy on the springs ofUfe.*^] [“ One day the soul, supine with ease and fullness, revels secure.”'^ So far are the words here used from being adverbs, that they cannot be changed into adverbs without impairing the tieauty, weakening the force, or destroying the meaning, of the passages. Let the sen- tences be put to the test— JIagnesia feels smoothly—the cakes ate shortly and crisjdy —the apples boil softly or hardly—thy brother has come: and thy father has killed the fatted calf, because he hath re- ceived him safely and soundly.” Every English ear rejects this alteration at once j the sentences become nonsense. — Dr. Crombie concurs with IVebster. i Demonstrative adjectives must agree in number with their nouns: as, “ That kind of knowledge is the most valuable, which 1 tends to miuce a man wiser and better.” | “ In certain countries, there is but one | season : these countries occupy the torrid ' zone : in thiszone, the daysand nightsare of equal length during the greatest part of the year.” “ No womids like those a wounded spirit ibels.” jective that is erroneously applied to a i plural, ns well os to a singular noun : Now that the Scheldt is open, and Antwerp in the enjoyment of that good i government and icisc reyxdations formerly ! found only in Holland, ‘it is doubtful whether Amsterdam will ever regain its former population and opulence. It ought to have been, “ that gooil govcni- ment, and those wise regulations.’’ 2. The expressions these kind and those kiml arc gross solecisms. The correct phrases arc, this khid and that kind. RULE XVIIT. The distributive adjectiies, each, et'ery, cither, and xieilhi'r, reiiuirc the nouns, pro- nouns, verbs, and auxiliaries connected with them, to lie in the singular numlier : as, Each season regularly succeeds the other, and crery season has its iieculiar charms.” No na\igntor has yet readied either jmlc.” KEY.—TUB BOOKS WERE TO HAVE BEEN SOLD THIS DAY. KEY.— SCARCELY HAD THE SPIRIT OP LAWS MADE ITS API’EARANGE, WHEN IT WAS ATTACKED