lition. To will, what depends solely on the will, is a purpose of the mind which is unavoidably accompanied by its own instantaneous fulfilment.

235. The word will conveys no more idea of futurity than is generally implied by imperative and infinitive verbs, and by all the "auxiliaries."

"If a yong jentleman will venture himselfe into the companie of ruffians, it is over great a jeopardie, lest their facions, maners, thoughts, taulke, and dedes, will verie sone be over like."-R. Ascham's "Scholemaster."

If a young gentleman inclines to venture (himself) at any time.

Will is the Latin volo, Gr. 68λw, 6xλoual, anciently written in England, voll, afterwards woll, as it is still pronounced in Yorkshire, and some other counties. It made its past tense wolde, and was, and still is, used in frequent instances, without a following infinitive verb.

"Graunt mercy, good frende, quod he, I thanke thee that thou woldest so."-Dream of Chaucer, fol. 256.

Will, like other verbs, formerly required the usual sign of the infinitive mood after it, when followed. by an other verb.

This verb runs through all the present languages of Europe, northern and southern, having nothing but its great importance, and consequent frequency of use, to distinguish it from other principal verbs. In modern French literature it may, like four others, specially privileged, take or omit the usual infinitive preposition, though not the infinitive form, after it; but in other tongues, generally, the proper infinitive forms are required, in the consecutive verb.

The principle here explained respecting this formation is most strikingly illustrated by reference to the other languages of northern Europe. In German, the most extensive of them, the plural is generally made by the verb to be; as, Ich werde seyn, I am to be: wir waren seyn, we were to be. In this, and several other tongues, it is perfectly understood by every person familiar with them, that there is no other way of forming a plural but by an infinitive verb, depending on its proper correlative expression.

Nothing is more foreign from a true philosophic principle, than the arbitrary selection of shall and will, as the exclusive signs of the future. This results from a mistaken idea of the character and meaning of these words, of which more will be said under the head of "auxiliaries."

137. The modified relations of a word, with the same general meaning, as explained under the adjectives, have an extensive application to verbs. Want of attention to this has led to much confusion in grammars.

To dust furniture, is to clear it from dust, To dust gunpowder is to make it fine. To dust [ ] often signifies to sprinkle or cover with dust, either as a protection from injury, or by way of reproach.

2. Samuel, xvi. 13. "And as David and his men went by, Shimei went along on the hill's side, over against him, and cursed (him) as he went and threw stones at him, and (dusted him with dust."*)

*This is the literal version: but the translators have given the same meaning in different words: "and cast dust" upon him.

AUXILIARIES.

These words form a most deeply interesting part in the science of language; and it is difficult to conceive any thing more contrary to philosophy, than to adduce them, as having no meaning, and as entirely subsidiary, for the very reasons which show their primary importance.

A slight degree of preliminary reasoning leads strongly to an other reflection. The words of obscure meaning, and the general prefixes and terminations of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, could not, as they now exist, have belonged to the original structure for these appendages of refinement and convenience belong to cultivated speech, and were not adapted to suit the wants of savage man.

One broad rule may be laid down in relation to these, as well as all other words. They all had their origin in ideas directly relating to persons and things in the material world.

239. All original verbal expressions were signs of some thing obvious to the corporeal organs: and prefixes, terminations, or modifying words grew, subsequently, from compounding and refining these elementary terms. They were not invented as qualifying words. To suppose such a process, is to reject all the lessons of experience. The first words used among men, and consequently those denoting the most important ideas, were, if we may so say, worn down by long familiarity, and gradually blended with newer formed words.

The thunder was heard, and the name applied was direct, according to what was obvious to the sense. A cause was supposed, and this inferential

notion of a God, was expressed by a word equivalent to a thunderer. The termination er is formed from an elementary word for man, and probably one of the first words ever used by man. It is traced, in numerous variations, through many ancient tongues, er, or, wer, ar, var, ver, vir, and others; and thunderer* means the thunder man, or the Being who governs the thunder. This, like other primitive words, was both a noun and a verb.

240. With these views, the reader will be prepared to examine the unmeaning terms employed, for the sake of convenience, to conjugate principal verbs. As a particular exposition of the whole number, would extend beyond the bounds prescribed to this essay, it will suffice to explain the leading principle, which applies to all, and exemplify it, by a few words which appear to have been least understood.

1st. The nature and use of " auxiliaries" may be best explained in a practical way.

"And the four and twenty elders, who sat before God, on their seats, fell upon their faces, saying, We thank thee, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned." Rev. xi. 16, 17.

241. Wast, and art, and art to come. This is the simple and proper expression of all conceivable time, past, present and future. It is the idea of duration, as fixed in the eternal nature of the Most High, and the laws of the universe as an interminable whole. It excludes every extraneous admixture of temporary volition; of accidental change; of superior permission; of external force.

*This word will be more fully explained under the verb to be.

This is the philosophic, logical, and grammatical exposition of the tenses, as they now exist, through the English language, and as they are found in the early forms of others. Every different manner of expression, relating time, is only an incidental or conditional modification of this original form.

The future, in this, as in other expressions of it, employs an infinitive verb, depending a preceding or correlative proposition; and it is a self-evident truth, that two consecutive actions can not both be present, precisely within the same time.

124. Language, however, is chiefly constructed, with immediate reference to beings who are not, like him who was, and is, and is to come, subject to no higher power, and liable to "no shadow of turning." The actions of men depend on occasional necessity, will, or superior authority; and to the numerous vicissitudes to which our species are every where subjected. The ideas so blended with the condition of human life, are denoted by words which are of frequent occurrence. Such terms, by constant repetition, become exceedingly familiar, and assume the most contracted form. Of this kind are must,* from muessen, Teutonic; mussen, Saxon, to bind, confine, constrain, or ob-ligate; and generally, among nations, the most significant word to express bondage, constraint, and obligation, must be very often used.

243. The words which the English grammarians usually select, as helping verbs, are now all

*It is needless to spend time on this word. It is of extensive use in various tongues, through all the moods and tenses. The air in a cask grows musty by being confined.