"The poetry and eloquence of the Augustan age was assiduously studied in Mercian and Northumbrian monasteries." MACAULAY. History of England.

"Few political conspiracies, whenever religion forms a pretext, is without a woman."-D'ISRAELI. Quarrels of Authors.

"Few, if any town or village in the south of England, has a name ending in by."-HARRISON. English Language.

Some writers maintain, that when two or more nouns singular represent a single idea, the verb to which they are the nominative may be put in the singular. This I hold to be a mere quibble; for, if the nouns express the same idea, one of them is superfluous, and should be omitted; if different ideas, then they form a plural, and the verb should be made to agree with them as such.

Another quibble resorted to by this class of grammarians, is the assertion, that in all such cases the verb may be put in the singular with the last noun, and be understood with reference to the others. But they do not tell us how this process of subaudition can go on in the mind of the reader, before he knows what the verb is to be. This might apply to phrases in which the verb precedes the nouns : when it comes after them, the sense and the sound alike require that it should agree with them in number.

In support of the opposite view, examples have been cited from Shakspeare and Milton; those who quote them forgetting that Shakspeare and Milton were poets, and not grammarians; and

that, while their authority for the use of similes and sentiments, as well as the appropriateness of the language in which these are embodied, is paramount, it carries no more weight with it, on questions of grammar, than that of other men, their inferiors in genius. To suppose that, because a man is a poet or a historian, he must be correct in his grammar, is as unreasonable as to suppose that an architect must be a joiner, or a physician a compounder of medicines.

In our search after truth, we must never suffer ourselves to be led astray by the occasional lapses of any writer, however high his position. Shakspeare and Milton, our two greatest poets, have examples of this error; and so have Gibbon and Macaulay, our two greatest historians. Indeed, it may be conceded that there is scarcely an English author who does not present some instances of it. But, on the other hand (and this is the point which it behoves us to keep in view), there is no English author whose works do not contain far more numerous instances in which the plural is employed. The use of the plural forms the rule; that of the singular the exception. The former is supported by that "usage" which Horace describes as the

"Jus et norma loquendi."

The latter has nothing to recommend it but the indifference or inadvertency of our writers; a

rule which, if pushed to its legitimate application, would give currency and weight to any piece of vulgarity or slang.

The best proof that this use of the singular is objectionable, is that it is of rarest occurrence in those writers who are reputed the most correct. Hallam and Macaulay have few examples of it; Roscoe and Southey fewer still.

There is another form of phrase in which the singular is often employed, although it would be more consistent with grammar to use the plural. Here is an example :

"Valentia is one of the most delightful cities which is to be found in Europe."-ALISON. History of Europe.

To be convinced of the propriety of employing the plural here, we have only to reflect that "which" is the nominative to "is;" and that the direct antecedent of "which" is the plural "cities." Another way of testing the accuracy of all such phrases is to invert the order of the words thus:

"Of the most delightful cities which is to be found in Europe, Valentia is one."

The following are further examples :

"Mr. Dodsley this year brought out his Preceptor,' one of the most valuable books for the improvement of young minds that has appeared in any language."-BOSWELL. Life of Johnson.

Sully bought of Monsieur de la Roche Guyon one of the finest Spanish horses that ever was seen."-SOUTHEY. The Doctor.

"It was one of the most important alliances that ever was formed."-RosCOE. Life of Leo X.

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'Alexander, emperor of Russia, is one of the sovereigns of modern times who has left the greatest name in history."ALISON. History of Europe.

I will go further, and assert of all such phrases, that they contain a contradiction in terms. Take, for example, our last quotation. The writer means to say that the circumstance of leaving the greatest name in history is common to Alexander and other sovereigns; and yet he affirms that circumstance of Alexander alone. The truth is, the writer is betrayed into this inaccuracy, because the phrase sounds as if he had said:

"Alexander, emperor of Russia, is the sovereign of modern times who has left the greatest name in history."

The following sentence contains an error somewhat analogous to the foregoing

"Suchet's administration was incomparably the least oppressive of that of any of the French generals in the Peninsula."ALISON. History of Europe.

It would have been correct to say :

"Suchet's administration was incomparably less oppressive than that of any of the French generals in the Peninsula."

And that is probably what the writer was thinking of. But (as I shall have occasion to show in the course of this work) the "thinking" and the "writing" of an author are seldom in

accordance with each other. It never occurs to those who use this expression that the superlative degree cannot be formed with only one thing as a means of comparison.

In the foregoing examples, we have the singular improperly put for the plural. The use of the plural instead of the singular is no less common. The following are instances:

"The terms in which the sale of a patent to Mr. Hine were communicated to the public."-JUNIUS. Letters.

"If Machiavel had not known that an appearance of morals and religion are useful in society."—Ibid.

"To heighten the calamity which the want of these useful labours make every literary man feel.”—D'ISRAELI. Calamities of Authors.

"It is in such moments of gloom and depression that the immortal superiority of genius and virtue most strongly appear." -ALISON. Essay on Châteaubriand.

"It is refreshing to see those just and manly sentiments, after the sickly partiality for Roman Catholic agitators, which, for the purposes of faction, have so long pervaded many of his party."-ALISON. Essay on Macaulay.

"It has already been stated that the difference between the new and the old German, the Dutch and the Frisian, the Italian and the Latin, the Romaic and the Greek, are precisely similar."-LATHAM. The English Language.

"The authority of Addison, in matters of grammar; of Bentley, who never made the English grammar his study; of Bolingbroke, Pope, and others, are as nothing.”—HARRISON. On the English Language.

In order to show the prevalence of this error, I shall quote some examples of it from Gibbon, who is justly reckoned one of our most correct

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