Whoever is often employed as the nominative to two verbs; as, "Whoever expects to find in the scriptures a specific direction for every moral doubt that arises, looks for more than he will meet with."-Paley, Phil. ch. 4.

Mine, thine and his are equally well used as substitutes, or as attributes. "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine." -Hag. 2. 8. "The day is thine, the night also is thine."Ps. 74. 16. "The Lord knoweth them that are his."-2 Tim. 2. 19. In these examples, the words mine, thine, his, may be considered as substitutes." The silver is mine," that is, my silver.

In this character, the words usually follow the verb; but when emphatical, they may precede it; as, "His will I be." -2 Sam. 16. 18. 66 Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory."-1 Ch. 29. 11. "Thine is the kingdom."* These words are also used as attributes of possession; as, "Let not mine enemies triumph." "So let thine enemies perish." "And Abram removed his tent." Mine and thine are however not thus used in familiar language; but in solemn and elevated style, they are still used as attributes.

66 Mine eyes beheld the messenger divine."-Lusiad, b. 2.

The Germans still use wer, wessen, wem; the Dutch, wie, wiens, wien. In a fragment of the Laws of Numa, cujus is spelt quoius-We have this word in whose. From the time of Numa, at least, this genitive has been of all genders, and I believe, remains so, in all branches of the Teutonic. It is better classed with adjectives or attributes, like his.

* In addition to the proofs already alleged, that these words are not a possessive case, according to the usual acceptation of the word, we may remark, that mine, thine and his, in the passages used in the text, do not stand in the place of, of me, of thee, of him. The silver is of me, the gold is of me, the day is of thee, the Lord knoweth them that are of him, do not convey the same ideas, as the present form of expression. Of, in these expressions, would rather imply proceeding from.

Besides, the same words admit the sign of the possessive; as, " And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar."-1 Sam. 2. 33. "Sing to the Lord, all ye saints of his."-Ps. 30. 4. "He that heareth these sayings of mine."-Matt. 7. When we say, 26 a soldier of the king's," we mean one of the king's soldiers; and in the passage here cited from Samuel," the man of thine" has a like sense-" the man of thy men," that is, any one of them. But in the passages from Psalms and Matthew, the words" all ye saints of his," "these sayings of mine," are evidently meant to include the whole number. It is therefore impossible to resolve these passages, without considering mine, thine and his as substitutes, in the same case, as the nouns would be, which they represent.

There is another class of substitutes, which supply the place of names, attributes, sentences or parts of a sentence.

It.

In the following sentence, it is the substitute for a name. "The sun rules the day; it illumines the earth;" here it is used for sun, to prevent a repetition of the word.

"The

In the following passage, it has a different use: Jews, it is well known, were at this time under the dominion of the Romans."-Porteus, Lect. 8. Here it represents the whole of the sentence, except the clause in which it stands. To understand this, let the order of the words be varied. "The Jews were at this time under the dominion of the Romans, it [all that] is well known."

"It is a testimony as glorious to his memory, as it is singular, and almost unexampled in his circumstances, that he loved the Jewish nation, and that he gave a very decisive proof of it, by building them a synagogue."—Ibm.

To discover what is represented by the first it, we must inquire, What is a glorious testimony? Why, clearly, that he loved the Jewish nation, and gave them a decisive proof of it, by building them a synagogue. It then is a substitute for those clauses of the sentence. The second it refers to the same clauses. In the latter part of the sentence, he gave a magnificent proof of it-of what? of what is related in a preceding clause he loved the Jewish nation—of that he gave a decisive and magnificent proof. Here it represents that member of the sentence.

"As for the pulling of them down, if the affairs require it."-Bacon on Ambition. Require what? "The pulling of them down"-for which part of the sentence it is a substitute.

"Shall worldly glory, impotent and vain,

That fluctuates like the billows of the main;
Shall this with more respect thy bosom move
Than zeal for crowns that never fade above?
Avert it, heaven!"-Hoole's Tasso, 6. 5.

Avert what? All that is expressed in the four preceding lines, for all which it is a substitute.

"And how could he do this so effectually, as by performing works, which it utterly exceeded all the strength and ability of men to accomplish."-Porteus, Lect. 5.

What utterly exceeded? To what does it refer? Let us invert the order of the words-" as by performing works, to accomplish which exceeded all the strength of men." Here we find to accomplish, a verb in the infinitive, is the nominative to exceeded, and for that verb, it is a substitute.

This inceptive use of it forms a remarkable idiom of our language, and deserves more particular illustration. It stands as the substitute for a subsequent member or clause of a sentence, and is a sort of pioneer to smooth the way for the verb. Thus, "It is remarkable, that the philosopher Seneca makes use of the same argument."-Porteus, Lect. 6. If we ask, What is remarkable? the answer must be, The fact stated in the last clause of the sentence. That this is the real construction, appears from a transposition of the clauses, "The philosopher Seneca makes use of the same argument, that is remarkable." In this order we observe the true use of that, which is also a substitute for the preceding clause of the sentence, and it becomes redundant. The use then of the inceptive it, appears to be to enable us to begin a sentence, without placing a verb as the introductory word; and by the use of it and that as substitutes for subsequent members of the sentence, the order is inverted without occasioning obscurity.

It is to be noticed also that this neuter substitute it, is equally proper to begin sentences, when the name of a person is afterwards used; as, "It was John who exhibited such powers of eloquence." But if we transpose the words, and place who or that, the substitute which begins a new clause, next after the inceptive word, we must use he for the incep tive—" He, who or that exhibited such powers of eloquence, was John."

In interrogative sentences, the order of words is changed, and it follows the verb. Who is it that has been thus eloquent ?

There is a sentence in Locke, in which the inceptive it, is omitted, Whereby comes to pass, that, as long as any uneasiness remains in the mind."-B. ch. 21. In strictness, this is not a defective sentence, for that may be considered as the nominative to comes- -Whereby that comes to pass which follows. Or the whole subsequent sentence may be considered as the nominative-for all that comes to pass. But the use of the inceptive it is so fully established as the true idiom of language, that its omission is not to be vindicated.

This and that, these and those.

This and that are either definite attributes or substitutes. As attributes, they are used to specify individuals, and distinguish them from others; as, "This my son was dead and is alive again." this was a righteous man." "The end of that man is peace.' "Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed." This and that have plurals, these

and those.

Certainly

The general distinction between this and that, is, this denotes an object to be present or near in time or place; that, to be absent. But this distinction is not always observed. In correspondence however with this distinction, when, in discourse, two things are mentioned, this and these refer to the last named, or nearest in the order of construction; that and those to the most distant; as,

66

Self-love and reason to one end aspire,

Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire;

But greedy that [self love] its object would devour,
This [reason] taste the honey and not wound the flower."

"Some place the bliss in action, some in ease,

Pope.

Those call it pleasure, and contentment these."—Ibm. The poets sometimes contrast these substitutes in a similar manner, to denote individuals acting or existing in detached parties; or to denote the whole acting in various capacities; as,

"'Twas war no more, but carnage through the field, Those lift their sword, and these their bosoms yield." Hoole's Tasso, b. 20.

"Nor less the rest, the intrepid chief retain'd; These urged by threats, and those by force constrain'd."

Ibm.

There is a peculiarity in the use of that; for when it is an attribute, it is always in the singular number; but as a substitute for persons or things, it is plural as well as singular; and is used for persons as well as things more frequently than any word in the language; as,

"I knew a man that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, 'Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner. ""-Bacon on Dispatch.

Here that is the representative of man, and it stands for the last clause of the sentence or by-word.

"Let states that aim at greatness take heed how their nobility and gentlemen multiply too fast."-Bacon.

Here that is a substitute for a plural name.

So also in the following. 'They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." They that had eaten were about four thousand"-" they that are in the flesh"-" they that weep" -"bless them that curse you.”

Another very common use of this and that, is to represent a sentence or part of a sentence; as,

"It is seldom known that, authority thus acquired is possessed without insolence, or that, the master is not forced to confess that, he has enslaved himself by some foolish confidence."-Rambler, No. 68.

In this sentence, the first that represents the next member-" Authority thus acquired is possessed without insolence, that is seldom known;" it represents the same clause. The second that represents all which follows, including two clauses or members; the third that is the substitute for the last clause. In strictness, the comma ought always to be placed after that; which punctuation would elucidate the use of the substitute and the true construction; but the practice is otherwise; for that, in this and like sentences, is either a nominative or an objective. The first that in the foregoing sentence is the nominative, coinciding with it, or in apposition to it; and when the clauses are transposed, the inceptive it, being redundant, is dropped, and that becomes the nominative. The same remark is applicable to the second that; the verb and first clause, it is seldom known, being understood. The third that is the objective after confess. "The master has enslaved himself by some foolish confidence-he is forced to confess that-all that is seldom known."

Such is the true construction of sentences-the definitive that, instead of being a conjunction, is the representative of a sentence or distinct clause, preceding that clause, and pointing the mind to it, as the subject which follows. And it is as definite or demonstrative in this application to sentences, as when it is applied to a name or noun.

The following sentence will exhibit the true use of that as a substitute: "He recited his former calamities; to which