2. The pronoun that is frequently applied to persons as well as to things; but after an adjective in the superlative degree, and after the pronominal adjective same, it is generally used in preference to who or which: as, "Charles XII. king of Sweden, was one of the greatest madmen that the world ever saw;" "Catiline's followers were the most profligate that could be found in any city." "He is the same man that we saw before." But if, after the word same a preposition should precede the relative, one of the other two pronouns must be employed, the pronoun that not admitting a preposition prefixed to it: as, " He is the same man, with whom you were acquainted." It is remarkable, however, that, when the arrangement is somewhat changed, the word that admits the preposition: as, "He is the same man, that you were acquainted with."

There are cases wherein we cannot conveniently dispense with the relative that, as applied to persons: as first, after who the interrogative; "Who that has any sense of religion, would have argued thus?" Secondly, when persons make but a part of the antecedent; "The woman, and the estate, that became his portion, were rewards far beyond his desert." In neither of these examples could any other relative have been used.

3. The pronouns whichsoever, whosoever, and the like, are elegantly divided by the interposition of the corresponding substantives: thus, "On whichsoever side the king cast his eyes;" would have sounded better, if written, "On which side soever," &c.

4. Many persons are apt, in conversation, to put the objective case of the personal pronouns, in the place of these and those: as, "Give me them books;" instead of "those books." We may sometimes find this fault even in writing: as, "Observe them three there." We also

frequently meet with those instead of they, at the beginning of a sentence, and where there is no particular reference to an antecedent: as, "Those that sow in tears, some

times reap in joy."

They that, or They that, or they who sow in tears. It is not, however, always easy to say, whether a personal pronoun or a demonstrative is preferable, in certain constructions. "We are not unacquainted with the calumny of them [or those] who openly make use of the warmest professions."

5. In some dialects, the word what is improperly used for that, and sometimes we find it in this sense in writing: They will never believe but what I have been entirely to blame." "I am not satisfied but what," &c: instead of "but that." The word somewhat, in the following sentence, seems to be used improperly. "These punishments seem to have been exercised in somewhat an arbitrary manner." Sometimes we read, "In somewhat of." The meaning is, "in a manner which is in some respects arbitrary."

6. The pronoun relative who is so much appropriated to persons, that there is generally harshness in the application of it, except to the proper names of persons, or the general terms man, woman, &c. A term which only implies the idea of persons, and expresses them by some circumstance or epithet, will hardly authorize the use of it: as, "That faction in England, who most powerfully opposed his arbitrary pretensions." "That faction which," would have been better; and the same remark will serve for the following examples: "France, who was in alliance with Sweden." "The court, who," &c. "The cavalry who," &c. "The cities who aspired at liberty." "That party among us who," &c. "The family whom they consider as usurpers."

In some cases it may be doubtful, whether this pronoun is properly applied or not: as, "The number of substantial inhabitants with whom some cities abound." For when a term directly and necessarily implies persons, it may in many cases claim the personal relative. of the company whom he most affected, could cure him of the melancholy under which he laboured." The word acquaintance may have the same construction.

"None

7. We hardly consider little children as persons, because that term gives us the idea of reason and reflection: and therefore the application of the personal relative who, in this case, seems to be harsh: "A child who." It, though neuter, is generally applied, when we speak of an infant or child: as, "It is a lovely infant;" "It is a healthy child." The personal pronoun is still more improperly applied to animals: "A lake frequented by that fowl, whom nature has taught to dip the wing in water."

8. When the name of a person is used merely as a name, and does not refer to the person, the pronoun which ought to be used, and not who: as, "It is no wonder if such a man did not shine at the court of queen Elizabeth, who was but another name for prudence and economy." The word whose begins likewise to be restricted to persons; yet it is not done so generally, but that good writers, even in prose, use it when speaking of things. The construction is not, however, generally pleasing, as we may see in the following instances: "Pleasure, whose nature, &c." "Call every production, whose parts and whose nature," &c.

In one case, however, custom authorizes us to use which, with respect to persons; and that is when we want to distinguish one person of two, or a particular person among a number of others. We should then say, "Which of the two," or "Which of them, is he or she?"

9. As the pronoun relative has no distinction of number, we sometimes find an ambiguity in the use of it: as when we say, "The disciples of Christ, whom we imitate;" we may mean the imitation either of Christ, or of his disciples. The accuracy and clearness of the sentence, depend very much upon the proper and determinate use of the relative, so that it may readily present its antecedent to the mind of the hearer or reader, without any obscurity or ambiguity,

10. It is and it was, are often, after the manner of the French, used in a plural construction, and by some of our best writers: as, "It is either a few great men who decide for the whole, or it is the rabble that follow a seditious ringleader;" "It is they that are the real authors, though the soldiers are the actors of the revolutions;" "It was the heretics that first began to rail," &c.; "'Tis these that early taint the female mind." This license in the construction of it is, (if it be proper to admit it at all,) has, however, been certainly abused in the following sentence, which is thereby made a very awkward one. "It is wonderful the very few accidents, which, in several years, happen from this practice."

11. The interjections of Oh! and Ah! require the objective case of a pronoun in the first person after them: as, "O me! Oh me! Ah me!" But the nominative case in the second person: as, "O thou persecutor!" "Oh ye hypocrites!" "O thou, who dwellest, &c."

The neuter pronoun, by an idiom peculiar to the EngJish language, is frequently joined in explanatory sentences, with a noun or pronoun of the masculine or feminine gen"It was I;" "It was the man or woman that

der: as,

did it."

The neuter pronoun understood; thus we say, "As appears, as follows;' for "As it appears, as it follows;" and " May be," for "It may be."

it is sometimes omitted and

The neuter pronoun it is sometimes employed to express;

"It

1st, The subject of any discourse or inquiry: as, happened on a summer's day;" "Who is it that calls on

me?"

2d, The state or condition of any person or thing: as, "How is it with you?"

3d, The thing, whatever it be, that is the cause of any effect or event, or any person considered merely as a cause: as, "We heard her say it was not he;" "The truth is, it was I that helped her."

Rule VI.

The relative is the nominative case to the verb, when no nominative comes between it and the

verb: as, "The master who taught us;"" The trees which are planted."

2

When a nominative comes between the relative and the verb, the relative is governed by some. word in its own member of the sentence: as, "He who preserves me, to whom I owe my being, whose I am, and whom I serve, is eternal."

In the several members of the last sentence, the relative performs a different office. In the first member, it marks the agent; in the second, it submits to the government of the preposition; in the third, it represents the possessor ; and in the fourth, the object of an action: antl, therefore,