with and without its inflexion. The reason for so doing is obvious. Men loveden more derknessis than light, for her werkis weren yvele, for ech man that doeth yvel hateth the light. Wiclif. Jon. 3. In these lay a gret multitude of syke men, blinde, crokid, and When the adjective follows the definite article the, or the definite pronouns this, that, or any one of the possessive pronouns, it takes what is called its definite form. In the Anglo-Saxon, the definite adjective differs from the other in its mode of declension; in the old English the only difference is the final e. How may ony man entre into the house of a strong man, take awei his vessels, but first he bynde the stronge man, &c. Wiclif. Matt. 12. At Leyes was he, and at Satalie, Whan they were won❘ne and in the gretle see That highte Dant, speken of this sentence. Chau. Wif of Bathes Tale. And up he rideth to | the high❘e bord. Chau. The Squiers Tale. Sike lay this husbondman, whos that the place is. Chau. The Sompnoures Tale. and White was hire smok, and brouded all before, Chau. The Milleres Tale. These rules prevail very widely in the Gothic dialects. They will not, however, explain all the cases in which the definite adjective is used, either in the Anglo-Saxon or in the old English dialect. The subject is too difficult and extensive to be discussed here. We will, however, notice one rule, which may be of importance to the grammar of both these languages. The passive participle, and those adjectives which partake of its character, may, I think, be treated at any time as indeclinable. We shall find many examples, when we examine the rhythms of our Anglo-Saxon poets. Of the old English verb, as used by Chaucer, it may be observed, that the first person singular and the three persons plural of the present tense end in e; so also the imperative mood and the infinitive; I put te me in thy | protection,| Diane and in thy disposition. Chau. Knightes Tale. In olde dayes of the king Artour, Of which that Bret ons spekle: gret | honour. Chau. Wif of Bathes Prologue. Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages, And palmers for to seken strange strondes, Chau. Prologue. The past tense generally ends in de or ede, but sometimes it is the same as the participle in d or ed. I believe these two forms of the perfect to be independent, and not derived the one from the other. We shall not stop to discuss the question, but I cannot pass by the strange hypothesis of Tyrwhitt. That critic supposes the de to be the same as ed, with a transference of the vowel; representing in short the ending intermediate between the old termination and the present. Every one, who has opened an AngloSaxon grammar, knows, that de is the old and proper termination of the perfect, and though I will not assert that the other was never used by the Anglo-Saxons (indeed, I think I have actually met with it in one or two instances), yet every English scholar is aware, that it was only a short time before Chaucer, that it played any considerable part in our language. As I have more than once spoken of Tyrwhitt, in terms very different from the eulogies which are commonly paid him, I would make one observation. I admit that when an art is in a state of advancement, such as is the present state of English criticism, it is disingenuous to dwell upon the casual blunders, or the minute inaccuracies of those who have preceded us. Tyrwhitt deserves our thanks for the manly experiment of editing our oldest classic, and for accumulating a decent share of general knowledge, to serve for his occasional elucidation. But what can we say of an editor who will not study the language of his author? —of one, who having the means of accuracy (at least to a great extent) within reach, passes them by, and judges of Chaucer's grammar in the fourteenth century by that of Pope in the eighteenth? A Dane or Norwegian, with a competent knowledge of Anglo-Saxon, would have been a better judge of Chaucer's syntax than his English editor. That Chaucer sometimes dropt the e final is certain. Hire is always a monosyllable, whether it represents the A.S. hire (her) or the A. S. heora (their). It was also lost in other cases when it followed r, and perhaps when it followed other letters, though I would not assert as much, without the benefit of a better edition than Tyrwhitt's. Many French writers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries discarded their e final; some more generally than others. Marot, who wrote in the reign of Francis, dropt it in three words, and in three only. The day will no doubt come, when we shall be able to give a list of all the words, in which Chaucer has taken the same liberty. INITIAL Syllable. In the present section, we shall treat of such initial syllables as have occasionally disappeared from our language, and will begin with the initial vowel; He'll woo | a thousand: 'point | the day | of marriage, Taming of the Shrew, 3, 1. I'll not be tied to hours: nor 'pointed times. Same, 3, 1. Fletcher. The Mad Lover, 4, 3. That I am guiltless of your father's death, It shall | as level: to | your judg|ment 'pear], Hamlet, 4, 4. No faith so fast, | quoth she | but flesh | does 'pair, F. Q. I. 7. 41. The wrathful winter: 'proch|ing on | apace, Sackville. M. for Mag. The Induction. His owne dear wife, whom as his life he loved, When he had done the thing he sought, And as he would | 'complisht and com past all. Sackville. M. for M. Buckingham, 53. Lay fear aside, let nothing thee amaze, : Ne have despaire | ne 'scuse | the want of time]. I shifted him away, And laid good 'scuse : upon | your ecstacy]. Othello, 4. 1. From temple's top where did Apollo dwell, I'sayd | to flye: | but on | the church | I fell. Higgins. M for Mag. King Bladud, 22. Several verbs, even at this day, are used sometimes with, and sometimes without the vowel, as to espy, to escape, to establish, &c. There are also substantives that throw away the vowel. Apprentice has been pronounced prentice from the days of Chaucer to the present; apothecary, also, and imagination, not unfrequently lost their first syllables; Be not abused with priests: nor 'pothecaries, Fletcher. Valentinian, 5.2. Thus time we waste and longest leagues make short, My brain, methinks, is as an hourglass, Wherein | my 'mag|ina|tions: run | like sands]. Per. 4. 4. Ben Jonson. Every Man in his Humor, 3. 3. Words compounded with the old preposition a, often lost it in pronunciation; My lord, I shall reply amazedly, Half sleep, half waking: but | as yet | I swear I cannot truly say how I came here. M. N. D. 4. 1. But home-bred broiles call back the conquering king, THE INITIAL be. This prefix is found elided in the works of almost all our dramatists, but in some cases there is reason to believe, that the word which is represented thus shorn of a syllable, is in fact the root of the compound, instead of being its remnant. We find 'long not unfrequently written for belong, and sometimes we have the word written at full length, although the rhythm requires but one |