nary prose, usurping the rights of the legitimate pronouns, and displacing them from their hereditary station in the queen's English. "Same" is now, so to speak, the Paul Pry of literary composition. You meet with it in novels, in plays, in sermons, in speeches, and even in the graver themes of history. You can hardly turn a sentence without falling foul of its prim little figure; and the more you desire to avoid it, the more obtrusive it becomes. The stoutest supporter of this pretender to the rank of a pronoun is Mr. Montgomery Martin, a writer whose accuracy of style bears no proportion to his painstaking industry. Of the numerous examples that might be adduced from this writer, of the conversion of "same" into a pronoun, the following are taken from his History of the

Colonies:"

"After much angry dispute relative to the enormous and illegal exaction of fees, a tariff of the same was fixed.”

"The jealousy of the Spanish monarch led to a renewed discussion of the territorial right of our settlers, which the imbecile ministers of Charles II. so far admitted, as to direct the governor of Jamaica to inquire into the same."

Here the word "same" evidently refers to "which;" but what does "which" refer to ? Not to "jealousy;" it would be nonsense to say that they admitted the king's jealousy: not to "discussion;" for then it should be "permitted" and not "admitted:" not to "right;" that would be

the contrary of the writer's meaning. To discover that meaning we must look for it, less in what is expressed than in what is understood; and in this way we shall find that what the ministers admitted, were "the grounds" of the monarch's jealousy.

The following are further examples of this fault:

"She looked at her own neat white stockings, and thought how glad she should be to cover their poor feet with the same."-LAMB. Essays of Elia.

"Providence had unspeakably honoured him by revealing this grand truth, saving him from death and darkness. He therefore was bound to make known the same to all creatures." -CARLYLE. Heroes and Hero-Worship.

"There is no doubt upon his mind, first as to every part of his creed; and next as to his individual capacity for expounding the same."-GILFILLAN. Literary Portraits.

"It was also ordered that all persons professing to teach the doctrine of the ancient philosophers, should explain in what respects the same differed from the established faith.". RoscoE. Life of Leo X.

"How much more to them than to us, so long as we are ignorant of the same, would these words have conveyed.”— TRENCH. English Past and Present.

In these instances both the grammar and the sense would be improved by the use of the pronouns instead of same.

Shall and Will.

Among grammatical inaccuracies we must not omit to mention the indiscriminate use of the

auxiliaries shall and will. The Irish are confessedly the greatest blunderers in this respect; yet, it would be no difficult matter to show that the fault is by no means peculiar to them. Here are some examples in which will is erroneously put for shall.

"We know to what causes our past reverses have been owing, and we will have ourselves to blame, if they are again incurred." ALISON. History of Europe.

"If we look within the rough and awkward outside, we will be richly rewarded by its perusal."-GILFILLAN. Literary Portraits.

In the course of these remarks we have had occasion to cite some inaccuracies from the "Great Cham of Literature." That he was not always attentive to the proper use of his shalls and wills, is exemplified in the following passage:

"You must make haste and gather me all you can, and do it quickly, or I will and shall do without it.”—JOHNSON. Letter to Boswell, 1774.

This is a curious anti-climax. The Doctor meant to lay a particular stress upon the latter of the auxiliaries; and if he had employed them in the second or third person, the order in which they stand would have been correct. But "shall,” in the first person, merely announces the intention to do a thing-"will," the resolution to do it. Johnson should therefore have said: "I shall and will do without it." When he said, "I will," he

expressed a determination to which shall adds nothing but preposterousness. The case were different if he had begun with shall. The announcement of an intention to do a thing may be followed, without impropriety, by expressing a resolution to do it.

Perfect and Imperfect Tenses.

Next to shall and will there is no point in English composition that presents such a stumbling-block as the "perfect" and "imperfect" tenses. The general rule I take to be as follows:When the time spoken of is as connected with the present, in some manner either expressed or implied, then the perfect tense should be used. We say, "I have written to him this year, this month, this week, this day;" and not, "I wrote to him this year, this month, this week, this day." When the time spoken of is past, and there is nothing either expressed or implied to connect it with the present, the imperfect tense should be used. Thus, we say "I wrote to him last year, last month, last week, yesterday;" and not, "I have written to him last year, last month, last week, yesterday." As regards the expression "this morning," it admits of either tense, according to the time at which it is employed. If in the forenoon, we say, "I have written to him this morning;" if in the afternoon, we must treat it as a division

of time that is past, and say, "I wrote to him this morning."

The following examples will illustrate the first part of this rule.

1. "I have written to him twice these ten years." Here the word "these" connects the time with the present, and it would be incorrect say "I wrote to him twice these ten years."

to

2. "I have written to him several times since I received his reply." The meaning here is "from the time of receiving his reply to the present time;" and it would be inaccurate to say "I wrote to him several times since I received his reply."

In explanation of the second part of the rule, it may be stated that the imperfect tense is employed in the following instances :

1. When a particular day or division of time is specified; as, "I wrote to him on the first of January."

2. When a specified period of time has elapsed since the thing is stated to have occurred; as, "I wrote to him ten years ago."

3. When the time, without being specified, is made to precede an event that is past; as, "I wrote to him several times before I received his reply."

The best apology for the triteness of these remarks is the frequency with which the tenses in question are confounded or misapplied. From