occurs more frequently in the Latin than in the English, and more frequently in the Greek than in the Latin.”—LATHAM.

Note 8. The Same or a similar Form of the pronoun should be preserved throughout the sentence: "Pain! pain! be as importunate as you please, I shall never own that thou art an evil." Here either thou or you should be preserved throughout.

Note 9. The same Pronoun should not refer to Different

Antecedents in the same sentence; as, "He (Philip) wrote to that distinguished philosopher in terms polite and flattering, begging of him (Aristotle) to come and undertake his (Alexander's) education, and to bestow on him (Alexander) those useful lessons of magnanimity and virtue which every great man ought to possess, and which his (Philip's) numerous avocations rendered impossible for him (Philip)."—Goldsmith.

SYNTAX OF THE WORD "SELF."

§ 479. RULE XIX.-The word SELF is used as a Reflect ive Personal Pronoun, for the want of some word in English equivalent to the Latin se, the German sich, and the Scandinavian sik and sig; as, "I hurt myself," "he loves him. self," "they wounded themselves."

Note 1. The constructions of the word Self are three-fold : I. GOVERNMENT.-In my-self, thy-self, our-selves, and your selves the construction is that of a common Substantive, with an Adjective or Genitive case: My-self—my individuality mea persona or mei persona.

II. APPOSITION.In him-self and them-selves when accusative, the construction is that of a substantive in apposition with a pronoun. Him-self-him, the individual.

III. COMPOSITION.When they are used as nominatives, the construction can be explained on another principle. In phrases like, "He himself was present;" "They themselves were present," there is neither apposition nor government; him and them being neither in the same case with my and thy, so as to be governed, nor yet in the same case with he and they, so as to form an apposition. In order to come under one of these conditions, the phrases should be either he his self, they their selves, or else he he self, they they

selves. In this difficulty, the only logical view that can be taken of the matter is to consider the words himself, themselves, not as two words, but as a single word compounded. Herself is ambiguous. Its construction is one of the preceding; which, however, it is is uncertain, since her may be either a so-called Genitive, like my, or an objective, like him. Itself is also ambiguous. The s may represent either the s in self, or the s in its.

Note 2. As the word self, now called a pronoun, was originally a Substantive, so its compounds take the inflection of substantives in the plural; as, Ourselves, yourselves, themselves. Myself, thyself, himself, itself, and herself, are naturally Singular, and can under no circumstances become plural. Themselves is naturally Plural, and under no circumstances can become singular. Ourselves and yourselves are naturally plural, yet under certain circumstances may become singular. a. Just as men say we for I, may they say our for my. b. Just as men say you for thou, so may they say your for thy.

Note 3. When the Adjective own intervenes between self and its personal pronoun, the personal pronoun is always put in the Genitive case; as, His own self, not him own self; their own selves, not them own selves.

Note 4. When myself or thyself stands alone, the verb that follows is in the Third Person: Myself is (not am) weak; thyself is (not art) weak. Here the construction is just the same as in the proposition, my body is weak. Usage inclines to the other form; as, "Myself am hell."-Milton. When myself and thyself are preceded by I or thou, the verb that follows is in the First person or Second: I myself am (not is) weak; thou thyself art (not is) weak.-LATHAM. Note 5. The Simple pronoun is sometimes used Reflectively:

"I sit me down a weary hour to spend.

Sit thee down."-GOLDSMITH.

"He sat him down at a pillar's base."-BYRON.

In the phrase I strike me, the Verb strike is transitive; in other words, the word me expresses the object of an action, and the meaning is different from the meaning of the simple expression I strike.

In the phrase I fear me (used by Lord Campbell in his Lives of the Chancellors), the Verb fear is intransitive or neuter; in other words, the word me (unless, indeed, fear mean terrify) expresses no object of any action at all, while the meaning is nearly the same as in the simple expression I fear. Here the Reflective Pronoun appears out of place, i. e., after a Neuter or Intransitive Verb. Such a use, however, is but the fragment of an extensive system of Reflective Verbs thus formed, developed in different degrees in the different Gothic languages, and in all more than in the English. It is slightly intensive. See LATHAM, p. 432.

The proper place of the Gov.

Note 6. EQUIVOCAL REFLECTIVES.-The proper place of the Reflective is after the Verb. erning Pronoun in the Indicative and Subjunctive Modes is before the Verb. Hence, in expressions like the preceding, there is no doubt as to the power of the Pronoun. The Imperative Mode, however, sometimes presents a complication. Here the Governing Person follows the Verb. Mount ye= either be mounted, or mount yourselves. In phrases like this, and in phrases like

the construction is ambiguous. Ye may be either a Nomin ative Case governing the Verb busk, or an Accusative Case governed by it. This is an instance of what may be called the Equivocal Reflective.

Note 7. MYSELF is often incorrectly used instead of the nominative I and the objective me. Its legitimate usage is either as a Reciprocal pronoun, or for the sake of Distinction, or for some particular Emphasis; as when Juliet cries, "Romeo, doff thy name; and for that name, which is no part of thee, take all myself." Or, in the opening of the paradisiacal hymn: "These are thy glorious works, parent of good, Almighty! thine this universal frame thus wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous then!" Here there is an evident Where there is no such emphasis, or purpose of bringing out a distinction or contrast, the simple pronoun the right one. Instead of saying my father and myself, my brother and myself, the old song, beginning "My father, my

contrast.

is

SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS.

509

mother, and I," may teach us what is the idiomatic, and also
the correct usage.
In expressions like the following: Mrs.
Tompkins and myself will be happy to take dinner; Mrs.
Johnson and myself have been writing to each other, my-
self is incorrectly used for the pronoun I.

Note 8. ME is often incorrectly substituted for I. The objective me, on which others act, is very far from being the same formidable creature either to one's self or to others as the subjective I, the ground of all consciousness, volition, and action and responsibility. Grammatically, too, it seems to us as if I always required something to follow it, something to express doing or suffering. Hence when one cries out, "Who is there?" three people out of four answer, "Me!"

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS.

§ 480. RULE XX.-The Demonstrative Pronouns This, That, These, and Those, represent nouns only in the Third person, inasmuch as they are used by the First person, or the person speaking, to point out to the Second person some object; as, "Religion raises men above themselves; irreligion sinks them beneath the brutes: that binds them down to a poor pitiable speck of earth; this opens for them a prospect in the skies."

When this and that, these and those, are used in the sense of latter and former, this and these stand for the "latter;" that and those for the "former :"

"Then Palaces and lofty domes arose ;

These for devotion, and for pleasure those."

Note 1. It is a rule in the Latin that hic (this) refers to the last named antecedent, and ille (that) to the first, in accordance with the example from Ovid:

"Quocunque aspicies nihil est nisi pontus et aer,

Humidus hic tumidus, fluctibus ille minax."

What is the rule in English? Suppose we say, "John's is a good sword, and so is Charles's; this cut through a thick rope, and that cut through an iron rod." Or, instead of saying this and that, we may say the one and the other. It is clear that, in determining to which of the two swords the respective demonstratives refer, the meaning will not help us at all, so that our only recourse is to the rules of Grammar,

The Latin rule is adopted by

which here will not help us.
scholars, still it is a Latin rule rather than an English one.
All that Grammar can tell us is, that this refers to the name
of the idea which is logically the most close at hand, and
that to the idea which is logically the most distant.

What constitutes nearness or distance of ideas; in other words, what determines the sequence of ideas, is another ques tion. That the idea, however, of sequence, and consequently of logical proximity and logical distance, is the fundamental idea in regard to the expressions in question, is evident from the very use of the words this and that.

Now the sequence of ideas is capable of being determined by two tests: 1. The idea to which a name was last given, or, changing the expression, the name of the last idea may be the nearest idea in the order of sequence, and, consequently, the idea referred to by the Pronoun of proximity. In this case, the idea closest at hand to the writer of the second line of the couplet quoted above was the idea of the atmosphere (aer), and it was consequently expressed by (this) hic. 2. Or the idea to which a name was first given, or, changing the expression, the name of the first idea may be the nearest idea in the order of sequence, and, consequently, the idea referred to it by the pronoun of proximity; inasmuch as the idea which occurs first is the most prominent one, and what is prominent appears near. In this case, the idea closest at hand to the writer of the second line of the couplet quoted above would have been the idea of the sea (pontus), and it would consequently have been the idea expressed by (hic).

this

As Ovid, however, considered the idea at the end of the last half of one sentence to be the idea nearest to the beginning of the next, we have him expressing himself as he does. On the other hand, it is easy to conceive a writer with whom the nearest idea is the idea that led the way to the others. Indeed, one and the same individual may measure the sequence of his ideas sometimes according to one of these principles, and sometimes according to the other; so that the rules about the relations of this and that are often arbitrary. The analogies of such expressions as the following are in favor of ap