. It has the further peculiarity of preceding its pronoun.
Instead of saying _he quoth_, we say _quoth he_. In Anglo-Saxon, however,
it was not defective. It was found in the other tenses, in the other
number, and in other moods. _Ic cwedhe_, _th['u] cwyst_, _he cwydh_; _ic
cwaedh_, _th['u] cwaedhe_, _he cwaedh_, _we cwaedon_, _ge cwaedon_, _hi
cwaedon_; imperative, _cwedh_; participle, _gecweden_. In the Scandinavian
it is current in all its forms. There, however, it means, not _to speak_
but to _sing_. As far as its conjugation goes, it is strong. As far as its
class goes, it follows the form of _speak_, _spoke_. Like _speak_, its
Anglo-Saxon form is in ae, as _cwaedh_. Like one of the forms of _speak_,
its English form is in o, as _quoth_, _spoke_.

s. 333. The principle that gives us the truest views of the structure of
language is that which considers no word irregular unless it be affected by
either an _ambiguous_ process, or by a _process of confusion_. The words
affected by _extraordinary processes_ form a provisional class, which a
future increase of our etymological knowledge may show to be regular.
_Worse_ and _could_ are the fairest specimens of our irregulars. Yet even
_could_ is only an irregularity in the written language. The printer makes
it, and the printer can take it away. Hence the class, instead of filling
pages, is exceedingly limited.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE IMPERSONAL VERBS.

s. 334. In _me-seems_, and _me-thinks_, the _me_ is dative rather than
accusative, and = _mihi_ and [Greek: moi] rather than _me_ and [Greek: me].

s. 335. In _me-listeth_, the _me_ is accusative rather than dative, and =
_me_ and [Greek: me] rather than _mihi_ and [Greek: moi].

For the explanation of this difference see _Syntax_, Chapter XXI.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE VERB SUBSTANTIVE.

s. 336. The verb substantive is generally dealt with as an _irregular_
verb. This is inaccurate. The true notion is that the idea of _being_ or
_existing_ is expressed by four different verbs, each of which is defective
in some of its parts. The parts, however, that are wanting in one verb, are
made up by the inflections of one of the others. There is, for example, no
praeterite of the verb _am_, and no present of the verb _was_. The absence,
however, of the present form of _was_ is made up by the word _am_, and the
absence of the praeterite form o