iends_, _I and he are
friends_, &c., so that for the practice of language, the question as to the
relative dignity of the three persons is a matter of indifference.

Nevertheless, it _may_ occur even in English. Whenever two or more pronouns
of different persons, and of the _singular_ number, follow each other
_disjunctively_, the question of concord arises. _I or you_,--_you or
he_,--_he or I_. I believe that, in these cases, the rule is as follows:--

1. Whenever the words _either_ or _neither_ precede the pronouns, the verb
is in the third person. _Either you or I is in the wrong_; _neither you nor
I is in the wrong_.

2. Whenever the disjunctive is simple (i.e. unaccompanied with the word
_either_ or _neither_) the verb agrees with the _first_ of the two
pronouns.

_I_ (or _he_) _am_ in the wrong.
_He_ (or _I_) _is_ in the wrong.
_Thou_ (or _he_) _art_ in the wrong.
_He_ (or _thou_) _is_ in the wrong.

Now, provided that they are correct, it is clear that the English language
knows nothing about the relative degrees of dignity between these three
pronouns; since its habit is to make the verb agree with the one which is
placed first--whatever may be the person. I am strongly inclined to believe
that the same is the case in Latin; in which case (in the sentence _ego et
Balbus sustulimus manus_) _sustulimus_ agrees, in person, with _ego_, not
because the first person is the worthiest, but because it comes first in
the proposition,

s. 489. In the Chapter on the Impersonal Verbs, it is stated that the
construction of _me-thinks_ is peculiar.

This is because in Anglo-Saxon the word _thincan_ = _seem_. Hence
_me-thinks_ is [Greek: phainetai moi], or _mihi videtur_, and _me_ is a
_dative_ case, not an _accusative_.

The _thencan_ = _think_, was, in Anglo-Saxon, a different word.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXII.

ON THE VOICES OF VERBS.

s. 490. In English there is neither a passive nor a middle voice.

The following couplet from Dryden's "Mac Flecnoe" exhibits a construction
which requires explanation:--

An ancient fabric, raised to inform the sight,
There stood of yore, and Barbican _it hight_.

Here the word _hight_ = _was called_, and seems to present an instance of
the participle being used in a passive sense without the so-called verb
substantive. Yet it does no such thing. The word is no participle at all;
but a simple preterite. Certain verbs are _naturally