, and John _of_ Styles, become John _a_ Nokes, and John _a_
Styles: and one _of the_ clock, or rather _on the_ clock, is written one
_o_'clock, but pronounced one _a_ clock. The phrases with a before
participles, are out of use in the solemn style; but still prevail in
familiar discourse."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 269.

OBS. 12.--The following are _examples_ of the less usual prepositions, _a_,
and others that begin with _a_: "And he set--three thousand and six hundred
overseers to set the people a work."--_2 Chron._, ii, 18. "Who goeth _a_
warfare any time at his own charges?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 7. "And the mixed
multitude that was among them fell _a_ lusting."--_Num._, xi, 4.

"And sweet Billy Dimond, _a_ patting his hair up."
--_Feast of the Poets_, p. 17.

"The god fell _a_ laughing to see his mistake."
--_Ib._, p. 18.

"You'd have thought 'twas the bishops or judges _a_ coming."
--_Ib._, p. 22.

"A place on the lower deck, _abaft_ the mainmast."--_Gregory's Dict._ "A
moment gazed _adown_ the dale."--_Scott, L. L._, p. 10. "_Adown_
Strath-Gartney's valley broad."--_Ib._, p. 84. "For _afore_ the harvest,
when the bud is perfect," &c.--_Isaiah_, xviii, 5. "Where the great
luminary _aloof_ the vulgar constellations thick,"--See _Milton's Paradise
Lost_, B. iii, l. 576. "The great luminary _aloft_ the vulgar
constellations thick."--_Johnson's Dict., w. Aloft_. "Captain Falconer
having previously gone _alongside_, the Constitution."--_Newspaper_.
"Seventeen ships sailed for New England, and _aboard_ these above fifteen
hundred persons."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 429. "There is a willow grows
_askant_ the brook:" Or, as in some editions: "There is a willow grows
_aslant_ the brook."--SHAK., _Hamlet_, Act iv, 7. "_Aslant_ the dew-bright
earth."--_Thomson_. "Swift as meteors glide _aslope_ a summer
eve."--_Fenton_. "_Aneath_ the heavy rain."--_James Hogg_, "With his magic
spectacles _astride_ his nose."--_Merchant's Criticisms_.

"_Atween_ his downy wings be furnished, there."
--_Wordsworth's Poems_, p. 147.

"And there a season _atween_ June and May."
--_Castle of Indolence_, C. i, st. 2.

OBS. 13.--The following are examples of rather unusual prepositions
beginning with _b, c_, or _d_; "Or where wild-meeting oceans boil _besouth_
Magellan."--_Burns_. "Whereupon grew that _by-word_, used by the Irish,
that they dwelt _by-west_ the law, _which_ dwelt beyond