upon heaps;" and Scott's, "_man to man_, and _steel to
steel_," may be interpreted, "_man being opposed_ to man, and _steel being
opposed_ to steel:"

"Now, man to man, and steel to steel,
A chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel."--_Lady of the Lake_.

OBS. 6.--Cobbett, after his own hasty and dogmatical manner, rejects the
whole theory of nominatives absolute, and teaches his "soldiers, sailors,
apprentices, and ploughboys," that, "The supposition, that there can be a
noun, or pronoun, which has reference to _no_ verb, and _no preposition_,
is certainly a mistake."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 201. To sustain his
position, he lays violent hands upon the plain truth, and even trips
himself up in the act. Thus: "For want of a little thought, as to the
matter immediately before us, some grammarians have found out '_an absolute
case_,' as they call it; and Mr. Lindley Murray gives an instance of it in
these words: '_Shame being lost_, all virtue is lost.' The full meaning of
this sentence is this: '_It being_, or _the state of things being such,
that_ shame _is_ lost, all virtue is lost.'"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 191.
Again: "There must, you will bear in mind, always be a verb expressed or
understood. One would think, that this was not the case in [some instances:
as,] '_Sir_, I beg you to give me a bit of bread.' The sentence which
follows the _Sir_, is complete; but the _Sir_ appears to stand wholly
without connexion. However, the full meaning is this: 'I beg you, _who are
a Sir_, to give me a bit of bread.' Now, if you take time to reflect a
little on this matter, you will never be puzzled for a moment by those
detached words, to suit which grammarians have invented _vocative cases_
and _cases absolute_, and a great many other appellations, with which they
puzzle themselves, and confuse and bewilder and torment those who read
their books."--_Ib._, Let. xix, 225 and 226. All this is just like
Cobbett. But, let his admirers reflect on the matter as long as they
please, the two _independent_ nominatives _it_ and _state_, in the text,
"_It being_, or the state of things _being_ such," will forever stand a
glaring confutation both of his doctrine and of his censure: "the _case
absolute_" is there still! He has, in fact, only converted the single
example into a double one!

OBS. 7.--The Irish philologer, J. W. Wright, is even more confident than
Cobbett, in denouncing "_the case absolute_;" and more severe in his
repreh