and almost
unintelligible note, in the _margin of his Key_, referring by an asterisk
to the following correction: "Every man and every woman _was_
numbered."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii. p. 190. To justify this
phraseology, he talks thus: "_Whatever number_ of nouns may be connected
_by a conjunction with the pronoun_ EVERY, this _pronoun_ is as applicable
to _the whole mass_ of them, as to any _one of the nouns_; and _therefore_
the verb is correctly put in the singular number, and _refers to the whole_
separately and individually considered."--_Ib._ So much, then, for "_the
pronoun_ EVERY!" But, without other exceptions, what shall be done with the
following texts from Murray himself? "The flock, _and_ not the fleece,
_is_, or _ought_ to be the object of the shepherd's care."--_Ib._, ii, 184.
"This prodigy of learning, this scholar, critic, _and_ antiquary, _was_
entirely destitute of breeding and civility."--_Ib._, ii, 217. And, in the
following line, what conjunction appears, or what is the difference between
"horror" and "black despair." that the verb should be made plural?

"What black despair, what horror, _fill_ his _mind_!"--_Ib._, ii, 183.

"What black despair, what horror _fills_ his _heart_!"--_Thomson_.[395]

OBS. 2.--Besides the many examples which may justly come under the four
exceptions above specified, there are several questionable but customary
expressions, which have some appearance of being deviations from this rule,
but which may perhaps be reasonably explained on the principle of ellipsis:
as, "All work and no play, _makes_ Jack a dull boy."--"Slow and steady
often _outtravels_ haste."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 23. "Little and
often _fills_ the purse."--_Treasury of Knowledge_, Part i, p. 446. "Fair
and softly _goes_ far." These maxims, by universal custom, lay claim to a
singular verb; and, for my part, I know not how they can well be considered
either real exceptions to the foregoing rule, or real inaccuracies under
it; for, in most of them, the words connected are not _nouns_; and those
which are so, may not be nominatives. And it is clear, that every exception
must have some specific character by which it may be distinguished; else it
destroys the rule, in stead of confirming it, as known exceptions are said
to do. Murray appears to have thought the singular verb _wrong_; for, among
his examples for parsing, he has, "Fair and softly _go_ far," which
instance is no more entitled