sh Parser_, p. 83. But who
will believe, that our old Saxon ancestors borrowed from Greek or Latin
what is now our construction of the very _root_ of the English verb, when,
in all likelihood, they could not read a word in either of those languages,
or scarcely knew the letters in their own, and while it is plain that they
took not thence even the inflection of a _single branch_ of any verb
whatever?

OBS. 19.--The particle _to_, being a very common preposition in the Saxon
tongue, has been generally used before the English infinitive, ever since
the English language, or any thing like it, existed. And it has always
_governed the verb_, not indeed "as in the _objective case_," for no verb
is ever declined by cases, but simply as the _infinitive mood_. In the
Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels, which was made as early as the eleventh
century, the infinitive mood is sometimes expressed in this manner, and
sometimes by the termination _on_ without the preposition. Dr. Johnson's
History of the English Language, prefixed to his large Dictionary,
contains, of this version, and of Wickliffe's, the whole of the first
chapter of Luke; except that the latter omits the first four verses, so
that the numbers for reference do not correspond. Putting, for convenience,
English characters for the Saxon, I shall cite here three examples from
each; and these, if he will, the reader may compare with the 19th, the
77th, and the 79th verse, in our common Bible. SAXON: "And ic eom asend
with the _sprecan_. and the this _bodian_."--_Lucae_, i, 19. WICKLIFFE:
"And Y am sent to thee _to speke_ and _to evangelise_ to thee these
thingis."--_Luk_, i, 15. SAXON: "_To syllene_ his folce haele gewit on hyra
synna forgyfnesse."--_Lucae_, i, 77. WICKLIFFE: "_To geve_ science of heelth
to his puple into remissioun of her synnes."--_Luk_, i, 73. SAXON:
"_Onlyhtan_ tham the on thystrum and on deathes sceade sittath. ure fet _to
gereccenne_ on sibbe weg."--_Lucae_, i, 79. WICKLIFFE: "_To geve_ light to
them that sitten in derknessis, and in schadowe of deeth, _to dresse_ oure
feet into the weye of pees."--_Luk_, i, 75. "In Anglo-Saxon," says Dr.
Latham, "the dative of the infinitive verb ended in _-nne_, and was
preceded by the preposition _to_: as, To lufienne = _ad amandum_ [= _to
loving_, or _to love_]; To baernenne = _ad urendum_ [= _to burning_, or _to
burn_]; To syllanne = _ad dandum_ [= _to giving_, or _to
give_]."--_Hand-Book_, p. 205.

OBS. 20.--