s,
_to promise_ or _offer_, the infinitive that follows, must be introduced by
the preposition _to_; as, "He _bids_ fair _to excel_ them all"--"Perhaps no
person under heaven _bids_ more unlikely _to_ be saved."--_Brown's
Divinity_, p. vii. "And each _bade_ high _to_ win him."--GRANVILLE: _Joh.
Dict._ After the compound _forbid_, the preposition is also necessary; as,
"Where honeysuckles _forbid_ the sun _to_ enter."--_Beauties of Shak._. p.
57. In poetry, if the measure happens to require it, the word _to_ is
sometimes allowed after the simple verb _bid_, denoting a command; as,

"_Bid_ me _to_ strike my dearest brother dead,
_To_ bring my aged father's hoary head."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i, l. 677.

OBS. 7.--Of the verb DARE. This verb, when used intransitively, and its
irregular preterit _durst_, which is never transitive, usually take the
infinitive after them without _to_; as, "I _dare do_ all that may become a
man: Who _dares do_ more, is none."--_Shakspeare_. "If he _durst steal_ any
thing adventurously."--_Id._ "Who _durst defy_ th' Omnipotent to
arms."--_Milton_. "Like one who _durst_ his destiny _control_."--_Dryden_.
In these examples, the former verbs have some resemblance to auxiliaries,
and the insertion of the preposition _to_ would be improper. But when we
take away this resemblance, by giving _dare_ or _dared_, an objective case,
the preposition is requisite before the infinitive; as, "Time! I _dare
thee to_ discover Such a youth or such a lover."--_Dryden_. "He _dares me
to_ enter the lists."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 125. So when _dare_ itself is in
the infinitive mood, or is put after an auxiliary, the preposition is not
improper; as, "And _let_ a private man _dare to say_ that it
will."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 147. "_Would_ its compiler _dare to
affront_ the Deity?"--_West's Letters_, p. 151. "What power so great, _to
dare to disobey?_"--_Pope's Homer_. "Some _would_ even _dare_ to
die."--_Bible_. "What _would dare to molest_ him?"--_Dr. Johnson_. "_Do_
you _dare to prosecute_ such a creature as Vaughan?"--_Junius_, Let.
xxxiii. Perhaps these examples might be considered good English, either
with or without the _to_; but the last one would be still better thus:
"_Dare_ you _prosecute_ such a creature as Vaughan?" Dr. Priestley thinks
the following sentence would have been better with the preposition
inserted: "Who _have dared defy_ the worst."--HARRIS: _Priestley's Gram._,
p. 132. _To_ is sometimes u