intelligible to the
reader."--_Printer's Grammar_.

"I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,
To _shake_ the head, _relent_, and _sigh_, and _yield_."--_Shak_.

OBS. 20.--An infinitive that explains an other, may sometimes be introduced
without the preposition _to_; because, the former having it, the
construction of the latter is made the same by this kind of apposition: as,
"The most accomplished way of using books at present is, TO _serve_ them as
some do lords; _learn_ their _titles_, and, then _brag_ of their
acquaintance."--SWIFT: _Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 166.

OBS. 21.--After _than_ or _as_, the sign of the infinitive is sometimes
required, and sometimes excluded; and in some instances we can either
insert it or not, as we please. The latter term of a comparison is almost
always more or less elliptical; and as the nature of its ellipsis depends
on the structure of the former term, so does the necessity of inserting or
of omitting the sign of the infinitive. Examples: "No desire is more
universal than [_is the desire_] to be exalted and honoured."--_Kames, El.
of Crit._, i, 197. "The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as
[_is the difficulty_] to find a friend worth dying for."--_Id., Art of
Thinking_, p. 42. "It is no more in one's power to love or not to love,
than [_it is in one's power_] to be in health or out of order."--_Ib._, p.
45. "Men are more likely to be praised into virtue, than [_they are
likely_] to be railed out of vice."--_Ib._, p. 48. "It is more tolerable to
be always alone, than [_it is tolerable_] never to be so."--_Ib._, p. 26.
"Nothing [_is_] more easy than to do mischief [_is easy_]: nothing [is]
more difficult than to suffer without complaining" [_is
difficult_].--_Ib._, p. 46. Or: "than [_it is easy_] to do mischief:" &c.,
"than [_it is difficult_] to suffer," &c. "It is more agreeable to the
nature of most men to follow than [_it is agreeable to their nature_] to
lead."--_Ib._, p. 55. In all these examples, the preposition _to_ is very
properly inserted; but what excludes it from the former term of a
comparison, will exclude it from the latter, if such governing verb be
understood there: as, "You no more heard me _say_ those words, than [_you
heard me_] _talk_ Greek." It may be equally proper to say, "We choose
rather to lead than _follow_," or, "We choose rather to lead than _to_
follow."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 37. The meaning in either case is, "We
choose to le