as, "By _the_ observing
_of_ truth, you will command respect;" or, "By _observing_ truth,
&c."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 189. Here the latter phraseology is greatly
preferable, though this author did not perceive it. "I thought nothing was
to be done by me before _the giving of_ you thanks."--_Walker's Particles_,
p. 63. Say,--"before _giving_ you thanks;" for otherwise the word _thanks_
has no proper construction, the pronoun alone being governed by _of_--and
here again is an error; for "_you_" ought to be the object of _to_.

OBS. 46.--In Hiley's Treatise, a work far more comprehensive than the
generality of grammars, "the _established principles_ and _best usages_ of
the English" Participle are so adroitly summed up, as to occupy only two
pages, one in Etymology, and an other in Syntax. The author shows how the
participle differs from a verb, and how from an adjective; yet he neither
makes it a separate part of speech, nor tells us with what other it ought
to be included. In lieu of a general rule for the parsing of _all
participles_, he presents the remark, "Active transitive participles, like
their verbs, govern the objective case; as, 'I am desirous of _hearing
him_;' '_Having praised them_, he sat down.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 93. This
is a rule by which one may parse the _few objectives_ which are governed by
participles; but, for the usual construction of _participles themselves_,
it is no rule at all; neither does the grammar, full as it is, contain any.
"_Hearing_" is here governed by _of_, and "_Having praised_" relates to
_he_; but this author teaches neither of these facts, and the former he
expressly contradicts by his false definition of a preposition. In his
first note, is exhibited, in two parts, the false and ill-written rule
which Churchill quotes from Crombie. (1.) "When the noun, _connected with
the participle_, is _active or doing_ something, the _participle must have_
an article before it, and the preposition _of_ after it; as, 'In _the
hearing of_ the philosopher;' or, 'In the philosopher's _hearing_;' 'By
_the preaching of_ Christ;' or, 'By Christ's _preaching_.' In these
instances," says Hiley, "the words _hearing_ and _preaching_ are
_substantives_." If so, he ought to have corrected this rule, which twice
calls them _participles_; but, in stead of doing that, he blindly adds, by
way of alternative, two examples which expressly contradict what the rule
asserts. (2.) "But when the noun represents th