wever, that the _repetition_ of an independent negative word or clause
yet strengthens the negation; as, "_No, no, no_."--"_No, never_."--"_No,
not_ for an hour."--_Gal._, ii, 5. "There is _none_ righteous, _no, not_
one."--_Rom._, iii, 10. But two negatives in the same clause, if they have
any bearing on each other, destroy the negation, and render the meaning
weakly affirmative; as, "_Nor_ did they _not_ perceive their evil
plight."--_Milton_. That is, they _did_ perceive it. "'His language, though
inelegant, is _not ungrammatical_;' that is, it _is_ grammatical."--
_Murray's Gram._, p. 198. The term _not only_, or _not merely_, being a
correspondent to _but_ or _but also_, may be followed by an other negative
without this effect, because the two negative words have no immediate
bearing on each other; as, "Your brother is _not only not_ present, and
_not_ assisting in prosecuting your injuries, _but_ is now actually with
Verres."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p, 19. "In the latter we have _not merely
nothing_, to denote what the point should be; _but no_ indication, that any
point at all is wanting."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 373. So the word
_nothing_, when taken positively for nonentity, or that which does not
exist, may be followed by an other negative; as,

"First, seat him somewhere, and derive his race,
Or else conclude that _nothing_ has _no_ place."--_Dryden_, p. 95.

OBS. 14.--The common rule of our grammars, "Two negatives, in English,
destroy each other, or are equivalent to an affirmative," is far from being
_true_ of all possible examples. A sort of informal exception to it, (which
is mostly confined to conversation,) is made by a familiar transfer of the
word _neither_ from the beginning of the clause to the end of it; as, "But
here is _no_ notice taken of that _neither_"--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p.
336. That is, "But _neither_ is _any_ notice here taken of that." Indeed a
negation may be repeated, by the same word or others, as often as we
please, if no two of the terms in particular contradict each other; as, "He
will _never_ consent, _not_ he, _no, never, nor_ I _neither_." "He will
_not_ have time, _no, nor_ capacity _neither_."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._,
p. 103. "Many terms and idioms may be common, which, nevertheless, have
_not_ the general sanction, _no, nor_ even the sanction of those that use
them."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 160; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 358. And as
to the equivalence spoken of in the