and yet it may not be right, to suppose both
particles to be often equally good. Undoubtedly, a negation may be repeated
in English without impropriety, and that in several different ways: as,
"There is _no_ living, _none_, if Bertram be away."--_Beauties of Shak._,
p. 3. "Great men are _not_ always wise, _neither_ do the aged [always]
understand judgement."--_Job_, xxxii, 9. "Will he esteem thy riches? _no,
not_ gold, _nor_ all the forces of strength."--_Job_, xxxiv. 19. Some
sentences, too, require _or_, and others _nor_, even when a negative occurs
in a preceding clause; as, "There was _none_ of you that convinced Job,
_or_ that answered his words."--_Job_, xxxii, 12. "How much less to him
that accepteth _not_ the persons of princes _nor_ regardeth the rich more
than the poor."--_Job_, xxxiv, 19. "This day is holy unto the Lord your
God; mourn _not, nor_ weep."--_Neh._, viii, 9. "Men's behaviour should be
like their apparel, _not_ too straight _or_ point-de-vise, but free for
exercise."--_Ld. Bacon_. Again, the mere repetition of a simple negative
is, on some occasions, more agreeable than the insertion of any connective;
as, "There is _no_ darkness, _nor_ shadow of death, where the workers of
iniquity may hide themselves."--_Job_, xxxiv, 22. Better: "There is _no_
darkness, _no_ shadow of death, _wherein_ the workers of iniquity may hide
themselves." "_No_ place _nor any_ object appears to him void of
beauty."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 255. Better: "_No_ place, _no_ object,
appears to him void of beauty." That passage from Milton which Burn
supposes to be faulty, and that expression of Addison's which Churchill
dislikes, are, in my opinion, not incorrect as they stand; though,
doubtless, the latter admits of the variation proposed. In the former, too,
_or_ may twice be changed to _nor_, where the following nouns are
nominatives; but to change it throughout, would not be well, because the
other nouns are objectives governed by _of_:

"Seasons return, but _not_ to me returns
Day, _nor_ the sweet approach of ev'n _or_ morn,
_Nor_ sight of vernal bloom, _or_ summer's rose,
_Or_ flocks, _or_ herds, _or_ human face divine."

OBS. 22.--_Ever_ and _never_ are directly opposite to each other in sense,
and yet they are very frequently confounded and misapplied, and that by
highly respectable writers; as, "Seldom, or _never_ can we expect,"
&c.--_Blair's Lectures_, p. 305. "And seldom, or _ever_, did any one ris