ule for the comma; and these likewise, with all faithfulness, are copied
by Ingersoll, Smith, Alger, Kirkham, Comly, Russell, and I know not how
many more. In short, not only does this rule of their punctuation include
the construction in question; but the following exception to it, which is
remarkable for its various faults, or thorough faultiness, is applicable to
_no other_: "Sometimes, when the _word_ with which the _last_ preposition
_agrees_, is _single_, it is better to _omit_ the comma before it: as,
'Many states were in alliance _with_, and under the protection _of_
Rome.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 272; _Smith's_, 190; _Ingersoll's_, 284;
_Kirkham's_, 215; _Alger's_, 79; _Alden's_, 149; _Abel Flint's_, 103;
_Russell's_, 115. But the blunders and contradictions on this point, end
not here. Dr. Blair happened most unlearnedly to say, "What is called
splitting of particles, or separating a preposition from the noun which it
governs, is _always to be avoided_. As if I should say, 'Though virtue
borrows no assistance from, yet it may often be accompanied by, the
advantages of fortune.'"--_Lect. XII_, p. 112. This too, though the author
himself did not _always_ respect the rule, has been thought worthy to be
copied, or stolen, with all its faults! See _Jamieson's Rhetoric_, p. 93;
and _Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 319.

OBS. 17.--Dr. Lowth says, "The noun _aversion_, (that is, a turning away,)
as likewise the adjective _averse_, seems to require the preposition _from_
after it; and not so properly to admit of _to_, or _for_, which are often
used with it."--_Gram._, p. 98. But this doctrine has not been adopted by
the later grammarians: "The words _averse_ and _aversion_ (says Dr.
Campbell) are more properly construed with _to_ than with _from_. The
examples in favour of the latter preposition, are beyond comparison
outnumbered by those in favour of the former."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 201;
_Fisk's_, 142; _Ingersoll's_, 229. This however must be understood only of
mental aversion. The expression of Milton, "On the coast _averse from_
entrance," would not be improved, if _from_ were changed to _to_. So the
noun _exception_, and the verb to _except_, are sometimes followed by
_from_, which has regard to the Latin particle _ex_, with which the word
commences; but the noun at least is much more frequently, and perhaps more
properly, followed by _to_. Examples: "Objects of horror must be _excepted
from_ the foregoing theory."--_Kam