n it has. So, in the
phrase, '_We walk_,' the verb _walk_ is [of the] first person, because it
expresses the _actions_ performed by the _speakers_. The verb, then, when
correctly written, always agrees, _in sense_, with its nominative in number
and person."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 47. It seems to me, that these authors
do not very well know what persons or numbers, in grammar, are.

[236] John Despauter, whose ample Grammar of the Latin language appeared in
its third edition in 1517, represents this practice as a corruption
originating in false pride, and maintained by the wickedness of hungry
flatterers. On the twentieth leaf of his Syntax, he says, "Videntur hodie
Christiani superbiores, quam olim ethnici imperatores, qui dii haberi
voluerunt; nam hi nunquam inviti audierunt pronomina _tu, tibi, tuus_. Quae
si hodie alicui monachorum antistiti, aut decano, aut pontifici dicantur
aut scribantur, videbitur ita loquens aut scribens blasphemasse, et
anathemate dignus: nec tamen Abbas, aut pontifex, tam aegre feret, quam
Malchi, aut famelici gnathones, his assistentes, et vociferantes, _Sic
loqueris, aut scribis, pontifici?_ Quintilianus et Donatus dicunt
barbarismum, aut soloecismum esse, siquis uni dicat. _Salvete._" The
learned Erasmus also ridiculed this practice, calling those who adopted it,
"_voscitatores_," or _youyouers_.

[237] "By a _perversion of language_ the pronoun _you_ is almost invariably
used for the second person singular, as well as plural; always, however,
retaining the plural verb; as, 'My friend, _you write_ a good hand.' _Thou_
is confined to a solemn style, or [to] poetical compositions."--_Chandler's
Grammar_, Edition of 1821, p. 41; Ed. of 1847, p. 66.

[238] In regard to the inflection of our verbs, William B. Fowle, who is
something of an antiquarian in grammar, and who professes now to be
"conservative" of the popular system, makes a threefold distinction of
style, thus: "English verbs have three _Styles_[,] or _Modes_,[;] called
[the] _Familiar_, [the] _Solemn_[,] and [the] _Ancient_. The _familiar
style_, or mode, is that used in common conversation; as, you _see_, he
_fears_. The _solemn style_, or mode, is that used in the Bible, and in
prayer; as, Thou _seest_, he _feareth_. The _ancient style_, or mode, now
little used, _allows no change_ in the second and third person,
[_persons_,] singular, of the verb, and generally follows the word _if_,
_though, lest_, or _whether_; as, if thou _se