it is not. It seems to
have been more commonly recognized in American, than in English,
editions."--_Worcester's Universal and Critical Dict., w. Bear_. In five,
out of seven good American editions of the Bible among my books, the latter
text is, "The barren hath _born_ seven;" in two, it is as above, "hath
_borne_." In Johnson's Quarto Dictionary, the perfect participle of _bear_
is given erroneously, "_bore_, or _born_;" and that of _forbear_, which
should be _forborne_, is found, both in his columns and in his preface,
"_forborn_."

[275] According to Murray, Lennie, Bullions, and some others, to use
_begun_ for _began_ or _run_ for _ran_, is improper; but Webster gives
_run_ as well as _ran_ for the preterit, and _begun_ may be used in like
manner, on the authority of Dryden, Pope, and Parnell.

[276] "And they shall pass through it, hardly _bestead_, and
hungry."--_Isaiah_, viii, 21.

[277] "_Brake_ [for the preterit of _Break_] seems now obsolescent."--_Dr.
Crombie, Etymol. and Syntax_, p. 193. Some recent grammarians, however,
retain it; among whom are Bullions and M'Culloch. Wells retains it, but
marks it as, "_Obsolete_;" as he does also the preterits _bare, clave,
drove, gat, slang, spake, span, spat, sware, tare, writ_; and the
participles _hoven, loaden, rid_ from _ride, spitten, stricken, and writ_.
In this he is not altogether consistent. Forms really obsolete belong not
to any modern list of irregular verbs; and even such as are archaic and
obsolescent, it is sometimes better to omit. If "_loaden_," for example, is
now out of use, why should "_load, unload_, and _overload_," be placed, as
they are by this author, among "irregular verbs;" while _freight_ and
_distract_, in spite of _fraught_ and _distraught_, are reckoned regular?
"_Rid_," for _rode_ or _ridden_, though admitted by Worcester, appears to
me a low vulgarism.

[278] _Cleave_, to split, is most commonly, if not always, irregular, as
above; _cleave_, to stick, or adhere, is usually considered regular, but
_clave_ was formerly used in the preterit, and _clove_ still may be: as,
"The men of Judah _clave_ unto their king."--_Samuel_. "The tongue of the
public prosecutor _clove_ to the roof of his mouth."--_Boston Atlas_, 1855.

[279] Respecting the preterit and the perfect participle of this verb,
_drink_, our grammarians are greatly at variance. Dr. Johnson says,
"preter. _drank_ or _drunk_; part. pass, _drunk_ or _drunken_." Dr.
Webster: "