e, or no longer in good use. Yet
several recent grammarians prefer _sitten_ to _sat_; among whom are
Crombie, Lennie, Bullions, and M'Culloch. Dr. Crombie says, "_Sitten_,
though formerly in use, is now obsolescent. Laudable attempts, however,
have been made to restore it."--_On Etymol. and Syntax_, p. 199. Lennie
says, "Many authors, both here and in America, use _sate_ as the Past time
of _sit_; but this is improper, for it is apt to be confounded with _sate_
to glut. _Sitten_ and _spitten_ are preferable [to _sat_ and _spit_,]
though obsolescent."--_Principles of E. Gram._, p. 45. Bullions says,
"_Sitten_ and _spitten_ are nearly obsolete, though preferable to _sat_ and
_spit_."--_Principles of E. Gram._, p. 64. M'Culloch gives these verbs in
the following form: "Sit, sat, sitten _or_ sat. Spit, spit _or_ spat, spit
_or_ spitten."--_Manual of E. Gram._, p. 65.

[289] "He will find the political hobby which he has _bestrided_ no child's
nag."--_The Vanguard, a Newspaper_.

"Through the pressed nostril, spectacle-_bestrid_."--_Cowper_.

"A lank haired hunter _strided_."--_Whittier's Sabbath Scene_.

[290] In the age of Pope, _writ_ was frequently used both for the
participle and for the preterit of this verb. It is now either obsolete or
peculiar to the poets. In prose it seems vulgar: as, "He _writ_ it, at
least, published it, in 1670."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 77.

"He, who, supreme in judgement, as in wit,
Might boldly censure, as he boldly _writ_."--_Pope, Ess. on Crit._

Dr. Crombie remarked, more than thirty years ago, that, "_Wrote_ as the
Participle [of _Write_,] is generally disused, and likewise
_writ_."--_Treatise on Etym. and Synt._, p. 202.

[291] A word is not necessarily _ungrammatical_ by reason of having a rival
form that is more common. The regular words, _beseeched, blowed, bursted,
digged, freezed, bereaved, hanged, meaned, sawed, showed, stringed,
weeped_, I admit for good English, though we find them all condemned by
some critics.

[292] "And the man in whom the evil spirit was, _leapt_ on them."--FRIENDS'
BIBLE: _Acts_, xix, 16. In Scott's Bible, and several others, the word is
"_leaped_." Walker says, "The past time of this verb is _generally_ heard
with the diphthong short; and if so, it ought to be spelled _leapt_,
rhyming with _kept_."--_Walker's Pron. Dict., w. Leap_. Worcester, who
improperly pronounces _leaped_ in two ways, "l~ept or l=ept," _misquotes_
Walker,