rine that _to_ before the infinitive is a _preposition_, appeals to me
thus: "Let me ask you, G. B.--is not the infinitive in Latin _the same_ as
in _the English?_ Thus, I desire _to teach Latin_--Ego Cupio _docere_. I
saw Abel _come_--Ego videbam Abelem _venire_. The same principle is
recognized by the Greek grammars and those of most of the modern
languages."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 358. Of this gentleman I know
nothing but from what appears in his book--a work of immeasurable and
ill-founded vanity--a whimsical, dogmatical, blundering performance. This
short sample of his Latin, (_with six puerile errors in seven words_,) is
proof positive that he knows nothing of that language, whatever may be his
attainments in Greek, or the other tongues of which he tells. To his
question I answer emphatically, NO. In Latin, "One verb governs an other in
the infinitive; as, _Cupio discere_, I desire _to_ learn."--_Adam's Gram._,
p. 181. This government never admits the intervention of a preposition. "I
saw Abel come," has no preposition; but the Latin of it is, "_Vidi Abelem
venientem_," and not what is given above; or, according to St. Jerome and
others, who wrote, "_Abel_," without declension, we ought rather to say,
"_Vidi Abel venientem_." If they are right, "_Ego videbam Abelem venire_,"
is every word of it wrong!

[343] Priestley cites these examples as _authorities_, not as _false
syntax_. The errors which I thus quote at secondhand from other
grammarians, and mark with double references, are in general such as the
first quoters have allowed, and made themselves responsible for; but this
is not the case in every instance. Such credit has sometimes, though
rarely, been given, where the expression was disapproved.--G. BROWN.

[344] Lindley Murray thought it not impracticable to put two or more nouns
in apposition and add the possessive sign to each; nor did he imagine there
would often be any positive impropriety in so doing. His words, on this
point, are these: "On the other hand, the application of the _genitive_
sign to both or all of the nouns in apposition, would be _generally_ harsh
and displeasing, and _perhaps in some cases incorrect_: as, 'The Emperor's
Leopold's; King George's; Charles's the Second's; The parcel was left at
Smith's, the bookseller's and stationer's."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 177.
Whether he imagined _any of these_ to be "_incorrect_" or not, does not
appear! Under the next rule, I shall give a short n