ay be understood as
the subject of the affirmation, that it may agree with either of them; but
some regard must be had to that which is more naturally the subject of it,
as also to that which stands next to the verb; for if no regard be paid to
these circumstances, the construction will be harsh: [as,] _Minced pies
was_ regarded as a profane and superstitious viand by the sectaries.
_Hume's Hist._ A great _cause_ of the low state of industry _were_ the
restraints put upon it. _Ib._ By this term was understood, such _persons_
as invented, or drew up rules for themselves and the world."--_English
Gram. with Notes_, p. 189. The Doctor evidently supposed all these examples
to be _bad English_, or at least _harsh in their construction_. And the
first two unquestionably are so; while the last, whether right or wrong,
has nothing at all to do with his rule: it has but one nominative, and that
appears to be part of a definition, and not the true subject of the verb.
Nor, indeed, is the first any more relevant; because Hume's "_viand_"
cannot possibly be taken "as _the subject_ of the affirmation." Lindley
Murray, who literally copies Priestley's note, (all but the first line and
the last,) rejects these two examples, substituting for the former, "His
meat _was_ locusts and wild honey," and for the latter, "The wages of sin
_is_ death." He very evidently supposes all three of his examples to be
_good English_. In this, according to Churchill, he is at fault in two
instances out of the three; and still more so, in regard to the note, or
rule, itself. In stead of being "a rule in all grammars," it is (so far as
I know) found only in these authors, and such as have implicitly copied it
from Murray. Among these last, are Alger, Ingersoll, R. C. Smith, Fisk, and
Merchant. Churchill, who cites it only as Murray's, and yet expends two
pages of criticism upon it, very justly says: "To make that the nominative
case, [or subject of the affirmation,] which happens to stand nearest to
the verb, appears to me to be on a par with the blunder pointed out in note
204th;" [that is, of making the verb agree with an objective case which
happens to stand nearer to it, than its subject, or nominative.]--
_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 313.

[393] "If the excellence of Dryden's works was _lessened_ by his indigence,
their number was increased."--_Dr. Johnson_. This is an example of the
proper and necessary use of the indicative mood after an _if_, the mat