by continuing the use of the same auxiliary, but
express my belief or knowledge that _your_ wish is, or will be, coincident
with _my own_. When I say "I will go" (_je veux aller_), I express a desire
to go; but if I add, "_You_ and _they_ will go," I simply promise on behalf
of _you_ and _them_, or express _my_ belief or knowledge that _you_ and
_they_ will also desire to go.

It is not unworthy of note, that the nice balance between _shall_ and
_will_ is much impaired by the constant use of the ellipse, "I'll, you'll,"
&c.; and that _volition_ and _intention_ are, to a great extent,
co-existent and inseparable in the _first_ person: the metaphysical reasons
for this do not here require explanation.

I am conscious that I have not elucidated this apparently simple, but
really complex question, in so clear and concise a manner as I could have
wished; but, feeling convinced that my principle at least is sound, I leave
it, for better consideration, in the hands of your correspondent.

WILLIAM BATES.

Birmingham.

Brightland's rule is,--

"In the first person simply _shall_ foretells;
In _will_ a threat or else a promise dwells:
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_Shall_ in the second and the third does threat;
_Will_ simply then foretells the coming feat."

(See T. K. Arnold's _Eng. Gram. for Classical Schools_, 3rd edit., p. 41.;
Mitford, _Harmony of Language_; and note 5. in Rev. R. Twopeny's
_Dissertations on the Old and New Testament_.)

The inconsistency in the use of _shall_ and _will_ is best explained by a
doctrine of Mr. Hare's (J. C. H.), the _usus ethicus_ of the future. (See
_Cambridge Philological Museum_, vol. ii. p. 203., where the subject is
mentioned incidentally, and in illustration; and Latham's _English
Language_, 2nd edit., p. 498., where Mr. Hare's hypothesis is given at
length. Indeed, from Latham and T. K. Arnold my Note has been framed.)

F. S., B. A.

Lee.

* * * * *

INSCRIPTIONS IN BOOKS.

(Vol. vii., p. 127.)

Your correspondent BALLIOLENSIS, at p. 127. of the current volume of "N. &
Q.," gives several forms of inscriptions in books. The following may prove
interesting to him, if not to the generality of your readers.

A MS. preserved in the Bibliotheque Sainte Genevieve--it appears to have
been the cellarer's book of the ancient abbey of that name, and to have
been written about the beginning of the sixteenth century--bears on the
fly-sheet the name of "Math