To this view there may be many objections. An English verb has several terminations, each of which seems sufficiently to indicate its verbal character without the prefixing of to or do, as lovest, loveth, loves, loved, lovedst. Indeed, so decidedly do these terminations point out as verbs, the words to which they are attached, that to or do cannot be used at the same time. But whether these affixes were intended to give the general idea of action, or whether they were originally pronouns expressive of the different persons, we cannot now discover; though if ed be excepted, the latter is the more probable opinion, because st is uniformly appropriated to the second person singular, and s or th to the third. Ed is used in all the persons of both numbers; and whatever may have been its origin, it implies that the action or thing expressed by the word to which it is added, is in a state of completion. Some think this termination a contraction of did, but this seems not the proper point at which to stop, for did, itself is probably a contraction of doed; ed, then, was most likely at first, and certainly is now, a general term for action in a state of completion, as do is for action in a state of progression or continuance. It is not pretended that these observations satisfactorily account for the application of nouns, adjectives or pronouns as verbs; for, even if admitted in this fullest extent, it is not to be denied that we have equal difficulty in explaining the various forms of do; and hence we may learn, that

how useful soever may be the study of etymology, the extent of our research in this department, is, from the want of historical information, extremely limited.

There are in English many words that are never used otherwise than as verbs, and these of course require no adjunct to distinguish them; such are the words think, speak, write, sing, &c. Words of this sort are generally primitives, for it is worthy of remark, that verbs derived from nouns or adjectives, whether originally English or adopted from other languages, have some syllable or syllables, added or prefixed, which are equivalent to do, make, or become, so that the derivative thus formed, signifies to do, make, or become that which is expressed by the primitive. Agreeably to this principle is formed from English adjectives a great number of verbs by the addition of en; thus dark, darken; hard, harden; soft, soften; white, whiten; in all of which it may be observed, that en signifies make. Sometimes this syllable is prefixed to an adjective, and produces the same effect; thus, noble, ennoble, close, enclose.

Latin adjectives become verbs by the termination fy, which appears to be only a different form of the Latin fio, fieri, to be made or to become, or more probably a contraction of facio, facere, to make. Hence magnify is the Latin magnus, great, with this termination, and consequently signifies to make great:—dignify, sanctify, purify, rectify, are formed in a similar manner, from the Latin adjectives, dignus, worthy; sanctus,holy; purus, pure; rectus, right. Verbs are formed

from Latin nouns also by the same termination, thus deify, glorify, signify, are from Deus, God; gloria, glory; signum, sign.

We have in English many verbs ending in ate. This termination appears to be a part of the Latin verb ago, actum, agere, to do, or make. Actum originates act, which by another change becomes ate. It is added both to nouns and adjectives. Terminate is the Latin terminus, end, and ate; hence terminate is to make an end; calumniate is to make calumny; actuate, alienate, conciliate, consolidate, degenerate, &c. are formed on the same principle.

There is yet another termination peculiar to English verbs, and which appears to be of Greek origin. It is written ise or ize; it is added both to nouns and adjectives, and like the terminations already mentioned, it conveys the idea of doing or acting. Methodize is to act with method or to put in order; tyrannize, is to act with tyranny; criticize, is to do or perform the part of a critic; eternize, modernize, solemnize, immortalize, are respectively to make eternal, modern, solemn, immortal.

We have already seen that many words are used both as nouns and verbs, or as adjectives and verbs without any change of termination, and are only known to be of the latter class, by having to or do prefixed; or by their contiguity to other nouns or pronouns. We may here observe, that in about sixty dissyllabic nouns, which are also used as verbs, though no change takes place in the spelling, an effort is

made to distinguish them in speaking, by accenting them differently, as they belong to the one class or to the other; thus abject, absent, compact, concert, discount, export, ferment, insult, present, subject, torment, and others to the amount mentioned, when used as nouns, have the accent on the first syllable, and when as verbs, on the last.

It has been attempted to shew, that to give to a noun, an adjective, or a pronoun the character of a verb, it is necessary to join to it some word or syllable expressive of action or exertion, and that the words to and do are generally employed for this purpose; but many words are verbs independently of termination or addition, and many nouns and adjectives become verbs, by having affixed to them the syllable en, fy, ate, or ize, and these require, or at least admit to and do, as well as those which remain in their primitive state. The only answer that can be made to this objection, is, that when any form of expression is introduced, in instances in which it is necessary, such is the tendency of the human mind to generalize, that the same form is employed, in instances in which it is redundant. Besides what happens in the use of to and do with verbs, we have examples of this redundancy in other words; for though extreme, supreme, and chief, are superlatives in signification, we sometimes meet with extremest, supremest, and chiefest, in conformity with our regular mode of comparison; and with verbs derived from

Latin or other languages, we frequently use an English preposition, though the idea expressed by it, is already expressed by some part of the word to which we join it. Of this we have examples in the phrases to attract to, and to abstract from; where the to and from seem to be added for no other reason than that they are used with the English word draw, the synonyme of the Latin verb, of which tract is a part.

Of Tenses.

A verb is said to express not only an attribute and an assertion, but time also; and the number of times, or tenses, as they are generally called, is different in different languages. Every thing of which we have occasion to speak or write, is either present, past, or future. But besides a variety of minuter distinctions in the time of an action or event, generally denoted by words or phrases expressive of these distinctions, an action or event may be considered as past, indefinitely, without any other regard to time than that of its having happened during a portion of time, no part of which is now remaining, as in the phrase "the Romans invaded Britain:" or it may be considered, as having passed during a time which extends to or includes the present; of this we have an example in the following sentence: "Wise men, in every country, have cultivated their talents." Or