holy scripture into Englishe? To thys question lo if he wil aunswere true englishe he must auns were no and not nay.'

According to these examples, the rule should have been stated thus: Nay answers a question framed in the affirmative: as

Art thou a prophet? Nay.

No answers a question framed in the negative: as,
Art thou not a prophet? No.

See Marsh, Lectures on the English Language, xxvi. 682.

427. No appears in composition with many words. We say no-where and no-whither, but not no-whence or no-when. No-how is sometimes employed, but it is not considered elegant.

For neither, nor, see § 449.

Never

428. Never is compounded of ne, 'not,' and ever. and ever are often confounded. Never is an adverb of time: as, 'Seldom or never has an English word two full accents.' Ever is an adverb both of time and of degree: as, 'Ever so rich,' 'Ever so good.' Hence 'charm he ever so wisely' is now preferred to the older form, 'charm he never so wisely.' We may remark that 'seldom or never' has the same force as 'seldom if ever; ' but 'seldom or ever' is doubtful. Atterbury says:

We seldom or ever see those forsaken who trust in God. Here it is better to say 'or never.' See Angus, Handbook, § 567.

COMPARISON OF ADVERBS.

429. Some adverbs, expressing degree or quality, admit degrees of comparison: as,

The use of the terminations -er and -est in forming the comparative and superlative of adverbs, was formerly much

more common than at present: as,

Touching things which generally are received

we

are hardliest able to bring such proof of their certainty
as may satisfy gainsayers.-Hooker, Ecclesiastical
Polity, v. 2.

That he may the stronglier provide.-Hobbes, Life of
Thucydides.

The things highliest important to the growing age.-
Shaftesbury, Letter to Molesworth.

The question would not be, who loved himself and who
not, but who loved and served himself the rightest, and
after the truest manner.-Id., Wit and Humour.

430. These forms are often found in the poets. So Shakespeare:

O Melancholy!

Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find
The ooze, to show what coast thy sluggish crare
Might easiliest harbour in ?

where the folios have easilest.

Cymbeline, ir. 2.

Thrice blessed they that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
But earthlier happy is the rose distilled,
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.

Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1.

On this passage Dr. Johnson remarks:- Thus all the copies; yet earthlier is so harsh a word, and earthlier happy, for happier earthly, a mode of speech so unusual, that I wonder none of the editors have proposed earlier happy.' Steevens observes, that Pope did propose earlier. But the whole force of the passage consists in the contrast between 'earthly happiness' in the one state, and 'heavenly bliss' in the other. In this, as in many cases, Shakespeare was wiser than his editors. And so Milton:

Scepter and power, thy giving, I assume,
And gladlier shall resign, when in the end
Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee
For ever; and in me all whom thou lov'st.

Paradise Lost, vi. 730–733.
Which Eve

Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight,
With lowliness majestick from her seat,

And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom,
Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,
And touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
Paradise Lost, viii. 40-47.

To overcome in battle, and subdue
Nations, and bring home spoils, with infinite
Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch
Of human glory, and, for glory done,

Of triumph to be styled great Conquerors,
Patrons of mankind, Gods, and Sons of Gods;
Destroyers rightlier called, and plagues of men.
Ibid. xi. 691-697.

Princes, Heaven's ancient Sons, ethereal Thrones,
Demonian spirits now, from the element
Each of his reign allotted, rightlier called
Powers of fire, air, water, and earth beneath!

Paradise Regained, ii. 121-124.
Each act is rightliest done,

Not when it must, but when it may be best.

Ibid. iv. 475-476.

Adverbs ending in -ly are now usually compared by more and most as, briefly, more briefly, most briefly.

431.-rather. The A.-S. adverb is ræðe, rað, rade, 'soon,' quickly;' comparative, raðor, raður; superlative, radost.

Hence 'I would rather do so,' means 'I would more quickly do so,' 'I would sooner do so.'

He regned fiftene gere, and died all to rathe.-Robert de
Brunne.

i. e. 'all too soon.'

O dere cosin min, Dan John, she saide,
What aileth you so rathe for to arise?

Chaucer, Shipmannes Tale. Some of our later poets use rathe as an adjective; so

Milton,

Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies.

Lycidas, 142.

In a note on this passage, Todd says that, in the West of

England there is an early species of apple called the rathe-ripe, early-ripe.'

432.-liefer. This is a comparative from the A.-S. adjective leof, 'loved,' 'beloved,'' dear.'

God saith, As verely as I lyve, I wilnot the death of a sinner but had liefer hem to be converted and lyve.— Joye, Exposicion of Daniel.

Shakespeare uses the positive form lief: as,

But for my single self,

I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

Julius Cæsar, i. 2.

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines.-Hamlet, iii. 2.

POSITION.

เ

433. Adverbs are placed before the adjectives or participles which they qualify: as, 'It was very good; greatly beloved."

a man

So when one adverb qualifies another, the modifying adverb stands first: as, 'not wisely, but too well.'

The qualifying adverb usually follows an intransitive verb: as, 'He behaved nobly,' 'She walks gracefully.' When a transitive verb is used with a following objective, the adverb generally comes after the objective: as, 'He received them kindly,' He treated his friends generously.' The reason is, that the verb and the objective should be kept as closely together as possible. And if, for rhetorical purposes, it is desirable to vary the order of the sentence, still the connection of the verb and the objective should not be broken. We may say, for example, He kindly received them;' 'Generously he treated his friends.'

When an auxiliary verb and a participle are used, the adverb may come between them: as, 'I have lately written to him,' They were kindly received.' Or the adverb may follow the participle, or the phrase: as, 'They were received kindly; ' 'I have written to him lately.'

When two auxiliaries are employed, their connection should not be interrupted; the adverb should come between the

second auxiliary and the participle: as, 'They have been badly treated;' or it may follow the whole phrase, as, 'They have been treated badly.

434. With regard to position no adverb presents greater difficulties than only. There is no absolute rule to determine whether it should precede or follow the word which it qualifies. In common conversation, great latitude is allowed. When we say 'I only spake three words,' most people understand 'I spake three words and no more;' though strictly the adverb qualifies the verb spake. Some critics would alter thus: 'I spake only three words; ' but even then the position of only is ambiguous. Others would say, 'I spake three words only'; but that is rather formal, and there can be no doubt that, in ordinary conversation, most persons would say 'I only spake three words.'

In composition, however, greater attention is required; although the best writers are not always free from fault. Dryden says:

Her body shaded with a slight cymarr,
Her bosom to the view was only bare.

Cymon and Iphigenia.

...

But the poet means to say, that 'her bosom only was bare.'

Dr. Johnson says:

For thoughts are only criminal, when they are first chosen, and then voluntarily continued.-Rambler, No. 8.

As the words stand, they imply that 'thoughts are nothing else or nothing more than criminal,' in the case supposed; but the doctor meant, 'thoughts are criminal, only when they are first chosen, and then voluntarily continued.'

So this passage: 'Think only of the past, as its remembrance gives you pleasure,' should be, 'Think of the past, only as its remembrance gives you pleasure.'

435. In the following sentence the adverb only, from its position, gives a turn to the meaning quite different from that which the author intended:

He had suffered the woodward only to use his discretion in the distant woods. In the groves about his house he allowed no marking-iron but his own.-Gilpin, Forest Scenery.