448. When we consider the greater range of prepositions as compared with case-endings, we see that this phrasal stage of the adverb makes a great enlargement of the faculties of the language; and the more so as the rudimentary forms are often retained for optional use even after the more explicit have developed themselves. So numerous are the adverbial phrases that we cannot attempt a full list of them; the following examples will remind the student of a vast number that are unmentioned:-at best, at intervals, at large, at least, at length, at most, at random, at worst; in earnest, in fact, in good faith, in jest, in truth, in vain, in section; by chance, by turns, by all means, by the way. at last. So that one may scratch a thought half a dozen times, and get nothing at last but a faint sputter.-James Russell Lowell, Fireside Travels, 1864, P. 163. in jest. We will not touch upon him evʼn in jest. Alfred Tennyson, Enid. with confidence, with consternation, with disorder. After a skirmish in the narrow passage, occasioned by the footman's opening the door of the dismal dining-room with confidence, finding some one there with consternation, and backing on the visitor with disorder, the visitor was shut up, pending his announcement, in a close back parlour.Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, ch. 10. without effort and without thought. When I contemplate natural knowledge squandering such gifts among men, the only appropriate comparison I can find for her is, to liken her to such a peasant woman as one sees in the Alps, striding ever upward, heavily burdened, and with mind only bent on her home; but yet, without effort and without thought, knitting for her children.—T. H. Huxley, Lay Sermons. Phrasal Adverbs combine cumulatively with the elder forms, and often with a forcible result. With the flexional, as 'in an instant suddenly.' With the flat, as sudden in a minute. Let no man think that sudden in a minute All is accomplished and the work is done; Though with thine earliest dawn thou shouldst begin it, Frederick W. H. Myers, St. Paul. 449. A phrasal adverb which has coalesced into one vocable, is that which is formed with the a-prefix, as abed, afar, afield, afoot, agog, along, aloud, apiece, aright, awork. In our earlier printed literature, and down to the close of the sixteenth century, this adverb is printed in two vocables, as a good (270): a right. Therefore he was a prickasoure a right. G. Chaucer, Prologue, 189. They turne them selues, but not a right, & are become as a broken bowe.-Miles Coverdale, Hosea vii. 16. a laughter. And therewithal a laughter out he brast. G. Chaucer, The Court of Love, ad finem. a forlorn. And forc'd to liue in Scotland a Forlorne. W. Shakspeare, 3 Henry VI, iii. 3. 26. So likewise a high in Richard III, iv. 4. 86; a bed in Henry V, iv. 3. 64. I derive this a not exclusively, but for the most part, from the French preposition à; thus afoot represents à pied. The phrase o'clock was originally of this form a clocke. In Shakspeare (1623) we find o'clocke indeed, and of clocke, and of the clocke. But these are exceptional, and the prevailing form is a clocke1: 1 So likewise in Robinson Crusoe, according to the early editions, it is a clock, as may be seen in Mr. Clark's text, pp. 72, 77. Ros. I pray you, what is't a clocke? Orl. You should aske me what time o' day: there's no clocke in the Forrest.-As You Like It, iii. 2. 450. Another form of the phrasal adverb is where a noun is repeated with a preposition to each, or one preposition between the two, as day by day, bridge by bridge, from hour to hour, wave after wave. Not to be crost, save that some ancient king Had built a way, where, link'd with many a bridge, Alfred Tennyson, The Holy Grail. 451. Room enough must be given to the term Adverb to let it take in all that appertains to the description of the condition and circumstances attendant upon the verbal predication of the sentence. If I say, 'I gave him sixpence with a good will,' and if the phrase 'with a good will' is admitted to a place among adverbs, then there is no reason to exclude any circumstantial adjunct, such as, with a green purse, or without any purse to keep it in. If any one objects to this as too vague a relaxation of our terminology, I would propose that for such extended phraseological adverbs we adopt the title of Adverbiation. Such a term would furnish an appropriate description for the relative position of a very important element in modern diction. At the close of the following quotation we see a couple of phrases linked together, which would come under this designation : I had a very gracious reception from the Queen and the Prince Consort, and a large party of distinguished visitors. The affability and grace of these exalted personages made a deep impression on me. It might be copied by some of our grocers and muffin-bakers to their great improvement, and to the comfort of others surrounding them.-The Public Life of W. F. Wallett, the Queen's Jester, 1870. 452. If the study of grammar is ever to grapple with the facts of language, one of two things must take place: either we must make a great addition to the terminology, or we must invest the present terms with a more comprehensive meaning. If the ancient terms of grammar were the result of mature and philosophical thought, and if they at all reflected those mental phases which must necessarily underlie all highly organized speech, then they will naturally and without suffering any violence bear continual extension, so as still to cover the phenomena of language under the greatly altered conditions of its modern development. A multiplication of terms is not in itself a desirable thing in any method; and least of all in one that holds a prominent place in educational studies. One of the best tests of the soundness of a system hinges on this Whether it will explain new facts without providing itself with new definitions and new categories. The multiplication of names and classes and groups is for the most part not an explanation at all, but only an evasion of the difficulty which has to be explained. We have, then, explained a new phenomenon, when we have shewn that it naturally belongs to or branches out of some part of the old and familiar doctrine. As therefore it is the condemnation of any system that it should be frequently resorting to new devices, so it is the greatest recommendation when it appears to be ever stretching out the hand of welcome to admit and assign a niche to each newly observed phenomenon. These remarks are suggested by the stage at which we are now arrived in our delineation of the phrasal adverb. For here we perceive that an opportunity offers itself to explain. philologically one of the most peculiar of the phenomena of the English language. That which we call the English infinitive verb, such as to live, to die, is quite a modern thing, and is characteristic of English as opposed to Saxon. The question, in presence of such a new phenomenon, is natur ally raised,—Whence this form of the infinitive verb? We did not borrow it, for it is not French nor Latin; we did not inherit it, for it is not Saxon. How did it rise, and what gave occasion to it? 453. This question is one that enters into the very interior growth of language, and one that will supply the student of English with an aim for his observations in perusing our earlier literature. I have indeed my own answer ready; but I wish it distinctly to be understood that it is to the question rather than to the answer that I direct attention, and that in propounding this and other problems for his solution, I consider myself to be rendering him the best philological service in my power. My answer is, that it first existed as a phrasal adverb; that it was a method of attaching one verb to another in an adverbial manner, and that in process of time it detached itself and assumed an independent position. As the fruit of the pine-apple is not the termination of a branch, forasmuch as the plant continues to push itself forward through the fruit and beyond it, so it is with language. The sentence is the mature product of language, but not a terminal or final one, since, out of the extremity of sentences there shoot forth germs for the propagation of new phrases and the projection of new forms of speech. In the Saxon Chronicle of Peterborough, anno 1085, we read: 'Hit is sceame to tellanne, ac hit ne thuhte him nan sceame to donne'—' It is a shame to tell, but it seemed not to him any shame to do.' The Saxon infinitives of the verbs do and tell were DON and TELLAN; but here these infinitives are treated as substantives, and put in the oblique case with the preposition to, by means of which these verbs are attached adverbially to their respective sentences, which are complete sentences already without these adjuncts. We must |