Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/545



IV. When, by mere exclamation, it is used without address, and without other words expressed or implied to give it construction; as, "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." Exodus, xxxiv, 6. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"--Rom., xi, 33. "I should not like to see her limping back, Poor beast!"--Southey.

"Oh! deep enchanting prelude to repose,   The dawn of bliss, the twilight of our woes!"--Campbell.

OBS. 2.--The nominative put absolute with a participle, is often equivalent to a dependent clause commencing with when, while, if, since, or because. Thus, "I being a child," may be equal to, "When I was a child," or, "Because I was a child." Here, in lieu of the nominative, the Greeks used the genitive case, and the Latins, the ablative. Thus, the phrase, "[Greek: Kai hysteræsantos oinou]," "And the wine failing," is rendered by Montanus, "Et deficiente vino;" but by Beza, "Et cum defecisset vinum;" and in our Bible, "And when they wanted wine."--John, ii, 3. After a noun or a pronoun thus put absolute, the participle being is frequently understood, especially if an adjective or a like case come after the participle; as,

"They left their bones beneath unfriendly skies,   His worthless absolution [being] all the prize." --Cowper, Vol. i, p. 84.

"Alike in ignorance, his reason [--] such,   Whether he thinks too little or too much."--Pope, on Man.

OBS. 3.--The case which is put absolute in addresses or invocations, is what in the Latin and Greek grammars is called the Vocative. Richard Johnson says, "The only use of the Vocative Case, is, to call upon a Person, or a thing put Personally, which we speak to, to give notice to what we direct our Speech; and this is therefore, properly speaking, the only Case absolute or independent which we may make use of without respect to any other Word."--''Gram. Commentaries'', p. 131. This remark, however, applies not justly to our language; for, with us, the vocative case, is unknown, or not distinguished from the nominative. In English, all nouns of the second person are either put absolute in the nominative, according to Rule 8th, or in apposition with their own pronouns placed before them, according to Rule 3d: as, "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders."--Acts, iv, 11. "How much rather ought you receivers to be considered as abandoned and execrable!"--Clarkson's Essay, p. 114.

"Peace! minion, peace! it boots not me to hear   The selfish counsel of you hangers-on." --Brown's Inst., p. 189.

"Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear;   Fays, Faries, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons, hear!" --Pope, R. L., ii, 74.

OBS. 4.--The case of nouns used in exclamations, or in mottoes and abbreviated sayings, often depends, or may be conceived to depend, on something understood; and, when their construction can be satisfactorily explained on the principle of ellipsis, they are not put absolute, unless the ellipsis be that of the participle. The following examples may perhaps be resolved in this manner, though the expressions will lose much of their vivacity: "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!"--Shak. "And he said unto his father, My head! my head!"--2 Kings, iv, 19. "And Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass, have I slain a thousand men."--Judges, xv, 16. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."--Matt., v, 38. "Peace, be still."--Mark, iv, 39. "One God, world without end. Amen."--''Com. Prayer''.

"My fan, let others say, who laugh at toil;   Fan! hood! glove! scarf! is her laconic style."--Young.

OBS. 5.--"Such Expressions as, Hand to Hand, Face to Face, Foot to Foot, are of the nature of Adverbs, and are of elliptical Construction: For the Meaning is, Hand OPPOSED to Hand, &c."--W. Ward's Gram., p. 100. This learned and ingenious author seems to suppose the former noun to be here put absolute with a participle understood; and this is probably the best way of explaining the construction both of that word and of the preposition that follows it. So Samson's phrase, "heaps upon heaps," may mean, "heaps being piled upon heaps;" and Scott's, "man to man, and steel to steel," may be interpreted, "man being opposed to man, and steel being opposed to steel:"

"Now, man to man, and steel to steel,   A chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel."--Lady of the Lake.

OBS. 6.--Cobbett, after his own hasty and dogmatical manner, rejects the whole theory of nominatives absolute, and teaches his "soldiers, sailors, apprentices, and ploughboys," that, "The supposition, that there can be a noun, or pronoun, which has reference to no verb, and no preposition, is certainly a mistake."--Cobbett's E. Gram., ¶ 201. To sustain his position, he lays violent hands upon the plain truth, and even trips himself up in the act. Thus: "For want of a little thought, as to the matter immediately before us, some grammarians have found out an absolute case,' as they call it; and Mr. Lindley Murray gives an instance of it in these words: Shame being lost, all virtue is lost.' The full meaning of this sentence is this: 'It being, or the state of things being such, that shame is lost, all virtue is lost.'"--Cobbett's E. Gram., ¶ 191.