Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1838-02-10
ensil multiplied skiold by this logical de-

I'S' i'H'''PiAS" 'iA'0ie " WIS ioSlSdb NC.
cision.
We presume that the critical Judge who
Iordered the unlucky cuIprit, patient |
should say, to shallow the spoons, isone Of
those literary prigs, who refine emigrant
into immigrant; debts into Indebtedness,
and write over instead ofunder signature;
who maintains also that a ship is not build
ling" while the carpenter is mailing boards
upon her ribs, nor criminal hanging
while he bangles from the gibbet; but The
vessel is technically being built, and the
terminal being hung, whatever Jack Ketch
may say or swear in his executive capa.
city
Plain SPOKEN people have imagined, I'M
der The sthction Of their dictionary, that
a spoonful is designation Of measure,
aud forms the plural, like bushel and O.
Their nouns. by the addition of an s. But
those officious refners of our ancient lam
guage, are as absolute and precise in their
dispositions as the peremptory grave dig
ger in HamletI
When we reflect on these innovations,
we cannot refrain from shaking our head
with the persevering gravity of the Chi
nese Mandarin that sits in porcelain upon
our mantle piece, signing deeply and heav-
ing up the pathetic ejaculation 0 Trum.
perry! o Mores!
At the moment ofdcspatching these re-
marks to the press, we perceive para
graph in subsequent number Of the same
literary Journal, disagreeng with the sub
scriber who had recommended the dose of
spoons. 1t states that spoonful may be
found as substantive in every dictionary,
and spoonfuls expresses the ordinary ac-
ceRtation Of the. phrase.
We are gratifed by this circumstance,
as that Jburnal is conducted at present
with taste and spirit which give it an
honorable and influential rank among the
periodicals of our country. ltwould grieve
us TO see it sanctionng these pedantic and
hypercritical Innovations.
sErtract firm London pablica iOn
MoDERNIsMs,-Tti is the state Of un6nish-
cd action which isunderstood in such phra-
ses as ''the house is building" in which
the action is taken abstractedly, without
attending to the agent. The Romans ex.
pressed the same ideas by means Of the
passive voice, domuS Rdifcatur md do
mug cs1. fcabatur. Every language hasits
idioms, which pedants only would at
tempt TO change. For some time past,
"the bridge is being buil,n the tunnel is
being ercauated," and other expressionsofa
like kind, have panied the eve and stunned
the ear. Instead Of 'the stone is falling"
and "the man is DYING" we shall be taught
to say, "the stone is icing fdlien," and the
man is being Dead" This incongruous
conjunction ola present with perfect par
ticiple, as if for the purpose of producing
a confusion OF lenses, is an absurdity of
very modern origin, and has scarcely yet
appeared in any respectable composition.
Johnson writes to Boswell, "my Lives are
Bowingbroke says that "the
nation had cried out loudly against the
crime while it was cOmmitting;" and Mil
on. in his speech for the liberty of unli-
,ensed printing, Indignantly exclaims, Ssyet
hese are the men cried out against for
and secretaries, as if, while
he temple Of the Lord Das building, some
cutting, some squarng the maj be-" &c.
Viewing the present particrple solely in
is verbal state, it becomes assimilated to
he infnitive, and is general name for I.
he whole class of continuous ererti0aS.
RooTH.