Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1846-03-12

to surrounding circumstances must
necessarily be theagent OF an action at
ore time, and subjected to the action
of others at another. II will be essen
tial, in represeting these different rela-
tons, TO keep the prominent subject con-
stantly in view. But were II not for
the beautiful and happy continuance Of
voices in language, the writer CT speak
-er would have to be perpetualiy shift
ing his subject. AT one moment' you
would behold the subject standing IN
bold relief, at another, thrust INTO the
back ground. The skiIlful artist, who
wishes 10 do the best he can with his
subject, will always keep it In front o.
his group ofobiects; and when his sub
iect is an actor, he will use the active
voice. but when it becomes the reclp'-
ent of an action, he will use the pas
siye. Yet, for the sake of variety, he
will be enabled, on rare occa-
sious, to keep his subject concealed a
mcsnent, by representing it In sub
iec,iye point Of view, so that he may
bring it forward, at the next turn of
thought, with more dignity and effect,
Sue,onius,i in his life of Caesar. has been
much applauded for an art'hce Of this
kind. Just at the moment the conspi-
iators were about to carry their design
into execution, he introduced them In
the nominative case in preference to
Cesar himself, and consequently uses
active verbs where we should expect
to find passive. But in the very next
sentence Cesar is brought forward a
gain as the principal subject, and he is
represented as Selling the arm of Cas-
sius,. piercing it with his writing style,
rushing forward, receiving another
wound, and folding his robe that he
might fall in deccncy;--and all this IS
done with the best possible effect, be-
cause he had been Withdrawn as
it were moment from view.
In modern English, some verbs arc
used in the same form in an active and
in a.passive application, and shades OF
ideas may thus be represented which
could not be otherwise expressed
Thus we say, "they cat the tree. =
"The tree cats WE'LL" Gle drinks
some wine" "This wine drinks plea
sanity" In the second and fourth
examples, although the tree and aelne
are the passive recipients of an action,
yet it would be impossible TO ex-
press the same ideas with the passive
voice.
In one language, the active voice
is used, when we are obliged 10 employ
the passive in another. With great
propriety we say in French, lie uin de
Bourgoigns Sc bolt partout;; but in En-
glish this would be, "The wine of
Burgundy drinks itself every where"
1t is plain our language requires here
passive verb.
We have no good contrivance for
passive voice in the present aud flu
ture lenses. On this account, we find
itimpossble to translate the Latin ex-
pressions,- Domus edifcatur, and
domus edyfcabitur, literally. For, to
say '',he house is building,'' "the
house will be building" is inaccurate
and disagreeable, and necessarily re-
quires some other form Of expression
with the active voice. Nor do some
of our modern con;rivances, such as
"the house is a building" ".he house
will be building ",he house is being
built" "the house will be being built"
seem to succeed any better. But in
the past lenses the passive voice be-
comes fertile and very agreeable, and
in them writer Of taste and Judgment
will frequently use it with propriety
and good effect.