The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1863-05-07
p e r. 3 e.
AN ESSAY, IN ITSELF, OF ITSELF, BY ITSELF.

w ~ "o~ W WV syh"pIeS' Ioi
Notwithstanding the casual observer
might insist that it is two words, yet it
evidently comes within that class Of ar
ticulate sounds and uttersnccs. that are,
as George Colmau the younger, says,
Like two single gentlemen rolled into one"
such as sur tout, non compos, de facto,
aud per cent.
1t is, more strictly speaking, a com.
pound word, originally derived from the
Latin, but for many years incorporated
in the English language, and now as
completely anglicized, US the words depot,
album, mortgage, and omnibus, of which
the foreign Origin is familiar to US all.
The word per Sc, was adopted and nsod
by Shakespeare, whose works have been
called "the great we'll of English unde.
fled" 1t is. if remember right, in
the play Of "Troilus and Cressida:
"They say he is a very man, per Sc,
And stands alone
We find it in the oldest English die.
tionaries; in Bailey, with literal trans
lation Of the original Latin words as its
definition, "by himself" "by herself"
by itself ;"-and in that laborious com
pilation Of England's greatest le1icogra
pher, DR.. Samuel johnson, the literary
leviathan of his day, coupled, in one Of
the early editions. with the somewha,
whimsical illustration of its meaning
Zone does not like mustard per Sc" l,
will also be found in the imperishable
work of our own celebrated Noah Web
ster, the great American standard of the
English language, end the conclusion is
irrcsistable, that it is we'll known and
established as an English word by the
highest authorities
1t manifestIy owes its introduction as
q member o: the great body of our liter
ature, to the fact that it combines the
meaning Of three forms Of expression, in
itself, Of itself, and by itself, and can ap.
propriately be used in those particular
cases, where the subject may admit Of
either Of the terms, in, of, or by; but
its more general use is doubtless from its
peculiar aptitude 10 referring to an ab.
strs- ton, or that which standeth alone,
in itself, of itself, aud by itself.
1t would seem to have first become
generally brought into notice in this
country, from the circumstance tha. it
was somewhat iufelicitously placed in
the celebrated Bank Veto Message, full
minated on the 10th day of August,
1871, by the accidental President of the
United States, in the following sentence,
The power Of Congress to create Ma,
tional Bank to operate per Sc over the
Union"
The meaning Of the word at that time,
and iD that coanexion, was understood
by many to be cover the Union -
indeed, I distinctly recollect hearing a
flowery democratic demagcgue, shortly
afterward, round of one of the grandilo.
quent periods of his convulsive eloqucnce,
with the Inspiring assurance to the hear.
ers, that "the beauties and bounteous
blessings of democracy, like the copious
and refreshing dews Of indulgcnt Hcav.
co, in their rich pIentitude and profu-
sion, descend per Sc all over the Union. "
l perhaps may be pardoued, being po.
litical opponent, for remarkipg that |
considered this astounding burst of rhet.
oric to be nothing more nor less than
unmitigated nonsense, in itself, of itself,
and by itself.
The pronunciation of the word, &C
cording to all the standard authorities, is
plainly and simply, per Sc; for as we'd
ding itself to the afinities of the Ian
guage into which it had become natural.
lied, it became per Sc pure and unadul-
terated per sc, in" itself, of itself, and
by itself. Not pare se, as one of the
legal fraternity so affectedly calls it, for
it hath no intrinsic relation to a pear, a
plum. or any other fruitful product in
his horn of plenty, and if our modern
Blackstone ignores the vegetable idea,
taking the other horn of the dilemma,
that his pear is "a COUPLE" he can at
once be deforced from the delusion by
the intrinsic evidence of its singular
definition, in itself, Of itself, and by it.
self. Nor 10 it per say, az emphatically
euunciated by one Of our learned diviues;
which latter pronunciation savors some.
what Of = hiberniau proclivity, to illus.