It will be seen from the foregoing, that the indic. pres. in both the sing. and plur. has been built upon the secd. pers. sing. We shall now show that the other tenses of this verb, in some of the languages at least, are built upon this, and that the tenses, when so formed, become by mere vowel changes, the suffix terminations of the regular conjugations of verbs.

Prof. Bopp has shown, in the work above referred to, that the indic. imperf. of this verb, was made by repeating the root before the present tense; thus secd. pers. sing. pres. es, imp. es-as, or for euphony, and in obedience to the general laws of language, er-as, and so of the rest of the tenses. But though he has clearly proved the fact of this origin of the imperfect tense, he does not seem to have been aware of the principle upon which it proceeded. This principle we take to be a law which appears to be general, that when the verb of existence is prefixed to a given tense, it changes the time of the action. This principle may be illustrated by reference to a variety of languages. Thus in Hebrew, if vau conversive, which is now generally admitted to be the principal part of havah and hayah,* the Heb. verb of existence, be prefixed to a future tense, it converts it to a past, thus yiktol, he will kill, with vau prefixed, becomes past time, as vayiktol, he killed, or was killing. The Arabic has the same construction, but writes the prefixed verb in full. This construction is clearly apparent in the Latin subj. imp., as from the subj. pres. sis, comes imp. es-ses. So the fut. of the Greek eis, is sis-ku, or do-n, with iota subscript. The Eng. has the same construction, which is common in conversation, though not often used in writing, owing to the mistaken notion, that it is not grammatical. The following will serve as examples. "Ye arecome," and "I am-come," for "Ye have-come," and "I havecome," where a perfect tense is made by the union of two present tenses. This use pervades the Scriptures, both in regard to come and become, where the preter tenses of this verb are universally formed with to be. Nor is the English singular in this, as the French uses either être "to be," or avoir "to have.” The Italian, however, never uses to have in forming the compound tenses, but always essere to be." Hence in Italian, instead of saying, I have been, and I had been, they say I am been, and I was been. Upon this principle es, which is present, when reduplicated becomes past.

66

The perf. tense of the Lat. is made by adding the syllable fu to the present, and the pluperf. by adding the same syllable to the imp. BOPP has sufficiently proved the identity of this syllable with the Sanscrit v, av, and uv, used in forming the preter tenses in that

* Dr. Nordheimer adds vau conjunctive, (answering to and, conjunctive.) Heb. Gram. §§ 218, 688.

language, but we believe no one has attempted to point out the origin or meaning of either.* According to the principles upon which we have seen the other tenses are formed, this syllable ought to be a relic of the verb of existence in some language. And this we apprehend is the fact, for it appears to us to be the same syllable as the vau conversive of the Hebrew, which these early languages borrowed from the Hebrew, or which both obtained from a common source. Our reasons for this opinion are, the vau conversive, is the same syllable as the Sans. av, and uv, the Latin fu, which in composition become vi, the Gothic va and wa, Swedish and Icelandic va, Germ., Ang.-Sax. and Eng. wa,-it is used in all these languages for the same purpose,-to form a new tense, in Sansc. and Lat. to form the first and second preter tenses, in Goth., Ice., Ags., Germ., and Eng., to form the imperfect, and in Heb. to convert a future into a past. In all these languages, too, save the Heb. it is prefixed to the same root, as, es, and is. From this it will be seen, that the Lat. perf. fu-is-ti, or fu-is, is the same word as the Goth., and Eng. imp. wa-s, Ags. wa-es, (was,) Germ. wa-r, Ice. and Swedish va-r.

The probability that the Sans., Lat., and Goth., borrowed the vau from the Hebrew, or all from the same source, is heightened by the fact, that the root of this verb as, es, and is, is the same word, if we leave out of consideration the Masoretic points, as the Hebrew impersonal verb of existence, AS, there is, it is, and the same word as the Hebrew noun of existence, IS, denoting being, existence, and which, though appearing in the character of a noun, is used for the verb havah and hayah, "to be," without reference to number or person.t

These considerations will enable any one to see how all the tenses of the verb of existence are formed in the Latin. We subjoin a synoptical view of the secd. pers. sing. in all the tenses of the indic. and subj. moods, in the form in which they appear, both when standing alone, and when used in composition, or as a suffix.

From this it will be seen that the verb of existence, is the suffix termination of all the regular conjugations of Lat. verbs, unless

* Since this article was written, we have observed that Dr. Nordheimer suggests that many of the Indo-European languages express this verb by the cognate labials b, v, and f. Heb. Gram. § 647.

+ Gesenius, Heb. Lex. in loco.

we except the indic., imp. and fut., which suffix bas and bis, instead of ras and ris. But that this is no more than a mere consonant change, may be shown in several ways. The following, however, will be sufficient to explain it. The Span. and Port. verb of existence, every one knows to have been derived from the Lat. But in the imp. indic. r is changed to b by the Span. and to v by the Port. through the whole tense; thus for er-as the Span. has esta-bas, and Port. esta-vas. In this case it seems to have been assumed by these languages, that est was the root of this verb, that eras was the termination, and that when the theme was prefixed to the termination, r was changed to b or v. The same change has been wrought in the Latin under the same circumstances, and as would seem upon the same principle.

Additional proof of a change of s to r, may be derived from the modern languages. We have seen that the Latin subj. imp., when suffixed to form the regular conjugations, changes s to r. So the Icelandic, which has descended from the old Gothic, which had is, as a root of this verb, has changed it to r throughout the indic. pres., as may be seen in the table we have given. In the imp. indic. the old Goth. has vas and was, which the Germ. has changed to war, and the Ice. and Swedish to var. The Swedish and Eng. have also made a similar change in the indic. pres. from is, forming are, and the Eng. from the Ang.-Sax. east, forming art. The same change has been made in the suffix to the Lat. infin. es-e, which, when suffixed, becomes in the active voice ere, and in the passive voice, eri. This conclusion is very much strengthened by the fact, that the Spanish and Portuguese have actually changed the s of the infinitive to r, and for esse have ser, and est-ar, the latter being made by repeating est before the former. So the French has changed esse into être, where one s of esse has become t, and the other r. It should also be borne in mind, that the regular conjugations of French verbs make the infinit. in er, ir, oir and re; the Italian in are, ere, ire, and the Spanish in ar, er, and ir.

The first general principle above described, that of making the verb of existence the termination of the regular conjugations, holds true to some extent in the Greek, for the terminations of the secd. pers. sing. and plur. in the indic. optative and subj. moods, are the same as the indic. pres. of slut. The first pers. plur. in the same tenses follows the same law, and the third pers. plur. vacillates between the dialectic forms, es and ev, or is compounded of both. The first pers. sing. in nearly all the tenses of the Greek, and occasionally in Latin, drops the characteristic termination, and substitutes an o. With this single exception, the foregoing principles are universal in the active voice of Latin verbs, except in the weak conjugation in short e, which drops the

suffix vi in the preter. tenses, as lego has legi, instead of legi-vi, or legui, according to the analogy of the other verbs.

The Ags., in the transmigration to which language has been doomed, changed the order of the second and third persons of the Gothic indic. pres. sing., as eom, east, is, for im, is, ist, and took the Gothic third pers. plur. sind, as the plural of all three persons in this tense. It also took another form in this tense, and like the Latin changed s to b, and dropped the characteristic termination of the first pers. sing., as beo, byst, byth; plur. beoth in all the persons. The Eng. in deriving this verb from the Ags. has made still further modifications, changing s to r, (are, art,) and substituting are for synd in all the numbers of the plural, and has restricted the use of be, which was both indic. and subj. in Ags. altogether to the latter mood.

In forming the terminations of regular verbs, the Goth. nearly coincides with the Lat., dropping the characteristic letter in the first pers. sing., using is, in the secd. pers., and eth, and ith, in the third pers. sing. of the pres. tense, but omitting it altogether in the indic. imp., and in both tenses of the subj. mood. The plur. in the first person has the im, the second th, and the third n, thus following exactly the termination of the verb of existence.

The Ice. also, in the conjugation of regular verbs, follows the termination of its substantive verb. The first pers. sing. in nearly all the conjugations omits the characteristic letter, like the languages already mentioned. The secd. pers. sing. has er, or est, and the third pers. in the indic. usually er, but in the subj. no peculiar ending. The plur. in most cases has in the three persons um, ud, and u, like the verb of existence, though in some instances it carries um through all the persons.

The Ags., in forming the terminations of regular verbs, follows either com or beo, dropping the pronominal ending in the first pers. sing. of the indic. and subj. moods, as is done by the Lat., Goth. and Gr., in which particular it is followed by the Eng. In the secd. pers. sing. the Ags., and after it the Eng., has est, st, or t, like east and byst, both in the indic. and subj. moods. In the indic. pres. third pers. sing. both the Ags. and Eng. use s, contract of the Ags. and Eng. is, and th, either a contract of the Ags. byth, or the cognate of t, the characteristic of this number and person in the languages we have above enumerated. The Ags. plurals of regular verbs, with few exceptions, take the suffix th, or n, both of which are found in the indic. pres. plur. synd, subj. pres. sing. syn, and plur. beoth. In English these terminations have been entirely omitted, and the plural has no characteristic ending.

In forming the imp. tense, d, the cognate of t, is only used, either in Ags. or Eng., except in a few cases where it is made by an internal change of the vowel, as bring, brang; sing, sang; stand,

stood, etc., which depends upon another principle, and belongs to another part of this subject. The Ags. retained the usual plural, ending in the imp. tense, but the Eng. has cast it off altogether.

We see from the foregoing, that in the derived languages of Europe, the verb of existence furnishes the suffix terminations of the various moods and tenses of regular verbs, and that though in some, the original use has been lost, we may still trace all the verbal suffixes in any of these languages to their source, and ascertain their precise character and meaning.

C.

EPILEG OMENA.

"WELL," soliloquized Alcibiades, to whom had been assigned the trouble of getting up this sixth number, and who by some unaccountable access of punctuality had arrived first at the editorial sanctum,-"this is our last number of the Magazine, henceforward we are to resign the helm into other hands--well, if our successors have as good luck as we have had, in steering clear of censure, they will have cause enough to bless their stars--it's hard to give up the management of one's bantling even though one may be sure that the offspring will lose nothing by the change--O, Maga! over whose youthful steps we have watched with more than a father's care or a mother's love,--tender juvenile did we receive thee from the arms of thy begetters, and how we have wet-nursed thee! what sleepless nights and toilsome days have sped by and found us occupied in fostering thy improvement! what untimely wrinkles and premature grey hairs hast thou sprinkled · over our heads! and still, though thou hast not passed thine age of babyhood, and art yet a thing

"Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms,"

I question much whether one of our fraternity is over desirous to be rid of thy pleasing, anxious care. True, it sounds fine to say that, after all, an Editor's life is no “sinecure,”—that it is not passed in sleeping upon a bed of roses,—that he is the servant or rather slave of the public, and no man is less his own master,--and after all it must be confessed that it is something of a bore to be called upon to write an article of just so many lines and no more, in order to fill up a vacant page--to have your favorite subject mutilated into square inches--to crush your ideas into a given compass, and to measure your thoughts by the rule--and sometimes it is a bore to have to write at all, and then the correction of "proofs” is decidedly a bore; but yet, there is a sort of a something, a je ne sais quoi, about the office by no means unattractive. An Editor! why his is a life for Jove himself! he is the dispenser of an intellectual banquet to a hungry community! a banquet garnished with the substantials of essays, and set off with the nicknackeries of tales and poetry, (by the way in cooking up a Magazine, it will be found as in other kinds of cookery, that the light articles are sometimes heaviest of digestion,) his is a "feed," compared with which nectar and ambrosia are as naught, he is the arbiter elegantiarum, or ought to be, in all matters of literary taste, he is the controller of that magna parens frugum, a Magazine, whose monthly labors delight the wondering specta