Their first step was, to possess themselves of Cæsar's papers and money, and next to convene the Senate.

Goldsmith's Roman History..

Here we must pause between was and to possess.

Never had this august assembly been convened upon so delicate an occasion, as it was, to determine whether Cæsar had been a legal magistrate or a tyrannical usurper. Ibid.

Here the pause comes between was and to determine,

Rule VIII. If there are several subjects belonging in the same manner to one verb, or several verbs, belonging in the same manner to one subject, the subjects and verbs are still to be accounted equal in number; for every verb must have its subject, and every subject its verb; and every one of the subjects, or verbs, should have its point of distinction and a short pause.

EXAMPLE,

Riches, pleasure, and health, become evils to those who do not know how to use them.

Here the subjects riches, pleasure, and health, belong each of them to the verb become; as, Riches become an evil, pleasure becomes an evil, and health be̟comes an evil, &c. Each of these, therefore, must be separated by a short pause; and all of them, forming only one compound nominative case, must, according to Rule IV. be separated by a short pause from the verb. This last pause must be the more particularly attended to, as we scarcely ever see it marked in printing. One of the best French* grammarians, however, has decided, that this pause is not only as necessary here as between the other parts, but more so; because, says he, if the pause be omitted between the

Beauzée Grammaire Generale, tom. ii. p. 583.

last nominative and the verb, it might appear that the verb were more closely united to this than any of the rest, contrary to the truth of the case.

I am perfectly of opinion with this ingenious grammarian, with respect to the propriety of placing a pause in speaking, if not in writing, between the last noun and the verb, but for very different reasons; if we ought to insert a pause here, to shew that the connection between the last noun and the verb is no greater than between the verb and the preceding nouns, no good reason can be given why we should not place a pause between the last adjective and the substantive in this sentence:

A polite, an active, and a supple behaviour, is necessary to succeed in life.

The word behaviour, in this sentence, is not more intimately connected in signification with supple, than with polite and active; and yet no punctuist would insert a pause between the two former to shew that the three properties polite, active, and supple, were equally connected with the common word behaviour. Whence then arises the propriety of placing a pause between the word health and become in the former instance? Evidently from hence: the nominative consists of three particulars, which, though distinguished from each other by pauses, form but one nominative plural, and are more connected with each other than with the verb they govern; their connection, therefore, with each other, as forming one distinct part, and not their belonging equally to the verb, is the reason that a pause is proper. If shewing the connection of dependent words to be equal, were the reason for placing a pause, we ought to place a pause. between the pronoun and the first verb in the follow. ing example:

He went into the cavern, found the instruments, hewed down the trees and in one day put the vessels in a condition for sailing. Telemachus.

Here every member depends equally on the pronoun he, and yet it would be contrary to the best practice to insert a pause between this word and the verb went. But if the common nominative consisted of more than one word, a pause would not only be allowable, but proper, as in the following example:

The active and indefatigable Telemachus, went into the cavern, found the instruments, hewed down the trees, and in one day put the vessels in a condition for sailing.

It is, therefore, because the nominative forms a class of words more intimately connected with each other than all are with the verb, that makes this part of speech separable by a pause in the latter example, and not in the former.*

Rule IX. If there are several adjectives belonging in the same manner to one substantive, or several substantives belonging in the same manner to one adjective, the adjective and substantives are still to be accounted equal in number; for every substantive must have its adjective, and every adjective its substantive; and every adjective coming after its substantive, and every adjective coming before the substantive except the last, must be separated by a short pause.

EXAMPLE.

A polite, an active, and a supple behaviour, is necessary to succeed in life.

In this example, behaviour, as was observed in the foregoing rule, is understood to belong equally to

Why a pause may be used in speaking where a comma might be improper in writing, see p. 29: and why a pause may be admitted, both in writing and speaking, between the substantive and adjective, when several adjectives follow the substantive, and not when the adjectives precede the substantive, may be seen at large, p. 36.

polite and active, as to supple, and, consequently, every adjective has its correspondent substantive; and as the adjectives come before the substantive, every one but that which immediately precedes its substantive is separated by a pause. The punctuation is different in the following sentence :

A behaviour, active, supple, and polite, is necessary to succeed in life.

In this example, as the substantive precedes the adjectives, every adjective is separated from the substantive by a pause: for the reason of this, see p. 35.

Rule X. If there are several adverbs belonging in the same manner to one verb, or several verbs belonging in the same manner to one adverb, the verbs and adverbs are still to be accounted equal in number; and if the adverbs come after the verb, they are each of them to be separated by a pause; but if the adverbs come before the verb, a pause must separate each of them from the verb but the last.

EXAMPLES.

To love, wisely, rationally, and prudently, is, in the opinion of lovers, not to love at all.

Wisely, rationally, and prudently to love, is, in the opinion of lovers, not to love at all.

In the first example, the verb and adverb are separated by a pause, for the same reason that the adjective was separated from its substantive in the same situation in the preceding rule; that is, the verb to love excites an idea which the mind may contemplate for a moment separately from the adverb which modifies it; and as this adverb is accompanied by others, they form a class more united by similitude with each other than with the verb they modify; and distinguishing the word to which they ali relate by a pause

makes an equal relation to each more distinct and apparent. The reason why this separation does not take place in the last example, is, that though modifying words may be distinguished from each other, they cannot be separated, even in idea, from the words they modify, because they give the mind no object to rest on; and so intimately are they always connected, that, though the modified word comes first, and by this means affords the mind a momentary pause, yet. no pause is admitted between the modified and the modifying word, unless the latter is accompanied by other modifying words, which then form a class apart, and require separation both from each other, and the word they modify.

Thus in the following examples:

To eat, drink, and sleep moderately is greatly conducive to health.

Moderately to eat, drink, and sleep is greatly conducive to health.

We find the adverb moderately, in the first example, coming after the verb sleep, and unaccompanied by any other words, is not separated from the verb by a pause, any more than when it precedes the verb, as in the last example: but every critical ear will admit of a pause between the verb and adverb in the following lines of Othello in Shake, speare:

Then must you speak

Of one, that loved, not wisely, but too well. Shakespeare.

Because in this passage the words, not wisely but too well, form a distinct class, and cannot be distinctly apprehended but by being separated from the verb they modify.

But when the adverb precedes the verb, it is then in the same case as the adjective before the substan