of the particle to; of which he furnishes a twofold explanation, leaving the reader to take which part he will of the contradiction.  He at first conceives it to convey in general the idea of “towards,” and to mark the infinitive as a term “towards which” something else “is directed.”  If this interpretation is the true one, it is plain that to before a verb is no other than the common preposition to; and this idea is confirmed by its ancient usage, and by all that is certainly known of its derivation.  But if we take the second solution, and say, “it signifies act,” we make it not a preposition, but either a noun or a verb; and then the question arises, Which of these is it?  Besides, what sense can there be, in supposing to go to mean act go, or to be equivalent to do go.[410]

OBS. 24.—­Though the infinitive is commonly made an adjunct to some finite verb, yet it may be connected to almost all the other parts of speech, or even to an other infinitive.  The preposition to being its only and almost universal index, we seldom find any other preposition put before this; unless the word about, in such a situation, is a preposition, as I incline to think it is.[411] Anciently, the infinitive was sometimes preceded by for as well as to; as, “I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.”—­Acts, xxiv, 11.  “What went ye out for to see?”—­Luke, vii, 26.  “And stood up for to read.”—­Luke, iv, 16.  Here modern usage rejects the former preposition:  the idiom is left to the uneducated.  But it seems practicable to subjoin the infinitive to every one of the ten parts of speech, except the article:  as,

1.  To a noun; as, “If there is any precept to obtain felicity.”—­Hawkesworth.  “It is high time to awake out of sleep.”—­Rom., xiii, 11.  “To flee from the wrath to come.”—­Matt., iii, 7.

2.  To an adjective; as, “He seemed desirous to speak, yet unwilling to offend.”—­Hawkesworth.  “He who is the slowest to promise, is the quickest to perform.”—­Art of Thinking, p. 35.

3.  To a pronoun; as, “I discovered him to be a scholar.”—­W.  Allen’s Gram., p. 166.  “Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar?”—­Luke, xx, 22.  “Let me desire you to reflect impartially.”—­BLAIR:  Murray’s Eng.  Reader, p. 77.  “Whom hast thou then or what t’ accuse?”—­Milton, P. L., iv, 67.

4.  To a finite verb; as, “Then Peter began to rebuke him.”—­Matt., xvi, 22.  “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”—­Luke, xix, 10.

5.  To an other infinitive; as, “To go to enter into Egypt.”—­Jer., xli, 17.  “We are not often willing to wait to consider.”—­J.  Abbott.  “For what had he to do to chide at me?”—­Shak.