OBS. 6.—­Of the verb BID.  This verb, in any of its tenses, when it commands an action, usually governs an object and also an infinitive, which come together; as, “Thou bidst the world adore.”—­Thomson.  “If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing.”—­2 Kings, v, 13.  But when it means, to promise or offer, the infinitive that follows, must be introduced by the preposition to; as, “He bids fair to excel them all”—­“Perhaps no person under heaven bids more unlikely to be saved.”—­Brown’s Divinity, p. vii.  “And each bade high to win him.”—­GRANVILLE:  Joh.  Dict. After the compound forbid, the preposition is also necessary; as, “Where honeysuckles forbid the sun to enter.”—­Beauties of Shak.. p. 57.  In poetry, if the measure happens to require it, the word to is sometimes allowed after the simple verb bid, denoting a command; as,

   “Bid me to strike my dearest brother dead,
    To bring my aged father’s hoary head.”—­Rowe’s Lucan, B. i, l. 677.

OBS. 7.—­Of the verb DARE.  This verb, when used intransitively, and its irregular preterit durst, which is never transitive, usually take the infinitive after them without to; as, “I dare do all that may become a man:  Who dares do more, is none.”—­Shakspeare.  “If he durst steal any thing adventurously.”—­Id. “Who durst defy th’ Omnipotent to arms.”—­Milton.  “Like one who durst his destiny control.”—­Dryden.  In these examples, the former verbs have some resemblance to auxiliaries, and the insertion of the preposition to would be improper.  But when we take away this resemblance, by giving dare or dared, an objective case, the preposition is requisite before the infinitive; as, “Time!  I dare thee to discover Such a youth or such a lover.”—­Dryden.  “He dares me to enter the lists.”—­Fisk’s Gram., p. 125.  So when dare itself is in the infinitive mood, or is put after an auxiliary, the preposition is not improper; as, “And let a private man dare to say that it will.”—­Brown’s Estimate, ii, 147. “Would its compiler dare to affront the Deity?”—­West’s Letters, p. 151.  “What power so great, to dare to disobey?”—­Pope’s Homer.  “Some would even dare to die.”—­Bible.  “What would dare to molest him?”—­Dr. Johnson. “Do you dare to prosecute such a creature as Vaughan?”—­Junius, Let. xxxiii.  Perhaps these examples might be considered good English, either with or without the to; but the last one would be still better thus:  “Dare you prosecute such a creature as Vaughan?” Dr. Priestley thinks the following sentence would have been better with the preposition inserted:  “Who have dared defy the worst.”—­HARRIS:  Priestley’s Gram., p. 132. To is sometimes used after the simple verb, in the present tense; as, “Those whose words no one dares to repeat.”—­Opie, on Lying, p. 147.