OBS. 16.—­It was observed by Priestley, and after him by Lindley Murray, from whom others again have copied the remark:  “Sometimes the particles or and nor, may, either of them, be used with nearly equal propriety; [as,] ’The king, whose character was not sufficiently vigorous, nor decisive, assented to the measure.’—­Hume.  Or would perhaps have been better, but nor seems to repeat the negation in the former part of the sentence, and therefore gives more emphasis to the expression.”—­ Priestley’s Gram., p. 138; Murray’s, i, 212; Ingersoll’s, 268; R.  C. Smith’s, 177.  The conjunction or might doubtless have been used in this sentence, but not with the same meaning that is now conveyed; for, if that connective had been employed, the adjective decisive would have been qualified by the adverb sufficiently, and would have seemed only an alternative for the former epithet, vigorous.  As the text now stands, it not only implies a distinction between vigour of character and decision of character, but denies the latter to the king absolutely, the former, with qualification.  If the author had meant to suggest such a distinction, and also to qualify his denial of both, he ought to have said—­“not sufficiently vigorous, nor sufficiently decisive.”  With this meaning, however, he might have used neither for not; or with the former, he might have used or for nor, had he transposed the terms—­“was not decisive, or sufficiently vigorous.”

OBS. 17.—­In the tenth edition of John Burn’s Practical Grammar, published at Glasgow, in 1810, are the following suggestions:  “It is not uncommon to find the conjunctions or and nor used indiscriminately; but if there be any real distinction in the proper application of them, it is to be wished that it were settled.  It is attempted thus:—­Let the conjunction or be used simply to connect the members of a sentence, or to mark distribution, opposition, or choice, without any preceding negative particle; and nor to mark the subsequent part of a negative sentence, with some negative particle in the preceding part of it.  Examples of OR:  ’Recreation of one kind or other is absolutely necessary to relieve the body or mind from too constant attention to labour or study.’—­’After this life, succeeds a state of rewards or punishments.’—­’Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love?’ Examples of NOR:  ’Let no man be too confident, nor too diffident of his own abilities.’—­’Never calumniate any man, nor give the least encouragement to calumniators.’—­’There is not a Christian duty to which providence has not annexed a blessing, nor any affliction for which a remedy is not provided.’  If the above distinction be just, the following passage seems to be faulty: