OBS. 15.—­If our prepositions were to be divided into classes, the most useful distinction would be, to divide them into Single and Double.  The distinction which some writers make, who divide them into “Separable and Inseparable,” is of no use at all in parsing, because the latter are mere syllables; and the idea of S. R. Hall, who divides them into “Possessive and Relative,” is positively absurd; for he can show us only one of the former kind, and that one, (the word of,) is not always such.  A Double Preposition, if such a thing is admissible, is one that consists of two words which in syntactical parsing must be taken together, because they jointly express the relation between two other terms; as, “The waters were dried up from off the earth.”—­Gen., viii, 13.  “The clergy kept this charge from off us.”—­Leslie, on Tithes, p. 221.  “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble, is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.”—­Prov., xxv, 19.  “The beam out of the timber shall answer it.”—­Hab., ii, 11. Off and out are most commonly adverbs, but neither of them can be called an adverb here.

OBS. 16.—­Again, if according to or as to is a preposition, then is according or as a preposition also, although it does not of itself govern the objective case. As, thus used, is called a conjunction by some, an adverb by others.  Dr. Webster considers according to be always a participle, and expressly says, “It is never a preposition.”—­Octavo Dict. The following is an instance in which, if it is not a preposition, it is a participle:  “This is a construction not according to the rules of grammar.”—­Murray’s Gram., Vol. ii, p. 22.  But according to and contrary to are expressed in Latin and Greek by single prepositions; and if to alone is the preposition in English, then both according and contrary must, in many instances, be adverbs.  Example:  “For dost thou sit as judging me according to the law, and contrary to law command me to be smitten?” (See the Greek of Acts, xxiii, 3.) Contrary, though literally an adjective, is often made either an adverb, or a part of a complex preposition, unless the grammarians are generally in error respecting it:  as, “Ha dares not act contrary to his instructions.”—­ Murray’s Key, p. 179.

OBS. 17.—­J.  W. Wright, with some appearance of analogy on his side, but none of usage, everywhere adds ly to the questionable word according; as, “We are usually estimated accordingly to our company.”—­ Philosophical Gram., p. 127. “Accordingly to the forms in which they are employed.”—­Ib., p. 137. “Accordingly to the above principles, the adjective ACCORDING (or agreeable)