It is singular how forgetful our great men sometimes are about observing their own rules.  Take an instance in Mr. Walker’s octavo dictionary.  Look for the word simeter, a small sword.  You will find it spelled scimitar.  Then turn over, and you will find it sim_i_t_a_r, with the same definition, and the remark, “more properly cim_e_t_a_r.”  Then turn back, and find the correct word as he spells it, and there you will find it cimet_e_r.

Unsettled as to the true spelling, go to our own honored Webster.  Look for “scimiter.”  He says, see cimit_a_r.  Then look for “cimitar;” see cim_e_t_e_r.  Then hunt up the true word, be it ar or er, and you will find it still another way, cim_i_t_e_r.  Here the scholar has seven different ways to spell this word, and neither of his authorities have followed their own examples.  I cite this as one of a thousand instances, where our savans have laid down rules for others, and disregarded them themselves.

Portia is loved and happy.  She is respectable, virtuous, talented, and respected by all who know her.  She is seated by the door.  Does the door seat her?  What agent, then, causes her passion or suffering?

The book is printed.  Will you parse is printed?  It is a passive verb, indicative mood, present tense.  Who is printing it? causing it, in the present tense, to suffer or receive the action?  The act of printing was performed a hundred years ago.  How can it be present time?

Penelope is loved by me.  The blow is received by me.  It is given by me.  Penelope is seated by me.  The earthquake is felt by her.  The evils are suffered by her.  The thunder is heard by her.  Does this mean that she is the agent, and the earthquake, evils, and thunder, are the objects which receive the effects which she produces?  That would be singular philosophy, indeed.  But to feel, to suffer, and to hear, are active, and are constructed into passive verbs.  Why is it not as correct to say she is suffering by another’s wrongs, is raging by the operation of passion, or is travelling by rail-road, are passive verbs?  The fact is, our language can not be explained by set rules or forms of speech.  We must regard the sense.  The past participle, as it is called, becomes an adjective by use, and describes her as some way affected by a previous action.  She is learned, handsome, modest, and, of course, beloved by all who know her.

To say “she is placed by the water’s edge,” is a passive verb, and that the water’s edge, as the agent, causes her “passion, suffering, or receiving of the action,” is false and ridiculous, for she placed herself there.

“We are seated on our seats by the stove.”  What power is now operating on us to make us suffer or receive the action of being seated on our seats?  Does the stove perform this action?  This is a passive verb, present tense, which requires an “object acted upon, and an agent by which it is acted upon.”  But we came in and seated ourselves here an hour ago.