“They laid it away so secure that they could never find it.”

They laid down to rest themselves after the fatigue of a whole day’s journey.

We have now considered the model verbs of the neuter kind, with the exception of the verb =to be=, which is left for a distinct consideration, being the most active of all verbs.  It is unnecessary to spend much time on this point.  The errors I have examined have all been discovered by teachers of language, long ago, but few have ventured to correct them.  An alleviation of the difficulty has been sought in the adoption of the intransitive verb, which “expresses an action that is confined to the actor or agent.”

The remarks which have been given in the present lecture will serve as a hint to the course we shall adopt in treating of them, but the more particular examination of their character and uses, together with some general observation on the agents and objects of verbs, will be deferred to our next lecture.

LECTURE IX.

ON VERBS.

Neuter and intransitive.—­Agents.—­Objects.—­No actions as such can be known distinct from the agent.—­Imaginary actions.—­Actions known by their effects.—­Examples.—­Signs should guide to things signified.—­Principles of action.—­=Power=.—­Animals.—­Vegetables.  —­Minerals.—­All things act.—­Magnetic needle.—­=Cause=.—­Explained.  —­First Cause.—­=Means=.—­Illustrated.—­Sir I. Newton’s example.—­ These principles must be known.—­=Relative= action.—­Anecdote of Gallileo.

We resume the consideration of verbs.  We closed our last lecture with the examination of neuter verbs, as they have been called.  It appears to us that evidence strong enough to convince the most skeptical was adduced to prove that sit, sleep, stand and lie, stand in the same relation to language as other verbs, that they do not, in any case, express neutrality, but frequently admit an objective word after them.  These are regarded as the most neutral of all the verbs except to be, which, by the way, expresses the highest degree of action, as we shall see when we come to inquire into its meaning.

Grammarians have long ago discovered the falsity of the books in the use of a large portion of verbs which have been called neuter.  To obviate the difficulty, some of them have adopted the distinction of Intransitive verbs, which express action, but terminate on no object; others still use the term neuter, but teach their scholars that when the object is expressed, it is active.  This distinction has only tended to perplex learners, while it afforded only a temporary expedient to teachers, by which to dodge the question at issue.  So far as the action is concerned, which it is the business of the verb to express, what is the difference whether “I run, or run myself?” “A man started in haste.  He ran so fast that he ran himself to death.”  I strike Thomas, Thomas strikes David, Thomas strikes himself.  Where is the difference in the action?  What matters it whether the action passes over to another object, or is confined within itself?