e latter is very far from resting solely on
the practice of a particular sect; though this, if they would forbear to
corrupt the pronoun while they simplify the verb, would deserve much more
consideration than has ever been allowed it. Which of these modes of
address is the more grammatical, it is useless to dispute; since fashion
rules the one, and a scruple of conscience is sometimes alleged for the
other. A candid critic will consequently allow all to take their choice. It
is enough for him, if he can demonstrate to the candid inquirer, what
phraseology is in any view allowable, and what is for any good reason
reprehensible. That the use of the plural for the singular is
ungrammatical, it is neither discreet nor available to affirm; yet,
surely, it did not originate in any regard to grammar rules. Murray the
schoolmaster, whose English Grammar appeared some years before that of
Lindley Murray, speaks of it as follows: "_Thou_, the second person
singular, though _strictly grammatical_, is seldom used, except in
addresses to God, in poetry, and by the people called Quakers. In all other
cases, a _fondness for foreign manners_,[242] and the power of custom, have
given a sanction to the use of _you_, for the second person singular,
though _contrary to grammar_,[243] and attended with this particular
inconveniency, that a plural verb must be used to agree with the pronoun in
number, and both applied to a _single person_; as, _you are_, or _you
were_,--not _you wast_, or _you was_."--_Third Edition_, Lond., 1793, p.
34. This author everywhere exhibits the auxiliaries, _mayst, mightst,
couldst, wouldst_, and _shouldst_, as words of one syllable; and also
observes, in a marginal note, "Some writers begin to say, '_Thou may, thou
might_,' &c."--_Ib._, p. 36. Examples of this are not very uncommon: "Thou
_shall_ want ere I want."--_Old Motto; Scott's Lay_, Note 1st to Canto 3.
"Thyself the mournful tale _shall_ tell."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 20.

"One sole condition would I dare suggest,
That _thou would save_ me from my own request."--_Jane Taylor_.

OBS. 13.--In respect to the second person singular, the grammar of Lindley
Murray makes no distinction between the solemn and the familiar style;
recognizes in no way the fashionable substitution of _you_ for _thou_; and,
so far as I perceive, takes it for granted, that every one who pretends to
speak or write grammatically, must always, in addressing an individual,
employ t