the inhabitants of Spain, the body of the clergy have suffered
no diminution; but has rather been gradually increasing."--_Payne's Geog._,
ii, 418. "Small as the number of inhabitants are, yet their poverty is
extreme."--_Ib._, ii, 417. "The number of the names were about one hundred
and twenty."--_Ware's Gram._, p. 12; see _Acts_, i, 15.

RULE XVI.--FINITE VERBS.

When a Verb has two or more nominatives connected by _and_, it must agree
with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together: as, "True
rhetoric _and_ sound logic _are_ very nearly allied."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.
11. "Aggression and injury in no case _justify_ retaliation."--_Wayland's
Moral Science_, p. 406.

"Judges and senates _have been bought_ for gold,
Esteem _and_ love _were_ never to be sold."--_Pope_.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

When two nominatives connected by _and_ serve merely to describe one person
or thing, they are either in apposition or equivalent to one name, and do
not require a plural verb; as, "Immediately _comes a hue and cry_ after a
gang of thieves."--_L'Estrange_. "The _hue and cry_ of the country
_pursues_ him."--_Junius_, Letter xxiii. "Flesh and blood [i. e. man, or
man's nature,] _hath not revealed_ it unto thee."--_Matt._, xvi, 17."
Descent and fall to us _is_ adverse."--_Milton, P. L._, ii, 76. "This
_philosopher_ and _poet was banished_ from his country."--"Such a _Saviour_
and _Redeemer is_ actually _provided_ for us."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 386.
"Let us then declare what great things our _God and Saviour has done_ for
us."--_Dr. Scott_, on Luke viii. "_Toll, tribute_, and _custom, was paid_
unto them."--_Ezra_, iv, 20.

"Whose icy _current_ and compulsive _course_
Ne'er _feels_ retiring ebb, but _keeps_ due on."--_Shakspeare_.

EXCEPTION SECOND.

When two nominatives connected by _and_, are emphatically distinguished,
they belong to different propositions, and, if singular, do not require a
plural verb; as, "_Ambition_, and not the _safety_ of the state, _was
concerned_."--_Goldsmith_. "_Consanguinity_, and not _affinity, is_ the
ground of the prohibition."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 324. "But a
_modification_, and oftentimes a total _change, takes_ place."--_Maunder.
"Somewhat_, and, in many circumstances, a great _deal_ too, _is put_ upon
us."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 108. "_Disgrace_, and perhaps _ruin, was_ the
certain consequence of attempting the latter."--_Robertson's America_, i,
434.