[37] "No devil sat higher than he sat, except Satan."
[38] "Speaking of Dryden, Hallam says, 'His "Essay on Dramatic Poesy," published in 1668, was reprinted sixteen years afterward, and it is curious to observe the changes which Dryden made in the expression. Malone has carefully noted all these; they show both the care the author took with his own style, and the change which was gradually working in the English language. The Anglicism of terminating the sentence with a preposition is rejected. Thus, "I can not think so contemptibly of the age I live in," is exchanged for "the age in which I live." "A deeper expression of belief than all the actor can persuade us to," is altered, "can insinuate into us." And, though the old form continued in use long after the time of Dryden, it has of late years been reckoned inelegant, and proscribed in all cases, perhaps with an unnecessary fastidiousness, to which I have not uniformly deferred, since our language is of Teutonic structure, and the rules of Latin and French grammar are not always to bind us.'
"The following examples, taken from Massinger's 'Grand Duke of Florence,' will show what was the usage of the Elizabethan writers:—
"'For I must use the freedom I was born with.'
"'In that dumb rhetoric which you make use of.'
"'—— if I had been heir
Of all the globes and sceptres mankind bows to.'
"'—— the name of friend
Which you are pleased to grace me with.'
"'—— wilfully ignorant in my opinion
Of what it did invite him to.'
"'I look to her as on a princess
I dare not be ambitious of.'
"'—— a duty
That I was born with.'"