"'Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee.'
"'Come one, come all, this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I.'—Scott.
"The following examples are given by Mätzner:
"'Varney's communications, be they what they might, were operating in his favor.'—Scott.
"'Governing persons, were they never so insignificant intrinsically, have for most part plenty of Memoir-writers.'—Carlyle.
"'Even were I disposed, I could not gratify the reader.'—Warren.
"'Bring them back to me, cost what it may.'—Coleridge, 'Wallenstein.'
"'And will you, nill you, I will marry you.'—'Taming of the Shrew.'
"Were is used in the principal clause for 'should be' or 'would be.'[32]
"'I were (=should be) a fool, not less than if a panther
Were panic-stricken by the antelope's eye,
If she escape me.'—Shelley.