1. "The soldiers should have toss'd me on their pikes,
Before I would have granted to that act."
—Shakspeare.
2. "This minstrel-god, well-pleased, amid the quire
Stood proud to hymn, and tune his youthful lyre."
—Pope.
XXIII. They give to the imperative mood the first and the third person; as,
1. "Turn we a moment fancy's rapid flight."
—Thomson.
2. "Be man's peculiar work his sole delight."
—Beattie.
3. "And what is reason? Be she thus defin'd:
Reason is upright stature in the soul."
—Young.
XXIV. They employ can, could, and would, as principal verbs transitive; as,
1. "What for ourselves we can, is always ours."
—Anon.
2. "Who does the best his circumstance allows,
Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more."
—Young.
3. "What would this man? Now upward will he soar,
And, little less than angel, would be more."
—Pope.