5. For the subject of a proposition, or the chief term in such subject; as, "To steal is sinful."—"To do justice and judgement, is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."—Prov., xxi, 3. "To do RIGHT, is, to do that which is ordered to be done."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 7. "To go to law to plague a neighbour, has in it more of malice, than of love to justice."—Seattle's Mor. Sci., i, 177.
6. For the predicate of a proposition, or the chief term in such predicate; as, "To enjoy is to obey."—Pope. "The property of rain is to wet, and fire, to burn."—Beauties of Shak., p. 15. "To die is to be banished from myself."—Ib., p. 82. "The best way is, to slander Valentine."—Ib., p. 83. "The highway of the upright is to depart from evil."—Prov., xvi, 17.
7. For a coming event, or what will be; as, "A mutilated structure soon to fall."—Cowper. "He being dead, and I speedily to follow him."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 111. "She shall rejoice in time to come."—Prov., xxxi, 25. "Things present, or things to come."—1 Cor., iii, 22.
8. For a necessary event, or what ought to be; as, "It is to be remembered."—"It is never to be forgotten."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 2. "An oversight much to be deplored."—Ib., ii, 460. "The sign is not to be used by itself, or to stand alone; but is to be joined to some other term."—Ib., ii, 372. "The Lord's name is to be praised."—Ps., cxiii, 3.
9. For what is previously suggested by another word; as, "I have faith to believe."—"The glossarist did well here not to yield to his inclination."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 329. "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."—Ps., xcii, 1. "It is as sport to a fool to do mischief."—Prov., x, 23. "They have the gift to know it."—Shak. "We have no remaining occupation but to take care of the public."—Art of Thinking, p. 52.
10. For a term of comparison or measure; as, "He was so much affected as to weep."—"Who could do no less than furnish him."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 408. "I shall venture no farther than to explain the nature and convenience of these abbreviations."—Ib., ii, 439. "I have already said enough to show what sort of operation that is."—Ib., ii, 358.
OBS. 26.—After dismissing all the examples which may fairly be referred to one or other of the ten heads above enumerated, an observant reader may yet find other uses of the infinitive, and those so dissimilar that they can hardly be reduced to any one head or rule; except that all are governed by the preposition to, which points towards or to the verb; as, "A great altar to see to."—Joshua, xxii, 10. "[Greek: Bomon megan tou idein]."—Septuagint. That is, "An altar great to behold." "Altare infinitæ magnitudinis."—Vulgate. "Un fort grand autel."—French Bible. "Easy to be entreated."—Jos., iii, 17. "There was none to help."—Ps., cvii, 12. "He had rained down manna upon them to eat."—Ps., lxxviii, 24. "Remember his commandments to do them."—Ps., viii, 18. "Preserve thou those that are appointed to die."—Ps., lxxix, 11. "As coals to burning coals, and as wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife."—Prov., xxvi, 21. "These are far beyond the reach and power of any kings to do away."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 126. "I know not indeed what to do with those words."—Ib., ii, 441. "They will be as little able to justify their innovation."—Ib., ii, 448. "I leave you to compare them."—Ib., ii, 458. "There is no occasion to attribute it."—Ib., ii, 375. "There is no day for me to look upon."—Beauties of Shak., p. 82. "Having no external thing to lose."—Ib., p. 100. "I'll never be a gosling to obey instinct."—Ib., p. 200. "Whereto serves mercy, but to confront the visage of offence?"—Ib., p. 233. "If things do not go to suit him."—Liberator, ix, 182. "And, to be plain, I think there is not half a kiss to choose, who loves an other best."—Shak., p. 91. "But to return to R. Johnson's instance of good man."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 370. Our common Bibles have this text: "And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his skull."—Judges, ix, 53. Perhaps the interpretation of this may be, "and so as completely to break his skull." The octavo edition stereotyped by "the Bible Association of Friends in America," has it, "and all-to brake his skull." This, most probably, was supposed by the editors to mean, "and completely broke his skull;" but all-to is no proper compound word, and therefore the change is a perversion. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the common French version, all accord with the simple indicative construction, "and broke his skull."
OBS. 27.—According to Lindley Murray, "The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently on [say of] the rest of the sentence, supplying the place of the conjunction that with the potential mood: as, 'To confess the truth, I was in fault;' 'To begin with the first;' 'To proceed;' 'To conclude;' that is, 'That I may confess,' &c."—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 184; Ingersoll's Gram., p. 244. Some other compilers have adopted the same doctrine. But on what ground the substitution of one mood for the other is imagined, I see not. The reader will observe that this potential mood is here just as much "made absolute," as is the infinitive; for there is nothing expressed to which the conjunction that connects the one phrase, or the preposition to the other. But possibly, in either case, there may be an ellipsis of some antecedent term; and surely, if we imagine the construction to be complete without any such term, we make the conjunction the more anomalous word of the two. Confession of the truth, is here the aim of speaking, but not of what is spoken. The whole sentence may be, "In order to confess the truth, I admit that I was in fault." Or, "In order that I may confess the truth, I admit that I was in fault." I do not deny, that the infinitive, or a phrase of which the infinitive is a part, is sometimes put absolute; for, if it is not so in any of the foregoing examples, it appears to be so in the following: "For every object has several faces, so to speak, by which it may be presented to us."—Blair's Rhet., p. 41. "To declare a thing shall be, long before it is in being, and then to bring about the accomplishment of that very thing, according to the same declaration; this, or nothing, is the work of God."—Justin Martyr.
"To be, or not to be;—that is the question."—Shakspeare.
"To die;—to sleep;—To sleep! perchance, to dream!"—Id., Hamlet.