OBS 17.—A few other verbs, besides the eight which are mentioned in the foregoing rule and remarks, sometimes have the infinitive after them without to. W. Allen teaches, that, "The sign to is generally omitted," not only after these eight, but also after eight others; namely, "find, have, help, mark, observe, perceive, watch, and the old preterit gan, for began; and sometimes after behold and know."—Elements of Gram., p. 167. Perhaps he may have found some instances of the omission of the preposition after all these, but in my opinion his rule gives a very unwarrantable extension to this "irregularity," as Murray calls it. The usage belongs only to particular verbs, and to them not in all their applications. Other verbs of the same import do not in general admit the same idiom. But, by a license for the most part peculiar to the poets, the preposition to is occasionally omitted, especially after verbs equivalent to those which exclude it; as, "And force them sit."—Cowper's Task, p. 46. That is, "And make them sit." According to Churchill, "To use ought or cause in this manner, is a Scotticism: [as,] 'Won't you cause them remove the hares?'—'You ought not walk.' SHAK."—New Gram., p. 317. The verbs, behold, view, observe, mark, watch, and spy, are only other words for see; as, "There might you behold one joy crown an other."—Shak. "There I sat, viewing the silver stream glide silently towards the tempestuous sea."—Walton. "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."—Luke, x, 18.
"Thy drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them spy
Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie."—Milton.
———"Nor with less dread the loud
Ethereal trumpet from on high 'gan blow."—Id., P. L., vi, 60.
OBS. 18.—After have, help, and find, the infinitive sometimes occurs without the preposition to, but much oftener with it; as, "When enumerating objects which we wish to have appear distinct."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 222. "Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of truth."—Ld. Bacon. "What wilt thou have me to do?"—Acts, ix, 6. "He will have us to acknowledge him."—Scougal, p. 102. "I had to walk all the way."—Lennie's Gram., p. 85. "Would you have them let go then? No."—Walker's Particles, p. 248. According to Allen's rule, this question is ambiguous; but the learned author explains it in Latin thus: "Placet igitur eos dimitti? Minimé." That is, "Would you have them dismissed then? No." Had he meant, "Would you have them to let go then?" he would doubtless have said so. Kirkham, by adding help to Murray's list, enumerates nine verbs which he will have to exclude the sign of the infinitive; as, "Help me do it."—Gram., p. 188. But good writers sometimes use the particle to after this verb; as, "And Danby's matchless impudence helped to support the knave."—DRYDEN: Joh. Dict., w. Help. Dr. Priestley says, "It must, I suppose, be according to the Scotch idiom that Mrs. Macaulay omits it after the verb help: 'To help carry on the new measures of the court.' History, Vol. iv, p. 150."—Priestley's Gram., p. 133. "You will find the difficulty disappear in a short time."—Cobbett's English Gram., ¶ 16. "We shall always find this distinction obtain."—Blair's Rhet., p. 245. Here the preposition to might have been inserted with propriety. Without it, a plural noun will render the construction equivocal. The sentence, "You will find the difficulties disappear in a short time," will probably be understood to mean, "You will find that the difficulties disappear in a short time." "I do not find him reject his authority."—Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 167. Here too the preposition might as well have been inserted. But, as this use of the infinitive is a sort of Latinism, some critics would choose to say, "I do not find that he rejects his authority." "Cyrus was extremely glad to find them have such sentiments of religion."—Rollin, ii, 117. Here the infinitive may be varied either by the participle or by the indicative; as, "to find them having," or, "to find they had." Of the three expressions, the last, I think, is rather the best.
OBS. 19.—When two or more infinitives are connected in the same construction, one preposition sometimes governs them both or all; a repetition of the particle not being always necessary, unless we mean to make the terms severally emphatical. This fact is one evidence that to is not a necessary part of each infinitive verb, as some will have it to be. Examples: "Lord, suffer me first TO go and bury my father."—Matt., viii, 21. "To shut the door, means, TO throw or cast the door to."—Tooke's D. P., ii, 105. "Most authors expect the printer TO spell, point, and digest their copy, that it may be intelligible to the reader."—Printer's Grammar.
"I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield."—Shak.
OBS. 20.—An infinitive that explains an other, may sometimes be introduced without the preposition to; because, the former having it, the construction of the latter is made the same by this kind of apposition: as, "The most accomplished way of using books at present is, TO serve them as some do lords; learn their titles, and, then brag of their acquaintance."—SWIFT: Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 166.
OBS. 21.—After than or as, the sign of the infinitive is sometimes required, and sometimes excluded; and in some instances we can either insert it or not, as we please. The latter term of a comparison is almost always more or less elliptical; and as the nature of its ellipsis depends on the structure of the former term, so does the necessity of inserting or of omitting the sign of the infinitive. Examples: "No desire is more universal than [is the desire] to be exalted and honoured."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 197. "The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as [is the difficulty] to find a friend worth dying for."—Id., Art of Thinking, p. 42. "It is no more in one's power to love or not to love, than [it is in one's power] to be in health or out of order."—Ib., p. 45. "Men are more likely to be praised into virtue, than [they are likely] to be railed out of vice."—Ib., p. 48. "It is more tolerable to be always alone, than [it is tolerable] never to be so."—Ib., p. 26. "Nothing [is] more easy than to do mischief [is easy]: nothing [is] more difficult than to suffer without complaining" [is difficult].—Ib., p. 46. Or: "than [it is easy] to do mischief:" &c., "than [it is difficult] to suffer," &c. "It is more agreeable to the nature of most men to follow than [it is agreeable to their nature] to lead."—Ib., p. 55. In all these examples, the preposition to is very properly inserted; but what excludes it from the former term of a comparison, will exclude it from the latter, if such governing verb be understood there: as, "You no more heard me say those words, than [you heard me] talk Greek." It may be equally proper to say, "We choose rather to lead than follow," or, "We choose rather to lead than to follow."—Art of Thinking, p. 37. The meaning in either case is, "We choose to lead rather than we choose to follow." In the following example, there is perhaps an ellipsis of to before cite: "I need do nothing more than simply cite the explicit declarations," &c.—Gurney's Peculiarities, p. 4. So in these: "Nature did no more than furnish the power and means."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 147.
"To beg, than work, he better understands;
Or we perhaps might take him off thy hands."
—Pope's Odyssey, xvii, 260.
OBS. 22.—It has been stated, in Obs. 16th on Rule 17th, that good writers are apt to shun a repetition of any part common to two or more verbs in the same sentence; and among the examples there cited is this: "They mean to, and will, hear patiently."—Salem Register. So one might say, "Can a man arrive at excellence, who has no desire to?"—"I do not wish to go, nor expect to."—"Open the door, if you are going to." Answer: "We want to, and try to, but can't." Such ellipses of the infinitive after to, are by no means uncommon, especially in conversation; nor do they appear to me to be always reprehensible, since they prevent repetition, and may contribute to brevity without obscurity. But Dr. Bullions has lately thought proper to condemn them; for such is presumed to have been the design of the following note: "To, the sign of the infinitive, should never be used for the infinitive itself. Thus, 'I have not written, and I do not intend to,' is a colloquial vulgarism for, 'I have not written, and I do not intend to write.'"—Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 179. His "Exercises to be corrected," here, are these: "Be sure to write yourself and tell him to. And live as God designed me to."—Ib., 1st Ed., p. 180. It being manifest, that to cannot "be used for"—(that is, in place of—)what is implied after it, this is certainly a very awkward way of hinting "there should never be an ellipsis of the infinitive after to." But, from the false syntax furnished, this appears to have been the meaning intended. The examples are severally faulty, but not for the reason suggested—not because "to" is used for "write" or "live"—not, indeed, for any one reason common to the three—but because, in the first, "to write" and "have not written," have nothing in common which we can omit; in the second, the mood of "tell" is doubtful, and, without a comma after "yourself," we cannot precisely know the meaning; in the third, the mood, the person, and the number of "live," are all unknown. See Note 9th to Rule 17th, above; and Note 2d to the General Rule, below.