The observation had been made in time past, but respecting a fact that exists now, and at all times while the British constitution exists. The sentence therefore should run thus; "it was observed that one principal bulwark of civil liberty, is the limitation of the king's prerogative."
No fault is more common; we every day hear such expressions as these; "If I thought it was so;" "suppose I should say she was handsome;" "I did not think it was so late," &c. Was, in the first and last examples, should be the infinitive, to be; and in the second, the present time, is. Had proper attention been paid to our language, so many palpable mistakes would not have crept into practice, and into the most correct and elegant writings. Dr. Reid is perhaps the only writer who has generally avoided this error.
The Greek and Roman writers were not guilty of such mistakes. Either the varieties of inflection in their languages, or superior care in the writers, made them attentive to the nice distinctions of time. In the following passage, the translators of the Bible, by adhering closely to the original, have avoided the common error before mentioned.
"I knew thee that thou art an hard man."—Matth. xxv. 24. "Εγνων ὁτι σκληρος ει ανθρωπος;" literally, having known that thou art an hard man. So also ver. 26, "Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap, where I sowed not;" "ηδεις ὁτι θεριζω." Had these passages been translated into the careless stile of modern conversation, and even of many excellent writings, they would have stood thus—"I knew thee that thou wast an hard man"—"thou knewest that I reaped where I sow not." But the general character and conduct of the person mentioned in this parable, are supposed to exist at all times while he is living; and this general nature of the fact requires the verb to be in the present time. To confirm this remark let the sentences be inverted; "thou art an hard man, I knew thee to be such, or I knew it." "I reap where I sowed not, thou knewest that." This is an indubitable evidence of the accuracy of the translation.[122]
An inversion of the order of the sentence in the passages first quoted, will show the common error in a most striking light.
"There was a God, two young men have made that discovery." "Men did God acceptable service, by abstracting themselves, &c. they have been taught this; it was their duty, they have been taught this." "The taxes we had to pay to government, if these were the only ones." This will not make sense to a man who has taxes still to pay; the writer's had to pay will not discharge the public debt. But it is unnecessary to multiply examples and arguments; the reader must be already convinced that these errors exist, and that I ought not to have been the first to notice them.
Sometimes this hypothetical tense is used with an infinitive for the future. In the following passage it seems to be correct.
"I wish I were to go to the Elysian fields, when I die, and then I should not care if I were to leave the world tomorrow."——Pope.
But the following are hardly vindicable.