Adjectives by which advantage, disadvantage, likeness, unlikeness,
pleasure, submission, or relation to any thing is signified, require a
dative case; as
Astaci incocti patriæ idonei sunt in pace; cocti autem in bello.
Raw lobsters are serviceable to their country in peace; but boiled
ones in war.
Lobster's _claws_ are nasty things to get into.
The Corporation of London seemed very much afraid of the _Police
clause_.
One of the reasons why a soldier is sometimes called a lobster, probably
is, that the latter is a _marine_ animal.
Balænæ persimile:
Very like a whale.
Qui color albus erat nunc est contrarius albo:
The colour which was white is now contrary to white.
Some people will swear white is black to gain their ends; and a man who
will do this, though he may not always be--
Jucundus amicis:
Pleasant to his friends;
is nevertheless frequently so to his _constituents_.
Hither are referred nouns compounded of the preposition _con_, as
contubernalis, a comrade; commilito, a fellow soldier, &c. You must
_con_ all such words attentively before you can _con_strue well, or the
_con_sequence will be, that you will be _con_siderably blown up, if not
_con_foundedly flogged.
Some of these which signify similitude, are also joined to a genitive
case, as
Par uncti fulminis:
Like greased lightning.
The familiarity of our transatlantic friends with the nature of the
electric fluid, is no doubt owing to the discoveries of their countryman
Franklin. _Q._ Was the lightning which that philosopher drew down from
the clouds, of the kind mentioned in the example?
Communis, common; alienus, strange; immunis, free, are joined to a
genitive, dative, and also to an ablative case, with a preposition, as
Aures longæ communes asinorum sunt:
Long ears are common to asses.
Though _musical_ ears are not. We even doubt whether they would have the
slightest admiration for _Bray_-ham.
Non sunt communes caudæ hominibus:
Tails are not common to men.
Except coat-tails, shirt-tails, pig-tails, and rats'-tails-- to which
en-_tails_ may perhaps also be added, though these last are often cut
off.
Non alienus a poculo cerevisiæ:
Not averse to a pot of beer.
We should think we were not; and should as soon think of engaging in an
unnatural quarrel with our bread and butter.
Natus, born; commodus, convenient; incommodus, inconvenient; utilis,
useful; inutilis, useless; vehemens, earnest; aptus, fit, are sometimes
also joined to an accusative case with a preposition, as
Natus ad laqueum:
Born to a halter.
[Illustration]
Those who are reserved for this exalted destiny, are said to enjoy a
peculiar immunity from drowning. Is this the reason why _watermen_ are
such a set of rogues?
To prevent mistakes, it should be mentioned, that the _watermen_ here
meant are those who, by their own account, are so called from their
office being _to shut the doors of hackney coaches_.
Verbal adjectives ending in _bilis_, taken passively, and participles
made adjectives ending in _dus_, require a dative case; as
Nulli penetrabilis astro;