For the want of a proper knowledge of this little pronoun _it_, many
grammarians have been greatly puzzled how to dispose of it, or how to
account for its multiform, and, seemingly, contradictory characters. It
is in great demand by writers of every description. They use it without
ceremony; either in the nominative or objective case; either to
represent one person or thing, or more than one. It is applied to nouns
in the masculine, feminine, or neuter gender, and, very frequently, it
represents a member of a sentence, a whole sentence, or a number of
sentences taken in a mass.
A little attention to its true character, will, at once, strip it of all
its mystery. _It_, formerly written _hit_, according to H. Tooke, is the
past participle of the Moeso-Gothic verb _haitan_. It means, _the said_,
and, therefore, like its near relative _that_, meaning, _the assumed_,
originally had no respect, in its application, to number, person, or
gender. "_It_ is a wholesome law;" i.e. _the_ _said_ (law) is a
wholesome law; or, _that_ (law) is a wholesome law;--_the assumed_ (law)
is a wholesome law. "_It_ is the man; I believe _it_ to be them:"--_the
said_ (man) is the man; _that_ (man) is the man: I believe _the said_
(persons) to be them; I believe _that_ persons (according to the ancient
application of _that_) to be them. "_It_ happened on a summer's day,
that many people were assembled," &c.--Many people were assembled: _it,
that_, or _the said_ (fact or circumstance) happened on a summer's day.
_It_, according to its accepted meaning in modern times, is not referred
to a noun understood after it, but is considered a substitute. "How is
_it_ with you?" that is, "How is your _state_ or _condition_?" "_It_
rains; _It_ freezes; _It_ is a hard winter;"--_The rain_ rains; _The
frost_ frosts or freezes; _The said_ (winter) is a hard winter. "_It_ is
delightful to see brothers and sisters living in uninterrupted love to
the end of their days." What is delightful? _To see brothers and sisters
living in uninterrupted love to the end of their days. It, this thing_,
is delightful. _It_, then, stands for all that part of the sentence
expressed in italics; and the sentence will admit of the following
construction; "To see brothers living in uninterrupted love to the end
of their days, is delightful."
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