1. "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." "Let us
make man." "Let us bow before the Lord." "Let high-born seraphs tune the
lyre."
2. "_Be it_ enacted." "_Be it_ remembered." _"Blessed be he_ that
blesseth thee; and _cursed be he_ that curseth thee." "My soul, turn
from them:--_turn we_ to survey," &c.
3. "_Methinks_ I see the portals of eternity wide open to receive him."
"_Methought_ I was incarcerated beneath the mighty deep." "I was there
just thirty _years ago_."
4. "Their laws and their manners, generally _speaking_, were extremely
rude." "_Considering_ their means, they have effected much."
5.
"Ah _me!_ nor hope nor life remains."
"_Me_ miserable! which way shall I fly?"
6.
"O _happiness!_ our being's end and aim!
Good, pleasure, ease, content! whatever thy name,
That something still which prompts th' eternal sigh.
For which we bear to live, or dare to die."--
The verb _let_, in the idiomatic examples under number 1, has no
nominative specified, and is left applicable to a nominative of the
first, second, or third person, and of either number. Every action
necessarily depends on an agent or moving cause; and hence it follows,
that the verb, in such constructions, has a nominative understood; but
as that nominative is not particularly _pointed out_, the constructions
may be considered anomalous.
Instead of saying, "_Let_ it [_to_] be enacted;" or, "It _is_ or _shall_
be enacted;" "_Let_ him [_to_] be blessed;" or, "He _shall_ be blessed;"
"_Let us_ turn to survey," &c.; the verbs, _be enacted, be blessed,
turn_, &c. according to an idiom of our language, or the poet's license,
are used in the _imperative_, agreeing with a nominative of the first or
third person.
The phrases, _methinks_ and _methought_, are anomalies, in which the
objective pronoun _me_, in the _first_ person, is used in place of a
nominative, and takes a verb after it in the _third_ person. _Him_ was
anciently used in the same manner; as, "_him thute_, him thought." There
was a period when these constructions were not anomalies in our
language. Formerly, what we call the _objective_ cases of our pronouns,
were employed in the same manner as our present _nominatives_ are. _Ago_
is a contraction of _agone_, the past part. of to _go_. Before this
participle was contracted to an adverb, the noun _years_ preceding it,
was in the nominative case absolute; but now the construction amounts to
an anomaly. The expressions, "generally speaking," and "considering
their means," under number 4, are idiomatical and anomalous, the
subjects to the participles not being specified.
According to the genius of the English language, transitive verbs and
prepositions require the _objective_ case of a noun or pronoun after
them; and this requisition is all that is meant by government, when we
say, that these parts of speech govern the objective case. See pages 52,
57, and 94. The same principle applies to the interjection.
Interjections require the _objective_ case of a pronoun of the first
person after them; but the _nominative_ of a noun or pronoun of the
second or third person; as, "Ah _me!_ Oh _thou!_ O my _country!_" To
say, then, that interjections _require_ particular cases after them, is
synonymous with saying, that they _govern_ those cases; and this office
of the interjection is in perfect accordance with that which it performs
in the Latin and many other languages. In the examples under number 5,
the first _me_ is in the objective after "ah," and the second _me_,
after _ah_ understood; thus, "Ah miserable me!" according to NOTE 2,
under Rule 5.--_Happiness_, under number 6, is nom. independent; Rule 5,
or in the nom. after _O_, according to this Note. The principle
contained in the note, proves that every noun of the second person is in
the _nominative_ case; for, as the pronoun of the second person, in such
a situation, is always nominative, which is shown by its _form_, it
logically follows that the noun, under such circumstances, although it
has _no form_ to show its case, must necessarily be in the same case as
the pronoun. "Good, pleasure, ease, content, _that_," the antecedent
part of "whatever," and _which_, the relative part, are nom. after _art_
understood; Rule 21, and _name_ is nom. to _be_ understood.
The second line may be rendered thus; Whether thou art good, or whether
thou art pleasure, &c. or _be_ thy _name_ that [thing] which [ever
thing] it may be: putting _be_ in the imperative, agreeing with _name_
in the third person. _Something_ is nominative after _art_ understood.