you was come," and so forth, in which forms of speech they perceive a peculiar elegance.
The infinitive mood, or part of a sentence, is sometimes used as the nominative case to the verb: as, "to be good is to be happy:" which is as grammatical an assertion as "Toby Good is Toby Happy;" and rather surpasses it in respect of sense. "That two pippins are a pair, is a proposition which no man in his senses will deny."
"To be a connoisseur in boots,
To hate all rational pursuits,
To make your money fly, as though
Gold would as fast as mushrooms grow;
To haunt the Opera, save whene'er
There's anything worth hearing there;
To smirk, to smile, to bow, to dance,
To talk of what they eat in France,
To languish, simper, sue, and sigh,
And stuff her head with flattery;
Are means to gain that worthless part,
A fashionable lady's heart."
Here are examples enough, in all conscience, of infinitive moods serving as nominative cases.
All verbs, save only in the infinitive mood or participle, require a nominative case either expressed or understood: as, "Row with me down the river," that is "Row thou, or do thou row." "Come where the aspens quiver," "come thou, or do thou come." "Fly not yet;" "fly not thou, or do not thou fly." "Pass the ruby;" "pass thou, or do thou pass the ruby" (not the Rubicon).
