Chapter XIV: Section II: Of the Relative Pronouns

The Pronouns called Relative are such as relate, for the most part, to some word or phrase, called the antecedent, on account of its going before: they are, _who_, _which_, and _that_: as, "The man who does not drink enough when he can get it, is a fool: but he that drinks too much is a beast."

_What_ is usually equivalent to _that which_, and is, therefore, a kind of compound relative, containing both the antecedent and the relative; as, "You want what you'll very soon have!" that is to say, the thing which you will very soon have.

_Who_ is applied to persons, _which_ to animals and things without life; as, "He is a gentleman who keeps a horse and lives respectably." To the dog which pinned the old woman, they cried, '_Cosar!_'"

That, as a relative, is used to prevent the too frequent repetition of _who and which_, and is applied both to persons and things; as, He that stops the bottle is a Cork man."

"This is the _house that_ Jack built."

Who is of both numbers; and so is an Editor; for, according to what we observed just now, he is both singular and plural. Who, we repeat, is of both numbers, and is thus declined:--

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SINGULAR AND PLURAL.

To despair shall I doom? Which, {047}that and what are indeclinable; except that whose is sometimes used as the possessive case of which;

"The roe, poor dear, laments amain,

Whose sweet hart was by hunter slain."

Who, which, and what, when they are used in asking questions, are called Interrogatives; as, "Who is Mr. Walker?". "Which is the left side of a round plum-pudding?"

"What is the damage?"

Those who, have made popular phraseology their study, will have found that which is sometimes used for whereas, and words of like signification; as in Dean Swift's "Mary the Cookmaid's Letter to Dr. Sheridan:"

"And now I know whereby you would fain make an excuse,
Because my master one day in anger call'd you a goose;
_Which_, and I am sure I have been his servant since October,
And he never called me worse than sweetheart, drunk or sober."

What, or, to speak more improperly, wot, is generally substituted by cabmen and hack-drivers for who; as, "The donkey wot wouldn't go."

"The girl wot sweeps the crossing."

That, likewise, is very frequently rejected by the vulgar, {048}who use as in its place; as, "Them as asks shan't have any; and them as don't ask don't want any."