Chapter XV: 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, ‘Cæsar!’” “This is the _tree which_ Larkins called a _h_elm.”

Larkins.--I say, Nibbs, ven is a helm box like a asthmatical chest?

Nibbs.--Ven it’s a _coffin_.

_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:--

SINGULAR AND PLURAL.

Nominative. Who
Is the maiden to woo?

Genitive. Whose
Hand shall I choose?

Accusative. Whom
To despair shall I doom?

_Which_, _that_, and _what_ are indeclinable; except that _whose_ is sometimes used as the possessive case of _which_; as,

“The roe, poor dear, laments amain,
_Whose_ sweet hart was by hunter slain.”

Thus _whose_ is substituted for _of which_, in the following example:--

“There is a blacking famed, _of which_
The sale made Day and Martin rich;
There is another blacking, _whose_
Compounder patronised the Muse.”[2]

_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 _im_properly, _wot_, is generally substituted by cabmen and costermongers for _who_; as, “The donkey _wot_ wouldn’t go.” “The man _wot_ sweeps the crossing.”

_That_, likewise, is very frequently rejected by the vulgar, who use _as_ in its place; as, “Them _as_ asks shan’t have any; and them _as_ don’t ask don’t want any.”