"You shall be welcome, madam, to my court," the Princess replies,— "I will be welcome then: conduct me thither." The former speaks of an act which he could control himself; the latter expresses her readiness to accept his hospitality. Bardolph exclaims (Merry Wives of Windsor, act i. sc. 3), "It is a life I have "desired-I will thrive;" meaning, "I intend to "take care of my own interests as a tapster." And Falstaff in the same scene, "We will thrive, lads, "we will thrive." In Macbeth (act iii. sc. 2): "But let "The frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer, "Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep "In the affliction of these terrible dreams." The sense is, "Let all this happen before we con"sent to eat our meals and sleep in terror." In none of these cases does will express the simple future. Nothing can be easier than to put cases in which the use of the two forms seems at first sight to be a matter of complete indifference. It is precisely because the shade which separates them is so slight that they are often confounded and misapplied. It seems practically much the same thing whether I say to a friend, "I shall be at home to-morrow when you call," or, "I will be at home to-morrow when "you call." On a little reflection, however, the difference is clear. If the fact that my friend is going to call makes me determined to be at home 66 if my mind is made up in consequence of what has passed between us, and I announce an intentionthen "will" is the proper auxiliary. If, on the other hand, I merely inform my friend that he will find me at a certain time—it may be because I cannot help it, or it may be because I choose it-then "shall" is the verb required for the simple statement of the future fact with the first person. This distinction cannot be better exemplified than it is by the speech of Cæsar to Calphurnia when he changes his mind and yields to her entreaties to stay at home : "Mark Antony shall say I am not well : "And for thy humour I will stay at home." "Shall" is applied to Antony because he was to be charged to make Cæsar's excuses, and "will” denotes the purpose of the speaker, who at the moment gives way to his wife; neither expresses the pure future. Compare also the passage in Antony and Cleopatra (act iv. sc. 10) in which Octavius, before the battle of Actium, says,— "But" (i. e. without) "being charged, we will be still by land, "Which, as I take 't, we shall; for his best force "Is forth to man his gallies." The "will" expresses the intention or desire; the "shall," on the other hand, is future, and states the belief of the speaker. On this principle it is that the answer of an Irish servant when told to do a thing-“ I shall, Sir”— though not incorrect, jars on the ear. 66 66 "Shall," no doubt, is right as the future, but what he means to profess is his intention to obey, as consequent on the order.14 The best mode of testing this view is to take some act which cannot, from its nature, be voluntary. If a man say to me, "I will have the gout when you call," I, as an Englishman, could only understand him to mean, "I will pretend," or "I will try to have the gout." "I shall have the gout," might be properly said by one who felt premonitory symptoms of the disease. An Irishman or an American would not interpret these phrases in the same way. It is precisely this which gives the point to the old story of the Irishman in the water, who exclaimed, "I will be drowned, and nobody "shall save me!" Indeed this sentence illustrates perfectly the misapplication of either verb; "will" with the first person implies volition where volition is impossible, and "nobody shall," &c., forbids that which the context shows must be desired above all things. It may be supposed that Burke has violated the rule in the following sentence of his Observations on a late State of the Nation,' when speaking of the improbable supposition that George Grenville would 14 "Shall" might also express the obligation; and numerous instances of its use in answer to a command occur in Shakspere :"Yes, sir, I shall."-(Timon, act iii. sc. 2.) "Cæsar, I shall.”— (Ant. and Cleop. act iii. sc. 10; act iv. sc. 6; act v. sc. 1.) Madam, I shall."-(Cymbeline, act i. sc. 4.) "I shall."(Othello, act ii. sc. 1.) On the other hand we have, "I will do't, my lord."-(Hamlet, act iv. sc. 4.) "Madam, I will."(Macbeth.) "I will, my liege."—(1 Henry IV., act i. sc. 1.). 66 66 try to reimpose the Stamp Act: "If he does, I will predict that some of the fastest friends of that "minister will desert him on this point." I believe, however, though Burke was an Irishman, that this sentence is like the speech of Hamlet-an apparent exception only. "I will predict," really means, “I will take upon myself,” or "choose to "predict." I have said that the Americans do not usually observe with great strictness the distinction between "shall" and "will" with the first person; yet I have heard it asserted that this inaccuracy belongs to the United States only south of New England; and certainly in a very remarkable trial in Massachusetts-that of Abner Rogers for the murder of Charles Lincoln 15-much importance was attached to the use, by the prisoner, of one auxiliary or the other. The counsel appeared clearly to appreciate the difference. A witness, Warren B. Parke, who was sent to search Rogers after the murder, gave his evidence thus:-" He (Rogers) said, 'I have fixed "the warden, and I'll have a rope round my neck "" to-night.' On the strength of what he said I "took his suspenders (braces) from him." Crossexamined :—“ His words were, 'I will have a rope,' " not "I shall have a rope.' I am sure the word 66 6 15 Before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in 1844 ; reported by Bigelow and Bemis: Boston, 1844. Lincoln was warden of the State Penitentiary. The Report is particularly interesting with reference to the doctrine of Criminal Lunacy and its limits in jurisprudence, It is right to add that after the lapse of some time the prisoner turned out really insane. "was will, and not shall." Mr. Parker, Counsel for the Commonwealth, in commenting on the speech says, "It shows a contemplation of murder and "suicide—a designed voluntary escape from the penalties of the law, and a consciousness of the 66 66 malignity and criminality of his actions." The defence set up was insanity, and on that ground the prisoner was acquitted. I confess I do not think that the inference either way, from the auxiliary used, was worth much, especially if in the United States so little exactness in the application of these verbs exists in popular usage: but this is immaterial; the argument shows that the distinction is admitted in theory, and I do not impute the inaccuracy to the best American writers. On the other hand, it is perhaps worth while to quote some apparent instances of the converse error, that is, of the use of "shall" with the third person where we should expect to find "will." The following passage occurs in a note of George III., written after his first illness:16___ "His Majesty is perfectly satisfied with the zeal "and attention of Dr. Gisborne, in whose absence "he will consult Sir Francis Milman; but cannot "bear the idea of consulting any of the Willis 66 family, though he shall ever respect the character "and conduct of Dr. Robert Willis." Here the first "will" is perfectly regular, but the "shall" with the third person, in the latter part of the sentence, 16 Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors. Life of Lord Eldon, vol. vii. p. 148. |