OTHER WORDS USED AS RELATIVES
[Sidenote: But _and_ as.]
124. Two words, but and as, are used with the force of relative
pronouns in some expressions; for example,--
1. There is not a leaf rotting on the highway _but_ has force in
it: how else could it rot?--CARLYLE.
2. This, amongst such other troubles _as_ most men meet with in
this life, has been my heaviest affliction.--DE QUINCEY.
[Sidenote: _Proof that they have the force of relatives._]
Compare with these the two following sentences:--
3. There is nothing _but_ is related to us, nothing _that_ does
_not_ interest us.--EMERSON.
4. There were articles of comfort and luxury such _as_ Hester
never ceased to use, but _which_ only wealth could have
purchased.--HAWTHORNE.
Sentence 3 shows that _but_ is equivalent to the relative _that_ with
_not_, and that _as_ after _such_ is equivalent to _which_.
For _as_ after _same_ see "Syntax" (Sec. 417).
[Sidenote: _Former use of_ as.]
125. In early modern English, _as_ was used just as we use _that_ or
_which_, not following the word _such_; thus,--
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love _as_ I was wont to have.--SHAKESPEARE
This still survives in vulgar English in England; for example,--
"Don't you mind Lucy Passmore, _as_ charmed your warts for you
when you was a boy? "--KINGSLEY
This is frequently illustrated in Dickens's works.
[Sidenote: _Other substitutes._]
126. Instead of the phrases _in which_, _upon which_, _by which_,
etc., the conjunctions _wherein_, _whereupon_, _whereby_, etc., are
used.
A man is the facade of a temple _wherein_ all wisdom and good
abide.--EMERSON.
The sovereignty of this nature _whereof_ we speak.--_Id._
The dear home faces _whereupon_
That fitful firelight paled and shone.--WHITTIER.
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