How to parse. ...

214

PREPOSITIONS. [Par. 356, 357.

From the notion of "instrumentality," it came
to express "manner," "number," &c.:(1) " They sell corn by the bushel, drink beer by the
gallon," &c.
(2) " He is dying by inches, is wise by fits," &c.
(3) "The citizens streamed out by hundreds."
356 In Old English, the repetition of an action, e.g.,
"streamed " in the last Example, was sometimes
expressed by repeating the Adverbial phrase " by
hundreds," so that the sentence ran(4) "The citizens streamed out by hundreds, by
hundreds; by one and by one; by thousand and
by thousand; by little and little," &c.
So even Pope: -
(5) " Loth to enrich me with too quick replies,
By little and by little drops fis lies."
When some of these phrases were condensed for
brevity's sake, the first "by " was omitted: —
(6) " They streamed out one by one."
(7) "The water oozed out drop by drop."
(8) " He is growing stronger year by year."
(9) " The army is diminishing little by little."
357 From false analogy, i.e., Confusion (II.) with
"They emigrated by hundreds," we say, even speaking of a single person(10) " He emigrated by himself."
But even in the Earliest English we find, not the
Adjective " self" (i.e. same) and the Pronoun " he,"