How to parse. ...

Par. 484-486.] "SO," "AS."

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The reason for altering " so " into " as " (except
after negatives) is, perhaps, that the notion of similarity favors the repetition of the same word. But
the "not," introducing the notion of dissimilarity,
favors the retention of the old dissimilar forms.
Sometimes both forms are retained:(1) "So, or as, far as I know."
484 Any Relative Adverb (compare Latin "quum...
turn," " qua... qua," and the use of " what with...
what with," Par. 442) may naturally be used with
its correlative to express" both... and." Hence the
following idiom:(1) "As (in the way in which) he was first in the
field, so (in that way) was he pre-eminent in the
council-hall."
485 "As" (Par. 205), being often used to express
Relative Adverbs, came sometimes to be used for
the Relative Pronoun:(1) "Tears such as (i.e., which) angels weep."
(Shakspeare uses " which" 1 and "that" thus,
after " such "):(2) " He is the same as or that he always was."
(3) "Bring such books as you have."
486 "As," in a Conditional Sentence, often has a
Consequent implied after it:(1) "He looks as (he would have looked) if he had
seen a ghost."
1Even Pope has: -
"Let such teach others who themselves excel."
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