How to parse. ...

804 ENGLISH LANGUA GE. [Par. 560, 561.

(d) instead of the Present Participle in -ende
(bugende), we have the form in -inge (kneelinge);
notice also (e) the change from " sprec-an" to
"sprecen," and thence to "for to speke."
560 As English was recognized as the language of the
whole nation soon after the beginning of this period,
and was so far settled that the Vocabularg (as distinct from the Orthography and Inflections) of
Wyckliffe differs little (except in scantiness) from
our own Vocabulary, we may call this period " the
National Period." A glance at the three columns
above will suffice to show the great difference between " The National Period " and " The Inflectional
Period," in point of Vocabulary.
561 Fifth, or " Period of License," A.D. 1500 -1600. - Before the end of this period the use of -e
(which fell into disuse or abuse soon after Chaucer's
time) became quite forgotten. Indeed, there was in
this period a tendency to carry the disuse of Inflections even to a greater degree than has been
sanctioned by modern English, e.g. "spoke"1 for
"spoken; " so "chose(n)" "rode" (for " ridden "),
"drove," "took," &c. "To " as the sign of the
Infinitive was used irregularly, "I saw him to
walk," but " You ought not walk." This therefore
(like Period II.) was to some extent a " Period of
Confusion." In Shakspeare we find " I have
swam, spakce, fell, droven, strztclen, splitted, beated."
The n had been dropped as early as the thirteenth century.