| Spurne Spearn. Carve Carved. | Ceorfe Cearf. Starve Starved. | Steorfe Staerf. Thresh Threshed. | Thersce Thaerse. Hew Hewed. | Heawe Heow. Flow Flowed. | Fl['o]we Fleow. Row Rowed. | R['o]we Reow. Creep Crept. | Cre['o]pe Cre['a]p. Dive Dived. | De['o]fe De['a]f. Shove Shoved. | Sc['e]ofe Sce['a]f. Chew Chewed. | Ce['o]we Ce['a]w. Brew Brewed. | Bre['o]we Bre['a]w. Lock Locked. | L[^u]ce Le['a]c. Suck Sucked. | S[^u]ce Se['a]c. Reek Reeked. | Re['o]ce Re['a]c. Smoke Smoked. | Sme['o]ce Sme['a]c. Bow Bowed. | Be['o]ge Be['a]h. Lie Lied. | Le['o]ge Le['a]h. Gripe Griped. | Gr['i]pe Gr['a]p. Span Spanned. | Spanne Sp['e]n. Eke Eked. | E['a]ce E['o]c. Fare Fared. | Fare F[^o]r. s. 386. The first of the general statements made concerning strong verbs, with a view of proving that the order is _natural_, shall be the one arising out of the preceding list of praeterites. I. Many strong verbs become weak; whilst no weak verb ever becomes strong. II. All the strong verbs are of Saxon origin. None are classical. III. The greater number of them are strong throughout the Gothic tongues. IV. No new word is ever, upon its importation, inflected according to the strong conjugation. It is always weak. As early as A.D. 1085, the French word _adouber_=_to dubb_, was introduced into English. Its praeterite was _dubbade_.[56] {334} V. All derived words are inflected weak. The intransitive forms _drink_ and _lie_, are strong; the transitive forms _drench_ and _lay_, are weak. The fourth statement will again be recurred to. The present object is to show that the division into strong and weak is natural. s. 387. _Obsolete forms._--Instead of _lept_, _slept_, _mowed_, _snowed_, &c., we find, in the provincial dialects and in the older writers, the strong forms _lep_, _step_, _mew_, _snew_, &c. This is no more than what we expect. Here there are two forms, and each form is of a different conjugation. s. 388. _Double Forms._--In _lep_ and _mew_ we have two forms, of which one only is current. In _swoll_ and _swelled_, in _clomb_ and _climbed_, and in _hung_ and _hanged_, we have two forms, of which both are current. These latter are true double forms. Of double forms there are two kinds. 1. Those like _swoll_ and _swelled_; where there is the same tense, but a different conjugation. 2. Those like _spoke_ and _spake_; where the tense is the same and the conjugation the same, but where the form is different.