See quotations. A correspondent of Notes and Queries, 7 S. v. 108, pointed out that similar elisions of the word to occur in the old dramatists: “You ought not walk.” ‘Jul. Cæsar,’ I. i. 3. “Suffer him speak no more.” ‘Sejanus,’ iii. 1. And in 9 S. vi. 30 Prof. Skeat cites, among other instances, “to help unarm our Hector.” ‘Troilus and Cr.,’ iii. 1: adding, that in Old English the infinitive was never preceded by the word to.
1794. I help maintain [our parson] as cheerfully as any man in the town.—Mass. Spy, March 6.
1829. In the afternoon he helped bore logs.—Id., Oct. 7.
1838. I helped throw up that fortification.—The Jeffersonian, Aug. 25: from The Boston Evening Post.
1888. We refuse to chip in for a church, but will contribute $10. to help get Lampas Jake, the revivalist, down here.—Detroit Free Press, Oct. (Farmer).
