pleasing study. World is wide. way unto the death.

A candid temper is proper for the inanThe man is mortal. And I persecuted this The earth, the air, the fire, and the water,

are the four elements of the old philosophers.

LECTURE IV.

OF ADJECTIVES.

An ADJECTIVE is a word added to a noun to express its quality or kind, or to restrict its meaning; as, a good man, a bad man, a free man, an unfortunate man, one man, forty men.

In the phrases, a good apple, a bad apple, a large apple, a small apple, a red apple, a white apple, a green apple, a sweet apple, a sour apple, a bitter apple, a round apple, a hard apple, a soft apple, a mellow apple, a fair apple, a May apple, an early apple, a late apple, a winter apple, a crab apple, a thorn apple, a well-tasted apple, an ill-looking apple, a water-cored apple, you perceive that all those words in italicks are adjectives, because each expresses some quality or property of the noun apple, or it shows what kind of an apple it is of which we are speaking.

The distinction between a noun and an adjective is very clear. A noun is the name of a thing; but an adjective denotes simply the quality or property of a thing. This is fine cloth. In this example, the difference between the word denoting the thing, and that denoting the quality of it, is easily perceived. You certainly cannot be at a loss to know, that the word cloth expresses the name, and fine, the quality, of the thing; consequently fine must be an adjective. If I say, He is a wise man, a prudent man, a wicked man, or an ungrateful man, the words

PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.

ADNOUNS.

Adnoun, or Adjective, comes from the Latin, ad and jicio, to add to. Adnouns are a class of words added to nouns to vary their comprehension, or to determine their extension. Those which effect the former object, are ered adjectives, or attributes; and those which effect the latter, restrictives. It is not, in all cases, easy to determine to which of these classes an adnoun should be referred. Words which express simply the qualities of nouns, are adjectives; and such as denote their situation or number, are restrictives. Adjectives were originally nouns or verbs.

in italicks are adjectives, because each expresses a quality of the noun man. And, if I say, He is a tall man, a short man, a white man, a black man, or a persecuted man, the words, tall, short, white, black, and persecuted, are also adjectives, because they tell what kind of a man he is of whom I am speaking, or they attribute to him some particular property.

Some adjectives restrict or limit the signification of the nouns to which they are joined, and are, therefore, sometimes called definitives; as, one era, seven ages, the first man, the whole mass, no trouble, those men, that book, all regions.

Other adjectives define or describe nouns, or do both; as, fine silk, blue paper, a heavy shower, pure water, green mountains, bland breezes, gurgling rills, glass window, window glass, beaver hats, chip bonnets, blackberry ridge, Monroe garden, Juniata iron, Cincinnati steam-mill.

Some adjectives are secondary, and qualify other adjectives; as, pale red lining, dark blue silk, deep sea green sash, soft iror. blooms, red hot iron plate.

You will frequently find the adjective placed after the noun; as, "Those men are tall; A lion is bold; The weather is calm; The tree is three feet thick."

Should you ever be at a loss to distinguish an adjective from the other parts of speech, the following sign will enable you to tell it. Any word that will make sense with the word thing added, or with any other noun following it, is an adjective; as, a high thing, a low thing, a hot thing, a cold thing, an unfinished thing, a new-fashioned thing:-01, a pleasant prospect, a longdeserted dwelling, an American soldier, a Greek Testament. Are these words adjectives, distant, yonder, peaceful, long-sided, double-headed? A distant object or thing, yonder hill, &c. They are? They will make sense with a noun after them.Adjectives sometimes become adverbs. This matter will be

Some consider the adjective, in its present application, exactly equivalent to a noun connected to another noun by means of juxtaposition, of a preposition, or of a corresponding flexion. "A golden cup," say they, "is the same as a gold cup, or a cup of gold." But this principle appears to be exception. able. "A cup of gold," may mean either a cup-full of gold, or a cup made of gold. "An oaken cask," signifies an oak cask, or a cask of oak; i. e. a cask made of oak; but a beer cask, and a cask of beer, are two different things. A virtuous son; a son of virtue,

The distinguishing characteristick of the adjective, appears to consist in its both naming a quality, and attributing that quality to some object.

The terminations en, ed, and ig, (our modern y,) signifying give, add, join denote that the names of qualities to which they are postfixed, are to be attributed to other nouns possessing such qualities: wood-en, wood-y. See page 37.

L-ft is the past participle of the verb leave, Horre Tooke defines right to

explained in Lecture VI. In parsing, you may generally know an adjective by its qualifying a noun or pronoun.

Most words ending in ing are present participles. These are frequently used as adjectives; therefore, most participles will make sense with the addition of the word thing, or any other noun, after them; as, a pleasing thing, a moving spectacle, mouldering ruins.

In the Latin language, and many others, adjectives, like nouns have gender, number, and case; but in the English language, they have neither gender, person, number, nor case. These properties belong to creatures and things, and not to their qualities; therefore gender, person, number, and case, are the properties of nouns, and not of adjectives.

Adjectives are varied only to express the degrees of comparison. They have three degrees of comparison, the Positive, the Comparative, and the Superlative.

The positive degree expresses the quality of an object without any increase or diminution ; as, good, wise, great.

The comparative degree increases or lessens the positive in signification; as, better, wiser, greater, less wise.

The superlative degree increases or lessens the positive to the highest or lowest degree; as, best, wisest, greatest, least wise.

be that which is ordered or directed. The right hand is that which your pa rents and custom direct you to use in preference to the other. And when you employ that in preference, the other is the leaved, leav'd, or left hand; 1. e. the one leaved or left. "The one shall be taken, and the other (leaved) left."

Own. Formerly, a man's own was what he worked for, own being a past participle of a verb signifying to work.

Restrictives. Some restrictives, in modern times, are applied only to singular nouns; such as a or an, another, one, this, that, each, every, either. Others, only to plural nouns; as, these, those, two, three, few, several, all. But most restrictives, like adjectives, are applied to both singular and plural nouns • first, second, last, the, former, latter, any, such, same, some, which, what.

Numerals. All numeration was, doubtless, originally performed by the fingers; for the number of the fingers is still the utmost extent of its signi fication. Ten is the past participle of tynan, to close, to shut in. The hands tyned, tened, closed, or shut in, signified ten; for there numeration closed. To denote a number greater than ten, we must begin again, ten and one, ten and two, &c.

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

More and most form the comparative and superlative degrees by increasing the positive; and less and least, by diminishing it.

NUMERAL ADJECTIVES.

Words used in counting, are called numeral adjectives of the cardinal kind; as, one, two, three, four, twenty, fifty, &c.

Words used in numbering, are called numeral adjectives of the ordinal kind; as, first, second, third, fourth, twentieth, fiftieth, &c.

NOTE. The words many, few, and several, as they always refer to an indefinite number, may be properly called numeral adjectives of the indefinite kind.

NOTES.

1. The simple word, or Positive, becomes the Comparative by adding *, or er; and the Positive becomes the Superlative, by adding st, or est, to the end of it; as, Pos. wise, Com. wiser, Sup. wisest; rich, richer, richest; bold, bolder, boldest. The adverbs, more and most, less and least, when placed before the adjective, have the same effect; as, Pos. wise, Com. more wise, Sup. most wise; Pos. wise, Com. less wise, Sup. least wise.

Twain, (twa-in, twa-ain, twa-ane) is a compound of two (twa, twae, twee, twi, two or dwo or duo) and one (ane, ain, an.) It signifies two units joined, united, aned, or oned. Twenty (twa-ane-ten) signifies two tens aned, oned, or united. Things separated into parcels of twenty each, are called scores. Score is the past participle of shear, to separate.

The Ordinals are formed like abstract nouns in eth. Fifth, sixth, or tenth, is the number which fiv-eth, six-eth, ten-eth, or mak-eth up the number five, six, or ten.

Philosophical writers who limit our acceptation of words to that in which they were originally employed, and suppose that all the complicated, yet often definable, associations which the gradual progress of language and intellect has connected with words, are to be reduced to the standard of our

2. Monosyllables are generally compared by adding er and est; dissyllables, trisyllables, &c. by more and most; as, mild, milder, mildest; frugal, more frugal, most frugal; virtuous, more virtuous, most virtuous. Dissyllables ending in y; as, happy, lovely; and in le after a mute; as, able, ample; and dissyllables accented on the last syllable; as, discreet, polite; easily admit of er and est; as, happier, happiest; politer, politest. Words of more than two syllables very seldom adinit of these terminations.

3. When the positive ends in d, or t, preceded by a single vowel, the consonant is doubled in forming the comparative and superlative degrees; as, red, redder, reddest; hot, hotter, hotlest.

4. In some words the superlative is formed by adding most to the end of them; as, nethermost, uttermost or utmost, undermost, uppermost, fore

most.

5. In English, as in most languages, there are some words of very common use, (in which the caprice of custom is apt to get the better of analogy,) that are irregular in forming the degrees of comparison; as, "Good, better, best ; bad, worse, worst; little, less, least; much or many, more, most; rear, nearer, nearest or next; late, later, latest or last; old, older or elder, oldest or eldest ;" and a few others."

6. The following adjectives, and many others, are always in the superlative degree, because, by expressing a quality in the highest degree, they carry in themselves a superlative signification: chief, extreme, perfect, right wrong, honest, just, true, correct, sincere, vast, immense, ceaseless, infinite, endless, unparalleled, universal, supreme, unlimited, omnipotent, all-wise, eternal.

7. Compound adjectives, and adjectives denoting qualities arising from the figure of bodies, do not admit of comparison; such as, well-formed, frostbitten, round, square, oblong, circular, quadrangular, conical, &c.

8. The termination ish added to adjectives, expresses a slight degree of quality below the comparative; as, black, blackish; salt, saltish. Very, prefixed to the comparative, expresses a degree of quality, but not always a superlative degree.

Read this Lecture carefully, particularly the NOTES; after which you may parse the following adjectives and neuter verb, and, likewise, the examples that follow. If you cannot repeat all the definitions and rules, spread the Compendium when you parse. But before you proceed, please to commit the

SYSTEMATICK ORDER OF PARSING.

The order of parsing an ADJECTIVE, is—an adjective, and why?-compare it-degree of comparison, and why?-to what noun does it belong?-RULE.

forefathers, appear not to have sufficiently attended to the changes which this principle of association actually produces. As language is transmitted from generation to generation, many words become the representatives of ideas with which they were not originally associated; and thus they undergo a change, not only in the mode of their application, but also in their meaning Words being the signs of things, their meaning must necessarily change as much, at least, as things themselves change; but this variation in their import more frequently depends on accidental circumstances. Among the ideas connected with a word, that which was once of primary, becomes only