ample: Few and A few; Little and A little. A few implies a positive, though small number; A little, a positive, though small quantity; but Few and Little verge towards the very borders of absolute negation of number and quantity respectively.

"Ah! little think the gay licentious proud."

This almost amounts to saying, that they do not think at all.

NOTE. In those languages which have a determinative adjective equivalent to our determinative the, great diversity prevails as to the extent of its application. In English, it is generally omitted whenever the noun is of itself determinate without any complement; as in the case of proper names, and of abstract nouns used in the whole extent of their signification. In the Greek language, on the contrary, the article is often employed with proper names, with abstract nouns employed in the whole extent of their signification, especially when subjects of propositions, and even with the infinitives of verbs. By prefixing the different forms of the article (which has case terminations like nouns and adjectives), the Greeks are enabled to use their infinitives in all the various cases which belong to other nouns in their language. Hence the infinitive with them performs functions which in - other languages it cannot conveniently perform. In Latin and English, and most other languages, infinitives are rarely employed except as subjects of propositions and complements of other verbs-in other words, only in the nominative and accusative (or objective) cases. (We have noticed some cases in which the infinitive is used in English with the force of a dative or of a noun and preposition-the infinitive of purpose, for example.) In Greek, by the help of the case forms of the article, infinitives are employed to perform the functions of genitive and dative (as well as nominative and accusative cases) functions in Latin generally performed by the gerund, and in English also by the gerund or verbal in ING.

In French and many other modern languages the article is prefixed to common nouns taken in their general or most extensive sense, as l'homme est faible, man is weak; to the names of countries, as la France, France; to abstract nouns employed in the whole extent of their signification, as la vertu est aimable, virtue is amiable; and to possessive pronouns, when employed separately from the nouns to which they refer, as le mien, le nôtre, &c., (in which case it may be regarded as indicating the suppressed noun.) In Italian, the article is employed even with the possessive pronouns prefixed to nouns, il mio libro, my book, literally, the my book.

The omission of the article in English, and the employment of the article in other languages, does not render the noun in the one case less, or in the other case more determinate. The article adds nothing to the definiteness of the expression. The French, &c., prefix it, because the noun is definitely used; we omit it, because the noun is in its nature invariably definite. The use and omission is an idiomatic peculiarity of the respective languages.

The remark, that the article adds nothing to the definiteness of the expression, is apparently applicable, when it is prefixed in our own and in other languages, to the names of rivers, mountains, &c., as, the Hudson, the Thames, the Tiber, the Seine; the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Alleghanies, &c. But these forms of expression seem to have arisen from the suppression of the words river, and mountains respectively. The full expression would be, the river Hudson; the Pyrenees mountains, &c. Here the determinative is appropriately joined with the common nouns, "river" and "mountains," because they are used determinately, being limited by the addition of the words Hudson and Pyrenees.

Perhaps, the use of the determinative with other proper names; as, for instance, the names of countries, or even its use with the proper names of individual persons in the Greek language, might be accounted for in a similar way. 'O Zeropŵr, the Xenophon, may have arisen from an abbreviation of 'O àvǹp Zevopŵv, the man Xenophon. In support of this explanation it might be alleged that the Greeks were accustomed to employ the word 'Arp, and its plural form "Avdpes, in a manner which appears to the moderns redundant; as in the phrases "Avdpes σtpatiútai, soldiers; literally men soldiers; Avdpes, ådeλpoì xài warépes, brethren and fathers; literally men brethren and (men) fathers. (See § 146. Note, p. 469.)

When several nouns are connected in the same construction, the determinative is often, in English, suppressed before all but the first noun; as, for example, The men, women and children whom he met gazed upon him with wonder; instead of The men, the women and the children, &c. (The same remark applies to the determinative an.) When emphasis is intended, the determinative is repeated; and when special discrimination is required it must be repeated before each noun; for example, "Cincinnatus, the dictator, and the master of the horse marched against the Equi." If, in this sentence, the determinative were omitted before "master of the horse," it would, to a person guided by the mere form of the expression without other knowledge of the fact, appear that the appellations " dictator" and "master of the horse were both intended to apply to Cincinnatus, whereas the master of the horse was a distinct person. The article before an adjective employed substantively should never be suppressed. It would be improper to say, the wise and good, for the wise, and the good, if we intend to indicate two distinct classes of men. If we mean one class of men possessed of the two qualities expressed by wise and good, only one article should be employed, since only one noun is suppressed. The article is often improperly suppressed by careless wri ters, so as to injure sometimes the perspicuity and sometimes the force of discourse. In French and some other modern languages, the

determinative is repeated before each individual noun far more generally than in English. This practice conduces to render the language both more clear and more forcible. The repetition of the article would in some cases appear stiff in our language. It is better, however to repeat it unnecessarily, than to omit it where its presence is requisite to prevent ambiguity.

THIS AND THAT.-We have already observed one marked peculiarity of these two determinatives, viz; that, unlike our other adjectives, they both possess a plural form. (See § 94. note p. 300)

These words are much more determinate (that is, used with nouns much more determinately employed) than the (so called) definite article the. Their primary use is to accompany nouns intended to designate objects present to the view of the speaker, and determined by some look or gesture, or intimation borrowed from the signs of natural language, to which natural sign they call the attention of the hearer. Hence they have been called demonstratives by the grammarians, because, as they allege, they point out (demonstrate) the particular objects designated.

This is prefixed to nouns representing objects relatively near to the speaker, that to objects more remote, the differs from these words in being, though less determinative, of far more general application. It is employed in speaking of objects absent, as well as present, and indicates a limitation given to its noun by artificial, or articulate language, without the aid of natural signs. In these respects it differs from this and that. Another difference worthy of observation is that we often employ this and that substantively, suppressing the noun which they designate, but we never so employ either of the determinatives the or an.

A secondary use of the determinatives this and that is to indicate in written discourse, and, sometimes, in formal addresses-this, something proximate in the order of the discourse, that, something relatively more remote.

"Some place the bliss in action, some in ease;

Those call it pleasure, and contentment these."-Pope.

"The palaces and lofty domes arose

These for devotion, and for pleasure those."—Idem.

Here relative proximity in the arrangement of the words serves the same purpose of rendering the reference determinate, as proximity in place does in the case of the speaker, who has the objects to which he refers under his eye, and employs a natural gesture to assist artificial language in fixing on them the attention of the hearer. The deter

minative words former and latter are more frequently used for this purpose, and perform this function generally in a more natural and graceful manner-with much less stiffness and formality than this and that.

With this and that may be classed yonder and yon. These words, though at present in less common use, have been employed by many of our best authors. They are used to designate objects in sight but distant from the speaker. Ex. "Yon flowery arbors, yonder alleys green." -Milton. "Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower."-Gray.

NOTE. We have had occasion to speak elsewhere of the several functions performed by that as a conjunctive pronoun and as a conjunction. We may here declare unreservedly our agreement with the opinion of those who hold that THAT in all these diverse functions, is one and the same word; and that, in all the uses which it serves, it still retains its original force, namely, that of a determinative adjective. We believe that all its functions may be traced to its original determinative function.

The and that with then, there, than are all forms, as we believe of one original word. Thence and thither are derivatives from these, and we suspect that thou (Ang.-Sax. thu) and thee (Ang.-Sax. the) are of the same family. We exhibit the declension of the Anglo-Saxon article, and mark the words by italics, which have been retained in modern English.

Se is most likely only a corruption of the sound of the, and seo of theo. From thaet we have our English that; from the dative thaere our adverb there, as explained elsewhere; and from the accusative thone, thaene, thaenne or thanne we have then and than, written in Anglo-Saxon thonne or thaenne.

ORDER OF ARRANGEMENT OF THE DETERMINATIVES.-We have already observed elsewhere that, when nouns are preceded both by descriptive and determinative adjectives, the determinatives take the precedence because they affect the noun as limited or restricted by the descriptive adjectives. Examples: many wise men; all degrading vices; your black horse; two important truths; a beautiful land scape; the setting sun; &c. Here many, all, your, two, a, and the, being determinatives, and embracing within their influence the nouns together with their more intimate modifications (or, in other words, the nouns as already modified by the descriptive adjectives), naturally take the

precedence, or, perhaps, we should rather say, the more remote place from the noun, since they are the more remote complements.

When more than one determinative precedes the same noun, the determinatives an and the usually take the precedence of all other determinatives. We have already had occasion to observe that many determinative words exclude the articles; such are the possessive pronouns; the demonstratives this, that, yon, yonder, already noticed; of the class which the grammarians have called indefinite pronouns, any, much, no, none, some; and all the distributives each, every, either, neither. Those which admit the use of the articles before them are the whole class of numerals, together with few, other, same, several, whole, former, latter, last.

We have had occasion to notice that all and both take precedence of the; in the same manner many and such and the interrogative what precede an or a, as, "Full many a gem of purest ray serene," &c. Such a man; what a monster! In the same manner an or a is placed after descriptive adjectives modified by the adverbs as, how, 80, too. Examples: You have as LARGE A house; How WISE AN answer that man gave; So FINE A landscape is rarely found; Too FOOLISH AN action for a sane man to perform; &c.

Some have attempted to account for such expressions as all the world, by alleging that there is a suppression of the preposition of in cases of this kind; that all the world is a contraction of the expression all of the world. We believe that all these forms of expression are to be explained by reference to the same principle which regulates the sequence of descriptive and determinative adjectives; namely that the more intimate modification is placed in closest contact with the noun and the more remote which modifies the noun as already modified by the more intimate complement stands at the greatest distance. For example, in the expressions all the men, both the men, it is men under all the restriction or limitation (a limitation of which the parties to the discourse are supposed to have mutual cognizance) indicated by the to which the force of the determinative all is applied. The same explanation we presume may be given of the expressions in which an or a is preceded by another determinative. An object after being individualized (if we may be allowed the expression) comes under the modification of the other determinative. For example, in Full many a gem, the gem is regarded first as an individual, and as thus regarded it is affected by the word many Many individual gems.

159. We take the opportunity of presenting in this place some observations on the CONJUNCTIVE PRONOUNS, which, though not suit