to which they both relate: as, "Section the Fourth;"--"Henry the Eighth." Such examples, however, may possibly be supposed elliptical; as, "Section, the fourth division of the chapter;"--"Henry, the eighth king of that name:" and, if they are so, the article, in English, can never be placed after its noun, nor can two articles ever properly relate to one noun, in any particular construction of it. Priestley observes, "Some writers affect to transpose these words, and place the numeral adjective first; [as,] 'The first Henry.' Hume's History, Vol. i, p. 497. This construction is common with this writer, but there seems to be a want of dignity in it."--Rudiments of E. Gram., p. 150. Dr. Webster cites the word Great, in "Alexander the Great" as a name, or part of a name; that is, he gives it as an instance of "cognomination." See his American Dict., 8vo. And if this is right, the article may be said to relate to the epithet only, as it appears to do. For, if the word is taken substantively, there is certainly no ellipsis; neither is there any transposition in putting it last, but rather, as Priestley suggests, in putting it first.
OBS. 10.--The definite article is often prefixed to comparatives and superlatives; and its effect is, as Murray observes, (in the words of Lowth,) "to mark the degree the more strongly, and to define it the more precisely: as, 'The more I examine it, the better I like it.' 'I like this the least of any.'"--Murray's Gram., p. 33; Lowth's, 14. "For neither if we eat, are we the better; neither if we eat not, are we the worse."--1 Cor., viii, 8. "One is not the more agreeable to me for loving beef, as I do; nor the less agreeable for preferring mutton."--Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. ii, p. 365. "They are not the men in the nation, the most difficult to be replaced."--Priestley's Gram., p. 148. In these instances, the article seems to be used adverbially, and to relate only to the adjective or adverb following it. (See observation fourth, on the Etymology of Adverbs.) Yet none of our grammarians have actually reckoned the an adverb. After the adjective, the noun might perhaps be supplied; but when the word the is added to an adverb, we must either call it an adverb, or make an exception to Rule 1st above: and if an exception is to be made, the brief form which I have given, cannot well be improved. For even if a noun be understood, it may not appear that the article relates to it, rather than to the degree of the quality. Thus: "The deeper the well, the clearer the water." This Dr. Ash supposes to mean, "The deeper well the well is, the clearer water the water is."--Ash's Gram., p. 107. But does the text specify a particular "deeper well" or "clearer water?" I think not. To what then does the refer, but to the proportionate degree of deeper and clearer?
OBS. 11.--The article the is sometimes elegantly used, after an idiom common in the French language, in lieu of a possessive pronoun; as, "He looked him full in the face; i. e. in his face."--Priestley's Gram., p. 150. "Men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal."--Rom., xi, 4. That is, their knees.
OBS. 12.--The article an or a, because it implies unity, is applicable to nouns of the singular number only; yet a collective noun, being singular in form, is sometimes preceded by this article even when it conveys the idea of plurality and takes a plural verb: as, "There are a very great number [of adverbs] ending in ly."--Buchanan's Syntax, p. 63. "A plurality of them are sometimes felt at the same instant."--Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. i, p. 114. In support of this construction, it would be easy to adduce a great multitude of examples from the most reputable writers; but still, as it seems not very consistent, to take any word plurally after restricting it to the singular, we ought rather to avoid this if we can, and prefer words that literally agree in number: as, "Of adverbs there are very many ending in ly"--"More than one of them are sometimes felt at the same instant." The word plurality, like other collective nouns, is literally singular: as, "To produce the latter, a plurality of objects is necessary."--Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. i, p. 224.
OBS. 13.--Respecting the form of the indefinite article, present practice differs a little from that of our ancient writers. An was formerly used before all words beginning with h, and before several other words which are now pronounced in such a manner as to require a: thus, we read in the Bible, "An help,"--"an house,"--"an hundred,"--"an one,"--"an ewer,"--"an usurer;" whereas we now say, "A help,"--"a house,"--"a hundred,"--"a one,"--"a ewer,"--"a usurer."
OBS. 14.--Before the word humble, with its compounds and derivatives, some use an, and others, a; according to their practice, in this instance, of sounding or suppressing the aspiration. Webster and Jameson sound the h, and consequently prefer a; as, "But a humbling image is not always necessary to produce that effect."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 205. "O what a blessing is a humble mind!"--Christian Experience, p. 342. But Sheridan, Walker, Perry, Jones, and perhaps a majority of fashionable speakers, leave the h silent, and would consequently say, "An humbling image,"--"an humble mind,"--&c.
OBS. 15.--An observance of the principles on which the article is to be repeated or not repeated in a sentence, is of very great moment in respect to accuracy of composition. These principles are briefly stated in the notes below, but it is proper that the learner should know the reasons of the distinctions which are there made. By a repetition of the article before several adjectives in the same construction, a repetition of the noun is implied; but without a repetition of the article, the adjectives, in all fairness of interpretation, are confined to one and the same noun: as, "No figures will render a cold or an empty composition interesting."--Blair's Rhet., p. 134. Here the author speaks of a cold composition and an empty composition as different things. "The metaphorical and the literal meaning are improperly mixed."--Murray's Gram., p. 339. Here the verb are has two nominatives, one of which is expressed, and the other understood. "But the third and the last of these [forms] are seldom used."--Adam's Lat. Gram., p. 186. Her
