must be taken in the sense of a collective noun; but for sorts, kinds, classes, or species, I would use neither the plural nor the singular of this word. The word heathen, too, makes the regular plural heathens, and yet is often used in a plural sense without the s; as, "Why do the heathen rage?"--Psalms, ii, 1. "Christianity was formerly propagated among the heathens."--Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 217. The word youth, likewise, has the same peculiarities.
OBS. 36.--Under the present head come names of fishes, birds, or other things, when the application of the singular is extended from the individual to the species, so as to supersede the plural by assuming its construction: as, Sing. "A great fish."--Jonah, i, 17. Plur. "For the multitude of fishes'."--John, xxi, 6. "A very great multitude of fish."--Ezekiel, xlvii, 9.[157] The name of the genus being liable to this last construction, men seem to have thought that the species should follow; consequently, the regular plurals of some very common names of fishes are scarcely known at all. Hence some grammarians affirm, that salmon, mackerel, herring, perch, tench, and several others, are alike in both numbers, and ought never to be used in the plural form. I am not so fond of honouring these anomalies. Usage is here as unsettled, as it is arbitrary; and, if the expression of plurality is to be limited to either form exclusively, the regular plural ought certainly to be preferred. But, for fish taken in bulk, the singular form seems more appropriate; as, "These vessels take from thirty-eight to forty-five quintals of cod and pollock, and six thousand barrels of mackerel, yearly."--Balbi's Geog., p. 28.
OBS. 37.--The following examples will illustrate the unsettled usage just mentioned, and from them the reader may judge for himself what is right. In quoting, at second-hand, I generally think it proper to make double references; and especially in citing authorities after Johnson, because he so often gives the same passages variously. But he himself is reckoned good authority in things literary. Be it so. I regret the many proofs of his fallibility. "Hear you this Triton of the minnows?"--Shak. "The shoal of herrings was of an immense extent."--Murray's Key, p. 185. "Buy my herring fresh."--SWIFT: in Joh. Dict. "In the fisheries of Maine, cod, herring, mackerel alewives, salmon, and other fish, are taken."--Balbi's Geog., p. 23. "MEASE, n. The quantity of 500; as, a mease of herrings."--Webster's Dict. "We shall have plenty of mackerel this season."--ADDISON: in Joh. Dict. "Mackarel is the same in both numbers. Gay has improperly mackarels."--Churchill's Gram., p. 208. "They take salmon and trouts by groping and tickling them under the bellies."--CAREW: in Joh. Dict. "The pond will keep trout and salmon in their seasonable plight."--Id., ib., w. Trout. "Some fish are preserved fresh in vinegar, as turbot."--Id., ib., w. Turbot. "Some fish are boiled and preserved fresh in vinegar, as tunny and turbot."--Id., ib., w. Tunny. "Of round fish, there are brit, sprat, barn, smelts."--Id., ib., w. Smelt. "For sprats and spurlings for your house."--TUSSEE: ib., w. Spurling. "The coast is plentifully stored with pilchards, herrings, and haddock."--CAREW: ib., w. Haddock. "The coast is plentifully stored with round fish, pilchard, herring, mackerel, and cod"--Id., ib., w. Herring. "The coast is plentifully stored with shellfish, sea-hedgehogs, scallops, pilcherd, herring, and pollock."--Id., ib., w. Pollock. "A roach is a fish of no great reputation for his dainty taste. It is noted that roaches recover strength and grow a fortnight after spawning."--WALTON: ib., w. Roach. "A friend of mine stored a pond of three or four acres with carps and tench."--HALE: ib., w. Carp. "Having stored a very great pond with carps, tench, and other pond-fish, and only put in two small pikes, this pair of tyrants in seven years devoured the whole."--Id., ib., w. Tench. "Singular, tench; plural, tenches."--Brightland's Gram., p. 78. "The polar bear preys upon seals, fish, and the carcasses of whales."--Balbi's Geog., p. 172. "Trouts and salmons swim against the stream."--BACON: Ward's Gram., p. 130.
"'Tis true no turbots dignify my boards, But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords."--Pope.
OBS. 38.--Prom the foregoing examples it would seem, if fish or fishes are often spoken of without a regular distinction of the grammatical numbers, it is not because the words are not susceptible of the inflection, but because there is some difference of meaning between the mere name of the sort and the distinct modification in regard to number. There are also other nouns in which a like difference may be observed. Some names of building materials, as brick, stone, plank, joist, though not destitute of regular plurals, as bricks, stones, planks, joists, and not unadapted to ideas distinctly singular, as a brick, a stone, a plank, a joist, are nevertheless sometimes used in a plural sense without the s, and sometimes in a sense which seems hardly to embrace the idea of either number; as, "Let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly."--Gen., xi, 3. "And they had brick for stone."--Ib. "The tale of bricks."--Exod., v, 8 and 18. "Make brick."--Ib., v, 16. "From your bricks."--Ib., v, 19. "Upon altars of brick."--Isaiah. lxv, 3. "The bricks are fallen down."--Ib., ix, 10. The same variety of usage occurs in respect to a few other words, and sometimes perhaps without good reason; as, "Vast numbers of sea fowl frequent the rocky cliffs."--Balbi's Geog., p. 231. "Bullocks, sheep, and fowls."--Ib., p. 439. "Cannon is used alike in both numbers."--Everest's Gram., p. 48. "Cannon and shot may be used in the singular or plural sense."--O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 37. "The column in the Place Vendome is one hundred and thirty-four feet high, and is made of the brass of the cannons taken
