or passage is the only thing that will enable us infallibly to ascertain the case.

113. In the sentence, "Alexander conquered Darius," "Alexander" is in the nominative, because (104) it represents the actor or agent, while "Darius" is the objective, because (110) it names the person affected by the transitive verb "conquered." In the line of Milton's, “When thus the Son the fervent Sire addressed," it would be quite impossible, without examining the context, to say whether it was the Son that addressed the Sire or the Sire that addressed the Son; but in this from Shakspeare, "Life every man holds dear," while the mere arrangement of the words is similar, yet we see at once that life is in the objective case, affected by the transitive verb holds, though coming before it. 114. We subjoin two examples of the declension of the It is very simple.

noun.

When the plural does not end in s, the Possessive is formed in the same way as the singular; thus,

1. Define the word case. In what two senses may it be used? How many cases is the noun in English said to have? What is the main idea attached to the nominative? What is its general place in a sentence? What is the principal idea attached to the Possessive? What are any of the subordinate ideas? How is the possessive singular formed? How the plural? What two theories have been held with respect to the formation of the possessive? Are they mutually destructive? If not, reconcile them. May the idea of ownership be expressed in any other way than by the use of the possessive case? Are the two modes in all cases equivalent ? Which mode does Adam Smith consider the older? Do we derive any advantage from this double form of expressing the idea of possession? Illustrate this. In what two relations is the Objective

case used? What two cases are like each other in form? How are they discriminated from each other? May the possessive be always known by its form?

2. Point out the cases of the following nouns, and assign the reason: Alexander wept. Cæsar conquered Pompey. Hannibal wintered at Capua. Great princes have great playthings. There is in souls a sympathy with sounds. Greatness confers no exemption from

the cares and sorrows of life. Othello's occupation's gone. Love's a boundless burning waste,

Where bliss's stream we seldom taste.-Campbell. Hannibal's great experiment had hitherto failed.—Arnold. The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.-Johnson. The boy stood on the burning deck.-Hemans.

Age, that lessens the enjoyment of life, increases our desire of living.-Goldsmith.

3. Resolve the following possessives into the objective of the noun and the appropriate preposition :

name.

She sought counsel of her country's gods. Heedless of a soldier's Such the bard's prophetic words. With all a monarch's pride. So ended Hannibal's first campaign in Italy. There is a history in all men's lives. I here entreat the reader's permission to step a little out of my way. A moment's thought will suffice to convince us. Heed not the corse, though a king's. Age shakes Athena's tower. The sun is the poet's, the invalid's, and the hypochondriac's friend. This is a boy's task. Pope's Homer's Iliad. The chief of Ulva's isle. Solomon's temple.

4. Give equivalent possessive cases for the following adjectives, or, if necessary, use the periphrasis of :

Arnold's Roman history. The royal prerogative. He was invested with consular authority. We find no example of this in historical records. Naval architecture. Military fame. The Casarian party. An honourable man.

INFLECTION OF ADJECTIVES.

115. In many languages the Adjective is changed in termination to correspond with the noun which it qualifies; but in the English tongue there is no such modification; and in this respect our language seems superior in metaphysical propriety to most others, because the accident of gender cannot properly belong to a quality which is itself but an accident and no self-existing thing. Gender, it is to be observed, cannot properly belong to a noun adjective,

the signification of which is always precisely the same, to whatever species of substantives it is applied. When we say a great man,' 'a great woman,' the word great has precisely the same meaning in both cases, and the difference of the sex in the subjects to which it may be applied makes no sort of difference in its signification. Magnus, magna, magnum, in the same manner, are words which express precisely the same quality, and the change of the termination is accompanied with no sort of variation in the meaning. Sex and gender are qualities that belong to substances, but cannot belong to the qualities of substances."

116. But while the nature of the thing which the adjective is employed to express cannot be varied, yet it may exist in different proportions; and hence the adjective is varied to express different degrees of the quality indicated by it, and these variations are called Degrees of Comparison.

117. As qualities may exist in an infinite variety of proportions, there is no reason why the number of inflections to which the adjective shall be subjected should be three rather than five. It is a question of convenience to be solved by experience alone. Still it is remarkable that most languages have three forms in their adjectives, called degrees of comparison, and named respectively the Positive, the Comparative, and the Superlative.

118. When the simple quality is denoted, the adjective is said to be in the Positive Degree. When a higher degree is signified, the adjective is in the Comparative; and when the highest degree is expressed, it is said to be in the Superlative. Logically considered, indeed, the positive involves the idea of comparison as much as the comparative: thus, when we affirm of a mountain that it is lofty, we must have a tacit reference to other mountains; when we affirm of any particular river that it is rapid, we (unconsciously, perhaps, but yet actually) make a comparison between it and some other rivers.

119. So that in the use of words, apparently so simple as rapid, lofty, high, &c., much more in such words as learned, liberal, orthodox, &c., it is impossible to know what any one means except you know his standard of comparison. An Englishman and a Swiss, meeting among the mountains of

Scotland would not agree in the use of epithets, because, as compared with the gentle undulations to be found on "Albion's plain," the former would consider Ben Lomond "majestic," while the latter, comparing it with Mount Blanc, would hesitate to apply to it the term "lofty," and be perhaps inclined to consider it a mere molehill. This principle will explain the paradox, that people often use the same words without agreeing in sentiment, and are often agreed in sentiment when they use different words. It also proves that the Positive involves an idea of comparison, and makes it impossible to state any essential difference between it and the other degrees of comparison.

120. The common description of the Positive is, that it is "expressed by the adjective in its simple state," a definition which certainly throws no light on its nature, though it is not to be denied as a fact.

121. The Comparative Degree denotes that the quality expressed by it belongs to one of two objects in a greater degree than to the other; and the Superlative, that it belongs to one of several in a greater degree than to any of the rest. For example, when we say that the line Ais longer than the line B—, the meaning is, that both lines have a certain quality, length, but that A has more of it than B. When the comparison is drawn between more things than two, we use the superlative. Thus, we say of the lines A- Bthat C is the longest. In the same way, speaking of stone and wood, we might say, "Stone is the harder body of the two ;" but if we are discoursing of iron, stone, and wood, we must use the superlative, and say, "Iron is the hardest body of

the three."

C

D

122. No essential difference existing between the Comparative and Superlative, it is not to be wondered at that they are frequently confounded. The strict rule laid down by grammarians, that the comparative is to be used when two things are spoken of, and the superlative when more than two are the subject of discourse, has not been observed, even by the best writers, and still less by the best speakers, and need not now be insisted on. In the present state of the language, perhaps, it may be safe to say, that while in

colloquial language the superlative is used when two are implied, yet if two be distinctly expressed, the comparative is better. The true use of the comparative is seen in this verse from the "Song of the Greek Bard :"

You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet,

Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?
Of two such lessons, why forget

The nobler and the manlier one?

Byron.

123. The whole class of Numeral Adjectives, from their very nature, cannot be in any other degree than the positive; and, with respect to Attributive Adjectives, it is to be observed that those only which express a quality that may exist in greater or less proportions can be compared : for instance, if the exact ideas represented by the words circular, square, triangular, and also such words as chief, extreme, universal, and eternal, be apprehended by the mind, by the very act of apprehension it will be seen that it would be contradictory to their nature to admit of any increase. Let the student reflect on this, and then he will be able to dispense with rules about the use of chief, perpendicular, &c., because he will see at once, from the nature of the idea suggested by the word, whether it admits of increase or diminution.

124. The Comparative is formed by adding er to the Positive, if it end with a consonant, and r simply if it end in the vowele; the Superlative, by adding st in the former case and est in the latter; thus, hard, harder, hardest; large, larger, largest. Adjectives compared in this manner are called Regular ; but some adjectives follow no rule in forming their degrees of comparison, and these are called Irregular. The following are those most commonly in use :

125. Some grammarians, amongst others Mr Latham,

object to these being called irregular, as there may have