naturally a plural signification; and a few or a great many is not a collection so definite that we can well conceive of fews and manies; but both are sometimes construed substantively, though in modern English[139] it seems to be mostly by ellipsis of the noun. Example: "The praise of the judicious few is an ample compensation for the neglect of the illiterate many."--Churchill's Gram., p. 278. Dr. Johnson says, the word many is remarkable in Saxon for its frequent use. The following are some of the examples in which he calls it a substantive, or noun: "After him the rascal many ran."--Spenser. "O thou fond many."--Shakspeare. "A care-craz'd mother of a many children."--Id. "And for thy sake have I shed many a tear."--Id. "The vulgar and the many are fit only to be led or driven."--South. "He is liable to a great many inconveniences every moment of his life."--Tillotson. "Seeing a great many in rich gowns, he was amazed."--Addison.
"There parting from the king, the chiefs divide, And wheeling east and west, before their many ride."--Dryden.
OBS. 28.--"On the principle here laid down, we may account for a peculiar use of the article with the adjective few, and some other diminutives. In saying, 'A few of his adherents remained with him;' we insinuate, that they constituted a number sufficiently important to be formed into an aggregate: while, if the article be omitted, as, 'Few of his adherents remained with him;' this implies, that he was nearly deserted, by representing them as individuals not worth reckoning up. A similar difference occurs between the phrases: 'He exhibited a little regard for his character;' and 'He exhibited little regard for his character.'"--Churchill's Gram., p. 279. The word little, in its most proper construction, is an adjective, signifying small; as, "He was little of stature."--Luke. "Is it not a little one?"--Genesis. And in sentences like the following, it is also reckoned an adjective, though the article seems to relate to it, rather than to the subsequent noun; or perhaps it may be taken as relating to them both: "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep."--Prov., vi, 10; xxiv, 33. But by a common ellipsis, it is used as a noun, both with and without the article; as, "A little that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many wicked."--Psalms, xxxvii, 16. "Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith."--Prov., xv, 16. "He that despiseth little things, shall perish by little and little."--Ecclesiasticus. It is also used adverbially, both alone and with the article a; as, "The poor sleep little."--Otway. "Though they are a little astringent."--Arbuthnot. "When he had gone a little farther thence."--Mark, i, 19. "Let us vary the phrase [in] a very little" [degree].--Kames, Vol. ii, p. 163.
OBS. 29.--"As it is the nature of the articles to limit the signification of a word, they are applicable only to words expressing ideas capable of being individualized, or conceived of as single things or acts; and nouns implying a general state, condition, or habit, must be used without the article. It is not vaguely therefore, but on fixed principles, that the article is omitted, or inserted, in such phrases as the following: 'in terror, in fear, in dread, in haste, in sickness, in pain, in trouble; in a fright, in a hurry, in a consumption; the pain of his wound was great; her son's dissipated life was a great trouble to her."--Churchill's Gram., p. 127.
OBS. 30.--Though the, an, and a, are the only articles in our language, they are far from being the only definitives. Hence, while some have objected to the peculiar distinction bestowed upon these little words, firmly insisting on throwing them in among the common mass of adjectives; others have taught, that the definitive adjectives--I know not how many--such as, this, that, these, those, any, other, some, all, both, each, every, either, neither--"are much more properly articles than any thing else."--Hermes, p. 234. But, in spite of this opinion, it has somehow happened, that these definitive adjectives have very generally, and very absurdly, acquired the name of pronouns. Hence, we find Booth, who certainly excelled most other grammarians in learning and acuteness, marvelling that the articles "were ever separated from the class of pronouns." To all this I reply, that the, an, and a, are worthy to be distinguished as the only articles, because they are not only used with much greater frequency than any other definitives, but are specially restricted to the limiting of the signification of nouns. Whereas the other definitives above mentioned are very often used to supply the place of their nouns; that is, to represent them understood. For, in general, it is only by ellipsis of the noun after it, and not as the representative of a noun going before, that any one of these words assumes the appearance of a pronoun. Hence, they are not pronouns, but adjectives. Nor are they "more properly articles than any thing else;" for, "if the essence of an article be to define and ascertain" the meaning of a noun, this very conception of the thing necessarily supposes the noun to be used with it.
OBS. 31.--The following example, or explanation, may show what is meant by definitives. Let the general term be man, the plural of which is men: A man--one unknown or indefinite; The man--one known or particular; The men--some particular ones; Any man--one indefinitely; A certain man--one definitely; This man--one near; That man--one distant; These men--several near; Those men--several distant; Such a man--one like some other; Such men--some like others; Many a man--a multitude taken singly; Many men--an indefinite multitude taken plurally; A thousand men--a definite multitude; Every man--all or each without exception; Each man--both or all taken separately; Some man--one, as opposed to none; Some men--an indefinite number or part; All men--the whole taken plurally; No men--none of the sex; No man--never one of the race.
