167. In such phrases as 'woe is me,' 'woe worth the day,' we have similar instances; for they signify' woe is to me,' woe be to the day.' Here worth is a form derived from the Anglo-Saxon weordan, 'to become.'

That is to say,

Much wo worth the man,

That misruleth his inwitte;
And well worth Piers Plowman,
That pursueth God in his going.

Much woe betide the man,

That misruleth his conscience;
And fair befall Piers Plowman,

That followeth God in his conduct.

Sir Walter Scott, imitating the language of the old ballads, nas the following passage:

I little thought, when first thy rein

I slacked upon the banks of Seine,
That Highland eagle e'er should feed
On thy fleet limbs, my gallant steed!
Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day,
That costs thy life, my gallant grey!
Lady of the Lake, i. 9.

Some adjectives govern an objective case; as like, nigh, near, worth: 'It is like him ;' 'This is near me;' 'That is worth twenty pounds.' Analogy would lead us to the conclusion that these objectives represent dative cases; and the argument is corroborated by the fact that the preposition to is sometimes added, like to, near to.

CHAPTER VI.

ADJECTIVES.

168. AN Adjective is a word added to a substantive to express its quality.' (Lowth, Grammar, p. 44.)

This definition is founded upon the literal meaning of the word adjective, which is derived from the Latin ad-jectus, 'put on,'' added to.'

But we must bear in mind the distinction between the

Attributive and the Predicative use of the Adjective. When we speak of the good boy,' the red apple,' we qualify the words boy' and 'apple.' This is called the attributive use of the adjective; and it was treated under the head of Qualifications, §§ 4, 7, 14. But when we assert that 'the boy is good,' and 'the apple is red,' we employ the adjective as a predicate, and this is termed the predicative use of the adjective. See Predicate-nominative, §§ 5, 6.

In short, the so-called copula is, and an adjective, are together equivalent to a verb; as may be seen by comparing English with Latin forms :

169. But we have now to consider the substantive use of

the Adjective. Becker says:

'Adjectives are termed Substantive adjectives when substantively used, that is to say, when expressing a person or thing; e. g. der Gute, "the good man," die Kranken, "the sick persons, "das Schöne, "the beautiful," or "the beautiful thing." ."'—German Grammar, Fraedersdorf's Transl. § 127.

Dr. Lowth remarks (English Grammar, p. 44, note), that 'Adjectives are very improperly called Nouns, for they are not the Names of things. The adjectives good and white are applied to the nouns man, snow, to express the qualities belonging to those subjects; but the names of those qualities in the abstract, that is, considered in themselves, without being attributed to any subject, are goodness, whiteness, and these are Nouns or Substantives.'

Dr. Lowth does not accurately distinguish between Nouns and Substantives. But, to pass over that point, his argument depends upon the principle that nouns are names of things; and that words which are not names of things are not nouns.

But this again depends upon the meaning of the word thing. If the word be restricted to material or physical things, then Dr. Lowth's rule is not correct: for virtue, wisdom, pride, are not names of material things, and yet they are nouns. If, on the other hand, we extend the term thing, to make it include 'thoughts,' 'feelings,' and 'qualities,' why may not an adjective be the name of a thing?

There seems to be no reason why an adjective should not represent a quality in the abstract. In Greek and Latin the neuter of the adjective is constantly so used. And though in Greek the adjective used substantively is always accompanied by the article, that is no warrant for supposing that the article and the adjective are together equal to a substantive; or that the substantive force is due to the presence of the article. The case may be just the other way; because the adjective is used substantively, it is capable of receiving the article.

Besides, the neuter adjective is constantly used as a substantive in Latin, where no article whatever is found. Utile and honestum are used by Cicero for 'expediency' and 'honour;' and so Horace

Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci.

'Profit with pleasure.'

De Arte Poetica, 343.

molle atque facetum

Virgilio annuerunt gaudentes rure Camœnæ.

6

'Tenderness and grace.'

Sat. I. x. 44.

They used to tell us at school, that with an adjective so employed, a substantive must be understood;' and as res is unfortunately feminine, we were bidden to supply negotium, which does not suit the meaning. But why must a substantive be understood? Only because the grammarians are determined not to admit the claim of the adjective. If we may understand' and 'supply' words at pleasure, it is easy to prove anything. Even when an adjective stands as the predicate of a proposition, as Snow is white,' this is sometimes explained by grammatical ellipsis: as, Snow is a white (thing),' or 'a white (substance),' or 'a white (object).'

The poets, however, have no scruple. Milton, in particular, is very fond of this construction:

Who shall tempt with wandering feet,

The dark unbottomed infinite abyss,

And through the palpable obscure find out
His uncouth way?

Paradise Lost, ii. 404-407.

Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear.

Ibid. iii. 380.

So much of death her thoughts
Had entertained, as dyed her cheeks with pale.

So Shakespeare :

Ibid. x. 1009.

Call you me fair? That 'fair' again unsay:
Demetrius loves your fair. O happy fair!
Your eyes are lodestars, and your tongue's sweet air
More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,

When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.

Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1.

And so Spenser, where the adjective used substantively may be taken in the concrete:

The lyon, lord of everie beast in field,'

Quoth she, his princely puissance doth abate,
And mightie proud to humble weake does yield.'
Faerie Queene, I. iii.

If it be urged that this is merely poetic license, we may quote the 'deep' used for the 'sea,' the waste for the desert,' with the philosophic terms, the good,' 'the true,' 'the beautiful.'

POSITION.

170. Adjectives generally stand before the nouns which they qualify; as, the bright sky,' 'the distant shore.' But, in poetry, the order is often changed, to vary the diction, and to raise it above ordinary prose; as, 'O lady fair,' 'my father dear.'

It is a common practice with Milton to place an adjective both before and after a noun; as,

At length a universal hubbub wild

Of stunning sounds and voices all confused,

Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear
With loudest vehemence.

Paradise Lost, ii. 951–4.

Thus with the year

Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine.

Ibid. iii. 40-4.

So, too, he alludes to Isocrates as 'that old man eloquent,' where, however, 'old man' may be considered almost one word, equivalent to the Latin senex:

as that dishonest victory

At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,
Killed with report that old man eloquent.

Sonnet ix.

Even in prose, participles are often found after a noun: as, the persons named,' 'the reasons mentioned.'

171. Chaucer uses an adjective with the indefinite article after a noun: as,

A monk there was a fayre.

Canterbury Tales, Prologue, 165.

A frere there was a wanton and a mery.—Ibid. 208.

And, in more modern English, it is not unusual for one adjective to precede the noun, while others follow connected by and: as,

A dark prince, and infinitely suspicious.-Bacon.

When the adjective or participle is itself qualified it follows

the noun: as,

Out flew

Millions of flaming swords drawn from the thighs
Of mighty cherubim.

Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 664.

172. When two numerals qualify one noun, the ordinal adjective generally stands first, and the cardinal second: as, 'the last three chapters of John,' 'the first two of Matthew.' Strictly, there cannot be three last chapters,' or two first chapters.' And yet the terms 'three last' and 'two first,' might occur in another construction, and with a different meaning. For instance, if there were three classes in a school, the boys at the bottom of each might be termed the 'three last. Or if there were two classes, the boys at the head of each might be styled the two first.'

6

DEGREES OF COMPARISON.

173. English adjectives have no changes to express gender, number, or case; but they undergo changes, to denote Degrees of Comparison.

There are three Degrees of Comparison, in English:

1. The Positive, which gives the word in its simplest form; as bright.

2. The Comparative, which ascribes a quality in a higher degree; as brighter.

3. The Superlative, which ascribes a quality in the

highest degree; as brightest.

We have two methods of denoting comparison in adjectives; one, derived from the Anglo-Saxon, by adding terminations to the positive; the other, borrowed from the NormanFrench, by prefixing to the positive the adverbs more and

most.

Formation of Comparison by adding Terminations.

First Rule. In Adjectives, which end in a consonant, the comparative is formed by adding -er, and the superlative by adding -est to the positive; as bright, bright-er, bright-est.

Obs.-When an adjective ends in -e, the vowel e of the termination -er, -est, is dropped, or, practically, -r and -st are added to the positive: as wise, wise-r, wise-st.

F