nostratium sermone nominum substantivorum genitivus singularis, et nominativus pluralis exeunt in es, vel s." From the introduction of the Saxons into this island, to the Norman conquest, the Saxon genitive was in universal use. From the latter period to the time of Henry II. (1170), though the English language underwent some alterations, we still find the Saxon genitive. Thus in a poem, entitled "The Life of St. Margaret," in the Normanno-Saxon dialect, we find the following among other examples, "christes angles," and the pronoun hyr (his) spelled is; thus, "Theodosius was is name." - See Hickes, Thes. vol. i. p. 226.

Webster has asserted that, in the age of Edward the Confessor (1050), he does not find the Saxon genitive; and as a proof that the pronoun his was used instead of the Saxon termination, he quotes a passage from a charter of Edward the Confessor, where the words "bissop his land" occur, which he conceives to be equivalent to "bishop's land." Now, had he read but a small part of that charter, he would have found the Saxon genitive; and what he imagines to be equivalent to the English genitive is neither that case, nor synonymous with it. The passage runs thus: "And ich ke be eu bat Alfred havet iseld Gise bissop his land at Llyton;" the meaning of which is, "Know that Alfred hath sold to Bishop Gise his land at Lutton." In the time of Richard II. (1385) we find Trevisa and Chaucer using the Saxon genitive. Thus, in Trevisa's trans

E

lation of the Athanasian creed, we find among other examples, "Godes sight."

In Gavin Douglas, who lived in the beginning of the sixteenth century, we find is instead of es, thus, faderis hands.

In the time of Henry the Eighth we find, in the works of Sir. T. More, both the Saxon and the English genitive; and in a letter, written in 1559, by Maitland of Lethington, the English genitive frequently occurs. Had this genitive, then, been an abbreviation for the noun and the pronoun his, the use of the words separately would have preceded their abbreviated form in composition. This, however, was not the case.

To form the genitive plural, we annex the apostrophe without the letters, as eagles' wings, that is, the wings of eagles. The genitive singular of nouns terminating in s, is formed in the same manner, as, righteousness' sake, or, the sake of righteousness.

I finish this article with observing, that there are in English a few diminutive nouns, so called from their expressing a small one of the kind. Some of these end in kin, from a Dutch and Teutonic word signifying a child, as, manikin, a little man, lambkin, pipkin, thomkin. Proper names ending in kin belonged originally to this class of diminutives, as, Wilkin, Willielmulus; Halkin, Hawkin, Henriculus; Tomkin, Thomulus; Simkin, Peterkin, &c. Some diminutives end in och, as, hill, hillock; bull, bullock; some in el, as, pike, pickrel; cock, cockrel; sack, satchel; some in ing, as, goose, gosling. These seem to be the only legitimate ones, as properly belonging to our language. The rest are derived from Latin, French, Italian, and have various terminations.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE ARTICLE.

LANGUAGE is chiefly composed of general terms, most substantives being the names of genera or species. When we find a number of substances resembling one another in their principal and most obvious qualities, we refer them to one species, to which we assign a name common to every individual of that species. In like manner, when we find several of these species, resembling one another in their chief properties, we refer them to a higher order, to which also we assign a common and more general name than that, which was affixed to the inferior class. Thus we assign the general name man to the human species, as possessing a common form, and distinguished by the common attributes of life, reason, and speech. If we consider man as possessed of life only, we perceive a resemblance in this respect between him and other beings. To this higher class or genus, the characteristic attribute of which is vitality, we affix the more generic name of animal *. Hence, when we use an appellative or common noun, it denotes the genus or class collectively, of which it is the name, as,

"The proper study of mankind is man," i. e. not one man, not many men, but all men.

"Metal is specifically heavier than water,” i. e. not this or that metal, but all metals.

But, though our words are general, all our perceptions are individual, having single existences for their objects. It is often necessary, however, to express two, three, or more of these individual existences; and hence arises the use of that species of words which have been called numerals, that is, words denoting number. To signify unity or one of a class, our forefathers employed ae or ane, as, ae man, ane ox. When unity, or the number one, as opposed to two or more, was to be expressed, the emphasis would naturally be laid on the word significant of unity; and when unity was not so much the object as the species or kind, the term expressive of unity would naturally be unemphatical; and hence ae, by celerity of pronunciation, would become a, and ane be shortened into an. These words a and an are now termed indefinite articles; it is clear, however, that they are truly numerals, belonging to the same class with two, three, four, &c.; or, perhaps more properly, these numerals may be considered as abbreviations, for the repeated expression of the term one. By whatever name these terms a, an, may be designed, it seems evident that they were originally