1000000030

Cannot ad",it of

~ny

fex

.1:

thercfore all the

b~in~I

which C"n

b~cnl\le

,he ohjelh of

O~ r

f¡>ccllla,ion, m"y be

conGdercd as ci,her

11/01",

or¡ ,m"/" .

(uch as

~dmit

(ex, and therefore may be fald lO be oeuter, or of

mi/A" fex. Ileoce, therefore,

grammari~ns

have made

threefold difli oction o( nouns,

i~to

1II."¡;:u/ine

gO/lI,rJ,

(Jr1ho(e \' ..hich deoOle

IIInl,,; ¡",inil/',

ur lhofe which

denote

.frlllolN

and

mu:trJ,

"hich denote tho(e fub·

ihoces tllJt admit of no (' x. But,

~hhoubh

the origin

of genders is thus (o clear and obvious; yet every lan·

guage that \Ve kno\V of, except the EngllOl , deviates from

the order of nature, and ollen amibutes fex to tho(e (ub·

lIances which are totally incapable of any; flay, (ome

Iangu:r;:es are (o particularly defeé!ive in this relpeé!, as

to cI.(s every objeé! inanimate as well as

.nil\l~te

under

either the

maj:'ulim

fclllinin:

gmdm,

·as they admit

of no gcnder (or thofe that are of oeitller (ex. This is

the cafe " ith the French, Italian, and SpaniOl. But the

Engl'¡h, firié!lyfollowiog the order of nature, put, every

Doun \Vhich denolcs a male aoimal, and 00 others, in the

,,,a¡culi/Je

gender

every name 01 a female animal, in the

¡,minine;

and everyanimal\Vhofe (ex is not obviou" or

known, as \Vell as e.ery inanimate objea whatever, io

(he

n,ul"

geoder. Nor does this rule admit of aoy ex·

ceptions; ahhotlgh poetS take the liben y of perfooifying

.ny objeas they lhir.k proper, aod endow them with

whatever fex fuils their purpofe befi

\Vhich (erves ad.

mirably to diflioguilh betweeo the coollaoguage of phi.

lofophy, aod the eothufiafm of poetry.

Although

Cafu

are oot oece(fary accidents of oouns:

yet as they hage been often cooGdered as (uch, it \ViII

perhaps be deemcd proper to take fome ootiee of them:

-As oatural objeé!s .remain the fame , ahhough vie\Ved

from maoy difl'erent poiots of view, they are oot io their

own oature altered, although they may beconnetled with

others in many di(fuent ways: their oames therefore

ought tOremain uochanged, although their relations · to

other 1V0rds may be varied.

However,

there arecertain

circumfhoces io ",hich oouos may be cooGdered with re·

[peé! tO their relatioo

lo,

aod eoooeé!ion

,ui/h

o~her

words,

which occur more frequeotly thao others. Some langua.

ges. (particul. rly the Greek and Latin) expre(s

fome-of

thefe Clrcumnances, by

variaiion of the origin.1 nouo,

which variations are called CASES. But the En·

glilh, aod dmofl all the modern laogllages of Europe,

llave foll nwed the order of oamre, and al!ow the noun

to remaio the fame, expreffiog its relation and coooeaion

",ith other words by the help of dininé!\Vords ealled pre–

poGtioos.- Which of thefe methods is ben, it is not our

prefent Furpo(e to inqui le. See LA NCVAGE.

I,as beco fuppof, d lhe Englilh nounl admit of one

.adatioo which

~ofwers

to the genilive cafe of the La·

tins.- T hus the 1V0rd

Aletander

is ao Eoglilh nouo in its

proper fo rmo aod in that

c.fe

which iu Latio would be

ealled the

NO/llina/ivr.

The v.riation which they cal!cd

the

Cmitivr

Cafe, i, exprc(fed io EnghOl by addlOg the

prepoGtion Of before the noun; thus, Of

Alrtalldtr

But

the fame

me.nin~

may bc

coove)'~d

by the WOIO

A/",n/! .

d,,', ;

for the mear.¡og is Ihe f.' lIle If

íay

the houfe

Alaallder,

¡/

/ex.nd,

r'J

houfe. This,

th~reforc .

has

been ealled a

trUC

iOCltlioDof thc original nuun.

llo\V·

evc~,

ahh?"gh this opinion has beenadopted by all gramo

mm.ns,

tt appears tOhave bcen adoptcd lVithout fu!lici.

cnt Ix.mioauoo, "' IVIII be evideot Irom the follo""n'

cünliocrations.

'fhere are cen ain cireumnances in which this fuppofed

genilive eannOt be fuUltllled infi ead of the other : lor

m~y

ro,)',

fpeak Of

Alo,and, r

IVrite o

C40r,

tlllnk Of

Powp'J ;

but I cannol f,Y',

fpeak

A/(XaIlJ,/,'s,

IVrite

Cefar's,

or [ thir,k

PCII/pe)

's. Hence the(e tillO

are not io all cab fynooymous ¡erms; and therefore one

of IhemIl1Iln be conGdered as ooly aceidentally eoinc'¿lng

lVith the other in partieul. r c¡rcumfiancCl.

Ag.io

, evayone of thefe I,ippofcd geoitives can wilh

prop,iety ,(fume all the vmeus figos of the d,fl'lren¡

ca!"

io the Engllfh language: for \Ve may f.y Gmpl)', as

theoomioative cale,

Alu.llder's

houf.

but \Ve can airo

fay, Of

¡¡lexander',

ho.!e,

TO. IVITH, HOM, IN,

BY,

or fO R

AI,xand,,', he.!e,

&c.

thi! then be a

genitive, it requi res the Ggn of the genitive, as ",ell

of the other cafes, to explalO it; whieh \Vould be an abo

furdlty too breat tObe admitted.-Hut it may be afked,

if thefe are OOt geoitives, to \Vhat clafs of words caD tbey

be referred

[O anfwer to this, it has been already obferved, that

the variety of (ubfiaoces is fo great, that it is impoffible

for any perfon to know the names of every one of them ;

and therefore tbey have been arranged under the feveral

orders of genera and fpecies. We oow funher obfer.e,

that as the individuals are fo exceedio'gly numerous, it

would be impoflible even tO iovent proper names for cach,

Ind far lefs would it be poffible lO make thefe names be

known to every perfoo

\Vho

might accidentally fee them :

therefore ",heo \Ve \Vlnt to afcertain aoy individual ob·

jea, and difiioguilh it from all the other individuals

the fame fpecies, \Ve are obliged to ha.e recourfe tO par–

ticular epithets, or definitives, to afcertain that individo.

ar.-Thus, [ fee a particular houfe which

\Vant to di·

fiioguiOI from other houf.s

this has no particular oame

of its owo

mul! therefore afcertain it in tbe befl mano

·oer

can

aod as tbe Ihonefi is alIVays the bell, we Olofi

naturally deoomioate it from iu owner or po(fe(for if \lÍe

know him, and therefore cal! it

!I/

,xa.du

's , Jal1m'!,

John's

houfe.-Hcre theo

\Ve

(ee, that the words

A·

lexander's , Jnmn's,

and

].oh,,'s,

do not nand as oouO!,

but as

arlie/o

d<JiIl!1 iva

ferl'iog tOafcenain aod point

out the indiviouallt)' of the ooun with whicb they are

joined, and are much oearer al!ied to adjcaives than

[ubfi.oti'·es. The(e, therefore, like OIher anicles, do

OOt alter the cafe of the ooun ; fo that tite term

AI,tan'

a,,',

houje,

is as much the proper name of a pallicubr

boufe, as

Alaalld"

J""IO

are the proper names of

particular men . and of confequence may be varied thro'

the ddrerent cafes as ",el! as the otl¡er.- It is

furprir.n~,

that this idea

oever

oeellrrcd to r.rammarians; for

Pet,r'J

at Rome, and

Pa. !'J

at Loooon, are as Irul)'

the proper names 01' ¡h& tIVO

oobl~

cdifices , as the

Rr·

IlIndo

or the

Cimll

are thc proper r.amcs or til'O other

flruclures.-We o"y therefole

'ard)'

c"Delude, thal ¡he

EngliOl I. ngu.'ge adlllits of 00 cafes

al!, ano Ih.1t lite

only dr, r.liJI accidents

01'

nouns are gend" and ollmber.

SECo