§ 246. The names of males are masculine; the names of females, feminine; as, John, Mary.

The masculine and the feminine pronouns express the gender; as, "Call the witness-him who first gave his testimony;" "I asked the parent to restrain her child."

1. Some words have the same termination for both masculine and feminine. These are said to be of the common gender; as, Parent, guardian, cousin, student, botanist, witness, neighbor, servant, friend.

2. Some words are used only in the feminine; as, Laundress, seamstress, brunette, dowager, jointress, mantua-maker, milliner, shrew, virago, syren, amazon, vixen, spinster.

3. Some masculine words are, by extension, applied to the whole species; as, Man, to denote the human race, females as well as males. Some feminine words are, in like manner, used for the whole species; as, Goose, duck.

4. The words Infant, child, involve so little of the idea of intelligence and of personality in them, and the sex being so often unknown to the speaker, that they are not unfrequently used in the neuter gender; as, "The infant raised its loving hands to the cheek of its mother;" "the child clung to the neck of its mother."

5. The masculine term has the general meaning expressing both male and female, and is always employed when the office, occupation, or profession, and not the sex of the individual, is chiefly to be expressed. The feminine term is used in those

cases only when discriminations of sex are indispensably necessary. This is illustrated by the following examples: If I say "The poets of the age are distinguished more by correctness of taste than by sublimity of conception," I clearly include in the term poet both male and female writers of poetry. If I say "She is the best poetess of the country," I assign her the superiority over those of her own sex. If I say "She is the best poet of the country," I pronounce her superior to all other writers of poetry, both male and female.

ENGLISH GENDER, PHILOSOPHIC.

§ 247. There are, strictly speaking, but two sexes; yet, for convenience, the neuter (neither of the two) is classed with the genders. In this distribution the English language follows the order of nature, and is philosophically correct. In the Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon, the gender is determined by the termination. In the French, the Italian, the Portuguese, and the Hebrew, all nouns are either masculine or feminine.

As sex is a natural distinction, and as gender is a grammatical one, we find they do not exactly coincide with each other. Thus, gladius, a sword, is of the masculine gender in Latin; and hasta, a lance, is of the feminine gender. In German, weib, a woman, is neuter. Languages which form the genders of nouns on terminations are full of inconsistencies, laying down rules apparently for the purpose of nullifying them by numerous exceptions. As gender in the English language is founded on distinction of sex, all objects not male and female are, in history, in philosophy, in common conversation, spoken of as of the neuter gender.

ENGLISH GENDER, POETIC.

§ 248. In those languages which form the distinction of gender on terminations, inanimate objects are, in plain prose, spoken of as male or female simply upon grammatical grounds. The English language is more animated and poetic, inasmuch as it admits of more frequent personifications. Hence what in the French is prose, is in the English poetry. In animated discourse, in poetry and eloquence, objects are personified, and the masculine or feminine gender is attributed to them on the ground of some artificial association, as in the following examples:

"Of law, no less can be acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world. All things in heaven and earth do her homage; the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power."-HOOKER, Eccl. Polity, book i., 16.

The classical languages represented love, under the masculine gender, as a playful boy. English poets have followed their example:

If for his and her, in these passages, you substitute its, or translate them into languages in which gender is formed by termination, you destroy the images, and reduce poetry and eloquence to mere prose and common discourse.

GROUNDS FOR A CHOICE OF GENDER IN PERSONIFI

CATION.

§ 249. The current statement is, that such substantives as were conspicuous for the attributes of imparting or communicating, which were by nature active, strong, and efficacious, were considered as masculine.

On the contrary, such were considered as feminine as were conspicuous for the attributes either of receiving, of containing, or of producing, or which had more of the passive in their nature than of the active, or which were peculiarly beautiful or amiable. Upon these principles, the sun was considered as masculine, the moon as feminine.

Besides this statement, to which there are many exceptions, it should be mentioned that the English language, derived, as it is, from the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon, seems to inherit, to some extent, the habit of both languages in respect to gender, and to retain in individual words the gender of the words from which they were severally derived. Thus natura, in Latin, is feminine; and nature is feminine in English, when personified.

Winter, in Anglo-Saxon, is masculine; and winter is masculine in English, when personified.

COBBETT remarks: "And you know our country folks in Hampshire call almost every thing he or she." The same seems to have been the fact with the early language-makers of the world. As we have inherited a portion of their language, so we find in our own the remains of ancient gender.

NUMBERS OF NOUNS.

§ 250. NUMBER is the distinction between one and more than one, usually expressed by some difference in termination. There are two numbers, the SINGULAR and the PLURAL. The singular number denotes one object; as, Book, pen, a

man.

The plural number denotes more than one object; as, Books, pens, the men.

§ 251. In most nouns the plural number is, in the SPOKEN language, formed from the singular, by the addition of the sound of s in seal, or of z in zeal, or of that of the syllable ez; as, Stack, stack-s; stag, stag-s; stage, stag-es.

I. The plural number of nouns is generally expressed in the WRITTEN language by the addition of the letter s to the singular; as, Chief, chief-s; pin, pin-s; key, key-s; folio, folio-s; muse,

muse-s.

Nouns in the SPOKEN language ending with a sound which will not unite with that s, add the sound of ez to express the plural; as, Lens, lens-es; brush, brush-es; church, church-es; box, box-es.

II. In the WRITTEN language, nouns ending with s, sh, ch, x, z, add es to express the plural; as, Lens, lens-es; brush, brushes; church, church-es; box, box-es; phiz, phiz-es. Nouns ending with ch pronounced like k form their plurals by the addition of s; as, Monarch, monarchs.

III. Nouns ending in y, after a consonant, change y into ies to form the plural; as, Glory, glories; vanity, vanities; colloquy, colloquies. In the last word qu is treated as one con

sonant.

Formerly the singular number of this class of words ended in ie; as, Glorie, vanitie. In the formation of the plural they followed the common rule. In the process of time ie was changed into y in the singular, while the ancient form of the plural was retained.

Nouns ending in i generally form their plural by the addition. of es; as, Alkali, alkalies; houri, houries; salmagundi, salmagundies.

IV. Nouns ending in o, preceded by a consonant, generally form their plural in es; as, Hero, heroes; cargo, cargoes; negro, negroes: es was probably used instead of s as an orthographical expedient to indicate the long sound of o.

To this rule there are many exceptions; as, Cantos, centos, grottos, juntos, duodecimos, octavos, quartos, solos, tyros, mementos. Proper names form their plural by the addition of s; as, Cato, Catos; Scipio, Scipios.

V. Certain nouns ending in ƒ or fe form their plurals by changing ƒ or fe into ves; as, Loaf, loaves; wife, wives. F in the singular is changed into v in the plural, not from any dif ficulty in pronouncing the sound of ƒ with that of s, since they are both surd consonants, but because ƒ in the Anglo-Saxon had, in the end of words, the power of v; so that, instead of the plural form being changed, it is probable that the singular has been modified. Thus we have calf, calves; elf, elves; half, halves; leaf, leaves; loaf, loaves; self, selves; sheaf, sheaves; thief, thieves; wolf, wolves; and the Norman word beef, beeves; also life, lives; knife, knives; wife, wives.

Other nouns ending in ƒ and fe are regular in the formation of the plural, namely, by the addition of s to the singular; as, Grief, griefs; staff, staffs (and staves); turf, turfs (and turves); strip, strips; fife, fifes.

The original pronunciation in the SPOKEN language was that of s in the plural, but by a euphonic change the sound of surd s has been converted into that of vz sonant.

VI. Certain nouns form their plurals in en or n; as, Ox, oxen; hose, hos-en. In the Anglo-Saxon, no termination of the plural number was more common than n as, Tungen, tongues. Of this termination we have remains in the words quoted; and also in shoe, shoon; eye, eyen or eyne; house, housen; welken.