(c) 'On the other hand, many words which appear to be compounds are not really such. Such are Crayfish, for crevice, Fr. écrivisse. Wiseacre, for weissager, Ger. a diviner. Yeoman, for yemeane, A.-S. common. Bag-o-nails, for bacchanals.' &c. &c. &c. (d) 'Composition, it may be added, is later in a language than Derivation, and it forms a most important power in any tongue. In English, as in German and Greek, it is a great excellence, and goes far to compensate us for the loss of case-endings. Indeed it helps us to express our meaning with a brevity and clearness which case-endings alone would never have given.' —Angus, H. E. Tongue, p. 143. § 4. Number. 1. We speak of the properties of a class, and the accidents of an individual. Hence we say the accidents of a noun are Number, Gender, Case. 2. Definition. NUMBER is a grammatical form expressing one, or more than one, of the things indicated by the name. These numbers are called singular and plural. 3. Nouns of Anglo-Saxon origin form their plurals in four ways: (i) By a radical change; as, mouse, mice. These are called strong plurals, and imply collectiveness. (ii) By the suffix en; A.-S. as, ox, oxen. These are rapidly becoming obsolete, and are estimated strong. (iii) By the suffix er; as childer (in A.-S. ru or ra), cor rupted now into ry; as, yeomanry, also implying collectiveness. (iv) By the suffix es or s; as, book, books; church, churches. 4. A favourite termination of the plural of N.-French nouns was x, and of A.-Saxon nouns as. Hence the fourth method, which now prevails, would naturally be adopted when the languages blended. 5. Rules for forming the plurals in s and es, &c. (a) Nouns ending in ch soft, sh, ss, s, x, z, and generally in two consonants or a double consonant, also in o and y preceded by a consonant, form their plurals by adding es; as, church, churches; topaz, topazes; hero, heroes: y changes into i before es; as, fly, flies. (b) Exceptions: Canto, grotto, palmetto, junto, portico, octavo, quarto, duodecimo, solo, tyro, form their plurals in s. (c) Other nouns ending in ch hard, or in one consonant, or in o and y preceded by a vowel, form their plurals by adding s; as, book, books; valley, valleys; patriarch, patriarchs. (d) Nouns ending in fe form their plurals in ves; as, wife, wives. Except fife, strife, safe. (e) The following nouns ending in ƒ do not change it in the plural: Brief, chief, dwarf, fief, grief, gulf, kerchief, hoof, mischief, proof, roof, reproof, scarf, surf, turf, wharf; and nouns in ff, as muff.-N.B. Wharf and dwarf form their plurals both ways; as, wharfs, wharves; dwarfs, dwarves. (f) The following thirteen simple nouns have strong plurals: Other words, as sheep, grouse, &c., have strong plurals of unchanged form. 6. Some nouns have both a strong and a weak plural : Since plurals in en are estimated strong, to these we may add Brother Brothers Brethren 7. Nouns which have two plurals with totally different meanings: 8. Nouns which have different meanings in the singular and Under this class we may place the names of materials which in the plural indicate varieties; as, wines, sugars, &c. 9. Nouns which have two meanings in the singular and one in the plural: 10. Nouns which have two meanings in the plural and one in the 11. The noun letter' has two meanings in the singular, alphabetletter, and epistle; and three in the plural, viz. alphabet-letter, literature, epistles. 12. Nouns which have no singular. (a) Those which express dual conceptions; as, (b) Those, which express things plural by nature or art, or are plurals in the languages from which they are derived; such as, 13. Nouns which have no plural :—Names of objects, &c., which from their nature cannot be counted, have no plurals; such as, (a) Names of materials; as, gold, pitch, &c. (b) Names of abstract and moral qualities; as, hardness, prudence, pride. 14. Collectiveness is shown in three ways: : (a) By the collective noun; as, mob, crowd. Cavalry = a collection of caballi,' or steeds 15. Words imported from foreign languages form their plurals according to the law of the language whence they are derived; as, 16. Several of these foreign words have a tendency to form their plurals according to English rule; as, Crocuses, formulas, frustums, memorandums, &c. When this takes place the word may be said to be naturalised. 17. We have now to discuss the following words :— (a) ETHICS, METAPHYSICS, POLITICS, PHYSICS, &c. 'In Greek the science was denoted by a feminine adjective singular (to agree with Tɛxvǹ, art); and the treatises upon it by the neuter adjective plural. The treatises of Aristotle are so named. To apply this. A science of Greek origin might have its name drawn from two sources, viz. from the name of the art or science, or from the name of the books wherein it was treated. In the first case it had a singular form, as physic, logic. In the second place a plural form, as metaphysics, mathematics, optics,' &c.-Latham, vol. ii. p. 167, English Language. (b) CHICKENS. Latham gives this as an instance of a double plural exhibiting the same formation as ferns; but this is very questionable, because though en is a plural suffix, |