CHAPTER III.

SECTION I. OF SUBSTANTIVES IN GENERAL.

Substantives are either proper or common.

Proper names, or substantives, are the names belonging to individuals: as William, Birmingham.

These are sometimes converted into nicknames, of improper names: as Bill, Brummagem.

Common names, or substantives, denote kinds containing many sorts, or sorts containing many individual» under them: as brute, beast, bumpkin, cherub, infant, goblin, &c.

Proper names, when an article is prefixed to them, are employed as common names: as, "They thought him a perfect Chesterfield; he quite astonished the Browns."

Common names, on the other hand, are made to denote individuals, by the addition of articles or pronouns: as,

"There was a little man, and he had little gun."

"That boy will be the death of me!"

Substantives are considered according to gender, number, and case; they are all of the third person when spoken of, and of the second when spoken to; {029}as,

Matilda, fairest maid, who art In countless bumpers toasted, O let thy pity baste the heart Thy fatal charms have roasted!