k other languages
to find an unheard of word, or a list of adjectives never before
arranged together, in so nice a manner, so that their ideas are lost to
the common reader, if not to themselves. This fault may be alleged
against too many of our public speakers, as well as the affected gentry
of the land. They are like Shakspeare's Gratiano, "who speaks an
infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice; his reasons
are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek
all day ere you find them; and, when you have found them, they are not
worth the search." Such sentences remind us of the painting of the young
artist who drew the form of an animal, but apprehensive that some might
mistake it, wrote under it, "_This is a horse._"

In forming our notions of what is signified by an adjective, the mind
should pause to determine the meaning of such word when used as a
distinct name for some object, in order to determine the import of it in
this new capacity. A _tallow_ candle is one made of a substance called
tallow, and is employed to distinguish it from wax or spermaceti
candles. The adjective in this case, names the article of which the
candle is made, and is thus a noun, but, as we are not speaking of
tallow, but of candles, we place it in a new relation, and give it a new
grammatical character. But you will perceive the correctness of a former
assertion, that all words may be reduced to two classes, and that
adjectives are derived from nouns or verbs.

But you may inquire if there are not some adjectives in use which have
no corresponding verb or noun from which they are derived. There are
many words in our language which in certain uses have become obsolete,
but are retained in others. We now use some words as verbs which
originally were known only as nouns, and others as nouns which are
unknown as verbs. We also put a new construction upon words and make
nouns, verbs and adjectives promiscuously and with little regard to rule
or propriety. Words at one time unknown become familiar by use, and
others are laid aside for those more new or fashionable. These facts are
so obvious that I shall be excused from extending my remarks to any
great length. But I will give an example which will serve as a clew to
the whole. Take the word _happy_, long known only as an adjective.
Instead of following this word _back_ to its primitive use and deriving
it directly from its noun, or as a past participle, su