are about 200. Of those in _ent_, as _different_, there are about 300. Of
those in _ant_, as _abundant_, there are about 170. Of those in _less_, as
_ceaseless_, there are about 220. Of those in _ful_, as _useful_, there are
about 130. Of those in _ory_, as _explanatory_, there are about 200. Of
those in _ish_, as _childish_, there are about 100. Of those in _ine_, as
_masculine_, there are about 70. Of those in _en_, as _wooden_, there are
about 50. Of those in _some_, as _quarrelsome_, there are about 30. These
sixteen numbers added together, make 4770.

OBS. 2.--The Proper Adjectives are, in many instances, capable of being
converted into declinable nouns: as, _European, a European, the Europeans;
Greek, a Greek, the Greeks; Asiatic, an Asiatic, the Asiatics_. But with
the words _English, French, Dutch, Scotch, Welsh, Irish_, and in general
all such as would acquire an additional syllable in their declension, the
case is otherwise. The gentile noun has frequently fewer syllables than the
adjective, but seldom more, unless derived from some different root.
Examples: _Arabic, an Arab, the Arabs; Gallic, a Gaul, the Gauls; Danish, a
Dane, the Danes; Moorish, a Moor, the Moors; Polish, a Pole_, or _Polander,
the Poles; Swedish, a Swede, the Swedes; Turkish, a Turk, the Turks_. When
we say, _the English, the French, the Dutch, the Scotch, the Welsh, the
Irish_,--meaning, _the English people, the French people_, &c., many
grammarians conceive that _English, French_, &c., are _indeclinable nouns_.
But in my opinion, it is better to reckon them _adjectives_, relating to
the noun _men_ or _people_ understood. For if these words are nouns, so are
a thousand others, after which there is the same ellipsis; as when we say,
_the good, the great, the wise, the learned_.[168] The principle would
involve the inconvenience of multiplying our nouns of the singular form and
a plural meaning, indefinitely. If they are nouns, they are, in this sense,
plural only; and, in an other, they are singular only. For we can no more
say, _an English, an Irish_, or _a French_, for _an Englishman, an
Irishman_, or _a Frenchman_; than we can say, _an old, a selfish_, or _a
rich_, for _an old man, a selfish man_, or _a rich man_. Yet, in
distinguishing the _languages_, we call them _English, French, Dutch,
Scotch, Welsh, Irish_; using the words, certainly, in no plural sense; and
preferring always the line of adjectives, where the gentile noun is
differ