ea propria
est."--_Epist. ad Fam._, xiv, 3. "But in this I am _more wretched_, than
thou, who art _most wretched_, that the calamity itself is common to us
both, but the fault is all my own."

OBS. 6.--In my Institutes and First Lines of English Grammar, I used the
following brief definitions: "The _comparative degree_ is that which
exceeds the positive; as, _harder, softer, better_." "The _superlative
degree_ is that which is not exceeded; as, _hardest, softest, best_." And
it is rather for the sake of suggesting to the learner the peculiar
_application_ of each of these degrees, than from any decided
dissatisfaction with these expressions, that I now present others. The
first, however, proceeds upon the common supposition, that the comparative
degree of a quality, ascribed to any object, must needs be contrasted with
the positive in some other, or with the positive in the same at an other
time. This idea may be plausibly maintained, though it is certain that the
positive term referred to, is seldom, if ever, allowed to appear. Besides,
the comparative or the superlative _may_ appear, and in such a manner as to
be, or seem to be, in the point of contrast. Thus: "Objects near our view
are apt to be thought _greater than those of a larger size_, that are more
remote."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 186. Upon the principle above, the
explanation here must be, that the meaning is--"_greater_ than those of a
larger size _are thought great._" "The _poor_ man that loveth Christ, is
_richer than the richest man_ in the world, that hates him."--_Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 86. This must be "_richer_ than the richest man _is
rich_." The riches contemplated here, are of different sorts; and the
comparative or the superlative of one sort, may be exceeded by either of
these degrees of an other sort, though the same epithet be used for both.
So in the following instances: "He that is _higher than the highest_
regardeth; and there be _higher than they_."--_Eccl._, v, 8. That is, "He
that is higher than the highest _earthly dignitaries_, regardeth; and there
are higher _authorities_ than _these._" "_Fairer_ than aught imagined else
_fairest_."--_Pollok_. "_Sadder than saddest_ night."--_Byron_. It is
evident that the superlative degree is not, in general, that which _cannot
be_ exceeded, but that which, in the actual state of the things included,
"_is_ not exceeded." Again, as soon as any given comparative or superlative
is, by a further el