tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes."--_Shak._

OBS. 10.--Comparison must not be considered a general property of
adjectives. It belongs chiefly to the class which I call common adjectives,
and is by no means applicable to all of these. _Common adjectives_, or
epithets denoting quality, are perhaps more numerous than all the other
classes put together. Many of these, and a few that are pronominal, may be
varied by comparison; and some _participial_ adjectives may be compared by
means of the adverbs. But adjectives formed from _proper names_, all the
numerals, and most of the compounds, are in no way susceptible of
comparison. All nouns used adjectively, as an _iron_ bar, an _evening_
school, a _mahogany_ chair, a _South-Sea_ dream, are also incapable of
comparison. In the title of "His _Most Christian_ Majesty," the superlative
adverb is applied to a _proper adjective_; but who will pretend that we
ought to understand by it "_the highest degree_" of Christian attainment?
It might seem uncourtly to suggest that this is "an abuse of the king's
English," I shall therefore say no such thing. Pope compares the word
Christian, in the following couplet:--

"Go, purified by flames ascend the sky,
My better and _more Christian_ progeny."--_Dunciad_, B. i, l. 227.

IRREGULAR COMPARISON.

The following adjectives are compared irregularly: _good, better, best;
bad, evil_, or _ill, worse, worst; little, less, least; much, more, most;
many, more, most_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--In _English_, and also in _Latin_, most adjectives that denote
_place_ or _situation_, not only form the superlative irregularly, but are
also either defective or redundant in comparison. Thus:

I. The following nine have more than one superlative: _far, farther,
farthest, farmost_, or _farthermost; near, nearer, nearest_ or _next; fore,
former, foremost_ or _first; hind, hinder, hindmost_ or _hindermost; in,
inner, inmost_ or _innermost; out, outer_, or _utter, outmost_ or _utmost,
outermost_ or _uttermost; up, upper, upmost_ or _uppermost; low, lower,
lowest_ or _lowermost; late, later_ or _latter, latest_ or _last_.

II. The following five want the positive: [_aft_, adv.,] _after, aftmost_
or _aftermost_; [_forth_, adv., formerly _furth_,[180]] _further, furthest_
or _furthermost; hither, hithermost; nether, nethermost; under, undermost_.

III. The following want the comparative: _front, frontmost; rear, rearmost;
head, hea