ey's Gram._, p. 14. How hard this author laboured to _think
what number is_, and could not! (19.) "Number is the distinction of _unity
and plurality_."--_Hart's E. Gram._, p. 40, Why say, "_distinction_;" the
numbers, or _distinctions_, being two? (20.) "Number is _the capacity of
nouns_ to represent either one or more than one object."--_Barrett's
Revised Gram._, p. 40. (21.) "Number is _a property_ of _the noun which_
denotes _one_ or _more_ than one."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 55. (22.)
"Number is _a property_ of the _noun or pronoun_ [,] _by which it_ denotes
_one, or more_ than one."--_Weld's Gram., Abridged Ed._, p. 49. (23.)
"Number is _the property_ that distinguishes _one from more_ than
one."--_Weld's Gram., Improved Ed._, p. 60. This, of course, excludes the
plural. (24.) "Number is _a modification of nouns_ to denote whether one
object is meant, or more than one."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 19. (25.) "Number
is _that modification_ of the _Noun_ which distinguishes one from more than
one."--_Spencer's Gram._, p. 26. Now, it is plain, that not one of these
twenty-five definitions comports with the idea that the singular is one
number and the plural an other! Not one of them exhibits any tolerable
approach to accuracy, either of thought or of expression! Many of the
grammarians have not attempted any definition of _number_, or of _the
numbers_, though they speak of both the singular and the plural, and
perhaps sometimes apply the term _number_ to _the distinction_ which is _in
each_: for it is the property of the singular number, to distinguish unity
from plurality: and of the plural, to distinguish plurality from unity.
Among the authors who are thus silent, are Lily, Colet, Brightland, Harris,
Lowth, Ash, Priestly, Bicknell, Adam, Gould, Harrison, Comly, Jaudon,
Webster, Webber, Churchill, Staniford, Lennie, Dalton, Blair, Cobbett,
Cobb, A. Flint, Felch, Guy, Hall, and S. W. Clark. Adam and Gould, however,
in explaining the properties of _verbs_, say: "_Number_ marks _how many_ we
suppose to be, to act, or to suffer."--_A._, 80; _G._, 78.

[71] These are the parts of speech in some late grammars; as, Barrett's, of
1854, Butler's, Covell's, Day's, Frazee's, Fowle's New, Spear's, Weld's,
Wells's, and the Well-wishers'. In Frost's Practical Grammar, the words of
the language are said to be "divided into _eight_ classes," and the names
are given thus: "_Noun, Article, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition,
Conjunction, a