And I persecuted this way
unto the death. The earth, the air, the fire, and the water, are the
four elements of the old philosophers.

* * * * *

LECTURE IV.

OF ADJECTIVES.

An ADJECTIVE is a word added to a noun to express its quality or kind,
or to restrict its meaning; as, a _good_ man, a _bad_ man, _a free_ man,
an _unfortunate_ man, _one_ man, _forty_ men.

In the phrases, a _good_ apple, a _bad_ apple, a _large_ apple, a
_small_ apple, a _red_ apple, a _white_ apple, a _green_ apple, a
_sweet_ apple, a _sour_ apple, a _bitter_ apple, a _round_ apple, a
_hard_ apple, a _soft_ apple, a _mellow_ apple, a _fair_ apple, a _May_
apple, an _early_ apple, a _late_ apple, a _winter_ apple, a _crab_
apple, a _thorn_ apple, a _well-tasted_ apple, an _ill-looking_ apple, a
_water-cored_ apple, you perceive that all those words in _italics_ are
adjectives, because each expresses some quality or property of the noun
apple, or it shows what _kind_ of an apple it is of which we are
speaking.

The distinction between a _noun_ and an _adjective_ is very clear. A
noun is the _name_ of a thing; but an adjective denotes simply the
_quality_ or _property_ of a thing. This is _fine cloth_. In this
example, the difference between the word denoting the _thing_, and that
denoting the _quality_ of it, is easily perceived. You certainly cannot
be at a loss to know, that the word _cloth_ expresses the _name_, and
_fine_, the _quality_, of the _thing_; consequently _fine_ must be an
_adjective_. If I say, He is a _wise_ man, a _prudent_ man, a _wicked_
man, or an _ungrateful_ man, the words in _italics_ are adjectives,
because each expresses a _quality_ of the noun man. And, if I say, He is
a _tall_ man, a _short_ man, a _white_ man, a _black_ man, or a
_persecuted_ man, the words, _tall, short, white, black_, and
_persecuted_, are also adjectives, because they tell what _kind_ of a
man he is of whom I am speaking, or they attribute to him some
particular property.

Some adjectives _restrict_ or _limit_ the signification of the nouns to
which they are joined, and are, therefore, sometimes called
_definitives_; as, _one_ era, _seven_ ages, the _first_ man, the _whole_
mass, _no_ trouble, _those_ men, _that_ book, _all_ regions.

Other adjectives _define_ or _describe_ nouns, or do both; as, _fine_
silk, _blue_ paper, a _heavy_ shower, _pure_ water, _green_ mountains,
_bland_ breezes, _gurgling_