GRAMMAR. 
767 
word referring to the fpeaker is called the pronoun of 
the firft perfon ; the word referring to the perfon fpoken 
to is the pronoun of the fecond perfon ; the word refer¬ 
ring to other perfons is the pronoun of the third perfon. 
Pronouns are fubjeft to the fame modifications as nouns, 
viz. number, gender, and cafe. But in mofi; languages 
the firft and fecond perfons of pronouns are without 
gender: in Hebrew, however, the fecond is modified to 
fignify the male or female. This diftinttion has been 
confidered as fuperfluous, fince the fexes of the two 
perfons in converfation are known by their appearance. 
But fometimes it may be elegant. Thus, if we were to 
fay to a woman, Wouldeft thou do fuch a thing ? then, 
meaning to imply that the addion was derogatory to the 
female charadler, we cannot do it by the pronoun alone. 
The change of at for attah in Hebrew, may convey this 
reproof very pointedly in one word. 
The pronoun of the third perfon denoting neither the 
■ fpeaker nor the Nearer, but the fubjeB of tlie difcourfe, 
and being merely the fubftitute of a noun which may be 
either mafculine., feminine., or neuter, mull: of necetlity 
agree with the noun which it rcprefents, and admit of a 
triple di(iin< 5 lion fignificant of gender. In Englilh, 
which allows its adjedtives no genders, this pronoun is 
he in the mafculine, Jhe in the feminine, and it in the 
neuter; the utility of which diltindtion maybe better 
found in fuppofing it away. Suppofe, for example, that 
we Ihould in hiftory read thefe words : Ht caufed him to 
defray him —and were informed that the pronoun, which 
is here thrice repeated, Hood each time for fomething 
different; that is to fay, for a man, for a woman, and 
for a city, whofe names were Alexander, Thais, and Perfe. 
polis. Taking the pronoun in this manner—diverted of 
its gender—how would it appear which was dertroyed, 
which the dertroyer, and which the caufe that moved 
to the dertrudlion ? But there is no ambiguity when we 
hear the genders diftinguirtied : when we are told, with 
the proper dirtindlions, that she caufed him to defroy it, 
we know witli certainty that the promoter v/ds ihtt woman •, 
that her infrument was the kero ; and that the fubjeEl of 
their cruelty was the unfortunate city. From this exam¬ 
ple we ihould be furpriled how the Italians, French, 
and Spaniards, could exprefs themfelves with precifion 
or elegance with no more than two variations of this 
pronoun. 
Although, in every languagewith which we are now 
acquainted, there is but one pronoun for each of the 
firft and fecond perfons; and although it is obvious 
from tlie nature and import of thofe words, that no 
more can be necelfary ; yet the mere Englifti reader 
may perhaps be puzzled with finding three diltinCt words 
applied to each ; /, mine, and me, for the firft perlon ; 
thou, thine, and thee, for the fecond., The learned reader 
will lee at once that the words mine and me, thine and 
thee, are equivalent to the genitive and accufative cafes 
of the Latin pronouns of the firft and fecond perlons. 
That mine is a pronoun in the polleflive cafe is obvious; 
for if 1 were aiked, “Whofe book is that bemre me r” 
1 Ihould reply—“Itiswifse;” meaning that it belongs 
to me. That the word me is the fame pronoun in the 
cafe which the Latin grammarians call the accufative, is 
evident from the import of that word in the leiitence, 
hi admires me, where the admiration is luppoled to pro¬ 
ceed from the perfon fpoken of to the perfon who 
fpeaks. It appears therefore, that though Englilh 
nouns have only two cafes, the nominative and polfef- 
five, the pronouns of that language have three, as, /, 
mine, me-, thou, thine, thee-, he, his, him, &c. Both pro¬ 
nouns, the Latin and the Jingiiih, are irregularly in- 
fledted ; and thofe words which are called the oblique 
cafes of each were originally derived from nominatives 
different from ego and /; but thefe nominatives are now 
loft, and mei and mine liave, beyond all difpute, the ef- 
felft of the genitives of the Latin and Englilh pronouns 
of t-fee firft perfon, If we miltake not, Dr. Johtifon has 
fomewhere affefted to ridicule biftiop Lowlh for conft- 
dering the word mine as the poftellive cafe of the pro¬ 
noun of the firft perfon. According to tliedodfor, mine 
is the fame word witli the pronominal adjedlive my, and 
was anciently tifcd before a vowel, as my was before a 
coiifonant. This is not faid with the great lexicogra- 
plier’s ufual precifion. That mine was anciently ufed 
belore a vov/el is certain ; but it does not therefore fol¬ 
low', that it is the fame word with my. If it were, we 
might on every occalion fubftitute either of thefe for 
the other, without offending againft grammar, however 
we might injure the found ; but we apprehend that this 
is not the cafe. “ That book is minef is good Englifti; 
but “That book is my,” would be a grofs foiecifm : 
the reafon is, that mine is a genuine pronoun, and ftands 
by itfelf with the power of a noun ; but my, being an 
adjeElive, cannot Hand by itfelf. 
Upon the perfonal pronouns it may alfo be proper to 
obferve, that the ancient mode in England, as well as 
among the Greeks and Romans, w-as to ufe the fecond 
perfon fingular in addrefting people of whatever rank. 
This is tlie ftyle of Scripture; and thus Diogenes fpeak- 
ing to Alexander the Great, Cicero to Caefar, and Pliny 
to Trajan, always ufed tu, thou. The fame mode is 
preferved in tranllating the daffies. It has now, how- 
ever, been long a cuftom throughout all Europe to ufe 
the fecond perldn plural inftead of the lingular: it was 
firft introduced for the purpofe of Ihewing a refpedt for 
diftinguilhed perfons, but as long ago as the time of 
Cliarles V. it had become a common mark of civility 
among ordinary perfons. But in the feventeenth cen« 
tury, a higher degree of politeoefs and refped was in¬ 
vented in Germany and Italy,' but which has not been 
received into the Englifti language ; that of fpeaking 
in the third perfon fingular ; and, inftead of laying, 
Du haf mir es gefagt, “ Thou haft told me fo,” it was 
counted relpeitful to fay, Er hat mir es gefagt, “ He has 
Laid fo ;” and the fame in Italian. But at the begin- 
ning of the laft century, it was carried (fill farther ; and 
they began to employ the third perfon plural inftead of 
the fecond perfon fingular, fo that now they are accuf- 
tomed in Germany to fay, Sfe haben mir es gefagt, “ They 
have faid it,*’ though fpeaking to one perfon. In the 
mean time, the higheft mark of refpecT: of all is ftill the 
original form ; for we uniformly addrefs the Deity in 
the fecond perfon lingular. 
In the firft ftage of fpeech, it is probable that the 
places of pronouns were fupplied by pointing to the 
objedl when prefent, and naming it when abfent. For 
one can hardly think that pronouns were of early in¬ 
vention ; as tliey are words of fuch a particular and ar¬ 
tificial nature. /, thou, he, it, it is to be obferved, are 
not names peculiar to any fingle objedt, but fo very ge¬ 
neral, that they may be applied to all perfons, or 
objedls, whatever, in certain circumftances. It, is 
the molt general term that can polfibly be conceived, 
as it may Hand for any one thing in fhe univerfe of 
which we fpeak. At the fame time, thefe pronouns 
have this quality, that, in the circumftances in which 
they are applied, they never denote more than one pre- 
cife individual; which they afeertain, and fpecify, 
much in the fame manner as is done by the article. So 
that pronouns are, at once, the moft general and the 
moft particular words in language. They are com¬ 
monly the moft irregular and troublefome words to the 
learner, in the grammar of all tongues ; as being the 
words moft in common ufe, and lubjedfed thereby to 
the greateft varieties. 
Of Adjectives. —Nouns, we have faid, are words 
by which objects are denominated, and which diftin- 
guilh them from one another without marking their 
quality ; and hence, as thefe objedts have a vaft variety 
of qualities by which they may be compared together, 
there mull be words to exprefs thefe qualities only, and 
thefe words are called adjeBivss, Thus of apples we 
may 
