alytical practical grammar - Toronto Public Library

APPENDIX-TWO FIRST, THREE LAST, ETC. 257
2. If we eay, "The first days of summer "-" The first years of our life"
_00 Tbe last daNs of Pompeii," which nobody doubts, theu it is not true
that ther" can be only one fir1t and one last, and so the ground of the
objection fails. If we can say, "The IUBt days of summer," why not the
two last. or the thrle last.
3. The expression objectcd to is nsed by the best authorities in the
language. and has been in use hundreds of years, and therefore, on the
well-known maxim" Usage is the law of lunguage," if it were absurd, it
can not be rejected. The following are exampleB, most of them mentioned
by Mr. WeIls: "The four tit'st acts.'·-Bp. Berkeley.-oo The three
first monarchies_"- lVarbllrton.- oo The two first persons."-Latham's Eng.
Gram.- oo My two IasUetters:'-Addison.-'· The two fit'st lines.'·-Blair,
00 The three first generatiolls,"-E. Everett.- oo The two first yea1'8."­
Ballcrojt.-u The two first days_"-Irving,-oo The two fit'st cantos."­
A. H. Everett.- oo The four first centmies."-Prcscvtt.-" The two last
productioDs."-N, A. Review.- u The four first are-poetical."-CllelVer.
-" The three firet of his longer poems."-Soullley.--" The two last
schools."-Johnson.- u The six first French kings."-,,}[acaulay.
4. This expression is, in some cases, evidently better than the other.
It is probably always so, wh!'n the Dumber characterized as fir"l or last,
COIIstttutes a majority of the whole. WheD we say, "the first four,"
there is evidently a reference to a seeood four, or a last four. But if the
first four cOllstitute a majority of the whole, thet'c remains no second fonr
to justify the l'efere'JcE'. Thus, when we say, "Thc first foul' acts of a
play were well performed," there r~maitls only one to which any olbe.,
reference can be Illade. On the other hand, when a whole is divided iuto
equal portions, each containing a certaiu number, as the I'ecurre-nce of the
cen~us every five years-of the Olympic games every four-of the Sabbath
every seven days-of foUl' lines in each stuuz" of a poem, and the
like-then Ihe expreBsi"n, first four, secolld fou" last fOllr, &~.,
is preferable,
because it implies a reference to otLer pOltiOl\9 of equal extent.
Also, even when there is no such reference, it is often properly \lI!ed,.
especially when the Ilumber is larqe; as, " The first hundred "--=.." The ia~~
thousand," &c.
? Several distinguished scholars and grnmmarians have examiued this
pOtnt, and expressed their views respecting it as follows: .. It ha. been
doubted whether the cardillal should p1'ec(de