on, and consequently employ them with articles or in the plural
form; as, "I endeavoured to retain it nakedly in my mind, without regarding
whether I had it from _an Aristotle_ or _a Zoilus, a Newton_ or _a
Descartes_."--_Churchill's Gram._, Pref., p. 8. "It is not enough to have
_Vitruviuses_, we must also have _Augustuses_ to employ them."--_Bicknell's
Gram._, Part ii, p. 61.

"_A Daniel_ come to judgment! yea, _a Daniel_!"
--SHAK. _Shylock_.

"Great Homer, in _th' Achilles_, whom he drew,
Sets not that one sole Person in our View."
--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 183.

OBS. 5.--The article _an_ or _a_ usually denotes one out of several or
many; one of a sort of which there are more; any one of that name, no
matter which. Hence its effect upon a particular name, or proper noun, is
_directly the reverse_ of that which it has upon a common noun. It varies
and fixes the meaning of both; but while it restricts that of the latter,
it enlarges that of the former. It reduces the general idea of the common
noun to any one individual of the class: as, "_A man_;" that is, "_One
man_, or _any man_." On the contrary, it extends the particular idea of the
proper noun, and makes the word significant of a class, by supposing others
to whom it will apply: as, "_A Nero_;" that is, "_Any Nero_, or _any cruel
tyrant_." Sometimes, however, this article before a proper name, seems to
leave the idea still particular; but, if it really does so, the propriety
of using it may be doubted: as, "No, not by _a John the Baptist_ risen from
the dead."--_Henry's Expos., Mark_, vi. "It was not solely owing to the
madness and depravity of _a Tiberius, a Caligula, a Nero_, or _a
Caracalla_, that a cruel and sanguinary spirit, in their day, was so
universal."--_M'Ilvaine's Evid._, p. 398.

OBS. 6.--With the definite article, the noun is applied, sometimes
specifically, sometimes individually, but always _definitely_, always
distinctively. This article is demonstrative. It marks either the
particular individual, or the particular species,--or, (if the noun be
plural,) some particular individuals of the species,--as being
distinguished from all others. It sometimes refers to a thing as having
been previously mentioned; sometimes presumes upon the hearer's familiarity
with the thing; and sometimes indicates a limitation which is made by
subsequent words connected with the noun. Such is the import of this
article, that with it the s