s of nouns.[174] Thus, we can neither say,
_the all_, for _the whole_, nor _an enough_, for _a sufficiency_. And
though _a little, the more_, and _the less_, are common phrases, the
article does not here prove the following word to be a noun; because the
expression may either be elliptical, or have the construction of an adverb:
as, "Though _the more_ abundantly I love you, _the less_ I be loved."--_2
Cor._, xii, 15. Dr. Johnson seems to suppose that the partitive use of
these words makes them nouns; as, "They have _much of the poetry_ of
Mecaenas, but _little of his liberality_."--DRYDEN: _in Joh. Dict._ Upon
this principle, however, adjectives innumerable would be made nouns; for we
can just as well say, "_Some of the poetry_,"--"_Any of the
poetry_,"--"_The best of Poetry_," &c. In all such expressions, the name of
the thing divided, is understood in the partitive word; for a part of any
thing must needs be of the same species as the whole. Nor was this great
grammarian sufficiently attentive to adjuncts, in determining the parts of
speech. _Nearly all, quite enough, so little, too much, vastly more, rather
less_, and an abundance of similar phrases, are familiar to every body; in
none of which, can any of these words of quantity, however abstract, be
very properly reckoned nouns; because the preceding word is an adverb, and
adverbs do not relate to any words that are literally nouns. All these may
also be used partitively; as, "_Nearly all of us_."

OBS. 10.--The following are some of Dr. Johnson's "_nouns_;" which, in
connexion with the foregoing remarks, I would submit to the judgement of
the reader: "'Then shall we be news-crammed.'--'_All_ the better; we shall
be the more remarkable.'"--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "_All_ the fitter,
Lentulus; our coming is not for salutation; we have business."--BEN JONSON:
_ib._ "'Tis _enough_ for me to have endeavoured the union of my
country."--TEMPLE: _ib._ "Ye take too _much_ upon you."--NUMBERS: _ib._
"The fate of love is such, that still it sees too _little_ or too
_much_."--DRYDEN: _ib._ "He thought not _much_ to clothe his
enemies."--MILTON: _ib._ "There remained not so _much_ as one of
them."--_Ib., Exod._, xiv, 28. "We will cut wood out of Lebanon, as _much_
as thou shalt need."--_Ib._, _2 Chronicles_. "The matter of the universe
was created before the flood; if any _more_ was created, then there must be
as _much_ annihilated to make room for it."--BURNET: _ib._ "The Lord do