n_ for their preference? That the comparative degree
is implied between the positive and the superlative, so that there must
needs be three terms before the latter is applicable, is a doctrine which I
deny. And if the second is _the higher of the two_, because it is _higher
than the first_; is it not also _the highest of the two_, because it
_completes the number?_ (5.) It is to be observed, too, that as our ordinal
numeral _first_, denoting the one which begins a series, and having
reference of course to more, is an adjective of the superlative degree,
equivalent to _foremost_, of which it is perhaps a contraction; so _last_
likewise, though no numeral, is a superlative also. (6.) These, like other
superlatives, admit of a looser application, and may possibly include more
than one thing at the beginning or at the end of a series: as, "_The last
years_ of man are often helpless, like _the first_." (7.) With undoubted
propriety, we may speak of _the first two, the last two, the first three,
the last three_, &c.; but to say, _the two first, the two last_, &c., with
this meaning, is obviously and needlessly inaccurate. "_The two first men_
in the nation," may, I admit, be good English; but it can properly be meant
only of _the two most eminent._ In specifying any part of a _series_, we
ought rather to place the cardinal number after the ordinal. (8.) Many of
the foregoing positions apply generally, to almost all adjectives that are
susceptible of comparison. Thus, it is a common saying, "Take _the best
first_, and _all_ will be _best_." That is, remove that degree which is now
superlative, and the epithet will descend to an other, "_the next best._"

OBS. 8.--It is a common assumption, maintained by almost all our
grammarians, that the degrees which add to the adjective the terminations
_er_ and _est_, as well as those which are expressed by _more_ and _most_,
indicate an _increase_, or heightening, of the quality expressed by the
positive. If such must needs be their import, it is certainly very
improper, to apply them, as many do, to what can be only an approximation
to the positive. Thus Dr. Blair: "Nothing that belongs to human nature, is
_more universal_ than the relish of beauty of one kind or
other."--_Lectures_, p. 16. "In architecture, the Grecian models were long
esteemed _the most perfect_."--_Ib._, p. 20. Again: In his reprehension of
Capernaum, the Saviour said, "It shall be _more tolerable_ for the land of
Sodo