preeminence is here! and yet the form of the adjective is only that of
the positive degree. "Nothing _so uncertain_ as general reputation."--_Art
of Thinking_, p. 50. "Nothing _so nauseous_ as undistinguishing
civility."--_Ib._, p. 88. These, likewise, would be strong expressions, if
they were correct English. But, to my apprehension, every such comparison
of equality involves a solecism, when, as it here happens, the former term
includes the latter. The word _nothing_ is a general negative, and
_reputation_ is a particular affirmative. The comparison of equality
between them, is therefore certainly improper: because _nothing_ cannot be
equal to _something_; and, reputation being something, and of course equal
to itself, the proposition is evidently untrue. It ought to be, "Nothing
_is more uncertain than_ general reputation." This is the same as to say,
"General reputation is _as uncertain as any thing_ that can be named." Or
else the former term should exempt the latter; as. "_Nothing else_"--or,
"No _other_ thing, is _so uncertain_ as" _this popular honour, public
esteem_, or "_general reputation_." And so of all similar examples.

OBS. 7.--In all comparisons, care must be taken to adapt the terms to the
degree which is expressed by the adjective or adverb. The superlative
degree requires that the object to which it relates, be one of those with
which it is compared; as, "_Eve_ was _the fairest_ of women." The
comparative degree, on the contrary, requires that the object spoken of be
not included among those with which it is compared; as, "_Eve_ was _fairer_
than any of _her daughters_." To take the inclusive term here, and say,
"_Eve_ was _fairer_ than any _woman_," would be no less absurd, than
Milton's assertion, that "Eve was _the fairest_ of _her daughters_:" the
former supposes that she was _not a woman_; the latter, that she was _one
of her own daughters_. But Milton's solecism is double; he makes Adam _one
of his own sons_:--

"Adam the goodliest man of men since born
His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve."--_P. Lost_, B. iv, l. 324.

OBS. 8.--"Such adjectives," says Churchill, "as have in themselves a
superlative signification, or express qualities not susceptible of degrees,
do not properly admit either the comparative or [the] superlative form.
Under this rule may be included _all adjectives with a negative
prefix_."--_New Gram._, p. 80. Again: "As _immediate_ signifies instant,
present with