_relations_, and not _qualities_, it might seem proper to
call _like, near_, and _nigh_, prepositions; and some grammarians have so
classed the last two. Dr. Johnson seems to be inconsistent in calling
_near_ a preposition, in the phrase, "_So near_ thy heart," and an
adjective, in the phrase, "Being _near_ their master." See his _Quarto
Dict._ I have not placed them with the prepositions, for the following four
reasons: (1.) Because they are sometimes _compared_; (2.) Because they
sometimes have _adverbs_ evidently relating to them; (3.) Because the
preposition _to_ or _unto_ is sometimes expressed after them; and (4.)
Because the words which _usually_ stand for them in the learned languages,
are clearly _adjectives_.[367] But _like_, when it expresses similarity of
_manner_, and _near_ and _nigh_, when they express proximity of _degree_,
are _adverbs_.

OBS. 8.--The word _worth_ is often followed by an objective, or a
participle, which it appears to govern; as, "If your arguments produce no
conviction, they are _worth_ nothing to me."--_Beattie_. "To reign is
_worth_ ambition."--_Milton_. "This is life indeed, life _worth_
preserving."--_Addison_. It is not easy to determine to what part of speech
_worth_ here belongs. Dr. Johnson calls it an _adjective_, but says nothing
of the _object_ after it, which some suppose to be governed by _of_
understood. In this supposition, it is gratuitously assumed, that _worth_
is equivalent to _worthy_, after which _of_ should be expressed; as,
"Whatsoever is _worthy of_ their love, is _worth_ their anger."--_Denham_.
But as _worth_ appears to have no certain characteristic of an adjective,
some call it a _noun_, and suppose a double ellipsis; as, "'My knife is
worth a shilling;' i. e. 'My knife is _of the_ worth of a
shilling.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 163. "'The book is worth that sum;' that
is, 'The book is (_the_) worth (_of_) that _sum_;' 'It is worth _while_;'
that is, 'It is (_the_) worth (_of the_) while.'"--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 54.
This is still less satisfactory;[368] and as the whole appears to be mere
guess-work, I see no good reason why _worth_ is not a _preposition_,
governing the noun or participle.[369] If an _adverb_ precede _worth_, it
may as well be referred to the foregoing verb, as when it occurs before any
other preposition: as, "It _is richly worth_ the money."--"It _lies
directly before_ your door." Or if we admit that an adverb sometimes
relates to this word, t