an other_ as two words. The printers chiefly rule this matter.
To them, therefore, I refer it; with directions, not to unite these words
for me, except where it has been done in the manuscript, for the sake of
exactness in quotation.--G. BROWN.

[176] This is a misapplication of the word _between_, which cannot have
reference to more than two things or parties: the term should have been
_among_.--G. BROWN.

[177] I suppose that, in a comparison of _two_, any of the degrees may be
accurately employed. The common usage is, to construe the positive with
_as_, the comparative with _than_, and the superlative with _of_. But here
custom allows us also to use the comparative with _of_, after the manner of
the superlative; as, "This is _the better of_ the two." It was but an odd
whim of some old pedant, to find in this a reason for declaring it
ungrammatical to say "This is _the best of_ the two." In one grammar, I
find the former construction _condemned_, and the latter approved, thus:
"This is the better book of the two. Not correct, because the comparative
state of the adjective, (_better_,) can not correspond with the
preposition, _of_. The definite article, _the_, is likewise improperly
applied to the comparative state; the sentence should stand thus, This is
the _best_ book of the two."--_Chandler's Gram._, Ed. of 1821, p. 130; Ed.
of 1847, p. 151.

[178] This example appears to have been borrowed from Campbell; who,
however, teaches a different doctrine from Murray, and clearly sustains my
position; "Both degrees are in such cases used _indiscriminately_. We say
_rightly_, either 'This is the weaker of the two,' or--'the weakest of the
two.'"--_Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 202. How positively do some other men
contradict this! "In comparing _two_ persons or things, by means of an
adjective, care must be taken, that the superlative state be not employed:
We properly say, 'John is the _taller_ of the two;' but we _should not
say_, 'John is the _tallest_ of the two.' The reason is plain: we compare
but _two_ persons, and must _therefore_ use the comparative
state."--_Wright's Philosophical Gram._, p. 143. Rev. Matt. Harrison, too,
insists on it, that the superlative must "have reference to more than two,"
and censures _Dr. Johnson_ for not observing the rule. See _Harrison's
English Language_, p. 255.

[179] L. Murray copied this passage literally, (though anonymously,) as far
as the colon; and of course his book teaches