“For harbour at a thousand doors they knock’d;
    Not one of all the thousand but was lock’d.”—­Dryden.

OBS. 27.—­The numeral words considered above, seem to have been originally adjectives, and such may be their most proper construction now; but all of them are susceptible of being construed as nouns, even if they are not such in the examples which have been cited. Dozen, or hundred, or thousand, when taken abstractly, is unquestionably a noun; for we often speak of dozens, hundreds, and thousands. Few and many never assume the plural form, because they have naturally a plural signification; and a few or a great many is not a collection so definite that we can well conceive of fews and manies; but both are sometimes construed substantively, though in modern English[139] it seems to be mostly by ellipsis of the noun.  Example:  “The praise of the judicious few is an ample compensation for the neglect of the illiterate many.”—­Churchill’s Gram., p. 278.  Dr. Johnson says, the word many is remarkable in Saxon for its frequent use.  The following are some of the examples in which he calls it a substantive, or noun:  “After him the rascal many ran.”—­Spenser.  “O thou fond many.”—­Shakspeare.  “A care-craz’d mother of a many children.”—­Id. “And for thy sake have I shed many a tear.”—­Id. “The vulgar and the many are fit only to be led or driven.”—­South.  “He is liable to a great many inconveniences every moment of his life.”—­Tillotson.  “Seeing a great many in rich gowns, he was amazed.”—­Addison.

   “There parting from the king, the chiefs divide,
    And wheeling east and west, before their many ride.”—­Dryden.

OBS. 28.—­“On the principle here laid down, we may account for a peculiar use of the article with the adjective few, and some other diminutives.  In saying, ‘A few of his adherents remained with him;’ we insinuate, that they constituted a number sufficiently important to be formed into an aggregate:  while, if the article be omitted, as, ’Few of his adherents remained with him;’ this implies, that he was nearly deserted, by representing them as individuals not worth reckoning up.  A similar difference occurs between the phrases:  ’He exhibited a little regard for his character;’ and ’He exhibited little regard for his character.’”—­Churchill’s Gram., p. 279.  The word little, in its most proper construction, is an adjective, signifying small; as, “He was little of stature.”—­Luke.  “Is it not a little one?”—­Genesis.  And in sentences like the following, it is also reckoned an adjective, though the article seems to relate to it, rather than to the subsequent noun; or perhaps