as, “Solomons, for wise men; Neros, for tyrants.”—­Ib. “Here we see it becomes a doubt which of the two Herculeses, was the monster-queller.”—­Notes to Pope’s Dunciad, iv, 492.  The proper names of nations, tribes, and societies, are generally plural; and, except in a direct address, they are usually construed with the definite article:  as, “The Greeks, the Athenians, the Jews, the Jesuits.”  But such words may take the singular form with the indefinite article, as often as we have occasion to speak of an individual of such a people; as, “A Greek, an Athenian, a Jew, a Jesuit.”  These, too, may be called proper nouns; because they are national, patrial, or tribal names, each referring to some place or people, and are not appellatives, which refer to actual sorts or kinds, not considered local.

OBS. 11.—­Proper names, when they form the plural, for the most part form it regularly, by assuming s or es according to the termination:  as, Carolina, the Carolinas; James, the Jameses.  And those which are only or chiefly plural, have, or ought to have, such terminations as are proper to distinguish them as plurals, so that the form for the singular may be inferred:  as, “The Tungooses occupy nearly a third of Siberia.”—­Balbi’s Geog., p. 379.  Here the singular must certainly be a Tungoose.  “The principal tribes are the Pawnees, the Arrapahoes, and the Cumanches, who roam through the regions of the Platte, the Arkansaw, and the Norte.”—­Ib., p. 179.  Here the singulars may be supposed to be a Pawnee, an Arrapaho, and a Cumanche.  “The Southern or Floridian family comprised the Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Seminoles, and Natchez.”—­Ib., p. 179.  Here all are regular plurals, except the last; and this probably ought to be Natchezes, but Jefferson spells it Natches, the singular of which I do not know.  Sometimes foreign words or foreign terminations have been improperly preferred to our own; which last are more intelligible, and therefore better:  as, Esquimaux, to Esquimaus; Knistenaux, to Knistenaus, or Crees; Sioux, to Sious, or Dahcotahs; Iroquois, to Iroquoys, or Hurons.

OBS. 12.—­Respecting the plural of nouns ending in i, o, u, or y, preceded by a consonant, there is in present usage much uncertainty.  As any vowel sound may be uttered with an s, many writers suppose these letters to require for plurals strictly regular, the s only; and to take es occasionally, by way of exception.  Others, (perhaps with more reason,) assume, that the most usual, regular, and proper endings for the plural, in these instances, are ies, oes, and ues:  as, alkali, alkalies; halo, haloes; gnu, gnues; enemy, enemies.  This, I think, is right for