OBS. 35.—­Again, there are some nouns, which, though they do not lack the regular plural form, are sometimes used in a plural sense without the plural termination.  Thus manner makes the plural manners, which last is now generally used in the peculiar sense of behaviour, or deportment, but not always:  it sometimes means methods, modes, or ways; as, “At sundry times and in divers manners.”—­Heb., i, 1.  “In the manners above mentioned.”—­Butler’s Analogy, p. 100.  “There be three manners of trials in England.”—­COWELL:  Joh.  Dict., w.  Jury.  “These two manners of representation.”—­Lowth’s Gram., p. 15.  “These are the three primary modes, or manners, of expression.”—­Lowth’s Gram., p. 83.  “In arrangement, too, various manners suit various styles.”—­Campbell’s Phil. of Rhet., p. 172.  “Between the two manners.”—­Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 35.  “Here are three different manners of asserting.”—­ Barnard’s Gram., p. 59.  But manner has often been put for sorts, without the s; as, “The tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits.”—­Rev., xxii, 2.  “All manner of men assembled here in arms.”—­Shak. “All manner of outward advantages.”—­Atterbury.  Milton used kind in the same way, but not very properly; as, “All kind of living creatures.”—­P.  Lost, B. iv, l. 286.  This irregularity it would be well to avoid. Manners may still, perhaps, be proper for modes or ways; and all manner, if allowed, must be taken in the sense of a collective noun; but for sorts, kinds, classes, or species, I would use neither the plural nor the singular of this word.  The word heathen, too, makes the regular plural heathens, and yet is often used in a plural sense without the s; as, “Why do the heathen rage?”—­Psalms, ii, 1.  “Christianity was formerly propagated among the heathens.”—­Murray’s Key, 8vo, p. 217.  The word youth, likewise, has the same peculiarities.

OBS. 36.—­Under the present head come names of fishes, birds, or other things, when the application of the singular is extended from the individual to the species, so as to supersede the plural by assuming its construction:  as, Sing.  “A great fish.”—­Jonah, i, 17.  Plur.  “For the multitude of fishes’.”—­John, xxi, 6.  “A very great multitude of fish.”—­Ezekiel, xlvii, 9.[157] The name of the genus being liable to this last construction, men seem to have thought that the species should follow; consequently, the regular plurals of some very common names of fishes are scarcely known at all.  Hence some grammarians affirm, that salmon, mackerel, herring, perch, tench, and several others, are alike in both numbers, and ought never to be used in the plural form.  I am not so fond of honouring these anomalies.  Usage is