or superlative can ever need an other superadded to it; but inferior and superior convey ideas that do not always preclude the additional conception of more or less:  as, “With respect to high and low notes, pronunciation is still more inferior to singing.”—­Kames, Elements of Criticism, Vol. ii, p. 73.  “The mistakes which the most superior understanding is apt to fall into.”—­West’s Letters to a Young Lady, p. 117.

OBS. 5.—­Double comparatives and double superlatives, being in general awkward and unfashionable, as well as tautological, ought to be avoided.  Examples:  “The Duke of Milan, and his more braver daughter, could control thee.”—­Shak., Tempest.  Say, “his more gallant daughter.”  “What in me was purchased, falls upon thee in a more fairer sort.”—­Id., Henry IV.  Say, “fairer,” or, “more honest;” for “purchased” here means stolen.  “Changed to a worser shape thou canst not be.”—­Id., Hen.  VI.  Say, “a worse shape”—­or, “an uglier shape.”  “After the most straitest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.”—­Acts, xxvi, 5.  Say, “the strictest sect.”  “Some say he’s mad; others, that lesser hate him, do call it valiant fury.”—­Shak.  Say, “others, that hate him less.”  In this last example, lesser is used adverbially; in which construction it is certainly incorrect.  But against lesser as an adjective, some grammarians have spoken with more severity, than comports with a proper respect for authority.  Dr. Johnson says, “LESSER, adj.  A barbarous corruption of less, formed by the vulgar from the habit of terminating comparatives in er; afterward adopted by poets, and then by writers of prose, till it has all the authority which a mode originally erroneous can derive from custom.”—­Quarto Dict. With no great fairness, Churchill quotes this passage as far as the semicolon, and there stops.  The position thus taken, he further endeavours to strengthen, by saying, “Worser, though not more barbarous, offends the ear in a much greater degree, because it has not been so frequently used.”—­New Gram., p. 232.  Example:  “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.”—­Gen., i, 16.  Kirkham, after making an imitation of this passage, remarks upon it:  “Lesser is as incorrect as badder, gooder, worser.”—­Gram., p. 77.  The judgement of any critic who is ignorant enough to say this, is worthy only of contempt. Lesser is still frequently used by the most tasteful authors, both in verse and prose:  as, “It is the glowing style of a man who is negligent of lesser graces.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 189.

   “Athos, Olympus, AEtna, Atlas, made
    These hills seem things of lesser dignity.”—­Byron.