OBS. 9.—­Though English adjectives are, for the most part, incapable of any agreement, yet such of them as denote unity or plurality, ought in general to have nouns of the same number:  as, this man, one man, two men, many men.[372] In phrases of this form, the rule is well observed; but in some peculiar ways of numbering things, it is commonly disregarded; for certain nouns are taken in a plural sense without assuming the plural termination.  Thus people talk of many stone of cheese,—­many sail of vessels,—­many stand of arms,—­many head of cattle,—­many dozen of eggs,—­many brace of partridges,—­many pair of shoes.  So we read in the Bible of “two hundred pennyworth of bread,” and “twelve manner of fruits.”  In all such phraseology, there is, in regard to the form of the latter word, an evident disagreement of the adjective with its immediate noun; but sometimes, (where the preposition of does not occur,) expressions that seem somewhat like these, may be elliptical:  as when historians tell of many thousand foot (soldiers), or many hundred horse (troops).  To denote a collective number, a singular adjective may precede a plural one; as, “One hundred men,”—­“Every six weeks.”  And to denote plurality, the adjective many may, in like manner, precede an or a with a singular noun; as, “The Odyssey entertains us with many a wonderful adventure, and many a landscape of nature.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 436.”  There starts up many a writer.”—­Kames, El. of Crit., i, 306.

   “Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
    And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”—­Gray.

OBS. 10.—­Though this and that cannot relate to plurals, many writers do not hesitate to place them before singulars taken conjointly, which are equivalent to plurals; as, “This power and will do necessarily produce that which man is empowered to do.”—­Sale’s Koran, i, 229. “That sobriety and self-denial which are essential to the support of virtue.”—­Murray’s Key, 8vo, p. 218. “This modesty and decency were looked upon by them as a law of nature.”—­Rollin’s Hist., ii, 45.  Here the plural forms, these and those, cannot be substituted; but the singular may be repeated, if the repetition be thought necessary.  Yet, when these same pronominal adjectives are placed after the nouns to suggest the things again, they must be made plural; as, “Modesty and decency were thus carefully guarded, for these were looked upon as being enjoined by the law of nature.”