nation to be augmentatives, though they are not; as, atafóna, an ass or horse-mill, &c.

Diminutives or nouns that lessen the signification of their primitives, are very numerous in the Portuguese language, and contribute very much to its gracefulness, its melody and richness, are formed by changing the last vowel of the primitives into inho; as from bicho, a worm, bichinho; from asno, asninho; from cordeiro, cordeirinho; from louro, lourinho; from cabra, cabrinha; from anel, anelinho; from pombo, pombinho; from homem, homemzinho; from barco, barquinho; from caixa, caixinha; from vara, varinha; from pastora, pastorinha; from bosque, bosquecinho; from torre, torrinha; from espeto, espetinho; from verso, versinho; from morena, moreninha; from redondo, redondinho; from banco, banquinho; from lobo, lobinho; from leão, leaocinho; from forno, forninho; from pavão, pavãosinho; from pássaro, passarinho; from filho, filha, filhinho, filhinha; from bonito, bonitinho; from irmão, a irmãozinho, a from mão, mãozinha; from cabeza, cabezinha; from car, cão. zinho; from camiza, camizinhe; from fouce, foucinha; from doce, docinho; from lingua, linguinha; from falso, fals nho; from flores, florzinhas; from isabel, isabelinha; from ana, anics from Maria, Marica; from Margarita, Margaridinha; from rapaza, rapariguinha, &c. &c.

The above list may give some idea, both of the copiousness of diminutives with which the Portuguese language abounds, and of their formation from their primitives. It may be observed, that there is not an exact uniformity in the ways of their formation, but on the contrary, a certain variety which can only be learned by use; thus, g, from lebre. a hare; they form lebracho, a little hare.

It is to be observed, that although diminutives are most generally used to denote either smallness of things, or kindness, tenderness, and caressing disposition, yet they cons vey some times a bad meaning, and denote contempt.

Of Nouns Adjective.

All adjectives ending in o make their feminine by changing o into a: as, douto, douta, learned; but mão, bad; makes

ma.

Those that end in ão have their feminine in aa: as, são,

healthy; saa, loução, louçan, brisk, gay, beautiful; meão, middling, ordinary; meaa.

Those ending in e are common to both genders: as, forte, strong, &c.

Those that end in m make their feminine by adding a to the masculine: as, hum, huma, one; algum, alguma, some; &c. and sometimes by changing m into a: as, bom, boa, com

mum, commua.

Those that end in u make their feminine by adding a to the masculine: as, nu, nua, naked; cru, crua, raw.

Those that end in z are common to both genders: as, cortez, civil, kind, capaz, capable, &c. Except some which make the feminine by adding a to the masculine: as, Francez, Franceza, French; Portuguez, Portugueza, &c.

Those that end in lare common to both genders; as, affavel, cruel; facil, &c. but espanhol makes espanhola.

There is no neuter gender in the Portuguese language, as all the substantives are either of the masculine or feminine gender; and when adjectives are taken substantively: as, o bom, o util, o superfluo, they take the definite article o before their masculine; as in the following sentence: a natureza pede sómente o necessario, a razão quer o util, o amor proprio procura o agradavel, a paixão requer o superfluo. Salvian.

Adjectives in Portuguese agree with their substantives in gender and number: as, principe justo, princeza justa, principes justos, princezas, justas.

Of the degrees of comparison, or otherwise of comparatives and superlatives.

1. To express superiority, the Portuguese make use of the adverb máis: as, máis nobre, more noble; and to express inferiority, of the adverb ménos, less: as, ménos prudente, less prudent.

After máis or ménos, they put the particle que, than; before the other term of the comparison: as, máis claro que o sol, clearer than the sun; ménos branca que a neve, less white than the snow.

2. To express equality between the two terms of the comparison, they make use of the adverb tão or tam, which is or must be followed by the conjunction como: as, não he tão

liberal como su pay, he or she is not as liberal as his or her father.

3. They form their superlative relative which partakes of the comparative, by placing the definite articles o, a, before the adverbs mais or ménos, and the preposition do, das, dos, das, after the adjective, and before the other term of the comparison: as, a mentira he o mais vil de todos os vicios, lie is the vilest of all vices; o menos infeliz dos homens neste mundo deve terse por feliz; the less unhappy of men in this world ought to consider himself happy.

4. They form their superlative absolute, as grammarians call it, or the augmentative of adjectives, in two ways; either by adding the adverb muito before the adjective, as in muito bello, or by changing the last letter of the positive, or adjective into issimo: as, bell-issimo, a, os, as.

do

5. There are some irregular comparatives and superlatives, derived from the Latin: as, mayor, greater; menor, less; melhor, better; peor worse: ella he melhor, or peor que eu lhe disse, she is better or worse than I told him; este he muito mayor, or menor que aquelle, this is much greater or smaller than that. In which sentence we see, that when the Portuguese have a mind to heighten their comparatives, they make use of the adverb muito before them, or before máis or ménos. Thus they say: Pompeo foi muito ménos feliz que Cæsar, e este muito mais feliz que aquelle, Pompey was much less happy than Cæsar, and the latter much more lucky than the former.

6. The irregular superlatives are these: frigidissimo from frio, amicissimo from amigo, antiquíssimo from antigo, fidelissimo from fiel, boníssimo from bom, nobilissimo from nobre, sacratissimo from sagrado, acerrimo from acre, to which some add riquíssimo from rico, capacíssimo from capaz, fertilissimo from fertil.

Observe that as the adverbs in mente are formed from the feminine of adjectives, the superlatives of adverbs may be easily formed from the feminine of the superlatives: as, from fidelissima, fidelissimamente, &c.

Here we subjoin some sentences in which the use of comparatives and superlatives is expressed: a vossa casa he melhor do que a mia, your house is better than mine; este último vinho he peor, or peior que o primeiro, this last wine is worse than the first; a historia he tão útil como agradavel,

history is as useful as pleasing or agreeable; não tem tanto dinheiro como se diz. O mentiroso he tão desprezado como o homem verdadeiro he estimado. A azia he maior que a europa. A Africa he ménos povoada que a europa. Elle he muito mais amavel do que vos. A sobriedade faz o alimento mais simplez muito agradavel; ella he que dá com a saúde a mais vigorosa, os prazeres mais puros e máis constantes. Este campo he fertilissimo entre todos, or he muito fertil entre todos, or he o máis fertil de todos.

Of Partitives.

Partitives in Portuguese are: hum, huma, one; algum, alguma, some, somebody; muitos, muitas, many; poucos, poucas, few; os mais de, most of; nemhum, nemhuma, ninguem; none, noboby; nada, nothing; qualquer pessoa, or coiza, whoever, whatever, whosoever, whatsoever; cada, each; cada hum, each one.

Of numeral Nouns; and first, of Cardinal.

twenty-one

twenty Nove centos,
Mil,

900

1000

The proportionable numbers are: Simplez, a single; duplicado, or dobrado. a double; triplicado, or triplice, or trendobrado, threefold; quadruplicado, or quadruplo, four fold; céntuplo, a hundred fold:

Numerals expressing the part of a quantity are: a metade, a half; o terço; a third; a quarta parte, a fourth; o quinto, a fifth; a décima, or o dizimo, the tenth; meia duzéa, half a dozen; hama oitava, an eighth part; huma dezena, ten, hum conto, a million.

Aumerals taken adverbially.

Primeiramente, or emprimeiro lugar, firstly, or în the first place; segundamente, or segundo lugar, secondly; terceiramente, or em terceiro lugar, thirdly, or in the third place, &c. &c.

Huma vez, once; duas vezes, twice; tres vezes, three titnes, thrice, &c.