_Not_ and _never_ with _a_ or _an_ are numeral adjectives,
instead of adverbs, which they are in general.

_Not a_ drum was heard, _not a_ funeral note.--WOLFE

My Lord Duke was as hot as a flame at this salute, but said
_never a_ word.--THACKERAY.

NOTE.--All these have the function of adjectives; but in the last
analysis of the expressions, _such_, _many_, _not_, etc., might be
considered as adverbs modifying the article.


[Sidenote: _With_ few _or_ little.]

196. The adjectives _few_ and _little_ have the negative meaning of
_not much_, _not many_, without the article; but when _a_ is put
before them, they have the positive meaning of _some_. Notice the
contrast in the following sentences:--

Of the country beyond the Mississippi _little_ more was known
than of the heart of Africa.--MCMASTER

To both must I of necessity cling, supported always by the hope
that when _a little_ time, _a few_ years, shall have tried me
more fully in their esteem, I may be able to bring them
together.--_Keats's Letters_.

_Few_ of the great characters of history have been so differently
judged as Alexander.--SMITH, _History of Greece_