--PERCIVAL.

(4) _Of detached portions_ of matter used as class names; as _stones_,
_slates_, _papers_, _tins_, _clouds_, _mists_, etc.


[Sidenote: _Personification of abstract ideas._]

16. Abstract nouns are frequently used as proper names by being
personified; that is, the ideas are spoken of as residing in living
beings. This is a poetic usage, though not confined to verse.

Next _Anger_ rushed; his eyes, on fire,
In lightnings owned his secret stings.--COLLINS.

_Freedom's_ fame finds wings on every wind.--BYRON.

_Death_, his mask melting like a nightmare dream, smiled.--HAYNE.

_Traffic_ has lain down to rest; and only _Vice_ and _Misery_, to
prowl or to moan like night birds, are abroad.--CARLYLE.


[Sidenote: _A halfway class of words. Class nouns in use, abstract in
meaning._]

17. Abstract nouns are made half abstract by being spoken of in
the plural.

They are not then pure abstract nouns, nor are they common class