I have made an the original article, because it is only the Saxon an,
or æn, one, applied to a new use, as the German ein, and the French un;
the n being cut off before a consonant in the speed of utterance.

Grammarians of the last age direct, that an should be used before h; whence
it appears that the English anciently asperated less. An is still used
before the silent h; as an herb, an honest man; but otherwise a; as

A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse. Shakespeare.

An or a can only be joined with a singular: the correspondent plural is the
noun without an article, as, I want a pen, I want pens; or with the
pronominal adjective some, as, I want some pens.

THE.

The has a particular and definite signification.

The fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world. Milton.

That is, that particular fruit, and this world in which we live. So, He
giveth fodder for the cattle, and green herbs for the use of man; that is,
for those beings that are cattle, and his use that is man.

The is used in both numbers.

I am as free as Nature first made man,