179. When _the_ is prefixed to a proper name, it alters the force of the noun by directing attention to _certain qualities_ possessed by the person or thing spoken of; thus,--
_The_ Bacon, _the_ Spinoza, _the_ Hume, Schelling, Kant, or whosoever propounds to you a philosophy of the mind, is only a more or less awkward translator of things in your consciousness.--EMERSON.
[Sidenote: _With plural of abstract nouns._]
180. _The_, when placed before the pluralized abstract noun, marks it as half abstract or a common noun.
His messages to _the_ provincial _authorities_.--MOTLEY.
He was probably skilled in _the subtleties_ of Italian statesmanship.--_Id._
[Sidenote: _With adjectives used as nouns._]
181. When _the_ precedes adjectives of the positive degree used substantively, it marks their use as common and plural nouns when they refer to persons, and as singular and abstract when they refer to qualities.
1. _The simple_ rise as by specific levity, not into a particular virtue, but into the region of all the virtues.--EMERSON.
2. If _the good_ is there, so is _the evil_.--_Id._
NOTE.--This is not to be confused with words that have shifted from adjectives and become pure nouns; as,--
As she hesitated to pass on, _the gallant_, throwing his cloak from his shoulders, laid it on the miry spot.--SCOTT.
But De Soto was no longer able to abate the confidence or punish the temerity of _the natives_.--G. BANCROFT.
182. _The_ before class nouns may mark one thing as a representative of the class to which it belongs; for example,--
The faint, silvery warblings heard over the partially bare and moist fields from _the bluebird_, _the song sparrow_, and _the redwing_, as if the last flakes of winter tinkled as they fell!--THOREAU.
In the sands of Africa and Arabia _the camel_ is a sacred and precious gift.--GIBBON.
[Sidenote: _For possessive person pronouns._]
183. _The_ is frequently used instead of the possessive case of the personal pronouns _his_, _her_, etc.
More than one hinted that a cord twined around _the head_, or a match put between _the fingers_, would speedily extract the required information.--KINGSLEY.
_The_ mouth, and the region of the mouth, were about the strongest features in Wordsworth's face.--DE QUINCEY.