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Some nouns have no plural. 1st. Those which denote things measured or weighed, unless when they express varieties, as, sugar, sugars; wheat, wheats; oil, oils; wine, wines. Here, not numbers of individuals, but different species or classes, are signified. In this sense the nouns are used plurally.

2d. Names of abstract, and also of moral qualities, as, hardness, softness, prudence, envy, benevolence, have no plural. It is to be observed, however, that several nouns of this class ending in y, when they do not express the quality or property in the abstract, but either its varieties or its manifestations, are used plurally. Thus we say, levities, affinities, gravities, &c. There may be different degrees and different exhibitions of the quality, but not a plurality.

Where displays of the mental quality are to be expressed, it is better in all cases to employ a periphrasis. Thus, instead of using with Hume (vol. vii. p. 411) the plural insolences, the expression acts of insolence, would be preferable.