Show how the insertion or the omission of apostrophes in certain words, occurring in these portions of verse, is borne out by the preceding Remarks : ——

Strike- till the last armed foe expires!

Here Edwin and his Emma oft would stray,
To enjoy the coolness of the evening breeze

The toiling ploughman drives his thirsty teams
To taste the slippery streams.

Though darkness o'er a slumbering world
Her sable mantle throw,
Returning splendors are unfurled,

And all is bright below.

Unthinking, idle, wild, and young,

I laughed and talked, and danced and sung;
And, proud of health, of freedom vain,
Dreamt not of sorrow, care, or pain.

Serenity broods o'er my mind;

For I daily pray to Heaven,

That, when the hour of death arrives,
My sins may be forgiven.

But come, thou goddess fair and free,
In heaven ycleped Euphrosyne,
And by men heart-easing Mirth;
Whom lovely Venus, at a birth,
With two sister Graces more,

To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore.

Oh! when my friend and I
In some thick wood have wandered heedless on,
Hid from the vulgar eye, and sat us down
Upon the sloping cowslip-covered bank,
Where the pure, limpid stream has slid along

In grateful errors through the underwood,

Sweet murmuring, methought the shrill-tongued thrush
Mended his song of love; the sooty blackbird
Mellowed his pipe, and softened every note;
The eglantine smelled sweeter, and the rose
Assumed a dye more deep; whilst every flower
Vied with its fellow-plant in luxury

Of dress. Oh! then, the longest summer's day
Seemed too, too much in haste; still the full heart

Had not imparted half: 'twas happiness

Too exquisite to last. Of joys departed,

Not to return, how painful the remembrance!

EXERCISE TO BE WRITTEN.

Insert the apostrophe wherever necessary; and mark a grave accent on the vowel in ED in verse, when pronounced as an additional syllable : —

As Yorkshire Humphrey, tother day,

Oer London Bridge was stumping.

That forked flash, that pealing crash,
Seemed from the wave to sweep her.
At once they sprang

With haste aloft, and, peering bright,
Descried afar the blessed sight.

For who but He that arched the skies
Could rear the daisy's purple bud,
Mould its green cup, its wiry stem,
Its fringed border nicely spin,
And cut the gold-embossed gem,

That, set in silver, gleams within?

Oer Idalia's velvet green the rosy-crowned Loves are seen.

Now, brothers, bending oer the accursed loom,
Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom.

From seventeen years till now, almost fourscore,
Here lived I, but now live here no more.

Then lighted from his gorgeous throne; for now
Twixt host and host but narrow space was left.

Approach, and read (for thou canst read) the lay
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.

Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,
Splitst the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle.

A bearded man,

Armed to the teeth art thou: one mailed hand
Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword.

Blest be the day I scaped the wrangling crew
From Pyrrho's maze and Epicurus' sty,
And held high converse with the godlike few,

Who, to the enraptured heart and ear and eye,
Teach beauty, virtue, truth, and love, and melody.

It gazes on those glazed eyes, it hearkens for a breath;
It does not know that kindness dies, and love departs from death.

RULE II.

The Genitive or Possessive Case.

The apostrophe is used to distinguish the possessive case of nouns; which is usually formed in the singular number by adding to the nominative an s, with an apostrophe before it, and in the plural by simply annexing this mark.

EXAMPLES.

1. What majesty attends Night's lovely queen!
2. The Ages' voice speaks everlasting truth.

REMARKS.

a. The apostrophe is sometimes used in the singular number without the additional s, when the nominative ends in s, ss, ce, or x; as, "Moses' rod," "for righteousness' sake," "for conscience' sake," "the administratrix' sale." This mode of punctuation holds good chiefly in proper names having a foreign termination, and in such common nouns as are seldom used in the plural, — an exception to the rule of forming the possessive singular, which is founded on the propriety of modifying the disagreeable nature of the hissing sound.

b. Recourse, however, should not be had to the principle laid down in the preceding remark, when its adoption would cause ambiguity, or when the addition of the s is not offensive to a refined ear. For instance, the Italic words in the phrases, "Burns's Poems," "James's book," "Thomas's cloak," "the fox's tail," though they contain the hissing sound, are not particularly unpleasant, and are far more analogical and significant than the abbreviated forms, "Burns' Poems," "James' book," " Thomas' cloak," "the fox' tail.”

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c. We have no doubt that the distinctions here suggested are important, and accord with the genius of the English language; but in poetry none but the author himself should change the form of the possessive, whether written with or without the annexed s, as, unless the whole line were recast, such an alteration would probably mar the harmony of the verse. Even in prose, a printer should not take the liberty of changing the form of a possessive, without the consent of the author; this matter being yet a subject on which there is a difference of opinion among literary men.

d. To form the possessive case plural, the apostrophe, with an s after it, is added to the nominative plural, when it does not end in that letter; as, "Men's passions; women's tenderness; children's joys."

e. The possessive case of pronouns is formed without an apostrophe; as,

Some grammarians would use the apostrophe before the s in ours, yours, hers, its, theirs. But the impropriety of this is evident from the mode in which the other pronouns in the possessive case are always written; namely, mine, his, and whose; which exhibit the case without the mark in question.

ORAL EXERCISES.

State the reason for the insertion and position of the apostrophe in these sentences:

A man's manners not unfrequently indicate his morals.
On eagles' wings he seemed to soar. — Our enemies' resistance.
The shepherd-swain on Scotia's mountains fed his little flock.
And the Persians' gems and gold were the Grecians' funeral pyre.
We will not shrink from life's severest due. - Woman's rights.
Few columns rose to mark her patriots' last repose.

The sun is the poet's, the invalid's, and the hypochondriac's friend.
The ladies' gloves and shawls were exceedingly handsome.
Phillippa was the name of Edward the Third's queen.

O majestic Night, Nature's great ancestor, Day's elder born!
He must strike the second heat upon the Muses' anvil.

Mother's wag, pretty boy, father's sorrow, father's joy.
Spirit of Good! on this week's verge I stand.

Bid them in duty's sphere as meekly move.

Why is that sleeper laid to rest in manhood's pride?

Who loves not spring's voluptuous hours, or summer's splendid reign? Is sparkling wit the world's exclusive right?

The Turk awoke: he woke to hear his sentry's shriek.

The people's shouts were long and loud. - Thy mercies' monument.

A friend should bear a friend's infirmities. The ox's hide.

Show how the Rule or the Remarks (pp. 204–5) are applicable to the possessive case in the following phrases and sentences:

Adam's book, not Adams's: the book did not belong to Adams.
John Quincy Adams's death was no common bereavement.
Sir Humphrey Davy's safety-lamp. - Davis's Straits.
Josephus's "History of the Jews is a very interesting work.
Andrew's hat, not Andrews's. - Andrews's " Latin Reader."
For quietness' sake, the man would not enter into any dispute.
Col. Matthews's delivery. - Matthew's Gospel, not Matthews's.
The witness's testimony agreed with the facts of the case.
Let Temperance' smile the cup of gladness cheer.

Nor roamed Parnassus' heights nor Pindus' hallowed shade.
There is no impropriety in speaking of the cockatrice's den.

I oft have sat on Thames' sweet bank to hear my friend.
Like the silver crimson shroud, that Phoebus' smiling looks doth grace.
Faustus' offence [the offence of Faustus] can never be pardoned.
After two years, Porcius Festus came into Felix's room.

EXERCISE TO BE WRITTEN.

Agreeably to the Rule and the Remarks, insert apostrophes in, or annex them to, the nouns in the possessive case which occur in the following sentences; but let the pronouns remain unmarked:

The traveller went to lodge, not in Mr. Jacobs house, but in Mr. Jacobss. (Rule, and Remark b.)

I am going to the booksellers [sing.] to purchase Popes Homer and Drydens Virgil. (Rule.)

Procrustes bed. - Hortensius influence. Achilles shield. - Pocahontas father.- Sophocles Greek Grammar. (Remark a.)

The precepts of wisdom form the good mans interest and happiness. (Rule.)

Robert Burnss prose as well as poetical writings are astonishing productions. (Remark b.)

Fames proud temple shines afar. From mens experience do thou learn wisdom. (Rule, and Remark d.)

They applauded that conduct of his, but condemned hers and yours. The reason of its being done I cannot tell. (Remark e.) He had the surgeons [sing.], the physicians [sing.], and the apothecarys advice. (Rule.)

The tendency of Dickenss genius, both in delineating the actual and the natural, is to personify, to individualize. (Remark b.)