princess, actor, actress; lion, lioness; hero, heroine, &c.

The chief ufe of Gender in English is in the Pronoun of the Third Perfon; which must agree in that refpect with the Noun for which it ftands.

(A

PRONO UN.

PRONOUN is a word standing instead of a
Neun, as its Subftitute or Reprefentative..

In the Pronoun are to be confidered the Perfon, Number, Gender, and Cafe.

There are Three Perfons which may be the Subject of any discourse: first, the Person who speaks may speak of himself; secondly, he may fpeak of the perfon to whom he addreffes himself; thirdly, he may fpeak of fome other Perfon.

Thefe are called, refpectively, the First, Second, and Third, Perfons: and are expreffed by the Pronouns, 1, Thou, He.

As the Speakers, the Perfons fpoken to, and the other Perfons fpoken ef, may be many; fo. each of these Perfons hath the Plural Number; We, Ye, They.

obfcure and doubtful, and in proportion diminish their beauty.

This excellent remark is Mr. Harris's, HERMES, p. 58.

The

The Perfons fpeaking and spoken to, being at the fame time the Subjects of the difcourfe, are fuppofed to be prefent; from which and other circumftances their Sex is commonly known,. and needs not be marked by a diftinction of Gender in their Pronouns: but the third Perfon or thing spoken of being abfent and in many refpects unknown, it is neceffary, that it fhould be marked by a diftinction of Gender; at least when fome particular Perfon or Thing is spoken of, which ought to be more diftinctly marked: accordingly the Pronoun Singular of the Third Perfon hath the Three Genders: He, She, It.

Pronouns have Three Cafes: the Nominative; the Genitive, or Poffeffive; like Nouns; and moreover a Cafe, which follows the Verb Active, or the Prepofition, expreffing, the object of an Action, or of a Relation. (It) anfwers to the Oblique Cafes in Latin, and (may be properly enough called the Objective Cafe.

PRON O UN S;

according to their Perfons, Numbers, Cafes, and: Genders.

(Nom

CASES.

Nom. Poff.

Obj.

I,

Nom. Poff. Obj.

First Perfon.

Mine, Me; We, Ours, Us.
Second Perfon.

Thou, Thine, Thee; Yeor You, Yours,You [6].

[6] Some Writers have used Ye as the Objective Cafe Plural of the Pronoun of the Second Perfon; very improperly, and ungrammatically.

"The more shame for ye: holy men I thought ye."

Shakespear, Henry VIII.

"But tyrants dread ye, left your just decree
Transfer the power, and set the people free.”

Prior.

"His wrath, which one day will deftroy ye both." Milton, P. L. ii. 734.

Milton ufes the fame manner of expreffion in a few other places of his Paradife Loft, and more frequently in his poems. It may perhaps be allowed in the Comic and Burlesque style, which often imitates a vulgar and incorrect pronunciation: as, "By the Lord I knew ye, as well as he that made ye." Shakefpear, 1 Henry IV. But in the ferious and folemn ftyle, no authority is fufficient to justify fo manifeft a foleciím.

The Singular and Plural Forms feem to be confounded in the following Sentence: "Pafs ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir." Micah, i. 11.

Third Perfon.

Maf. He, His, Him;

Fem. She, Hers, Her; They, Theirs, Them. Neut. It, Its [7], It;

The Perfonal Pronous have the nature of Subftantives, and, as such, stand by themselves:

[7] The Neuter Pronoun of the Third Perfon had formerly no variation of Cases. Instead of the Poffeffive its they used bis, which is now appropriated to the Mafculine. "Learning hath his infancy, when it is but beginning, and almoft childish; then bis youth when it is luxuriant and juvenile; then his ftrength of years, when it is folid and reduced; and laftly his old age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust.” Bacon, Effay 58. In this example bis is evidently ufed as the Poffeffive Cafe of it: but what shall we fay to the following, where her is applied in the fame manner, and seems to make a ftrange confufion of Gender?" He that pricketh the heart maketh it to fhew ber knowledge." Ecclus, xxii. 19.

"Oft have I feen a timely-parted ghost,

Of afhy femblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless,
Being all descended to the lab'ring heart,
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the fame for aidance 'gainst the enemy."

It ought to be,

Shakespear, 2 Hen. VI.

"Which, in the conflict that it holds ".

Or, perhaps more poetically,

"Who, in the conflict that he holds with death."..

the

(the reft have the nature of Adjectives, and, as

fuch, are joined to Subftantives; and may be. called Pronominal Adjectives

Thy, My, Her, Ours, Yours, Their, are Pronominal Adjectives : but His (that is, He's,) Her's,, Qur's, Your's, Their's, have evidently the Form of the Poffeffive Cafe: and by Analogy, Mine,. Thine [8), may be efteemed of the fame rank. All these are used, when the Noun, to which they belong, is understood: the two latter fometimes alfo inftead of my, thy, when the Noun following them begins with a vowel..

6

Befide the foregoing, there are feveral other Pronominal Adjectives; which, though they may fometimes feem to ftand by themselves, yet have always fome Subftantive belonging to them,, either referred to or understood as This, that,. other, any, fome, one, none. Thefe are called Definitive, because they define and limit the ex-tent of the Common Name, or General Term,

[8] So the Saxon Ic hath the Poffeffive Case Min; Thu, Poffeffive Thin; He, Poffeffive His: from which our Poffeffive Cafes of the fame Pronouns are taken without Alteration. To the Saxon Poffeffive Cafes,, hire, ure, eower, hira, (that is, her's, our's, your's,. their's), we have added thes, the Characteristic of the Poffeffive Cafe of Nouns. Or our's, your's, are directly. from the Saxon ures, eowers; the Poffeffive Cafe of the Pronominal Adjectives ure, eower; that is, our, your.

to.