rs._--In the phrase _I strike me_, the verb
_strike_ is transitive; in other words, the word _me_ expresses the object
of an action, and the meaning is different from the meaning of the simple
expression _I strike_.

In the phrase _I fear me_ (used by Lord Campbell in his lives of the
Chancellors), the verb _fear_ is intransitive or neuter; in other words,
the word _me_ (unless, indeed, _fear_ mean _terrify_), expresses no object
of any action at all; whilst the meaning is the same as in the simple
expression _I fear_.

Here the reflective pronoun appears out of place, i.e., after a neuter or
intransitive verb.

Such a use, however, is but the fragment of an extensive system of
reflective verbs thus formed, developed in different degrees in the
different Gothic languages; but in all more than in the English.

s. 443. _Equivocal reflectives._--The proper place of the reflective is
_after_ the verb.

The proper place of the governing pronoun is, in the indicative and
subjunctive moods, _before_ the verb.

Hence in expressions like the preceding there is no doubt as to the power
of the pronoun.

The imperative mood, however, sometimes presents a complication. Here the
governing person may follow the verb.

_Mount ye_ = either _be mounted_, or _mount yourselves_. In phrases like
this, and in phrases

_Busk ye, busk ye_, my bonny, bonny bride,
_Busk ye, busk ye_, my winsome marrow,

the construction is ambiguous. _Ye_ may either be a nominative case
governing the verb _busk_, or an accusative case governed by it.

This is an instance of what may be called the _equivocal reflective_.

* * * * *

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE SYNTAX OF THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS, AND THE PRONOUNS OF THE THIRD
PERSON.

s. 444. As _his_ and _her_ are genitive cases (and not adjectives), there
is no need of explaining such combinations as _his mother_, _her father_,
inasmuch as no concord of gender is expected. The expressions are
respectively equivalent to

_mater ejus_, not _mater sua_;
_pater ejus_, -- _pater suus_.

s. 445. It has been stated that _its_ is a secondary genitive, and it may
be added, that it is of late origin in the language. The Anglo-Saxon form
was _his_, the genitive of _he_ for the neuter and masculine equally.
Hence, when, in the old writers, we meet _his_, where we expect _its_, we
must not suppose that any personification takes place, but simply that the
old gen