ave been ignorant enough to deny it.
"The learned and sagacious Wallis, to whom every English grammarian owes a
tribute of reverence, calls this modification of the noun an _adjective
possessive_; I think, with no more propriety than he might have applied the
same to the Latin genitive."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 5. Brightland also,
who gave to _adjectives_ the name of _qualities_, included all possessives
among them, calling them "_Possessive Qualities_, or _Qualities of
Possession_."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 90.

OBS. 11.--This exploded error, William S. Cardell, a few years ago,
republished as a novelty; for which, among other pretended improvements of
a like sort, he received the ephemeral praise of some of our modern
literati. William B. Fowle also teaches the same thing. See his _Common
School Gram._, Part II, p. 104. In Felch's Grammar, too, published in
Boston in 1837, an attempt is made, to revive this old doctrine; but the
author takes no notice of any of the above-named authorities, being
probably ignorant of them all. His _reasoning_ upon the point, does not
appear to me to be worthy of a detailed answer.[165] That the possessive
case of nouns is not an adjective, is demonstrable; because it may have
adjectives of various kinds, relating to it: as, "_This old man's_
daughter."--_Shak._ It may also govern an other possessive; as, "_Peter's
wife's_ mother."--_Bible_. Here the former possessive is governed by the
latter; but, if both were adjectives, they would both relate to the noun
_mother_, and so produce a confusion of ideas. Again, nouns of the
possessive case have a distinction of number, which adjectives have not. In
gender also, there lies a difference. Adjectives, whenever they are varied
by gender or number, _agree with their nouns_ in these respects. Not so
with possessives; as, "In the _Jews'_ religion."--_Gal._, i. 13. "The
_children's_ bread."--_Mark_, vii, 27. "Some _men's_ sins."--_1 Tim._, v,
24. "Other _men's_ sins."--_Ib._, ver. 22.

OBS. 12.--Secondly, general custom has clearly determined that the
possessive case of _nouns_ is always to be written _with an apostrophe_:
except in those few instances in which it is not governed singly by the
noun following, but so connected with an other that both are governed
jointly; as, "_Cato the Censor's_ doctrine,"--"_Sir Walter Scott's_
Works,"--"_Beaumont_ and _Fletcher's Plays._" This custom of using the
apostrophe, however, has been opposed by ma