ny. Brightland, and Buchanan,
and the author of the British Grammar, and some late writers in the
Philological Museum, are among those who have successively taught, that the
possessive case should be formed _like the nominative plural_, by adding
_s_ when the pronunciation admits the sound, and _es_ when the word
acquires an additional syllable. Some of these approve of the apostrophe,
and others do not. Thus Brightland gives some examples, which are contrary
to his rule, adopting that strange custom of putting the _s_ in Roman, and
the name in Italic; "as, King _Charles_'s _Court_, and St. _James_'s
_Park._"--_Gram. of the English Tongue_, p. 91.

OBS. 13.--"The genitive case, in my opinion," says Dr. Ash, "might be much
more properly formed by adding _s_, or when the pronunciation requires it,
_es_, without an Apostrophe: as, _men, mens; Ox, Oxes; Horse, Horses; Ass,
Asses._"--_Ash's Gram._, p. 23. "To write _Ox's, Ass's, Fox's_, and at the
same time pronounce it _Oxes, Asses, Foxes_, is such a departure from the
original formation, at least in writing, and such an inconsistent use of
the Apostrophe, as cannot be equalled perhaps in any other
language."--_Ib._ Lowth, too, gives some countenance to this objection: "It
[i.e., _'God's grace'_] was formerly written _'Godis grace;'_ we now always
shorten it with an apostrophe; often _very improperly_, when we are obliged
to pronounce it fully; as, _'Thomas's_ book,' that is, '_Thomasis_ book,'
not '_Thomas his_ book,' as it is commonly supposed."--_Lowth's Gram._, p.
17. Whatever weight there may be in this argument, the objection has been
overruled by general custom. The convenience of distinguishing, even to the
eye alone, the numbers and cases of the noun, is found too great to be
relinquished. If the declension of English nouns is ever to be amended, it
cannot be done in this way. It is understood by every reader, that the
_apostrophic s_ adds a syllable to the noun, whenever it will not unite
with the sound in which the nominative ends; as, _torch's_, pronounced
_torchiz_.

"Yet time ennobles or degrades each line;
It brightened _Craggs's_, and may darken thine."--_Pope._

OBS. 14.--The English possessive case unquestionably originated in that
form of the Saxon genitive which terminates in _es_, examples of which may
be found in almost any specimen of the Saxon tongue: as, "On _Herodes_
dagum,"--"In _Herod's_ days;"--"Of _Aarones_ dohtrum,"--"Of _Aaron's_
dau