s sometimes necessary, our ancestors
used to borrow one; commonly from the masculine, though sometimes from the
feminine. This produced what now appears a strange confusion of the
genders: as, "_Learning_ hath _his_ infancy, when _it_ is but beginning,
and almost childish; then _his_ youth, when _it_ is luxuriant and juvenile;
then _his_ strength of years, when _it_ is solid and reduced; and lastly
_his_ old age, when _it_ waxeth dry and exhaust."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 58.
"Of beaten work shall the _candlestick_ be made: _his_ shaft, and _his_
branches, _his_ bowls, _his_ knops, and _his_ flowers, shall be of the
same."--_Exodus_, xxv, 31. "They came and emptied the _chest_, and took
_it_ and carried _it_ to _his_ place again."--_2 Chron._, xxiv, 11. "Look
not thou upon the _wine, when_ it is red, when _it_ giveth _his_ colour in
the cup, when _it_ moveth _itself_ aright."--_Prov._, xxiii, 31. "The
_tree_ is known by _his_ fruit."--_Matt._, xii, 33. "When thou tillest the
ground, _it_ shall not henceforth yield unto thee _her_ strength."--_Gen._,
iv, 12. "He that pricketh the heart, maketh _it_ to show _her_
knowledge."--_Eccl._, xxii, 19. Shakspeare rarely, if ever, used _its_; and
his style is sometimes obscure for the want of it: as,

"There is no _vice_ so simple, but assumes
Some mark of virtue on _his_ outward parts."
--_Merch. of Venice_.

"The name of Cassius honours this corruption,
And _chastisement_ doth therefore hide _his_ head."
--_Jul. Caes._, Act iv.

OBS. 25.--The possessive case of pronouns should never be written with an
apostrophe. A few pronominal adjectives taken substantively receive it; but
the construction which it gives them, seems to make them nouns: as, _one's,
other's_, and, according to Murray, _former's_ and _latter's_. The real
pronouns that end in _s_, as _his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs_, though
true possessives after their kind, have no occasion for this mark, nor does
good usage admit it. Churchill, with equal disregard of consistency and
authority, gives it to one of them, and denies it to the rest. Referring to
the classification of these words as possessives, and of _my, thy, her,
our, your, their_, as adjectives, he says: "It seems as if the termination
in _s_ had led to the distinction: but no one will contend, that _ours_ is
the possessive case of _our_, or _theirs_ of _their_; though _ours, yours,
hers_, and _theirs_, are often very improper