th _prickles, or
spines_."--_Webster's Dict._

OBS. 5.--To the rule for apposition, as I have expressed it, there are
properly _no exceptions_. But there are many puzzling examples of
construction under it, some of which are but little short of exceptions;
and upon such of these as are most likely to embarrass the learner, some
further observations shall be made. The rule supposes the first word to be
the principal term, with which the other word, or subsequent noun or
pronoun, is in apposition; and it generally is so: but the explanatory word
is sometimes placed first, especially among the poets; as,

"From bright'ning fields of ether fair disclos'd,
_Child_ of the sun, refulgent _Summer_ comes."--_Thomson_.

OBS. 6.--The pronouns of the _first_ and _second_ persons are often placed
before nouns merely to distinguish their person; as, "_I John_ saw these
things."--_Bible_. "But what is this to _you receivers?_"--_Clarkson's
Essay on Slavery_, p. 108. "His praise, _ye brooks_, attune."--_Thomson_.
In this case of apposition, the words are in general closely united, and
either of them may be taken as the explanatory term. The learner will find
it easier to parse _the noun_ by rule third; or _both nouns_, if there be
two: as, "_I_ thy _father-in-law Jethro_ am come unto thee."--_Exod._,
xviii, 6. There are many other examples, in which it is of no moment, which
of the terms we take for the principal; and to all such the rule may be
applied literally: as, "Thy _son Benhadad king_ of Syria hath sent me to
thee."--_2 Kings_, viii, 9.

OBS. 7.--When two or more nouns of the _possessive case_ are put in
apposition, the possessive termination added to one, denotes the case of
both or all; as, "For _Herodias_' sake, his _brother Philip's
wife_"--_Matt._, xiv, 3; Mark, vi, 17. Here _wife_ is in apposition with
_Herodias_', and _brother_ with _Philip's_; consequently all these words
are reckoned to be in the possessive case. The Greek text, which is better,
stands essentially thus: "For the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip his
brother." "For _Jacob_ my _servant's_ sake, and _Israel_ mine
_elect_."--_Isaiah_, xlv, 4. Here, as _Jacob_ and _Israel_ are only
different names for the same person or nation, the four nouns in Italics
are, according to the rule, all made possessives by the one sign used; but
the construction is not to be commended: it would be better to say, "For
_the_ sake _of_ Jacob my servant, and Israel m