a of plurality,
the Pronoun must agree with it in the plural number: as, "The _council_
were divided in _their_ sentiments."--"The Christian _world_ are beginning
to awake out of _their_ slumber."--_C. Simeon_. "Whatever Adam's
_posterity_ lost through him, that and more _they_ gain in
Christ."--_J. Phipps_.

"To this, one pathway gently-winding leads,
Where march a train with baskets on their heads."
--_Pope, Iliad_, B. xviii, l. 657.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XI.

OBS. 1.--The collective noun, or noun of multitude, being a name that
signifies many, may in general be taken in either of two ways, according to
the intention of the user: that is, either with reference to the
_aggregate_ as one thing, in which sense it will accord with the neuter
pronoun _it_ or _which_; or with reference to the _individuals_, so as to
accord with a plural pronoun _they, their, them_, or _who_, masculine, or
feminine, as the individuals of the assemblage may happen to be. The noun
itself, being literally singular both in form and in fact, has not
unfrequently some article or adjective before it that implies unity; so
that the interpretation of it in a plural sense by the pronoun or verb, was
perhaps not improperly regarded by the old grammarians as an example of the
figure _syllepsis_:.as, "Liberty should reach every individual of _a
people_, as _they_ all share one common nature."--_Spectator_, No. 287.

"Thus urg'd the chief; _a generous troop appears_,
_Who spread their_ bucklers and _advance their_ spears."
--_Pope, Iliad_, B. xi, l. 720.

OBS. 2.--Many of our grammarians say, "When a noun of multitude is preceded
by a definitive word, which clearly limits the sense to an aggregate with
an idea of unity, it requires a verb and pronoun to agree with it in the
singular number."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 153; _Ingersoll's_, 249; Fisk's,
122; _Fowler's_, 528. But this principle, I apprehend, cannot be sustained
by an appeal to general usage. The instances in practice are not few, in
which both these senses are clearly indicated with regard to the same noun;
as, "_Each House_ shall keep a journal of _its_ proceedings, and from time
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in _their_ judgement
require secrecy."--_Constitution of the United States_, Art. i, Sec. 5. "I
mean _that part_ of mankind _who are known_ by the name of women's men, or
beaux."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 536. "A _set_ of men _who ar