IV.

[201] The original nominative was _ye_, which is still the only nominative
of the solemn style; and the original objective was _you_, which is still
the only objective that our grammarians in general acknowledge. But,
whether grammatical or not, _ye_ is now very often used, in a familiar way,
for the objective case. (See Observations 22d and 23d, upon the declensions
of pronouns.) T. Dilworth gave both cases alike: "_Nom_. Ye _or_ you;"
"_Acc._ [or _Obj._] Ye _or_ you."--His _New Guide_, p. 98. Latham gives
these forms: "_Nom._ ye _or_ you; _Obj._ you or ye."--_Elementary Gram._,
p. 90. Dr. Campbell says, "I am inclined to prefer that use which makes
_ye_ invariably the nominative plural of the personal pronoun _thou_, and
_you_ the accusative, when applied to an actual plurality."--_Philosophy of
Rhetoric_, p. 174. Professor Fowler touches the case, rather blindly, thus:
"Instead of the true nominative YE, we use, with few exceptions, _the
objective case_; as, 'YOU _speak_;' 'YOU _two are speaking_.' In this we
_substitute_ one case _for_ another."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850,
Sec.478. No other grammarian, however, discards _you_ as a nominative of
"actual plurality;" and the present casual practice of putting _ye_ in the
objective, has prevailed to some extent for at least two centuries: as,

"Your change approaches, when all these delights
Will vanish and deliver _ye_ to woe."
--_Milton_, P. L., B. iv, l. 367.

[202] Dr. Young has, in one instance, and with very doubtful propriety,
converted this pronoun into the _second person_, by addressing himself
thus:--

"O _thou, myself I_ abroad our counsels roam
And, like ill husbands, take no care at home."
--_Love of Fame_, Sat. II, l. 271.

[203] The fashion of using the plural number for the singular, or _you_ for
_thou_, has also substituted _yourself_ for _thyself_, in common discourse.
In poetry, in prayer, in Scripture, and in the familiar language of the
Friends, the original compound is still retained; but the poets use either
term, according to the gravity or the lightness of their style. But
_yourself_, like the regal compound _ourself_, though apparently of the
singular number, and always applied to one person only, is, in its very
nature, an anomalous and ungrammatical word; for it can neither mean more
than one, nor agree with a pronoun or a verb that is singular. Swift indeed
wrote: "Conversation is but carving; ca