“Ye! who have traced the Pilgrim to the scene Which is his last, if in your memories dwell A thought which once was his, if on ye swell A single recollection, not in vain He wore his sandal-shoon, and scallop-shell.”—­Byron.

OBS. 24.—­The three pronouns of the third person, he, she, and it, have always formed their plural number after one and the same manner, they, their or theirs, them.  Or, rather, these plural words, which appear not to be regular derivatives from any of the singulars, have ever been applied alike to them all.  But it, the neuter pronoun singular, had formerly no variation of cases, and is still alike in the nominative and the objective.  The possessive its is of comparatively recent origin.  In our common Bible, the word is not found, except by misprint; nor do other writings of the same age contain it.  The phrase, of it, was often used as an equivalent; as, “And it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it.”—­Dan., vii, 5.  That is—­“in its mouth, between its teeth.”  But, as a possessive case was 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.