it not be better to adhere, where we can, to the analogy of General Grammar?  In Greek and Latin, a participle may agree with a noun in the genitive case; but, if we regard analogy, that genitive must be Englished, not by the possessive case, but by of and the objective; as, “[Greek:  ’Epei dokim`aen zaeteite tou ’en ’emoi lalountos Christou.]”—­“Quandoquidem experimentum quaeritis in me loquentis Christi.”—­Beza.  “Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me.”—­2 Cor., xiii, 3.  We might here, perhaps, say, “of Christ’s speaking in me,” but is not the other form better?  The French version is, “Puisque vous cherchez une preuve que Christ parle par moi;” and this, too, might be imitated in English:  “Since ye seek a proof that Christ speaks by me.”

OBS. 13.—­As prepositions very naturally govern any of our participles except the simple perfect, it undoubtedly seems agreeable to our idiom not to disturb this government, when we would express the subject or agent of the being, action, or passion, between the preposition and the participle.  Hence we find that the doer or the sufferer of the action is usually made its possessor, whenever the sense does not positively demand a different reading.  Against this construction there is seldom any objection, if the participle be taken entirely as a noun, so that it may be called a participial noun; as, “Much depends on their observing of the rule.”—­Lowth, Campbell, and L.  Murray.  On the other hand, the participle after the objective is unobjectionable, if the noun or pronoun be the leading word in sense; as, “It would be idle to profess an apprehension of serious evil resulting in any respect from the utmost publicity being given to its contents.”—­London Eclectic Review, 1816.  “The following is a beautiful instance of the sound of words corresponding to motion.”—­Murray’s Gram., i, p. 333.  “We shall discover many things partaking of both those characters.”—­West’s Letters, p. 182.  “To a person following the vulgar mode of omitting the comma.”—­Churchill’s Gram., p. 365.  But, in comparing the different constructions above noticed, writers are frequently puzzled to determine, and frequently too do they err in determining, which word shall be made the adjunct, and which the leading term.  Now, wherever there is much doubt which of the two forms ought to be preferred, I think we may well conclude that both are wrong; especially, if there can easily be found for the idea an other expression that is undoubtedly clear and correct.  Examples:  “These appear to be instances of the present participle being used passively.”—­Murray’s Gram., p. 64.  “These are examples of the past participle being applied in an active sense.”—­Ib., 64.  “We have some examples of adverbs being used for substantives.”—­Priestley’s Gram., p. 134; Murray’s, 198; Ingersoll’s,