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-_Pronouncing Bible._ Dr. Scott, in his Reference Bible, makes this possessive regular, "on the _cockatrice's_ den." This is right. The Vulgate has it, "_in caverna reguli_;" which, however, is not classic Latin. After z also, the poets sometimes drop the _s_: as,
"Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day, When first from _Shiraz'_ walls I bent my way."--_Collins._
OBS. 17.--A recent critic, who, I think, has not yet learned to speak or write the possessive case of his own name properly, assumes that the foregoing occasional or poetical forms are the only true ones for the possessive singular of such words. He says, "When the name does end with the sound of s or z, (no matter what letter represents the sound,) the possessive form is made by annexing only an apostrophe."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 44. Agreeably to this rule, he letters his work, "_Peirce' Grammar_," and condemns, as bad English, the following examples and all others like them: "James _Otis's_ letters, General _Gates's_ command, General _Knox's_ appointment, Gov. _Meigs's_ promptness, Mr. _Williams's_ oration, The _witness's_ deposition."--_Ib._, p. 60. It is obvious that this gentleman's doctrine and criticism are as contrary to the common practice of all good authors, as they are to the common grammars, which he ridicules. Surely, such expressions as, "_Harris's_ Hermes, _Philips's_ Poems, _Prince's_ Bay, _Prince's_ Island, _Fox's_ Journal, King _James's_ edict, a _justice's_ warrant, _Sphinx's_ riddle, the _lynx's_ beam, the _lass's_ beauty," have authority enough to refute the cavil of this writer; who, being himself wrong, falsely charges the older grammarians, that," their theories vary from the principles of the language correctly spoken or written."--_Ib._, p. 60. A much more judicious author treats this point of grammar as follows: "When the possessive noun is singular, and terminates with an s, another s is requisite after it, and the apostrophe must