§ 212. _Accusative._--Some call this the _objective_ case. The words _him_ and _them_ (whatever they may have been originally) are now (to a certain extent) true accusatives. The accusative case is found in pronouns only. _Thee, me, us_, and _you_ are, to a certain extent, true accusatives. These are accusative thus far: 1. They are not derived from any other case. 2. They are distinguished from the forms _I_, _my_, &c. 3. Their meaning is accusative. Nevertheless, they are only imperfect accusatives. They have no sign of case, and are distinguished by negative characters only. One word in the present English is probably a true accusative in the strict sense of the term, viz., the word _twain_ = _two_. The -n in _twai-n_ is the -n in _hine_ = _him_ and _hwone_ = _whom_. This we see from the following inflection:-- _Neut._ _Masc._ _Fem._ _N. and Acc._ Twá, Twégen, Twá. \____ _____/ \/ _Abl. and Dat._ Twám, Twǽm. _Gen._ Twegra, Twega. Although nominative as well as accusative, I have little doubt as to the original character of _twégen_ being accusative. The -n is by no means radical; besides which, it _is_ the sign of an accusative case, and is _not_ the sign of a nominative. § 213. _Dative._--In the antiquated word _whilom_ (_at times_), we have a remnant of the old dative in -m. The _sense_ of the word is abverbial; its form, however, is that of a dative case. § 214. _Genitive._--Some call this the possessive case. It is found in substantives and pronouns (_father's, his_), but not in adjectives. It is formed like the nominative plural, by the addition of the lene sibilant (_father, fathers; buck, bucks_); or if the word end in -s, by that of -es (_boxes_, _judges_, &c.) It is found in both numbers: _the men's hearts_; _the children's bread_. In the plural number, however, it is rare; so rare, indeed, that wherever the plural ends in s (as it almost always does), there is no genitive. If it were not so, we should have such words as _fatherses_, _foxeses_, _princeses_, &c. § 215. _Instrumental._--The following extracts from Rask's "Anglo-Saxon Grammar," teach us that there exist in the present English two powers of the word spelt _t-h-e_, or of the so-called definite article--"The demonstrative pronouns are _þæt, se, seó_ (_id, is, ea_), which are also used for the article; and _þis, þes, þeós_ (_hoc, hic, hæc_). They are thus declined:-- _Neut._ _Masc._ _Fem._ _Neut._ _Masc._ _Fem._