Such a use, however, is but the fragment of an extensive system of reflective verbs thus formed, developed in different degrees in the different Gothic languages; but in all more than in the English. s. 507. _Equivocal reflectives._--The proper place of the reflective is _after_ the verb. The proper place of the governing pronoun is, in the indicative and subjunctive moods, _before_ the verb. Hence in expressions like the preceding there is no doubt as to the power of the pronoun. The imperative mood, however, sometimes presents a complication. Here the governing person may follow the verb. _Mount ye_=either _be mounted_, or _mount yourselves_. In phrases like this, and in phrases _Busk ye_, _busk ye_, my bonny, bonny bride, _Busk ye_, _busk ye_, my winsome marrow, the construction is ambiguous. _Ye_ may either be a nominative case governing the verb _busk_, or an accusative case governed by it. This is an instance of what may be called the _equivocal reflective_. * * * * * {412} CHAPTER VI. ON THE SYNTAX OF THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS, AND THE PRONOUNS OF THE THIRD PERSON. s. 508. Reasons have been given in p. 249, for considering the so-called pronouns of the third person (_he_, _she_, _it_, _they_) demonstrative rather than truly personal. s. 509. As _his_, and _her_, are genitive cases (and not adjectives), there is no need of explaining such combinations as _his mother_, _her father_, inasmuch as no concord of gender is expected. The expressions are respectively equivalent to _mater ejus_, not _mater sua_; _pater ejus_, -- _pater suus_. s. 510. From p. 250, it may be seen that _its_ is a secondary genitive, and it may be added, that it is of late origin in the language. The Anglo-Saxon form was _his_, the genitive of _he_ for the neuter and masculine equally. Hence, when, in the old writers, we meet _his_, where we expect _its_, we must not suppose that any personification takes place, but simply that the old genitive common to the two genders is used in preference to the modern one limited to the neuter, and irregularly formed. This has been illustrated by Mr. Guest. The following instances are the latest specimens of its use. "The apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy. I have read the cause of _his_ effects in Galen; _it_ is a kind of deafness."--2 _Henry IV._ i. 2. "If the salt have lost _his_ flavour, wherewith shall it be seasoned. _It_ is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast _it_ out."--_Luke_ xiv. 35. "Some affirm that every plant has _his_ particular fly or caterpillar, which it breeds and feeds."--WALTON'S _Angler_. "This rule is not so general, but that _it_ admitteth of _his_ exceptions."--CAREW. {413}