here is not one that is not
good, idiomatic English as it stands, whichever form is used; we may even
say that there is not one that would not be made less idiomatic by a
change to the alternative form. Among the recent titles, however, while
the forms using the possessive case are all better as they are, of the 60
titles that use the objective with "of" only 22 would be injured by a
change, and the reason why 8 of these are better as they are is simply
that change would destroy euphony. Among these eight are

"The Indiscretion of the Duchess,"
"The Flight of a Shadow,"
"The Secret of Narcisse," etc.,

where the more idiomatic forms,

"The Duchess's Indiscretion,"
"Narcisse's Secret,"
"A Shadow's Flight," etc.,

are certainly not euphonic.

Of the others, 8 would not be injured by a change, and no less than 30
would be improved from the standpoint of idiomatic English. It may be well
to quote these thirty titles. They are:

"The Shadow of Hilton Fernbrook,"
"The Statement of Stella Maberly,"
"The Shadow of John Wallace,"
"The Banishment of Jessop Blythe,"
"The Desire of the Moth,"
"The Island of Dr. Moreau,"
"The Damnation of Theron Ware,"
"The Courtship of Morrice Buckler,"
"The Daughter of a Stoic,"
"The Lament of Dives,"
"The Heart of Princess Osra,"
"The Death of the Lion,"
"The Vengeance of James Vansittart,"
"The Wife of a Vain Man,"
"The Crime of Henry Vane,"
"The Son of Old Harry,"
"The Honour of Savelli,"
"The Life of Nancy,"
"The Story of Lawrence Garthe,"
"The Marriage of Esther,"
"The House of Martha,"
"Tales of an Engineer,"
"Love-letters of a Worldly Woman,"
"The Way of a Maid,"
"The Soul of Pierre,"
"The Day of Their Wedding,"
"The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard,"
"The Hand of Ethelberta,"
"The Failure of Sibyl Fletcher,"
"The Love-affairs of an Old Maid."

Of course, in such a division as this, much must depend on individual
judgment and bias. Probably no two persons would divide the list in just
the same way, but it is my belief that the general result in each case
would be much the same. To me the possessive in every one of the
above-quoted titles would have been more idiomatic, thus:

"Hilton Fernbrook's Shadow,"
"Stella Maberly's Statement,"
"John Wallace's Shadow,"
"Morrice Buckler's Courtship,"
"A Stoic's Daughter,"
"Henry Vane's Crime," etc., etc.

In one case, at least, this fact has