.

As instances of the use of absolute pronouns, note the following:--

'Twas _mine_, 'tis _his_, and has been slave to thousands.
--SHAKESPEARE.

And since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee _mine_.--COWPER.

My arm better than _theirs_ can ward it off.--LANDOR.

_Thine_ are the city and the people of Granada.--BULWER.

[Sidenote: _Old use of_ mine _and_ thine.]

Formerly _mine_ and _thine_ stood before their nouns, if the nouns
began with a vowel or _h_ silent; thus,--

Shall I not take _mine_ ease in _mine_ inn?--SHAKESPEARE.

Give every man _thine_ ear, but few thy voice.--_Id._

If _thine_ eye offend thee, pluck it out.--_Bible._

My greatest apprehension was for _mine_ eyes.--SWIFT.

This usage is still preserved in poetry.

[Sidenote: _Double and triple possessives._]

87. The forms _hers_, _ours_, _yours_, _theirs_, are really double
possessives, since they add the possessive _s_ to what is already a
regular possessive inflection.

Besides this, we have, as in nouns, a possessive phrase made up of the
preposition _of_ with these double possessives, _hers_, _ours_,
_yours_, _theirs_, and with _mine_, _thine_, _his_, sometimes _its_.

[Sidenote: _Their uses._]

Like the noun possessives, they have several uses:--

(1) _To prevent ambiguity_, as in the following:--

I have often contrasted the habitual qualities of that gloomy
friend _of theirs_ with the astounding spirits of Thackeray and
Dickens.--J.T. FIELDS.

No words _of ours_ can describe the fury of the conflict.--J.F.
COOPER.

(2) _To bring emphasis_, as in these sentences:--

This thing _of yours_ that you call a Pardon of Sins, it is a bit
of rag-paper with ink.--CARLYLE.

This ancient silver bowl _of mine_, it tells of good old times.
--HOLMES.

(3) _To express contempt, anger, or satire_; for example,--

"Do you know the charges that unhappy sister _of mine_ and her
family have put me to already?" says the Master.--THACKERAY.

He [John Knox] had his pipe of Bordeaux too, we find, in that old
Edinburgh house _of his_.--CARLYLE.

"Hold thy peace, Long Allen," said Henry Woodstall, "I tell thee
that tongue _of thine_ is not the shortest limb about
_thee_."--SCOTT.

(4) _To make a noun less limited in application_; thus,--

A favorite liar and servant _of mine_ was a man I once had to