Masc. hic. Fem. hæc. Neut. hoc, &c.
The nominative singular’s hic, hæc, and hoc,—
Which to learn, has cost school boys full many a knock;
The genitive ’s hujus, the dative makes huic,
(A fact Mr. Squeers never mentioned to Smike);
Then hunc, hanc, and hoc, the accusative makes,
The vocative—caret—no very great shakes;
The ablative case maketh hôc, hac, and hôc,
A cock is a fowl—but a fowl ’s not a cock.
The nominative plural is hi, hæ, and hæc,
The Roman young ladies were dressed à la Grecque;
The genitive case horum, harum, and horum,
Silenus and Bacchus were fond of a jorum;
The dative in all the three genders is his,
At Actium his tip did Mark Antony miss:
The accusative ’s hos, has, and hæc in all grammars,
Herodotus told some American crammers;
The vocative here also—caret— ’s no go,
As Milo found rending an oak-tree, you know;
And his, like the dative the ablative case is,
The Furies had most disagreeable faces.
