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“Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste.”—Milton.

“The lights and shades, whose well-accorded strife

Gives all the strength and colour of our life.”—Pope.

“A true critic is like a dog at a feast, whose thoughts and stomach are wholly set on what the guests fling away.”—Swift.

This usage is favourable to conciseness, and can very seldom create ambiguity. Where obscurity indeed is apprehended, the periphrasis, of which, should be adopted. I have, therefore, given whose as the genitive of which; not only because this usage is sanctioned by classical authority, but likewise, because the other form, of which, is frequently awkward and inelegant.

Who is applied to persons, that is, to animals distinguished by rationality, or represented as possessing it.

“The man who has no music in himself.”—Shakspeare.

The antecedent man, being a person, is followed by who.

“A stag, who came to drink at a river, seeing his own image in the clear stream, said thus to himself.”