me to
suspect, there is more _authority_ for changing the _y_ than for retaining
it, I shall by-and-by exhibit some examples of this change, and leave the
reader to take his choice of the two forms, or principles.

OBS. 6.--The vowel _a_, at the end of a word, (except in the questionable
term _huzza_, or when silent, as in _guinea_,) has always its Italian or
middle sound, as heard in the interjection _aha!_ a sound which readily
unites with that of _s_ flat, and which ought, in deliberate speech, to be
carefully preserved in plurals from this ending: as, _Canada, the Canadas;
cupola, cupolas; comma, commas; anathema, anathemas_. To pronounce the
final _a_ flat, as _Africay_ for _Africa_, is a mark of vulgar ignorance.

OBS. 7.--The vowel _e_ at the end of a word, is generally silent; and, even
when otherwise, it remains single in plurals from this ending; the _es_,
whenever the _e_ is vocal, being sounded _eez_, or like the word _ease_:
as, _apostrophe, apostrophes; epitome, epitomes; simile, similes_. This
class of words being anomalous in respect to pronunciation, some authors
have attempted to reform them, by changing the _e_ to _y_ in the singular,
and writing _ies_ for the plural: as, _apostrophy, apostrophies; epitomy,
epitomies; simily, similies_. A reformation of some sort seems desirable
here, and this has the advantage of being first proposed; but it is not
extensively adopted, and perhaps never will be; for the vowel sound in
question, is not exactly that of the terminations _y_ and _ies_, but one
which seems to require _ee_--a stronger sound than that of _y_, though
similar to it.

OBS. 8.--For nouns ending in open _o_ preceded by a consonant, the regular
method of forming the plural seems to be that of adding _es_; as in
_bilboes, umboes, buboes, calicoes, moriscoes, gambadoes, barricadoes,
fumadoes, carbonadoes, tornadoes, bravadoes, torpedoes, innuendoes,
viragoes, mangoes, embargoes, cargoes, potargoes, echoes, buffaloes,
volcanoes, heroes, negroes, potatoes, manifestoes, mulattoes, stilettoes,
woes_. In words of this class, the _e_ appears to be useful as a means of
preserving the right sound of the _o_; consequently, such of them as are
the most frequently used, have become the most firmly fixed in this
orthography. In practice, however, we find many similar nouns very
frequently, if not uniformly, written with _s_ only; as, _cantos, juntos,
grottos, solos, quartos, octavos, duodecimos, tyros_. So t