wth's Gram._, p.
46; _Hiley's_, 45. This etymology may possibly be just, but certainly such
contractions as are here spoken of, were not very common in Lowth's age, or
even in that of Ben Jonson, who resisted the _s_. Nor is the sound of sharp
_th_ very obviously akin to flat _s_. The change would have been less
violent, if _lov'st_ and _turnst_ had become _loves_ and _turns_; as some
people nowadays are apt to change them, though doubtless this is a
grammatical error: as,

"And wheresoe'er thou _casts_ thy view."
--_Cowley_.

"Nor thou that _flings_ me floundering from thy back."
--_Bat. of Frogs and Mice_, 1,123.

"Thou _sitt'st_ on high, and _measures_ destinies."
--_Pollok, Course of Time_, B. vi, 1, 668.

OBS. 23.--Possibly, those personal terminations of the verb which do not
form syllables, are mere contractions or relics of _est_ and _eth_, which
are syllables; but it is perhaps not quite so easy to prove them so, as
some authors imagine. In the oldest specimens given by Dr. Johnson in his
History of the English Language,--specimens bearing a much earlier date
than the English language can claim,--even in what he calls "Saxon in its
highest state of purity," both _st_ and _th_ are often added to verbs,
without forming additional syllables, and without any sign of contraction.
Nor were verbs of the second person singular always inflected of old, in
those parts to which _est_ was afterwards very commonly added. Examples:
"Buton ic wat thaet thu _hoefst_ thara waepna."--_King Alfred_. "But I know
that thou _hast_ those weapons." "Thaet thu _oncnawe_ thara worda
sothfaestnesse. of tham the thu _geloered eart_."--_Lucae_, i, 4. "That thou
_mightest know_ the certainty of those things wherein thou _hast been
instructed_."--_Luke_, i, 4. "And thu _nemst_ his naman Johannes."--_Lucae_,
i, 13. "And his name _schal be clepid_ Jon."--_Wickliffe's Version_. "And
thou _shalt call_ his name John."--_Luke_, i, 13. "And he ne _drincth_ win
ne beor."--_Lucae_, i, 15. "He _schal_ not _drinke_ wyn ne
sydyr."--_Wickliffe_. "And _shall drink_ neither wine nor strong
drink."--_Luke_, i, 15. "And nu thu _bist_ suwigende. and thu _sprecan_ ne
_miht_ oth thone daeg the thas thing _gewurthath_. fortham thu minum wordum
ne _gelyfdest_. tha _beoth_ on hyra timan _gefyllede_."--_Lucae_, i, 20.
"And lo, thou _schalt_ be doumbe, and thou _schalt_ not mowe _speke_, til
into the day in which these thingis