terminate in consonants ended anciently in
e, as year, yeare; wildness, wildnesse; which e probably had the force
of the French e feminine, and constituted a syllable with its associate
consonant; for in old editions words are sometimes divided thus,
clea-re, fel-le, knowled-ge. This e was perhaps for a time vocal or
silent in poetry as convenience required; but it has been long wholly
mute. Camden in his Remains calls it the silent e.

It does not always lengthen the foregoing vowel, as gl[)o]ve, l[)i]ve,
g[)i]ve.

It has sometimes in the end of words a sound obscure, and scarcely
perceptible, as open, shapen, shotten, thistle, participle, metre, lucre.

This faintness of sound is found when e separates a mute from a liquid,
as in rotten, or follows a mute and liquid, as in cattle.

E forms a diphthong with a, as near; with i, as deign, receive; and with u
or w, as new, stew.

Ea sounds like e long, as mean; or like ee, as dear, clear, near.

Ei is sounded like e long, as seize, perceiving.

Eu sounds as u long and soft.

E, a, u, are combined in beauty and its derivatives, but have only the
sound of u.

E may be said to form a diphthong by reduplication, as agree, sleeping.

Eo is found in yeoman, where it is sounded as o short; and in people,
where it is pronounced like ee.

I.

I has a sound long, as f[=i]ne; and short as f[)i]n.

That is eminently observable in i, which may be likewise remarkable in
other letters, that the short sound is not the long sound contracted,
but a sound wholly different.

The long sound in monosyllables is always marked by the e final, as
th[)i]n, th[=i]ne.

I is often sounded before r, as a short u; as flirt, first, shirt.

It forms a diphthong only with e, as field, shield, which is sounded as the
double ee; except friend, which is sounded as fr[)e]nd.

I is joined with eu in lieu, and ew in view; which triphthongs are
sounded as the open u.

O.

O is long, as b[=o]ne, [=o]bedient, corr[=o]ding; or short, as bl[)o]ck,
kn[)o]ck, [)o]blique, l[)o]ll.

Women is pronounced wimen.

The short o has sometimes the sound of close u, as son, come.

O coalesces into a diphthong with a, as moan, groan, approach: oa has the
sound of o long.

O is united to e in some words derived from Greek, as oeconomy; but as
being not an English diphthong, they are better written as they are
sounded, with onl