"E is long, as in scene; or short, as in cellar."'—Johnson. It has been stated before that the (so-called) long sound of e is non-existent, and the e in scene, is the (so-called) long sound of the i in pit.
For the power of e in since and once, see the remarks on s.
For the power of e in hedge and oblige, see the remarks on g.
The power of e mute in words like cane, bane, tune, robe, pope, fire, cure, tube, has already been noticed. It serves to denote the length of the preceding vowel. For this purpose it is retained; but it was not for this purpose that it was invented. Originally it expressed a sound, and it is only by a change of language that it has come, as it were by accident, to be an orthographical expedient.
Let a word consist of two syllables. Let the latter end in a vowel. Let there be between the vowel of the first and the vowel of the second syllable, one consonant and no more, e. g., namæ. Let the consonant belong to the root of the word; and let the first syllable of the word be the essential and the radical part of it. Let this same syllable (as the essential and radical part of it) have an accent. The chances are that, under such circumstances, the vowel of the first syllable will be long (independent), just as the chances are that a vowel followed by two consonants will be short. Let a change in language affect the final vowel, so that a word which was originally pronounced nama, should become, first, namë, and afterwards nām, naim, or næm; the vowel being sounded as the a in fate. Let the final e, although lost in pronunciation, be retained in the spelling. The chances are that, the above conditions being given, such an e (final and mute) shall, whenever it occurs, occur at the end of a long syllable. The next process is for a succeeding generation to mistake a coincidence for a sign, and to imagine that an e mute expresses the length of syllable.
I consider this to be the key to the use of the e mute in all words where it is preceded by one consonant only.
From the circumstance that the French and the English are the only nations wherein the e mute is part and parcel of the orthography, it has been hastily imagined that the employment of it is to be attributed to the Norman Conquest. The truth, however, is, that we find it equally in words of Saxon and of Norman origin.
The fact that, in certain words, an e mute is preceded by
two consonants and by a short vowel, does not militate against the view given above.