[4] And antiently, eyen, shoen, housen, hosen; so likewise antiently sowen, cowen, now always pronounced and written swine, kine.
[5] In the German the vowels a, o, u, of monosyllable Nouns are generally in the Plural changed into diphthongs with an e: as der hand, the hand, die hände; der hut, the hat, die hüte; der knopff, the button, (or knop) die knöpffe; &c.
[6] These are directly from the Saxon: mus, mys; lus, lys; toth, teth; fot, fet; gos, ges.
[7] “Lingua Anglorum hodierna avitæ Saxonicæ formam in plerisque orationis partibus etiamnum retinet. Nam quoad particulas casuales, quorundam casuum terminationes, conjugationes verborum, verbum substantivum, formam passivæ vocis, pronomina, participia, conjunctiones, & præpositiones omnes; denique quoad idiomata, phrasiumque maximam partem, etiam nunc Saxonicus est Anglorum sermo.” Hickes. Thesaur. Lingg. Septent. Præf. p. vi. To which may be added the Degrees of comparison, the form of which is the very same in the English as in the Saxon.
[8] “Christ his sake,” in our Liturgy, is a mistake, either of the Printers, or of the Compilers.⸺“My paper is the Ulysses his bow, in which every man of wit or learning may try his strength.” Addison, Guardian Nᵒ 98. This is no slip of Mr. Addison’s pen: he gives us his opinion upon this point very explicitly in another place. “The same single letter [s] on many occasions does the office of a whole word, and represents the his and her of our forefathers.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 135. The latter instance might have shewn him, how groundless this notion is: for it is not easy to conceive, how the letter s added to a Feminine Noun should represent the word her; any more than it should the word their, added to a Plural Noun: as, “the children’s bread.” But the direct derivation of this Case from the Saxon Genitive Case is sufficient of itself to decide this matter.
“At his command th’ uprooted hills retir’d
Each to his place: they heard his voice and went
Obsequious: Heaven his wonted face renew’d,
And with fresh flowrets hill and valley smil’d.”