_,
_pea-s-en_. Wallis speaks to the _singular_ power of the form in
-s;--"Dicunt nonnulli _a pease_, pluraliter _peasen_; at melius,
singulariter _a pea_, pluraliter _pease_."--P. 77. He might have added,
that, theoretically, _pease_ was the proper singular form; as shown by the
Latin _pis-um_.

_Pullen_ = poultry.

_Lussurioso._--What? three-and-twenty years in law!

_Vendice._--I have known those who have been five-and-fifty, and all
about _pullen_ and pigs.--"Revenger's Tragedy," iv. 1.

If this were a plural form, it would be a very anomalous one. The -en,
however, is no more a sign of the plural than is the -es in _rich-es_
(_richesse_.) The proper form is in -ain or -eyn.

A false theefe,
That came like a false fox, my _pullain_ to kill and mischeefe.
"Gammer Gurton's Needle," v. 2.

_Chickens_.--A third variety of the double inflection (en + s), with the
additional peculiarity of the form _chicken_ being used, at present, almost
exclusively in the singular number, although, originally, it was, probably,
the plural of _chick_. So Wallis considered it:--"At olim etiam per -en vel
-yn formabant pluralia; quorum pauca admodum adhuc retinemus. Ut, _an ox_,
_a chick_, pluralitur _oxen_, _chicken_ (sunt qui dicunt in singulari
_chicken_, et in plurali _chickens_)." _Chick_, _chick-en_, _chick-en-s_.

_Fern_.--According to Wallis the -n in _fer-n_ is the -en in _oxen_, in
other words a plural termination:--"A _fere_ (_filix_) pluraliter _fern_
(verum nunc plerumque _fern_ utroque numero dicitur, sed et in plurali
_ferns_); nam _fere_ et _feres_ prope obsoleta sunt." Subject to this view,
the word _fer-n-s_ would exhibit the same phenomenon as the word
_chicken-s_. It is doubtful, however, whether Wallis's view be correct. A
reason for believing the -n to be radical is presented by the Anglo-Saxon
form _fearn_, and the Old High German, _varam_.

_Women_.--Pronounced _wimmen_, as opposed to the singular form _woomman_.
Probably an instance of accommodation.

_Houses_.--Pronounced _houz-ez_. The same peculiarity in the case of s and
z, as occurs between f and v in words like _life_, _lives_, &c.

_Paths_, _youths_.--Pronounced _padhz_, _yoodhz_. The same peculiarity in
the case of th and dh, as occurs between s and z in the words _house_,
_houses_. "Finita in f plerumque alleviantur in plurali numero,
substituendo v; ut _wife_, _wives_, &c. Eademque all