glish grammar, is briefly contained in the following observations.

OBS. 4.--It is a general rule of English grammar, that all singular nouns
ending with a vowel preceded by an other vowel, shall form the plural by
simply assuming an _s_: as, _Plea, pleas; idea, ideas; hernia, hernias;
bee, bees; lie, lies; foe, foes; shoe, shoes; cue, cues; eye, eyes; folio,
folios; bamboo, bamboos; cuckoo, cuckoos; embryo, embryos; bureau, bureaus;
purlieu, purlieus; sou, sous; view, views; straw, straws; play, plays; key,
keys; medley, medleys; viceroy, viceroys; guy, guys._ To this rule, the
plurals of words ending in _quy_, as _alloquies, colloquies, obloquies,
soliloquies_, are commonly made exceptions; because many have conceived
that the _u_, in such instances, is a mere appendage to the _q_, or is a
consonant having the power of _w_, and not a vowel forming a diphthong with
the _y_. All other deviations from the rule, as _monies_ for _moneys,
allies_ for _alleys, vallies_ for _valleys, chimnies_ for _chimneys_, &c.,
are now usually condemned as errors. See Rule 12th for Spelling.

OBS. 5.--It is also a general principle, that nouns ending in _y_ preceded
by a consonant, change the _y_ into _i_, and add _es_ for the plural,
without increase of syllables: as, _fly, flies; ally, allies; city, cities;
colony, colonies_. So nouns in _i_, (so far as we have any that are
susceptible of a change of number,) form the plural regularly by assuming
_es_: as, _alkali, alkalies; salmagundi, salinagundies._ Common nouns
ending in _y_ preceded by a consonant, are numerous; and none of them
deviate from the foregoing rule of forming the plural: thus, _duty,
duties_. The termination added is _es_, and the _y_ is changed into _i_,
according to the general principle expressed in Rule 11th for Spelling.
But, to this principle, or rule, some writers have supposed that _proper
nouns_ were to be accounted exceptions. And accordingly we sometimes find
such names made plural by the mere addition of an _s_; as, "How come the
_Pythagoras'_, [it should be, _the Pythagorases_,] the _Aristotles_, the
_Tullys_, the _Livys_, to appear, even to us at this distance, as stars of
the first magnitude in the vast fields of ether?"--_Burgh's Dignity_, Vol.
i, p. 131. This doctrine, adopted from some of our older grammars, I was
myself, at one period, inclined to countenance; (see _Institutes of English
Grammar_, p. 33, at the bottom;) but further observation having led