theHigherGeometer on Nostr: "There is an important passage in Richard Hodges’ Special Help to Orthography ...

"There is an important passage in Richard Hodges’ Special Help to Orthography (1643) that deserves quoting in full, along with an extract from his homophone lists:

(a) . . . wee use to write thus, leadeth it, maketh it . . . &c Yet in our ordinary speech . . . we say leads it, makes it . . . Therefore, whensoever eth, cometh in the end of any word, wee may pronounce it sometimes as s and sometimes like z, as in . . . bolteth it and boldeth it, which are commonly pronoun’ct, as if they were written thus, bolts it, bolds it . . .
(b) cox, coks, cocketh; clause, claweth, claws; courses, courseth, corpses; fleas, fleaeth, flayeth; Mr Knox, he knocketh, many knocks; reasons, reasoneth, raisins"

I'd love to track down a scan of this 17thC book, when I'm at my computer...