“With throte yrent, he roares, he lyeth along.”—­Sir T. Wyat.

    “He dyeth, he is all dead, he pantes, he restes.”—­Id., 1540.

In all these instances, the e before the s has become improper.  The es does not here form a syllable; neither does the eth, in “lyeth” and “dyeth.”  In very ancient times, the third person singular appears to have been formed by adding th or eth nearly as we now add s or es[252] Afterwards, as in our common Bible, it was formed by adding th to verbs ending in e, and eth to all others; as, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.”—­1 Cor., xi, 29.  “He quickeneth man, who is dead in trespasses and sins; he keepeth alive the quickened soul, and leadeth it in the paths of life; he scattereth, subdueth, and conquereth the enemies of the soul.”—­I.  Penington.  This method of inflection, as now pronounced, always adds a syllable to the verb.  It is entirely confined to the solemn style, and is little used. Doth, hath, and saith, appear to be permanent contractions of verbs thus formed.  In the days of Shakspeare, both terminations were common, and he often mixed them, in a way which is not very proper now:  as,

   “The quality of mercy is not strained;
    It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven
    Upon the place beneath:  it is twice bless’d;
    It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.”
        —­Merchant of Venice.

OBS. 36.—­When the second person singular is employed in familiar discourse, with any regard to correctness, it is usually formed in a manner strictly analogous to that which is now adopted in the third person singular.  When the verb ends with a sound which will unite with that of st or s, the second person singular is formed by adding s only, and the third, by adding s only; and the number of syllables is not increased:  as, I read, thou readst, he reads; I know, thou knowst, he knows; I take, thou takest, he takes; I free, thou freest, he frees.  For, when the verb ends in mute a, no termination renders this a vocal in the familiar style, if a synaeresis can take place.  To prevent their readers from ignorantly assuming the pronunciation of the solemn style, the poets have generally marked such words with an apostrophe:  as,

   “Look what thy soul holds dear, imagine it
    To lie the way thou go’st, not whence thou com’st.”—­Shak.