c. Such combinations as _peas_, _trees_, _hills_, _hens_, &c., (the s preserving its original power, and being sounded as if written _peace_, _treece_, _hillce_, _hence_), being pronounceable, the change from s to z, in words so ending, is _not_ a matter determined by the necessity of the case, but by the habit of the English language. d. Although the vast majority of our plurals ends, not in s, but in z, the original addition was not z, but s. This we infer from three facts: 1. From the spelling; 2. from the fact of the sound of z being either rare or non-existent in Anglo-Saxon; 3. from the sufficiency of the causes to bring about the change. It may now be seen that some slight variations in the form of our plurals are either mere points of orthography, or else capable of being explained on very simple euphonic principles. § 200. _Boxes, churches, judges, lashes, kisses, blazes, princes_.--Here there is the addition, not of the mere letter s, but of the syllable -es. As s cannot be immediately added to s, the intervention of a vowel becomes necessary; and that all the words whose plural is formed in -es really end either in the sounds of s, or in the allied sounds of z, sh, or zh, may be seen by analysis; since x = ks, ch = tsh, and j or ge = dzh, whilst ce, in _prince_, is a mere point of orthography for s. _Monarchs_, _heresiarchs_.--Here the ch equals not tsh, but k, so that there is no need of being told that they do not follow the analogy of _church_, &c. _Cargoes_, _echoes_.--From _cargo_ and _echo_, with the addition of e; an orthographical expedient for the sake of denoting the length of the vowel o. _Beauty, beauties_; _key, keys_.--Like the word _cargoes_, &c., these forms are points, not of etymology, but of orthography. _Pence_.--The peculiarity of this word consists in having a _flat_ liquid followed by the sharp sibilant s (spelt ce), contrary to the rule given above. In the first place, it is a contracted form from _pennies_; in the second place, its sense is collective rather than plural; in the third place, the use of the sharp sibilant lene distinguishes it from _pens_, sounded _penz_. That its sense is _collective_ rather than _plural_, we learn from the word _sixpence_, which, compared with _sixpences_, is no plural, but a singular form. _Dice_.--In respect to its form, peculiar for the reason that _pence_ is peculiar.--We find the sound of s after a vowel, where that of z is expected. This distinguishes _dice_ for play, from _dies_ (_diz_) for coining. _Dice_, perhaps, like _pence_, is collective rather than plural. In _geese_, _lice_, and _mice_, we have, apparently, the same phenomenon as in _dice_, viz., a sharp sibilant (s) where a _flat_ one (z) is expected. The s, however, in these words is not the sign of the plural, but the last letter of the original word.