derive from using a word less in a phrase.[822] Custom has preferred _par conséquent_ to _par conséquence_, and _en conséquence_ to _en conséquent_; _façons de faire_ to _manières de faire_, and _manières dʼagir_ to _façons dʼagir_ ...; in the verbs _travailler_ to _ouvrer_; _être accoutumé_ to _souloir_; _convenir_ to _duire_; _faire du bruit_ to _bruire_; _injurier_ to _vilainer_; _piquer_ to _poindre_; and _faire ressouvenir_ to _ramentevoir_ ...; and in the nouns _pensées_ to _pensers_, which is such a beautiful word and so suited for poetry; _grandes actions_ to _prouesses_; _louanges_ to _los_; _méchanceté_ to _mauvaistié_; _porte_ to _huis_; _navire_ to _nef_; _armée_ to _ost_; _monastère_ to _monstier_; and _prairies_ to _prées_ ...; all words, equally fine, which might have been used together and rendered the language more copious. Through adding, suppressing, changing, or displacing some letters, custom has formed _frelater_ from _fralater_; _prouver_ from _preuver_; _profit_ from _proufit_; _froment_ from _froument_; _profil_ from _pourfil_; _provision_ from _pourveoir_; _promener_ from _pourmener_, and _promenade_ from _pourmenade_.[823] This same custom upon occasion makes the adjectives _habile_, _utile_, _facile_, _docile_, _mobile_, and _fertile_ of different genders, without changing anything in their spelling; whilst, on the contrary, the masculine _vil_ and _subtil_ change in the feminine and become _vile_ and _subtile_.[824] It has altered the old terminations, and of _scel_ made _sceau_; of _mantel_, _manteau_; of _capel_, _chapeau_; of _coutel_, _couteau_; of _hamel_, _hameau_; of _damoisel_, _damoiseau_; of _jouvencel_, _jouvenceau_;[825] and yet all these differences and changes have been of no perceptible advantage to the French tongue. Is it, therefore, a progress for a language to be governed by custom, and would it not be better to shake off the yoke of such despotic sway? Or shall we in a living language only listen to reason, which prevents the use of words having a double meaning, traces these words to their roots, and discovers what relation they bear to those languages from which they sprang, if that very reason bids us follow custom?[826]