Where O. E. _h_ is a final aspirate, _g_ is not usually written, as _sih_, _hih_, _nih_, _bowh_, _lowh_, _plowh_, _slowh_, _ynowh_, except in the case of _thogh_, but very occasionally we find such forms as _drogh_, _plogh_. In the words which have _w_(_u_) _h_ is often dropped, as in _bowes_, _low_, _slow_ (preterites), _ynow_. v. INFLEXION.--(1) SUBSTANTIVES. In a certain number of words there is variation in the matter of final _e_: thus we have _drink drinke_, _felawe felawh_ (_fela_), _flyht flyhte_, _half halve_, _help helpe_, _kep kepe_, _lack lacke_, _lyf lyve_, _myn myne_, _queene queen_, _sor sore_, _wel wele_, _will wille_, _wyndou wyndowe_, to which must be added many words with the suffixes _-hede_, _-hode_, _-schipe_, and the termination _-inge_, e.g. _falshed(e)_, _knyhthod(e)_, _manhed(e)_, _felaschip(e)_, _hunting(e)_, _knowleching(e)_, _teching(e)_, _wenyng(e)_. In these latter cases the presence of the _e_ ending is not wholly dependent on the accent, for we have _huntíng_, i. 350, but _húntynge_, iv. 2429, _techyng_ and _techinge_ both equally in rhyme, i. 1592, v. 611, _gládschipe_, i. 3128, _knithód_, v. 2057, _felaschíp_, ii. 1217. Accent however has some influence, and it is hardly conceivable that the final _e_ should count in the metre except where the accent falls on the preceding syllable, so that where the accent is thrown back, we find that the word is regularly followed by a vowel. In the case of the (English) termination _-ere_ the final _e_ is usually written: such words are _beggere_, _forthdrawere_, _hindrere_, _ledere_, _lovere_, _makere_, _repere_, _spekere_, _writere_. This _-e_, however, is either elided or passed over in the metre (as with _janglere_, v. 526), unless an accent falls on the termination, in which case it may be sounded, as vii. 2348, ‘The Sothseiere tho was lief.’ The forms _game_, _gamen_ appear side by side both in singular and plural, as i. 347, vi. 1849, viii. 680. As regards the oblique cases we note the following genitive forms: _cherche_, _herte_ (also _hertes_), _hevene_, _ladi_, _soule_, _sterre_ (pl.), _wode_ (also _wodes_), to which add _dowhter_ (also _dowhtres_), _fader_ (also _fadres_), _moder_. In the expressions _horse side_, _horse heved_, &c., _horse_ is genitive singular.