s. 286. _The form in -en._--In the Anglo-Saxon no termination of the plural number is more common than _-n_: _tungan_, tongues; _steorran_, stars. Of this termination we have evident remains in the words _oxen_, _hosen_, _shoon_, _eyne_, words more or less antiquated. This, perhaps, is _no_ true plural. In _welk-in_=_the clouds_, the original singular form is lost. s. 287. _Men, feet, teeth, mice, lice, geese._--In these we have some of the oldest words in the language. If these were, to a certainty, true plurals, we should have an appearance somewhat corresponding to the weak and strong tenses of verbs; _viz._, one series of plurals formed by a change of the vowel, and another by the addition of the sibilant. The word _kye_, used in Scotland for _cows_, is of the same class. The list in Anglo-Saxon of words of this kind is different from that of the present English. _Sing._ _Plur._ Fre['o]nd Fr['y]nd _Friends._ Fe['o]nd Fynd _Foes._ Niht Niht _Nights._ B['o]c B['e]c _Books._ Burh Byrig _Burghs._ Br['o]c Br['e]c _Breeches._ Turf T['y]rf _Turves._ s. 288. _Brethren._--Here there are two changes. 1. The alteration of the vowel. 2. The addition of _-en._ Mr. Guest quotes the forms _brethre_ and _brothre_ from the Old English. The sense is collective rather than plural. _Peasen_=_pulse_.--As _children_ is a double form of one sort (_r_ + _en_), so is _peasen_ a double form of another (_s_ + _en_); _pea_, _pea-s_, _pea-s-en_. Wallis speaks to the _singular_ power of the form in _-s_:--"Dicunt nonnulli _a pease_, pluraliter _peasen_; at melius, singulariter _a pea_, pluraliter _pease_:"--P. 77. He might have added, that, theoretically, _pease_ was the proper singular form; as shown by the Latin _pis-um_. _Pullen_=poultry. _Lussurioso._--What? three-and-twenty years in law? _Vendice._--I have known those who have been five-and-fifty, and all about _pullen_ and pigs.--_Revenger's Tragedy_, iv. 1. {233} If this were a plural form, it would be a very anomalous one. The _-en_, however, is no more a sign of the plural than is the _-es_ in _rich-es_ (_richesse_). The proper form is in _-ain_ or _-eyn_. A false theefe, That came like a false fox, my _pullain_ to kill and mischeefe. _Gammer Gurton's Needle_, v. 2.