U.

U is long in ūse, confūsion; or short, as ŭs, concŭssion.

It coalesces with a, e, i, o; but has rather in these combinations the
force of the w consonant, as quaff, quest, quit, quite, languish; sometimes
in ui the i loses its sound, as in juice. It is sometimes mute before a, e,
i, y, as guard, guest, guise, buy.

U is followed by e in virtue, but the e has no sound.

Ue is sometimes mute at the end of a word, in imitation of the French,
as prorogue, synagogue, plague, vague, harangue.

Y.

Y is a vowel, which, as Quintilian observes of one of the Roman letters, we
might want without inconvenience, but that we have it. It supplies the
place of i at the end of words, as thy, before an i, as dying; and is
commonly retained in derivative words where it was part of a diphthong, in
the primitive; as, destroy, destroyer; betray, betrayed, betrayer; pray,
prayer; say, sayer; day, days.

Y being the Saxon vowel y, which was commonly used where i is now put,
occurs very frequently in all old books.

GENERAL RULES.

A vowel in the beginning or middle syllable, before two consonants, is