it is that the two contending pronunciations are homophones, one with latches the other with lashes.  The A having been Englished its closing T seems natural; and latches (from lachesse) is thus an exact parallel with riches (from richesse).  But there seems no propriety in the SS being changed to Z. The pronunciation latchess would save it from its awkward and absurd homophone latches, and would be in order with prowess, largess, noblesse, &c.  Moreover, since laches is used only as the name of a quality (= negligence) and never (like riches), as a plural, to connote special acts of negligence, the pronunciation latchess would be correct as well as convenient; and the word would be better spelt with double S:  lachess.

Of the word #levee# the O.E.D. says, ’All our verse quotations place the stress on the first syllable.  In England this is the court pronunciation, and prevails in educated use.  The pronunciation’ with the accent on the second syllable ’which is given by Walker, is occasionally heard in Great Britain, and appears to be generally preferred in the U.S.’, but the dictionary does not quote Burns

  ‘Guid-mornin’ to your Majesty! 
    May Heav’n augment your blisses,
  On ev’ry new birthday ye see,
    A humble poet wishes! 
  My bardship here, at your levee,
    On sic a day as this is,
  Is sure an uncouth sight to see,
    Amang thae birthday dresses
               Sae fine this day.’

So that it would seem that the Scotch and American pronunciation of this word is more thoroughly Englished than our own:  and the prejudice which opposes straightforward common-sense solutions, however desirable they may be, is brought home to us by the fact that almost all Englishmen would be equally shocked by the notion either of spelling this word as they pronounce it, levay, or of pronouncing it, like Burns, as they spell it, levee.

ENGLISH WORDS IN FRENCH

It would be instructive if we could give a parallel account of what the French do when they adopt an English word into their language. Le Dictionnaire des Anglicismes, lately published by Delagrave, has two hundred pages, and is much praised by a reviewer in the Mercure de France, Feb. 15, p. 246:  but it does not give the current French pronunciations of the English words.  The reviewer writes:  ’Ce qui me gene bien davantage, c’est que M. Bonnaffe supprime, partout, avec rigueur, la facon francaise de prononcer le mot anglais.  Etait-il superflu de dire comment nous articulons shampooing?  Nous n’avons, je crois, qu’une forme orale pour boy, petit domestique, parce qu’il est du a l’oreille; mais nous sommes partages quant a boy-scout, qui est arrive par tracts et par journaux.  L’anglais donne un mot high-life, le francais en fait cinq:  haylayf,