Illustration from 1908 Chambers's Twentieth Century. <b>E</b>, the fifth letter in our own and the cognate alphabets, with four sounds—e.g. <i>e</i> in <i>e</i>vil, <i>i</i> in <i>E</i>ngland, <i>u</i> in the last syllable of elev<i>e</i>n, Italian <i>e</i> in pr<i>e</i>y. A subscript <i>e</i> is commonly used to lengthen the previous vowel, as in not, not<i>e</i>; bit, bit<i>e</i>.
Rev. Thomas Davidson 1856-1923 (<i>ed.</i>)
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language