The Grammar of English Grammars, page 569 by Gould Brown
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le, the plurals of words ending in quy, as _alloquies, colloquies, obloquies, soliloquies_, are commonly made exceptions; because many have conceived that the u, in such instances, is a mere appendage to the q, or is a consonant having the power of w, and not a vowel forming a diphthong with the y. All other deviations from the rule, as monies for _moneys, allies_ for _alleys, vallies_ for _valleys, chimnies_ for chimneys, &c., are now usually condemned as errors. See Rule 12th for Spelling.
OBS. 5.--It is also a general principle, that nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant, change the y into i, and add es for the plural, without increase of syllables: as, _fly, flies; ally, allies; city, cities; colony, colonies_. So nouns in i, (so far as we have any that are susceptible of a change of number,) form the plural regularly by assuming _es_: as, _alkali, alkalies; salmagundi, salinagundies._ Common nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant, are numerous; and none of them deviate from the foregoing rule of forming the plural: thus, _duty, duties_. The termination added is es, and the y is changed into i, according to the general principle expressed in Rule 11th for Spelling. But, to this principle, or rule, some writers have supposed that proper nouns were to be accounted exceptions. And accordingly we sometimes find such names made plural by the mere addition of an _s_; as, "How come the _Pythagoras'_, [it should be, the Pythagorases,] the Aristotles, the Tullys, the Livys, to appear, even to us at this distance, as stars of the first magnitude in the vast fields of ether?"--_Burgh's Dignity_, Vol. i, p. 131. This doctrine, adopted from some of our older grammars, I was myself, at one period, inclined to countenance; (see Institutes of English Grammar, p. 33, at the bottom;) but further observation having