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1582 - Mulcaster's Elementarie, states:
G, is allwaie strong befor a.o.u. whether single vowells or in diphtongs as, gaie, gant, god, good, gout, gut, gulling. Likewise before r, or l, as grave, grant, glance, glew. And in the end of anie syllab, where the qualifying e followeth not, as in long, tung, onelesse the qualifying e, be left out, for som addition, which beginneth of a vowell, as,range, ranging, swinge, swinging, for in that place g, is weak. As it is also and allwaie before the qualifying e, as cage, huge, drudge, snudge, hedge, dodge. It is somtime strong, somtime weak before i, and e, contrarie to the latin, where it is allwaie weak before the same vowells, tho not contrarie to the Greke and Hebrew. This varietie of force before these two letters semeth to give som matter to confusion in our writing. For as it is weak in these, gentle, ginger, gin, germain, and such: so is it strong in these,
geld, gesse, gilt, begin, gang and such, and therefor no marvell if we write, college of collegium, and college of
collega, with the same letters, seing our g is capable of both the forces before the same e. This necessarie distinction hereof shall appear in the title of distinction. But why put an u, after the strong g, in som places, as in guise, guide, guest, beguile, and not write them all without the u, and with the g onelie, as girde, girth, girdle, getting? And why maie not these words be writen, gise, gest, gide, begile, as well as begin, beget, seing both our g, is strong before these vowells, and the difference noted, and g, with the u after is of another propertie in language, guise, Guichiardine, Guin, guerdon ? I se no cause why, but that the u, maie well enough be left out.