I cannot decide which produces more literal pleasure. Near as I can tell they are both different spellings of the same word, yet I wonder if one is considered more urbane or perhaps in greater usage in the haut monde.

Don't you mean "aesthetic" pleasure?

Seriously, haven't most AE words in common usage today slipped to plain old E?

Surely so in the American dialect. Webster also simplified English words of French origin. Latin wasn't the only one to get mutilated!

Yes, the use of ligatures is dying out over here, as well. Words like æstivate are increasingly being spelt following the American pattern, even by the British.

arnie, do you mean that æ (joined) is being replacecd by ae (unjoined), or that it's being replaced by e?

Well, æ is being replaced by ae (unjoined) in some cases I suppose, but what I meant was that the diphthong itself was being replaced by the single letter e.