Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

Danish invasion. We subjoin a specimen of the Northumbrian dialect as it existed in the fifteenth century, extracted from a poem * written by a monk of Fountain's Abbey

[ocr errors]

In the bygynnyng of the lyf of man,

Nine hundreth wynteres he lyffed than.
Bot swa gret elde may nan now bere;
For sithen man's life become shorter;
And the complexion of ilka man
Is sithen febeler than was than.
Now is it alther febelest to se;
Tharfor man's lyf behoves short be;
For ay, the langer that man may lyffe,
The mair his lyfe now sall him greve.
For als soon as a man is alde,
His complexion waxes wayk and calde:
Then waxes his herte herde and hevye,
And his heade grows febill and dyssie:
His gast then waxes sek and sair,
And his face rouches mair and mair.

[blocks in formation]

6

[ocr errors]

A comparison of these lines with the extracts from Barbour and Wyntoun, in Ellis's Specimens,' will show the similarity of the language. The diction of the two Scottish writers is in several respects more English than that of the Yorkshireman.

The difference between the northern and midland dialects will most clearly appear on comparing with the above an extract from that lately recovered and highly curious piece of antiquity, 'Havelok the Dane'

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Clavis Scientiae, or Bretayne's Skyll-kay of Knowing, by John de Wageby -our specimen is from a publication by W. Jos. Walker, A.D. 1816.

+ Hiatus: Sir F. Madden conjectures' wey. Perhaps sti. Comp. v. 2618, 19—

VOL. LV. NO. CX.

'He foren softe bi the sti,

Til he come ney at Grimesbi.'

2 c

Thanne

Thanne he komen there, thanne was Grimded,

Of him ne haveden he no red;
But hise children alle fyve
Alle weren yet on live;

That ful fayre ayen hem neme,
Hwan he wisten that he keme,
And maden ioie swithe mikel,
Ne weren he nevere ayen hem fikel.
On knes ful fayre he hem setten,
And Havelok swithe fayre gretten,
And seyden, " Welkome, loverd dere!
And welkome be thi fayre fere!
Blessed be that ilke thrawe,

That thou hire toke in Gode's lawe!
Wel is hus we sen the on lyve,
Thou mithe us bothe selle and yeve;
Thou mayt us bothe yeve and selle
With that thou wilt here dwelle.
We haven, loverd, alle gode,
Hors, and neth, and ship on flode,
Gold, and silver, and michel auchte,
That Grim ure fader us bitawchte.
Gold, and silver, and other fe,
Bad he us bitaken the.

We haven shep, we haven swin,

Bi leve her, loverd, and al be thin;

Tho shalt ben loverd, thou shalt ben syre,

And we sholen serven the and hire;

And hure sistres sholen do

Al that evere biddes sho;

He sholen hire clothen, washen, and wringen,
And to hondes water bringen;
He sholen bedden hire and the,
For levedi wile we that she be."
Hwan he this ioie haveden maked,
Sithen stikes broken and kraked,
And the fir brouth on brenne ;
Ne was ther spared gos ne henne,
Ne the hende, ne the drake;
Mete he deden plente make,
Ne wantede there no god mete;
Wyn and ale deden he fete,

And made hem glad and blithe;
Wesseyl ledden he fele sithe.**

It would lead us too far to discuss all the dialectical peculiarities of this poem, which is on many accounts one of the most remarkable productions of its class. It is easy to see that it is written in * Havelok, pp. 66-68, vv. 1199-1246.

a

mixed

a mixed dialect-more Mercian than Manning's Chronicle-more Anglian than Peirs Plouhman-more northern than Gower's Confessio Amantis-and more strongly impregnated with Danish than any known work of the same period. This blending of different forms renders it probable that the author was a native of East Derbyshire or Leicestershire, where the Mercian and Middle Anglian meet, and where there was a powerful Danish colony during many years. The Scandinavian tincture appears, not only in individual words, but in various grammatical inflexions, and most remarkably in the dropping of the final d after liquids—shel, hel, hon, bihel-which exactly accords with the present pronunciation of the Danes. The confusion between aspirates and nonaspirates, generally reputed as a cockneyism-hure (our), hende (duck, Danish aand, Germ. ente,) eir, ether, is, for heir, hether, his-is common to the vulgar throughout the midland counties. The mixture of dialects is sometimes exhibited in the same words; for example, carle (husbandman) and kist (chest) are Anglian forms, and the equivalents cherle, chist, Mercian.

We add a short specimen of the present vulgar dialect of Cleveland; being Margery Moorpoot's reasons for leaving Madam Shrillpipes' service :

'Marry-because she ommost flyted an' scau'ded me oot o' my wits. She war t'arrantest scau'd 'at ever I met wi'i' my boorn days. She had sartainly sike a tongue as never war i' ony woman's head but her awn. It wad ring, ring, ring, like a larum, frae morn to neet. Then she wad put hersel into sike flusters, 'at her feăce war as black as t' reckon creuke. Nea, for 't matter o' that, I war nobbut reetly sarra'd; for I war tell'd aforehand by some vara sponsible fowk, 'at she war a mere donnot.' *

The resemblance to Scotch is sufficiently obvious. The following is a short sample of the Craven dialect. The interlocutors are deploring the ignorance of some grouse-shooters, who did not know what to make of Yorkshire oat-cakes :

Giles.-Thou sees plainly how th' girt fonlin didn't ken what havver cakes war.

'Bridget.-Noa, barn, he teuk 'em, as they laid o't fleak, for round bits o' leather. I ax'd him to taste it; an seea taks up 't beesom start, potters yan down an' keps it i' my appron. He then nepp'd a lile wee nooken on't, not t' validum o' my thoum naal, an' splutterd it out ageean, gloaring gin he war puzzom'd, an' efter aw I could say, I cudnt counsel t' other to taste ayther it or some bannocks.'†

It will be perceived that the above is North-Craven, and slightly tinctured with Northumbrian. The proper Anglian terms for ken, seea, yan, gin, ayther—are knaw; sōă; one (pron. wūn); as if; awther.

From the farce of The Register Office.

+ Craven Dialect, vol. ii. p. 300.

As a specimen of the Lancashire dialect, we give Collier's excellent apologue of the tailor and the hedgehog; just premising that the sage light of the village there pourtrayed is meant as an emblem of a reviewer.

'A tealyer i' Crummil's time, war thrung* poo'ing turmets in his pingot, an' fund an urchon ith' had-lond reăn; he glender'd at 't lung, boh cou'd mey nowt on't. He whoav'd his whisket owr't, runs whōăm, an' tells his neighbours he thowt in his guts 'at he'd fund a thing 'at God newer mede eawt; for it had nother head nor tele, hond nor hough, midst nor eend. Loath to believe this, hoave a dozen on 'em wou'd geaw t' see if they cou'd'n mey shift to gawm it; boh it capt 'em aw; for they newer a won on 'em e'er saigh th' like afore. Then they'dn a keawnsil, an' th' eend on 't wur, 'at tey'dn fotch a lawm, fawse, 'owd felly, het an elder, 'at cou'd tell oytch thing, for they look'nt on him as th' hammel scoance, an' theawt he'r fuller o' leet than a glow-worm's tele. When they'dn towd him th' kese, he stroak'd his beard, sowghd an' order'd th' wheelbarrow wi' th' spon new trindle to be fotch't. 'Twur done, an' they beawld'n him awey to th' urchon in a crack. He glōard at 't a good while, droyd his beard deawn, an' wawted it ow'r wi' his crutch. "Wheel me abeawt agen o' th' tother side," said he, " for it sturs-an' by that it su'd be whick." Then he dons his spectacles, steared at 't agen, an' sowghing said, "Breether, its summot; boh feather Adam nother did nor cou'd kerson it-wheel me whoam agen."'†

This resembles Anglian more than Northumbrian-but is sufficiently distinct from both. The shibboleth of the three dialects is house, which the Northumbrian pronounces hoose, the North Anglian haoose-nearly like au in the Italian flauto—and the inhabitant of South Lancashire in a way quod literis dicere non est-but generally represented in print by heawse.

We know no better specimen of the genuine West of England dialect than Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle. The present Somersetshire and Devonshire are more barbarous and ungrammatical than the northern dialects-and their distinguishing peculiarities are well known.

We could extend our remarks on every branch of this copious subject to a much greater length, but the above may suffice speciminis gratia. We have perhaps already given our readers cause to twit us with the undev ayav of the Grecian sage, and to tell us that our lucubrations on the barbarisms of our provinces are about as acceptable to the public, as the Antiquary's dissertation on Quicken's-bog was to the Earl of Glenallan. However

* Pronounced thrunk. In this and the preceding specimens, we have occasionally adjusted the orthography to the English or Scottish standard, where the pronunciation does not materially differ.

View of the Lancashire Dialect, Introduction.

greatly,

greatly, therefore, we may long to prove that dreigh (tedious) is closely related to doλixos, and that leemers, a north-country phrase for ripe nuts, profoundly referred by our glossarists to les murs, is more nearly akin to leprosy, we shall for the present be silent about these and other matters of similar importance. As Fontenelle observes, a man whose hand is full of truths, will, if he is discreet, often content himself with opening his little finger.

ART. IV.-Paley's Natural Theology Illustrated. Part I. A Discourse of Natural Theology, showing the Nature of the Evidence and the Advantages of the Study. By Henry Lord Brougham, F.R.S., and Member of the National Institute of France. 12mo. pp. 296. London. 1835.

THE

HE importance of Natural Theology to our present happiness and our future hopes, with its intimate connexion with Divine revelation, invests it with a decided superiority to every other subject of scientific inquiry. Whence am I? Whence the system to which I belong? Am I the offspring of chance, or blind necessity? Or, am I the creature of an omnipotent and intelligent Power? If the latter alternative be true, have I been thrown into existence to be the sport of accident, neglected and forgotten by the Being who made me? Or, am I at all times under the guardianship of His parental and omniscient eye? And, when the brief period of my existence here is completed, what is then to be my future destiny? Am I to perish for ever, or is there something within me which will never die? These are questions which rouse our most eager curiosity. They interest the feelings of every human being, if exalted but a little above the animal in the common. They are questions in comparison with which all others sink into utter insignificance.

To explain the nature of that evidence, on which the science of Natural Theology rests, and to illustrate the advantages with which the study of it is accompanied, are the two great objects of the Discourse before us.

Lord Brougham begins with observing, that all the objects of human knowledge are usually divided into two classes; first, those which we know by external and internal sense; and, second, those which we know by a process of reasoning. This classification he endeavours to prove to be incorrect; and he contends, that it is by a process of reason only, founded on those two other sources of information, that we attain the knowledge of external objects. In order to establish the truth of this position, he adduces light, air, and caloric, as clear and incontrovertible proofs. He says that we do

not

« НазадПродовжити »