Chapter II: Preface

I. DIALECTS AND THEIR VALUE. The meaning of _dialect_. Phonetic decay and
dialectic regeneration. The words _twenty_, _madam_, _alms_. Keats;
use of _awfully_. Tennyson and Ben Jonson; use of _flittermouse_.
Shakespeare; use of _bolter_ and _child_. Sir W. Scott; use of
_eme_. The English _yon_. _Hrinde_ in Beowulf.

II. DIALECTS IN EARLY TIMES. The four old dialects. Meaning of
"Anglo-Saxon." Documents in the Wessex dialect.

III. THE DIALECTS OF NORTHUMBRIA; TILL A.D. 1300. The Anglian period.
Beda's History and "Death-song." The poet Cædmon. Cædmon's hymn.
The Leyden Riddle. The Ruth well Cross. Liber Vitæ. The Durham
Ritual. The Lindisfarne and Rushworth MSS. Meaning of a "gloss."
Specimen.

IV. THE DIALECTS OF NORTHUMBRIA; A.D. 1300-1400. The Metrical Psalter;
with an extract. Cursor Mundi. Homilies in Verse. Prick of
Conscience. Minot's Poems. Barbour's Bruce; with an extract. Great
extent of the Old Northern dialect; from Aberdeen to the Humber.
Lowland Scotch identical with the Yorkshire dialect of Hampole.
Lowland Scotch called "Inglis" by Barbour, Henry the Minstrel,
Dunbar, and Lyndesay; first called "Scottis" by G. Douglas.
Dr Murray's account of the Dialect of the Southern Counties of
Scotland.

V. NORTHUMBRIAN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Northumbrian of Scotland and
of England in different circumstances. Literature of the fifteenth
century; poems, romances, plays, and ballads. List of Romances.
Caxton. Rise of the Midland dialect. "Scottish" and "English."
Jamieson's Dictionary. "Middle Scots." Quotation from Dunbar.

VI. THE SOUTHERN DIALECT. Alfred the Great. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Old English Homilies. The Brut. St Juliana. The Ancren Riwle. The
Proverbs of Alfred. The Owl and the Nightingale. A Moral Ode.
Robert of Gloucester. Early history of Britain. The South-English
Legendary. The Harleian MS. 2253. The Vernon MS. John Trevisa.
The Testament of Love.

VII. THE SOUTHERN DIALECT OF KENT. Quotation from Beda. Extract from an
Old Kentish Charter. Kentish Glosses. Kentish Sermons. William of
Shoreham; with an extract. The Ayenbite of Inwyt. The Apostles'
Creed in Old Kentish. The use of _e_ for A.S. _y_ in Kentish. Use
of Kentish by Gower and Chaucer. Kentish forms in modern English.

VIII. THE MERCIAN DIALECT. East Midland. Old Mercian Glossaries of the
eighth century. The Lorica Prayer. The Vespasian Psalter. The
Rushworth MS. Old Mercian and Wessex compared. Laud MS. of the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Ormulum. The English Proclamation of
Henry III. (_see the facsimile_). Robert Mannyng of Brunne (Bourn).
West Midland. The Prose Psalter. William of Palerne. The Pearl and
Alliterative Poems. Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight.

IX. FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN THE DIALECTS. Words from Norman, Italian,
Spanish, Dutch, etc. Celtic. List of Celtic words. Examples of
Latin words. Greek words. Hebrew words. List of Scandinavian
words. French words. Anglo-French words; _gauntree_. Literary
French words, as used in dialects.

X. LATER HISTORY OF THE DIALECTS. Spenser. John Fitzherbert. Thomas
Tusser. Skinner's Etymologicon (Lincolnshire words). John Ray.
Dialect glossaries. Dr Ellis on Early English Pronunciation. The
English Dialect Society. The English Dialect Dictionary. The
English Dialect Grammar.

XI. THE MODERN DIALECTS. Prof. Wright's account of the modern English
Dialects.

XII. A FEW SPECIMENS. Some writers in dialect. Specimens: Scottish
(Aberdeen, Ayrshire, Edinburgh). Northern England (Westmorland).
Midland (Lincoln, S.E. Lancashire, Sheffield, Cheshire). Eastern
(N. Essex, Norfolk). Western (S.W. Shropshire). Southern
(Wiltshire, Isle of Wight, Sussex).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

FACSIMILE. The only English Proclamation of Henry III. Oct. 18, 1258

*** _For a transcription of the Facsimile see_ pp. 75-6.

{Transcriber's Note: The Facsimile is not included in this e-text.}