own families and immediate attendants; their plenar courts, that is to say, the general councils o assemblies of their nobles, were only periodical; and I should much doubt whether, in such assemblies of Scotish barons, the French language was ever universal or even general. It is not easy to assign any motive, which could have induced these independent chieftains, to undergo the drudgery of learning a new phraseology. Besides, in estimating the relative efficacy of the causes, which may be supposed to corrupt or change the speech of nations, I should attribute much less to the influence of kings and nobles, who must be comparatively few, than to the active intercourse produced, among the more numerous classes of mankind, by the relations of commerce. It is well known, that in Cornwall the Celtic dialect has been, almost within our own memory, completely obliterated: in Wales it has been evidently diminished: and the distinctions of dialect in our English provinces, are daily becoming less conspicuous. The reason seems to be that, in poor countries, the price of mere manual labour is usually lower, and that of ingenuity often much higher, than among their richer neighbours. The Cornish and Welsh labourers, therefore, have a constant inducement to emigrate, in search of a more plentiful subsistence; while English miners and mechanics are tempted, by the hope of higher wages, to settle in Wales and Cornwall. A similar transfer and circulation of inhabitants, has taken place, in our English provinces, by the natural operation of the towns; whose constantly decreasing population is supplied from the country, while a certain number of small traders and artizans are driven into the villages, where the profits of their trade or ingenuity, are free from the danger of competition, By such a process, all peculiarities of dialect must be ultimately, though slowly and imperceptibly, extinguished. Now it is evident that the unreserved communication between the Scots and English, during the twelfth century, could not fail of greatly increasing among the former the catalogue of their artificial wants; and that this must augment their vocabulary by a large importation of foreign words. And if, to all the articles of luxury, parade, and magnificence, multiplied as they were by the variations of fashion, we add the terms of chicane, and war, and hunting, for all of which our islanders were indebted to Norman ingenuity, we may perhaps find sufficient grounds to believe that a language very nearly, if not perfectly identical with the English, was likely to be formed in the southern provinces of Scotland, before the termination of the twelfth century. THE END. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE SPECIMENS. A MAN may A. live thrice Nestor's life. Norton. II. 108. A neighbour mine not long ago there was. Sidney. II. 227. A silly shepherd woo'd, but wist not. Anon. II. 394. A time there was, and divers there be yet. Anon. III. 119. A vale there is, enwrapt with dreadful shades. Southwell. II. 168. A woman's face is full of wiles. Gifford. II. 174. Ah when will this long weary day have end. Spenser. All ye that grieve to think my death so near. Watson. II. 281. Am I despis'd because you say. Herrick. III. 283. Amarantha sweet and fair. Lovelace. III. 248. Amaryllis I did woo. Wither. III, 67. Amongst the myrtles as I walk'd. Carew. III. 138. And would you see my mistress' face. Campion. III. 20. Anger in hasty words or blows. Waller. III. 166. Another scorns the homespun thread of rhymes. Hall, II. 352. April is past, then do not shed. Kinaston. III. 241. As at noon Dulcina rested. Raleigh. II. 189. As Cupid took his bow and bolt. Anon. III. 321. As it fell upon a day. Shakspeare, or rather Barne field. II. 320. As poor Aurelia sat alone. Veel. III. 382. Ask me no more where Jove bestows. Carew.III.143. Away, fond thing, tempt me no more. Cokain. III. 192. Away with these self-loving lads. Ld. Brook. II. 236. B. .51. Beauties, have ye seen a toy. Jonson. II. 349. Beauty clear and fair. Beaumont and Fletcher. III. Beauty, sweet love, is like the morning dew. Daniel. II. 289. Because I breathe not love to every one. Sidney. II. 225. Before my face the picture hangs. Wastell. II. 323. Being your slave what should I do but tend. Shakspeare. II. 317. Beware, fair maid, of mighty courtiers' oaths. Sylvester. II. 299. Blame not my lute though it do sound. John Hall. II. 92. Blessings as rich and fragrant crown your heads. Vaughan. III. 304. Blow, blow thou winter wind. Shakspeare. II. 307. C. Chaste lovely Laura 'gan disclose. Cotton. III. 348. Chloris farewell, I now must go. Waller. III. 164. Chloris I cannot say your eyes. Sedley. III. 367. Choose the darkest part o' th' grove. Dryden. III. 352. Come and let us live, my dear. Crashaw. III. 197. Come away, come away death. Shakspeare. II. 313. Come Chloris, hie we to the bower. Anon. III. 388. |