some variation of its sound and orthography, chiefly prevails in the vulgar part of our present language; and it will appear in the Glossary subjoined to the following dialogues, that most of the remarkable words therein inserted, are of Saxon derivation, and if they are not all retained in other counties, such counties have many others derived from the same fountain; not to mention the variations of the pronunciation in different places. Hence every county has its peculiar dialect, at least in respect to the vulgar language of their rustics, insomuch that those of different counties can't easily understand each other. Among persons engaged in commerce indeed, or who have had a liberal education, we may better distinguish their several counties by their accent, than by any impropriety in their language. But we are here speaking only of the lower class of people in each county; and that these have in several parts of England a more uncouth and barbarous jargon than the worst among the Devonians, might be easily shewn. Let it suffice to give an instance in the following specimen of the Lancashire Dialect, transcribed from a Dialogue therein, which was published in 1746.

"M. Odds fish! boh that wur breve-I wou'd I'd bin eh yore kele.

"T. Whau whau, boh theawst hear-It wurdree wey too-to; heawe'er I geet there be suse o' clock, on before eh opp'nt dur, I covert Nip with the cleawt, ot eh droy meh nese weh, t'let him see heaw I stoart her :-Then I opp'nt dur; on whot te dule dust think, boh three little bandyhewits coom weaughing os if th' little ewals wou'd o worrit me, on after that swallut me whick: Boh presently there coom o fine wummon; on I took her for a hoo justice, hoor so meety fine: for I heard Ruchott o'Jack's tell meh measter, that hoo justices

awlus did th' mooast o'th'wark: Heawe'er, I axt hur if Mr. Justice wur o whoam; hoo cou'd naw opp'n hur meawth t'sey eigh, or now; boh simpurt on sed iss, (the Dickkons iss hur on him too)-Sed I, I wudyid'n tell him I'd fene speyk to him."

The reader must be left to judge, on a comparison of this with any part of the Exmoor language, which of the two has the most barbarisms. Perhaps he will want an interpreter to inform him, that kele means place or circumstance,—that dree wey denotes a long and tedious way,-that stoart means valued,—that bandyhewits are little dogs,that hoo stands for she,-and wudyid'n is wish you would;—and unless thus explained, may be apt to think it little more intelligible than the Buckinghamshire Farmer's speech, "I ken a steg gobblin at our leer deer;" which few besides his countrymen would guess to mean, "I see a gander feeding at our barn-door." But to trouble our readers with no further observations on this subject here, we must refer them for other particulars to the Vocabulary and Notes, submitting the whole to their candid censure.

Exeter, Nov. 1771.

From the great interest which is now taken in the local dialects of England, and the frequent applications that have been made to the publisher for copies of the Exmoor Scolding and Courtship, he has been induced to put forth a new edition, which he hopes will meet with general approbation; he begs to remark that the present edition is a verbatim reprint of that of 1771, without any attempt at additions, or alterations, more particularly after the great care which was bestowed on it by the then publisher, Mr. Andrew Brice of Exeter, whose etymological talents have been universally acknowledged and esteemed. London, Oct. 1838.

CALIFORNIA

AN

EXMOOR SCOLDING.

THOMASIN. Lock! Wilmot, vor why vor ded'st roily zo upon ma up to Challacomb Rowl?-Ees dedent thenk tha had'st a be' zich a labb o' tha tongue. What a vengeance! wart betwatled, or wart tha baggaged; — or had'st tha took a shord, or a paddled?

WILMOT. I roily upon tha, ya gurt, thonging, banging, muxy Drawbreech?-Noa, 'twas thee roil'st upon me up to Daraty Vogwill's upzitting, whan tha vung'st to, (and be hang'd to tha!) to Rabbin.-Shou'd zem tha wart zeck arter Me-at and Me-al.-And zo tha merst, by ort es know, wey guttering; as gutter tha wutt whan tha com'st to good tackling.-But some zed "Shoor and shoor tha ded'st bet make wise, to zee nif tha young Josy Heaff-field wou'd come to zlack thy boddize, and whare a wou'd be O vore or no.' Bet 'twas thy old disyease, Chun.

THOMASIN. Hey go! What disyease dest me-an, ya gurt dugged-teal'd, swapping, rousling Blowse? Ya gurt Roile, tell ma. Tell ma, a zey, what disyease dest_me-an?-Ad! chell ream my heart, to tha avore Ise let tha lipped.-Chell tack et out wi' tha to the true Ben, fath! Tell ma, a zey, what disyease dest me-an that tha dest cham a troubled wey?

B

WHMUT Why ya purting, tatchy, stertling, jowering, prinking, ineing theng, chell tell tha what disyease. Is dedn't me-an the Boneshave,* ner the Heartgun, ner the Allernbatch that tha had'st in thy Niddick. "Tes better twar: vor than Ount Annis Moreman coul'd ha' blessed vore, and net ha' pomster'd about it, as moather ded.

THOMASIN. What disyease than, ya gurt haggage?

WILMOT. Why, e'er zince tha wart twonty, ay zewnteen and avore, tha hast a be' troubled wey the Doul vetch tha.

THOMASIN. What's me-an by that, ya long-hanjed meazle? Did'st hire ma? Tha call'st ma stertling roil now-reert.-How dedst thee stertlee upon the zess last harest wey the young Dick Vrogwill, whan George Vuzz putch'd?-He told ma the whole fump o' th' besneze.

WILMOT. O! the very vengeance tear tha!Dest thee tell me o' Dick Vrogwill?-Why thee art in a ninniwatch e'ery other torn, nif zo be tha dest bet zet zeert in Harry Vursdon.

* The bone-shave (a word perhaps nowhere used or understood in Devonshire but in the neighbourhood of Exmoor) means the sciatica; and the Exmoorians, when afflicted therewith, used the following charm to be freed from it:"The patient must lie on his back on the bank of a river or brook of water, with a straight staff by his side, between him and the water, and must have the following words repeated over him, viz.—

"Bone-shave right;

"Bone-shave straight;

"As the water runs by the stave,
"Good for bone-shave."

They are not to be persuaded but that this ridiculous form of words seldom fails to give them a perfect cure.

THOMASIN. How! ya gurt chounting, grumbling, glumping, zower-zapped, yerring trash!

WILMOT. Don't tell me o' glumping: oll the neighbourhooden knowth thee to be a veaking, blazing, tiltish hussey.

THOMASIN. And thee art a crewnting, querking, yeavy, dugged-yess, chockling baggage.

WILMOT. Net zo chockling, ner it zo crewnting, as thee art, a colting hobby-horse !-Nif tha dest bet go down into the paddick, to stroak the kee, thee wut come oll a gerred, and oll horry zo vurs tha art a vorked; ya gerred-teal'd, panking, hewstring mea-zel!-Thee art lick a skittish sture jest a yooked. Tha wouldst bost any keendest theng, tha are so vore-reet, nif vauther dedn't ha-ape tha.

THOMASIN. Ay, ay! Kester Moreman wou'd ha be hove up, nif zo be a had a had tha; a toteling, wambling, zlottering, zart-and-vair yheatstool.

WILMOT. Ay, and zo wou'd tha young George Vuzz, munn, whan a had a had a rubbacrock, ronzeabout, platvooted, zidlemouth'd swashbucket. -Pitha dest thenk enny theng will e'er vittee or gooddee wey zich a whatnozed, haggle-tooth'd, stare-bason, timersome, rixy, wapper-e'ed theng as thee art?

THOMASIN. Dest hire ma? Oll the crime o' the country goth, that wan tha liv'st up to tha cot, tha wert the old Rager Hill's under bed-blonket. And more 'an zo, that tha wert a chittering, raving, racing, bozzom-chucked, rigging, lonching, haggaging moil.

WILMOT. HOW! ya confounded trapes! Tell me enny more o' Rager Hill's bed-blonket, ad!