English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day

a little later, the men of the Scottish Lowlands and the men of the northern part of England spoke not only

. In Scotland, the Northumbrian dialect was spoken by all but the Celts, without much variety; the minor differences need not be here considered. And this dia

time of Alfred, the standard language of literature was the Southern, and it kept the lead till long after the Conquest, well down to 1200 and even later, as will be explained hereafter. But the Midland dialect, which is not without witness to its value in the ninth century, began in the thirteenth to assume an important position, which in the fourteenth became dominant and supreme, exalted as it was by the genius of Chaucer. Its use was really founded on practical convenience. It was intermediate between th

The Flower and the Leaf near the middle (about 1460), and the ballad of The Nut-brown Maid at the end of it, and nothing else that is remarkable. In other words, they neglect its most important characteristic, that it was the chief period of the lengthy popular romances and of the popular plays out of which the great dramas of the succeeding century took their rise. To which it deserves to be added that it contains many short poems

(the earlier version), Sir Bevis of Hamtoun, and Libeaus Desconus, all mentioned by Chaucer; Sir Launfal, The Seven Sages (earlier version, as edited by Weber); Lai le Freine, Richard Coer de Lion, Amis and Amiloun, The King of Tars, William of Palerne, Joseph of Arimathea (a fragment),

mance, of immense length, of The Holy Grail; Emare, The Erl of Tolous, and The Squire of Low Degree. Towards the end of the century, when the printing-press was already at work, we find Caxton greatly busying himself to continue the list. Not only did he give us the whole of Sir Thomas Malory's Morte D'Arthur, "enprynted and fynysshed in thabbey Westmestre the last day of Iuyl, the yere of our lord MCCCCLXXXV"; but he actually translated several romances into very good English prose on his own account, viz. Godefroy of Boloyne (1481), Charles the Grete (1

eginning of the century, extant in the same MS. as that which contains Minot's Poems: (2) The Wars of Alexander (Early English Text Society, 1886), edited by myself; see the Preface, pp. xv, xix, for proofs that it was originally written in a pure Northumbrian dialect, which the better of the two MSS. very fairly preserves. Others exhibit strong traces of a Northern dialect, such as The Aunturs o

bout the same time; it is most remarkable how very soon, after the death of Chaucer, the Midland dialect not only assumed a leading position, but enjoyed that proud position almost alone. The rapid loss of numerous inflexions, soon after 1400, made that dialect, which was already in possession of such important centres as London, Oxford, and Cambridge, much easier to learn, and brought its grammar much nearer to that in use in the North. It even compromised, as it were, with that d

ence. This is precisely what happened in course of time, and the new nomenclature would have done no harm if the study of Middle English had been at all general. But such was not the case, and the history of our literature was so much neglected that even those who should have been well informed knew no better than others. The chief modern example is the well-known case of that most important and valuable book entitled An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, by John Jamieson, D.D., first published in Edinburgh in 1808. There is no great harm in the title, if for "La

e Scottish Lowlands is in all important particulars the same as that of the northern counties of England, will be evident to any unbiassed reader who takes the trouble to compare the Scottish Dictionary with the Glossaries of Brockett, Atkinson, and Peacock. And the similarity

he seventeenth." Most of this literature is highly interesting, at any rate much more so than the "English" literature of the same period, as has been repeatedly remarked. Indeed, this is so well known that special examples are needless; I content myself with referring to the Specimens of Middle Scots, by G. Gregory Smith, Edinbu

e English Period, which may be roughly dated as extant from 1300 to 1400 or 1450. "Modern Scots" is the dialect (when they employ dialect) illustrated

ple of Middle Scots. The following well-known pass

d awake of

birdis mer

Phebus tendir

vapouris, soft

e, depaynt wyth

mperit, sobir

rede was all

s nobil fres

May, of evir

ucere, rose of

ong ane flou

Britane evir, q

makaris11 the

namalit term

ud illumynit h

of oure Inglisc

eviry tong

Mayis morow

er, and Ludg

lippis and to

eris cause o

outhis most

gage has cler

ilt15 oure spech

r goldyn pennis

ore was bare

or lusty18 fr

? 8. orators? 9. flower? 10. didst rise? 11. poets? 12. heavenly? 13. golden?