The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire

Produced by Miranda van de Heijning, David Starner,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Goo little Reed! Aforn tha vawk, an vor me plead: Thy wild nawtes, mâ-be, thâ ool hire Zooner than zâter vrom a lâre. Zâ that thy Maester's pleas'd ta blaw 'em, An haups in time thâ'll come ta knaw 'em An nif za be thâ'll please ta hear, A'll gee zum moor another year. — The Farewell.
THE Dialect of the West of England
Late Scholar and Librarian, Queens' College, Cambridge; Vicar of Hagbourn, Berkshire; and Minister of Calcott Donative, Somersetshire.
Tha Fruit o' longvul labour, years, In theäze veo leaves at last appears. Ta you, tha dwellers o' tha West, I'm pleas'd that thâ shood be addresst: Vor thaw I now in Lunnan dwell, I mine ye still—I love ye well; And niver, niver sholl vorget I vust drâw'd breath in Zummerzet ; Amangst ye liv'd, and left ye zorry, As you'll knaw when you hire my storry. Theäze little book than take o' me; 'Tis âll I hâ just now ta gee An when you rade o' Tommy Gool , Or Tommy Came , or Pal at school, Or Mr. Guy , or Fanny Fear ,— I thenk you'll shod vor her a tear) Tha Rookery , or Mary's Crutch , Tha cap o' which I love ta touch, You'll vine that I do not vorget My naatal swile—dear Zummerzet.
In preparing this second edition of my relative's work, I have incorporated the results of observations made by me during several years' residence in Somersetshire, in the centre of the district. I have also availed myself by kind permission, of hints and suggestions in two papers, entitled Somersetshire Dialect, read by T. S. Baynes in 1856, and reprinted from the Taunton Courier, in London, in 1861.
During the forty years which have elapsed since the first edition, very much light has been thrown on the subject of Provincial Dialects, and after all much remains to be discovered. I consider with Mr. Baynes that there is more of the pure Anglo-Saxon in the west of England dialect, as this district was the seat of classical Anglo-Saxon, which first rose here to a national tongue, and lasted longer in a great measure owing to its distance from the Metropolis, from which cause also it was less subject to modern modification.