BY JAMES KNIGHT JENNINGS, M.A.,
Late Scholar and Librarian, Queens' College, Cambridge; Vicar of
Hagbourn, Berkshire; and Minister of Calcott Donative,
Somersetshire.
TO THA DWELLERS O' THA WEST,
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.
JAS. JENNINGS.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
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.
I shall be happy to receive any suggestions from Philological scholars, which may increase the light thrown on the subject, and by which a third edition may be improved.
Hagbourn Vicarage, August, 1869.