We shall begin our ancient bickerings,
which a man transposing the third and fourth words might say to-day without rising above colloquial speech; but there is another allied signification which Milton has in
Smoak and bickering flame;
and this is followed by many later writers. It would seem therefore, if the word is to have a special sense, that it must be focused in the idea of something that both wavers and skirmishes, and this suggests another word which caught our eye in the dictionary, that is
BRANGLE
It is defined in the N.E.D. as 'a brawl, wrangle, squabble' and marked obsolete. It seems to differ from its numerous synonyms by the suggestion of what we call a muddle: that is an active wrangling which has become inextricably confused.
SURVIVALS IN LANCASHIRE SPEECH
Mr. Ernest Stenhouse sends us notes on Tract II, from which we extract the following:
'Poll (= to cut the hair) is still familiar in Lancashire. Tickle (unstable) is obsolescent but not yet obsolete. As a child I often heard meterly (= moderately): e.g. meterly fausse (? false) = moderately cunning. It may still be in use. Bout (= without = A.S. butan) is commonly heard.