2. That the Rushworth Gospels take us as far south as the West Riding of Yorkshire.
3. That there are no specimens from any Cumberland, Westmoreland, or North Lancashire localities, these being, most probably, exclusively Celtic.
[§ 693]. The most general statements concerning this great section of the Anglo-Saxon, is that—
1. It prefers the slenderer and more vocalic to the broader and more diphthongal forms.
2. The sounds of k and s, to those of ch and sh.
3. The forms without the prefix ge-, to those with them. Nevertheless the form ge-cenned (=natus) occurs in the first line of the extract from the Durham Gospels.
[§ 694]. The Old and Middle English MSS. from this quarter are numerous; falling into two classes:
1. Transcriptions with accommodation from works composed southwards. Here the characteristics of the dialect are not absolute.
2. Northern copies of northern compositions. Here the characteristics of the dialect are at the maximum. Sir Tristram is one of the most important works of this class; and in the wider sense of the term Northumbrian, it is a matter of indifference on which side of the Border it was composed. See [§ 190].