[§ 701]. Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and South Northamptonshire.—Mercian (so-called) rather than West-Saxon (so-called).
Probably, approaching the written language of England more closely than is the case with the dialects spoken to the south of them.
Certainly, approaching the written language of England less closely than is the case with the dialect of Huntingdonshire, North Northamptonshire, and South Lincolnshire.
[§ 702]. These remarks have the following import. They bear upon the question of the origin of the written language of England.
Mr. Guest first diverted the attention of scholars from the consideration of the West Saxon of the chief Anglo-Saxon writers as the mother-dialect of the present English, to the Mercian; so turning their attention from the south to the centre of England.
The general principle that a central locality has the a priori likelihood in its favour, subtracts nothing from the value of his suggestion.
Neither does the fact of the nearest approach to the written language being found about the parts in question; since the doctrine to which the present writer commits himself, viz., that in the parts between Huntingdon and Stamford, the purest English is most generally spoken, is, neither universally recognised, nor yet part of Mr. Guest's argument.
Mr. Guest's arguments arose out of the evidence of the MSS. of the parts in question.
That the dialect most closely allied to the dialect (or dialects) out of which the present literary language of England is developed, is to be found either in Northamptonshire or the neighbouring counties is nearly certain. Mr. Guest looks for it on the western side of that county (Leicestershire); the present writer on the eastern (Huntingdonshire).
[§ 703]. It is now convenient to pass from the dialects of