The Northumbrian dialect takes -es in all three persons; but mostly drops it in the first person.
The peasantry of Cheshire and Lancashire still preserve the verbal inflexions which prevailed in the fourteenth century, and conjugate their verbs in the present indicative according to the following model:—
| Singular. | Plural. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st pers. | hope | hopen. |
| 2nd „ | hopes | hopen. |
| 3rd „ | hopes | hopen. |
Inasmuch as the poems in the present volume exhibit the systematic use of these forms, we cannot but believe that they were originally composed in one of those counties where these verbal inflexions were well known and extensively used. We have to choose between several localities, but if we assign the poems to Lancashire we are enabled to account for the large number of Norse terms employed. It is true that the ancient examples of the Lancashire dialect contained in Mr. Robson’s Metrical Romances,[31] the Boke of Curtasye,[32] and Liber Cure Cocorum,[33] present us with much broader forms, as -us for -es in the plural number and possessive case of nouns, -un for -en in the plural present indicative mood, in passive participles of irregular (or strong) verbs, -ud (-ut) for -ed in the past tense and passive participle of regular (or weak) verbs, and the pronominal forms hor (their), hom (them), for her and hem.[34]
These forms are evidence of a broad pronunciation which, at the present time, is said to be a characteristic of the northwestern division of Lancashire, but I think that there is good evidence for asserting that this strong provincialism was not confined, formerly, to the West-Midland dialect, much less to a division of any particular county. We find traces of it in Audelay’s Poems (Shropshire), the Romance of William and the Werwolf,[35] and even in the Wickliffite version of the Scriptures.
Formerly, being influenced by these broad forms, I was led to select Cheshire or Staffordshire as the probable locality where the poems were written; but I do not, now, think that either of these counties ever employed a vocabulary containing so many Norse terms as are to be found in the Lancashire dialect. But although we may not be able to fix, with certainty, upon any one county in particular, the fact of the present poems being composed in the West-Midland dialect cannot be denied. Much may be said in favour of their Lancashire origin, and there are one or two points of resemblance between our poems, the Lancashire Romances, and Liber Cure Cocorum, that deserve especial notice.
I. In Sir Amadace,[36] lxviii. 9, there occurs the curious form miȝtus = miȝtes = mightst.[37] As it appears only once throughout the Romances we might conclude that it is an error of the scribe for miȝtest, but when we find in the poems before us not only myȝteȝ = myȝtes (mightst), but woldeȝ = woldes (wouldst), coutheȝ = couthes (couldst), dippteȝ (dippedest), travayledeȝ (travelledst), etc., we are bound to consider miȝtus as a genuine form.[38] In no other Early English works of the fourteenth century have I been able to find this peculiarity. It is very common in the Wohunge of Ure Lauerd (xiiith cent.). See O.E. Homilies, p. 51. The Northumbrian dialect at this period rejected the inflexion in the second person preterite singular, of regular verbs,[39] and in our poems we find the -es often dropped, so that we get two conjugations, which may be called the inflected and the uninflected form.
| Inflected. | Uninflected. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st pers. | hopede | hoped | (I) hoped. |
| 2nd „ | hopedes | hoped | (thou) hopedest. |
| 3rd „ | hopede | hoped | (he) hoped. |
Originally the inflected form may have prevailed over the whole of the North of England, but have gradually become confined to the West-Midland dialect.
II. The next point of resemblance is the use of the verb SCHIN or SCHUN = schal = shall. It is still preserved in the modern dialect of Lancashire in combination with the adverb not, as schunnot[40] = shall not. The following examples will serve to illustrate the use of this curious form:—