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“—— þay schin knawe sone,
Þere is no bounté in burne lyk Baltaȝar þewes.”[41] —(B. l. 1435.) “& þose þat seme arn & swete schyn se his face.”[42] —(Ibid. l. 1810.) “Pekokys and pertrikys perboylyd schyn be.”[43] —(Liber Cure Cocorum, p. 29.) “For þer bene bestes þat schyn be rost.”[44] —(Ibid. p. 34.) “Alle schun be draȝun, Syr, at þo syde.”[45] —(Ibid. p.& 35.) “Seche ferlies schyn falle.”[46] —(Robson’s Met. Rom. p. 12, l. 4.) | [41.] They shall know soon there is no goodness in man like Belshazzar’s virtues. [42.] And those that seemly are and sweet shall see His (God’s) face. [43.] Peacocks and partriches parboiled shall be. [44.] For þer are beasts þat shall be roasted. [45.] All shall be drawn (have the entrails removed), Sir, at the side. [46.] Such marvels shall happen. |
III. Nothing is more common in the present poems than the use of hit as a genitive = its, which is also found in the Lancashire romances.
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“Forþy þe derk dede see hit is demed ever more,
For hit dedeȝ of deþe duren þere ȝet.”[47] —(Patience, l. 1021.) “And, as hit is corsed of kynde & hit coosteȝ als, Þe clay þat clenges þer-by arn corsyes strong.”[48] —(Ibid. l. 1033.) “For I wille speke with the sprete, And of hit woe wille I wete, Gif that I may hit bales bete.”[49] —(Robson’s Met. Romances, p. 5, ll. 3, 4.) | [47.] Wherefore the dark dead sea it is called ever more. For its deeds of death endure there yet. [48.] And as it is cursed of kind and its properties also, The clay that clings thereby are corrosives strong. [49.] I will speak with the spirit, And of its woe will I wit (know), If that I may its bales (grief) abate. |
The present dialect of Lancashire still retains the uninflected genitive:—
“So I geet up be strike o’ dey, on seet eawt; on went ogreath tilly welly coom within two mile oth’ teawn; when, os tha dule woud height, o tit wur stonning ot an ale heawse dur; on me kawve (the dule bore eawt it een for me) took th’ tit for it mother, on woud seawk her.”[50] (Tummus and Meary).
Thus much for the dialectical peculiarities of our author. The scanty material at our disposal must be a sufficient excuse for the very meagre outline which is here presented to the reader. As our materials increase, the whole question of Early English dialects will no doubt receive that attention from English philologists which the subject really demands, and editors of old English works will then be enabled to speak with greater confidence as to the language and peculiarities of their authors. Something might surely be done to help the student by a proper classification of our manuscripts both as to date and place of composition. We are sadly in want of unadulterated specimens of the Northumbrian and East-Midland idioms during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. There must surely be some records of these dialects in our university libraries which would well repay editing.[51]
[ GRAMMATICAL DETAILS.]
[I.] Nouns.
(1) Number.—The plurals generally end in -es (eȝ), -s. Yȝen (eyes), trumpen (trumpets), are the only plurals in -en that occur in the poems. In Robson’s Metrical Romances we find fellun (fells, hills,), dellun (dells), and eyren (eggs), in Liber Cure Cocorum. The plurals of brother, child, cow, doȝter (daughter), are brether, childer, kuy, and deȝter.
(2) Gender.—The names of inanimate things are in the neuter gender, as in modern English. The exceptions are deep (fem.), gladnes (fem.), and wind (masc.).