of the importance of the latter has yet to come. In conclusion, I give
some selected specimens of the use of the modern dialects.

I beg leave to thank my friend Mr P. Giles, M.A., Hon. LL.D. of
Aberdeen, and University Reader in Comparative Philology, for a few
hints and for kindly advice.

W. W. S.

Cambridge

3 March 1911




TABLE OF CONTENTS


PREFACE

I. DIALECTS AND THEIR VALUE. The meaning of _dialect_. Phonetic decay and
dialectic regeneration. The words _twenty_, _madam_, _alms_. Keats;
use of _awfully_. Tennyson and Ben Jonson; use of _flittermouse_.
Shakespeare; use of _bolter_ and _child_. Sir W. Scott; use of
_eme_. The English _yon_. _Hrinde_ in Beowulf.

II. DIALECTS IN EARLY TIMES. The four old dialects. Meaning of
"Anglo-Saxon." Documents in the Wessex dialect.