I give an analysis of the suffixes employed by Orm to mark grammatical
inflexions. At pp. 30-41, I give an analysis of similar inflexions as
employed by Chaucer, who likewise employed the East Midland dialect,
but with such slight modifications of Orm's language as were due to
his living in London instead of Lincolnshire, and to the fact that
he wrote more than 150 years later. The agreement, as to grammatical
usages, of these two authors is extremely close, allowing for lapse
of time; and the comparison between them gives most indubitable and
valuable results. There is no better way of learning Chaucer's
grammar.

As East Midland was spread over a wide area, there are, as might be
expected, some varieties of it. The dialects of Lincolnshire and of
Norfolk were not quite the same, and both differed somewhat from that
of Essex and Middlesex; but the general characteristics of all three
sub-dialects are very much alike. As time went on, the speech of the
students of Oxford and Cambridge was closely assimilated to that of
the court as held in London; and this "educated" type was naturally
that to which Caxton and the great writers of the sixteenth century
endeavoured to conform.

We have one ancient specimen of the London dialect which is
eminently authentic and valuable, and has the additional advantage of
being exactly dated. This is the document known as "The only English
Proclamation of Henry III," issued on Oct. 18, 1258. Its intention was
to confirm to the people the "Provisions of Oxford," a charter of
rights that had been wrested from the king, from which we may conclude
that the Proclamation was issued by Henry rather by compulsion than by
his own free will. There is a note at the end which tells us that a
copy was sent to every shire in England and to Ireland. If every copy