in the majority of words containing those letters [as in
_through_, _three_, _thing_, think_], expressed
by the Anglo-Saxon _A _, is frequently changed in the Western
districts into the sound given in England to the letter _d_:

as for _three_, we have _dree_

for _thread_, _dread_, or _dird_,

_through_, _droo_, _throng_, _drong_, or
rather _drang_;

_thrush_, _dirsh_, &c. The consonant and vowel following
_d_, changing places. The slender or soft sound given to
_th_ in our polished dialect, is in the West, most commonly
converted into the thick or obtuse sound of the same letters as
heard in the words _this_, these &c., and this too, whether
the letters be at the beginning or end of words. I am much
disposed to believe that our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, used
indiscriminately the letters A and A for D only, and sounded them
as such, as we find now frequently in the West; although our
lexicographers usually have given the _two_ sounds of
_th_ to A and A respectively. The vowel O is used for
_a_, as _hond, dorke, lorke, hort,_ in hand, dark, lark,
heart, &c., and other syllables are lengthened, as _voote, bade,
dade,_ for foot, bed, dead. The letter O in _no, gold,_
&c., is sounded like _aw_ in _awful_; I have therefore
spelt it with this diphthong instead of _a_. Such word as
_jay_ for _joy_, and a few others, I have not noted.
Another remarkable fact is the disposition to invert the order of