The _ise_ in the west is
simply a pronoun and nothing else; it is, however, often
accompanied by a contracted verb, as _ise'll_ for I will.
In concluding these observations on the first personal pronoun it
may be added, that the object of the writer has been to state
facts, without the accompaniment of that _learning_ which is
by some persons deemed so essential in inquiries of this kind. The
best learning is that which conveys to us a knowledge of facts.
Should any one be disposed to convince himself of the correctness
of the _data_ here laid before him, by researches among our
old authors, as well as from living in the west, there is no doubt
as to the result to which lie must come. Perhaps, however, it may
be useful to quote one or two specimens of our more early Anglo-
Saxon, to prove their analogy to the present dialect in
Somersetshire.
The first specimen is from _Robert of Gloucester_, who lived
in the time of Henry II., that is, towards the latter end of the
twelfth century; it is quoted by _Drayton_, in the notes to
his _Pulyolbion_, song xvii.
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