"The meste wo that here _vel_ bi King Henry's days,
In this lond, _icholle_ beginne to tell _yuf ich_ may."
_Vel_, for fell, the preterite of to fall, is precisely the
sound given to the same word at the present time in Somersetshire.
We see that _icholle_, for _I shall_, follows the same
rule as the contracts _'ch'ud, 'ch'am_, and _'ch'ill_.
It is very remarkable that _sholl_, for shall, is almost
invariably employed in Somersetshire, at the present time.
_Yuf_ I am disposed to consider a corruption or mistake for
_gyf_ (give), that is, _if_, the meaning and origin of
which have been long ago settled by Horne Tooke in his Purley.
The next specimen is assuredly of a much more modern date; though
quoted by _Mr Dibdin_, in his _Metrical History of
England_, as from an _old ballad_.
"_Ch'ill_ tell thee what, good fellow,
Before the vriars went hence,
A bushel of the best wheate
Was zold for vourteen pence,
And vorty egges a penny,
That were both good and new,
And this _che_ say myself have seene,
And yet I am no Jew.
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