"
With a very few alterations, indeed, these lines would become the
_South_ Somerset of the present day.
No. II.--ER, EN, A--IT HET--THEEAZE, THEEAZAM, THIZZAM--THIC,
THILK--TWORDM--WORDN--ZINO.
There are in _Somersetshire_ (besides that particular,
portion in the _southern_ parts of the country in which the
Anglo-Saxon _iche_ or _utchy_ and its contracts prevail)
_two_ distinct and very different dialects, the boundaries of
which are strongly marked by the River _Parret_. To the east
and north of that river, and of the town of Bridgewater, a dialect
is used which is essentially, (even now) the dialect of all the
peasantry of not only that part of Somersetshire, but of
Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Surrey,
Sussex, and Kent; and even in the suburban village of
_Lewisham_, will be found many striking remains of it. There
can be no doubt that this dialect was some centuries ago the
language of the inhabitants of all the south and of much of the
west portion of our island; but it is in its greatest
_purity_[Footnote: Among other innumerable proofs that
Somersetshire is one of the strongholds of our old Anglo-Saxon,
are the sounds which are there generally given to the vowels A and
E.
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