This comma is, however, very likely an
addition by some editor.
Another form of the third personal pronoun employed only in the
objective case is found in the west, namely _en_ for him, as
_a zid en_ or, rather more commonly, _a zid'n_, he saw
him. Many cases however, occur in which _en_ is fully heard;
as _gee't to en_, give it to him. It is remarkable that
Congreve, in his comedy of "_Love for Love_" has given to
_Ben the Sailor_ in that piece many expressions found in the
west. "Thof he be my father I an't bound prentice to en." It
should be noted here that _he be_ is rarely if ever heard in
the west, but _he's_ or _he is_. _We be, you be_,
and _thAc be_ are nevertheless very common. _Er_,
employed as above, is beyond question aboriginal Saxon; _en_
has been probably adopted as being more euphonious than
_him_. [Footnote: I have not met with _en_ for him in
any of our more early writers; and I am therefore disposed to
consider it as of comparatively modern introduction, and one among
the very few changes in language introduced by the
_yeomanry_, a class of persons less disposed to changes of
any kind than any other in society, arising, doubtless, from their
isolated position.
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