YORKSHIRE.

NOTE ON THE DIALECTAL LITERATURE OF THE COUNTY. BY MR C. C. ROBINSON.

CONSIDERABLE as a list may appear, there is really but a small stock of dialectal literature pertaining to the county. That which has been done, of recent years, in the way of opening out the resources of localities, rich in their old and varying forms of speech, has had a certain effect, as seen in the springing up of those annual publications for which 'almanac' is a convenient name. Yet the printers have never been inclined to favour this local speech as a medium of popular sentiment. What is, in varied character, wealth to the antiquary, means but poverty to the country tradesman. It is not to be wondered at that, in respect to this form of dialect literature, the neighbouring county of Lancaster offers a marked contrast. There, the manufacturing people are most, and have not been dropped among the fastnesses of hills to become isolated populations, as they of south-west Yorkshire have. Lancashire is, too, dependent, as Yorkshire is not, on one staple article of manufacture for her prosperity. Want must pinch, and hard times come about the soonest to such an aggregate population, and, quite as naturally, must a homely dialect be made the vehicle of sentiment among so many. In prose literature there is but little in any Yorkshire phase, apart from what these almanacs contain, which is, as a rule, any il-spelt absurdity that will cover space. But what little there is may be regarded as having a peculiar value. The written speech of Yorkshire has not worn itself into any groove, as has come to pass in the bordering county, (and it may be assumed that there are points of difference even with regard to south Lancashire dialect), and in most of these fugitive local publications the varying phase of the vernacular is perceptible at a glance. It even now and then occurs that the refined and vulgar forms of one phase of dialect are rendered so distinctly by respective writers, that a person who was unfamiliar with the spoken speech would not know the illustrative purpose of the one composition to be identical with that of the other.

It may serve a useful purpose to complete the list as far as possible by noting, in this place, the various old and better known compositions which are local in their language. Relative to some of these, a few remarks have been ventured in referring them more strictly than has yet been done to their localities. In con

cluding, it has seemed well to give the titles of the various stock pieces which have had so long a period of circulation. The less important, but the most in number, of these meritable compositions cannot now have their authorship traced, so long have they been neglected.

To note first, then, the literary relics of Northumbrian AngloSaxon which are of recognised local character. Neither in the Durham Gospels or Ritual is a phase of dialect apparent; nor is there now any local character in that of the Rushworth Glosses (St Mark, Luke, and John), which, dating from the end of the ninth century, were written at Harewood, a village about eight miles north of Leeds. Nor can the Ruthwell Runes be appreciated at a glance. There is but one line of the Beda to catch the eye, and

'Efter deothdaege

does so at once. The North-riding form would be Efter dêothdae, all the vowels being heard in the last compound. In GLOSSIC [Ef t'ur di'h'thdeh'], palaeotype (Efter dithdee'). The dialect of Chaucer's Aleyn and Johan, of Langstrothdale, is of the same rural type, but of a much more noticeable character. I can only note the existence of the Harleian MSS., 1022 and 5396, in which authorities recognise our northern dialect. In the metrical translation of Grosthead's Chasteau d'Amour, entitled 'The Myrour of lewed men,' (small 4to, vellum, pp. 53, 15th cent.,-MS. Egerton 927), by a 'Munk of Sallay,' there is broad Yorkshire dialect, of a distinct character—that now spoken in the rural west (immediately north-west of Leeds). Among the Thornton MSS., the various miscellaneous treatises of Rolle (date about 1440) have their dialect in this same phase of the rural west. The dialect of Doncaster, in the southwest, the place associated with the name of this writer, has now every point of difference, not being distinguishable from the Leeds dialect in pronunciation. The dialect of the old plays, known as the Towneley Mysteries, dating from the 15th century, is in some contrast with that of Rolle. His is of the

existing pure rural type, but that of the Mysteries has a weighty element of town forms. It is true that these are none of the broadest, but at the same time it occurs to one that broad forms may have been naturally suppressed, in the way they would be now if it was necessary to make a literary medium of the dialect. It is no argument (may I venture to add), that because old writers employ the rural type broadly, town-dialect would be employed after the same manner; for it needs but some familiarity with the

The Gossips Flummock't by the Queen. (The title of the Shevvild Chap's Annual for 1840.) 16mo, pp. 24. Sheffield: 1839.

An Infallible cure for the Cudn't-help-it Organization of the Owenites. 16mo, pp. 12. Sheffield: 1840.

In the Dialect of Sheffield.

Dame Flatback's Advice to t' Queen uppa hahce keepin', t' weddin' supper; hah shoo's to manage her husband, and several other queer subjects. With old Dame Balsam's Oration. Being the supplement to the Shevvild Chap's Annual for 1840. 7th ed. 24mo, pp. 12. Sheffield: 1840.

with Dame Flatback's Being a Supplement to Sheffield: 1841.

The Prince of Wales Almanack for 1842; Oration on the Birth of the Prince of Wales. the Shevvild Chap's Annual. 16mo, pp. 24. The Shevvild Chap's second Letter to the Conference. Being a Challenge of the Faith of that Body, to the length, breadth, and depth of the 40-horse-power faith of an undepraved Atheist. 24mo. Sheffield: 1843.

The Shevvild Chap's Easter Gift. 12mo. The Sheffield Dialect. By ABEL BYWATER. ed. Sheffield: 1854.

Sheffield: 1847.

16mo, pp. 295. 2nd

A reprint of selected pieces, partially in the Dialect, with many changes and refinements of previous spellings. These are, however, not out of character, the phase of dialect being, from various causes, a weak one. There is a Glossary of 3 pages. The first edition (same size) was published at Sheffield in 1839. The Song of Solomon. In the Sheffield Dialect. By ABEL BYwater, Author of the 'Sheffield Dialect.' London: 1859.

Printed for H. H. Prince L. L. Bonaparte, for private circulation. Wadsley Jack, or the Humours and Adventures of a Travelling Cutler; an amusing tract in the Yorkshire Dialect. 8vo. Sheffield:

1866.

A Glossary of Sheffield words has appeared in various numbers of the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, during 1874 and 1875; wherein have also appeared several additional and critical remarks upon the same.

A Glossary of Sheffield Words is in course of preparation for the E. D. S.; to be edited by R. E. LEADER, Esq.

Mixed Dialect.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Temperance Recitations and Dialogues, in the Yorkshire Dialect. By J. G. CARTLEDGE, of Lincoln. 16mo, pp. 16. Leeds: 1872.

A hash-up of West Riding phases; words and forms being used merely because of their being heard in dialect speech of some kind. A second series was published in 1873, but only partly in Yorkshire Dialect;' and a third, of the same character, was announced to follow.

Unclassifiable Glossary.
By

Collection of West Yorkshire words.

PARRY. Privately

printed. Vide p. 24 of Mr J. R. Smith's Bibliographical List, 1839.

WALES.

In those parts of Wales where Welsh is most spoken, the children who learn English doubtless acquire it in a form free from dialectal peculiarities. But in other parts, especially of South Wales, the English spoken is marked by local characteristics. These are not, perhaps, very strongly exhibited; but there seem to be grounds for believing that the English of Gower (in Glamorganshire) and of Pembrokeshire resembles that of Somersetshire. The following short list is as long as I can make it.-W. W. S.

Caermarthenshire.-A list of Words in use here has been contributed, in MS., by Mr Spurrell.

Glamorganshire.-A list of Words from the Gower dialect of Glamorganshire. By the Rev. J. COLLINS. Printed in the Philological Society's Transactions, 1849-50, pp. 222, 223.

Montgomeryshire.-Archaic Words, Phrases, etc., of Montgomeryshire. By the Rev. ELIAS OWEN. In a series of articles contributed to the Collections Historical and Archæological relating to Montgomeryshire. Issued by the Powys-land Club for the use of its members.' The first article appeared in vol. iv, at p. 49, the fifth in vol. vii, at p. 117; and they are to be continued.

Pembrokeshire.-A few specimens of local expressions in use in Pembrokeshire have been kindly communicated, in MS., to the E. D. S.

ISLE OF MAN.

The Manx Language: its Grammar, Literature, and Present State. By HENRY JENNER, Esq. In the Transactions of the Philological Society, 1875-6, pp. 172-197.

This essay contains a list of publications in the Manx language, and is accompanied by a map shewing the districts in which Manx is most spoken. Mr Jenner says-The English spoken by those to whom it is the native tongue is good, and, as may be imagined, is proper modern English, and not a provincial dialect derived independently from Old English. There is, however, a tendency towards Scotticisms.'

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SCOTTISH DIALECTS.

BY J. H. NODAL.

THE present bibliographical list of works illustrative of the Scottish dialects is believed to be the first attempt of its kind. To a large extent, therefore, it is imperfect; but it will at least serve as a provisional list, and a foundation for a more complete one hereafter.

The first section is devoted to dictionaries, glossaries, and general treatises; the second catalogues the writings of Scottish writers under their several counties, etc.; and the third is a list of collections and miscellaneous books and pamphlets, which pertain more or less to the subject, and which are otherwise not capable of classification. The second section may possibly be open to the criticism that many of the works included do not closely represent the dialect of the counties or divisions under which they are enumerated. It is questionable, for example, whether it is entirely right to imply, even inferentially, that the songs and poems of Robert Burns are to be regarded as exclusively illustrative of the dialect of Ayrshire, or those of Allan Ramsay and William Motherwell of the dialect spoken in Lanarkshire. But, speaking generally, there can be no doubt that an author's dialectal writings will reflect in some considerable measure the peculiarities of the folk-speech of his native district; and this division into districts may perhaps lead to a more careful and extended examination of such local peculiarities than they have yet had given to them. A