which, of course, I have preferred writing. Where I have used the circumflex over the letter â it is to be understood that the sound of the letter is to be exactly like the a in father. I might have adopted the same plan with respect to the vowel o, for the long sound of it, as heard in the words no, gold, &c.; which is, for the most part, like aw in the word awful, but, as it is very easy to convey this sound by an additional letter, I have preferred the latter mode.

The words found in these pieces, which are not known in our polished dialect, are explained in the Glossary, except where some alteration in the spelling only is made, such as jay for joy, hort for heart, and a few others: the reader will, in this respect, it is presumed, find no difficulty in supplying the true meaning: it did not appear necessary to increase the Glossary by the explanation of such synonyms.

Whilst upon the subject of poetry it may be appropriate here to observe, that in the periodical work called the Guardian, published more than a century ago, is a paper No. 40 concerning pastoral poetry. This paper, it is now very generally understood, was written by POPE,

to extol his own pastorals and degrade those of Ambrose Phillips. In this essay a pretended Somersetshire poem is spoken of, and quoted from. But Mr. Pope's invention here fails him; it is evident he knew little or nothing about the Somersetshire dialect. Let us examine a few of the lines from "this old west country bard of ours," as Mr. Pope is pleased to call

him.

Cicely. Ah Rager, Rager, chez was zore avraid When in yond vield you kiss'd tha parson's maid: Is this the love that once to me you zed, When from tha wake thou broughtst me gingerbred?

I would remark, in the first place, that what is here of the Somerset dialect is neither east, west, north, nor south, but a strange admixture. Chez is no where used, that I know of, but in the southern part of the county, utchy or ichè is sometimes spoken contractedly che. See the article UTCHY in the Glossary. Vield, for field, should be veel. Again, I know no part of Somersetshire where the word wake is used: revel is the synonym. The word parson is always, in the Somerset dialect, pâson. In another line, not quoted

above, he calls the cows kee; now this is not Somersetian; nor is be go for be gone; it should be, be gwon; nor is I've a be, but I've a bin, Somersetian. The two last lines above quoted are a complete exemplification of Pope's manner of sacrificing the persons of the verb to the measure.

To conclude these remarks on Mr. POPE: it would not be very difficult to suppose that, when he used the word chez, he was thinking of French rather than English, although there is little analogy between the sounds of chez, French, and of che, English. But with the French language, I make no doubt, Pope was much better acquainted than with the dialect of Somersetshire. Even in London, at the present time, such is the disposition for foreign. sounds and idioms, that our English ch is frequently sounded sh, more especially in proper names. It is very easy for a writer, such as Mr. Pope, to invent and publish a few lines of a thing which he chooses to call a Somerseishire pastoral, in order to bring another writer, his cotemporary, into contempt; but such disingenuity must ultimately find (Mr. Pope's long ago has found) its proper desert. This is

not one of the transactions of a great poet's life on which it is complacent to repose.

The idiomatic expressions in this dialect are numerous. Some will be found in the Glossary. The following may be also mentioned. I'd sley do it, for I would as lief do it. Righting-lawn, adjusting the ridges after the wheat is sown. Throwing-batches, cutting up and destroying ant-hills. To goo out a chooring, to go out to do any kind of dirty and other household work. Slike for it is like; a power of rain, for a great deal of rain; to rake the vier, to cover the fire with ashes, so that it may remain burning during the night; 'Tword'n I, it was not I; 'Tword'n he, it was not he. The following are common plurals: cheezen, cheese; houzen, houses; peazen, peas; plazen, places.

I have made an occasional suggestion in the Glossary relative to the etymology of some of these words. A few are evidently derived from the Latin, and the monachism, no doubt, of some of our forefathers, and a few from the French; but by far the greater part have, I presume, an Anglo-Saxon, some, perhaps, a Danish, origin. And although their roots may

not be found in Lye, I should be disposed to think that they had escaped the researches of that lexicographer; and when we consider how many words escaped Johnson, the omissions of our earlier dictionary compilers are not surprising. In my own case, although I here present the reader with the fruits of twenty-five years assiduity, I cannot flatter myself that the field is yet completely gleaned. And mine is, comparatively, a small district; although it has more relation to our general language than has been commonly supposed. I incline, indeed, to think that the present language and pronunciation of Somersetshire were, some centuries past, general in the South portion of our island.

Before I close these observations, I am desirous of noticing an error into which, I fear, too many of our lexicographers have fallen, in compiling a dictionary from a living language. They have depended too much upon books, and too little upon the use and accepted meaning of words as they are current in the every-day transactions of life. Hence it sometimes happens, that the meaning in a dictionary is at variance with the use of the word in society; and it has happened, too, that many words