telligible to the rest of the county, though it is but a very small part; and in both of these places the language has changed but little, if at all, for centuries. Mr. Carr asserts "that the lapse of more than four centuries has had little effect upon the language, that at the present day, and at the very same spot, (Langstroth,) the Craven dialect is spoken in the like degree of purity as it was in the days of Chaucer;" and from the want of some standard in common conversation, a disposition exists to coin words for the occasion. This remarkable state of things must be understood to exist only among the lower classes; the better educated, except by some slight accent, would hardly be distinguished wherever they might be born. This is a strong argument in favor of the respectable station in society of our ancestors, that they appear to have brought with them none of these dialects, but spoke the common English of the day. Many were from Cornwall, that has or had a language of its own, which was spoken among its lower classes till within fifty years, though now it is said to be entirely obliterated. Many were from Devonshire, which, though it possessed no distinct language, yet had a peculiar way of speaking English, that still remains; and, in traveling through that county, a Yankee feels almost at home, from the similarity between the language, accent, etc. of its people and those of his own country; but in other parts of England, he recognizes very little that produces this feeling of being at home; while in Cumberland or Westmoreland, he would fancy himself among people as remote from English as if among the Esquimaux. It would not be easy, if we take words as the indices of one's place.

of descent, to decide from the various glossaries, whence the larger number of the first settlers of this country came; that is, whether from one part of England more than another. Almost every glossary contains some of those words now in use in New England, though, on the whole, the North of England's vocabulary contains the most, and the East Anglia the next largest number. From the West of England ports, being, at the time of the pilgrimage of the Puritans, those of the most business, large numbers sailed; but there is no evidence that the people of that quarter were, from that cause, induced to come here more than from any other district. Devonshire never appears to have been much troubled with religion or political contention. Her population being agricultural, and withdrawn from the strifes of the more thickly populated districts, seem always to have been too comfortable to feel the necessity of immigration. It is the same now, and an immigrant from that quarter is an uncommon person. Still, there must have been considerable numbers, from some cause or other, found their way to this country from that county. And it is proper to draw such an inference from the similarity we have mentioned existing between that part of England and New England, in tone and accent. The shrill tone of voice that has been observed among our people is a North of England peculiarity, or, to speak with more propriety, belongs to certain parts of the North. The nasality that is also charged to us may be a remnant of that whine which was considered as distinguishing Roundheads from Cavaliers, and as adopted by the Puritans, perhaps as expres.sive of submission and sanctity-it being certainly a tone

far removed from the free, open, bold, bluff speech of their opponents. The frequent use, too, of the phraseology of Scripture, as if in opposition to the more secular discourse of courtiers and cavaliers, preserved this peculiarity; and it is not unlikely that this custom has also preserved the old words and old customs, by keeping up in the mind of each generation a sense of being distinct in character and origin from any other portion of the continent. There is, however, a small share of nasality at the South, which must be accounted for in some other way, as her peculiarities are certainly not from Puritanism. It may come from the climate, that from its relaxing effects produces a languor and indolence, through which the air from the lungs, instead of being ejected strongly and vigorously from the mouth, warbles with a faint emission by the nose. But the chief reason why we have, and continue to have, the various strange and odd modes of using language and of utterance, is, that we have no standard for either. The people of England have Parliament, filled with men of the best education, to be their standard; the people of this country will hardly look to their National Legislature for an example in the use of language or of national refinement.

:

GLOSSARY

OF

SUPPOSED AMERICANISMS.

A.

ABLE, for rich, as "he is accounted very able." I have only heard this word in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

A COMPANY-KEEPER, Holloway says, means, in Norfolk, a lover. To "keep company," is the phrase in New England, among a certain class, for what is called courting, or, among the very refined, addressing. I have never heard this expression, a company-keeper." ADMIRE. This word may be frequently heard in the sense of "I should like;" as, "I should admire to see him; to go to Rome," etc.; but, I believe, confined to New England. In the sense of to "wonder at," as, “I admire at you,” it may sometimes be heard; for this there is the authority of Beaumont and Fletcher, in the "Nice Valour:" "The more I admire your flintiness."

AFEARD, for afraid. This word, that most suppose to be a corruption of afraid, is an old Saxon word, and