The Dialect of the West of England Particularly Somersetshire

PREFACE.
The usefulness of works like the present is too generally admitted to need any apology for their publication. There is, notwithstanding, in their very nature a dryness, which requires relief: the author trusts, therefore, that, in blending something imaginative with the details of philological precision, his work will afford amusement to the reader.
The Glossary contains the fruit of years of unwearied attention to the subject; and it is hoped that the book will be of some use in elucidating our old writers, in affording occasional help to the etymology of the Anglo-Saxon portion of our language, and in exhibiting a view of the present state of an important dialect of the western provinces of England.
A late excursion through the West has, however, induced the Author to believe that some valuable information may yet remain to be gathered from our Anglo-Saxon dialect—more especially from that part of it still used by the common people and the yeomanry. He therefore respectfully solicits communications from those who feel an interest in this department of our literature; by which a second edition may be materially improved.
To a native of the west of England this volume will be found a vade-mecum of reference, and assist the reminiscence of well-known, and too often unnoted peculiarities and words, which are fast receding from, the polish of elegance, and the refinement of literature.
In regard to the Poetical Pieces, it may be mentioned that most of them are founded on West Country Stories, the incidents in which actually occurred. If some of the subjects should be thought trifling, it must not be forgotten that the primary object has been, to exemplify the Dialect, and that common subjects offered the best means of effectuating such an object. Of such Poems as Good Bwye ta thee Cot; the Rookery; and Mary Ramsey's Crutch, it may be observed, that had the Author felt less he might, perhaps, have written better.
Metropolitan Literary Institution, London, March 25, 1825.

CONTENTS
- OBSERVATIONS on some of the Dialects of the West of England, particularly Somersetshire
- A GLOSSARY of Words commonly used in Somersetshire
- POEMS and OTHER PIECES, exemplifying the Dialect of the County of Somerset
- Good Bwye ta Thee Cot
- Fanny Fear
- Jerry Nutty
- Legend of Glastonbury
- Mr. Guy
- The Rookery
- Tom Gool
- Teddy Band—a Zong—Hunting for Sport
- The Churchwarden
- The Fisherman and the Players
- Mary Ramsey's Crutch
- Hannah Verrior
- Remembrance
- Doctor Cox
- The Farewell
- Farmer Bennet an Jan Lide, a Dialogue
- Thomas Came an Young Maester Jimmy, a Dialogue
- Mary Ramsay, a Monologue
- Soliloquy of Ben Bond
- Two Dissertations on Anglo-Saxon Pronouns
- Miss Ham on the Somerset Dialect
- Concluding Observations