52 



olitaipel by every one, and filthough the means of travelling and postal 

 communication have become almost perfect, the people who speak the 

 dialect in the rural parts of the country have hitherto as a rule, neither 

 read, written, nor tra\elled. There is, however, a marked change taking 

 place in this respect. Newspapers and books are becoming far more 

 common in country houses ; and it is probable that as our dream of general 

 education beconies gradually realized, old prejudices will be given up, old 

 habits laid aside, and at some future time the rural inhabitants of Cumber- 

 land may perhaps converse together in the ordinary Queen's English. The 

 intention nf this paper, however, is rather to treat of the dialect as we find 

 it, than to inquire into the changes it has undergone, or to speculate upon 

 the length of time which may elapse before it is entirely laid aside. It 

 will therefore be limited in a great measure to the two questions — "Where 

 is the dialect spoken at the present time ? " and " What are its chief 

 distinctive ch.aracteristics 1 " 



To the iirst question, "' ^Vliere is the dialect .spoken at present ?" we 

 may answer : It is spoken under one form or another over all the 

 agiicnltural and pastoral districts of Cumberland, and by the common 

 people in the tuwns as well, but only in its pure state toAvards the middle 

 of the county, being mixed with other dialects around the outsides. 

 This may be accounted for in the following manner. In former times, 

 Avhen England and Scotland were sejjarate kingdoms, and almost con- 

 stantly at M-ar with each other, there was a strip of land, a few mUes in 

 breadth, stretching from Berwick, on the German Ocean, to the Solway 

 Firth, which M^as called the debateable ground, being a sort of overlajJ of 

 the boundary ; and this land was claimed by both nations, but could not 

 jiroperly be said to belong to either. Now, something similar to this 

 happens, wherever two districts meet in which different dialects are 

 spoken. There is a sort of overlap, where the words and phrases have 

 become so blended and intermixed, that the folk speech cannot be said to 

 belong exclusively to either district. Hence, in that part of Cumberland 

 bordering on Scotland, from the Cheviot Hills on the east, to Silloth on 

 the west, the dialect is half Scottish. In the higher part of the dales, such 

 as Borrowdale and Wythburn, which run up to the southern boundary of 



