174 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



imagined it at all like our own. On the contrary, he said, 

 except among the vulgar classes, the Londoner alone has no 

 dialect, but, much more than the native of any other part of 

 England, speaks our language from infancy in its purity, and 

 with the accent generally approved by our most elegant 

 orators and generally acknowledged authorities. 



&quot; But a liberal education must remove provincialisms, both 

 of idiom and accent.&quot; 



&quot; In a degree only. A boy will generally retain a good 

 deal of his provincial accent through the public school and 

 university. At least, I have paid considerable attention to the 

 matter, and I think I am always able to detect it, and say 

 with confidence in which quarter of the kingdom a man spent 

 his youth. You would yourself probably have no difficulty 

 in detecting a Scotchman.&quot; 



&quot; I have noticed that Scotchmen who have resided long in 

 England, and who had in a considerable degree lost their 

 original peculiarities, usually spoke in a disagreeably high 

 key and with great exactness and distinctness of utterance.&quot; 



&quot; That is the result of the original effort which it was ne 

 cessary for them to use to speak correctly. They speak from 

 the book, as it were, and the same is more or less noticeable 

 in all provincialists who do not habitually speak with the 

 accent of their youth.&quot; 



We then informed him that we were Americans, which 

 much surprised him. I somewhat doubt myself the correct 

 ness of his observation. I am aware of habitually using many 

 Yankeeisms myself, and have no desire to avoid them. The 

 New England accent of words, except such as are not very 

 commonly used, I should think might be generally agreeable 

 to the most approved standards in England. The educated 

 English certainly speak with much greater distinctness and 

 more elegance than we commonly do ; perhaps they generally 



