Xll PREFACE DEDICATORY. 



from the Warwickshire Avon to the Isle 

 of Wight. In all the counties included 

 within these limits we have varieties, it is 

 true, but varieties of one dialect, and in 

 that dialect may be traced innumerable 

 relics of the language of our Saxon fore- 

 fathers. Nor is it in words alone, many 

 of which have become obsolete among the 

 educated, that we find traces of an older 

 language. The pronunciation of many yet 

 recognised is so clearly that of the original 

 tongue, that we need cite but two exam- 

 ples; namely, Dew, pronounced Deaw, and 

 Few, pronounced Feaw. In the South and 

 West of England, either of these words 

 may be taken as the Shiboleth of the 

 rural population; but it is not so with 

 Brad amang, and ad } pure Saxon, still 

 found, not only in the South and West, 

 but also on the Northern borders of Eng- 

 land. 



It is obvious that in many districts of 



