26 SPRING-TIDE. 



there was a vine caddie ! A M pwizoned 

 ael the vish, a was so cusnashun dirty ! 



J. There is a choice epithet which your 

 friend has used more than once, and which 

 I don't remember meeting with before. 

 Pray what does he mean by a wosbird ? 



S. It has been supposed by many to 

 be a term synonymous with bastard, but I 

 am half inclined to the opinion of a friend, 

 who suggests that the first syllable is com- 

 posed of the Anglo-Saxon " wo," wrong, 

 evil, misfortune, or mischief ': a " wosbird " 

 is therefore equivalent to a bird of evil, or 

 bird of mischief, and in this sense it is ap- 

 plied by those who use it. I don't believe 

 it is used at all in the north of England, 

 and it may therefore be considered a rem- 

 nant of the West Saxon dialect, to which, 

 like many other words, it appears to be 

 peculiar; while some are common among 

 the rural population throughout the coun- 

 try, from the Isle of Wight to the Tyne. 



