SECOND DAY. 45 



it dates from the twelfth century; but I 

 don't remember meeting with it earlier 

 than in Chaucer, in whose inimitable 

 " Canterbury Tales " / is is used for / am 

 both by the Clerk and by the Miller. I 

 cannot tell whether the illustrious old poet 

 meant this for a provincial form of speech ; 

 but it is very likely to have been so. The 

 introduction of Norman French produced 

 many hybrid words, and it probably led 

 to " Ize." The use of the w for v is not 

 confined to the cockneys, as some suppose : 

 it is common in the county of Kent ; but 

 there you often find " / are" for / am, as 

 the vulgar Breton says Je sommes ! The 

 " English of Kent," so much vaunted in old 

 days, was doubtless a language to which 

 Norman French was adapted, whereby it 

 was made more cockney, and less truly 

 English, than the dialects of the " Shires," 

 as the country people of that county to 

 this hour call the other parts of England. 



