THE PEOPLE AND THE FARMS 107 



to the use of the Englishe toung and their Englishe is 

 equall to the beste." There is no doubt that he was 

 speaking of the gentry, but hasty makers of books 

 who came after him took it to mean that the people 

 generally spoke good English, and this statement has 

 been repeated in books down to the present day. 

 Andrew Borde, in his Eo\e of the Introduction of Kno- 

 ledge^ 1542, wrote : " In Cornwall is two speeches, the 

 one is naughty Englische, and the other Cornysshe 

 speeche." The last has been long dead, and dead will 

 remain in spite of the efforts of one enthusiast who 

 hopes to revive it and has actually written a sonnet in 

 Cornish just to prove that it can be done ; but 

 " naughty Englische " is still generally spoken, though 

 very much less naughty than the " proper Cornish " 

 which I have described as quite unintelligible to a 

 stranger. 



It was explained to me by a gentleman, resident for 

 many years in West Cornwall, a student of the people, 

 that they have two distinct ways of speaking, especi- 

 ally in the villages along the coast and in places much 

 frequented by visitors. In speaking to strangers they 

 enunciate their words with deliberation so as to be 

 understood, and those among them who have a good 

 deal of practice succeed very well ; but among them- 

 selves they speak in a hurried manner, slurring over 

 or omitting half the syllables in half the words, so 

 that it is most difficult to follow them. I am con- 

 vinced from my own observation that he is right. 

 I have sat conversing with a knot of fishermen, and 

 after a while become silent, pretending to fall into a 



