CANADIAN ENGLISH. 351 



In England, when a swimmer makes his first leap, head foremost, into 

 the water he is said to dive, and is spoken of as having dived, in ac- 

 cordance with the ordinary and regular construction of the verb. 

 JSTot so however, is it with the modern refinements of our Canadian 

 English. In referring to such a feat here, it would be said, not that 

 he dived, but that he dove. Even Longfellow makes use of this 

 form, — so harsh and unfamiliar to English ears, — iu the musical 

 measures of his " Hiawatha : — 



" Straight into the river Kwasind 



Plunged as if he were an otter, 



Dove as if he were a beaver," &c. 



As we say drive, drove, driven, we may look for the completion of 

 the verb to dive, on its new model, and find the next poet's hero hav- 

 ing " diven as if he were a beaver" or au}r other amphibious native 

 of the new world. Though as yet unsanctioned by such classic 

 authority, the verb to give not unfrequently assumes among us the 

 past form of he guv, rose becomes ris, chid — chode, delved — dolve, helped 

 — holp, or holped, swelled — sivoll, &c. Tet so lawless and systemless are 

 the changes, that, along with such alterations, which might seem to aim 

 at a universal creation of strong preterites, we have the process 

 reversed, and froze becomes freezed or friz, felt-feeled, &c. That some 

 of these are as yet mere vulgarisms is not to be denied, but when the 

 older examples receive the sanction of the highest literary authorities 

 we may reasonably dread that the adoption of the remainder is a mere 

 question of time. 



When an Englishman speaks at random or without sufficient 

 authority, he guesses. When he expresses an opiuion, he thinks. 

 Guess and think are not synonymes, but refer to two opposite states 

 of mind. Par otherwise is it in the neighbouring republic, and with 

 too many here ; for, with Americans and their imitators, guess and 

 think have an identical signification. A " Clear-grit" guesses that the 

 person beside him who does not spit on the floor, is a tory and a con- 

 temptible aristocrat, while a tobacco-moistening " Hoosier" guesses, 

 and for like reasons, that a Boston merchant must be a federalist.. 

 Now if they only knew it, neither of these discerning and refined 

 individuals guesses at all. Contrariwise, each feels confident in the 

 matter pronounced upon. The general conduct of the persons of whom 

 they thus judge, together with the subdued action of their salivary 

 glands, has satisfied both that the political tendencies of the others 

 must be the antithesis of their own. They are in no uncertainty, and 

 a guess is impossible. The ordinary American use of this word justly 



