arge ye_ and _clergy_, without supposing him
ignorant that he was guilty of "lese majeste" against the laws of correct
pronunciation.

When I asked MR. BEDE'S decision on a _palpable Cockneyism_ in verse, I did
so merely with a view, by a "_tu quoque_ pleasantry," to enliven a
discussion, which I hope we may carry on and conclude in that good humour
with which I accept his parenthetic hint, that I have made "a bull" of my
Pegasus. I beg to submit to him, that, as I read the _Classical
Dictionary_, it is from the _heels_ of Pegasus the fount of poetic
inspiration is supposed to be derived; and, further, that the _brogue_ is
not so _malapropos_ to the _heel_ as he imagines, for in Ireland the
_brogue_ is in use as well to cover the _understanding_ as to _tip the
tongue_. Could I enjoy the pleasure of MR. BEDE'S company in a stroll over
my native mountains, he might find that there are occasions on which he
might be glad to put off {484} his London-made shoe, and "to _wear_ the
_brogue_, though _speak_ none."

A. B. R.

P.S.--The _postscriptum_ of J. H. T. respecting the pronunciation of
English being preserved in Scotland, goes direct to an opinion I long since
formed, that the Lowland Scotch, as we read it in the Waverley Novels, is
the only genuine unadulterated remains we have of the Saxon language, as
used before the Norman Conquest. I formed this opinion from continually
tracing what we call "braid Scotch" to its root, in Bosworth's, and other
Saxon dictionaries; and I lately found this fact confirmed and accounted
for in a passage of Verstegan, as follows:--He tells us that after the
battle of Hastings Prince Edgar Atheling, with his sisters Margaret and
Christian, retired into Scotland, where King Malcolm married the former of
these ladies; and proceeds thus:

"As now the English court, by reason of the aboundance of Normannes
therein, became moste to speak French, so the Scottish court, because
of the queen, and the many English that came with her, began to speak
English; the which language, it would seem, King Malcolm himself had
before that learned, and now, by reason of his queen, did more affecte
it. But the English toung, in fine, prevailed more in Scotland than the
French did in England; _for English became the language of all the
south part of Scotland_, the Irish (or Gaelic) having before that been
the general language of the whole country, since remaining only in the