same, v 4945,
_pet_ rimes with _let_.

We know that, in 1386, the poet Chaucer was elected a knight of
the shire for Kent, and in 1392-3 he was residing at Greenwich. He
evidently knew something of the Kentish dialect; and he took advantage
of the circumstance, precisely as Gower did, for varying his rimes.
The earliest example of this is in his _Book of the Duchess_, l. 438,
where he uses the Kentish _ken_ instead of _kin_ (A.S. _cynn_) in
order to secure a rime for _ten_. In the _Canterbury Tales_, E 1057,
he has _kesse_, to kiss (A.S. _cyssan_), to rime with _stedfastnesse_.
In the same, A 1318, he has _fulfille_, to fulfil (cf. A.S. _fyllan_,
to fill), to rime with _wille_; but in Troilus, iii 510, he changes it
to _fulfelle_, to rime with _telle_; with several other instances of a
like kind.

It is further remarkable that some Kentish forms seem to have
established themselves in standard English, as when we use _dent_ with
the sense of _dint_ (A.S. _dynt_). When we speak of _the left hand_,
the form _left_ is really Kentish, and occurs in the _Ayenbite of
Inwyt_; the Midland form is properly _lift_, which is common enough in
Middle English; see the _New English Dictionary_, s.v. _Left_, adj.
_Hemlock_ is certainly a Kentish form; cf. A.S. _hymlice_, and see the
_New English Dictionary_. So also is _kernel_ (A.S. _cyrnel_); _knell_
(A.S. _cnyllan_, verb); _merry_ (A.S. _myrge_, _myrige_); and perhaps
_stern_, adj. (A.S. _styrne_).

There are some excellent remarks upon the vocalism of the Kentish
dialect in Middle English by W. Heuser, in the German periodical
entitled _Anglia_, vol XVII pp. 73-90.

CHAPTER VIII

THE MERCIAN DIALECT

I. EAST MIDLAND

The Mercian district lies between the Northern and Southern, occupying
an irregular area which it is very difficult to define. On the east
coast it reached from the mouth of the Humber to that of the Thames.
On the western side it seems to have included a part of Lancashire,
and extended from the mouth of the Lune to the Bristol Channel,
exclusive of a great part of Wales.

There were two chief varieties of it which differed in many
particulars, viz. the East Midland and the West Midland. The East
Midland included, roughly speaking, the counties of Lincoln, Rutland,
Northampton, and Buckingham, and all the counties (between the Thames
and Humber) to the east of these, viz. Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford,
Hertford, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Ess