s not alter the fact that many so-called corrupt words are more
correct than the modern accepted form.

It is difficult to convey the peculiar intonation of the
Worcestershire villager's voice, and the _ipsissima verba_ I have
given in my anecdotes lose a good deal in reading by anyone
unacquainted with their method. Each sentence is uttered in a rising
scale with a drop on the last few words, forming, as a whole, a not
unmusical rhythmical drawl. As instances of "muscular effeminacy," two
fields of mine, where flax was formerly grown, went by the name of
"Pax grounds"; the words "rivet" and "vine," were rendered "ribet" and
"bine." "March," a boundary, became "Marsh," so that
Moreton-on-the-March became, most unjustly, "Moreton-in-the-Marsh."
"Do out," was "dout"; "pound," was "pun"; "starved," starred. The
Saxon plural is still in use: "housen" for houses, "flen" for fleas;
and I noticed, with pleasure, that a school inspector did not correct
the children for using the ancient form. Gilbert White, who died in
1793, writes in the section of his book devoted to the Antiquities of
Selborne, that "Within the author's memory the Saxon plurals, _housen_
and _peason_," were in common use. So that Selborne more than a
hundred years ago had, in that particular at any rate, advanced to a
stage of dialect which in Worcestershire is still not fully
established. Certain words beginning with "h" seem a difficulty; a "y"
is sometimes prefixed, and the "h" omitted. Thus height becomes
"yacth," as nearly as I can spell it, and herring is "yerring." "N" is
an ill-treated letter sometimes, when it begins a word; nettles are
always "ettles," but when not wanted, and two consecutive words run
easier, it is added, as in "osier nait" for osier ait.

The word "charm," from the Anglo-Saxon _cyrm_, is used both in
Worcestershire and Hampshire for a continuous noise, such as the
cawing of nesting rooks, or the hum of swarming bees. Similarly, a
witch's incantation--probably in monotone--is a charm, and then comes
to mean the object given by a witch to an applicant. "Charming" and
"bewitching" thus both proclaim their origins, but have now acquired a
totally different signification.

There are an immense number of curious words and phrases in everyday
use, and they were collected by Mr. A. Porson, M.A., who published a
very interesting list with explanatory notes in 1875, under the title
of _Notes of Quaint Words and Sayings in the Dialect of