or vocative, the only permitted uses at present, would have
been incorrect. Even such phrases as "Put _them_ things away"; or "The
man _what_ owns the horse" are not bad, but only antiquated
English{141}. Saying this, I would not in the least imply that these
forms are open to you to employ, or that they would be good English for
_you_. They would not; inasmuch as they are contrary to present use and
custom, and these must be our standards in what we speak, and in what we
write; just as in our buying and selling we are bound to employ the
current coin of the realm, must not attempt to pass that which long
since has been called in, whatever merits or intrinsic value it may
possess. All which I affirm is that the phrases just brought forward
represent past stages of the language, and are not barbarous violations
of it.

{Sidenote: _Luncheon_, _Nuncheon_}

The same may be asserted of certain ways of pronouncing words, which are
now in use among the lower classes, but not among the higher; as, for
example, 'contr{-a}ry', 'mischi{-e}vous', 'blasph{-e}mous', instead of
'contr{)a}ry', 'mischi{)e}vous', 'blasph{)e}mous'. It would be
abundantly easy to show by a multitude of quotations from our poets, and
those reaching very far down, that these are merely the retention of the
earlier pronunciation by the people, after the higher classes have
abandoned it{142}. And on the strength of what has just been spoken, let
me here suggest to you how well worth your while it will prove to be on
the watch for provincial words and inflexions, local idioms and modes of
pronunciation, and to take note of these. Count nothing in this kind
beneath your notice. Do not at once ascribe anything which you hear to
the ignorance or stupidity of the speaker. Thus if you hear 'nuncheon',
do not at once set it down for a malformation of 'luncheon'{143}, nor
'yeel'{144}, of 'eel'. Lists and collections of provincial usage, such
as I have suggested, always have their value. If you are not able to
turn them to any profit yourselves, and they may not stand in close
enough connexion with your own studies for this, yet there always are
those who will thank you for them; and to whom the humblest of these
collections, carefully and intelligently made, will be in one way or
another of real assistance{145}. And there is the more need to urge this
at the present, because, notwithstanding the tenacity with which our
country folk cling to their old forms and usages