and West held to the last letter, as we see in the Hali Meidenhad. We may still write either gray or grey: the case is most exceptional.
We now come to that piece which, more than anything else written outside the Danelagh, has influenced our Standard English. About 1220, the Ancren Riwle was written in the Dorsetshire dialect; it became most popular, and copies of it are extant in other dialects. Of these the Salopian variation is the most remarkable.[1] The language is near of kin to that employed in the Legend of St. Margaret; but the Southern o has by this time made further inroads upon the old a. Whoso replaces the word written at Peterborough wua sua; and we find our No, for the first time, in direct denial. The combination ea is most frequent; thus lœne (macer) becomes leane. We find new phrases cropping up, common enough in our mouths now; such as et enes (at once), ase ofte ase, ase muche ase, enes a wike ette leste (once a week at the least, page 344), yung ase he was, hu se ever it beo ischeaped, sumetime (page 92, but sumchere is the favourite form for this), al beo (albeit, page 420), hwerse ever, amidde þe vorhefde, bivorenhond (beforehand). There is a new phrase, never þe later, which was near replacing our nevertheless, since Tyndale sometimes used the former. Both alike occur in the Ancren Riwle. The old gewhœr (ubique) gets the usual prefix ever added to it; and everihwar (page 200), which we now wrongly spell as every where, is the result.
- ↑ It is most curious to compare the Salopian version (Reliquiœ Antiquœ, ii. 4) with the Dorsetshire version (Camden Society).
