"_Here, d--n thee!_ I'll gee tha _tuther penny, an zummet besides!_" exclaimed _Farmer Tidball_, leaping down the bank, with a stout sliver of a crab-tree in his hand.--The sequel may be easily imagined.
Nanny Dubby, Sally Clink, Long Josias an Raway Pink, --Girnin Jan, Creeplin Philip and the upright man.
TWO DISSERTATIONS ON SOME OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PRONOUNS.
No. 1.--I, IC, ICH, ICHE, UTCHY, ISE, C', CH', CHE, CH'AM, CH'UD, CH'LL.
Until recently few writers on the English Language, have devoted much attention to the origin of our first personal pronoun I, concluding perhaps that it would be sufficient to state that it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _ic_. No pains seem to have been taken to explain the connexion which _ic, ich,_ and _iche_ have with _Ise, c', ch', che',_ and their combinations in such words as _ch'am, ch'ud, ch'ill, &c_. Hence we have been led to believe that such contractions are the vulgar corruptions of an ignorant and, consequently, unlettered people. That the great portion of the early Anglo-Saxons were an unlettered people, and that the _rural_ population were particularly unlettered, and hence for the most part ignorant, we may readily admit; and even at the present time, many districts in the west will be found pretty amply besprinkled with that unlettered ignorance for which many of our forefathers were distinguished. But an enquiry into the origin and use of our provincial words will prove, that even our unlettered population have been guided by certain rules in their use of an energetic language. Hence it will be seen on inquiry that many of the words supposed to be _vulgarisms_, and _vulgar_ and _capricious_ contractions are no more so than many of our own words in daily use; as to the Anglo-Saxon contractions of _ch'am, ch'ud,_ and _ch'ill_, they will be found equally consistent with our own common contractions of _can't, won't, he'll, you'll, &c., &c._ in our present polished dialect.
Whether, however, our western dialects will be more dignified by an Anglo-Saxon pedigree I do not know; those who delight in tracing descents through a long line of ancestors up to one primitive original ought to be pleased with the literary genealogist, who demonstrates that many of our provincial words and contractions have an origin more remote, and in their estimation of course, must be more legitimate than a mere slip from the parent stock, as our personal pronoun, I, unquestionably is.