which may
be called Northern and Southern, as before; whilst the other three
arise from a division of the widely spread Midland into subdivisions.
These may be called, respectively, West Midland, Mid Midland (or
simply Midland), and East Midland; and it has been shown that similar
subdivisions appear even in the Middle English period.

This arrangement of the modern dialects under five divisions is that
adopted by Prof. Wright, who further simplifies the names by using
Western in place of West Midland, and Eastern in place of East
Midland. This gives us, as a final result, five divisions of English
dialects, viz. Northern, Western, Midland, Eastern, and Southern;
to which we must add the dialects of modern Scotland (originally
Northern), and the dialects of Ireland, viz. of Ulster (a kind of
Northern), Dublin, and Wexford (a kind of Southern).

No map of dialects is here given in illustration, because it is
practically impossible to define their boundaries accurately. Such
a map was once given by Dr Ellis, but it is only arbitrary; and Prof.
Wright expressly says that, in his work also, the boundaries suggested
are inexact; they are only given for convenience, as an approximation
to the truth. He agrees with Dr Ellis in most of the particulars.

Many of the counties are divided between two, or even three, dialects;
I somewhat simplify matters by omitting to mention some of them, so as
to give merely a general idea of the chief dialectal localities. For
fuller information, see the _Dialect Grammar_.

I. The dialects of Scotland may be subdivided into nine groups:

1. Shetland and Orkney. 2. Caithness. 3. Nairn, Elgin, Banff,
Aberdeen. 4. E. Forfar, Kincardine. 5. W. Forfar, most of Perth,
parts of Fife and Stirling. 6. S. Ayr, W. Dumfries, Kirkcudbright,
Wigton. 7. S.E. Argyle, N. Ayr, Renfrew, Lanark. 8. Kinross,
Clackmannan, Linlithgow, Edinburgh, Haddington, Berwick, Peebles.
9. E. Dumfries, Selkirk, Roxburgh.

II. Ireland.--Ulster, Dublin, Wexford.

III. England and Wales, in five divisions: (_a_) Northern;
(_b_) Midland; (_c_) Eastern; (_d_) Western; (_e_) Southern.

(_a_) Three groups: 1. Northumberland, N. Durham. 2. S. Durham;
most of Cumberland, Westmoreland, N. Lancashire, hilly parts of
W. Riding of Yorkshire. 3. N. and E. Ridings of Yorkshire.

(_b_) Ten groups: 1. Lincolnshire. 2. S.E. Lancashire, N.E.
Cheshire, N.W. Derby. 3. S.W. Lancashire, S. of the Ribble.
4. Mid Lancashire, Isle