egory will fall the transposition of _s_ with _p_, as
in _waps_ for _wasp_, _curps_ for _crisp_; with _k_, as in _ax_ for
_ask_; with _l_, as in _halse_ for _hazel_.

A hard consonant at the beginning of a word is replaced with a soft one,
_f_ for _v_, as in _vire_ for _fire_; _s_ with _z_, as in _zur_ for
_sir_; _th_ with _d_, as in "What's _dee_ doing here _dis_ time o'night?"
_k_ with _g_, as in _gix_, the hollow stalk of umbelliferous plants, for
_keeks_. To be "as dry as a gix" is to be as dry as one of these
stalks--a strong appeal for a cup of cider.

Of another peculiarity which our Western district has in common with
Norway, I am uncertain whether it extends further eastward, or not; I
mean the replacing an initial _h_ with _y_, as in _yeffer_ for _heifer_,
_Yeffeld_ for _Heathfield_. One it has in common with Latin as compared
with Greek--the replacing an initial hard _th_ with _f_, as in _fatch_
for _thatch_, like L. _fores_ for [Greek text]. A singularly capricious
alteration of the vowels, so as to make long ones short, and short ones
long, is, as far as I am aware, confined to our Langue d'u district. For
instance, a _pool_-reed is called a _pull_-reed, a _bull_ a _bul_, a
_nail_ a _nal_, _paint pant_; and bills are sent in by country
tradespeople with the words so spelt. Again, a _mill_ is called a
_meel_, and a _fist_ a _feest_, _pebble_ becomes _popple_, and _Webber_
(a surname) _Wobber_. This looks like one of those dialectic
peculiarities for which there is no means of accounting.

In the selection of words for their vocabulary I trust that these
gentlemen will follow the example of Mr. Cecil Smith in his admirable
work on "The Birds of Somersetshire"--not to admit one of which he had
not positive proof that it had been shot in this county. Every one
should be taken down from the lips of a native, and such as cannot be
identified should be sternly rejected. The task that they have
undertaken is a laborious one; but there is no county in England that
affords such materials for tracing the influence of a subordinate upon a
conquering race--of a Celtic language upon one that was purely German.

I cannot conclude these remarks without adverting to a rich and hitherto
quite unexplored mine of antiquities--the names of our fields. There is
reason to believe that our country roads were traced out, and the
boundaries and names of our fields assigned to them, when these were
first reclaimed from th