the children for using the ancient form.  Gilbert White, who died in 1793, writes in the section of his book devoted to the Antiquities of Selborne, that “Within the author’s memory the Saxon plurals, housen and peason,” were in common use.  So that Selborne more than a hundred years ago had, in that particular at any rate, advanced to a stage of dialect which in Worcestershire is still not fully established.  Certain words beginning with “h” seem a difficulty; a “y” is sometimes prefixed, and the “h” omitted.  Thus height becomes “yacth,” as nearly as I can spell it, and herring is “yerring.”  “N” is an ill-treated letter sometimes, when it begins a word; nettles are always “ettles,” but when not wanted, and two consecutive words run easier, it is added, as in “osier nait” for osier ait.

The word “charm,” from the Anglo-Saxon cyrm, is used both in Worcestershire and Hampshire for a continuous noise, such as the cawing of nesting rooks, or the hum of swarming bees.  Similarly, a witch’s incantation—­probably in monotone—­is a charm, and then comes to mean the object given by a witch to an applicant.  “Charming” and “bewitching” thus both proclaim their origins, but have now acquired a totally different signification.

There are an immense number of curious words and phrases in everyday use, and they were collected by Mr. A. Porson, M.A., who published a very interesting list with explanatory notes in 1875, under the title of Notes of Quaint Words and Sayings in the Dialect of South Worcestershire.  I append a list of the local archaic words and phrases which can also be found in Shakespeare’s Plays.  This list was compiled by me some years ago, and appeared in the “Notes and Queries” column of the Evesham Journal; I think all are still to be heard in Evesham and the villages in that corner of Worcestershire.

SHIP—­sheep; cf.  Shipton, Shipston, etc.; Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act I., Scene 1; Comedy of Errors, Act IV., Scene 1.

FALSING—­the present participle of the verb “to false”; Comedy of Errors, Act II., Scene 2; Cymbeline, Act II., Scene 3.

FALL—­verb active; Comedy of Errors, Act II., Scene 2; Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V., Scene 1.

CUSTOMERS—­companions; Comedy of Errors, Act IV., Scene 4.

KNOTS—­flower beds; Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act I., Scene 1; Richard
II., Act III., Scene 4.

TALENT—­for talon; cf. “tenant” for tenon; Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act
IV., Scene 2.

METHEGLIN—­mead, a drink made from honey; Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act V., Scene 2; Merry Wives, Act V., Scene 5.

HANDKERCHER—­handkerchief; King John, Act IV., Scene 1; King Henry V., Act III., Scene 2.

NOR NEVER SHALL—­two negatives strengthening each other; King John, Act IV., Scene 1, and Act V., Scene 7.