But we have here the great Midland shibboleth, the Present Plural of the Verb ending in en. This is sometimes altogether dropped. The Third Person Singular of the Present now ends in s, which is most unlike the Genesis and Exodus. Omnis is translated by hevirilk; this, to the North of the Humber, would have been ilk an. Are is used for the Latin sunt. The Past Participle has no prefix. The letter h is sometimes set at the beginning of words most uncouthly. Acennede (genitus) is now turned into begotten. Heli stands for the old halig, as in the Athanasian Creed given at page 138. We light upon the full forms mankind and kingdom for the first time. Nottingham would be as likely a town as any for the following rimes. We may imagine the great Bishop Robert turning aside from his wrangles with the Roman Court and from the studies that made the name of Lincolniensis known throughout Christendom, and hearing his Mercian flock repeat these same lines.
THE EAST MIDLAND DIALECT.
(About A.D. 1250.)
[I b]idde huve with milde stevene
prayer
raise
voice
til ure fader þe king of hevene,
to
in þe murunge of Cristis pine,
remembrance
for þe laverd of þis hus, and al lele hine,
faithful hinds
for alle cristinfolk that is in gode lif,
that God schilde ham to dai fro sinne and fro siche;
for alle tho men that are in sinne bunden,
those
