It is not necessary to speak many words in praise of such an excellent book as “Lakeland Words,” it speaks for itself, and must appeal to any and every Englishman who loves his country and his native mother tongue.
It has often been said that the vocabulary of the ordinary rustic is but poor and scanty, and it is just such books as Mr. Kirkby’s which show how entirely false this statement is. Mr. Kirkby, besides, is not a mere collector, come down from London with his carpet bag to spend a few weeks in the north to pick up material for “copy,” but he has been born and bred in the country of which he writes, and he knows and understands the dialect as no one from outside could. I have had innumerable proofs of this from the vast amount of most valuable material he has contributed to the English Dialect Dictionary. There is a freshness and naturalness in his material which is not found in books written by people imperfectly acquainted with the people and the district.
In these days when the Board Schools teach the children “Standard English,” and when locomotion is so easy that people readily migrate from one part of the country to another, dialects are rapidly decaying and losing their individuality, and it will soon be impossible to compile local glossaries. It is, therefore, not too much to say that Mr. Kirkby deserves the hearty commendation and thanks of every lover of English, for thus handing down to posterity such a faithful portrait of the language of the Lakeland district, in all its native freshness and richness.
Joseph Wright.
Oxford, January, 1899.
“Man changes his dialect from century to century.”
Carlyle.