Page:A Glossary of Words Used In the Neighbourhood of Sheffield - Addy - 1888.djvu/18

 book any curious word which came under my notice. Insensibly the collection began to grow large, and in the end it was written in three thick quarto volumes containing altogether 1,350 pages, one word, and sometimes two or three, being written on each page. The collection was afterwards from time to time increased by writing in other archaic and dialectal words. At this stage I found on examining the reports of the English Dialect Society that Mr. R. E. Leader, B.A., of Sheffield, had engaged to publish for the Society a glossary of the dialect of this district. When I found that such was the case, I consulted him on the subject, and also wrote to Mr. Nodal, the secretary of the Society. It appeared that Mr. Leader had made some collections for a glossary, but that, owing to the exigencies of professional work, he had abandoned his scheme. The work to be done was, indeed, much larger than I expected to find it. I found my collection increasing month by month, so that at length my manuscript began to resemble the old play—
 * Scriptus et in tergo nee dum finitus Orestes.

The work, however, was neither arduous nor unpleasant. It has been a source of amusement on winter evenings to me and to members of my family. When he heard of the progress which had been made, Mr. Leader generously and at once placed at my disposal the collection which he had got together. He had procured from the British Museum a transcript of the manuscript of Hunter's intended second edition, and using this, as well as Hunter's printed glossary, for a basis, he began, in 1874, to publish a preliminary attempt in the Local Notes and Queries, which were then printed once a week in the columns of the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent It was hoped that by this means others would be induced to contribute words. But this hope can hardly be said to have been realized, for it is evident that the words added in this way were very few. It was not until I had got together the three volumes above mentioned that I began to incorporate the work of others who have gone before me, and my method of doing so was as follows. The unpublished collection left by Hunter was first consulted. It was found to contain a considerable number of words or