Page:The ancient language, and the dialect of Cornwall.djvu/74

 54 man is intensified towards the east, that of the miner towards the west, but with various interminglings of each. It is hard to point out a line of demarcation, so insensibly do the branches of the dialect overlap each other, and become gradually shaded away. The writer considers that somewhere between Bodmin and St. Austell, a line drawn north and south from sea to sea across the County, would indicate the locality where the dialect of the miner and that of the husbandman merge into each other. Mr. T. Q. Couch, in the introduc- tory remarks to his glossary of East Cornwall, considers that such a line should be further west, viz: ^^from Crantock Bay, on the St. George's Channel, to Veryan Bay, on the English Channel." This question is not very easy to decide. The story (given further on) of Richard and Betty at St. Austell is intended by the writer as a specimen of the dialect of that part of the County. It will be found to be, not exactly a miners' dialect, or very much that of the husbandman, and yet there is in the tale a mixture of both. The miner holds to his peculiar form of speech, apparently with more tenacity than the husbandman. It requires close attention to discover any provincial accent among the educated classes. It is however notice- able more or less among them as we travel westwards, and especially near the mining districts. This is perceptible in travelling the short journey from Bodmin to St. Austell.