18 THE DIALECT OF would not have sorpiised her, as it would have been a oorreot reply. This mode of speakiiig is not confined to these parts, nor is it a modem xisa^ only. Dr. Lever, master of St. John's College, Cambridge, m the reign of Edward YI., sa3ns in one of his discourses, speaking of the students there: 'At ten of the dock they go to dynner, where as they be content wyth a peny pyeoe of biefe amongst four, haying a fewt porage made of the brothe of the same byefe wyme salte and otemel, and nothing else/ &c. — See p. 122, Arber^s BepritU of Lever* a Sermons, BrowntitiSy or Browntitiu, very commonly used for the bronchitis, which has a very startling effect when pronounced hroum typhtUy as it often is by those who strain after understanding a word. I am told this is far from uncommon. I was once considerably alarmed on hearing that a friend whom I had seen the day before was suffer- ing from typhtu fever. On inquiry I found the news came through two servants, and I then guessed at the state of affairs, as I knew of the pronunciation. The bronchitis wbb the oompbdnt. Browya. See Brewya. Bmssen (gl, bros'n), t. e. 'brusten/ or bursten, the past participle of
- brust,' or burst.
Bmisen i* taa, a very peculiar form of words, applied chiefly to sacks, bags, and such matters which have burst to pieces, not neces- sarily into two. The quotation above given might certainly seem to suggest thifl^ but I am assured the taa is the same sound as that for the word thou, and by no means the sound of the word two, Brust, same as burst. Bnuten, occurs in its form of hursten in the ballad Lawkin, ver. 24:
- ** I wish a* may be weel," he says,
- ' Wi' my dear lady at hame ;
For the rinss upon my fin^;er8 They've wir$ten into twain." ' Buffet, a portable stool for sitting ; also a foot-stool. Halliwell says it was in early times applied to a stool of three legs ; certainly it is not so here used. A buffet has two ends to rest on, and no proper legs at aJL Bngth (pronounced hoogth; gl, buogth), bigness, size, &c. If a thing IS of a good size, fto., they say, ' It is a rare hugth,^ or ' a gret hugth ; ' also ' a bit o' 6u^A.' Build, formerly pronounced hefujld (du; as in few, com. Eng.) : common still with old people, Bullspink, the bullfinch. Bullward, the person who had the charge of the bull at the bull baiting which was practised on Bush-bearing Monday. See^Prefaoe, ' Bull- baiting.' Bully bowl (pronounced hully baal), a child's or boy's hoop, which
