Page:The ancient language, and the dialect of Cornwall.djvu/73

53 Tregellas used to notice this in his lectures, and give illustrations, so that his listeners could at once perceive the difference even between two mining districts. Although there were, and still are, many minor shades of Cornish speech, yet speaking generally it may be said for the sake of making a convenient distinction, that there are two dialects in the County, one which may be called that of the husbandman, the other that of the miner. Where they border on each other they intermingle, where districts are more widely separated, in each the dialect is more distinct and characteristic. This is observed in the towns also, although as may be supposed the difference is not so marked. During the past half century the peculiarities of speech in the towns, and indeed in the rural districts also, have very much altered, and have been tending to greater uniformity. Formerly it was very easy to distinguish between a man of Bodmin, and one from either Launceston, Liskeard, Withiel, St. Columb, and more especially from St. Agnes, Redruth, or St. Just. In the west of the County we find a considerable number of old Cornish words still in use, but they become much fewer as we go eastwards. In distant parts of the County, the words are often the same, although spoken with different accents. Indeed, the provincial words are so inextricably mixed up, that it is hard to say as regards a large proportion of them, which are of the eastern and which of the western dialect. The accent of the husband-