Star.
London, England, 1825-12-19 00:00:00

COCKNEY DIALECT.
-e..-

The colloquial language of the inhabitarts of Lon-
don has long been. the subject of remark and satire, and
is known by the name of Cockneyism. Strange, how
ever, as the London dialect may seem, and much as it
has been ..busesr, it is the language Gf our ancestors,
which has been singularly preserved in its purity ; and,
as far as antiquity goes, it is easy to get this sanction col
all those seeii.ing absurdities which mark the ordinary
language of the metropolis—even to the redundant ne-
gatives, double superlatives, and that most singular o'
all perversions, the substitution of the v for or, and vice
versa. Almost every county in England has a peculiar
dialect, and some districts speak a language nearly un-
intelligible. In the colloquial dialect of London there
is a mixture of all these, with a variety of words and
phrases introduced from abroad. Notwithstanding this
Babel-like confusion of toNues, the great body of the
language is Saxon. The transposition of the letters of
v and w is the most prominent error of Cockney pro.
rainciatiun, though4the exchange of letters of the same
organ of speech is not unfrequent in many languages,
particularly the b for the v. In the Province of Gas-
cony these letters are frequently substituted the one for
the other, chick caused Joseph Scaliger to say, "fdices
populi garibus, bihere est ?lure." In several of our old'
authors we find the v and w used almost inditcrimi.
nately for each other, particularly in the Romance of
Sir Lieges, written in the 15th Century, and in the works,
of Thomas Skelton, Poet Laureat to Henry VIII.'
Among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum,
there is a collection of Poems in the hand-writing of,
Skelton, in which we find lawgh, surwaye, and even
detootoer er.

The use of redundant negatives is, no doubt, borrowed from the
French, whose je tsf gal pas" is erjuivalent to the Cockney's—" I
don't know nothing about ib" The use of the double negative in
England can be proved to be of old and even royal authority. In a
proclamation for the apprehension of Sir John Oldcastle, his con-
tumacy in resisting the offers made to him is thus stated :
" Be it known, as Sire John Oldcastel refuses, nor will not re-
ceive, nor sue to have none of the graces," &c.
Chaucer, Roger Ascham, and even Shakspeare, afford us ex-
amples of this error. In Borneo and Juliet we have
" A sudden day of joy
" That thou expect:a not, tier I look'd not for."
The " this here" and " that there" of the London citizen, is hut the
ce.ci and ce-la of the French. The " ourn" and " yourn" of the
Londoner, are the Saxon pronouns possessive, though we cannot say
so much of "him" and "here" which are unquestionably " town
made." Thus it will be seen, that the Cockneys are not chargeable
with innovation, but with too partial an adherence to the ancient
written language of the country.

An Inquest was held at Doncaster on Wednesday,
on the body of Elizabeth Bridlington, who died in con-
sequence of being severely burnt on the Ist instant.—
The woman and her husband had ben indulging in
liberal libations c f rum, and being intox'cated, the man
I crawled to bed, but the deceased remained sitting up
smoking a pipe, when she.set fire to her clothe..
Lust week, T. James, a g, nteel to king young man,
was brought up to Guildhall, on the charge of tleserting
his wife, and leaving her chrrgeable to the parish of
Crippleg ate. The psis oter, it was stated, was formerly
the principal clerk at a banki'g house in Lombard-street,
but having an unconquerab e penchant for driving four-
in-hand, and associating with stage-coarhdrivtirrs, upon.
some slight hint of the unbecamtngness of his conduct
in this respect, from one of the. heads of the sem, he
threw up his employmeht altogether,and entered him-
self as a regular stage-coachman upon the southern
road. About 13 months age he deserted his wife, then
far.advanced in pregnancy with her seventh child, and
although his connexions 'Arra of great respectabillty, his
father having retired from bu-iness on his fortune, ant
three of his bro hers being clerks in the banking. house
alluded to, the p,.o,'crewure was stiff. red to resort to
the parish workhouse during her conetement.
CoNresstors.-4 Roman Catholic curate, to free'
himself from imi.ortunities at improper hours, gave
notice to his Parishioners that on Monday hie would
ctmfess the liars; on Tuesd ry, the misers ; on Wednes-1
day, the slanderers; on Thursday, the thieies;. on Frl!
.d ty, the libertines; and on Saturday, the bad Women.;
therefore &ley must all attend accordingly. • I
CXI'7•AtN ROCK IV WlClCLoW.—llvtifsday
'sr'orti hi,
' the following liOliCe was found posted 'Ort the market-house of
puolavin:
0. Let the great Jones and Ha RlLdilliON take care of theiiiselves,
or we will serve theirs as we *cried Mr. r'cwet.. ht no person
send them any cattle to Toblicrfin4, or WWII! serve diem as we
did rottino's sheep; 'mile, lit them take a caution by this, or if
IlfiLthey will be sorry. iIiktARTIN ROCK.
" Let no man pull this down."
Mr. rowel, the (lendemur alluded to shove, bay been much in-
jured by the depreAlations constuitted on Isis lands lay the sonic pc r-
unts, It is supposed, who houghed eight of air. rui.LA o't sheep.

4e •
POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
M A NS.I N- lIOUSX.•
, .
The Loan Marna. on Saturday, resumed his investigation of the
important queetions arising as to the right of baling, &c. on their iyer
Thames, which was adjourned last Saturday.
Mr. Haerner's assistant attended on b. half of the fishermen', and
Ur. Saunders, the Water-bailiff, and a number of persons interested
in the private preserves of fish,attended on the other side.
After the Loan Marna had bestowed some time on the further
investigation of the subject, heproceeded to state, that Tui had, dur-
ing the week, given It much consideration, and had consulted the
City Solicitor, and the result was, that he did not feel himself justi-
, bed in taking the responsibility upon himself of deciding the p rots'
in dispute, especially with respect to an extension of about 1,4.501
yards, in what are ternied the " sleeps," being private preserves for
fish, and he should, therefore, by virtue of his authority, as Coh-
servator of the river Thames, summon a Jury to adjust the rights of
all parties.
The Loan MAYOR very politely acceded to a request made by
Mr. Harmer's assistant, that Mr. Harmer, on behalf of the fisher-
men, should h tee notice when the Jury was summoned, that the
fishermen might offer evidence if they chose.
3lr. Harmer's assistant, on behalf of the fishermen, expressed his
entire satisfaction at the course adopted, and begged, on behalf of hls
clients, to thank the Loan MAros fir the great attention he had
paid to the business.
•