Hofe at prentis lads e them days wor lether'd whoile ther skin wor skoi-blue, and clam'd whoile ther booans wer bare, an work'd whoile they wor as knock-kneed as oud Nobbletistocks.

Thah nivver sees nooa knock-kneed cutlers nah: nou, not sooa; they'n better mesters nah, an they'n better sooat a wark anole.

They dooant mezher em we a stick, as oud Natta Hall did.
But for all that, we'd none a yer wirligig polishin; nor Tom Dockin scales, wit bousters comin off; nor yer sham stag, nor sham revvits, an sich loik.

T' noives wor better made then, Jerra.
_Jerra_: Hah, they wor better made; they made t' noives for yuse then, but they mayn em to sell nah.
Notes .-- Observe _'n_ for _han_ (plural), have; _on't nah_, of it now; _e heitin_, in eating; _mess a_, dish of, meal of; _brawis_, brose, porridge; _hah_, how; _sahwer wotcake_, leavened oatcake; _bur o_, but I; _mo_, my; _ma_, me; _tubbe oud_, to be old; _gers_, gets; _war for ware_, worse for wear; _o'st_, I shall; _think on_, remember; _enah_, presently; _nah days_, nowadays; _at's_, that are; _dun too_, treated; _nor we_, than we; _Hallamshoir_, Hallamshire, the district including Sheffield and the neighbourhood; _sen_, say; _happen_, perhaps; _for't_, for the; _hofe at_, half of the; _e them_, in those; _lether'd_, beaten; _whoile_, till; _clam'd_ (for _clamm'd_), starved; _sooat a_, sort of; _anole_, and all; _we_, with; _wirligig_, machine; _Tom Dockin scales_, scales cut out of thin rolled iron instead of being forged; _bousters_, bolsters (a _bolster_ is a lump of metal between the tang and the blade of a knife); _stag_, stag-horn handle ( ?); _mayn_, pl.make.
MIDLAND (Group 6): CHESHIRE.
The following extract is from "Betty Bresskittle's Pattens, or Sanshum Fair," by J.C.

Clough; printed with Holland's _Cheshire Glossary_, E.D.S.