At pp. 152-175 of the same volume, Dr Sweet gives 1204 Kentish glosses
of a very early date. No. 268 is: "_Cardines_, hearran"; and in
several modern dialects, including Hampshire, the upright part of a
gate to which the hinges are fastened is called a _harr_.
Several years ago, M. Paul Mayer found five short sermons in a Kentish
dialect in MS. Laud 471, in the Bodleian Library, along with their
French originals. They are printed in Morris's _Old English
Miscellany_, and two of them will be found in _Specimens of Early
English_, Part I, p. 141. The former of these is for the Epiphany,
the text being taken from Matt. ii 1. The date is just before 1250.
I give an extract.
The kinges hem wenten and hi seghen the sterre thet yede bifore hem,
alwat hi kam over tho huse war ure loverd was; and alswo hi hedden
i-fonden ure loverd, swo hin an-urede, and him offrede hire
offrendes, gold, and stor, and mirre. Tho nicht efter thet aperede
an ongel of hevene in here slepe ine metinge, and hem seide and het,
thet hi ne solde ayen wende be herodes, ac be an other weye wende
into hire londes.
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