ci of vol. II of Macaulay's edition
of Gower. I may illustrate this by noting that in _Conf. Amant._ i
1908, we find _pitt_ riming with _witt_, whereas in the same, v 4945,
_pet_ rimes with _let_.
We know that, in 1386, the poet Chaucer was elected a knight of
the shire for Kent, and in 1392-3 he was residing at Greenwich. He
evidently knew something of the Kentish dialect; and he took advantage
of the circumstance, precisely as Gower did, for varying his rimes.
The earliest example of this is in his _Book of the Duchess_, l. 438,
where he uses the Kentish _ken_ instead of _kin_ (A.S. _cynn_) in
order to secure a rime for _ten_. In the _Canterbury Tales_, E 1057,
he has _kesse_, to kiss (A.S. _cyssan_), to rime with _stedfastnesse_.
In the same, A 1318, he has _fulfille_, to fulfil (cf. A.S. _fyllan_,
to fill), to rime with _wille_; but in Troilus, iii 510, he changes it
to _fulfelle_, to rime with _telle_; with several other instances of a
like kind.
It is further remarkable that some Kentish forms seem to have
established themselves in standard English, as when we use _dent_ with
the sense of _dint_ (A.
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