The curious poem called _William of Palerne_ (Palermo) or _William
and the Werwolf_, written in alliterative verse about 1350-60, and
edited by me for the E.E.T.S. in 1867, seems to be in a form of West
Midland, and has been claimed for Shropshire; nothing is known as to
its author.
The very remarkable poem called _The Pearl_, and three _Alliterative
Poems_ by the same author, were first edited by Dr Morris for the
E.E.T.S. in 1864; with a preface in which the peculiarities of
the dialect were discussed. Dr Morris showed that the grammatical
forms are uniform and consistent throughout, and may be safely
characterised as being West Midland. Moreover, they are frequently
very like Northumbrian, and must belong to the Northern area of the
West Midland dialect. "Much," says Dr Morris, "may be said in favour
of their Lancashire origin."
The MS. which contains the above poems also contains the excellent
alliterative romance-poem named _Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight_,
evidently written by the same author; so that this poem also may be
considered as a specimen of West Midland.
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