1793, writes in the section of his book devoted to the Antiquities of
Selborne, that "Within the author's memory the Saxon plurals, _housen_
and _peason_," were in common use. So that Selborne more than a
hundred years ago had, in that particular at any rate, advanced to a
stage of dialect which in Worcestershire is still not fully
established. Certain words beginning with "h" seem a difficulty; a "y"
is sometimes prefixed, and the "h" omitted. Thus height becomes
"yacth," as nearly as I can spell it, and herring is "yerring." "N" is
an ill-treated letter sometimes, when it begins a word; nettles are
always "ettles," but when not wanted, and two consecutive words run
easier, it is added, as in "osier nait" for osier ait.

The word "charm," from the Anglo-Saxon _cyrm_, is used both in
Worcestershire and Hampshire for a continuous noise, such as the
cawing of nesting rooks, or the hum of swarming bees. Similarly, a
witch's incantation--probably in monotone--is a charm, and then comes
to mean the object given by a witch to an applicant. "Charming" and
"bewitching" thus both proclaim their origins, but have now acquired a
totally different signification.

There are an immense number of curious words and phrases in everyday
use, and they were collected by Mr. A. Porson, M.A., who published a
very interesting list with explanatory notes in 1875, under the title
of _Notes of Quaint Words and Sayings in the Dialect of South
Worcestershire_. I append a list of the local archaic words and
phrases which can also be found in Shakespeare's Plays. This list was
compiled by me some years ago, and appeared in the "Notes and Queries"
column of the _Evesham Journal_; I think all are still to be heard in
Evesham and the villages in that corner of Worcestershire.