4014. _Strother._ There is now no town of this name in England, but the reference is probably to a place which gave its name to a Northumbrian family. Mr. Gollancz tells me:--'The Strother family, of Northumberland, famous in the fourteenth century, was a branch of the Strothers, of Castle Strother in Glendale, to the west of Wooler. The chief member of this Northumberland branch seems to have been _Alan de Strother_ the younger, who died in 1381. (See Calendarium Inquis. post Mortem, 4 Ric. II, vol. iii. p. 32.) The records contain numerous references to him; e. g. "Aleyn de Struther, conestable de nostre chastel de Rokesburgh," A. D. 1366 (Rymer's Foedera, iii. 784); "Alanum del Strother, vicecomitem de Rokesburgh et vicecomitem Northumbriæ" (id. iii. 919). It is a noteworthy point that this Alan de Strother had a son _John_.' This definite information does away with the old guess, that Strother is a mistake for Langstrothdale Chase almost at the N.W. extremity of the W. Riding of Yorkshire, joining the far end of Wharfdale to Ribblesdale, and even now not very accessible, though it can be reached from Ribblehead station, on the Skipton and Carlisle Railway, or from Horton-in-Ribblesdale. I suppose that Castle Strother, mentioned above, must have been near Kirknewton, some 5 miles or so to the west of Wooler. The river Glen falls into the Till, which is a tributary of the Tweed. I find mention, in 1358-9, of 'Henry de Strother, of Kirknewton in Glendale'; Brand, Hist. of Newcastle, ii. 414, note. W. Hutchinson, in his View of Northumberland, 1778, i. 260, speaks of 'Kirknewton, one of the manors of the Barony of Wark, the ancient residence of the Strothers, now the property of John Strother Ker, Esq.' [121] We may here notice some of the characteristics of the speech which Chaucer assigns to these two students from Northumberland. (_a_) They use _a_ for A. S. _[=a]_, where Chaucer usually has _[=o]_ (long and open). Ex. _na_ (Ch. _no_), _swa_ (_so_), _ham_ (_hoom_), _gas_ (gooth), _fra_ (_fro_), _banes_ (_bones_), _anes_ (_ones_), _waat_ (_woot_), _raa_ (_ro_), _bathe_ (_bothe_), _ga_ (_go_), _twa_, (_two_), _wha_ (_who_). Similarly we find _saule_ for Ch. _soule_, soul, _tald_ for _told_, _halde_ for _holde_, _awen_ for _owen_, own. (_b_) They use _a_ for A. S. short _a_ before _ng_. Ex. _wanges_, but Ch. also has _wang-tooth_, B. 3234; _sang_ for _song_ (4170), _lange_ for _longe_, _wrang_ for _wrong_. (_c_) They use (perhaps) _ee_ for _oo_; as in _geen_ for _goon_, gone, 4078; _neen_ for _noon_, none, 4185. This is remarkable, and, in fact, the readings vary, as noted. _Geen_, _neen_ are in MS. E. Note also _pit_ for _put_, 4088.