_Holpe_ or _holp_ was not obsolete when the Bible was last translated, in the reign of king James; for it occurs in several places in that translation. It occurs frequently in old authors. "Unkindly they slew him, that _holp_ them oft at nede." Skelton El. on Earl of Northum. l. 47. In Virginia it is pronounced _hope_. "Shall I hope you, Sir." But we must look among the New England common people for ancient English phrases; for they have been 160 years sequestered in some measure from the world, and their language has not suffered material changes from their first settlement to the present time. Hence most of the phrases, used by Shakespear, Congreve, and other writers who have described English manners and recorded the language of all classes of people, are still heard in the common discourse of the New England yeomanry. The verb _be_, in the indicative, present tense, which Lowth observes is almost obsolete in England, is still used after the ancient manner, I _be_, we _be_, you _be_, they _be_. The old plural _housen_ is still used for houses. The old verb _wol_ for will, and pronounced _wool_, is not yet fallen into disuse. This was the verb principally used in Chaucer's time, and it now lives in the purest branch of the Teutonic, the German. For many years, I had supposed the word _dern_ in the sense of _great_ or _severe_, was local in New England. Perhaps it may not now be used any where else; but it was once a common English word. Chaucer uses it in the sense of _secret_, _earnest_, &c. "This clerk was cleped Hende Nicholas Of _derne_ love he could and of solas." Mil. Tale, l. 3200. "Ye mosten be ful _derne_ as in this case." Ibm. 3297. The word is in common use in New England and pronounced _darn_. It has not however the sense it had formerly; it is now used as an adverb to qualify an adjective, as _darn sweet_; denoting a great degree of the quality. The New England people preserve the ancient use of _there_ and _here_ after a word or sentence, designating the _place where_; as _this here_, _that there_. It is called vulgar in English; and indeed the addition of _here_ or _there_ is generally tautological. It is however an ancient practice; and the French retain it in the pure elegant language of their country; _ce pays là_, _celui là_, _cet homme ici_; where we observe this difference only between the French and English idioms, that in French, the adverb follows the noun, _that country there_, _this man here_; whereas in English, the adverb precedes the noun, _that there country_, _this here man_. This form of speech seems to have been coeval with the primitive Saxon, otherwise it would not have prevailed so generally among the common people. It has been before remarked that the word _ax_ for _ask_ was used in England, and even in the royal assent to acts of parliament, down to the reign of Henry VI. "And to her husband bad hire for to sey If that he _axed_ after Nicholas."----