_Shet_ for _shut_ is now become vulgar; yet this is the true original orthography and pronunciation. It is from the Saxon _scitten_, and I believe was always spelt _shette_ or _shet_, till after Chaucer's time, for he was a correct writer in his age, and always spelt it in that manner. "Voideth your man and let him be thereout, And _shet_ the dore."---- Chau. Yem. Tale, 16, 605. "And his maister _shette_ the dore anon." Ibm. 16, 610. And in a variety of other places. This word is almost universally pronounced _shet_ among all classes of people, not only in New England, but in Great Britain and the southern states of America. How the spelling came to be changed, is not known; but it was certainly a corruption. _An_ for _if_ is seen in most old authors. It remains among the common people, both in England and America. "_An_ please your honor;" that is, "_if_ your honor please." In New England, the phrases in which it occurs most frequently are, "Let him go, _an_ he will;" "Go, _an_ you will;" and others of a similar kind. _Because_ and _becase_ were used promiscuously by our ancestors. _Becase_ is found in some ancient writings, tho not so frequently as _because_. In New England, we frequently hear _becase_ to this day. It is pronounced _becaze_. It is a compound of _be_ and _cause_ or _case_; both of these words with the verb _be_ make good English; but _becase_ is vulgar. The vulgar pronunciation of _such_ is _sich_. This is but a small deviation from the ancient elegant pronunciation, which was _swich_ or _swiche_, as the word is spelt in Chaucer. Such is the force of national practice: And altho the country people in New England, sometimes drawl their words in speaking, and, like their brethren, often make false concord, yet their idiom is purely Saxon or English; and in a vast number of instances, they have adhered to the true phrases, where people, who despise their plain manners, have run into error. Thus they say, "a man is going _by_," and not _going past_, which is nonsense: They say, "I _purpose_ to go," and not _propose_ to go, which is not good English. They say, "a ship _lies_ in harbor," not _lays_, which is a modern corruption. They say, "I _have_ done," and never "I _am_ done," which is nonsense. They say, "it was _on_ Monday evening," not "_of_ a Monday evening," which is an error. They never use the absurd phrases "_expect it was_;" and "the ship will sail in _all_ next week." They never say "he is home," but always, "at home." They use the old phrase, "it is half _after_ six o'clock," which is more correct than _half past six_. They say, if a person is not in health, he is _sick_. The modern English laugh at them, because the English say a man is _ill_; and confine sick to express the idea of a nausea in the stomach. The English are wrong, and the New England people use the word in its true sense, which extends to all bodily disorders, as it is used by the pure English writers. _Ill_ is a