NORTHUMBRIAN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY The subject of the last chapter was one of great importance.

When it is once understood that, down to 1400 or a little later, the men of the Scottish Lowlands and the men of the northern part of England spoke not only the same language, but the same dialect of that language, it becomes easy to explain what happened afterwards.
There was, nevertheless, one profound difference between the circumstances of the language spoken to the north of the Tweed and that spoken to the south of it.

In Scotland, the Northumbrian dialect was spoken by all but the Celts, without much variety; the minor differences need not be here considered.

And this dialect, called Inglis (as we have seen) by the Lowlanders themselves, had no rival, as the difference between it and the Erse or Gaelic was obvious and immutable.
To the South of the Tweed, the case was different.

England already possessed three dialects at least, viz.