§ 3 The Dialect.
The stanza of twelve lines was probably first employed in the north of England; at least it would be difficult to prove the existence of a poem composed in this metre in the southern part of the country; therefore it is beforehand probable that the romance of Torrent was composed either in some part of the Midlands or in the North. In order to determine the dialect more precisely, we restrict ourselves to a careful consideration of the rhymes.