Note 4. 7. 54 — GLOSSARY

I sou’t him. See variants. Gifford says that he can make nothing of sou’t but sought and sous’d, and that he prefers the latter. Dyce (Remarks) confidently asserts that the word is the same as shue, ‘to frighten away poultry,’ and Cunningham accepts this without question. There seems, however, to be no confirmation for the theory that the preterit was ever spelt sou’t. Wright’s Dialect Dictionary gives: ‘Sough. 19. to strike; to beat severely,’ but the pronunciation here seems usually to be souff. Professor Wright assures me that sous’d is the correct reading, and that the others are ‘mere stupid guesses.’