_Devonianisms_ (Vol. vii., p. 544.).--While a resident in Devonshire, I
frequently met with localisms similar in character to those quoted by
J. M. B.; but what at first struck me as most peculiar in common
conversation, was the use, or rather abuse, of the little preposition _to_.
When inquiring the whereabouts of an individual, Devonians ask one another,
"Where is he _to_?" The invariable reply is, "_To_ London," "_To_
Plymouth," &c., as the case may be. The Cheshire clowns, on the other hand,
murder the word _at_, in just the same strange and inappropriate manner.
The indiscriminate use of the term _forrell_, when describing the cover of
a book, is a solecism, I fancy, peculiarly Devonian. Whether a book be
bound in cloth, vellum, or morocco, it is all alike _forrell_ in Devonshire
parlance. I imagine, however, that the word, in its present corrupt sense,
must have originated from _forrell_, a term still used by the trade to
designate an inferior kind of vellum {631} or parchment, in which books are
not unfrequently bound. When we consider that vellum was at one time in
much greater request for bookbinding purposes than it is just now, we shall
be at no great loss to reconcile this eccentricity in the vocabulary of our
west country brethren.