The conservative forms of the past participle, preserving the old prefix as _i-_ or _y-_, also indicate a southern dialect for the scribes at least.
The personal pronouns preserve the conservative southern forms, rare exceptions being _sche_ 380 L, in place of the normal _he_, and _þei_ 1557 C, _þe_ 55 L, for the normal _hi_.
From what has been said above, it seems fairly certain that the original dialect was a southern one, and probably a south-eastern one. There are, however, some features which distinguish the dialect of Horn from the Kentish. (Cf. Morsbach, § 9, b.) For instance, I may cite the history of the breaking _ea_ before _r_ + cons. In K. H. this is usually written _a_. (Cf. 481-2, 751-2, 1147-8.) But in case of lengthening before _-rn_, we see that the OE. broken _ea_ pronunciation must have been the basis; e.g., _werne_ : _berne_ C L, _werne_ : _berne_ H, 753-4, 985-6, 749-50 L, 1513-14 H, _erne_ : _werne_ 937-8 H. The combinations _ē̆o_, _ī̆o_, _ēa_ are very regularly monophthonged, not preserving any of the Kentish diversity of form.
The time of composition must have been fairly late, as we must infer from the number of French words even in the rimes. That K. H. was composed later than the beginning of the 13th century, we may conclude from the fact that OE. _ā_ has been regularly converted into _-ǭ-_. Cf. _drof_ : _of_ 129-30, _forsoke_ : _loke_ 799-800, etc. That it was composed in the second half of the century seems certain from the regularity of the conversion of _ā_ to _ǭ-_, and further from the lengthening of short vowels in open syllables. Of this latter phenomenon we have very few certain instances. Such rimes, however, as _þere_ : _fare_ 497-8 L H and _stede_ : _drede_ 273-4 C, seem to be certain enough. (Cf. also 179-80, 537-8, 567-8, 1123-4 C, 1157-8 C, 1501-2 L H, 1531-2 C, 1613-14.)
The English story of King Horn is preserved in three MSS.
1. The Cambridge University MS. Gg. 4. 27, 2, which forms the nucleus of the present volume, is merely a fragment of fourteen folios. It contains on its first folios the latter part of the story of Floris and Blauncheflur, which is printed in the present volume. This is followed by King Horn entire, which is followed by the fragment, printed in this volume, of the Assumption.