Saxon English was

     and hard and rough kinde of speach, god wotte, when our 
     nation was brought first into acquaintance withall, but 
     now chaunged with vs into a farre more fine and easie 
     kind of vtterunce, and so polished and helped with new 
     and milder wordes that it is to be aduouched howe there 
     is no one speache vnder the sonne spoken in our time, 
     that hath or can haue more varietie of words, copie of 
     phrases, or figures or floures of eloquence, than hath our 
     English tongue. (94)

     The reduction of tactile quality in life and language is ever 
the mark of refinement. And it was not till the pre-Raphaelites 
and Hopkins that a deliberate campaign for Saxon tactile 
values in language was to begin in English. Yet tactility is the