# Was Samuel Rutherford a cockney?



## Reformed Covenanter (Feb 1, 2014)

When examining the below extract from Samuel Rutherford , read the bit in bold out loud in your best London accent. 

Oh, there is little trafficking with heaven; *when was you last there*?

Samuel Rutherford, _Christ dying and drawing sinners to himself_ (London, 1647), p. 174.

So, was Rutherford really a Londoner, or, was this just a result of hanging around with cockneys for too long? 

Perhaps Jonathan Hunt has the answer?


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## jambo (Feb 1, 2014)

"Ere sunshine you're aving a laff"

Didn't know Samuel Rutherford watched Eastenders.


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## bookslover (Feb 1, 2014)

Grammatical usage was rather fluid and flexible during that era, I believe...


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## timmopussycat (Feb 1, 2014)

Reformed Covenanter said:


> When examining the below extract from Samuel Rutherford , read the bit in bold out loud in your best London accent.
> 
> Oh, there is little trafficking with heaven; *when was you last there*?
> 
> ...



Only if he was born within the sound of Bow bells. 
Since he was born in the village of Nisbet, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, the answer is no, he wasn't a cockney.


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## NaphtaliPress (Feb 2, 2014)

I suspect this is more in fun than in earnest, but maybe the setter of the type caused this? Would it not have been "when wast thou last there"? It is unusual in either form as far as searching Google books.


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