shakespeare as it sounded

This is cool--we saw a few weeks back a video of some scholars and actors discussing how the English language would have sounded in Shakespeare's day. They deduced this from some jokes that have gotten lost, plays on words, and etc. due to our modern improper pronunciation. And though they gave a few short examples of what it might have sounded like then, here's a link to a story on a guide published by the British Library that includes audio recordings of a few pieces.

Here is a bit from the Scottish Play, Act 2:

[EDIT: oops, I guess blogger won't let me embed clips from soundcloud. click the link above for clips from the scottish play, romeo and juliet, and one of the sonnets.]

I love how it sounds almost Northern or Yorkshire, and almost Irish, yet none of these. More clips at the site linked above.