I'th' turf-whole nuik, as drunk as muck, An' clocker blebb'd for life an' pluck Oal Wulson dwoaz't as nought had been, When' lyave had aw teann off to bed, "Dall thame 'at steek't their winkers!" They drank aw th' yell up every sup, An' at fair feer days they went ter ways, Jwonn Heyne set off to Worton Rigg, An' Gwordy Waugh to theekin; Sea this was Worton murry-neet EXPLANATORY NOTES TO THE UPSHOT. HEY FOR THE LADS OF OUR TOWN, &c. A common phrase of exultation or superiority amongst young men who pretend to more spirit than the fellows of our town. WULLIAM BROUGH. All the proper names made use of are or were to be found among the villages near to where the scene is laid; yet no direct personal application is meant, as they are adapted and applied at random, a very few instances excepted where the license is warranted by common custom. KURSTY KITT. Christopher's son Kitt, or Christopher. Various modes of distinction are used by the country people in speaking of one another. In several towns there are found so many of the same surname, that they are obliged either to use combinations of the family christian names, or to adopt some bye-title appropriate to the person spoken of, in order to prevent mistakes; these are rung into a variety of changes according to the humours or contingencies of the place; and Orton, Burgh-on-Sands, Beaumont, and their several neighbourhoods, furnish a very curious collection of them. A few instances will more clearly illustrate this system of nicknames: NAN-ROB-JACK (John Hodgson), viz. Ann's son Robert's son John; otherwise, John the son of Robert the son of Ann. NAN-ROB-ROBIN (Robert Hodgson), brother to Nan-Rob Jack. NAN-ROB-ROBIN-ROBIN (Robert Hodgson), son to the last mentioned. LAIRD O'FOALD (Laird Hodgson), a person of landed property whose house stood within a foald or farm yard. BILL O'FOALD (William Hodgson), son to the preceding. PADDIGAL WULLIAM (William Hodgson), from the family having formerly lived at a place called Parkgill, corrupted in the pronunciation to Parrickgill or Paddigal. Some deriva tions make it Paddock-hole, a swampy hole or ditch overrun with frogs. DUB WULLY, OR BUIKK WULLY (William Hodgson). Dub, from a piece of standing water near his premises; and Buikk Wully (Book William), from his commencing bookseller in Carlisle. CROSSEY ( Hodgson), whose house stood across the town-gate or roadway in a particular manner. CROSSEY DICK (Richard Hodgson), his son. These bye-titles are so far from giving offence that the parties themselves admit them on all occasions, and sometimes even use them in writing. There are other nicknames, however, which either imply some harmless hobby-horsical propensity, or serve to stigmatize dangerous or culpable characters; these being given and circulated as whim or provocation may happen to point out, are of course seldom cordially acknowledged by those to whom they are applied: for instance,— BROCK GWORDY was a famous badger-hunter. OUR WULLIAM. A young man who conceited himself wonderfully clever in all manly exercises, and whose father was incessantly boasting of him with the egotism of Our Wulliam. 'BUNNANCE O'LUIVE. A horse-dealer much addicted to that phrase, it being usual with him to take money with 'bunnance o'luive; recommend a bargain with 'bunnance o'luive; or defend a lawsuit with 'bunnance o'luive; that is with abundance of love, or a hearty goodwill. DURTY GULLY. A butcher, a very honest fellow, but apt to be slovenly on market-days. TIPP WULLY. A reputed sheep-stealer who had been tried at the assizes for stealing a ram. JACK-A-LEGGS. One who had in a quarrel stabbed another with a clasp knife called a jack-a-leggs. A TEERAN HAUND. One who carries all before him, as it were; a strong hardy fellow. WULSON' LOFT. That is, up-stairs at farmer Wilson's. Any person in the neighbourhood who can supply a dancing room with a boarded floor, readily lends it for the occasion free of expense, together with every corner above and below for the accommodation of the drinkers and card-players. The loft, a first-floor of a Cumberland farm-house, is likewise the attic, with only the bare rafters and thatch for a ceiling, and divided from the kitchen below simply by the joists covered with oak boards, not so nicely fitted together as to obstruct either the sight or hearing, and oftentimes so thin that a night's dancing effects a free and complete intercourse in many places with those below The loft mostly includes the whole length of the house from one gable to the other, whereas, the down stairs is divided into kitchen and bower or bedchamber. BRAMMERY. Jonathan Brammery was long noted as an itinerant fiddler about that "country side," not so much for his skill in tormenting catgut (for he was a sad scraper) as for a peculiar knack he had of making himself the butt of the company wherever he came, and furnishing a continual subject for fun and waggery in his person and manners, both of which were awkward in the extreme. He considered himself very dexterous in a kind of duetto between his voice and his instrument, which he called "Hunting the Fox," and in which he ran over the various incidents of the chace with a natural snuffle and an affectation of mimicry, vocal and instrumental, that made his performance irresistibly laughable. Jonathan was an inoffensive fellow in the main, but it was almost impossible to be in his company for an hour without being induced to play off some trick or other at his expense. LOVE IN CUMBERLAND. Tune,-"Cuddle me, Cuddy." WA, Jwohn, what'n mannishment's 'tis 'At tou's gawn to dee for a hizzy! Aw hard o' this torrable fiss, An' aw's cum't to advise tha','at is ee. Mun, thou'll nobbet lwose tee gud neame Thy plew-geer's aw liggin how-strow, Your Seymey has broken car stang, Young filly's dung oure the lang stee, An haw hadn't happ'n't to cleek her. |