Chapter XI: Part 11

Our own histories make no mention of anything bearing upon the
subject, but there seem to be good reasons for concluding that
Cumberland was also invaded from the sea coast. The Norwegian
sea-rover Olaf, according to Snorro Sturlessen, had visited, among
other countries, both Cumberland and Wales. And Mr. Ferguson
supposes, from various circumstances, which concur to fix the date
of the Norwegian settlements here in the interval between 945 and
1000, that his descents must have taken place somewhere about the
year 990. At that period the Cumbrian Britons had been for half
a century in subjugation to the Saxons, and since the death of
Dunmail their country had been handed over to Malcolm to be held in
fealty by the Scottish crown. The scattered remnants of the Celtic
tribes were for the most part shut up amongst their hills, or had
retired into Wales. The plains of Westmorland and Cumberland on
the north and east were probably chiefly occupied by a mixed Saxon
and Danish population; for nearly a century had elapsed since the
Danes from Northumberland had overrun them. In fifty years more the
result of events was, as we are informed by Henry of Huntingdon,
that one of the principal abodes of the "Danes," under which title
old writers comprehend all Northmen, was in Cumberland. A stream of
Northern emigrants, issuing, it may be supposed, from the districts
of the Tellemark, and the Hardanger, a name signifying "a place of
hunger and poverty," had descended along the north of Scotland,
swept the western side of the island, fixed its head-quarters in
the Isle of Man, and from thence succeeded in obtaining a firm
footing upon the opposite shore of England; a land, like their
own, of mountains and valleys, waiting for a people as they were
for a settlement, a wild and untamed country, always thinly
populated and never cultivated, a land of rocks and forests and of
desolation. These protected by their ships, having command of the
coast, and being unopposed except by the apparently impenetrable
mountain barriers before them, these warlike settlers cleared for
themselves homes amidst the woods, began to gather tribute from the
mountain sides, and laid the foundations of those "thwaites" and
"seats" and "gates" and "garths," which at the end of almost nine
centuries of fluctuation and change still bear testimony to their
wide-spread rule and are called by their Northern names.

Not only do traces of them everywhere survive in names which
indicate possession and location, or in words which particularise
the multiform features of the country and describe the minor
variations of its surface; but the sites of their legislative and
judicial institutions, and their places of burial, as well as their
towns and villages, are preserved in that local nomenclature which
lives in the language spoken by their kinsmen in the mother-land
at the present day. The old Norse element has penetrated, and
diffused itself, and hardened into the dialect of the Cumberland
and Westmorland "fell-siders," and emphatically pronounces from
whom it came. And, lastly, the physical and moral characteristics,
as well as the manners and customs of the people, are those of the
hardy race, whose transmitted blood gave the larger nerve and more
enduring vigour which characterise their frame. Tall, bony, and
firmly knit; fair-haired, and of Sanguine complexion; possessing
strong feelings of independance, and a large share of shrewdness
and mother-wit; intolerant of oppression; cautious, resolute,
astute and brave; these people, and the Cumbrians, especially,
crown their list of claims to be of Norse descent with one more
striking feature, a litigious spirit. Litigation appears to be
almost as natural and necessary to their minds, as wrestling and
other manly exercises are to their limbs: in respect to which, as
well as to other amusements in which they are said to bear some
resemblance to the old Icelanders, they bear away the palm from the
rest of England.

Dungeon Ghyll in Great Langdale is a deep chasm or fissure in the
southern face of the first great buttress of the Pikes. It is
formed by a considerable stream from Pike o' Stickle; which after
making several fine leaps down the mountain side, tumbles at length
over a lofty precipice about eighty feet between impending and
perpendicular rocks into a deep and gloomy basin. A few slender
branches are seen springing from the crevices in either face of
the chasm near the top; and immediately above the basin, a natural
arch, made by two large stones which have rolled from a higher
part of the mountain, and got wedged together between the cheeks
of rock. By scrambling over some rough stones in the bed of the
stream, the largest and finest chamber may be reached; and the
visitor stands underneath the arch, and in front of the waterfall.
Over the bridge thus rudely formed, Wordsworth's "Idle Shepherd
Boy" challenged his comrade to pass; and even ladies have had the
intrepidity or temerity to cross it, undeterred by the narrowness
and awkwardness of the footing, and the threatening aspect of the
dismal gulf below.

The station in the field adjoining the farm house called
Skelwith-Fold, is the site where the Danish fortress is assumed to
have stood.

THE CHURCH AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.

In this sweet vale where peace has found
An undisturbed abode,
The everlasting hills surround
A temple reared to God;
Where one pure stream, the Gospel's sound,
Flows as it ever flow'd.

Here never reach the angry jars
Which break the Church's rest.
The unity that strife debars
Is on this Branch imprest;
Her truths of old no discord mars;
Here peace is in her breast.

One Book reveals the living lore
Of prophets, saints, and kings.
One mild apostle here its store
To every household brings;
And on this temple's sacred floor
The pure glad tidings sings.

Race follows race from field and home,
And all in earth are laid:
But steadfast as the starry dome
Above, the truth is spread
Around their feet, howe'er they roam,
Unquestioned, ungainsaid.

How blest, to live and hope in peace
Like these! nor hear the knell
Of some sure promise, made to cease
Beneath the mystic's spell,
Or subtle casuist's caprice--
And know that all is well.

In vainest strifes we cast away
Too much from life's fair page.
The flock becomes the spoiler's prey,
Because the shepherds rage.
And while the life is but a day,
The warfare lasts an age.

But here may piety rejoice
To tread the ancient ways:
Still make the one true part the choice
Of even the darkest days;
And lift an undivided voice
Of thankful prayer and praise.

Guard, Sovereign of the heights and rills!
These precincts of Thy fold;
This little Church, which thus fulfils
Thy purpose framed of old.
And this Thy flock amidst these hills
Still in Thy bosom hold.

NOTES TO "THE CHURCH AMONG THE MOUNTAINS."

Wordsworth in his description of the Lake Country as it was, and
had been through centuries, till within about one hundred years,
thus alludes to the places of worship. "Towards the head of these
Dales was found a perfect Republic of shepherds and agriculturists,
among whom the plough of each man was confined to the maintenance
of his own family, or to the occasional accommodation of his
neighbour. Two or three cows furnished each family with milk and
cheese. The Chapel was the only edifice that presided over these
dwellings, the supreme head of this pure commonwealth: the members
of which existed in the midst of a powerful empire, like an ideal
society or an organised community, whose constitution had been
imposed and regulated by the mountains which protected it.

"The _religio loci_ is nowhere violated by these unstinted, yet
unpretending works of human hands. They exhibit generally a well
proportioned oblong, with a suitable porch, in some instances a
steeple tower, and in others nothing more than a small belfry, in
which one or two bells hang visibly. A man must be very insensible
who would not have been touched with pleasure at the sight of
the former Chapel of Buttermere, so strikingly expressing by its
diminutive size, how small must have been the congregation there
assembled, as it were, like one family; and proclaiming at the
same time to the passenger, in connection with the surrounding
mountains, the depth of that seclusion in which the people lived,
that rendered necessary the building of a separate place of worship
for so few. The edifice was scarcely larger than many of the
single stones or fragments of rock which were scattered near it.
The old Chapel was perhaps the most diminutive in all England,
being incapable of receiving more than half a dozen families. The
length of the outer wall was about seventeen feet. The curacy was
'certified to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty at £1. paid by
the contributions of the inhabitants,' and it was also certified,
'this Chapel and Wythop were served by Readers, except that the
Curate of Lorton officiated there three or four times in the year.'"

Such cures were held in these northern counties by unordained
persons, till about the middle of George II.'s reign; when the
Bishops came to a resolution, that no one should officiate who was
not in orders. But, because there would have been some injustice
and some hardship in ejecting the existing incumbents, they were
admitted to deacons' orders without undergoing any examination.
The person who was then Reader as it was called, at the Chapel in
the Vale of Newlands, and who received this kind of ordination,
exercised the various trades of Clogger, Tailor, and Butter-print
maker.

How otherwise than by following secular occupations were even
Readers to exist? The Chapel of "Secmurthow" on the south side of
the river Derwent, not far from the foot of Bassenthwaite lake,
was certified to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty at £2.,
being the interest of £40. raised by the inhabitants for a Reader.
"Before its augmentation," says Hutchinson, "the Reader of divine
service had a precarious income; but an actual custom existed for
several years of allowing the poor minister a _whittle-gate_. He
was privileged to go from house to house in the Chapelry, and stay
a certain number of days at each place, where he was permitted to
enter his _whittle_ or knife with the rest of the family. This
custom," he adds, "has been abolished in such modern times, that it
is in the memory of many now living." (i.e. 1794.)

The inhabitants of many of the Chapelries in the north got by
custom from the Rectors or Vicars the right of nominating and
presenting the curate; for this reason: before the death of Queen
Anne, many of the Chapelries were not worth above two or three
pounds a year, and the donees could not get persons properly
qualified to serve them; so they left them to the inhabitants,
who raised voluntary contributions for them in addition to their
salary, with clothes yearly and whittle-gate.

Clothes yearly, were one new suit of clothes, two pairs of shoes,
and one pair of clogs, shirts, stockings, etc., as they could
bargain.

Whittlegate is, to have two or three weeks' victuals at each house,
according to the ability of the inhabitants, which was settled
amongst them, so that he should go his course as regularly as the
sun, and complete it annually. Few houses having more knives than
one or two, the pastor was often obliged to buy his own; sometimes
it was bought for him by the chapel-wardens. He marched from house
to house with his whittle seeking fresh pasturage; and as master of
the herd, he had the elbow chair at the table-head, which was often
made of part of a hollow ash-tree, such as may be seen in those
parts at this day.

Buttermere was said to allow its priest whittle-gate, and twenty
shillings yearly; by other accounts, "clogg-shoes, harden-sark,
whittle-gate, and guse-gate"--that is, a pair of shoes clogged or
iron-shod, a shirt of coarse linen or hemp once a year, free-living
at each parishioner's house for a certain number of days, and the
right to pasture a goose or geese on the common.

The Wytheburn reader had sark, whittle-gate, and guse-gate.

The Mungrisdale priest had £6. 0_s._ 9_d._ a year.

Many worthies have appeared, nevertheless, among these unpretending
ministers of the dales; most prominently so, Robert Walker, for
a long period curate of Seathwaite, and surnamed for his many
virtues and industry, the Wonderful: of whose life and actions
an interesting and detailed account is given in the Notes in
Wordsworth's Works.

The Chapel of Martindale, a perpetual curacy under the vicarage
of Barton, near Penrith, was served for 67 years by a Mr. Richard
Birket. The ancient endowment was only £2. 15_s._ 4_d._ per annum,
a small house, and about four acres of land. At his first coming,
Birket's whole property consisted of two shirts and one suit of
clothes; yet he amassed a considerable sum of money. Being the only
man except one in the parish who could write, he transcribed most
of the law papers of his parishioners. Whenever he lent money,
he deducted at the time of lending, two shillings in the pound
for interest, and the term of the loan never exceeded a year.
He charged for writing a receipt twopence, and for a promissory
note fourpence; and used other means of extortion. He likewise
taught a school, and served as parish-clerk; and in both these
offices he showed his wonderful turn for economy and gain; for
his quarter-dues from his scholars being small, he had from the
parents of each scholar a fortnight's board and lodging; and
the Easter-dues being usually paid in eggs, he, at the time of
collecting, carried with him a board, in which was a hole that
served him as a gauge, and he positively refused to accept any
which would pass through. He got a fortune of £60 with his wife; to
whom he left at his decease the sum of £1200. Clark says, that on
account of transacting most of the law affairs of his parishioners,
he was called Sir Richard, or the Lawyer. But with reference to
this title, Nicholson, Bishop of Carlisle, at the beginning of the
18th century says, "Since I can remember, there was not a reader in
any chapel who was not called 'Sir.'" The old designation of the
clergy before the Reformation was always "Sir"; knight being added
as the military or civil distinction. It has also been stated that
the last curate of this parish, or of these parts at all, called
"Sir," was the Reverend Richard Birket (apud 1689).

On the death of Mr. Birket no one would undertake the cure, on
account of the smallness of the stipend: those therefore of the
parishioners who could read, performed the service by turns. Things
remained in this situation for some time; at length a little
decrepid man, named Brownrigg, to whom Mr. Birket had taught a
little Latin and Greek, was by the parishioners appointed perpetual
Reader. For this they allowed him, with the consent of the Donee,
the church perquisites, then worth about £12 per annum. Brownrigg
being a man of good character, and there being no clergyman within
several miles to baptize their children, or bury their dead, the
parishioners petitioned the Bishop to grant him deacon's orders;
this was accordingly done, and he served the cure forty-eight years.

Mr. Mattinson, the curate of Paterdale, who died about the year
1770, was a singular character. For fifty-six years he officiated
at the small "chapel with the yew tree," at the foot of St.
Sunday's Crag. His ordinary income was generally twelve pounds a
year, and never above eighteen. He married and lived comfortably,
and had four children, all of whom he christened and married,
educating his son to be a scholar, and sending him to College. He
buried his mother; married his father and buried him; christened
his wife, and published his own banns of marriage in the church. He
lived to the age of ninety-six, and died worth a thousand pounds.
It has been alleged that this provident curate assisted his wife
to card and spin the tithe wool which fell to his lot, viz. one
third; that he taught a school which brought him in about five
pounds a year; that his wife was skilful and eminent as a midwife,
performing her functions for the small sum of one shilling; but
as according to ancient custom she was likewise cook at the
christening dinner, she received some culinary perquisites which
somewhat increased her profits. Clarke adds, "One thing more I must
beg leave to mention concerning Mrs. Mattinson: On the day of her
marriage, her father boasted that his two daughters were married to
the two best men in Paterdale, the priest and the bag piper."

In Langdale, in Clark's time, the poor Curate was obliged to sell
ale to support himself and his family; and, he says, "At his house
I have played _Barnaby_ with him on the Sabbath morning, when he
left us with the good old song,

'I'll but preach, and be with you again.'"

Taking all their circumstances into consideration, it is not to be
wondered at that the personal failings of these men were looked
upon by their neighbours with a leniency which would hardly be
intelligible elsewhere. Not very long ago an excellent old dame
only recently deceased, who for her intelligence and goodness
was respected and esteemed by the highest and the lowest, and
was one of the finest specimens of nature's gentlewomen to be
found anywhere, was heard warmly upholding the character of a
neighbouring clergyman in these words,--"Well, I'll not say but he
may have _slanted_ now and then, at a christenin' or a weddin'; but
for buryin' a corp, he is undeniable!"

In 1866 the Bishop of Carlisle consecrated a new church at Wythop
on the shores of Bassenthwaite Lake. The old building which this
edifice is intended to supersede is a decayed barn-like structure,
supplied with a bell which hung from an adjoining tree. Some
curious customs are associated with this Church. It was built in
1473. For some hundreds of years the inhabitants of the Chapelry
were in the habit of dividing it into four quarters, from each of
which a representative was elected yearly; the functions of the
four being set forth in a document dated 1623. They have to elect
a parish minister or reader, who was generally the schoolmaster,
a layman being eligible; they had to collect "devotion money,"
supervise the repairs of the fabric, and look after the parish
school. The stipend of the minister was 10½d. per Sunday. Here is a
copy of an old receipt:--"Received of the chapelmen of Wythop the
sum of 28s. 5d. for thirty-one weeks' reading wages, by me, John
Fisher." The stipend was however supplemented by Whittlegate; he
was boarded and lodged by the inhabitants of the four quarters in
turn. The value of the living at the present day is only £51 per
annum.

This old church which is to remain as a curiosity, stands high on
a mountain side; and not many years ago nettles grew luxuriantly
beneath the seats in the pews and along the middle of the passage.
A narrow board on a moveable bracket constitutes the communion
table, and the vessels employed in the celebration of the Lord's
Supper are a pewter cheese-plate and pewter pot. There is no
font provided for baptisms, the purpose was served by a common
earthenware vessel; nor is any vestry room attached to the building.

Vestries are seldom to be found in these remote chapels. And in the
chapel at Matterdale, the sacramental wine used to be kept in a
wooden keg, or small cask; perhaps is so still.

It is said of Whitbeck Chapel, which lies on the base of Black
Combe, near the sea shore, that smugglers frequenting that exposed
part of the coast, on many occasions deposited their illegal
cargoes within its walls, until a convenient opportunity arose
for removing them unobserved. Sunday sometimes came round when
the sacred edifice was not in the most suitable condition for
celebrating divine service. The parish clerk had then to advise
the minister that it would be inconvenient to officiate on that
day. It was not politic to scrutinize too closely the nature of
the difficulty that existed: it was sufficiently understood. A
substantial sample of the intruding contraband element found its
way to the house of the minister; and forthwith due notice was
circulated among the parishioners that the usual service would
not be held until the Sunday following. Meanwhile the stores were
disposed of, and the wild and desperate adventurers were in full
career again towards the Manx or Scottish shore.

In 1300 the Lady of Allerdale, and of the Honour of Cockermouth,
Isabel Countess of Albemarle was summoned to prove by what right
she held a market at Crosthwaite (near Keswick). She denied
that she held any market there, but said that the men of the
neighbourhood met at the Church on Festival days, and there sold
flesh and fish; and that she as lady of the Manor of Derwent Fells
took no toll. This practice being persevered in, in 1306 the
inhabitants of Cockermouth represented in a petition to parliament
that there was a great concourse of people every Sunday at
Crosthwaite Church, where corn, flour, beans, peas, linen, cloth,
meat, fish, and other merchandise were bought and sold, which was
so very injurious to the market at Cockermouth, that the persons
of that place who farmed the tolls of the king were unable to pay
their rent. Upon this a prohibitory proclamation was issued against
the continuance of such an unseemly usage.

Things had not got quite straight in this respect within the
sanctuary at a much later period. The Rev. Thos. Warcup, incumbent
of the parish church of Wigton, in the civil war was obliged to fly
on account of his loyalty to the sovereign. After the restoration
of Charles II. he returned to his cure; and tradition says, that
the butcher-market was then held upon the Sunday, and the butchers
hung up their carcasses even at the church door, to attract the
notice of their customers as they went in and came out of church;
and it was not an unfrequent thing to see people, who had made
their bargains before prayer began, hang their joints of meat over
the backs of the seats until the pious clergyman had finished the
service. The zealous priest, after having long, but ineffectually,
endeavoured to make his congregation sensible of the indecency of
such practices, undertook a journey to London, on foot, for the
purpose of petitioning the king to have the market-day established
on the Tuesday; which favour it is said he had interest enough to
obtain.

This faithful priest long before his death caused his own monument
to be erected in the churchyard, with this inscription in verse of
his own composing:

Thomas Warcup prepar'd this stone,
To mind him of his best home.
Little but sin and misery here,
Till we be carried on our bier.
Out of the grave and earth's dust,
The Lord will raise me up, I trust;
To live with Christe eternallie,
Who, me to save, himself did die.

Mihi est Christus et in vita et in morte lucrum. Phil. i. 21.
Obiit anno 1653.

Thus it appears his decease did not take place until some years
after the date at which he records his death; probably a period
marked by some important change in his life, or of unusual
solemnity reminds us that only thirty-five years ago, at a very few
miles from its base, one who served the pastoral office more than
fifty years, eking out a wretched maintenance upon a small farm;
while his sons were at the plough, was of necessity compelled to
send his daughters with horses and carts for coals and lime, and to
lead manure to the fields and distribute it over the land; whilst
the Dean and Chapter of his diocese were the patrons of his cure.

Such things can hardly be witnessed at this day. But a minister may
be seen even now (1867) on the other side of the district, leading
the choir in the aisle, in his surplice, with bow and fiddle in
his hands, and then resuming his place at the desk, with becoming
solemnity, until the course of the service requires his instrument
again. His sense of harmony is acute; for in the middle of the
psalm, his arms will fly apart, and the volume of sound be stopped,
until an offensive note has been ejected, and the strain rectified,
and renewed.

A curious discovery has recently been made in the venerable
parish church of Windermere. The plaster having come away over
one of the arches, a band of red and black was revealed. On the
removal of more of the thick layers of whitewash, a beautiful
inscription in old English characters was found. Further search
was instituted, and similar inscriptions have been discovered on
all the walls between the arches in the nave. It is conjectured
that these inscriptions were placed in the church at the time of
the Reformation, as they are mostly directed against the dogma of
transubstantiation, whilst they give plain instructions in the
doctrine of the Sacraments.

On the north side of the nave the following have been deciphered:--

"Howe many sacramentes are their?--Two: baptisme and the supper of
the Lord.

"In baptisme which ys ye signe yt may be seene?--Water onelie.

"Which is ye grace yt cannot be seene?--The washinge awaie of
synnes by the bloode of Christe.

"In the Lordes supper which is ye signe yt may be sene?--Breade and
Wyne.

"Which is ye grace yt cannot be seene?--The bodie and bloode of
Christe."

On the south wall the inscriptions are as follow:--

"In goinge to ye table of the Lord, what ought a man to consider or
doe pryncipalie?--T examine him selfe.

"Is the breade and wine turned into ye bodie and bloode of
Christe?--No, for if you turne or take away ye signe that may be
sene it is no sacrament.

"For the strengthenynge of your faith, howe many things learne
yow in ye Lordes Supper?--Two: as by ye hand and mouthe, my bodie
receiuth breade and wine: so by faithe, my soule dothe feade of ye
bodie and blood of Christ: secondlie all ye benefittes of Christ
his passion and his righteousness, are as surelye sealled up to be
mine as my selfe had wrought them.

"To the strengthening of your faithe how many thinges learne you in
baptisme?--Two: first, as water washeth away the filthines of ye
fleshe: so ye bloode of Christ washeth awaie synne from my soull;
secondly, I am taught to rise againe to neunes of life."

G. AND T. COWARD, PRINTERS, CARLISLE.

SECOND EDITION.

_Small Crown 8vo. In neat Cloth binding, Price 3s. 6d._

THE FOLK-SPEECH OF CUMBERLAND and some Districts Adjacent; being
short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border
Counties. By ALEX. CRAIG GIBSON, F.S.A.

The tales are remarkable for their spirit and humour. The poetry, too, is marked by the same characteristics.--_Westminster Review._

The stories and rhymes have the freshness of nature about them.--_Contemporary Review._

Brimful of humour, homely wit and sense, and reflect the character and life and ways of thought of an honest sturdy people.--_Spectator._

The stories, or prose pieces, are wonderfully clever and well done.--_Saturday Review._

This is an uncommon book, combining, as it does, in an extraordinary degree, the recondite lore which throws antiquarians into ecstacies, with the shrewd humour, the descriptive force, and the poetic charm which, garbed in the old Norse-rooted vernacular which Cumbrians love so well, will secure for it a cordial reception among all those who claim "canny Cumberland" for their childhood's home.--_Eddowes's Shrewsbury Journal._

His poems are pictures in very natural colours.--_Durham Chronicle._

Destined to an honourable place among the choicest productions of our native literature.--_Carlisle Journal._

Besides being a learned antiquary, he has wit, humour, and a true vein of poetry in him, and the literary skill, in addition to turn all these to the best account.--_Carlisle Express._

In its way perfectly unique.--_Carlisle Examiner._

CARLISLE: G. AND T. COWARD. LONDON: J. RUSSELL SMITH.

_Small Crown 8vo. In neat Cloth binding, Price 3s.6d._

"CUMMERLAND TALK;" being Short Tales and Rhymes in the Dialect of
that County. By JOHN RICHARDSON, of Saint John's.

A very good specimen of its class. The ordinary subscriber to Mudie's would not for a moment dream of ever looking into it, and yet Mr. Richardson possesses far more ability than the generality of novelists who are so popular.--_Westminster Review._

Good and pleasant.--_Saturday Review._

There are both pathos and humour in the various stories and ballads furnished by Mr. Richardson. We congratulate Cumberland on having so many able champions and admirers of her dialect.--_Athenæum._

Some of the rhymes are admirable. "It's nobbut me!" is a capital specimen of a popular lyric poem.--_Notes and Queries._

He has seized on some of the most striking habits of thought, and describes them simply and naturally, without any straining after effect.--_Carlisle Patriot._

To all lovers of the dialect literature of this county the volume will be heartily welcome.--_Whitehaven News._

A worthy companion to Dr. Gibson's "Folk Speech."--_Wigton Advertiser._

The sketches are quite equal to anything of the kind we have seen.--_Kendal Mercury._

A very pleasant addition to the records of the dialect of Cumberland.--_Westmorland Gazette._

The best and most comprehensive reflex of the folk-speech of Cumberland that has been put into our hands.--_Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser._

There is plenty of variety in the volume.--_Ulverston Mirror._

CARLISLE: G. AND T. COWARD. LONDON: J. RUSSELL SMITH.

_F. Cap 8vo. Price 2s. 6d._

SONGS AND BALLADS
By JOHN JAMES LONSDALE,
Author of "The Ship Boy's Letter," "Robin's Return," &c.
WITH A BRIEF MEMOIR.

_From the ATHENÆUM._

Mr. Lonsdale's songs have not only great merit, but they display the very variety of which he himself was sceptical. His first lay, "Minna," might lay claim even to imagination; nevertheless, for completeness and delicacy of execution, we prefer some of his shorter pieces. Of most of these it may be said that they are the dramatic expressions of emotional ideas. In many cases, however, these songs have the robust interest of story, or that of character and picture. When it is borne in mind that by far the greater portion of these lays were written for music, no small praise must be awarded to the poet, not only for the suitability of his themes to his purpose, but for the picturesqueness and fancy with which he has invested them under difficult conditions.

_From the WESTMINSTER REVIEW._

Poetry seems now to flourish more in the north than in the south of England. Not long ago we noticed an admirable collection of Cumberland ballads, containing two songs by Miss Blamire, which are amongst the most beautiful and pathetic in our language. We have now a small volume by a Cumberland poet, which may be put on the same shelf with Kirke White. Like Kirke White's, Mr. Lonsdale's life seems to have been marked by pain and disappointment. Like Kirk White too, he died before his powers were full developed. A delicate pathos and a vein of humour characterize his best pieces.

_From the SPECTATOR._

"The Children's Kingdom" is really touching. The picture of the band of children setting out in the morning bright and happy, lingering in the forest at noon, and creeping to their journey's end at midnight with tearful eyes, has a decided charm.

_From NOTES AND QUERIES._

A volume containing some very pleasing poems by a young Cumberland poet, who but for his early death, would probably have taken a foremost place amongst the lyrists of our day.

CARLISLE: G. AND T. COWARD. LONDON: J. RUSSELL SMITH.

_Small Crown 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. Cloth Limp._

A GLOSSARY of the WORDS and PHRASES OF FURNESS (North Lancashire),
with Illustrative Quotations, principally from the Old Northern
Writers. By J. P. MORRIS, F.A.S.L.

We are thoroughly pleased with the creditable way in which Mr. Morris has performed his task. We had marked a number of words, the explanation of which struck us as being good and to the point, but space unfortunately fails us. We commend the Furness Glossary to all students of our dialects.--_Westminster Review._

The collection of words is remarkably good, and Mr. Morris has most wisely and at considerable pains and trouble illustrated them with extracts from old writers.--_The Reliquary Quarterly Review._

Mr. Morris is well known in the district, both as a writer and an antiquarian. His labours in the work before us evince him to be a zealous and untiring student. We trust his book will have the success which we think it well deserves.--_Ulverston Advertiser._

The stranger who takes up his abode in Furness will find Mr. Morris's little book a capital helpmate.--_Ulverston Mirror._

Apart from its etymological value the work is highly acceptable as a contribution to local literature.--_Carlisle Journal._

We cordially recommend the glossary to admirers of the old writers, and to all curious philologists.--_Carlisle Patriot._

Valuable as tracing to their source many good old forms of the Furness dialect, and as explaining not a few archaisms which have been stumbling-blocks to students of their mother tongue.--_Whitehaven News._

CARLISLE: G. AND T. COWARD. LONDON: J. RUSSELL SMITH.

_Price 3s. 6d. in Cloth; or 5s. in Extra Gilt Binding._

POEMS. BY PETER BURN.
A NEW AND COMPLETE EDITION.

If Mr. Burn's genius does not soar very high, he leads us into many a charming scene in country and town, and imparts moral truths and homely lessons. In many points our author resembles Cowper, notably in his humour and practical aim. One end of poetry is to give pleasure, and wherever these poems find their way they will both teach and delight.--_Literary World._

If Mr. Burn will confine himself to pieces as expressive and suggestive as "The Leaves are Dying," or as sweet as "The Rivulet," he need not despair of taking a good position amongst the ever-increasing host of minor poets.--_The Scotsman._

Throughout the volume there is a healthy, vigorous tone, worthy of the land of song from which the author hails. The book is a desirable contribution to the already rich literature of Cumberland.--_Dundee Advertiser._

* * * * *

THE SONGS AND BALLADS OF CUMBERLAND AND THE LAKE COUNTRY; with
Biographical Sketches, Notes, and Glossary. Edited by SIDNEY GILPIN.

(_A New and Revised Edition in preparation._)

CARLISLE: G. AND T. COWARD. LONDON: J. RUSSELL SMITH.

_F. Cap 8vo. Price 2s.6d., in neat Cloth binding._

MISS BLAMIRE'S SONGS AND POEMS; together with Songs by her friend
MISS GILPIN of Scaleby Castle. With Portrait of Miss Blamire.

She was an anomaly in literature. She had far too modest an opinion of herself; an extreme seldom run into, and sometimes, as in this case, attended like other extremes with disadvantages. We are inclined, however, to think that if we have lost a great deal by her ultra-modesty, we have gained something. Without it, it is questionable whether she would have abandoned herself so entirely to her inclination, and left us those exquisite lyrics which derive their charms from the simple, undisguised thoughts which they contain. The characteristic of her poetry is its simplicity. It is the simplicity of genuine pathos. It enters into all her compositions, and is perhaps preeminent in her Scottish songs.--_Carlisle Journal, 1842._

In her songs, whether in pure English, or in the Cumbrian or Scottish dialect, she is animated, simple, and tender, often touching a chord which thrills a sympathetic string deep in the reader's bosom. It may, indeed, be confidently predicted of several of these lyrics, that they will live with the best productions of their age, and longer than many that were at first allowed to rank more highly.--_Chambers' Journal, 1842._

* * * * *

_F. Cap 8vo. Price 2s., in neat Cloth binding._

ROBERT ANDERSON'S CUMBERLAND BALLADS.

As a pourtrayer of rustic manners--as a relator of homely incident--as a hander down of ancient customs, and of ways of life fast wearing or worn out--as an exponent of the feelings, tastes, habits, and language of the most interesting class in a most interesting district, and in some other respects, we hold Anderson to be unequalled, not in Cumberland only, but in England. As a description of a long, rapid, and varied succession of scenes--every one a photograph--occurring at a gathering of country people intent upon enjoying themselves in their own uncouth roystering fashion, given in rattling, jingling, regularly irregular rhymes, with a chorus that is of itself a concentration of uproarious fun and revelry, we have never read or heard anything like Anderson's "Worton Wedding."----Whitehaven Herald._

CARLISLE: G. AND T. COWARD. LONDON: J. RUSSELL SMITH.

_Small Crown 8vo. Price One Shilling._

FORNESS FOLK, THE'R SAYIN'S AN' DEWIN'S: or Sketches of Life and
Character in Lonsdale North of the Sands. BY ROGER PIKETAH.

We have been greatly entertained by these stories, which reveal to us traits of a humoursome, shrewd, sturdy race, of whom from their geographical isolation, very little has been communicated to us by the compilers of guide books or by local sketchers.--_Carlisle Patriot._

We can honestly say the tales are not spoiled in serving up. They come upon the reader with almost the full force of _viva voce_ recital, and prove conclusively that Roger Piketah is a thorough master of the "mak o' toak" which he has so cleverly manipulated.--_Whitehaven News._

Whoever Roger Piketah may be, he has succeeded in producing a good reflex of some of our Furness traditions, idioms, and opinions; and we venture to predict it will be a favorite at penny readings and other places.--_Ulverston Advertiser._

_F. Cap 8vo. Price 3s. 6d._

POEMS BY MRS. WILSON TWENTYMAN of Evening Hill. Dedicated, by
permission, to H. W. LONGFELLOW.

_F. Cap 8vo. Price 2s. 6d._

ROUGH NOTES OF SEVEN CAMPAIGNS in Spain, France, and America, from
1809 to 1815. By JOHN SPENCER COOPER, late Sergeant in the 7th
Royal Fusileers.

CARLISLE: G. AND T. COWARD. LONDON: J. RUSSELL SMITH.

_Crown 8vo. Price 1s. in extra Cloth Binding: or 6d. in neat Paper
Cover._

OLD CASTLES: Including Sketches of CARLISLE, CORBY, and LINSTOCK
CASTLES; with a Poem on Carlisle. By M. S., Author of an "Essay on
Shakspeare," &c.

WISE WIFF. A Tale in the Cumberland Dialect By the Author of "Joe
and the Geologist." Price Threepence.

THREE FURNESS DIALECT TALES. Price Threepence. Contains:--Siege o'
Brou'ton, Lebby Beck Dobby, Invasion o' U'ston.

THE SONGS AND BALLADS OF CUMBERLAND With Music by WILLIAM METCALFE.

1. D'YE KEN JOHN PEEL? Words by John Woodcock Graves. Price 4s.

2. LAL DINAH GRAYSON ("M'appen I may"). Words by Alex. Craig
Gibson. Price 4s.

3. REED ROBIN. Words by Robert Anderson. Price 2s. 6d.

4. "WELCOME INTO CUMBERLAND." Words by the Rev. T. Ellwood. Price
3s.

5. THE WAEFU' HEART. Words by Miss Blamire. Price 2s. 6d.

THE WELCOME INTO CUMBERLAND QUADRILLE. Price 4s.

THE JOHN PEEL MARCH. Price 4s.

(_To be continued._) _The above at Half-Price._

CARLISLE: G. AND T. COWARD.

Transcriber's Notes

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Hyphen removed: wicker[-]work (p. 42), extra[-]ordinary (p. 141), eye[-]balls (p. 301), ferry[-]man (p. 171), hearth[-]stone (pp. 19 (twice), 44), high[-]road (p. 263), loop[-]hole (p. 74), noon[-]day (p. 282), out[-]buildings (p. 174), out[-]worn (p. 279), pre[-]eminent (ad for Miss Blamire's Songs and Poems), two[-]pence (p. 18).

Space removed: water[ ]spout (p. 190), wicker[ ]work (p. 79).

Spelling normalized to "Souther Fell[-side]".

P. 13: Herlingfordbury Park -> Hertingfordbury Park.

P. 26: Sire de Couci -> Sire de Courci.

P. 122: Darwentwater -> Derwentwater.

P. 127: Of brighest laurels -> Of brightest laurels.

P. 159: gave lands in Leakly -> gave lands in Leakley.

Pp. 177, 292: Phillipson -> Philipson.

P. 269: the story is old -> the story is told.

P. 291: that that through which he had entered -> than that through which he had entered.

P. 329: served him as a guage -> served him as a gauge.

Ad for Poems by Peter Burn: she leads us -> he leads us.

Ad for The Songs and Ballads of Cumberland: The abore at Half-Price -> The above at Half-Price.