Part 18 (1/2)

[7] _Lonsdale Magazine_, vol. ii. p. 313.

[8] _Coniston Hall_, by Rev. W. GRESLEY, M.A., p. 135.

[9] Hutchinson's _History of c.u.mberland_, p. 420, vol. i.

[10] _Westmoreland and c.u.mberland Ill.u.s.trated_, p. 217.

[11] _Lonsdale Magazine_, vol. ii. p. 425.

[12] Clarke's _Wonders of the World_.

[13] Wilkinson's _Tours to the British Mountains_, pp. 64, 65.

[14] Clarke's _Wonders of the World_, pp. 434, 435.

RUSTIC POETS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT.

JOHN OLDLAND AND JAMIE MUCKELT.

Among the various traits of local character in the English Lake district, there is not perhaps, one more amusing than that propensity to rhyming which a number of individuals has exhibited, in all the rustic grace of native ignorance. A few instances of this nature can only be admitted within the limited compa.s.s of these pages, but they will not be without their interest to those who feel a pleasure in tracing the una.s.sisted efforts of natural genius.

John Oldland was an inhabitant of Crosthwaite, existing about the beginning of the last century. His propensity to rhyming was such, that many of his rhymes, as they are provincially called, are still repeated by the older inhabitants of the neighbourhood. A few, and but a few of these rhymes, we shall here insert.

When he attended Ulverston market, as he generally did, he put up at the Dog, in Dalton Gate, then kept by Betty Woodburn and her husband, though now gone and forgotten. Audland, as he was called, was so much addicted to rhyming, that he did it on all occasions with various success; the following, though still remembered, is one of his clumsy attempts:--Calling one Thursday at the public-house door with some other farmers, the landlord replied in his politest manner, ”Coming, Sir.” On which Audland, looking up at the sign, observed:--

”This dog he runs wi' his tail to the south, But co' on the landlord, an' he'll gi' mouth.”

Once when his landlady, at the Dog, had urged him to clear off a long score, which he had run up at the house, he gave her the following promissory note, which was accepted:--

”I, John Oldland, Befoar I gang hence, Owe Betty Woodburn Just six and two pence.

An', Thursday come sennet, I'll pay off the auld scoar, An' wha knas but I may Spend twice as mich moar.”

The smartest of John's rhymes was made on the occasion of his being put to trouble (as it is properly termed in the provincial dialect) by a lawyer, for some debt which he had incurred at Ulverston; a proof that not only poets, but all who meddle with rhyme, are poor. John repeated with emphasis--

”G.o.d mead men, An' men mead money; G.o.d mead bees, An' bees mead honey; But the D--l mead lawyers an' tornies, An' pleac'd 'em at U'ston and Daltan i' Forness.”

We shall only have room to notice another of these ”rustic bards.” He too was a Crosthwaite man, but of a more recent date. We do not intend to insinuate that there is any predisposing cause about Crosthwaite, that inclines the inhabitants to rhyme, but it happens that we remember these two at the present moment; by an a.s.sociation of ideas, the one has probably conjured up the other.

Jamie Muckelt was undoubtedly the best rhymer in that part of the country; and, consequently his rhymes have been more carefully preserved than those of any other. We have room, however, for only a few specimens.

Jamie was a farmer; and once, returning from the market he had overset, or, as he called it, capsized the cart. His wife was angry, and eagerly inquired the cause of such an accident. Jamie, with that _sang froid_ for which he was so remarkable, only replied,

”Caerlessly, thou may depend-- Pooin' away at t' helter end.”

A common footpath led through a field in which Jamie had a crop of pease one year. These held out a temptation, Jamie considered, to pa.s.sengers to be taking t.i.the in kind. To prevent these depredations he fixed up a board, on which he painted or chalked the following lines:--