Poetry > Ballads in the Cumberland dialect

\iv LIFE OF THE ATJTHOB.
turned to Carlisle, in 1820, in somewhat destitute
circumstances. He was received with great kind¬
ness,—a public dinner was given to welcome his
return by a respectable party of his friends; and
measures were soon after adopted for publishing
his works by subscription, in order to secure him
some provision for his now declining years. The
design was well received and supported, about a
thousand subscribers being procured in a short
space of time. The work, in two volumes, was
printed in a very creditable manner by Mr. Scott:
it contained a short Auto-biography of the author
—an Essay on the manners and customs of the
Cumberland peasantry, in illustration of the Bal¬
lads, by Thomas Sanderson—a number of Poems
—Cumberland Ballads—and Songs. In the pub¬
lication of these volumes, great zeal and kindness
were displayed in promoting and consummating
the undertaking, by Mr. Perring, at that time
the talented and much respected Editor of the
Carlisle Patriot.
From this time to the period of his decease,
Anderson continued to reside in Carlisle, or its
immediate vicinity. But his circumstances were
far from comfortable. One of his besetting sins
was a too ready yielding to the fascinations of the
convivial board—a love, indulged “not wisely but
too well, ” of those strong drinks, so well described
by Shakspeare as an enemy which “men put into
their mouths to steal away their brains”—and
which, in poor Anderson’s case, stole away his
purse likewise. The changes, moreover, that had
taken place in the nature of his occupation as an
artisan, rendered it extremely difficult to obtain
constant and profitable employment. Under