Poetry > Ballads in the Cumberland dialect

172 NOTES.
Note 3, p. 20.
When aw € auld fovik were liggin asleep.
A Cumbrian peasant pays his addresses to his sweets ■
heart during the silence and solemnity of midnight if
when every bosom is at rest, except that of love an<| i
sorrow. Anticipating her kindness, he will travel tei i
or twelve miles, over hills, bogs, moors, and mosse^ j.
undiscouraged by the length of the road, the darkness *
of the night, or the intemperance of the weather.—On 1
reaching her habitation, he gives a gentle tap at the.
window of her chamber, at which signal she immedi¬
ately rises, dresses herself, and proceeds with alj
possible silence to the door, which she gently opens
lest a creaking hinge, or a barking dog, should awaken
the family.
On his entrance into the kitchen, the luxuries of a
Cumbrian cottage—cream and sugared curds—are'
placed before him by the fair hand of his sweetheart.
Next the courtship commences, previously to which
the fire is darkened or extinguished, lest its light
should guide to the window some idle or licentious '
eye. In this dark and uncomfortable situation (at I
least uncomfortable to all but lovers) they remain till
the advance of day, depositing in each other’s bosoms
the secrets of love, and making vows of unalterable 1
affection.
Though I am so far partial to my fair country- i
women, that in some instances I respect their very :
prejudices, I cannot conclude this note without re¬
presenting to them the danger and impropriety of j
admitting their lovers during those hours of the I;
night, which virtue and innocence have appropriated
to repose. Nothing more encourages unbecoming
familiarities, nothing more promotes dissolute man- I
ners, nothing more endangers female chastity, nothing I
more facilitates the designs of the seducer, than these I
night-courtships.
A custom that leads to such serious consequences,