Poetry > Ballads in the Cumberland dialect

NOTES,
201
And while he, from every manly, patriotic, and
virtuous principle, enjoys the confidence of the
highest circles, his amiable lady is the idol of the
tenantry and neighbouring villages,—
Soft’ning the pangs of sickness, want, and sorrow,
While thousands ruin seek in lewd excess,
And rob the wretched Heav’n has plac’d beneath them.
K. A.
Note 54, p. 98.
; Nin leyke thee cud fling the geavelicTc.
\ The brawny rustics of Cumberland were formerly
\ so fond of athletic exercises, such as wrestling, leap-
} ing, playing at foot-ball, quoits, &c., that they were
* frequently practised on the Sunday; but the advance
j of civilization has nearly abolished these rustic diver¬
sions, and operated as a bar to their taking place on
» the day set apart for public worship. They sometimes
I make a trial of their strength by pitching the gavelick,
[ or lever, and sometimes by lifting huge stones, almost
I equal in size and weight to that with which the
j mighty Hector forced the Grecian fortifications:—
“A pond’rous stone bold Hector heav’d to throw,
Pointed above, and rough and gross below;
Not two strong men th’ enormous weight could raise,
Such men as live in these degen’rate days.” ^
Note 55, r. 98.
Then, Job, I mind at your hum-supper.
When a Cumbrian farmer has cut down his corn, he
makes an' entertainment, to which he invites the
reapers and a few of his neighbours. This entertain-
* ment is called a hum or churn; because a quantity
of cream, slightly churned, was originally the only
1 dish which constituted it. In the progress of modern
; luxury, other dishes have been added to this rural