Lancashire law, No stakes, no draw! A saying by which a person, who has lost a verbal wager, avoids payment on the plea of no stakes having been deposited. As foolish as monkeys till twenty and more, As cunning as foxes till three score and ten, These proverbial lines were obtained from Lancashire. They that wash on Monday They that wash on Friday But they that wash on Saturday A North country version of these common proverbial lines, given by Mr. Denham, p. 16. Clarty-paps are dirty sluts. The children of Holland Take pleasure in making What the children of England Take pleasure in breaking. Alluding to toys, a great number of which are imported into this country from Holland. 188 VIII.-PLACES AND FAMILIES. This division, like the last, might be greatly extended by references to Ray and Grose. ELTON. The following lines are still remembered by the members of the Elton family : Upon Sir Abraham Elt being knighted, and taking the name of Elton. In days of yore old Abraham Elt, When living, had nor sword nor belt; NOEL. N. for a word of deniance, Will be thriftie. MS. Sloane 2497, of the sixteenth century. COLLINGWOOD. The Collingwoods have borne the name, Alluding to the Collingwood crest of a stag beneath an oak tree. THE CAULD LAD OF HILTON. This fairy or goblin was seldom seen, but his gambols were heard nightly in the hall of the great house. He overturned everything in the kitchen after the servants had gone to bed, and was, in short, one of the most mischievous sprites you could imagine. One night, however, the kitchen happened to be left in great confusion, and the goblin, who did everything by contraries, set it completely to rights; and the next morning it was in perfect apple-pie order. We may be quite sure that, after this occurrence, the kitchen was not again made orderly by the servants. Notwithstanding, however, the service thus nightly rendered by the Cauld Lad, the servants did not like it. They preferred to do their own work without preternatural agency, and accordingly resolved to do their best to drive him from their haunts. The goblin soon understood what was going on, and he was heard in the dead of night to warble the following lines in a melancholy strain : Wae's me! wae's me! He was, however, deceived in this prediction; for one night, being colder than usual, he complained in moving verse of his condition. Accordingly, on the following evening, a cloak and hood were placed for him near the fire. The servants had unconsciously accomplished their deliverance, for present gifts to fairies, and they for ever disappear. On the next morning the following lines were found inscribed on the wall: I've taken your cloak, I've taken your hood; The Cauld Lad of Hilton will do no more good! A great variety of stories in which fairies are frightened away by presents, are still to be heard in the rural districts of England. Another narrative, by Mr. Longstaffe, relates that on one occasion a woman found her washing and ironing regularly performed for her every night by the fairies. In gratitude to the "good people," she placed green mantles for their acceptance, and the next night the fairies departed, exclaimingNow the pixies' work is done! We take our clothes, and off we run. Mrs. Bray tells a similar story of a Devonshire pixy, who helped an old woman to spin. One evening she spied the fairy jumping out of her door, and observed that it was very raggedly dressed; so the next day she thought to win the services of the elf further by placing some smart new clothes, as big as those made for a doll, by the side of her wheel. The pixy came, put on the clothes, and clapping its hands with delight, vanished, saying these lines: Pixy fine, pixy gay, Pixy now will run away. Fairies always talk in rhyme. Mr. Allies mentions a Worcestershire fairy legend which says that, upon one occasion, a pixy came to a ploughman in a field, and exclaimed: Oh, lend a hammer and a nail, FELTON. The little priest of Felton, He kill'd a mouse within his house, SIR RALPH ASHTON. Sweet Jesu, for thy mercy's sake, This rhyme is traditionally known in the North of England, and refers, it is said, to Sir Ralph Ashton, who, in the latter part of the fifteenth century, exercised great severity as vice-constable. The ancient custom of riding the black lad at Ashton-under-Lyne on Easter Monday, which consists of carrying an effigy on horseback through the town, shooting at it, and finally burning it, is alleged to have taken its origin from this individual, who, according to tradition, was shot as he was riding down the principal street. cording to another story, the custom commemorates the valiant actions of Thomas Ashton at the battle of Neville's Cross. Ac PRESTON. Proud Preston, poor people, LANCASHIRE. Little lad, little lad, where wast thou born? |