button to main menu  Clarke's Survey of the Lakes, 1787

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Page xv:-
  border ballads
Of these old songs I am obliged, by the nature of this subject, to take some notice; as in them is contained a genuine sample of their spirit, and no small portion of their history, and as their traditions go hand in hand with them, or rather have been kept alive by them: besides, that very obscurity and solitude which has preserved these songs to this day, by presenting few novelties which might eraze them from the minds of men, renders them little known; whereas the anecdotes immediately preceding may be found in several writers on these subjects. But the same motive which prevents me from quoting any more of the anecdotes, viz. the fear of being tedious in the recital of things which may easily be seen elsewhere, prevents me also from being in any way particular about these; as they may be heard from many persons in the borders, and as some of them are, I believe, printed. In that of Jock-o'-the-Side we have a specimen of their method of scaling walls, of their custom of ransoming prisoners with cattle, of the refuge which one side of the boundary afforded to the rascals of the other, of the spirit of their jests, and of their subtlety. In that of Hobby Noble, who is mentioned in the former song as one of those rascals who had been banished from Bewcastle, his native place, for his crimes, we see the treachery from Hobby's catastrophe, and the desperate resolution that was so frequent amongst them, from his whole conduct. But we see, most particularly, of what matchless estimation, amongst them was an accurate knowledge of the secret and almost inexplicable byways through moors and swamps. There is another song also in these parts of Dick-o'-the-Cow, whom I cannot help suspecting to be the same with that Richard Coldall whose monumental inscription remains in Penrith Church, and who was called by the country people Dicky-Cow. With this name the women used to make their children quiet not very long ago, as they did for a long space of time in France with the name of Talbot. However this be, the song of Dick-o'-the-Cow exhibits a strong instance of the encouragement which the petty irregularities of individuals received from the connivance of their superiors, as well as the uncommon boldness, dexterity, and cunning, which those individuals possessed. Again: one may form a notion of their irascibility and proneness to mischief from "the Battle of Red-Swire," begun by the men of Tindale; and of their diversions and amusements, from many songs of either Border. It is needless to make mention in this place of those which Dr. Piercy and others have published: only I must beg leave to take notice here of part of a passage which the Doctor in his preface to the "Battle of Otterburne" quotes from Froissart, as immediately applicable to my purpose. We are there told, after an account of the fury with which the encounters of those Borderers were managed, that when one party was well beaten, they would both draw off with a mutual congratulation of, "God thank you;" as if they were very grateful to their enemies for giving them an opportunity of engaging in their favourite amusement. Indeed Shakespear seems to allude to this humor, in one of Falstaff's speeches concerning Hotspur. And I hold it to be no small argument of the authenticity of the relations which the border-songs contain, as well as of the genuineness of their descriptions of manners, that they are uniformly impregnated with this spirit, and frequently tinctured with a something of the ludicrous, that serves to shew in what manner they reasoned with danger.
  anthropology
  law

It may not be improper, in this place, to mention the medley of nations who were settled in Britain, and who may be proved not to have entirely coalesced, or been blended together in these parts, so late as the days of Hubert de Vallibus of Gillsland, from a deed of his, addressed to all Cumbrians, Frenchmen, Aliens, Danes, and Normans. Yet it does not seem that any of these people brought a regular code of laws along with them; or if they did, these laws were either never received, or were soon lost and swallowed up in the prevalent humor: for we find after that, the Commissioners appointed to settle the peace of the Marches by fixed and established ordinances, collecting these ordinances from the traditional accounts of ancient usages, that had been sanctified as laws by the length of time which they had endured. And as these usages were different from most others, nay, almost peculiar to the men to whom they belonged, it is natural to infer that the laws built upon them must be singular: for the Commissioners, well aware of the impracticability of imposing new laws upon such
people
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