My Blessings on your pate, your groats in my purse, Alexander Hilton, curate of Denton, of the ancient family of Hilton, of Dyons, in the Bishopric, left a son, Cuthbert, of great notoriety, who having taken orders in no church, but having been trained up as a bible clerk under his father, considered himself fully competent to perform marriages upon the Bridge of Barnard Castle, which connects the counties of York and Dnrham. The old rhyme, which he used on these occasions (and quoted above) after having inade the parties leap over a broomstick, is still remembered in the neighbourhood.--Sharp's Bishoprick Garland. 112 THE REGION OF THE HEART! N the reign of Robert Bruce, the second, the Scottish dalesmen were called to arms in great haste, to join in one of those raids or forays (which were so frequent with that nation), into the bishopric of Durham. One of the troopers from the domains of the proprietor of Fairnihurst, had procured strong plates of steel to defend his heart; and there lived in the town of Hawick at this period an armourer, named Brogg Paterson, who was employed to put the harnessing into the clothes. Learning however that the raiders were to depart early in the morning, and seeing the trooper so intent on protecting his heart; instead of placing the steel plates on the inside of his doublet, Paterson fastened them into the seat of his trowsers. The next morning at daybreak the invading host assembled, arrayed in their armour, and in high spirits for the enterprise. Moving forward with alacrity, they passed the borders of Northumberland, and crossing the intervening country, reached the Tyne, which they forded, and after gaining the opposite bank, encamped within a half-moon of an impervious brake. From thence they dispatched a party of foragers, among whom, was this trooper, whose name was Turnbull. The party was pursued by a body of English horse, and several of them slain; but Turnbull reaching the brake, plunged into it, horse and man. The horse stuck fast, and just as Turnbull was trying to extricate himself, by scrambling over the horse's head, an Englishman came riding fiercely up and struck him such a blow behind, with his lance, as would have spitted him to the neck; but hitting right on the steel plate, he made him fly heels over head, beyond the brake, and into a place of safety. A comrade perceiving him, came to his assistance, and found Turnbull lying on the ground, repeating to himself these words with the utmost devotion :-" God bless Brogg Paterson in Hawick! God bless Brogg Paterson in Hawick!" "Wherefore that?" said the other "Because," said Turnbull, "he ken'd better where my heart lay than I did mysel."-Hogg. LAMENTE OF HENRYE PERCYE VI. EARLE OF NORTHUMBERLAND OVER ANNE BOLEYN. HE following lines have been recently composed in memory of a circumstance which was one of ten thousand that tend to show the course of true love never did run smooth.' 6 The beautiful but unhappy Anne Boleyn, before her marriage with Henry the 8th, had been deeply beloved by Henry Algernon Percy the 6th earl of Northumberland, and there is every reason to believe that she returned his love; but Cardinal Wolsey, at the suggestion of the king, broke off the match. The earl's fate, if not as tragical as that of his mistress, was at least not far removed. He died broken hearted in the same month in which his brother was executed, A. D. 1536. Lamente of Henrye Percye. (A modern imitation of an old style of ballad writing.) What joy can fayre earth offer, nowe to me? 1 Or trumpets clang, or sound of hunting horn. What boots, gif happiness he cannot bryng, Phoebus his bryght rays shed's on Alnwick towers, Chauntyng melodiouslé 2 in yon green bowers. I Percy in his Essay on the ancient minstrels informs us that as the House of Northumberland had anciently three minstrels attending on them in their castles in Yorkshire, so they still, in his time, retained three in their service in Northumberland, who wore the badge of the family (a silver crescent) on the right arm. 2 Suggested by the recollection of a couplet in Chr. Marlow's Passionate Shepperd,' which is quoted in the Merry Wives of Windsor, and runs thus "By shallow rivers to whose falls I One birde there was, a faulcon 1 fine to view; 2 Why hyndered fate that I myght be her fere, 3 Is all my thoughte of happiness e'er more, And soon my breaste as cold as Laplande shore. Whose name my lips to 'plaine of, scarce may move; Anna! my fyrste, my laste, and onlye love. 4 Frederic. R. Surtees. Temple, London, May, 1841. 1 A figurative expression for Anne Boleyn herself, whose family device was a falcon. In ancient times nothing was more common in writing than to distinguish any noble individual by their armorial bearings; thus for instance the lines in Gray's Bard,' are in allusion to the custom "The Bristled Boar in infant the Boar meaning king Richard the 3d of the house of York, whose crest was a silver Boar. Again, in the Harleian MSS. in A Ditty setting forth the inconstancy of Fortune from a Fable of a Falcon who flew from the other birds to the top of a mountain adorned with a fine Rose-tree, where a loving Lyon choose her nest,' which begins "In a fresh mornynge among the Flowry's," there is this explanation-"By the Falcon is meant Queen Anne Bolyn it being her device,-By the mountain, England, and by the Lyon, King Henry the 8th, to be sure.” 2 Fere, feare, or feire,-a mate. Vide Glossary to 'Percy's Reliques.' 3 One of the crests of the Percy family. Their motto is 'Esperance en Dieu.' Hope is in God. 4 Notwithstanding this vow, Percy, it will be found, did marry after Anne Boleyn's death. His wife was a daughter of George Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury; however, his marriage was unhappy, without issue, and ended in separation. CARD-PLAYING FOR GEESE. A Custom in Northumberland. N Redesdale and Coquetdale, since the commencement of the present century, it was customary amongst such small farmers as might have reared from a dozen to a score of geese, to invite, about the latter end of the year, a number of their friends and neighbours to their houses, and dispose of the brood by a species of lottery or card-playing,—wherein each goose was put up at a value-stakes advanced by the party to the amount-a thereon, and the winner became possessed of the prize. The same plan was observed with each cackler in succession till the whole were played for and won. An excellent supper was then served up to the guests-two or more bottles of whiskey were supplied-songs, fun, and amusement circulated amongst them; and it frequently occurred that morning approached ere they could muster resolution to break up and retire, in detached groups, to their respective homes. game at cards played Sometimes a successive number of meetings of this description took place in a small district; and each was regarded with much attention by the inmates of the house at which it was held, forming to them a kind of era for the whole year. Where the neighbourhood was populous, and it occurred that a public house, with an agreeable landlord or pleasing landlady, was stationed in a central position, the "Play" was generally performed there, especially if the dwelling house of the farmer was too small to accommodate the company. To those who never witnessed a scene of this kind, the following comic sketch may not be unacceptable. It is from a pen, unfortunately too seldom employed, which, were its progress proportioned to its power, would add another wild blossom to the imperishable chaplet of our native literature. A certain graphic truth, and homely fidelity about the draught, forcibly remind us of some of the humourous delineations of Hogarth. The speaker is represented as an inhabitant of Jedburgh, whose gastric capability has procured him the appellation of "Wull the Slowan," and his account of The word Slowhoun' is, on the borders of Scotland, applied as a term of reproach to any person who can and does consume food of a liquid kind in very large quantities. It means the Sleuth hound or Blood hound, and indicates clearly that these animals were remarkable for the voracity with which they seized upon and swallowed their food. |