Stanzas.

The following poem, founded on the peculiarity of the Newcastle bur, was published in December 1791, as from one of the rooks, which then built their nest on the vane of the Exchange, and addressed to the good people of BURCASTLE.-Gents. Mag.

ANECDOTES OF

James Turnbull,

OF HESLEYSIDE MILL.

T is observed that when any portion of mankind come frequently into contact with each other, whether on the score of business or company, they lose many of those shades of individuality which are discoverable amongst the inhabitants of thinly populated districts. In towns we meet with much superficial polish and little originality; in the country we perceive a great deal of plainness, but under that often much of what is really queer, and strikingly illustrative of various dispositions. The stones which form the channel of a stream are abraded and borne downward by its waters till they become uniformly round and smooth: those in the quarry remain as they are chipped from the rock, preserving their angular asperity, but exhibiting by their fracture the mineral qualities they possess, and the peculiar strata of which they are composed. This simile may be applied with some slight modification to the different classes of which we have spoken.

Those who, about ten years ago, were well acquainted with the inhabitants of the country immediately above Bellingham, in North Tyne, will recollect James Turnbull of Hesleyside mill. He set up in business for himself in early life, as a miller at Rigg End Mill, near Falstone, but quitted it and removed to the former place, where he continued till his death, which took place some years ago, when he had attained the patriarchal age of eighty-four. He was a tall, spare man with shaggy eye brows, and of a very hasty and irritable temper. When on a Sunday, he attended the dissenting place of public Worship either at Falstone or Bellingham, and met with such of his customers as were indebted to him, he made no scruple to ask them in plain terms for his money. If an evasive answer was returned, he usually enforced his claim by observing, "Weel, weel! that may be a' right eneugh, but it winna suit me. Aw stand need o' sillar, an' Aw no can want it! Aye, an' mair than that," he continued, compressing his voice, so as to give great effect to his earnestness of manner, "let me tell ye, friend, Aw'm determined that Aw winna want it eyther!"

On a time, his plough was drawn by a mare which he called

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Bonny," and a horse which answered to the name of "Charley." The latter animal was very different in disposition from his master; and, adopted, whenever he was hard pressed, the plan followed by Yorick's steed of notable memory-he stood still; and if a whip or stick was applied smartly to his sides, he would lie down and remain so, till it pleased him again to assume an upright position. Once on an occasion of this kind, when Turnbull had nearly exhausted his ingenuity in devising means to make his horse "erect a perpendicular," and found them of no avail, he ordered a lad who was at hand to "mak' haste, an' bring twa faulds o' strae, an' a lichtit candle!" The tailors were working in the dwelling house at the time; and the boy in procuring a light, having made them acquainted with what was going forward out of doors, they sallied forth in a body to witness the catastrophe. The loose straw was strewed amongst the legs of the animal and kindled; and as the flames seized upon him, he gave way to necessity and sprang to his feet. At this instant the eye of Turnbull glanced around him, and perceiving his unwelcome visitors, he gave them immediate chase, threatening if he caught "a single skin o' them to gie them a scowther," but fear added wings to the feet of the fugitives, and they speedily eluded all pursuit. The poor horse had the lower part of his body burned red raw, and his master, on putting him again into harness, observed, "Ye're a shame to be seen; but, as Tom Todd said o' the pig that ran out o' the stye, an' gat its leg broken, Aw'll say o' you :-'It was a' your ain bringin' on !""

Whether the following incident may be adduced as an example of animal magnetism, or of the strange sympathy which is sometimes found to exist between beings of the same nature, the reader is at liberty to decide. James and the lads always breakfasted on crowdie -the oat meal was set out, and each took from the dresser a strong, brown earthen-ware bason, and helped himself. Beside these utensils for common use there were others placed of a fine quality and richly decorated. On a morning a lad took up one of these, and was preparing his food in it when his master cautioned him to "mind an' no break the bra' bason." Scarcely were the admonitory words uttered, when the beautiful thing slipped from the lad's fingers, and was instantly broken to pieces. James started up, swore a heavy oath at the trembling delinquent, stamped about, and having his own bason, which was not yet empty, in his hand, he likewise hurled it with its contents on the floor, shivering it into fragments, and exclaimed "G-d, let them a' gang thegither!"-R. White's MSS.

The Poem of St. Godric is the property of Mr. Balls, Music Publisher, London, by

whose permission it is here inserted.

Hark the organ loudly swelling,
Sacred, solemn, rites are said;
Soul hath left its earthly dwelling,

Godrick slumbers with the dead!

Morning's glance no more shall greet him,
Evenings kindred shadows meet him;

He hath rest where rest the weary,
Silent is his Miserere,
Miserere Domine!

Rothley Mill.

HE old mill of Rothley, in the parish of Hartburn, Northumberland, with its black water-wheel, and heathery roof, far from human habitations, and shut up in a glen narrow and thick with wood, was the haunt of a family of fairies. Old queen Mab, and her train, with the help of the miller's picks, formed out of the rocks, the numerous circular basins, which are still to be seen here in the bed of the Hart; and were every moonlight summer's evening seen, like so many water fowls flickering and bathing in them. The mill itself was their great council-hall; and the eye of the kiln their kitchen, where, in boiling their pottage, they burnt the seeds or husks of oats the miller laid up for drying the corn he had next to grind. The meal and firing thus made use of they took as a customary claim for guarding and charming the mill, and other useful services; but the miller thinking them too extravagant, was determined to disturb them; and while they were preparing their supper one night, threw a sod down the chimney, and instantly fled.-The falling mass dashed soot, fire, and boiling pottage amongst them; and the trembling fugitive before he could reach the dingly verge of the glen, heard the cry-" burnt and scalded!" "burnt and scalded!"-" the sell of the mill has done it :" and the old mother of the family set after him, and just as he got to the style going into Rothley, touched him, and he doubled up, was bow bent and a cripple to his dying day!-Hodgson's Northd.