Tales of Northumbria

FOOTNOTES

Reading edition

1 Northumberland Plate, or Pitmen’s Derby.

2 ‘Mevvies’ = maybe, perhaps. The true Northumbrian is in a threefold danger of betraying his origin: phonetically, by the ‘burr’; dialectically, by constant use of ‘mevvies,’ ‘wor’ (our), and ‘I’s warned’ (I warrant you); psychologically, by a perpetual readiness to back himself, his dog, or any of his belongings, against any other man’s in the world, and for any amount, at a moment’s notice.

3 Atlas, presumably.

4 ‘Mistetched’ = spoiled; of ill habits. Cf. Chaucer’s ‘tetch,’ a spot.

5 ‘Cavil’ = the quarterly ballot amongst coal-hewers for their places down the pit. Seams differ greatly in quality and depth of coal, and in ease of working. This is the miners’ own rough-and-ready method of adjusting the inequalities.

6 The chairman of a local District Council is ex-officio a magistrate.

7 ‘Shootin’’ (shouting). ‘Shuttin’,’ on the other hand, would mean shooting, whereby quaint confusions have occasionally arisen.

8 Come along.

9 The Assizes.

10 Viz., Bonnie Bella, a famous greyhound of ‘the Heckler’s.’

11 Manager.

12 Row.

13 Pitmen are paid fortnightly on the Friday: the following day is ‘pay-Saturday.’ Non-pay-Saturday is known as ‘baff-Saturday,’ the derivation of which no man knows to this day.

14 It is said that at the time of the Napoleonic wars some French prisoners were detained in custody in the pit country not far from Durham City. It would appear that some intercourse between the inhabitants of the place and the foreigners sprang up, which resulted in the addition of one expressive phrase, at least, to the local dialect, that, namely, of ‘Caleb Jay’ for ‘Quel objêt!’ due to their strange garb, probably, or tattered appearance. The phrase is now wholly obsolete, the writer believes, but it is said it was once actually in use.

15 Wood-pigeon.

16 The Northumbrian for ‘encore.’

17 ‘Mugger’ = beggar; literally, one who sells mugs.

18 Abusing.

19 Mr. Brockett died in 1842.

20 The Northumberland Plate.

21 ‘Article 5.—No shares shall be dealt in below their face value except with the consent of the Board of Directors.’

22 The author understands that this is the case in regard to some of the livings in the gift of Greenwich Hospital.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired. Punctuation and spelling standardized when a predominant preference was found in this book. Other possible errors retained.

Page 43, “the many” changed to “them any” (he’d never have hearkened to them any more).

Page 164, “Georgie” changed to “Geordie” (responded Geordie gratefully).

Missing page numbers are numbered blank pages in the original text.

“FOOTNOTES” section was not a part of the original book. It is included in the Table of Contents to accomodate the reader.

Inconsistent hyphenation was retained. When uncertain of the author’s spelling of words split across lines, hyphen was retained in such words as “chimney-piece”, “god-child”, “cock-sure”, “well-made”. Words “lampshade”, “mantelpiece”, “grandchildren”, also split across lines in the original, are not hyphenated in this text.

“GEORDIE ARMSTRONG, ‘THE JESU-YTE’” tale starts with subheading I, which suggests that the tale has several parts. However, there are no other numbered subheadings in this chapter.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · ‘Grandfeythor was like us, I b’lieve; he was a fine spender but an ill saver, an’ he had a h—— ov a time till the mortgages gave oot, for he Note 2 · ‘Well, after their dinners one day, grandfeythor, bein’ fairly full up wi’ beer, ye ken, begins sneering at all toon’s folk settin’ up as sp Note 3 · ‘Grandfeythor was i’ tremendous spirits that mornin’, an’ as full o’ gob as a torkey-cock; nothin’ could hold him; the world was a toy to hi Note 4 · ‘Well, as I was sayin’, I copped “Tom the Scholar” aal maa lane, an’ I doot whether anyone else could hev done it but me. I had suspected hi Note 5 · ‘Well, they gets theirsel’s married wivoot askin’ leave either o’ the “spirrits” or o’ Tom, an’ as nowt happened, an’ Jack forbye was tarr’b Note 6 · ‘They was tarr’ble happy those two, an’ I mind well hoo proud and triumphant-like Jack looked as he slapped us on the back one early summer Note 7 · ‘“Ay,” says he, “I got a gliff then, for I heard the spirits’ voices shootin’[7] oot against us.”Note 8 · ‘Well, I says nowt ti Nicholson aboot gannin’ doon the pit till the vary mornin’, and then I gans along an’ catches ahaud on him, an’ says, Note 9 · ‘“I will have ti gan back ti bed again,” I says ti myself, “ti think it aal oot properly, for though I haven’t a doot about it myself, I’ll Note 10 · ‘The yell he let oot was fearfu’, an’, startin’ back, he dragged his arm oot o’ my grasp, an’ then leaped forward iv a flash, ducked past us Note 11 · ‘Anyways, she should have been drooned slap off as a babby, for she was a rank bad un—just rank bad ti the bone—an’ when a woman is bad, she Note 12 · ‘Well, Tom was elwis very free an’ open wiv his conversation, an’ mevvies Lizzie, she gets ti hear ov it; but she pretends ti tak’ no notice Note 13 · ‘A week efter comes “pay-Friday,”[13] an’, natorally, quite apart from the “celebration of his nuptials,” as the newspaper cheps say, he get Note 14 · The ‘Caleb Jay’[14] was not, as his nickname of itself might testify, popular in our pit village of Black Winning. His appearance was agains Note 15 · Some of the boys had tried to ‘nab’ him either coming or going on one of these expeditions of his, but he was ‘cuter nor a cushat’[15] as I Note 16 · Cries of ‘Back! back!’[16] were still ringing in the air, and after a moment or two a most cadaverous-looking clown reappeared and advanced Note 17 · ‘Ay, I kenned that,’ said he, ‘an’ thank ye kindlies; but I found, on tryin’ it, that I wesn’t strang enow for’t iv a reg’lor way; an’ forby Note 18 · One morning, a day or so after the flower-show, it chanced that Tommy was late for school, and, rounding a corner hurriedly, ran up against Note 19 · The custom of ‘riding the stang’ is now obsolete, so that the date of this story must be put back a number of years, though Mr. Brockett,[19 Note 20 · ‘Ay, ay, we knaa thoo!’ cried the chorus of urchins; ‘thoo’s Geordie, drunken Geordie, Geordie wi’ the “fancy” wife. Geordie, Geordie ride-t Note 21 · ‘Ta-ta, John, I’m off, you quaint, cocked-hat old Puritan Precisian; but I couldn’t leave without having tried a fall with you first, and, o Note 22 · ‘No, nowse is changed ava,’ he replied, in answer to my query, ‘syne ye were last here, save belikely that we are aal a year older, an’ that