Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/408

 378 unlike in appearance as in character to their Derbyshire neighbours, who are (normally) tall, raw-boned, loose-jointed, grave, and rather dull people; "strong in the arm and weak in the head," as the local proverb has it, wanting in the brightness and humorousness of our folk.

Thus in spite of all I have said of differences, I am inclined to think the Staffordshire folk come mainly from one stock, and that their variations of belief and custom have chiefly been differentiated, like the long arms of the colliers and the round shoulders of the locksmiths, by hereditary occupation and intermarriage in one locality from generation to generation. Some peculiarities, on the other hand, may really denote an intermixture of races, as I am much inclined to think is the case with the delicate features and pointed chins of the potters, the dark complexions of the Needwood Forest men, and possibly the long limbs and handsome faces of the Moorlanders.

One very curious settlement we have, locally reputed to be a separate race, the "Biddle Muir" men. Biddulph Moor is situated in the north-western extremity of the county, bordering on Cheshire. The people live in houses scattered here and there over the moor, and are said to have been muclT more peculiar a generation ago than they are now. They wore their hair, which is said to have been generally either red or black, cut short in front and hanging long at the back. Their houses consisted of two apartments, one entered through the other. The outer room was the abode of the cattle and pigs, the inner one that of the family. Tradition, according to the guide-books, says that they are descended from a party of Saracens brought home in the time of the Crusades by the lord of the adjoining manor of Knypersley. Their dialect is said to include many words which are unknown in the surrounding district, and which some have thought they could trace to an Arabic origin. (This is as it may be!)

The houses have now been replaced by ordinary good