Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/132

 104 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» 8. iv. AUG. 5,1905. simply known as " carrion "; and we talk of s. " reeky chimbly," as in Auld Reekie itself ; indeed, we have many of the purely Scotch words in common, but not those of real French derivation, as "asshet" for assiette, and "gigot" for a leg of mutton. We arrange -our sheaves in stooks, and do not carry, but " lead," our hay ; and we " theck wer ricks" when we thatch our stacks. "Wick" is our equivalent for the old English word "quick," for living, as opposed to "deed," or dead ; thus by a "quickwood •fence" we mean one of growing thorns instead of one of wood or iron, a "dead fence." That worst of weeds known in the South as twitch or couch grass is only too familiar to us as " wicks," and its hated rival the charlock as " ketlocks." All spelling, of course, is phonetic. If we build a pigsty we " big a stee," but we do not, at any rate in the low country, use the more northern expressions of " but and ben " for the inner and outer dwelling-rooms. The terms "in by " and " out by " are used in coal mining, and the boxes of coal are "corves." A pony is a Galloway, perhaps from the county of that name; a hedgehog is a " pricky otchin," the " hedgepig" of Shakespeare; and the little gentleman in velvet is not called mole, but '• mouldiewarp," and is far more wide- awake than is usually supposed to be the case. Bullocks are called " beasts," and wether sheep " hogs," as in the song "Three eilly hoggets came hirpling [limping] home." A silly fellow is "nobbut a daft or soft body," and we all know what a sad deed a "saft day niaks of things." We enjoy for the time, if we afterwards regret, the '• sad " cakes, or sally-lunns, which are apt to put one's interior in a " fullock," or confusion. The above will give some idea of our York- shire dialect, but if any one, like Oliver, wants, more, he will find plenty of both amuse- ment and instruction in a book called ' Forty Years of a Moorland Parish,' by Atkinson, the late beloved and well-known rector of Dan by. To tidy up or to put anything away is to " side " or to " right" it, and the most useful •word in the dialect is to " fettle." This means, like the American word " fix," to do almost anything, as you may say " fettle up " that road, hedge, room, or anything else, in the sense of putting things to rights. It is also used as a noun, as "in good condition" would be called " in good or fair fettle," or the opposite "in nobbut poor fettle." Medi- •cine is, perhaps not unsuitably, termed " stuff." Yorkshire folk are reserved, and are often accused of ingratitude through ignorance of their manners and language. For instance, if you offer a " tyke" a present he will mean as much by " Well, I've no objection," or " I doan't care if I do," as a Southerner would mean by the most profuse thanks. If you ask him the way to the next village he may reply, "Arm shoor ar doan't knaw," not from stupidity, but because he is summing you up, who you are, what you are, and what is your business there. In conclusion one may safely say that the more you know the Yorkshire- man the more you will appreciate him. He says rather less than more than he means ; but when once you gain his confidence you will find him the best of good fellows. J. .1. DUNNINGTON-.JEFFERSON. Junior Carlton Club, Pall Mall, S.W. ["I'll fettle thee" means "I'll give thee a thrashing."] YORKSHIRE SPELLINGS. — The account- book of the village carpenter here, about the beginning of the last century, has lately come into my hands. It is most interesting read- ing, throwing as it does much light sideways upon the life of the people of that day, and affording examples of words and spellings now obsolete in ordinary English. Among the old spellings I may mention bing for bin (a chest). This form of the word would not be surprising in any of the Danish districts ; the same sounding of the word is still com- mon hereabouts. Other examples that occur are rrimmer-rod for ramrod, craddle for cradle, laddie for ladle, and shade for shed. The last three are still in use in this neighbourhood, but I have heard creddle as well as craddle. M. C. F. MORRIS. Nunburnholme Rectory, York. BARTHOLOMEW AND CHARLES BE ALE.—The 'D.N.B.' mentions two sons of Mary Beale, the celebrated portrait painter (1632-97): Bartholomew, who is said to have begun life as a portrait painter, but to have subse- quently studiea medicine under Dr. Syden- ham and practised at Coventry; and Charles, who followed his mother's branch of art, painted portraits both in oil and in water colours and some few in crayons, but was com- pelled soon after 1689, by weakness of sight, to relinquish his profession, and died in London, in what year is not known. Yet I think it probable that he may have been painting, and painting well, in 1714. There lies before me a curious epistle from one Charles Young, addressed to "Barth" Beale, Esq., At his House at Baldeston Hall, In Suffolk." It is written, not on letter paper, but, in accordance with an economical fashion