BOOKS.

SKETCHES FROM CUMBERLAND.*

WE are informed in the preface that this work " rests its claims to favourable consideration entirelyonits value as a faithfully-rendered contribution to the dialect literature of the country ; " but like many similar compositions, whose primary object is linguistic, its subsidiary uses may be equally important. After all, it is only rarely that one out of many specimens of a single dialect or small group of dialects can be of much scientific consequence. It is seldom that a dialect is the meeting-point of two great groups of languages, on both of which it throws light, so that a thorough investigation of it becomes essential to the general student. And it can hardly be said that this, which happens seldom, has happened in the case of the Border dialects of England and Scotland. The English language itself is accounted for within verysmall compass in any history of speech, and it might perhaps be dispensed with, with little loss, in working out a tolerably complete theory of the evolution of language. It is useful and essential to the comparative grammarian to have masses of raw material at his command, but a single specimen of a single dialect, occupying no peculiar position, will be very fortunate if it furnishes to science one or two apt illustrations of the laws of linguistic evolution, or clears up a dark corner in the history of an important family of languages. On the other hand, the subsidiary uses of such dialect compositions are manifold. They extend and purify the knowledge of the central language to which thpy are related among those who write and speak it, and otherwise assist that process of " dialectical regeneration" by which all great literary languages grow. Above all, during that transition period, now drawing to an end, when small dialects are being annihilated by railways and the spread of education, and there is coining to be no language for great nations but what is both written and spoken, these dialectical specimens have an important educational influence among those who use the dialect, or who have used it in early life. To those who are well educated, so that the common speech of the nation is fully available to them, it presents the advantage of a double familiar language, the one illustrating the other, and both conducing to variety and freedom of intellectual effort. To plainer folk, the existence of dialectical compositions is valuable as a stimulus to some sort of mental culture—as an introduction to the literature of the larger language. The charm of reading as they speak removes the sense of unfamiliarity from print which is one of the great stumbling-blocks to the plain and the unlearned, accustomed to think in totally different words from what they usually find in their books. It is mainly for its subsidiary uses, then, though not exclusively for them, that we are disposed to welcome this specimen of Cumbrian dialects. As one of the links between the different Englands that yet exist within our narrow island, between the most advanced society and the rural democracy which is now being transformed so quickly, and as a means of education and enjoyment for a considerable number of our countrymen, it is every way entitled to recognition. Though written for " divertisement," and not by way of occupation, the tales and rhymes are brimful of humour, homely wit, and sense, and reflect the character, and life, and ways of thought of an honest, sturdy people—small farmers, earning a good living, though with much labour, among their secluded fells, wrestling bravely and cheerfully with circumstances, winners in the game of life, whose portrait forms altogether a pleasant enough picture. The dialect is not a serious difficulty to Southern readers, no difficulty at all

to the many who have dipped more or less of late years into dialect literature, or who have scraped a slight acquaintance with one or other of the Border Scotch " dialects " which Cumbrian so much resembles.

The principal compositions are humorous, and the humour is of a very marked description. Several of the tales turn upon a practical joke of some kind, consciously or unconsciously performed, the humour lying in the opposition between the working of some modern ideas as carried out in those remote parts, and the conception of the country folk about the scientific operations they are witness to. Thus, one story, the Bannasyde Cairns, is of the disappointment of some antiquarians who spend a whole day opening certain " cairns," in the hope of finding prehistoric or other remains, but which cairns are known by the country-folk employed to be of the farmers' own erection—the stones cleared from the "bracken beds" of their sheep. It is the story of the discomfited discoverers of the supposed praetorian camp in the Antiquary over again, with this difference, that the antiquaries here find nothing to take the place of "Aiken Drum's lang ladle." The local colouring, especially in the matter of dialogue, is, however, more pre-Raphaelite than it was ever Scott's intention to give to his scenes, and the stolid gravity with which the country-folk aid the meu of science in their fancy is exceedingly well described. But the best composition in this vein is beyond question the that in the book, " Joe and the Geologist," which we are inclined to think is of a very high degree of merit indeed. Joe is a farmer's boy, and is hired one hot summer's day by a " jolly-jiat " to accompany him on the fells and carry two little bags. This he does, though he is sorely troubled at the weight of the bags before

the day is done, and concludes that the " jolly-jist " is a " jolly jackass," for his pains in wandering so far to knock bits of stone off rocks, when he might have as many as he liked and better broken on any roadside. Next day he is employed to carry the stones from his father's house to the geologist's hotel,—some miles

off,—and, in his employer's absence, at once acts on his own superior judgment, emptying his bags at starting, and filling them again the end of his journey, where he received his hire from the geologist without any consciousness of breach of covenant on his own part. The cheat, of course, is discovered, and in a supplement we are told how he fared when he afterwards, by his father's malicious advice, faced the man of science, whose wrath at the cheat had, it may be supposed, got wind. Joe is not abashed, tells the " jolly-jiat"frankly that he thought him" nickt t' heid," but at last remembers that it is better "to flaitch a feed nor to feight wid him," and negotiates to fetch the identical stones on being paid for the job. Thus the matter is settled, and he and the geologist part mutually satisfied with each other. In all this there are plainly abundant situations for humorous description, and as the narrative is put into Joe's mouth, everything being told from his point of view, nothing is lost. We have a perfect picture of the sharp, knowing rustic, wise according to his lights, and possessed of absolute self-reliance, which no jest or hint of others or latent suspicion in his own mind can touch. Take the incident of filling his bag with stones as a substitute for what he had thrown away :—

" When I cony nar to Skeal-Hill I fund oald Aberram Atchisson sittin on a steal breckan steam to mend rwoads wid, an' I ex% him if I med full my ladder pwokes frae his heap. Aberram was varra kaim't an' tell't ma to tali them 'at wasn't brocken if I wanted deans, sooa I tell't him hoo it was an' oa' aboot it. T'oald maizlin was like to toytlo of his steal wid langhin', an' said me 'midden and tak gud care on ma, for I was ewer sharp a chap to lave verra lung i' this wadd ; but I'd better full my pwokos as I liked, an' mak' on wid them."

But Joe's character comes out best in his explanations with the geologist when he was so daring as to face him :

" Ho laugh't an' ax't me if I thowto titer' cud be nee difference i' steams. ' Whey,' says I, ' ye'll hardly hey t' fence to tell me 'at ye bag osteitus isn't as gud as anndder bag o' steam—an' suer/ye to man, yell nicer be sa consaitit as to say ye can break steaus better nor oald Aberram 'at breaks them for his braid, an' breaks them o' day lang, an' ,very day ?' Wid that he laugh% agean an' tel't me to sit doon, an' than az% me what I thowte mead him tak so mickle tritblo laitin' bits o' steal' on t' fells if he cud git what he wantit at t' rwoad side. Well !' says I, ' if I man tell ye t' truth, I thowte ye war rayder nick't t' heid; but it mead nea matter what I thowte sa lang as ye pail me sa weal for gin wid yd.' As I said this, it cony into my hoid 'at it's better to flaitch a feul nor to feight wid him ; an' after o', 'at ther' may'd bo sanest i't' oald man likin steans of his oau breakin' better nor udder f woke's. I remember% t' fiddle 'at Dan Fisher mead, an' thowte was t' beat fiddle 'at iver squealc11 for o' it mead ivory body else badly to hear't ; an' wad bray oad Ben Wales at his dancing scheid boat acoase Ben wadn't play t' ham mead fiddle asteod of his oan. We o' think mast o' what we've bed a band in oorsel's—it's no'but national ; stews as o' this ron throe my heid, I fund me-sal' gitten rayder sworry for t' oald man, an' I says, ' What wad yti gi' me to git ye o' yer oau bits o' atean back ageb.a ?' " The condescension of the reflection, " We o' think mast o' what we've hed a hand in oorsel'a, it's no' but natteral "—is exquisite ; and makes it quite intelligible that Joe in person was entitled to the extra 5s. which the amused geologist gave him as a " natural curiosity." The story has the appearance of being founded on an actual incident, and perhaps the portrait of the geologist will be recognized,—" A queerish like oald chap, wid a sharp leak oot, grey hair and smo' face, drist i' black, wid a white neckcloth like a parson, an' a par of specks on t' top of a gay lang uwose at was n't set verra fair atween t' e'en on him, Boos 'at when he leak 't ebbem at yan through his specks he rayder turn 't his face to t'ya side."

Among the other tales in the book, perhaps the most amusing is "Bobby Banks's Bodderment," the story of a henpecked farmer who is sent to market because his wife has the rheumatics, receives orders to get " ten things for Betty and yan for hinmel" with awful injunctions to forget nothing, executes his commission exactly but has a vague impression while returning that he has forgotten something, counts his articles over and over again and takes various pints of ale by the way to clear his confused brain,

till finally wet, dirty, and weary, he " stackers " into the farm-yard, to be assailed with questions about " t'ineear and t'car," the whole mistake having been his walking instead of riding home. A

capital touch in this piece is the manner in which Bobby, " maizelt " with drink, and counting, and fear of Betty, breaks into rhyme over his troubles, the concluding rhyme being :—

" She's thrimlin' for her butter-brass, her butter-brass, her butter-brass, She's thrimlin' for her butter-brass, but willn't thritnle lang.

For Bobby lad thu's hhr to fence, thu's bar to fence, dais hur to fehate, For Bobby lad, tha's her to (dice ; she'll m'appon change thy sang."

Other pieces besides will be found not deficient iu fun, including one or two in verse, and those of a soberer character will likewise repay perusal. The legend of "The Skulls of Calgarth " in verse is very impressive in its somewhat rugged rhythm and dress ; and the ballad of "A Lockerbye Lycke," the tale of a duel between brothers, has iu it some of the force and fire of the old Scotch ballads. We rather grudge, however, the disillusion of such a sketch as that of Jonathan and Betty Yewdale,—the idealized hero and heroine of one of Wordsworth's pictures in the Excursion,— but who figure here as a rather sheepish husband and masterful wife, a remarkable exploit of the latter in withdrawing her husband from a circle of boon companions and supporting him

home across country forming a principal part of the sketch. But this is a trivial fault, if any.

The dialect is phonetically represented on what appears to be a simple and sufficiently intelligible system, and will be readily available for comparison with adjacent dialects. The general reader will be more concerned to know that there is a copious glossary, by which the obscurer passages in the tales may be cleared up where the sense is not a sufficient guide to the meaning. Occasionally we notice a slip or imperfection. Thus " douse,''

Scotch and Cumbrian, is translated " respectable," " well-behaved," whereas its primary meaning, in Scotch at least, is "quiet," "gentle," which may cause it to be applied to respectable people, though respectability is not its meaning. It is in fact the French "dots," "douse." Again, " flipe " is given as the Cumbrian for " hat rim," without any hint that in Lowland Scotch it is applied to other rims or folds. " Heids an' thaws " (Scotch), again, instead of meaning generally " lying in irregular positions," is

often applied strictly to things placed alongside in exactly reversed positions. But these are small matters, compared with the author's thorough knowledge of the dialect he handles. The notes on the dialect are also short and to the point, but this is not the strongest part of the book, which will be mainly useful to philologists for its specimens of the Cumbrian "mak o'toke."