Richard Blakeborough

PREFACE

CONTENTS

THE YORKSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH IS NOT A DIALECT, BUT A LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER I YORKSHIRE STORIES OF WIT AND CHARACTER.

CHAPTER II WIT AND CHARACTER

CHAPTER III WIT AND CHARACTER continued .

CHAPTER IV WIT AND CHARACTER continued

CHAPTER V WIT AND CHARACTER continued

CHAPTER VI CUSTOMS OF THE YEAR AND FOLKLORE

CHAPTER VII CUSTOMS OF COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE, BIRTH, AND DEATH Superstition.

CHAPTER VIII OMENS, CHARMS, RECIPES

CHAPTER IX WITCHCRAFT

CHAPTER X WITCHCRAFT continued

CHAPTER XI SOME CHARACTERISTIC YORKSHIRE SAYINGS

CHAPTER XII IDIOMS AND THE PECULIAR USE OF CERTAIN WORDS

CHAPTER XIII SIMILES, PROVERBS, AND SAYINGS

CHAPTER XIV CHILDREN'S LORE

CHAPTER XV ODD SCRAPS OF OLD YORKSHIRE, ETC.

CHAPTER XVI A FEW SIMPLE HINTS ON THE GRAMMAR OF THE FOLK-SPEECH

GLOSSARY OF ABOUT FOUR THOUSAND NORTH RIDING WORDS

CONCLUDING REMARKS

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

On page 262
‘To leeak a bad leeak’ = to leeak ill. has been changed to
‘To leeak a bad leeak’ = to look ill.

Many words in the Glossary are cross-referenced to other words. In several cases these other words are not present.

The book begins with an extensive list of subscribers immediately after the table of contents. This has been moved to the end.

WIT, CHARACTER, FOLKLORE
AND CUSTOMS
OF THE
NORTH RIDING OF YORKSHIRE

Oxford
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

WITH
A GLOSSARY OF OVER 4,000 WORDS AND IDIOMS
NOW IN USE

BY
RICHARD BLAKEBOROUGH
(SOCIETY HUMORIST)
LATE HON. CURATOR OF THE R.S.S.; AUTHOR OF ‘MORE THAN A DREAM,’
‘T’ HUNT O’ YATTON BRIGG,’ THE COMEDIES ‘TOMBOY,’ ‘AUNTIE,’ ETC.

London
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER, E.C.
1898

THIS WORK
IS DEDICATED TO
THE
REV. E. S. CARTER, M.A.
OF YORK
AND
J. G. WILSON, M.A.
OF DURHAM
AS A MEMENTO OF SINCERE GRATITUDE
FOR MANY ACTS OF FRIENDSHIP
SHOWN TO
THE AUTHOR