1 “A supplement to Joe and the Geologist, by another hand,” appeared some time ago, in the Whitehaven Herald, and was afterwards published as a pamphlet. Joe, considering himself misrepresented in that production, able as it was, wishes to put himself right. Hence his re-appearance before his many partial and indulgent friends.

2 Comical, used thus, means Pert, in central Cumberland.

3 During the period required for the publication of banns, a couple are said, figuratively, to be “hinging in t’ bell ropes.”

4 Clash—Scandal.

5 Fiend’s-fell, an old name for Cross-fell, on the eastern verge of the county.

6 The beautiful secluded bay which divides the two Heads of St. Bees, the most westerly points of Cumberland, is called Fleswick.

7 Hog-holes are small apertures left in the dry stone fences, to allow the sheep, or hogs, to get through from one pasture to another.

8 Landlords of the Ferry—the first named having been previously the well known guard of the coach that traversed the Lake district.

9 In a foot-note to West’s Guide to the Lakes, published first about 1770—its 5th edition being dated 1793—the author or editor suggests certain other modes of accounting for the presence of the famous skulls of Calgarth, but fails in offering anything so satisfactory as the popular version here done into rhyme. The writer of the note appears to have seen them himself, and I have known more than one old person, besides John Long, who averred that in their youth, they had seen the said remains occupying their immemorial position. The misfortunes of the Philipsons of Calgarth and Crook are matter of local history, and with some of their recorded exploits, make them, perhaps, the most interesting family of the two counties.

10 Dr. Watson, the celebrated Bishop of Llandaff, who purchased the estate of Calgarth, and long resided upon it, but not at the old Hall. He is always spoken of by the old people who remember him as “T’ Bishop.”

11 This phrase is generally applied to a heavy back-handed blow. It is said to have originated at the battle of Dryfe-sands, which was fought near to Lockerbie in 1593, between the Nithsdale and the Annandale clans, the former being defeated with terrible slaughter. It was found after the battle that many of the slain had been killed by a slashing sword cut across the face, from a blow peculiar to the Johnstones, and hence called the “Lockerbye lycke.”

12 Halldykes, in the parish of Dryfesdale, Dumfriesshire, where the writer passed some years of his boyhood, was formerly the seat of a branch of the Herries family; and, with three or four adjacent farms, formed almost the last remnant of their large border estates held by the descendants of that anciently powerful and noble house; one member of which is immortalized as the builder of the Tower of Repentance, and another as Queen Mary’s “loyal and brave Lord Herries!” Sir Robert Herries, founder of the great London banking house of Herries, Farquhar, and Co., and the Right Hon. J. C. Herries, once Chancellor of the Exchequer, were both scions of the old stock of Halldykes. Like most old family seats in the same district, Halldykes possesses, numerically speaking, a highly respectable corps of bogles (as the writer knew to his great and frequent tribulation); the origin and mode of developement of one of the most prominent of which is related pretty faithfully, according to local tradition, in the preceding rhyme.

13 Friends of the author introduced anachronically, as also is Wullie Smyth, who flourished at Lockerbie during the author’s “school-day time.”

14 Bessie’s Well was not far from the foot of “Cuddie’s Lane.” The writer has been informed that the well was drained or filled up by operations connected with the formation of the railway. This ancient fountain, the destruction of which is to be deplored, had the traditional reputation of attaching all who drank of it with a lasting affection to the town of Lockerbie.

15 The existence of “closes mirk” in Lockerbie may be disputed; but the writer holds one or two in his recollection well suited to the taste of those who love the darkness rather than the light.

16 The town drummer and bellman, one of whose functions was to parade the streets, drumming the lieges of Lockerbie to bed at ten p.m., and out of bed at six a.m.—a custom which some thought “more honoured in the breach than the observance.”

17 Harrington Town, the ancient village about half a mile inland, is so called in distinction from Harrington Harbour, the small sea-port, which is modern. The heiress of the family which took its name and title from Harrington was mother of the Lord Bonville and Harrington, brother-in-law to the king-making Earl of Warwick. The manor was forfeited by the attainder of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, great-grandson of the said Lord Bonville, and father of Lady Jane Grey, and given by the Queen (Mary), to the Curwens of Workington, who still hold it.

18 Should this compendium of topical applications seem at all overcharged, I would state that it consists of well known popular remedies, mostly of some use, and falls far short, whether in variety, extravagance, or repulsiveness of the multifarious nostra recommended by amateurs of the healing art in Cumberland and the adjacent counties. The “poultice of o’ maks” is not, as its name seems to imply, a compound, but a simple substance, which it is unnecessary to indicate more distinctly than to mention that it was generally turned to when pleasanter applications had failed. I have frequently heard old people extol its virtues as a promoter of suppuration, but I trust its use may now be classed with the “many precious rites and customs of our rural forefathers,” which, as Wordsworth has said, “are gone or stealing from us.“

19 This alludes to the popular belief, not altogether unfounded, that readiness in healing is connected with an easy disposition.

20 A delusion common enough after amputation.

21 The stone stood—I believe stands—behind the hedge which on the western side fences the lane called Scaw-lonning, near High Harrington. When I last saw it—many years ago—the subjoined inscription was quite distinct upon it—plainer, indeed, than any of similar date in the churchyard:—

With the traditional account of the circumstances that caused this fancy of Joseph Thompson’s, the details given in the rhyme coincide as closely as my recollection of a tale heard in boyhood enables me to make them.

Since the first appearance of this, however, another version of the matter has been reported to me by old friends near the spot—but inasmuch as it does not account so perfectly as the old story for Joseph’s objection to ALL consecrated ground, I feel bound to abide by my first choice. The, to me, new story tells that Joseph Thompson annoyed the clerk in the church so seriously by repeating the responses in a voice that quite drowned his, that at length the said functionary exclaimed during service—“Is thoo t’ clark, or is I t’ clark? If thoo’s t’ clark, cum up hÈar, an’ I’ll cum doon thÈar!“—and, on Joseph’s paying no attention to his appeal, supplemented it by assaulting him. The clergyman taking his clerk’s side in the quarrel, Joseph Thompson declared he would never come near the church again, dead or alive, and kept his word.

I take leave to think that my version is the better, whichever may be the truer tale. I have further been told that the stone formerly stood in the centre of the field—and on the land coming into the possession of Mr. John Christian Curwen, the farmer waited upon that distinguished agriculturist to obtain permission to remove it to the hedge-side, and to plough the field. When he was told the history of the monument, and its inscription was recited to him, Mr. Curwen exclaimed, more suo, ”Would not lie in consecrated ground! Then, plough him up! D—— him, plough him up!”