  1 Northumberland Plate, or Pitmen’s Derby. 2 ‘Mevvies’ = maybe, perhaps. The true Northumbrian is in a threefold danger of betraying his origin: phonetically, by the ‘burr’; dialectically, by constant use of ‘mevvies,’ ‘wor’ (our), and ‘I’s warned’ (I warrant you); psychologically, by a perpetual readiness to back himself, his dog, or any of his belongings, against any other man’s in the world, and for any amount, at a moment’s notice. 3 Atlas, presumably. 4 ‘Mistetched’ = spoiled; of ill habits. Cf. Chaucer’s ‘tetch,’ a spot. 5 ‘Cavil’ = the quarterly ballot amongst coal-hewers for their places down the pit. Seams differ greatly in quality and depth of coal, and in ease of working. This is the miners’ own rough-and-ready method of adjusting the inequalities. 6 The chairman of a local District Council is ex-officio a magistrate. 7 ‘Shootin’’ (shouting). ‘Shuttin’,’ on the other hand, would mean shooting, whereby quaint confusions have occasionally arisen. 8 Come along. 9 The Assizes. 10 Viz., Bonnie Bella, a famous greyhound of ‘the Heckler’s.’ 11 Manager. 12 Row. 13 Pitmen are paid fortnightly on the Friday: the following day is ‘pay-Saturday.’ Non-pay-Saturday is known as ‘baff-Saturday,’ the derivation of which no man knows to this day. 14 It is said that at the time of the Napoleonic wars some French prisoners were detained in custody in the pit country not far from Durham City. It would appear that some intercourse between the inhabitants of the place and the foreigners sprang up, which resulted in the addition of one expressive phrase, at least, to the local dialect, that, namely, of ‘Caleb Jay’ for ‘Quel objÊt!’ due to their strange garb, probably, or tattered appearance. The phrase is now wholly obsolete, the writer believes, but it is said it was once actually in use. 15 Wood-pigeon. 16 The Northumbrian for ‘encore.’ 17 ‘Mugger’ = beggar; literally, one who sells mugs. 18 Abusing. 19 Mr. Brockett died in 1842. 20 The Northumberland Plate. 21 ‘Article 5.—No shares shall be dealt in below their face value except with the consent of the Board of Directors.’ 22 The author understands that this is the case in regard to some of the livings in the gift of Greenwich Hospital. TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired. Punctuation and spelling standardized when a predominant preference was found in this book. Other possible errors retained. Page 43, “the many” changed to “them any” (he’d never have hearkened to them any more). Page 164, “Georgie” changed to “Geordie” (responded Geordie gratefully). Missing page numbers are numbered blank pages in the original text. “FOOTNOTES” section was not a part of the original book. It is included in the Table of Contents to accomodate the reader. Inconsistent hyphenation was retained. When uncertain of the author’s spelling of words split across lines, hyphen was retained in such words as “chimney-piece”, “god-child”, “cock-sure”, “well-made”. Words “lampshade”, “mantelpiece”, “grandchildren”, also split across lines in the original, are not hyphenated in this text. “GEORDIE ARMSTRONG, ‘THE JESU-YTE’” tale starts with subheading I, which suggests that the tale has several parts. However, there are no other numbered subheadings in this chapter. |
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