THE BALLADS AND SONGS

OF YORKSHIRE,

TRANSCRIBED FROM PRIVATE MANUSCRIPTS, RARE BROADSIDES,

AND SCARCE PUBLICATIONS; WITH NOTES

AND A GLOSSARY.

BY

C. J. DAVISON INGLEDEW, M.A., Ph.D., F.G.H.S.

AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF NORTH ALLERTON."

LONDON:

BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET

1860.

TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

THE EARL OF CARLISLE, K. G.

This Work

IS, WITH PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY

DEDICATED

BY THE EDITOR.

PREFACE.

The present work is a selection from the Ballads and Songs of my nativecounty, and I trust the publication may not be deemed an unacceptableoffering. In a polished age like the present, I am sensible that many ofthe productions of our county bards will require great allowances to bemade for them. Yet have they, for the most part, a pleasing simplicity,and artless grace, which, in the opinion of such writers as Addison,Dryden, Percy, and others, have been thought to compensate for the wantof higher beauties; and, in the words of the latter, "If they do notdazzle the imagination, they are frequently found to interest theheart."

Wherever I have had an opportunity, I have collated my copies with theearliest editions, retaining in the notes, in many places, the differentreadings, the text in modern editions being materially changed andfrequently deteriorated. I have omitted pieces from the pens of Scott,Wordsworth, Rogers, and other modern writers, whose works may be assumedto be in the reader's possession. Another class, the last dying[vii]confessions of criminals, &c., have been, with few exceptions, left out,as more appropriate for a separate volume. I trust, however, in what isretained will be found every variety:—

"From grave to gay, from lively to severe."

And should the reader receive one half the pleasure in perusing thecontents, that has been afforded in collecting, I shall be perfectlysatisfied.

In the notes prefixed to the Ballads and Songs, I have acknowledged myobligations to the friends who have so kindly assisted me, but cannotallow this opportunity to pass without again expressing my sincerethanks to Edward Hailstone, esq., F.S.A., Charles Jackson, esq., andothers who have manifested so great an interest in the work.

North Allerton,
May, 1860.

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CONTENTS.