LITMIR.BIZ

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Edric, how beautifully dirty the paper is; no art could counterfeit this dingy hue. This sooty tinge is the genuine tint of antiquity. You know, Edric, in ancient times, the caloric employed in culinary purposes, and indeed for all the common usages of life, was produced by the combustion of wood, and of a black bituminous substance, or amphilites, drawn from the bowels of the earth, called coal, of which you may yet see specimens in the cabinets of the curious. As these substances decomposed, or rather expanded, by the force of heat, the attraction of cohesion was dissolved, and the component parts flew off in the shape of smoke or soot. This smoke, rising into the air, was dispersed by it, and the minute particles, or atoms, of which it was composed, falling and resting upon every thing that chanced to be in their way, produced that incomparable dusky hue, which the moderns have so often tried, though in vain, to imitate. I beg your pardon, Edric, for using such vulgar language to express what I wished to say, but really, treating upon such a subject, I did not know how to explain myself elegantly."

      "Oh! I understood you very well, Sir. After all, the only true use of language is to convey the ideas of one person to the understanding of another; and, provided that end be attained, I really do not see that it is of any consequence what words we make use of."

      "True, Edric dear! you make very just observations sometimes. Well, but the ballads; I was going to show you my treasures—my jewels! as the Roman lady said of her children. Look what beautiful specimens these are! A little torn here and there, and with a few of the lines illegible—but genuine antiques. I'll warrant every one of them above three hundred years old. Look, it is real linen paper; you may tell it by the texture; and then the spelling, see what a number of letters they put into their words that were of no use. Look at the titles of them. Here is the 'Tragical end of poor Miss Bailey'—and here 'Cherry Ripe'—and 'I've been roaming.' Here is 'The loves of Captain Wattle and Miss Roe'—and here are 'Jessy the flower of Dumblane,' and 'Dunois the brave.' But this is my Phœnix—here is what will be the envy of collectors! here is my invaluable treasure. This, I believe, is absolutely unique, and that I am so blest as to possess the only copy extant. The date is wanting, but the manners it describes are so unpolished, that I should almost think it might be traced back to the times of the aboriginal Britons.—Thus it begins:—

      'At Wednesbury there was a cocking,

       A match between Newton and Scroggins;

       The nailers and colliers left work,

       And to Spittle's they all went jogging.

       Tol de rol lol.'

      I used to be very much puzzled at this burthen, which is one of frequent recurrence in ancient songs. At first, I thought it a relic of some language now irrevocably lost. Then it struck me, it might be an invocation to the deities of the aborigines. In short, I was quite perplexed, and knew not what to think, when a learned friend of mine hit upon an idea the other day, which seems completely to solve the difficulty. He suggests that it was an ancient manner of running up and down the scale; and that 'Tol de rol lol' had the same signification as 'Do re mi fa;'—which solution is at once so simple and ingenious, that I am sure you, as well as myself, must be struck by it. I here omit a few stanzas, in which the author enumerates his heroes exactly in the Homeric manner. The names are so barbarous, that I am afraid of loosening my teeth in pronouncing them:—

      'There was plenty of beef at the dinner,

       Of a bull that was baited to death;

       Bunny Hyde got a lump in his throat,

       Which had like to have stopt his breath.'

      What a beautiful simplicity there is in that last line,

      'Which had like to have stopt his breath.'

      Oh, we moderns have nothing equal to it!—

      'The company fell in confusion,

       To see this poor Bunny Hyde choke,

       So they hurried him down to the kitchen,

       And held his head over the smoke.'

      "This develops a curious practice of antiquity. You know, Edric, I explained to you just now the manner in which combustion was formerly effected, and the causes of the production of what was called smoke. I own, however, it seems a strange way of reviving a half-suffocated man, to hold his head over smoke, which, being loaded, as I said before, with innumerable atoms of all sorts and sizes, would, one might think be more likely to impede respiration than restore it. The fact, however, is undoubted; and it not only affords a curious illustration of the manner of the ancients, but is of itself a strong proof of the authenticity of the ballad; for such an idea never could have entered the head of a modern. To return to poor Hyde—

      'One gave him a kick o' th' stomach,

       And another a thump o' th' brow,

       His wife cried throw him i' th' stable,

       And he will be better just now.'

      This unfeeling conduct of his wife does not say much in commendation of the ladies of those times. Here follows an hiatus of several stanzas: I find, however, by a word or two here and there, that they celebrated the exploits of two gallic heroes:—

      'The best i' th' country bred;

       The one was a brassy-wing black,

       And the other a dusky-wing'd red.'

      These unfortunate victims of the cruelty of man seem both to have perished. There is a stanza, however, before this catastrophe, which seems to relate to the combat.

      'The conflict was hard upon each,

       Till glossy-wing'd blacky was choked,

       The colliers were nationally vex'd,

       And the nailers were all provoked.'

      This passage seems very obscure: 'Nationally' is evidently a sign of comparison, but I cannot say I ever saw it employed before. It is, however, another proof of the amazing antiquity of the ballad. After this, it appears that the people broke in upon the ring, and both cocks were crushed to atoms. I don't know whether you are acquainted with the manner in which these gallic combats were conducted, Edric. A kind of amphitheatre was formed, upon which the birds were pitted one against the other, whence the name cock-pit. The combatants were armed with large iron spurs, and the victor generally left his rival dead upon the field. The ballad proceeds:—

      'The cock-pit was near to the church,

       As an ornament to the town;

       One side was an old coal-pit,

       And the other was well gorsed round.'

      Gorse was a kind of heath or furze.

      'Peter Hadley peep'd through the gorse,

       In order to see the cocks fight;

       Spittle jobb'd his eye out with a fork,

       And said, "Blast you, it sarves you right."'

      This is very spirited and expressive, though the false quantities render it difficult to read.

      'Some folks may think this is strange,

       Who Wednesbury never knew,

       But those who have ever been there,

       Won't have the least doubt but it's true.

       For they are all savage by nature,

       And guilty of deeds that are shocking,

       Jack Baker he whack'd his own feyther,

       And so ended the Wednesbury cocking.'"

      "It is very fine certainly," said Edric, who was half asleep.

      "Upon my word," returned the doctor, "I don't think you have heard a single word I have been saying."

      "Oh! yes, I have," replied Edric, "every syllable. It was about a man killing his own father, and putting his eyes out with a fork."

      "Eh?" cried the doctor, somewhat annoyed at this unequivocal proof that though his words might have struck upon the auricular organs of his pupil, they had not reached his brains. The exclamation of the

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