Literary Byways Part 6

In a variety of places, but more especially in old village inns, reflections in verse, good, bad, and indifferent, have been found scratched upon window-panes. We have carefully copied the best examples which have come under our notice, and present a batch herewith, believing that they may entertain our readers.

A genial old Yorkshire parson appears at the commencement of the present century to have been greatly pleased with an inn situated between Northallerton and Boroughbridge, for he visited it daily to enjoy his pipe and gla.s.s. On one of its window-panes he inscribed some lines, of which the following is a literal copy:--

"Here in my wicker chair I sitt, From folly far, and far from witt, Content to live, devoid of care, With country folks and country fare; To listen to my landlord's tale, And drink his health in Yorkshire ale; Then smoak and read the _York Courant_; I'm happy and 'tis all I want.

Though few my tythes, and light my purse, I thank my G.o.d it is no worse."

Here is another Yorkshire example, written towards the close of the last century; it is from an old wayside inn near Harewood-bridge, on the Leeds and Harrogate road:--

"Gaily I lived, as Ease and Nature taught, And pa.s.sed my little Life without a thought; I wonder, then, why Death, that tyrant grim, Should think of me, who never thought of him."

Under the foregoing, the following was written:

"Ah! why forget that Death should think of thee; If thou art Mortal, such must surely be; Then rouse up reason, view thy hast'ning end, And lose no time to make G.o.d thy Friend."

In the old coaching days, the Dog and Doublet, at Sandon, Staffordshire, was a popular house. A guest wrote on one of its window panes the following recommendation:--

"Most travellers to whom these roads are known, Would rather stay at Sandon than at Stone!

Good chaises, horses, treatment, and good wines, They always meet with at James Ballantine's."

A penniless poet wrote on a tavern window-pane the lines:--

"O Chalk! to me, and to the poor, a friend, On Thee my life and happiness depend; On Thee with joy, with grat.i.tude I think, For, by thy bounty, I both eat and drink."

"Chalk" is a slang word for credit. Innkeepers kept their accounts on the back of a door, written with chalk.

The following epigram was written under a pane disfigured with autographs:--

"Should you ever chance to see, A man's name writ on a gla.s.s, Be sure he owns a diamond, And his parent owns an a.s.s."

On the accession of Her Majesty, this _jeu d'esprit_ was inscribed on an inn window:--

"The Queen's with us, the Whigs exulting say; For when she found us in, she let us stay.

It may be so; but give me leave to doubt How long she'll keep you when she finds you out."

The following lines dated 1793, were written on a window-pane at the Hotel des Pays Bas, Spa Belgium:--

"I love but one, and only one, Ah, Damon, thou art he!

Love thou but one, and only one, And let that one be me!"

Early in the present century, it was customary for the actors to write their names on the panes in one of the windows of the York Theatre. On the gla.s.s of the same window were found inscribed these lines.

"The rich man's name embellished stands on bra.s.s; The player simply scribbles his on gla.s.s, Appropriate tablet to the wayward fate-- A brittle shining, evanescent state: The fragile gla.s.s destroyed--farewell the name; The actor's gla.s.s consumed--farewell his fame."

Our next example, dated 1834, from Purwell Hall, Batley, Yorkshire, was composed by a Miss Taylor. It is generally believed that her heart was won by a lover who did not meet with the approbation of her friends, and that they made her prisoner in one of the rooms of the old Hall, and there, on a pane of gla.s.s, were written the lines which follow:--

"Come, gentle Muse, wont to divert Corroding cares from anxious heart; Adjust me now to bear the smart Of a relenting angry heart.

What though no being I have on earth, Though near the place that gave me birth, And kindred less regard do pay Than thy acquaintance of to-day: Know what the best of men declare, That they on earth but strangers are, Nor matter it a few years hence How fortune did to thee dispense, If--in a palace thou hast dwelt, Or--in a cell of penury felt-- Ruled as a prince--served as a slave, Six feet of earth is all thou'lt have.

Hence give my thoughts a n.o.bler theme, Since all the world is but a dream Of short endurance."

Robert Burns wrote several lines on tavern windows. On a pane of gla.s.s at the Queensberry Arms, Sanquhar, he inscribed the following.

"Ye G.o.ds! ye gave to me a wife Out of your grace and favour, To be a comfort to my life; And I was glad to have her.

But if your providence divine For other ends design her, To obey your will at any time, I'm ready to resign her."

Next may be quoted:--

"Envy, if thy jaundiced eye Through this window chance to pry, To thy sorrow, thou wilt find All that's generous, all that's kind: Virtue, friendship, every grace Dwelling in this happy place."

Burns's lines written on the window-panes of the Globe Tavern, Dumfries, have frequently been quoted. The following inscription refers to the charms of the daughter of the factor of Closeburn estate, when the poet resided at Ellisland:--

"O lovely Polly Stewart, O charming Polly Stewart, There's not a flower that blooms in May, That's half so fair as thou art."

In some editions of the poet's works, the following verse, stated to have been copied from a window of the same tavern, is given:--

"The graybeard, Old Wisdom, may boast of his treasures; Grant me with gay Folly to live; I grant him his calm-blooded, time settled pleasures; But Folly has raptures to give."

Such are a few of the many rhymes scratched upon gla.s.s. Some of the panes on which they were inscribed may now be broken, and this may be the only means of preserving them.

English Folk-Rhymes.

English folk-rhymes are very numerous and curious. Characteristics of persons and places have given rise to not a few which are frequently far from complimentary. Weather-lore is often expressed in rhyme; the rustic muse has besides rendered historic events popular, and enabled persons to remember them who are not readers of books. The lines often lack polish, but are seldom without point.

Amongst the more ancient rhymes are those respecting grants of land. The following is a good example, and is from Derbyshire:--

"Me and mine Give thee and thine Millners Hay And Shining Cliff, While gra.s.s is green And hollies rough."

The old story of the grant is thus related. Years ago, a member of the ancient family of Lowe had the honour of hunting with the king and his n.o.bles. Lowe rode a splendid horse, the only one in at the death. The king admired the animal very much, and the owner presented it to His Majesty. The horse "mightily pleased the king." Some little time afterwards, Lowe waited upon the king to beg a brier bed and a watering-place, which were Shining Cliff and Millners Hay. The request was at once complied with. The tale does not end here. It is related that "an envious courtier told the king that he did not know what he was doing, for what he was giving away was a great wood with a large tract of land." Upon this, Lowe said to His Majesty: "King or no king?"--"Why, king, Lowe."

Adding with prompitude: "The brier-bed and watering-place are thine:" the rhyme above quoted being given as the t.i.tle for the grant.

It is a.s.serted that Athelstan granted the first charter to the ancient borough of Hedon, Yorkshire, in these words:--

"As free make I thee As eye see or ear hear."

It is said a similar charter was granted by the same king to the neighbouring town of Beverley.

An old, old Norfolk rhyme says:--

"Rising was a seaport town, And Lynn it was a wash; But now Lynn is a seaport town, And Rising fares the worst."

It is said at Norwich:--

"Caistor was a city ere Norwich was none, And Norwich was built of Caistor stone."

"About half-way between Curbar and Brompton, to the right of the turnpike leading from Barlow to Sheffield," writes William Wood, "there is, far on the moor, a very level flat piece of ground, near a mile square, most remarkable for its boggy nature, so much so that it is dangerous to cross, or at times to approach. Here, before the Roman invasion, says the legend, stood a town or village, the inhabitants of which lived, according to Diodorus Siculus, in small cots or huts built of wood, the walls of stakes or wattles, like hurdles, and covered with rushes or reeds. These dwellings, with their inhabitants, were swallowed up by one of those convulsions of nature so destructive at times to the habitations of mankind." Respecting Leechfield and Chesterfield are the following lines current in Derbyshire:--