As ever
Our porter at hell-gate
Is holden so strait,
Up early and downe late,
He rests never.
There is little distinction to be drawn between ‘garth’ and ‘yard’ in the North of England, and in reality there ought to be none. Such names, however, as ‘Nicholas de Apelyerd,’ or ‘Robert del Apelgarth,’ or ‘Richard atte Orcheyerd,’ the descendants of whom are still in our midst, bespeak a former familiarity of usage which we cannot find now. We have just mentioned ‘Haycraft.’ This reminds us of our ‘Hayes.’ Chaucer, in his ‘Troilus,’ says—
But right so as these holtes and these hayes,
That han in winter dead been and dry,
Revesten them in grene when that May is,
When every lusty beast listeth to pley.