MURAL HOSPITALITY.
Mr. Hutton is usually very particular in giving a detail of the kind of entertainment he met with at the various points of his journey. The recital of his reception at Rutchester kindles into poetry:
I saw old Sir at dinner sit,
Who ne'er said, "Stranger, take a bit,"
Yet might, although a poet said it,
Have saved his beef, and raised his credit.
His own appearance, he tells us, was a little peculiar, and archæological pursuits not being in vogue in that day, the farmer probably had grave doubts as to the propriety of tempting the enthusiastic old man to prolong his stay.
It has frequently been my lot to receive the kindly attentions of the inhabitants of the mural region. Often have my eyes, bedimmed with fatigue, been ‘enlightened’ by partaking of the barley cake of the cottager, (excellent food for a thirsty climb) as well as the costlier viands of the farm tenant, or proprietor. Never shall I forget visiting, on one occasion, a frail tenement near Chesterholm. Its only inmate, an old woman, in the spirit of regal hospitality, asked me to join with her in partaking of her only luxury—her pipe. I recently observed with regret, that the cottage was tenantless.
NORTHUMBRIAN YEOMEN.
The inhabitants of that part of the district which is remote from towns, do not affect the dress, or the speech, or the manners of polished citizens. They like to know a person before they welcome him, and make their approaches cautiously. But if slow in grasping the hand, they do it heartily and sincerely. There is scarcely a latch in the wilder regions of the country, that I would not freely lift in the assurance of a smiling welcome. Often as I have groaned under the toils to which my present undertaking has exposed me, I have reason to rejoice, that the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus has been the means of making me acquainted with many of the true-hearted and intelligent yeomen, both of my own county, and of Cumberland, whom I should not otherwise have known. Although their dialect may sound strangely to a southern ear, yet it is English in its native purity and strength; a great authority, Mr. Thorpe, having said, 'I believe the genuine Anglian dialect to be that which is usually denominated the Northumbrian.'[[76]]