Wit
Character, Folklore & Customs
OF THE
NORTH RIDING OF YORKSHIRE
WITH
A GLOSSARY OF OVER 4,000 WORDS AND IDIOMS
NOW IN USE
BY
RICHARD BLAKEBOROUGH
(SOCIETY HUMORIST)
LATE HON. CURATOR OF THE R.S.S.; AUTHOR OF ‘MORE THAN A DREAM,’
‘T’ HUNT O’ YATTON BRIGG,’ THE COMEDIES ‘TOMBOY,’ ‘AUNTIE,’ ETC.
London
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER, E.C.
1898
THIS WORK
IS DEDICATED TO
THE
REV. E. S. CARTER, M.A.
OF YORK
AND
J. G. WILSON, M.A.
OF DURHAM
AS A MEMENTO OF SINCERE GRATITUDE
FOR MANY ACTS OF FRIENDSHIP
SHOWN TO
THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
At one time it was thought possible for the present work to be undertaken conjointly by the Rev. M. C. F. Morris, author of Yorkshire Folk-Talk, and myself. Such collaboration, though pleasing to both, was found to be quite impracticable. Many of my patrons and friends having urged me to undertake the work single-handed, I have ventured to do so. I have aimed at no higher standard than the chatty style which I have adopted in drawing-rooms and on the platform. If friends and critics prove but half as kind and considerate in this new venture as they have hitherto done, I have little to fear. My main object has been simply to place on record, in, I hope, a readable form, some of the wit, character, customs, and folklore of the North Riding which I have thought to be sufficiently interesting and worthy of being saved from that long list of things forgotten.
The chapter on some characteristic sayings of both the North and East Ridings, kindly contributed by the Rev. M. C. F. Morris, will add greatly to the value and interest of the work. I may here mention that he is in no way answerable for any other single sentence throughout the work. I feel it to be my duty to make this quite clear, for, as a humorist, I have ventured to include certain items which the reverend gentleman most probably would have run his pen through, had either the MS. or proof-sheets passed through his hands.