Of the three concluding sketches, the writer feels it right to state that the first is merely a slight alteration of a series of paragraphs furnished to the Stamford Mercury, in 1838, and records strict facts which were then occurring in Lincolnshire; while the two remaining fragments were intended to form parts of a novel, in some degree autobiographical,—but the completion of which was relinquished, at first, from a toilful engagement with the sterner business of life, and at length from a growing preference for other subjects.
134, Blackfriars' Road,
London, Nov. 1. 1845.
CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
| PAGE | |
| Kucky Sarson, the Barber; or, the Disciple of Equality | [1] |
| Raven Dick, the Poacher; or, "who Scratched the Bull?" | [20] |
| Tim Swallow-whistle, the Tailor; or, "Every Dog has his Day" | [38] |
| Davy Lidgitt, the Carrier; or, the Man who brought his Ninepence to nought | [57] |
| The Fisherman and the Fiddler; or, "Don't say so till you are sure" | [72] |
| Master Zerubbabel, the Antiquary; and how he found out the "Noose larning" | [104] |
| The beggared Gentleman, and his crooked Stick | [127] |
| The Nurture of a young Sailor; or, the History of Cockle Tom | [142] |
| The Last Days of an old Sailor; or, "Butter your Shirt! Sing Tantara-bobus, make Shift!" | [159] |
| Dorothy Pyecroft's Preaching; or, "Charity begins at Home" | [177] |
| The Minister of Mercy | [189] |
| "Merrie England"—no more! | [201] |
| Seth Thompson, the Stockinger; or, "When Things are at the worst, they begin to mend" | [218] |
| Sam Simkins, the Run-away; or, Villainy as a Refuge from the Tortures of Sour-godliness | [235] |
KUCKY SARSON, THE BARBER;
OR,
THE DISCIPLE OF EQUALITY.
Once upon a time—and that was when "French principles," as they were called, were beginning to spread in England, and here and there one began to profess admiration of the new republic,—there lived in the little town of Caistor, in North Lincolnshire, a notable barber of the name of Habakkuk Sarson,—but "Kucky" was the name by which he was familiarly known; for Lincolnshire folk are a plain folk, and don't like, nor ever did, to trouble themselves with uttering long cramp names.