Enivri.
Tredagh.
POPULAR SAYINGS.
I would feel obliged, Mr. Editor, if you or any of your North of England readers would favour me direct, or otherwise through the medium of "N. & Q.," with the origin and meaning of the following popular local sayings, peculiar to the North Countrie.
Likewise permit me to observe, that if any of them can favour me, through either of the above channels, with a few more of the "dark sayings of antiquity," either in the form of plain prose or rude rustic rhymes, peculiar to any or all of the five northern counties, to wit, York, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, they would not only be conferring an obligation upon myself, but likewise upon every one of your numerous readers who take pleasure in the fast-fading traditional relics of our ancestors.
1. As crafty as a Kendal fox.
2. Like the parson of Saddleworth, who could read in no book but his own.
3. Doncaster daggers.
4. The woful town o' Wetherby.
5. As sure as a louse in Pomfret. (Pontefract.)
6. Like the mayor of Hartlepool, you cannot do that. (Co. Durham.)
7. Looks as vild (worthless) as a pair of Yorkshire sleeves in a goldsmith's shop.
8. Hearts is trumps at Eskett Hall. (Near Felton, Northumberland.)
9. Silly good-natured, like a Hexham goose.
10. There are no rats at Hatfield, nor sparrows at Lindham. (Co. Ebor.)
11. A Dent for a Galloway, a Hind for an ass. (Ibid.)
M. Aislabie Denham.
Piersebridge, Darlington, Durham.