In this stage of the business, some venerable yeoman usually stepped forward and harangued the contending parties, in some such speech as the following, which I am sorry to say was most commonly thrown away upon these pot-valiant champions:—
“What rage, O friends! what fury
Doth you to these dire actions hurry?
What towns, what garrisons might you,
With hazard of this blood subdue,
Which now y’are bent to throw away
In vain untriumphable fray?”
Yet after these civil broils, the parties seldom bore each other any grudge or ill-will, and generally at the conclusion of the contest,
“Tho’ sorely bruis’d, their limbs all o’er
With ruthless bangs still stiff and sore,”
they shook hands, became good friends again, and departed with the greatest sang-froid to apply
“Fit med’cines to each glorious bruise
They got in fight, reds, blacks, and blues;
To mollify th’ uneasy pang
Of ev’ry honourable bang.”
In the year 1779, an attempt was made to procure an act of parliament for allotting these moors in perpetuity; but an opposition having been made by a majority of the proprietors, the plan was relinquished. I have now by me a printed copy of the bill drawn up on that occasion. The land, however, was actually enclosed and allotted in the year 1811, and the ancient mode of dividing it, and consequently the drunken festival, or revel, from that time discontinued.
The following [marks] are correct delineations of those used, being taken from the originals in the book appropriated for the purpose of keeping the accounts of this very singular and ancient usage.
| The Marks for Allotting Dolmoors. | |||
| No. of each. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pole-axe | 5 |  | |
| Cross | 4 |  | |
| Dung-fork, or pike | 2 |  | |
| Four Oxen & a Mare | 1 |  | |
| Two Pits | 1 |  | |
| Three Pits | 1 |  | |
| Four Pits | 1 |  | |
| Five Pits | 1 |  | |
| Seven Pits | 1 |  | |
| Horn | 1 |  | |
| Hare’s-tail | 1 |  | |
| Duck’s-nest | 1 |  | |
| Oven | 1 |  | |
| Shell | 1 |  | |
| Evil | 1 |  | |
 | |||
| Hand-reel | 1 | ||
| A—d B——tt Delt. | |||