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.