_GEO: COWARD, CARLISLE_.
THE SONGS AND BALLADS OF CUMBERLAND, to which are added Dialect and
other Poems; with Biographical Sketches, Notes, and Glossary. Edited
by Sidney Gilpin. With Portrait of Miss Blamire. Small Crown 8vo.
Price 7s.
(_A New Edition in preparation._)
One of the most interesting collections of poetry which have been
lately published is the “Songs and Ballads of Cumberland.” How many
people know anything of Miss Blamire? Yet she was the author of that
most beautiful and pathetic of ballads beginning, “And ye shall walk
in silk attire.” Every one will, therefore, thank the editor for the
conscientious way in which he has issued her pieces, and given us some
account of her life. It was she, too, who wrote that other beautiful
ballad, worthy of Lady Anne Lindsay, “What ails this heart o’ mine?”
which, in our opinion, is poetry full of truth and tenderness. Indeed,
we should be disposed to look upon it as a critical touchstone, and
to say that those who did not like it could not possibly appreciate
true poetry.... We can only advise the reader to buy the book,
and we feel sure that he, like ourselves, will be thankful to the
editor.—_Westminster Review._
We like the Cumberland Songs a good deal better than the Lancashire
ones which we reviewed a fortnight back. There is more go and more
variety in them; the hill-air makes them fresher, and we do not wonder
that Mr. Gilpin feels—now he has got “tem put in prent”—
Aw England cannot bang them.
We certainly cannot recollect a better collection.... While the author
of “Joe and the Geologist” lives, we shall rest assured that the
Cumberland dialect will be well represented in verse as well as prose,
though we suppose he cannot love to describe the roaring scenes at
weddings and the like that his predecessors witnessed.... The dialect
is rich in reduplicated words—in good forms—in old English words;
and the volume altogether is one that should find a place on the
shelf of every reader of poetry and student of manners, customs, and
language.—_The Reader._
The truly Cumbrian minstrel towards the close of the last century seems
to have approached the Scotch in his pictures of rural courtship, and
to have been still greater in his descriptions of weddings, as of some
other festivities of a more peculiar character. He had a healthy and
robust standard of feminine beauty, and his most riotous mirth was
more athletic and less purely alcoholic than that which flourished in
Burns’s native soil.—_The Spectator._
These Cumberland lyrics—till now scattered—are on the whole well
worth the pains spent on their collection. In some cases, as in those
of Relph and Miss Blamire, there is evidence of real genius for the
ballad or the eclogue; and with respect to other writers, if the
poetic feeling be less deep, humour and keen observation are displayed
in dealing with the people and customs of a district which, in its
lingering primitiveness and time-honored traditions, is richer in
materials for fancy and character than regions which lie nearer the
metropolis.—_The Athenæum._
It is seldom that a book compiled on the local principle contains
so much good matter as this collection of the “Songs and Ballads of
Cumberland.” In the pathetic vein, Miss Blamire is a host in herself;
and the humorous and “character sketches,” as we may call them, by
various hands, are more vigorous and picturesque, and less vulgar or
coarse, than is at all common in the works of local poets. To some
readers the peculiar dialect may be objectionable; but to any one
who can read Burns, it need be no stumbling-block to the enjoyment
of the varied contents of this elegant and well-arranged volume....
The biographical and other notes are carefully and well written,
judiciously informative, and not too long.—_Scotsman._
Cumberland has a goodly store of ballads, the natural offspring of
her hills and lakes, and fells and “forces,” a wealth of ballad
literature, in fact, whereof the Southron in general knows, we fear,
but little. Miss Susanna Blamire is a name of celebrity up North, the
poetess of Cumberland; and Robert Anderson and many others hold almost
equal repute there. Mr. Sidney Gilpin, himself owning a name which
has belonged to more than one Cumberland celebrity, has collected and
edited a volume of the dialect-songs and ballads, and other specimens
of the minstrelsy of his county, and offers it to the appreciation of
the English public. The “Songs and Ballads of Cumberland” ought to be a
welcome volume to all who can relish the home-spun simple language of a
genuine muse of the hills. There is much true and tender poetry in the
book, and much rough, natural vigour.—_Morning Star._
Cumberland has found in Mr. Sidney Gilpin an able and zealous champion;
and the present collection of her Songs and Ballads, though not,
perhaps, absolutely exhaustive, will decidedly extend her poetic fame,
and no doubt surprise many even among the students of this peculiar
lore.—_Church and State Review._
_F. Cap 8vo. Price 2s. 6d., in neat Cloth binding._
MISS BLAMIRE’S SONGS AND POEMS; together with Songs by her friend MISS
GILPIN of Scaleby Castle. With Portrait of Miss Blamire.
She was an anomaly in literature. She had far too modest an opinion
of herself; an extreme seldom run into, and sometimes, as in this
case, attended like other extremes with disadvantages. We are
inclined, however, to think that if we have lost a great deal by
her ultra-modesty, we have gained something. Without it, it is
questionable whether she would have abandoned herself so entirely to
her inclination, and left us those exquisite lyrics which derive their
charms from the simple, undisguised thoughts which they contain. The
characteristic of her poetry is its simplicity. It is the simplicity
of genuine pathos. It enters into all her compositions, and is perhaps
pre-eminent in her Scottish songs.
_Carlisle Journal, 1842._
In her songs, whether in pure English, or in the Cumbrian or Scottish
dialect, she is animated, simple, and tender, often touching a chord
which thrills a sympathetic string deep in the reader’s bosom. It may,
indeed, be confidently predicted of several of these lyrics, that they
will live with the best productions of their age, and longer than many
that were at first allowed to rank more highly.—_Chambers’ Journal,
1842._
_F. Cap 8vo. Price 2s., in neat Cloth binding._