Si Veterum Romanorum vestigia quaeras, hic cernas viator. Hic enim
celeberrimae illorum viae militares sese mutuo secantes ad extremes
usque Britanniae limites procurent: hic stativa sua habuerunt Vennones;
et ad primum ad hinc lapidem castra sua ad Stratam, et ad Fossam
tumulum, Claudius quidam cohortis praefectus habuisse videtur.
Which may be thus rendered,
If, traveller, you search for the footsteps of the ancient Romans, here
you may behold them. For here their most celebrated ways, crossing one
another, extend to the utmost boundaries of Britain; here the Vennones
kept their quarters; and at the distance of one mile from hence,
Claudius, a certain commander of a cohort, seems to have had a camp,
towards the street, and towards the foss a tomb.
The ground here is so high, and the surrounding country so low and flat,
that it is said, fifty-seven churches may be seen from this spot by the
help of a glass.
The following judicious remarks on the customs, mariners, and dialects
of the common people of this district by Mr. Macauley, who published a
history of Claybrook, may be amusing to many readers.--The people here
are much attached to _wakes_; and among the farmers and cottagers these
annual festivals are celebrated with music, dancing, feasting, and much
inoffensive sport; but in the neighbouring villages the return of the
wake never fails to produce at least a week of idleness, intoxication,
and riot. These and other abuses by which those festivals are grossly
perverted, render it highly desirable to all the friends of order and
decency that they were totally suppressed. On Plow Monday is annually
displayed a set of _morice dancers_; and the custom of ringing the
curfew is still continued here, as well as the pancake bell on Shrove
Tuesday. The dialect of the common people is broad, and partakes of the
Anglo-Saxon sounds and terms. The letter _h_ comes in almost on every
occasion where it ought not, and it is frequently omitted where it ought
to come in. The words _fire_, _mire_, and such like, are pronounced as
if spelt _foire_, _moire_; and _place_, _face_, and other similar words,
as if spelt _pleace_, _feace_; and in the plural you sometimes hear
_pleacen_, _closen_, for closes, and many other words in the same style
of Saxon termination. The words _there_, and _where_, are generally
pronounced _theere_ and _wheere_; the words _mercy_, _deserve_, thus,
_marcy_, _desarve_. The following peculiarities are also observable:
_uz_, strongly aspirated for _us_; _war_ for _was_; _meed_ for _maid_;
_faither_ for _father_; _e'ery_ for _every_; _brig_ for _bridge_;
_thurrough_ for _furrow_; _hawf_ for _half_; _cart rit_ for _cart rut_;
_malefactory_ for _manufactory_; _inactions_ for _anxious_. The words
_mysen_ and _himsen_, are sometimes used for _myself_ and _himself_; the
word _shoek_ is used to denote an idle worthless vagabond; and the word
_ripe_ for one who is very profane. The following phrases are common,
"a power of people," "a hantle of money," "I can't awhile as yet." The
words _like_ and _such_ frequently occur as expletives in conversation,
"I won't stay here haggling all day and _such_." "If you don't give me
my price _like_." The monosyllable _as_ is generally substituted for
_that_; "the last time _as_ I called," "I reckon _as_ I an't one," "I
imagine _as_ I am not singular." Public characters are stigmatized by
saying, "that they set poor lights." The substantive _right_ often
supplies the place of _ought_, as "farmer A has a right to pay his tax."
Next ways, and clever through, are in common use, as "I shall go clever
through Ullesthorpe." "_Nigh hand_" for probably, as he will nigh hand
call on us. _Duable_, convenient or proper: thus "the church is not
served at _duable_ hours." Wives of farmers often call their husbands
"our master," and the husbands call their wives _mamy_, whilst a
labourer will often distinguish his wife by calling her the "o'man."
People now living remember when _Goody_ and _Dame_, _Gaffer_ and
_Gammer_, were in vogue among the peasantry of Leicestershire; but they
are now almost universally discarded and supplanted by Mr. and Mrs.
which are indiscriminately applied to all ranks, from the squire and his
lady down to Mr. and Mrs. Pauper, who flaunt in rags and drink tea twice
a day."
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