The Cottagers of the Lakes.
Author Details
Author Name:Unknown
Gender:Unknown
Anonymous:Yes
Publication Details
Publisher:Printed for J. Harris, Successor to E. Newberrty, Corner of St. Paul's Church Yard; Wm. Darton, Holborn; and A.K. Newman, Leadenhall Street, by J. Raw, Ipswich.
Place:London
Date:1816
Novel Details
Genre:Didactic/moralising; domestic; social commentary
Setting:Northern England; Lakes
Period:Contemporary
Plot
Children Emma and Arthur visit the Lakes with their father. There follows an educational and 'improving' tale (quite moralistic) which involves the children visiting several local families and discovering that not everyone is as wealthy as they are, nor have so many advantages. While the father lectures them on societal issues, the children learn the virtue of charity and benevolence through performing good deeds for the poor and disadvantaged.
Overview of the Dialect
Local (Lakes) inhabitants are represented with heavily marked dialect, often italicised. E.g fisherman uses 'bairns' (ital.), p. 11; p. 18: 'as if her love wa (ital.) woven'; p. 13: 'an please you (ital.). Children of fisherman's family also dialectal. Beginning from p. 115, blind woman (poor but industrious cottager) also has dialect italicised.
Speaker #1:Cottager - Fisherman
Individual or Group:Individual
Primary Identity:Cottager
Gender:Male
Age:Adult - unspecified age
Narrative Voice:3rd person
Role:Minor
Dialect Features:Discourse Marker, Grammar, Idiom, Orthographical Contraction, Vocabulary
Social Role
Social Role Description:Fisherman
Social Role Category:Trade or craft
Speaker's Origin
Place of Origin Description:Lake District
Place of Origin Category:Cumberland, North England, England
"Dear sir, why the best in the world, everybody knows her about here --she has been like a mother to Susan and me, and our poor bairns ."
"I made bold to ask, because I thought as you were going about to see all that is beautiful, you would like to give a look at my lady's curiosities; and so gin ye please , I will show you the way directly."
"This place, my lady is very fond of," added their guide, "and talked to me yester'een of just such a thing as you mentioned ma'am."
"Your honour's very good, but as for that," said the countryman, rubbing his hat round and round with his arm, "for the sake of my lady here, I'd freely go for nought ."
Speaker #2:Joe - Child of cottagers
Individual or Group:Individual
Primary Identity:the boy
Gender:Male
Age:Child
Narrative Voice:3rd person
Role:Minor
Dialect Features:Discourse Marker, Grammar, Idiom, Orthographical Contraction, Orthographical Respelling
Social Role
Social Role Description:Child of cottagers
Social Role Category:Respectable poor
Speaker's Origin
Place of Origin Description:Lake District
Place of Origin Category:Cumberland, North England, England
Extract #1 dialect features: Discourse Marker, Grammar, Idiom, Orthographical Contraction, Orthographical Respelling
"My good lady," said little Joe, (coming forward with an exulting countenance,) " larns me to read and write, and to be a good boy, and ge's me a penny a week, to drive the cows into the yard."
"A very nice thing, indeed, my little boy, and what do you intend to do with all the pence you get in this way?"
" Why , sir, replied Joe, twisting his thumb and fingers one over the other, "I am, my lady says, to lay them all by in a box, and then as how she tells me I may some day buy a big bible, and so always know how to be a good, a very good boy."
"And how many pence have you got?" asked Arthur.
Joe, turning to his mother,-- " 'ant it twelve, mother?"
"I think it is," said Susan.
"A very nice thing, indeed, my little boy, and what do you intend to do with all the pence you get in this way?"
" Why , sir, replied Joe, twisting his thumb and fingers one over the other, "I am, my lady says, to lay them all by in a box, and then as how she tells me I may some day buy a big bible, and so always know how to be a good, a very good boy."
"And how many pence have you got?" asked Arthur.
Joe, turning to his mother,-- " 'ant it twelve, mother?"
"I think it is," said Susan.
Speaker #3:Blind woman - Weaver
Individual or Group:Individual
Primary Identity:Blind woman
Gender:Female
Age:Adult - elderly
Narrative Voice:3rd person
Role:Minor
Dialect Features:Grammar, Idiom, Orthographical Contraction, Orthographical Respelling, Vocabulary
Social Role
Social Role Description:Weaver
Social Role Category:Respectable poor
Speaker's Origin
Place of Origin Description:Lake District
Place of Origin Category:Cumberland, North England, England
Extract #1 dialect features: Grammar, Idiom, Orthographical Contraction, Orthographical Respelling, Vocabulary
" Mony ! a blessing rest o' their heads, for their goodness to me," said the blind weaver, as she rose from her stool, "my great Father sends me so mony comforts in my old age, that I canna speak o' em but praise him ay my heart , and hope he will gie ye a blessing for me."
[narrative omitted]
"There's a blessing, sir, on every state for him that will but take it; I needs no more than in mercy is sent me ; my bobbins shuffle and shuffle from side to side, and learn me to turn, aye and to bend, to my great Master's will. Had I wanted more He would have given it me! "
Arthur and Emma could not help remarking the neatness of the cottage, and all within it.
"I wonder," said Emma, "how you keep everything so clean, without your sight."
"That makes little difference to me, my lady, once upon a time, I had my sight, and then loved everything so bright, that ne'er a speck was seen; now my fingers serve me, and feel e'en the leastest bit o' dirt--'Tis one of my pleasures to hobble about my little room, and put all nice and neat, and rub the bricks, --Though I ar not much time for that either."
"Do you weave all the day, and every day of the year?" said Arthur.
"No, sir, not ar Sundays, nor ar washing days, nor ar baking days. There's ennow to do them."
"Why, you must bake a good deal, to occupy all the day," said Mr Wilmore.
"'Tis na' a great deal I want, sir, but still a body must live, and a cake or two a day wants a good mony to last a month .
[narrative omitted]
"There's a blessing, sir, on every state for him that will but take it; I needs no more than in mercy is sent me ; my bobbins shuffle and shuffle from side to side, and learn me to turn, aye and to bend, to my great Master's will. Had I wanted more He would have given it me! "
Arthur and Emma could not help remarking the neatness of the cottage, and all within it.
"I wonder," said Emma, "how you keep everything so clean, without your sight."
"That makes little difference to me, my lady, once upon a time, I had my sight, and then loved everything so bright, that ne'er a speck was seen; now my fingers serve me, and feel e'en the leastest bit o' dirt--'Tis one of my pleasures to hobble about my little room, and put all nice and neat, and rub the bricks, --Though I ar not much time for that either."
"Do you weave all the day, and every day of the year?" said Arthur.
"No, sir, not ar Sundays, nor ar washing days, nor ar baking days. There's ennow to do them."
"Why, you must bake a good deal, to occupy all the day," said Mr Wilmore.
"'Tis na' a great deal I want, sir, but still a body must live, and a cake or two a day wants a good mony to last a month .