Yorkshire Dialect Poems (1673-1915) and traditional poems

Cleveland Lyke-wake Dirge(1)

     This ya neet, this ya neet,
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     Fire an' fleet(2) an' can'le leet,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     When thoo frae hence away art passed(3)
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     To Whinny-moor thoo cooms at last,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     If ivver thoo gav owther hosen or shoon,
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     Clap thee doon an' put 'em on,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     Bud if hosen or shoon thoo nivver gav nean,(4)
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     T' whinnies 'll prick thee sair to t' bean,(5)
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     Frae Whinny-moor when(6) thoo mayst pass,
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     To t' Brig o' Dreead thoo'll coom at last,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     If ivver thoo gav o' thy siller an' gowd,
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     At t' Brig o' Dreead thoo'll finnd foothod,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     Bud if siller an' gowd thoo nivver gav nean,
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     Thoo'll doan, doon tum'le towards Hell fleames,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     Frae t' Brig o' Dreead when thoo mayst pass,
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     To t' fleames o' Hell thoo'll coom at last,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     If ivver thoo gav owther bite or sup,
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     T' fleames 'll nivver catch thee up,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     Bud if bite or sup thoo nivver gav nean,
        Ivvery neet an' all;
     T' fleames 'll bon(7) thee sair to t' bean,
        An' Christ tak up thy saul.

     1. The text of this version of the "Lyke-wake Dirge" follows, with slight
     variations, that found in Mr. Richard Blakeborough's Wit, Character,
     Folklore, and Customs of the North Riding (p. 123), where the following
     account is given: "I cannot say when or where the Lyke Walke dirge was
     sung for the last time in the North Riding, but I remember once talking
     to an old chap who remembered it being sung over the corpse of a distant
     relation of his, a native of Kildale.  This would be about 1800, and he
     told me that Lyke-wakes were of rare occurrence then, and only heard of
     in out-of-the-way places. ... There are other versions of the song; the
     one here given is as it was dictated to me.  There is another version in
     the North Riding which seems to have been written according to the tenets
     of Rome; at least I imagine so, as purgatory takes the place of hellish
     flames, as given above."  In the Appendix to this volume will be found
     the other version with the introduction of purgatory to which Mr.
     Blakeborough refers.  I have taken it from Sir Walter Scott's Border
     Minstrelsy (ed.  Henderson, vol. ii. pp.  170-2), but it also finds a
     place in John Aubrey's Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme (1686-7),
     preserved among the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum.  Aubrey
     prefixes the following note to his version of the dirge: The beliefe in
     Yorkeshire was amongst the vulgar (perhaps is in part still) that after
     the person's death the soule went over Whinny-moore, and till about
     1616-24 at the funerale a woman came (like a Praefica) and sang the
     following song."  Further information about this interesting dirge and
     its parallels in other literatures will be found in Henderson's edition
     of the Border Minstrelsy, p. 163) and in J. C. Atkinson's Glosary of the
     Cleveland Dialect, p. 595.