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and indulgence scarcely in keeping with the solemn rites of the 

 burial of the dead. I can scarcely conceive a more curious 

 practice than that of sending round the bell-man to announce a 

 funeral something after this fashion : — " All friends and neighbours 

 are invited to attend the funeral of John Goulding, of the Mitre 

 Inn. The friends will assemble at one, and the corpse will be 

 lifted at two o'clock." It dates from a byegone and primitive 

 age. Yet such a custom as that, handed down from the 

 darkest period of our history, I have seen observed in the 

 streets of Carlisle far on in this the nineteenth century. The 

 tolling of the church bells is still in vogue in most of the churches.- 

 The bells, which are tolled nine times for a man, six for a woman, 

 and three times for a child, were at one time believed to frighten 

 away any evil spirits that might be lingering about the dead. The 

 funeral customs of Cumberland, if entirely collected, would form a 

 work of much interest and value. 



The origin of how the dates of the old Fairs in this county came 

 to be fixed is lost in the mists of antiquity ; but it is probable that 

 they were fixed by means of the Church festivals ; for it puzzles 

 me to know how some old-fashioned people recollected the times 

 of holding all those fairs on the proper dates before the days of 

 almanacs. 



The great festival of Easter appears to have been observed with 

 great respect in Cumberland, and no changes in our social condition 

 have succeeded in removing from it that halo with which it is 

 surrounded. At Hayton, near Brampton, the lessee of the tithes 

 gave twenty -four quarts of ale — which were always drunk in the 

 churchyard — as a sort of receipt. The catechism was also gone 

 through in country churches on Easter Sunday. 



The first charter for holding a Fair in Carlisle, granted as far 

 back as in the reign of Henry II., being confirmed by Edward III., 

 was to last sixteen days, commencing on the "Feast of the 

 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary." There is also another 

 fair in this ancient city of great antiquity, and that is the Hiring 

 Fair. The hiring fairs of Cumberland are curious spectacles to 

 south-country folks. They are, however, institutions which will 



