DRAM DRINKING. 189 



Spirits are introduced on all occasions. At sales — 

 of which there are many, every spring and autumn, 

 in the dales, and which are attended by all the 

 inhabitants who can go, for miles round — glasses 

 of spirits are handed round among the purchasers, 

 all day long. The settling of accounts at Candle- 

 mas is attended by the same curse, — every debtor 

 expecting his creditor to offer him the compliment 

 of a glass of strong liquor. On that day it is 

 unpleasant for ladies to be abroad, near settlements 

 where the Candlemas payments are making, — so 

 many are the drunken people whom they meet. 

 It is common to swallow the strong liquor undiluted, 

 in considerable quantity. An old dalesman, wel- 

 come in Ambleside for his shrewdness, simplicity, 

 and originality, appeared one day at a house where 

 the gentleman was absent but the lady at home. 

 The lady asked the visitor to sit down and await 

 her husband's return, proposing to offer him some 

 spirit and water meantime. He replied, — He 

 wonnot be nice about t'first part e't' offer; but 

 as tot' watter, it could be gitten at ony gate 

 [way] side. 



To return to the former condition of the " states- 

 man." The domestic manufactures he carried to 

 town with him, — the linen and woollen webs 

 woven by his wife and daughters, — would not sell, 

 except at a loss, in the presence of the Yorkshire 

 and Lancashire woollens and cottons made by 

 machinery. He became unable to keep his children 

 at home ; and they went off to the manufacturing 

 towns, leaving home yet more cheerless — with 

 fewer busy hands and cheerful faces — less social 

 spirit in the dales — greater certainty of continued 



