The following is an extract from SKETCHES OF LANCASHIRE LIFE by Edwin Waugh, published in 1855.

In the chapter entitled HIGHWAYS AND BYEWAYS, FROM ROCHDALE TO THE TOP OF BLACKSTONE EDGE he writes:

Twenty years since there was no church in Smallbridge, no police to keep its rude people in orderly trim, no very effective school of any sort. The working weavers and colliers had the place almost to themselves in those days. They worked hard, and ate and drank as plentifully as their earnings would afford, especially on holidays, or "red-letter days;" and, at by-times they clustered together in their cottages, but oftener at the road side, or in some favourite alehouse, and solaced their fatigue with such scraps of news and politics as reached them; or by pithy, idiomatic bursts of country humour and old songs. Sometimes these were choice snatches of the ballads of Britain, really beautiful, "Minstrel memories of times gone by;" such as, unfortunately, we seldom hear now, and still seldomer hear sung with the feeling and natural taste which the country lasses of Lancashire put into them while chanting at their work. Some of Burns's songs, and many songs commemorating the wars of England, were great favourites with them. Passing by a country alehouse, one would often hear a rude ditty like the following, sounding loud and clear from the inside:—

"You generals all, and champions bold,
    Who take delight i'th field ;
Who knock down palaces and castle walls,
    And never like to yield;
I am an Englishman by birth,
    And Marlbro' is my name,
In Devonshire I first drew breath;
    That place of noble fame."

Or this finishing couplet of another old ballad:—

"To hear the drums and the trumpets sound,
    In the wars of High Garmanie!"

I well remember that the following were among their favourites:— "Oh, Nanny, wilt thou gang wi' me?" "Jockey to the Fair," "Old Towler," "The Banks of the Dee," "Black Eyed Susan," "Highland Mary," "The Dawning of the Day," "The Garden Gate," and "The Woodpecker." There are, also, a few rough, humorous songs in the Lancashire dialect, which are very common among them. The best of these are the rudely-characteristic ballads called "Jone o' Greenfelt," and "The Songs of the Wilsons".