{"id":622,"date":"2016-09-28T15:15:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T15:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/?page_id=622"},"modified":"2019-10-07T11:08:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T11:08:17","slug":"spottees-cave","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/spottees-cave\/","title":{"rendered":"Spottee’s Cave"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spottee\u2019s Cave<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Come all ye good people and listen to me,<\/em>
\n<\/em>And a comical tale I will tell unto ye,<\/em>
\n<\/em>Belanging yon Spottee that lived on the Law Quay,<\/em>
\n<\/em>That had nowther house nor harbour he.<\/em>
\n<\/em>The poor auld wives o\u2019 the north side disn\u2019t knaw what<\/em> for te de,<\/em>
\n<\/em>For they dare not come to see their husbands when they<\/em> come to the Quay;<\/em>
\n<\/em>They\u2019re feared o\u2019 their sel\u2019s, and their infants, tee,<\/em>
\n<\/em>For this roguish fellow they call Spottee.<\/em>
\n<\/em>But now he\u2019s gane away unto the sea-side,<\/em>
\n<\/em>Where mony a ane wishes he may be weshed away wi\u2019 the<\/em> tide,<\/em>
\n<\/em>For if Floutter\u2019s flood come, as it us\u2019d for te de,<\/em>
\n<\/em>It will drive his heart out then where will his midred be?<\/em>
\n<\/em>The poor auld wives o\u2019 Whitburn disn\u2019t knaw what for te<\/em> de,<\/em>
\n<\/em>For they dar not come alang the sands, wi\u2019 their lang tail<\/em>
\n<\/em>skates in their hands, to Jacob Spenceley\u2019s landing,<\/em> as they us\u2019d for te de.<\/em>
\n<\/em>They dare not come alang the sands, wi\u2019 their swills in<\/em> their hands.<\/em>
\n<\/em>But they\u2019re forced to take a coble, and come in by the sea.<\/em>
\n<\/em>As Laird Forster was riding alang the sands,<\/em>
\n<\/em>As he or any other gentleman might de,<\/em>
\n<\/em>Spottee cam\u2019 out, his tanter-wallups did flee,<\/em>
\n<\/em>His horse teuk the boggle, and off flew he.<\/em>
\n<\/em>He gathers coals in the day-time, as he\u2019s well knawn for<\/em> te de,<\/em>
\n<\/em>And mak\u2019s a fire on i\u2019 the neet, which kests a leet into the<\/em> sea,<\/em>
\n<\/em>Which gar\u2019d the poor Sloopy cry, \u201cHelem a-lee,\u201d<\/em>
\n<\/em>And a back o\u2019 the carcasses com poor she.<\/em>
\n<\/em>\u201cAlack and a well-a-day,\u201d said the maister, \u201cwhat shall<\/em> we de?\u201d<\/em>
\n<\/em>\u201cTrust to Providence,\u201d said the mate, \u201d and we re sure to<\/em> get free;\u201d<\/em>
\n<\/em>There was a poor lad that had come a trial vaige to sea,<\/em>
\n<\/em>His heart went like a pair o\u2019 bellows, and he didn\u2019t knaw,<\/em> what for te de.<\/em>
\n<\/em>Johnny Usher, the maister, wad ha\u2019 carried him away,<\/em>
\n<\/em>But the ship\u2019s company swore deel be their feet if they<\/em> wad with him stay;<\/em>
\n<\/em>\u201cWe\u2019ll first forfeit our wages, for ganging to sea,<\/em>
\n<\/em>Before we\u2019ll gan wi\u2019 that roguish fellow they call Spottee.<\/em><\/p>\n

Recorded in Sir Cuthbert Sharp\u2019s The Bishoprick Garland, or a Collection of Legends, Songs, Ballads &c. belonging to the County of Durham<\/em> (1834)<\/p>\n

You can see Dr Michael Pearce’s discussion of this poem here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spottee\u2019s Cave Come all ye good people and listen to me, And a comical tale I will tell unto ye, Belanging yon Spottee that lived on the Law Quay, That had nowther house nor harbour he. The poor auld wives o\u2019 the north side disn\u2019t knaw what for te de, For they dare not come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-622","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1261,"href":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622\/revisions\/1261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.sunderland.ac.uk\/seagullcity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}