Widdecombe must not be quitted without a reference to the famous ballad of the old grey mare taken there to the fair; a ballad that is immensely popular in Devon, and one to the air of which the Devon Regiment went against the Boers.
"Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me thy grey mare, All along, down along, out along, lee. For I want for to go to Widdecombe Fair, Wi' Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawk, Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all.
_Chorus_--Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all.
"And when shall I see again my grey mare? All along, down along, out along, lee. By Friday soon, or Saturday noon, Wi' Bill Brewer, etc.
"Then Friday came, and Saturday noon, All along, down along, out along, lee. But Tom Pearce's old mare hath not trotted home, Wi' Bill Brewer, etc.
"So Tom Pearce he got up to the top of the hill All along, down along, out along, lee. And he seed his old mare down a-making her will, Wi' Bill Brewer, etc."
Now it does not appear from the song _why_ the mare was so dead beat. But a clever American artist, who has illustrated the song, has brought her knowledge of human nature to bear on the story. She has shown in her pictures how that the borrower of the horse met with a pretty gipsy girl at the fair, and persuaded her to ride away with him _en croupe_. This explains at once why the horse was so overcome that it "fell sick and died."
One can understand also how that this ballad being a man's song, a veil is delicately thrown over this incident.
"When the wind whistles cold on the moor of a night, All along, down along, out along, lee. Tom Pearce's old mare doth appear ghastly white, Wi' Bill Brewer, etc.
"And all the long night be heard skirling and groans, All along, down along, out along, lee. From Tom Pearce's old mare in her rattling bones, Wi' Bill Brewer, etc."
[17] See my article on "Foundations" in _Strange Survivals_ (Methuen and Co., 1892). See also my _Book of the West_, i. p. 331.
Holne church and screen--Epitaph--Holne Chase--The Coffin-stone--Dartmeet Bridge--Dolly's Cot--Dolly Trebble--Sherrill--Yar Tor--Proposed new road--Pixy Holt--Blowing-house at Okebrook--Jolly Lane Cot--Song-hunting under difficulties--The Sandy Way--Childe's Tomb--Crosses in a line--Swincombe--Gobbetts Mine--Crazing-mill stones--Holne vicarage--Charles Kingsley--Old customs at Holne--Similar custom at King's Teignton--Sacrifice of sheep.