Originally prepared for textual analysis during his PhD research on the 'Origins and Development of English Folk Plays' by Peter Millington (2002).
Original spelling and typography is retained, except that superscripts, long s and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Line identifiers are those used for line types in the Folk Play Scripts Explorer.
"Received from a resident of Cocking, who wrote as follows:
'I have copied a Tipteerers' Duologue, which I am sure would interest any one if played properly. My elder brothers played it when lads and my younger brothers played it in this village about ten years ago, but it has not been carried on since. My grandmother first taught my elder brothers, she remembered hearing it when a girl . . . my mother is nearly seventy years of age. Of course we have never let any one else have a copy.
'Tipteerers are men who go from house to house at Xmas time doing this sort of thing: my brothers were praised very much when they did it.'"
"'Hallecumb pain' pronounced Ha-lo-cum-pain. (Note by the writer of the MS.)"
Peter Millington's Notes:Tiddy only appears to have collected actively between 1913 and 1916. Assuming this text was sent directly to Tiddy, this means the performance date would have been about 1903 to 1906.