Includes all those songs from the manuscript collection of John Bell (d. 1864) which throw light on the way of life of the majority of the population of North-East England and the Eastern Borders. Each piece derives ultimately from the life and work of those men and women who were obliged to work for a living, usually with their hands. Texts arranged under the following headings: Soldiers and Sailors, Civil and Political, Coalwork, Country Life, Festivities, Sport and Social Life, Drinking, Courtship, Love Unrequited, Love Satisfied, Children, In Praise of Wedlock, Trouble and Strife, Stories, Fragments.