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Title: The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1
of 2)

Author: Alice Bertha Gomme

Release date: December 29, 2012 [eBook #41727]

Language: English

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TRADITIONAL GAMES OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND
(VOL 1 OF 2) ***

Please see Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this
document.

This is Volume I of a two-volume work. Volume II
(including the Addenda) is available on the Project
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A DICTIONARY
OF

BRITISH FOLK-LORE

EDITED BY

G. LAURENCE GOMME, Esq., F.S.A.
PRESIDENT OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, ETC.

PART I.
TRADITIONAL GAMES

BY THE SAME EDITOR.

Small 4to. In Specially Designed Cover.

ENGLISH SINGING GAMES.
A Collection of the best Traditional Children’s Singing Games, with their
Traditional Music harmonised, and Directions for Playing. Each Game, Text and
Music, is written out and set within a Decorative Border by Winifred Smith, who
has also designed Full-page Illustrations to each Game, and Initials and Decorative
Border to the playing directions.

[All rights reserved.]

THE
Traditional Games
Of England, Scotland, and
Ireland

WITH

TUNES, SINGING-RHYMES, AND METHODS OF
PLAYING
ACCORDING TO THE VARIANTS EXTANT AND
RECORDED IN DIFFERENT PARTS
OF THE KINGDOM

COLLECTED AND ANNOTATED BY
ALICE BERTHA GOMME

VOL. I.
ACCROSHAY-NUTS IN MAY

LONDON
DAVID NUTT, 270-71 STRAND
1894

TO
MY HUSBAND

PREFACE

Soon after the formation of the Folk-lore Society in 1878 my husband
planned, and has ever since been collecting for, the compilation of a
dictionary of British Folk-lore. A great deal of the material has been put in
form for publication, but at this stage the extent of the work presented an
unexpected obstacle to its completion.
To print the whole in one alphabet would be more than could be
accomplished except by the active co-operation of a willing band of
workers, and then the time required for such an undertaking, together with
the cost, almost seemed to debar the hope of ever completing arrangements
for its publication. Nevertheless, unless we have a scientific arrangement of
the enormously scattered material and a close comparison of the details of
each item of folk-lore, it is next to impossible to expect that the full truth
which lies hidden in these remnants of the past may be revealed.
During my preparation of a book of games for children it occurred to me
that to separate the whole of the games from the general body of folk-lore
and to make them a section of the proposed dictionary would be an
advantageous step, as by arranging the larger groups of folk-lore in
independent sections the possibility of publishing the contemplated
dictionary again seemed to revive. Accordingly, the original plan has been
so far modified that these volumes will form the first section of the
dictionary, which, instead of being issued in one alphabet throughout, will
now be issued in sections, each section being arranged alphabetically.
The games included in this collection bear the important qualification of
being nearly all Children’s Games: that is to say, they were either originally
children’s games since developed into games for adults, or they were the
more serious avocations of adults, which have since become children’s
games only. In both cases the transition is due to traditional circumstances,
and not to any formal arrangements. All invented games of skill are

therefore excluded from this collection, but it includes both indoor and
outdoor games, and those played by both girls and boys.
The bulk of the collection has been made by myself, greatly through the
kindness of many correspondents, to whom I cannot be sufficiently grateful.
In every case I have acknowledged my indebtedness, which, besides being
an act of justice, is a guarantee of the genuineness of the collection. I have
appended to this preface a list of the collectors, together with the counties to
which the games belong; but I must particularly thank the Rev. W. Gregor,
Mr. S. O. Addy, and Miss Fowler, who very generously placed collections at
my disposal, which had been prepared before they knew of my project; also
Miss Burne, Miss L. E. Broadwood, and others, for kindly obtaining
variants and tunes I should not otherwise have received. To the many
versions now printed for the first time I have added either a complete
transcript of, where necessary, or a reference to, where that was sufficient,
printed versions of games to be found in the well-known collections of
Halliwell and Chambers, the publications of the Folk-lore and Dialect
Societies, Jamieson’s, Nares’, and Halliwell’s Dictionaries, and other
printed sources of information. When quoting from a printed authority, I
have as far as possible given the exact words, and have always given the
reference. I had hoped to have covered in my collection the whole field of
games as played by children in the United Kingdom, but it will be seen that
many counties in each country are still unrepresented; and I shall be greatly
indebted for any games from other places, which would help to make this
collection more complete. The tunes of the games have been taken down, as
sung by the children, either by myself or correspondents (except where
otherwise stated), and are unaltered.
The games consist of two main divisions, which may be called descriptive,
and singing or choral. The descriptive games are arranged so as to give the
most perfect type, and, where they occur, variable types in succession,
followed, where possible, by any suggestions I have to make as to the
possible origin of the game. The singing games are arranged so as to give,
first, the tunes; secondly, the different versions of the game-rhymes; thirdly,
the method of playing; fourthly, an analysis of the game-rhymes on a plan
arranged by my husband, and which is an entirely novel feature in
discussing the history of games; fifthly, a discussion of the results of the
analysis of the rhymes so far as the different versions allow; and sixthly, an

attempt to deduce from the evidence thus collected suggestions as to the
probable origin of the game, together with such references to early
authorities and other facts bearing upon the subject as help to elucidate the
views expressed. Where the method of playing the game is involved, or
where there are several changes in the forms, diagrams or illustrations,
which have been drawn by Mr. J. P. Emslie, are inserted in order to assist
the reader to understand the different actions, and in one or two instances I
have been able to give a facsimile reproduction of representations of the
games from early MSS. in the Bodleian and British Museum Libraries.
Although none of the versions of the games now collected together are in
their original form, but are more or less fragmentary, it cannot, I think, fail
to be noticed how extremely interesting these games are, not only from the
point of view of the means of amusement (and under this head there can be
no question of their interest), but as a means of obtaining an insight into
many of the customs and beliefs of our ancestors. Children do not invent,
but they imitate or mimic very largely, and in many of these games we
have, there is little doubt, unconscious folk-dramas of events and customs
which were at one time being enacted as a part of the serious concerns of
life before the eyes of children many generations ago. As to the many points
of interest under this and other heads there is no occasion to dwell at length
here, because the second volume will contain an appendix giving a
complete analysis of the incidents mentioned in the games, and an attempt
to tell the story of their origin and development, together with a comparison
with the games of children of foreign countries.
The intense pleasure which the collection of these games has given me has
been considerably enhanced by the many expressions of the same kind of
pleasure from correspondents who have helped me, it not being an
infrequent case for me to be thanked for reviving some of the keenest
pleasures experienced by the collector since childhood; and I cannot help
thinking that, if these traditional games have the power of thus imparting
pleasure after the lapse of many years, they must contain the power of
giving an equal pleasure to those who may now learn them for the first
time.
ALICE BERTHA GOMME.

Barnes Common, S.W.,
Jan. 1894.

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

ENGLAND.

Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes.
Halliwell’s Dictionary, ed. 1889.
Holloway’s Dictionary, ed. 1838.
Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes, ed. 1831.
Brand’s Popular Antiquities, ed. 1875.
Nares’ Glossary, ed. 1872.
Grose’s Dictionary, 1823.
Notes and Queries.
Reliquary.
English Dialect Society Publications.
Folk-lore Society Publications, 1878-1892.
Bedfordshire—
Luton Mrs. Ashdown.
Roxton Miss Lumley.
Berkshire Lowsley’s Glossary.
Enborne Miss Kimber.
Fernham, Longcot Miss I. Barclay.
Newbury Mrs. S. Batson, Miss Kimber.
Sulhampstead Miss Thoyts (Antiquary, vol. xxvii.)
Cambridgeshire—
Cambridge Mrs. Haddon.
Cheshire Darlington’s, Holland’s, Leigh’s, and Wilbraham’s
Glossaries.
Congleton Miss A. E. Twemlow.
Cornwall Folk-lore Journal, v., Courtney’s Glossary.
Penzance Miss Courtney, Mrs. Mabbott.
Cumberland Dickinson’s Glossary.
Derbyshire Folk-lore Journal, vol. i., Mrs. Harley, Mr. S. O. Addy.
Dronfield, Eckington, Egan Mr. S. O. Addy.
Devonshire Halliwell’s Dictionary.
Dorsetshire Barnes’ Glossary, Folk-lore Journal, vol. vii.

Durham Brockett’s North Country Words, ed. 1846.
Gainford Miss Eddleston.
South Shields Miss Blair.
Essex—
Bocking Folk-lore Record, vol. iii. pt. 2.
Colchester Miss G. M. Francis.
Gloucestershire Holloway’s Dictionary, Midland Garner.
Shepscombe, Cheltenham Miss Mendham.
Forest of Dean Miss Matthews.
Hampshire Cope’s Glossary, Miss Mendham.
Bitterne Mrs. Byford.
Liphook Miss Fowler.
Hampshire[xii]—
Hartley, Winchfield, Witney Mr. H. S. May.
Southampton Mrs. W. R. Carse.
Isle of Man Mr. A. W. Moore.
Isle of Wight—
Cowes Miss E. Smith.
Kent Pegge’s Alphabet of Kenticisms.
Bexley Heath Miss Morris.
Crockham Hill, Deptford Miss Chase.
Platt Miss Burne.
Wrotham Miss D. Kimball.
Lancashire Nodal and Milner’s Glossary, Harland and Wilkinson’s
Folk-lore, ed. 1882, Mrs. Harley.
Monton Miss Dendy.
Leicestershire Evan’s Glossary.
Leicester Miss Ellis.
Lincolnshire Peacock’s, Cole’s, and Brogden’s Glossaries, Rev. ——
Roberts.
Anderby, Botterford, Brigg, Miss Peacock.
Frodingham, Horncastle, North
Kelsey, Stixwould, Winterton
East Kirkby Miss K. Maughan.
Metheringham Mr. C. C. Bell.
Middlesex Miss Collyer.
Hanwell Mrs. G. L. Gomme.
London Miss Chase, Miss F. D. Richardson, Mr. G. L. Gomme,
Mrs. G. L. Gomme, Mr. J. P. Emslie, Miss Dendy, Mr. J. T.
Micklethwaite (Archæological Journal, vol. xlix.), Strand
Magazine, vol. ii.
Norfolk Forby’s Vocabulary, Spurden’s Vocabulary, Mr. J. Doe.

Sporle, Swaffham Miss Matthews.
Northamptonshire Baker’s Glossary, Northants Notes and Queries, Revue
Celtique, vol. iv., Rev. W. D. Sweeting.
Maxey Rev. W. D. Sweeting.
Northumberland Brockett’s Provincial Words, ed. 1846.
Hexham Miss J. Barker.
Nottinghamshire Miss Peacock.
Long Eaton Miss Youngman.
Nottingham Miss Winfield, Miss Peacock.
Ordsall Miss Matthews.
Oxfordshire Aubrey’s Remains, ed. 1880.
Oxford Miss Fowler.
Summertown Midland Garner, vol. ii.
Shropshire Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore.
Madeley, Middleton Miss Burne.
Tong Miss R. Harley.
Somersetshire[xiii] Elworthy’s Dialect, Somerset and Dorset Notes and
Queries, Holloway’s Dictionary.
Bath Miss Large.
Staffordshire—
Hanbury Miss E. Hollis.
Cheadle Miss Burne.
Tean, North Staffordshire Potteries Miss Keary, Miss Burne, Mrs. T. Lawton.
Wolstanton Miss Keary.
Suffolk Moor’s Suffolk Words, Forby’s Vocabulary, Lady C.
Gurdon’s Suffolk County Folk-lore.
Surrey—
Barnes Mrs. G. L. Gomme.
Clapham Miss F. D. Richardson.
Hersham Folk-lore Record, vol. v.
Redhill Miss G. Hope.
Sussex Parish’s Dialect, Holloway’s Dictionary, Toone’s
Dictionary.
Hurstmonceux Miss Chase.
Shipley, Horsham, West Grinstead Miss R. H. Busk (Notes and Queries).
Ninfield Mr. C. Wise.
Warwickshire Northall’s Folk Rhymes, Notes and Queries, Northants
Notes and Queries, Mr. C. C. Bell.
Wiltshire—
Marlborough, Manton, Ogbourne Mr. H. S. May.
Worcestershire Chamberlain’s Glossary.
Upton-on-Severn Lawson’s Glossary.

Yorkshire Atkinson’s, Addy’s, Easther’s, Hunter’s, Robinson’s, Ross
and Stead’s Glossaries, Henderson’s Folk-lore, ed. 1879.
Almondbury Easther’s Glossary.
Epworth, Lossiemouth Mr. C. C. Bell.
Earls Heaton, Haydon, Holmfirth Mr. H. Hardy.
Settle Rev. W. S. Sykes.
Sharleston Miss Fowler, Rev. G. T. Royds.
Sheffield Mr. S. O. Addy, Miss Lucy Garnett.
Wakefield Miss Fowler.

SCOTLAND.

Chambers’ Popular Rhymes, ed. 1870.
Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia, ed. 1871.
Jamieson’s Etymological Dictionary, ed. 1872-1889.
Folk-lore Society Publications.
Aberdeen—
Pitsligo Rev. W. Gregor.
Banffshire—[xiv]
Duthil, Keith, Strathspey Rev. W. Gregor.
Elgin—
Fochabers Rev. W. Gregor.
Kirkcudbright—
Auchencairn Prof. A. C. Haddon.
Lanarkshire—
Biggar Mr. Wm. Ballantyne.
Lanark Mr. W. G. Black.
Nairn—
Nairn Rev. W. Gregor.

IRELAND.

Folk-lore Society Publications.
Notes and Queries.
Antrim and Down Patterson’s Glossary.
Clare—
Kilkee G. H. Kinahan (Folk-lore Journal, vol. ii.)
Cork—
Cork Mrs. B. B. Green, Miss Keane.
Down—
Ballynascaw Miss C. N. Patterson.
Belfast Mr. W. H. Patterson.

Holywood Miss C. N. Patterson.
Dublin—
Dublin Mrs. Lincoln.
Louth—
Annaverna, Ravendale Miss R. Stephen.
Queen’s County—
Portarlington G. H. Kinahan (Folk-lore Journal, vol. ii.)
Waterford—
Lismore Miss Keane.

WALES.

Byegones.
Folk-lore Society Publications.
Carmarthenshire—
Beddgelert Mrs. Williams.

LIST OF GAMES

Accroshay.
All-hid.
All a Row.
All in the Well.
All the Birds in the Air.
All the Boys in our Town.
All the Fishes in the Sea.
All the Soldiers in the Town.
Allicomgreenzie.
Alligoshee.
Almonds and Reasons.
Angel and Devil.
Auntieloomie.

Babbity Bowster.
Bad.
Baddin.
Badger the Bear.
Bag o’ Malt.
Ball.
Ball and Bonnets.
Ball in the Decker.
Ball of Primrose.
Baloon.
Bandy-ball.
Bandy-cad.
Bandy-hoshoe.
Bandy-wicket.
Banger.
Bar.

Barbarie, King of the.
Barley-break.
Barnes (Mr.).
Base-ball.
Basket.
Battledore and Shuttlecock.
Bedlams or Relievo.
Beds.
Bell-horses.
Bellie-mantie.
Belly-blind.
Bend-leather.
Betsy Bungay.
Bicky.
Biddy-base.
Biggly.
Billet.
Billy-base.
Bingo.
Bird-apprentice.
Birds, Beasts, and Fishes.
Bittle-battle.
Bitty-base.
Black Man’s Tig.
Black Thorn.
Blind Bell.
Blind Bucky Davy.
Blind Harie.
Blind Hob.
Blind Man’s Buff.
Blind Man’s Stan.
Blind Nerry Mopsy.
Blind Palmie.
Blind Sim.
Block, Hammer, and Nail.
Blow-point.
Bob Cherry.

Boggle about the Stacks.
Boggle-bush.
Bonnety.
Booman.
Boss-out.
Boss and Span.
Boys and Girls.
Branks.
Bridgeboard.
Broken-down Tradesmen.
Brother Ebenezer.
Bubble-hole.
Bubble-justice.
Buck, Buck.
Buck i’ t’ Neucks.
Buckerels.
Buckey-how.
Buff.
Buk-hid.
Bull in the Park.
Bulliheisle.
Bummers.
Bun-hole.
Bunch of Ivy.
Bung the Bucket.
Bunting.
Burly Whush.
Buttons.
Buzz and Bandy.

Cache-pole.
Caiche.
Call-the-Guse.
Camp.
Canlie.
Capie-Hole.
Carrick.

Carry my Lady to London.
Carrying the Queen a Letter.
Cashhornie.
Castles.
Cat and Dog.
Cat-Beds.
Cat’s Cradle.
Cat-gallows.
Cat i’ the Hole.
Cat after Mouse.
Catchers.
Chacke-Blyndman.
Chance Bone.
Change Seats.
Checkstone.
Cherry Odds.
Cherry-pit.
Chicamy.
Chickidy Hand.
Chinnup.
Chinny-mumps.
Chock or Chock-hole.
Chow.
Chuck-farthing.
Chuck-hole.
Chucks.
Church and Mice.
Click.
Click, Clock, Cluck.
Clowt-clowt.
Clubby.
Coal under Candlestick.
Cob.
Cobbin-match.
Cobble.
Cobbler’s Hornpipe.
Cob-nut.

Cock.
Cock-battler.
Cock-fight.
Cock-haw.
Cock-stride.
Cockertie-hooie.
Cockle-bread.
Cockly-jock.
Cock’s-headling.
Cock-steddling.
Codlings.
Cogger.
Cogs.
Common.
Conkers.
Conquerors or Conkers.
Contrary, Rules of.
Cop-halfpenny.
Corsicrown.
Cots and Twisses.
Course o’ Park.
Crab-sowl.
Crates.
Cricket.
Crooky.
Cross and Pile.
Cross-bars.
Cross-questions.
Cross Tig.
Cry Notchil.
Cuck-ball.
Cuckoo.
Cuddy and the Powks.
Cudgel.
Curcuddie.
Curly Locks.
Currants and Raisins.

Cushion Dance.
Cutch a Cutchoo.
Cutters and Trucklers.

Dab.
Dab-an-thricker.
Dab-at-the-hole.
Dalies.
Davie-drap.
Deadily.
Diamond Ring.
Dibbs.
Dinah.
Dip o’ the Kit.
Dish-a-loof.
Doddart.
Doncaster Cherries.
Dools.
Down in the Valley.
Drab and Norr.
Draw a Pail of Water.
Drawing Dun out of the Mire.
Drop Handkerchief.
Dropping the Letter.
Duck under the Water.
Duck at the Table.
Duck Dance.
Duck Friar.
Ducks and Drakes.
Duckstone.
Duffan Ring.
Dumb Crambo.
Dumb Motions.
Dump.
Dumps.
Dust-point.

Eller Tree.
Ezzeka.

Father’s Fiddle.
Feed the Dove.
Find the Ring.
Fippeny Morrell.
Fire, Air, and Water.
Fivestones.
Flowers.
Follow my Gable.
Follow my Leader.
Fool, Fool, come to School.
Foot and Over.
Football.
Forfeits.
Fox.
Fox and Goose (1).
Fox and Geese (2).
Fox in the Fold.
Fox in the Hole.
French Jackie.
French and English.
French Blindman’s Buff.
Friar-rush.
Frincy-francy.
Frog-lope.
Frog in the Middle.

Gap.
Garden Gate.
Gegg.
Genteel Lady.
Ghost at the Well.
Giants.
Giddy.

Gilty-galty.
Gipsy.
Gled-wylie.
Glim-glam.
Gobs.
Green Grass.
Green Gravel.
Green Grow the Leaves (1).
Green Grow the Leaves (2).
Gully.

Hairry my Bossie.
Half-Hammer.
Han’-and-Hail.
Hand in and Hand out.
Handy-Croopen.
Handy Dandy.
Hap the Beds.
Hard Buttons.
Hare and Hounds.
Harie Hutcheon.
Hark the Robbers.
Hats in Holes.
Hattie.
Hawkey.
Headicks and Pinticks.
Heads and Tails.
Hecklebirnie.
Hen and Chicken.
Here comes a Lusty Wooer.
Here comes One Virgin.
Here I sit on a Cold Green Bank.
Here stands a Young Man.
Here we go around, around.
Here’s a Soldier.
Hewley Puley.
Hey Wullie Wine.

Hickety, Bickety.
Hickety-hackety.
Hick, Step, and Jump.
Hide and Seek (1).
Hide and Seek (2).
Hinch-Pinch.
Hinmost o’ Three.
Hirtschin Hairy.
Hiry-hag.
Hiss and Clap.
Hitch, Jamie, Stride and Loup.
Hitchapagy.
Hitchy Cock Ho.
Hity Tity.
Hoatie, Hots.
Hob-in-the-Hall.
Hockerty Cokerty.
Hockey.
Hoges.
Ho-go.
Hoilakes.
Holy Bang.
Honey Pots.
Hood.
Hoodle-cum-blind.
Hoodman Blind.
Hooper’s Hide.
Hop-crease.
Hop-frog.
Hop-score.
Hop-scotch.
Hop, Step, and Jump.
Hornie.
Hornie Holes.
Horns.
Hot Cockles.
How many Miles to Babylon.

Howly.
Huckie-buckie down the Brae.
Huckle-bones.
Hummie.
Hundreds.
Hunt the Hare.
Hunt the Slipper.
Hunt the Staigie.
Hunting.
Hurling.
Hurly-burly.
Huss.
Hustle Cap.
Hynny-pynny.

Isabella.

Jack’s Alive.
Jack, Jack, the Bread’s a-burning.
Jack upon the Mopstick.
Jackysteauns.
Jauping Paste-eggs.
Jenny Jones.
Jenny Mac.
Jib-Job-Jeremiah.
Jiddy-cum-jiddy.
Jingle-the-bonnet.
Jingo-ring.
Jinkie.
Jock and Jock’s Man.
Jockie Blind-man.
Joggle along.
Johnny Rover.
Jolly Fishermen.
Jolly Hooper.
Jolly Miller.
Jolly Rover.

Jolly Sailors.
Jowls.
Jud.

Keeling the Pot.
Keppy Ball.
Kibel and Nerspel.
King by your leave.
King Cæsar.
King Come-a-lay.
King of Cantland.
King o’ the Castle.
King Plaster Palacey.
King William.
King’s Chair.
Kirk the Gussie.
Kiss in the Ring.
Kit-cat.
Kit-cat-cannio.
Kittlie-cout.
Knapsack.
Knights.
Knocked at the Rapper.
Knor and Spell.

Lab.
Lady of the Land.
Lady on the Mountain.
Lady on Yonder Hill.
Lag.
Lammas.
Lamploo.
Lang Larence.
Leap Candle.
Leap-frog.
Leap the Bullock.
Leaves are Green.

Lend me your Key.
Letting the Buck out.
Level-coil.
Libbety-lat.
Limpy Coley.
Little Dog, I call you.
Lobber.
Loggats.
London.
London Bridge.
Long-duck.
Long Tag.
Long Tawl.
Long Terrace.
Loup the Bullocks.
Lubin.
Lug and a Bite.
Luggie.
Luking.

Mag.
Magic Whistle.
Magical Music.
Malaga Raisins.
Marbles.
Mary Brown.
Mary mixed a Pudding up.
Merrils.
Merritot.
Merry-ma-tansa.
Milking Pails.
Mineral, Animal, and Vegetable.
Minister’s Cat.
Mollish’s Land.
Monday, Tuesday.
Moolie Pudding.
More Sacks to the Mill.

Mother, may I go out to Play?
Mother Mop.
Mother, Mother, the Pot boils over.
Mount the Tin.
Mouse and the Cobbler.
Muffin Man.
Mulberry Bush.
Munshets.
Musical Chairs.

Nacks.
Namers and Guessers.
Neighbour.
Neivie-nick-nack.
Nettles.
New Squat.
Nine Holes.
Nine Men’s Morris.
Nip-srat-and-bite.
Nitch, Notch, No-Notch.
Not.
Noughts and Crosses.
Nur and Spel.
Nuts in May.

ERRATA.

On page 15, line 12, for “Eggatt” read “Hats in Holes.”
On pp. 24, 49, 64, 112, for “Folk-lore Journal, vol. vi.” read “vol. vii.”
On page 62, last line, insert “vol. xix.” after “Journ. Anthrop. Inst.”
On page 66, line 4, delete “Move All.”
On page 224, fig. 3 of “Hopscotch” should be reversed.
On page 332, diagram of “London” omitted.

CHILDREN’S GAMES.

Accroshay
A cap or small article is placed on the back of a stooping boy by other boys
as each in turn jumps over him. The first as he jumps says “Accroshay,” the
second “Ashotay,” the third “Assheflay,” and the last “Lament, lament,
Leleeman’s (or Leleena’s) war.” The boy who in jumping knocks off either
of the things has to take the place of the stooper.—Cornwall (Folk-lore
Journal, v. 58).
See “Leap-frog.”

All-hid
“A meere children’s pastime” (A Curtaine Lecture, 1637, p. 206). This is no
doubt the game of “Hide and Seek,” though Cotgrave apparently makes it
synonymous with “Hoodman Blind.” See Halliwell’s Dictionary. It is
alluded to in Dekker’s Satiromastix, “Our unhansomed-fac’d Poet does play
at Bo-peepes with your Grace, and cryes All-hidde, as boyes doe.”
Tourneur, Rev. Trag., III., v. 82, “A lady can at such Al-hid beguile a wiser
man,” is quoted in Murray’s Dictionary as the first reference.

All a Row
All a row, a bendy bow,
Shoot at a pigeon and kill a crow;
Shoot at another and kill his brother;
Shoot again and kill a wren,
And that’ll do for gentlemen.
—Northall’s English Folk Rhymes, p. 386.

This is a marching game for very little children, who follow each other in a
row.

(b) Halliwell gives the first two lines only (Nursery Rhymes, No. dxv., p.
101), and there is apparently no other record of this game. It is probably
ancient, and formerly of some significance. It refers to days of bows and
arrows, and the allusion to the killing of the wren may have reference to the
Manx and Irish custom of hunting that bird.

All in the Well
A juvenile game in Newcastle and the neighbourhood. A circle is made,
about eight inches in diameter, termed the well, in the centre of which is
placed a wooden peg four inches long, with a button balanced on the top.
Those desirous of playing give buttons, marbles, or anything else, according
to agreement, for the privilege of throwing a short stick, with which they
are furnished, at the peg. Should the button fly out of the ring, the player is
entitled to double the stipulated value of what he gives for the stick. The
game is also practised at the Newcastle Races and other places of
amusement in the North with three pegs, which are put into three circular
holes made in the ground about two feet apart, and forming a triangle. In
this case each hole contains a peg about nine inches long, upon which are
deposited either a small knife or some copper. The person playing gives so
much for each stick, and gets all the articles that are thrown off so as to fall
on the outside of the holes.—Northumberland (Brockett’s North Country
Glossary).

All the Birds in the Air
A Suffolk game, not described (Moor’s Suffolk Glossary). Jamieson also
gives it without description. Compare the rhyme in the game “Fool, fool,
come to School,” “Little Dog, I call you.”[Addendum]

All the Boys in our Town
I. All the boys in our town
Shall lead a happy life,
Except ’tis ——, and he wants a wife.
A wife he shall have, and a-courting he shall go,
Along with ——, because he loves her so.
He huddles her, he cuddles her,

He sits her on his knee;
He says, My dear, do you love me?
I love you, and you love me,
And we shall be as happy
As a bird upon a tree.

The wife makes the pudding,
And she makes it nice and soft—
In comes the husband and cuts a slice off.
Tas-el-um, Tos-el-um, don’t say Nay,
For next Monday morning shall be our wedding day;
The wife in the carriage,
The husband in the cart. —Hampshire (from friend of Miss Mendham).

II. All the boys in our town
Leads a happy life,
Excepting [Charley Allen],
And he wants a wife;
And a-courting he shall go
Along with [girl’s name],
Because he loves her so.

He kisses her, he cuddles her,
He sets her on his knee,
And says, My dearest darling,
Do you love me?
I love you and you love me;
We’ll both be as happy
As birds on the tree.

Alice made a pudding,
She made it nice and sweet,
Up came Charley, cut a slice off—
A slice, a slice, we don’t say No;
The next Monday morning the wedding goes (or “is our wedding day”).
I’ve got knives and forks,
I’ve got plates and dishes,
I’ve got a nice young man,

He breaks his heart with kisses.

If poor Alice was to die,
Wouldn’t poor Charley, he would cry.
He would follow to the grave
With black buttons and black crape,
And a guinea for the church,
And the bell shall ring.

Up came the doctor, up came the cat,
Up came the devil with a white straw hat.
Down went the doctor, down went the cat,
Down went the devil with a —Deptford
white straw [1]
(Misshat.
Chase).

III.Up the heathery mountains and down the rushy glen
We dare not go a-hunting for Connor and his men;
They are all lusty bachelors but one I know,
And that’s [Tom Mulligan], the flower of the flock;
He is the flower of the flock, he is the keeper of the glen,
He courted [Kate O’Neill] before he was a man;
He huggled her, he guggled her, he took her on his knee,
Saying, My bonnie [Kate O’Neill], won’t you marry me?

So —— made a pudding so nice and so sweet,
Saying, Taste, love, taste, and don’t say no,
For next Sunday morning to church we will go.

With rings on our fingers and bells on our toes,
And a little baby in her arms, and that’s the way she goes.
And here’s a clap, and here’s a clap, for Mrs. ——’s daughter.
—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

IV. Up the plain and down the plain,
As stippy [slippery] as a glass,
We will go to Mrs. ——
To find a pretty lass.

[Annie] with her rosy cheeks,

Catch her if you can,
And if you cannot catch her
I’ll tell you who’s the man.

[Annie] made a pudding,
She made it very sweet;
She daren’t stick a knife in
Till George came home at neet [night].

Taste [George], taste, and don’t say Nay!
Perhaps to-morrow morning’ll be our wedding day.
[The bells shall ring, and we shall sing,
[2]
And all clap hands together.]—Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

(b) A full description of this game could not be obtained in each case. The
Earls Heaton game is played by forming a ring, one child standing in the
centre. After the first verse is sung, a child from the ring goes to the one in
the centre. Then the rest of the verses are sung. The action to suit the words
of the verses does not seem to have been kept up. In the Hampshire version,
after the line “As a bird upon a tree,” the two children named pair off like
sweethearts while the rest of the verse is being sung.
(c) The analysis of the game rhymes is as follows:—
Hants. Deptford (Kent). Belfast. Earls Heaton
(Yorks.).
1. Village life. Village life. Hunting life. Roving life.
2. All the boys happy. All the boys happy. All lusty bachelors. —
3. Except [ ], who wants Except [ ], who Except [ ], who courts —
a wife. wants a wife. [ ].
4. He shall court [ ]. He shall court [ ]. He courted [ ]. Seeks for a
bride.
5. Huddles and cuddles, Kisses and cuddles, Huggled and guggled, —
and sits on his knee. and sits on his knee. and took on his knee.
6. — — — Catch the
bride.
7. Mutual expressions of Mutual expressions of — —
love. love.
8. — — Asking to marry. —
9. Wife makes a pudding. Girl makes a pudding. Girl makes a pudding. Girl makes a
pudding.

10. Husband cuts a slice. Boy cuts a slice. Asks boy to taste. Asks boy to
taste.
11. Fixing of wedding day. Fixing of wedding Fixing of wedding day. Fixing of
day. wedding day.
12. Wife in carriage, Wife with domestic Bride with rings on —
husband in cart. utensils. fingers and bells on
toes.
13. — Grief if wife should — —
die.
14. — — Bride with a baby. —
15. — Doctor, cat, and devil. — —
16. — — Applause for the bride. Applause for
bride.

It appears by the analysis that all the incidents of the Hants version of this
game occur in one or other of the versions, and these incidents therefore
may probably be typical of the game. This view would exclude the
important incidents of bride capture in the Earls Heaton version; the bride
having a baby in the Belfast version, and the two minor incidents in the
Deptford version (Nos. 13 and 15 in the analysis), which are obviously
supplemental. Chambers, in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland, pp. 119, 137,
gives two versions of a courtship dance which are not unlike the words of
this game, though they do not contain the principal incidents. Northall, in
his English Folk Rhymes, p. 363, has some verses of a similar import, but
not those of the game. W. Allingham seems to have used this rhyme as the
commencement of one of his ballads, “Up the airy mountain.”
(d) The game is clearly a marriage game. It introduces two important details
in the betrothal ceremony, inasmuch as the “huddling and cuddling” is
typical of the rude customs at marriage ceremonies once prevalent in
Yorkshire, the northern counties, and Wales, while the making of the
pudding by the bride and the subsequent eating together, are clearly
analogies to the bridal-cake ceremony. In Wales, the custom known as
“bundling” allowed the betrothing parties to go to bed in their clothes
(Brand, ii. 98). In Yorkshire, the bridal cake was always made by the bride.
The rudeness of the dialogue seems to be remarkably noticeable in this
game.
See “Mary mixed a Pudding up,” “Oliver, Oliver, follow the
King.”[Addendum] [Addendum]

[1] Miss Chase says, “I think the order of verses is right; the children hesitated a little.”
[2] Mr. Hardy says, “This was sung to me by a girl at Earls Heaton or Soothill Nether.
Another version commences with the last verse, continues with the first, and concludes
with the second. The last two lines inserted here belong to that version.”

All the Fishes in the Sea
A Suffolk game, not described.—Moor’s Suffolk Glossary. See “Fool, fool,
come to School,” “Little Dog, I call you.”

All the Soldiers in the Town
[Play version 1, version 2]

All the soldiers in the town,
They all bop down.
—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

The children form into a ring and sing the above words. They “bop down”
at the close of the verse. To “bop” means in the Suffolk dialect “to stoop or
bow the head.”—Moor.

Allicomgreenzie
A little amusing game played by young girls at country schools. The same
as “Drop Handkerchief,” except that the penalty for not following exactly
the course of the child pursued is to “stand in the circle, face out, all the
game afterwards; if she succeed in catching the one, the one caught must so
stand, and the other take up the cap and go round as before” (Mactaggart’s
Gallovidian Encyclopædia). No explanation is given of the name of this
game.
See “Drop Handkerchief.”

Alligoshee

I. Betsy Blue came all in black,
Silver buttons down her back.
Every button cost a crown,
Every lady turn around.
Alligoshi, alligoshee,
Turn the bridle over my knee.
—Middleton (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 523).

II. Barbara, Barbara, dressed in black,
Silver buttons all up your back.
Allee-go-shee, allee-go-shee,
Turn the bridle over me.
—Shepscombe, Gloucestershire (Miss Mendham).

III.All-i-go-shee, alligoshee,
Turn the bridle over my knee.
My little man is gone to sea,
When he comes back he’ll marry me.
—Warwickshire (Northall’s Folk Rhymes, p. 394).

IV.Darby’s son was dressed in black,
With silver buttons down his back.
Knee by knee, and foot by foot,
Turn about lady under the bush.
—Hersham, Surrey (Folk-lore Record, v. 87).

V. Darby and Joan were dressed in black,
Sword and buckle behind their back.
Foot for foot, and knee for knee,
Turn about Darby’s company.
—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, p. 121.

(b) The children form pairs, one pair following the other, with their arms
linked behind. While the first four lines are repeated by all, they skip
forward, and then skip back again. At the end of the last line they turn
themselves about without loosing hands.
(c) Miss Burne includes this among obscure and archaic games, and
Halliwell-Phillips mentions it as a marching game. The three first versions

have something of the nature of an incantation, while the fourth and fifth
versions may probably belong to another game altogether. It is not clear
from the great variation in the verses to which class the game belongs.

Almonds and Reasons
An old English game undescribed.—Useful Transactions in Philosophy,
1709, p. 43.

Angel and Devil
One child is called the “Angel,” another child the “Devil,” and a third child
the “Minder.” The children are given the names of colours by the Minder.
Then the Angel comes over and knocks, when the following dialogue takes
place.
Minder: “Who’s there?”
Answer: “Angel.”
Minder: “What do you want?”
Angel: “Ribbons.”
Minder: “What colour?”
Angel: “Red.”
Minder retorts, if no child is so named, “Go and learn your A B C.” If the
guess is right the child is led away. The Devil then knocks, and the dialogue
and action are repeated.—Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).
See “Fool, fool, come to School.”

Auntieloomie
The children join hands, and dance in a circle, “with a front step, a back
step, and a side step, round an invisible May-pole,” singing—

Can you dance the Auntieloomie?
Yes, I can; yes, I can.

Then follows kissing.—Brigg, Lincolnshire (Miss Peacock).

Babbity Bowster
[Play]

—Biggar (Wm. Ballantyne).

Wha learned you to dance,
You to dance, you to dance?
Wha learned you to dance
Babbity Bowster brawly?

My minnie learned me to dance,
Me to dance, me to dance;
My minnie learned me to dance
Babbity Bowster brawly.

Wha ga’e you the keys to keep,
Keys to keep, keys to keep?
Wha ga’e you the keys to keep,
Babbity Bowster brawly?

My minnie ga’e me the keys to keep,
Keys to keep, keys to keep;
My minnie ga’e me the keys to keep,
Babbity Bowster brawly.

One, twa, three, B, ba, Babbity,
Babbity Bowster neatly;
Kneel down, kiss the ground,
An’ kiss your bonnie lassie [or laddie].
—Biggar (W. H. Ballantyne).

(b) Mr. Ballantyne describes the dance as taking place at the end of a
country ball. The lads all sat on one side and the girls on the other. It began
with a boy taking a handkerchief and dancing before the girls, singing the
first verse (fig. 1). Selecting one of the girls, he threw the handkerchief into
her lap, or put it round her neck, holding both ends himself. Some spread
the handkerchief on the floor at the feet of the girl. The object in either case
was to secure a kiss, which, however, was not given without a struggle, the
girls cheering their companion at every unsuccessful attempt which the boy
made (fig. 2). A girl then took the handkerchief, singing the next verse (fig.
3), and having thrown the handkerchief to one of the boys, she went off to
her own side among the girls, and was pursued by the chosen boy (fig. 4).
When all were thus paired, they formed into line, facing each other, and
danced somewhat like the country dance of Sir Roger.

(c) Chambers’ Popular Rhymes, p. 36, gives a slightly different version of
the verses, and says they were sung by children at their sports in Glasgow.
Mactaggart alludes to this game as “‘Bumpkin Brawly,’ an old dance, the
dance which always ends balls; the same with the ‘Cushion’ almost.”

Wha learned you to dance,
You to dance, you to dance,
Wha learned you to dance
A country bumpkin brawly?

My mither learned me when I was young,
When I was young, when I was young,
My mither learned me when I was young,
The country bumpkin brawly.
The tune of this song is always played to the dance, says Mactaggart, but he
does not record the tune. To bab, in Lowland Scottish, is defined by
Jamieson to mean “to play backward and forward loosely; to dance.” Hence
he adds, “Bab at the bowster, or Bab wi’ the bowster, a very old Scottish
dance, now almost out of use; formerly the last dance at weddings and
merry-makings.” Mr. Ballantyne says that a bolster or pillow was at one
time always used. One correspondent of N. and Q., ii. 518, says it is now
(1850) danced with a handkerchief instead of a cushion as formerly, and no
words are used, but later correspondents contradict this. See also N. and Q.,
iii. 282.
(d) Two important suggestions occur as to this game. First, that the dance
was originally the indication at a marriage ceremony for the bride and
bridegroom to retire with “the bowster” to the nuptial couch. Secondly, that
it has degenerated in Southern Britain to the ordinary “Drop Handkerchief”
games of kiss in the ring. The preservation of this “Bab at the Bowster”
example gives the clue both to the origin of the present game in an obsolete
marriage custom, and to the descent of the game to its latest form. See
“Cushion Dance.”

Bad
A rude kind of “Cricket,” played with a bat and a ball, usually with wall
toppings for wickets. “Bad” seems to be the pronunciation or variation of
“Bat.” Halliwell says it was a rude game, formerly common in Yorkshire,
and probably resembling the game of “Cat.” There is such a game played
now, but it is called “Pig.”—Easther’s Almondbury Glossary.

Baddin
The game of “Hockey” in Cheshire.—Holland’s Glossary.

Badger the Bear

A rough game, sometimes seen in the country. The boy who personates the
Bear performs his part on his hands and knees, and is prevented from
getting away by a string. It is the part of another boy, his Keeper, to defend
him from the attacks of the others.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
This is a boys’ game, and is called “Buffet the Bear.” It may be taken part in
by any number. One boy—the Bear—goes down on all fours, and lowers
his head towards his breast as much as possible. Into his hand is placed one
end of a piece of cord, and another boy, called the Keeper, takes hold of the
other end in one hand, while he has in the other his cap. The other boys
stand round, some with their caps in hand, and others with their neckties or
pocket-handkerchiefs, and on a given signal they rush on the Bear and pelt
him, trying specially to buffet him about the ears and face, whilst the
Keeper does his best to protect his charge. If he happens to strike a boy, that
boy becomes the Bear, and the former Bear becomes the Keeper, and so on
the game goes.—Keith, Banffshire (Rev. W. Gregor).
I saw this game played on Barnes Green, Surrey, on 25th August 1892. The
boys, instead of using their hats, had pieces of leather tied to a string, with
which they struck the Bear on the back. They could only begin when the
Keeper cried, “My Bear is free.” If they struck at any other time, the striker
became the Bear. It is called “Baste the Bear.”—A. B. Gomme.
Chambers (Popular Rhymes, p. 128) describes this game under the title of
“The Craw.” It was played precisely in the same way as the Barnes game.
The boy who holds the end of the long strap has also a hard twisted
handkerchief, called the cout; with this cout he defends the Craw against the
attacks of the other boys, who also have similar couts. Before beginning,
the Guard of the Craw must call out—

Ane, twa, three, my Craw’s free.

The first one he strikes becomes the Craw. When the Guard wants a respite,
he calls out—

Ane, twa, three, my Craw’s no free.

(b) Jamieson defines “Badger-reeshil” as a severe blow; borrowed, it is
supposed, from the hunting of the badger, or from the old game of “Beating

the Badger.”

Then but he ran wi’ hasty breishell,
And laid on Hab a badger-reishill.
—MS. Poem.

Mr. Emslie says he knows it under the name of “Baste the Bear” in London,
and Patterson (Antrim and Down Glossary) mentions a game similarly
named. It is played at Marlborough under the name of “Tom Tuff.”—H. S.
May.
See “Doncaster Cherries.”

Bag o’ Malt
A bag o’ malt, a bag o’ salt,
Ten tens a hundred.
—Northall’s English Folk Rhymes, p. 394.

Two children stand back to back, linked near the armpits, and weigh each
other as they repeat these lines.
See “Weigh the Butter.”

Ball
I. Stottie ba’, hinnie ba, tell to me
How mony bairns am I to hae?
Ane to live, and ane to dee,
And ane to sit on the nurse’s knee!
—Chambers’ Pop. Rhymes of Scotland, p. 115.

II. Toss-a-ball, toss-a-ball, tell me true,
How many years I’ve got to go through!
—Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 530.

(b) Children throw a ball in the air, repeating the rhyme, and divine the
length of their lives by the number of times they can catch it again. In some
places this game is played with a cowslip ball, thence called a “tissy-ball.”

(c) I have heard other rhymes added to this, to determine whether the
players shall marry or not, the future husband’s calling, dress to be worn,
method of going to church, &c. (A. B. Gomme). Strutt describes a handball
game played during the Easter holidays for Tansy cakes (Sports, p. 94).
Halliwell gives rhymes for ball divination (Popular Rhymes, p. 298) to
determine the number of years before marriage will arrive. Miss Baker
(Northamptonshire Glossary) says, “The May garland is suspended by
ropes from the school-house to an opposite tree, and the Mayers amuse
themselves by throwing balls over it. A native of Fotheringay, Mr. C. W.
Peach,” says Miss Baker, “has supplied me with the reminiscences of his
own youth. He says the May garland was hung in the centre of the street, on
a rope stretched from house to house. Then was made the trial of skill in
tossing balls (small white leather ones) through the framework of the
garland, to effect which was a triumph.”
See “Cuck Ball,” “Keppy Ball,” “Monday.”

Ball and Bonnets

This is a boys’ game. The players may be of any number. They place their
caps or bonnets in a row. One of the boys takes a ball, and from a fixed
point, at a few yards’ distance from the bonnets, tries to throw it into one of
the caps (fig. 1). If the ball falls into the cap, all the boys, except the one
into whose cap the ball has fallen, run off. The boy into whose cap the ball
has been thrown goes up to it, lifts the ball from it, and calls out “Stop!”
The other boys stop. The boy with the ball tries to strike one of the other

boys (fig. 2). If he does so, a small stone is put into the cap of the boy
struck. If he misses, a stone is put into his own cap. If the boy who is to
pitch the ball into the cap misses, a stone is put into his own cap, and he
makes another trial. The game goes on till six stones are put into one cap.
The boy in whose cap are the six stones has to place his hand against a wall,
when he receives a certain number of blows with the ball thrown with force
by one of the players. The blows go by the name of “buns.” The game may
go on in the same way till each player gets his “buns.”—Nairn (Rev. W.
Gregor).
See “Hats in Holes.”

Ball in the Decker
A row of boys’ caps is set by a wall. One boy throws a ball into one of the
caps. The owner of the cap runs away, and is chased by all the others till
caught. He then throws the ball.—Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).

Ball of Primrose
[Play]

We’ll wear yellow ribbons, yellow ribbons, yellow ribbons,
We’ll wear yellow ribbons at the Ball of Primrose;
We’ll all go a-waltzing, a-waltzing, a-waltzing,
We’ll all go a-waltzing at the Ball of Primrose.
—Epworth, Doncaster; and Lossiemouth, Yorkshire (Charles
C. Bell).

(b) The children form a ring, joining hands, and dance round singing the
two first lines. Then loosing hands, they waltz in couples, singing as a
refrain the last line. The game is continued, different coloured ribbons being
named each time.

(c) This game was played in 1869, so cannot have arisen from the political
movement.

Baloon
A game played with an inflated ball of strong leather, the ball being struck
by the arm, which was defended by a bracer of wood.—Brand’s Pop.
Antiq., ii. 394.
(b) It is spelt “balloo” in Ben Jonson, iii. 216, and “baloome” in Randolph’s
Poems, 1643, p. 105. It is also mentioned in Middleton’s Works, iv. 342, and
by Donne.

“’Tis ten a clock and past; all whom the mues,
Baloun, tennis, diet, or the stews
Had all the morning held.”
—Donne’s Poems, p. 133.

Toone (Etymological Dict.) says it is a game rather for exercise than
contention; it was well known and practised in England in the fourteenth
century, and is mentioned as one of the sports of Prince Henry, son of James
I., in 1610. Strutt (Sports and Pastimes, p. 96) gives two illustrations of
what he considers to be baloon ball play, from fourteenth century MSS.

Bandy-ball
A game played with sticks called “bandies,” bent and round at one end, and
a small wooden ball, which each party endeavours to drive to opposite fixed
points. Northbrooke in 1577 mentions it as a favourite game in Devonshire
(Halliwell’s Dict. of Provincialisms). Strutt says the bat-stick was called a
“bandy” on account of its being bent, and gives a drawing from a fourteenth
century MS. book of prayers belonging to Mr. Francis Douce (Sports, p.
102). The bats in this drawing are nearly identical with modern golf-sticks,
and “Golf” seems to be derived from this game. Peacock mentions it in his
Glossary of Manley and Corringham Words. Forby has an interesting note
in his Vocabulary of East Anglia, i. 14. He says, “The bandy was made of
very tough wood, or shod with metal, or with the point of the horn or the
hoof of some animal. The ball is a knob or gnarl from the trunk of a tree,
carefully formed into a globular shape. The adverse parties strive to beat it
with their bandies through one or other of the goals.”

Bandy Cad or Gad
A game played with a nurr and crooked stick, also called “Shinty,” and
much the same as the “Hockey” of the South of England. “Cad” is the same
as “cat” in the game of “Tip-cat;” it simply means a cut piece of wood.—
Nodal and Milner’s Lancashire Glossary.

Bandy-hoshoe

A game at ball common in Norfolk, and played in a similar manner to
“Bandy” (Halliwell’s Dictionary). Toone (Etymological Dictionary) says it
is also played in Suffolk, and in West Sussex is called “Hawky.”

Bandy-wicket
The game of “Cricket,” played with a bandy instead of a bat (Halliwell’s
Dictionary). Toone mentions it as played in Norfolk (Dict.), and Moor as
played in Suffolk with bricks usually, or, in their absence, with bats in place
of bails or stumps (Suffolk Words).

Banger
Each boy provides himself with a button. One of the boys lays his button on
the ground, near a wall. The other boys snap their buttons in turn against the
wall. If the button drops within one span or hand-reach of the button laid
down, it counts two (fig. 2); if within two spans, it counts one. When it hits
the button and bounces within one span, it counts four (fig. 1); within two
spans, three; and above three spans, one. Each player snaps in turn for an
agreed number; the first to score this number wins the game.—Deptford,
Kent, and generally in London streets (Miss Chase).

This game is known in America as “Spans.”—Newell, p. 188.

Bar
To play at “Bar,” a species of game anciently used in Scotland.—Jamieson.
This game had in ancient times in England been simply denominated
“Bars,” or, as in an Act of James IV., 1491, edit. 1814, p. 227: “That na

induellare within burgh . . . play at bar,” “playing at Bars.”
See “Prisoner’s Base.”

Barbarie, King of the
I. O will you surrender, O will you surrender
To the King of the Barbarie?

We won’t surrender, we won’t surrender
To the King of the Barbarie.

I’ll go and complaint, I’ll go and complaint
To the King of the Barbarie.

You can go and complaint, you can go and complaint
To the King of the Barbarie.

Good morning, young Prince, good morning, young Prince,
I have a complaint for you.

What is your complaint?
What is your complaint?

They won’t surrender, they won’t surrender
To the King of the Barbarie.

Take one of my brave soldiers,
Take one of my brave soldiers.
—Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).

II. Will you surrender, will you surrender
To the King of the Barbarines?

We won’t surrender, we won’t surrender
To the King of the Barbarines.

We’ll make you surrender, we’ll make you surrender
To the King of the Barbarines.

You can’t make us surrender, you can’t make us surrender
To the King of the Barbarines.

We’ll go to the King, we’ll go to the King,
To the King of the Barbarines.

You can go to the King, you can go to the King,
To the King of the Barbarines.
—Clapham, Surrey (Miss F. D. Richardson).

III.Will you surrender, will you surrender
The Tower of Barbaree?

We won’t surrender, we won’t surrender
The Tower of Barbaree.

We will go and tell the Queen,
Go and tell the Queen of Barbaree.

Don’t care for the Queen, don’t care for the Queen,
The Queen of Barbaree.

Good morning, young Queen, good morning, young Queen,
I have a complaint to thee.

Pray what is your complaint to me?

They won’t surrender, they won’t surrender
The Tower of Barbaree.

Take one of my brave soldiers.
—Lady Camilla Gurdon’s Suffolk County Folk-lore, p. 63.

IV.You must surrend’ me, you must surrend’ me
To the Queen of Barbaloo.

No, we’ll not surrend’ you, no, we’ll not surrend’ you
To the Queen of Barbaloo.

We’ll complain, we’ll complain, &c.

[To the Queen of Barbaloo.]

You can complain, you can complain, &c.
[To the Queen of Barbaloo.]
—Penzance (Mrs. Mabbott).

(b) Two children stand together joining hands tightly, to personate a
fortress; one child stands at a distance from these to personate the King of
Barbarie, with other children standing behind to personate the soldiers (fig.
1). Some of the soldiers go to the fortress and surround it, singing the first
verse (fig. 2). The children in the fortress reply, the four first verses being
thus sung alternately. The soldiers then go to the King singing the fifth
verse (fig. 3), the remaining verses being thus sung alternately. One of the
soldiers then goes to the fortress and endeavours by throwing herself on the
clasped hands of the children forming the fortress to break down the guard
(fig. 4). All the soldiers try to do this, one after the other; finally the King
comes, who breaks down the guard. The whole troop of soldiers then burst
through the parted arms (fig. 5).

This is the Deptford version. The Clapham version is almost identical; the
children take hold of each others’ skirts and make a long line. If the brave
soldier is not able to break the clasped hands he goes to the end of the line
of soldiers. The soldiers do not surround the fortress. In the Suffolk version
the soldiers try to break through the girls’ hands. If they do they have the
tower. The Cornwall version is not so completely an illustration of the
capture of a fortress.

Barley-break

Barley-break, or the Last Couple in Hell, was a game played by six people,
three of each sex, who were coupled by lot. A piece of ground was then
chosen, and divided into three compartments, of which the middle one was
called Hell. It was the object of the couple condemned to this division to
catch the others who advanced from the two extremities (figs. 1, 2), in
which case a change of situation took place, and Hell was filled by the
couple who were excluded by pre-occupation from the other place (fig. 3).
In this catching, however, there was some difficulty, as by the regulations of
the game the middle couple were not to separate before they had succeeded,
while the others might break hands whenever they found themselves hard
pressed. When all had been taken in turn, the last couple was said to be “in
Hell,” and the game ended.—Dekker’s Works, iv. 434.
Jamieson calls this “a game generally played by young people in a corn-
yard. Hence called barla-bracks about the stacks, S. B.” (i. e., in the North
of Scotland). “One stack is fixed on as the dule or goal; and one person is
appointed to catch the rest of the company, who run out from the dule. He
does not leave it till they are all out of sight. Then he sets off to catch them.
Any one who is taken cannot run out again with his former associates,
being accounted a prisoner; but is obliged to assist his captor in pursuing
the rest. When all are taken the game is finished; and he who was first taken
is bound to act as catcher in the next game. This innocent sport seems to be
almost entirely forgotten in the South of Scotland. It is also falling into
desuetude in the North.”

(b) The following description of Barley-break, written by Sir Philip Sidney,
is taken from the song of Lamon, in the first volume of the Arcadia, where
he relates the passion of Claius and Strephon for the beautiful Urania:—

She went abroad, thereby,
At barley-brake her sweet, swift foot to try. . . .
Afield they go, where many lookers be.

Then couples three be straight allotted there,
They of both ends, the middle two, do fly;
The two that in mid-place Hell called were
Must strive, with waiting foot and watching eye,
To catch of them, and them to hell to bear,
That they, as well as they, may hell supply;
Like some that seek to salve their blotted name
Will others blot, till all do taste of shame.

There may you see, soon as the middle two
Do, coupled, towards either couple make,
They, false and fearful, do their hands undo;
Brother his brother, friend doth friend forsake,
Heeding himself, cares not how fellow do,
But of a stranger mutual help doth take;
As perjured cowards in adversity,
With sight of fear, from friends to friends do fly.

Sir John Suckling also has given a description of this pastime with
allegorical personages, which is quoted by Brand. In Holiday’s play of the
Marriages of the Arts, 1618, this sport is introduced, and also by Herrick
(Hesperides, p. 44). Barley-break is several times alluded to in Massinger’s
plays: see the Dramatic Works of Philip Massinger, 1779, i. 167. “We’ll run
at barley-break first, and you shall be in hell” (Dekker’s The Honest
Whore). “Hee’s at barli-break, and the last couple are now in hell”
(Dekker’s The Virgin Martir). See Gifford’s Massinger, i. 104, edit. 1813.
See also Browne’s Britannia’s Pastorals, published in 1614, Book I., Song
3, p. 76.

Randle Holme mentions this game as prevailing in his day in Lancashire.
Harland and Wilkinson believe this game to have left its traces in Yorkshire
and Lancashire. A couple link hands and sally forth from home, shouting
something like

Aggery, ag, ag,
Ag’s gi’en warning,

and trying to tick or touch with the free hand any of the boys running about
separately. These latter try to slip behind the couple and throw their weight
on the joined hands to separate them without being first touched or ticked;
and if they sunder the couple, each of the severed ones has to carry one
home on his back. Whoever is touched takes the place of the toucher in the
linked couple (Legends of Lancashire, p. 138). The modern name of this
game is “Prison Bars” (Ibid., p. 141). There is also a description of the
game in a little tract called Barley Breake; or, A Warning for Wantons, 1607.
It is mentioned in Wilbraham’s Cheshire Glossary as “an old Cheshire
game.” Barnes, in his Dorsetshire Glossary, says he has seen it played with
one catcher on hands and knees in the small ring (Hell), and the others
dancing round the ring crying “Burn the wold witch, you barley breech.”
Holland (Cheshire Glossary) also mentions it as an old Cheshire game.
See “Boggle about the Stacks,” “Scots and English.”

Barnes (Mr.)
Mr. Barnes is dead and gone,
And left his widder,
Three poor children in her arms;
What will you give her?

Where did you come from?
—Played about 1850 at Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss
Chase).

This is probably a forfeit game, imperfectly remembered. See “Old
Soldier.”

Base-ball
An undescribed Suffolk game.—Moor’s Suffolk Words. See “Rounders.”

Basket
[Play]

—London (A. B. Gomme).

In this game the children all follow one who is styled the “mother,” singing:

I’ll follow my mother to market,
To buy a silver basket.

The mother presently turns and catches or pretends to beat them.—
Dorsetshire (Folk-lore Journal, vii. 231).

We’ll follow our mother to market,
To buy herself a basket;
When she comes home she’ll break our bones,
We’ll follow our mother to market.
—Hersham, Surrey (Folk-lore Record, v. 84).

A version familiar to me is the same as above, but ending with

For tumbling over cherry stones.

The mother then chased and beat those children she caught. The idea was, I
believe, that the children were imitating or mocking their mother (A. B. G.).
In Warwickshire the four lines of the Surrey game are concluded by the
additional lines—

We don’t care whether we work or no,
We’ll follow our mother on tipty-toe.

When the mother runs after them and buffets them.—Northall’s English
Folk Rhymes, p. 393.

Battledore and Shuttlecock
See “Shuttlefeather.”

Bedlams or Relievo

A number of boys agree to play at this game, and sides are picked. Five, for
example, play on each side. A square is chalked out on a footpath by the
side of a road, which is called the “Den;” five of the boys remain by the
side of the Den, one of whom is called the “Tenter;” the Tenter has charge
of the Den, and he must always stand with one foot in the Den and the other
upon the road; the remaining five boys go out to field, it being agreed
beforehand that they shall only be allowed to run within a prescribed area,
or in certain roads or streets (fig. 1). As soon as the boys who have gone out
to field have reached a certain distance—there is no limit prescribed—they
shout “Relievo,” and upon this signal the four boys standing by the side of
the Den pursue them, leaving the Tenter in charge of the Den (fig. 2). When
a boy is caught he is taken to the Den, where he is obliged to remain, unless
the Tenter puts both his feet into the Den, or takes out the one foot which he

ought always to keep in the Den. If the Tenter is thus caught tripping, the
prisoner can escape from the Den. If during the progress of the game one of
the boys out at field runs through the Den shouting “Relievo” without being
caught by the Tenter, the prisoner is allowed to escape, and join his
comrades at field. If one of the boys out at field is tired, and comes to stand
by the side of the Den, he is not allowed to put his foot into the Den. If he
does so the prisoner calls out, “There are two Tenters,” and escapes if he
can (fig. 3). When all the boys out at field have been caught and put into the
Den, the process is reversed—the boys who have been, as it were, hunted,
taking the place of the hunters. Sometimes the cry is “Delievo,” and not
“Relievo.” One or two variations occur in the playing of this game.
Sometimes the Tenter, instead of standing with one foot in the Den, stands
as far off the prisoner as the prisoner can spit. The choosing of sides is done
by tossing. Two boys are selected to toss. One of them throws up his cap,
crying, “Pot!” or “Lid!” which is equivalent to “Heads and Tails.” If, when
a prisoner is caught, he cries out “Kings!” or “Kings to rest!” he is allowed
to escape. The game is a very rough one.—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.

Beds
Jamieson gives this as the Scottish name for “Hopscotch;” also Brockett,
North Country Words.

Bell-horses
I. Bell-horses, bell-horses, what time of day?
One o’clock, two o’clock, three, and away!
Bell-horses, bell-horses, what time of day?
Two o’clock, three o’clock, four, and away!
Five o’clock, six o’clock, now time to stay!
—Stanton Lacey (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 520).

II. Bellasay, bellasay, what time of day?
One o’clock, two o’clock, three, and away.
—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, p. 283.

(b) The children form long trains, standing one behind the other. They
march and sing the first four lines, then the fifth line, when they stand and

begin again as before.
(c) Miss Burne suggests a connection with the old pack-horses. Mr. Addy
(Sheffield Glossary) gives the first two lines as a game. He says, “The first
horse in a team conveying lead to be smelted wore bells, and was called the
bell-horse.” I remember when a child the two first lines being used to start
children a race (A. B. G.). Chambers (Pop. Rhymes, p. 148) gives a similar
verse, used for starting a race:—

Race horses, race horses, what time of day?
One o’clock, two o’clock, three, and away;

and these lines are also used for the same purpose in Cheshire (Holland’s
Glossary) and Somersetshire (Elworthy’s Glossary). Halliwell, on the
strength of the corrupted word “Bellasay,” connects the game with a
proverbial saying applied to the family of Bellasis; but there is no evidence
of such a connection except the word-corruption. The rhyme occurs in
Gammer Gurton’s Garland, 1783, the last words of the second line being
“time to away.”

Bellie-mantie
The name for “Blind Man’s Buff” in Upper Clydesdale. As anciently in this
game he who was the chief actor was not only hoodwinked, but enveloped
in the skin of an animal.—Jamieson.
See “Blind Man’s Buff.”

Belly-blind
The name for “Blind Man’s Buff” in Roxburgh, Clydesdale, and other
counties of the border. It is probable that the term is the same with “Billy
Blynde,” said to be the name of a familiar spirit or good genius somewhat
similar to the brownie.—Jamieson.
See “Blind Man’s Buff.”

Bend-leather

A boys’ phrase for a slide on a pond when the ice is thin and bends. There is
a game on the ice called playing at “Bend-leather.” Whilst the boys are
sliding they say “Bend-leather, bend-leather, puff, puff, puff.”—Addy’s
Sheffield Glossary.

Betsy Bungay
[Play]

Hi, Betsy Bungay, all day on Sunday;
You’re the lock and I’m the key,
All day on Monday.
—Kent (J. P. Emslie).

Two children cross their hands in the fashion known as a “sedan chair.” A
third child sits on their hands. The two sing the first line. One of them sings,
“You’re the lock,” the other sings, “and I’m the key,” and as they sang the
words they unclasped their hands and dropped their companion on the
ground. Mr. J. P. Emslie writes, “My mother learned this from her mother,
who was a native of St. Laurence, in the Isle of Thanet. The game possibly
belongs to Kent.”

Bicky
In Somersetshire the game of “Hide and Seek.” To bik’ee is for the seekers
to go and lean their heads against a wall, so as not to see where the others
go to hide.—Elworthy’s Dialect.
See “Hide and Seek.”

Biddy-base
A Lincolnshire name for “Prisoner’s Base.”—Halliwell’s Dictionary;
Peacock’s Manley and Corringham Glossary; Cole’s S. W. Lincolnshire
Glossary.

Biggly
Name for “Blind Man’s Buff.”—Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary.

Billet
The Derbyshire name for “Tip-cat.”—Halliwell’s Dictionary.

Billy-base
A name for “Prisoner’s Base.”—Halliwell’s Dictionary.

Bingo
[Play]

—Leicestershire.

[Play]

—Hexham.

[Play]

—Derbyshire.

[Play]

—Earls Heaton, Yorks.

[Play]

—Enborne.

I. The miller’s mill-dog lay at the mill-door,
And his name was Little Bingo.
B with an I, I with an N, N with a G, G with an O,
And his name was Little Bingo.

The miller he bought a cask of ale,
And he called it right good Stingo.
S with a T, T with an I, I with an N, N with a G, G with an O,
And he called it right good Stingo.

The miller he went to town one day,
And he bought a wedding Ring-o!
R with an I, I with an N, N with a G, G with an O,
And he bought a wedding Ring-o!
—Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy).

II. A farmer’s dog lay on the floor,
And Bingo was his name O!
B, i, n, g, o, B, i, n, g, o,
And Bingo was his name O!

The farmer likes a glass of beer,
I think he calls it Stingo!
S, t, i, n, g, o, S, t, i, n, g, o!

I think he calls it Stingo!
S, t, i, n, g, O! I think he calls it Stingo!
—Market Drayton, Ellesmere, Oswestry (Burne’s
Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 513).

III.There was a jolly farmer,
And he had a jolly son,
And his name was Bobby Bingo.
BINGO, BINGO, BINGO,
And Bingo was his name.
—Liphook, Hants; Wakefield, Yorks (Miss Fowler).

IV.There was a farmer had a dog,
His name was Bobby Bingo.
B-i-n-g-o, B-i-n-g-o, B-i-n-g-o,
His name was Bobby Bingo.
—Tean, Staffs.; and North Staffs. Potteries (Miss Keary).

V. The farmer’s dog lay on the hearth,
And Bingo was his name oh!
B-i-n-g-o, B-i-n-g-o, B-i-n-g-o,
And Bingo was his name oh!
—Nottinghamshire (Miss Winfield).

VI.The miller’s dog lay on the wall,
And Bingo was his name Oh!
B-i-n-g-o,
And Bingo was his name Oh!
—Maxey, Northants (Rev. W. D. Sweeting).

The shepherd’s dog lay on the hearth,
VII.
And Bingo was his name O.
B i n g o, Bi, n, g, o, Bi-n-g-o,
And Bingo was his name O.
—Eckington, Derbyshire (S. O. Addy).

Pinto went to sleep one night,
VIII.
And Pinto was his name oh!
P-i-n-t-o, P-i-n-t-o,
And Pinto was his name oh.

—Enbourne, Berks (Miss Kimber).

(b) In the Lancashire version, one child represents the Miller. The rest of the
children stand round in a circle, with the Miller in the centre. All dance
round and sing the verses. When it comes to the spelling part of the rhyme,
the Miller points at one child, who must call out the right letter. If the child
fails to do this she becomes Miller. In the Shropshire version, a ring is
formed with one player in the middle. They dance round and sing the
verses. When it comes to the spelling part, the girl in the middle cries B,
and signals to another, who says I, the next to her N, the third G, the fourth
“O! his name was Bobby Bingo!” Whoever makes a mistake takes the place
of the girl in the middle. In the Liphook version, at the fourth line the
children stand still and repeat a letter each in turn as quickly as they can,
clapping their hands, and at the last line they turn right round, join hands,
and begin again. In the Tean version, the one in the centre points, standing
still, to some in the ring to say the letters B.I.N.G; the letter O has to be
sung; if not, the one who says it goes in the ring, and repeats it all again
until the game is given up. In the other Staffordshire version, when they
stop, the one in the middle points to five of the others in turn, who have to
say the letters forming “Bingo,” while the one to whom O comes has to sing
it on the note on which the others left off. Any one who says the wrong
letter, or fails to sing the O right, takes the place of the middle one. The
Northants version follows the Lancashire version, but if the answers are all
made correctly, the last line is sung by the circle, and the game begins
again. In the Metheringham version the child in the centre is blindfolded.
When the song is over the girls say, “Point with your finger as we go
round.” The girl in the centre points accordingly, and whichever of the
others happens to be opposite to her when she says “Stop!” is caught. If the
blindfolded girl can identify her captive they exchange places, and the game
goes on as before. The Forest of Dean and the Earls Heaton versions are
played the same as the Lancashire. In the West Cornwall version, as seen
played in 1884, a ring is formed, into the middle of which goes a child
holding a stick; the others with joined hands run round in a circle, singing
the verses. When they have finished singing they cease running, whilst the
one in the centre, pointing with his stick, asks them in turn to spell Bingo. If
they all spell it correctly they again move round singing; but should either
of them make a mistake, he or she has to take the place of the middle man
(Folk-lore Journal, v. 58). In the Hexham version they sing a second verse,

which is the same as the first with the name spelt backwards. The Berks
version is practically the same as the Tean version. The Eckington
(Derbyshire) version is played as follows:—A number of young women
form a ring. A man stands within the ring, and they sing the words. He then
makes choice of a girl, who takes his arm. They both walk round the circle
while the others sing the same lines again. The girl who has been chosen
makes choice of a young man in the ring, who in his turn chooses another
girl, and so on till they have all paired off.
(c) The first verse of the Shropshire version is also sung at Metheringham,
near Lincoln (C. C. Bell), and Cowes, I. W. (Miss E. Smith). The
Staffordshire version of the words is sung in Forest of Dean,
Gloucestershire (Miss Matthews), West Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 58),
Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy), Hexham, Northumberland (Miss
Barker), Leicester (Miss Ellis). Miss Peacock says, “A version is known in
Lincolnshire.” Tunes have also been sent from Tean, North Staffs. (Miss
Keary), and Epworth, Doncaster (Mr. C. C. Bell), which are nearly identical
with the Leicester tune; from Market Drayton (Miss Burne), similar to the
Derbyshire tune; from Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy), which appears to
be only the latter part of the tune, and is similar to those given above. The
tune given by Rimbault is not the same as those collected above, though
there is a certain similarity.
The editor of Northamptonshire Notes and Queries, vol. i. p. 214, says,
“Some readers will remember that Byngo is the name of the ‘Franklyn’s
dogge’ that Ingoldsby introduces into a few lines described as a portion of a
primitive ballad, which has escaped the researches of Ritson and Ellis, but
is yet replete with beauties of no common order.” In the Nursery Songs
collected by Ed. Rimbault from oral tradition is “Little Bingo.” The words
of this are very similar to the Lancashire version of the game sent by Miss
Dendy. There is an additional verse in the nursery song.

Bird-apprentice
A row of boys or girls stands parallel with another row opposite. Each of
the first row chooses the name of some bird, and a member of the other row
then calls out all the names of birds he can think of. If the middle member
of the first row has chosen either of them, he calls out “Yes,” and all the

guessers immediately run to take the place of the first row, the members of
which attempt to catch them. If any succeed, they have the privilege of
riding in on their captives’ backs.—Ogbourne, Wilts (H. S. May).

Birds, Beasts, and Fishes

B × × × × × × × h = Bullfinch
E × × × × × × t = Elephant
S × × × × × × × h = Swordfish

This is a slate game, and two or more children play. One writes the initial
and final letters of a bird’s, beast’s, or fish’s name, making crosses (×)
instead of the intermediate letters of the word, stating whether the name is
that of bird, beast, or fish. The other players must guess in turn what the
name is. The first one who succeeds takes for himself the same number of
marks as there are crosses in the word, and then writes the name of anything
he chooses in the same manner. If the players are unsuccessful in guessing
the name, the writer takes the number to his own score and writes another.
The game is won when one player gains a certain number of marks
previously decided upon as “game.”—Barnes (A. B. Gomme).

Bittle-battle
The Sussex game of “Stoolball.” There is a tradition that this game was
originally played by the milkmaids with their milking-stools, which they
used for bats; but this word makes it more probable that the stool was the
wicket, and that it was defended with the bittle, which would be called the
bittle-bat.—Parish’s Sussex Dialect.
See “Stoolball.”

Bitty-base
Bishop Kennet (in MS. Lansd. 1033) gives this name as a term for
“Prisoner’s Base.”—Halliwell’s Dictionary.

Black Man’s Tig
A long rope is tied to a gate or pole, and one of the players holds the end of
the rope, and tries to catch another player. When he succeeds in doing so the
one captured joins him (by holding hands) and helps to catch the other
players. The game is finished when all are caught.—Cork (Miss Keane).

Black Thorn
[Play]

—Earls Heaton, Yorks.

I. Blackthorn!
Butter-milk and barley-corn;
How many geese have you to-day?
As many as you can catch and carry away.
—Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy).

II. Blackthorn! Blackthorn!
Blue milk and barley-corn;
How many geese have you to-day?
More than you can catch and carry away.
—Harland and Wilkinson’s Lancashire Folk-lore, p. 150.

III.Blackthorn!
New milk and barley-corn;
How many sheep have you to sell?
More nor yo can catch and fly away wi’.
—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.

IV.Blackthorn!
Butter-milk and barley-corn;
How many sheep have you to-day?
As many as you catch and carry away.
—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert Hardy).

(b) One set of children stand against a wall, another set stand opposite,
facing them. The first set sing the first line, the others replying with the
second line, and so with the third and fourth lines. The two sides then rush
over to each other, and the second set are caught. The child who is caught
last becomes one of the first set for another game. This is the Earls Heaton
version. The Lancashire game, as described by Miss Dendy, is: One child
stands opposite a row of children, and the row run over to the opposite side,
when the one child tries to catch them. The prisoners made, join the one
child, and assist her in the process of catching the others. The rhyme is
repeated in each case until all are caught, the last one out becoming
“Blackthorn” for a new game. Harland and Wilkinson describe the game
somewhat differently. Each player has a mark, and after the dialogue the
players run over to each other’s marks, and if any can be caught before
getting home to the opposite mark, he has to carry his captor to the mark,
when he takes his place as an additional catcher.
(c) Miss Burne’s version (Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 521) is practically the
same as the Earls Heaton game, and Easther in his Almondbury Glossary
gives a version practically like the Sheffield. Mr. Hardy says it is sometimes
called “Black-butt,” when the opposite side cry “Away we cut.” Miss
Dendy quotes an old Lancashire rhyme, which curiously refers to the
different subjects in the Lancashire game rhyme. It is as follows:—

Little boy, little boy, where were you born?
Way up in Lancashire, under a thorn,
Where they sup butter-milk in a ram’s horn.

Another version is given in Notes and Queries, 3rd Series, vii. 285.
(d) This is a dramatic game, in which the children seem to personate
animals, and to depict events belonging to the history of the flock. Miss
Burne groups it under her “dramatic games.”

Blind Bell
A game formerly common in Berwickshire, in which all the players were
hoodwinked except the person who was called the Bell. He carried a bell,
which he rung, still endeavouring to keep out of the way of his hoodwinked

partners in the game. When he was taken, the person who seized him was
released from the bandage, and got possession of the bell, the bandage
being transferred to him who was laid hold of.—Jamieson.
(b) In “The Modern Playmate,” edited by Rev. J. G. Wood, this game is
described under the name of “Jingling.” Mr. Wood says there is a rougher
game played at country feasts and fairs in which a pig takes the place of the
boy with the bell, but he does not give the locality (p. 7). Strutt also
describes it (Sports, p. 317).

Blind Bucky-Davy
In Somersetshire the game of “Blind Man’s Buff.” Also in Cornwall (see
Couch’s Polperro, p. 173). Pulman says this means “Blind buck and have
ye” (Elworthy’s Dialect).

Blind Harie
A name for “Blind Man’s Buff.”—Jamieson.

Blind Hob
The Suffolk name for “Blind Man’s Buff.”—Halliwell’s Dictionary; Moor’s
Suffolk Glossary.

Blind Man’s Buff
I. Come, shepherd, come, shepherd, and count your sheep.
I canna come now, for I’m fast asleep.
If you don’t come now they’ll all be gone.
What’s in my way?
A bottle of hay.
Am I over it?
—Shrewsbury (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 525).

II. How many fingers do I hold up?
Four, three, &c. [at random in reply].
How many horses has your father?
Three [fixed reply].

What colour?
White, red, and grey.
Turn you about three times;
Catch whom you may! —Deptford (Miss Chase).

III.How many horses has your father got in his stables?
Three.
What colour are they?
Red, white, and grey.
Then turn about, and twist about, and catch whom you may.
—Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 57, 58).

IV.Antony Blindman kens ta me
Sen I bought butter and cheese o’ thee?
I ga’ tha my pot,
I ga’ tha my pan,
I ga’ tha a’ I hed but a rap ho’penny I gave a poor oald man.
—Cumberland (Dickinson’s Glossary).

(b) In the Deptford version one of the players is blindfolded. The one who
blindfolds ascertains that the player cannot see by putting the first question.
When the players are satisfied that the blindfolding is complete, the
dialogue follows, and the blind man is turned round three times. The game
is for him to catch one of the players, who is blindfolded in turn if the blind
man succeeds in guessing who he is. Players are allowed to pull, pinch, and
buffet the blind man.

(c) This sport is found among the illuminations of an old missal formerly in
the possession of John Ives, cited by Strutt in his Manners and Customs.
The two illustrations are facsimiles from drawings in one of the Bodleian
MSS., and they indicate the complete covering of the head, and also the fact
that the game was played by adults. Gay says concerning it—

As once I play’d at blindman’s-buff, it hap’t,
About my eyes the towel thick was wrapt.
I miss’d the swains, and seiz’d on Blouzelind.

And another reference is quoted by Brand (ii. 398)—

Sometyme the one would goe, sometyme the other,
Sometymes all thre at once, and sometyme neither;
Thus they with him play at boyes blynde-man-bluffe.
—The Newe Metamorphosis, 1600, MS.

Other names for this game are “Belly Mantie,” “Billy Blind,” “Blind Bucky
Davy,” “Blind Harie,” “Blind Hob,” “Blind Nerry Mopsey,” “Blind
Palmie,” “Blind Sim,” “Buck Hid,” “Chacke Blynd Man,” “Hoodle-cum-
blind,” “Hoodman Blind,” “Hooper’s Hide,” “Jockie Blind Man.”
(d) There is some reason for believing that this game can be traced up to
very ancient rites connected with prehistoric worship. The name “Billy
Blind” denoted the person who was blindfolded in the game, as may be
seen by an old poem by Lyndsay, quoted by Jamieson:

War I ane King

I sould richt sone mak reformatioun
Farlyeand thairof your grace sould richt sone finde
That Preistis sall leid yow lyke are bellye blinde.
And also in Clerk’s Advice to Luvaris:

Sum festnit is and ma not flé,
Sum led is lyk the belly blynd
With luve, war bettir lat it be.

“It is probable,” says Jamieson, “that the term is the same as Billy Blynde,
said to be the name of a familiar spirit or good genius somewhat similar to
the brownie.” Professor Child identifies it with Odin, the blind deity.
Another name in Scotland is also “Blind Harie,” which is not the common
Christian name “Harry,” because this was not a name familiar in Scotland.
Blind Harie may therefore, Jamieson thinks, arise from the rough or hairy
attire worn by the principal actor. Auld Harie is one of the names given to
the devil, and also to the spirit Brownie, who is represented as a hairy
being. Under “Coolin,” a curious Highland custom is described by
Jamieson, which is singularly like the game of “Belly Blind,” and assists in
the conclusion that the game has descended from a rite where animal gods
were represented. Sporting with animals before sacrificing them was a
general feature at these rites. It is known that the Church opposed the
people imitating beasts, and in this connection it is curious to note that in
South Germany the game is called blind bock, i. e., “blind goat,” and in
German blinde kuhe, or “blind cow.” In Scotland, one of the names for the
game, according to A. Scott’s poems, was “Blind Buk”:

Blind buk! but at the bound thou schutes,
And them forbeirs that the rebutes.

It may therefore be conjectured that the person who was hoodwinked
assumed the appearance of a goat, stag, or cow by putting on the skin of one
of those animals.
He who is twice crowned or touched on the head by the taker or him who is
hoodwinked, instead of once only, according to the law of the game, is said
to be brunt (burned), and regains his liberty.—Jamieson.

Blind Man’s Stan
A boys’ game, played with the eggs of small birds. The eggs are placed on
the ground, and the player who is blindfolded takes a certain number of
steps in the direction of the eggs; he then slaps the ground with a stick
thrice in the hope of breaking the eggs; then the next player, and so on.—
Patterson’s Antrim and Down Glossary.

Blind Nerry-Mopsey
The Whitby name for “Blind Man’s Buff.”—Robinson’s Glossary.

Blind Palmie or Pawmie
One of the names given to the game of “Blindman’s Buff.”—Jamieson.

Blind Sim
Suffolk name for “Blind Man’s Buff.”—Forby’s Vocabulary of East Anglia.

Block, Haimmer (Hammer), and Nail
This is a boys’ game, and requires seven players. One boy, the Block, goes
down on all fours; another, the Nail, does the same behind the Block, with
his head close to his a posteriori part. A third boy, the Hammer, lies down
on his back behind the two. Of the remaining four boys one stations himself
at each leg and one at each arm of the Hammer, and he is thus lifted. He is
swung backwards and forwards three times in this position by the four, who
keep repeating “Once, twice, thrice.” When the word “Thrice” is repeated,
the a posteriori part of the Hammer is knocked against the same part of the
Nail. Any number of knocks may be given, according to the humour of the
players.—Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
A fellow lies on all fours—this is the Block; one steadies him before—this
is the Study; a third is made a Hammer of, and swung by boys against the
Block (Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia). Patterson (Antrim and
Down Glossary) mentions a game, “Hammer, Block, and Bible,” which is
probably the same game.

Blow-point
Strutt considers this to have been a children’s game, played by blowing an
arrow through a trunk at certain numbers by way of lottery (Sports, p. 403).
Nares says the game was blowing small pins or points against each other,
and probably not unlike “Push-pin.” Marmion in his Antiquary, 1641, says:
“I have heard of a nobleman that has been drunk with a tinker, and of a
magnifico that has played at blow-point.” In the Comedy of Lingua, 1607,
act iii., sc. 2, Anamnestes introduces Memory as telling “how he played at
blowe-point with Jupiter when he was in his side-coats.” References to this
game are also made in Apollo Shroving, 1627, p. 49; and see Hawkins’
English Drama, iii. 243.
See “Dust-Point.”

Bob Cherry
A children’s game, consisting in jumping at cherries above their heads and
trying to catch them with their mouths (Halliwell’s Dictionary). It is alluded
to in Herrick’s Hesperides as “Chop Cherry.” Major Lowsley describes the
game as taking the end of a cherry-stalk between the teeth, and holding the
head perfectly level, trying to get the cherry into the mouth without using
the hands or moving the head (Berkshire Glossary). It is also mentioned in
Peacock’s Manley and Corringham Glossary. Strutt gives a curious
illustration of the game in his Sports and Pastimes, which is here
reproduced from the original MS. in the British Museum.

The Staffordshire St. Clement Day custom (Poole’s Staffordshire Customs,
&c., p. 36) and the northern Hallowe’en custom (Brockett’s North-Country
Words) probably indicate the origin of this game from an ancient rite.

Boggle about the Stacks
A favourite play among young people in the villages, in which one hunts
several others (Brockett’s North-Country Words). The game is alluded to in
one of the songs given by Ritson (ii. 3), and Jamieson describes it as a
Scottish game.
See “Barley-break.”

Boggle-bush
The child’s play of finding the hidden person in the company.—Robinson’s
Whitby Glossary. See “Hide and Seek.”

Bonnety
This is a boys’ game. The players place their bonnets or caps in a pile. They
then join hands and stand in a circle round it. They then pull each other, and
twist and wriggle round and round and over it, till one overturns it or

knocks a bonnet off it. The player who does so is hoisted on the back of
another, and pelted by all the others with their bonnets.—Keith, Nairn (Rev.
W. Gregor).

Booman
[Play]

—Norfolk.

Dill doule for Booman, Booman is dead and gone,
Left his wife all alone, and all his children.

Where shall we bury him? Carry him to London;
By his grandfather’s grave grows a green onion.

Dig his grave wide and deep, strow it with flowers;
Toll the bell, toll the bell, twenty-four hours.
—Norfolk, 1825-30 (J. Doe).

(b) One boy lies down and personates Booman. Other boys form a ring
round him, joining hands and alternately raising and lowering them, to
imitate bell-pulling, while the girls who play sit down and weep. The boys
sing the first verse. The girls seek for daisies or any wild flowers, and join
in the singing of the second verse, while the boys raise the prostrate
Booman and carry him about. When singing the third verse the boys act
digging a grave, and the dead boy is lowered. The girls strew flowers over
the body. When finished another boy becomes Booman.
(c) This game is clearly dramatic, to imitate a funeral. Mr. Doe writes, “I
have seen somewhere [in Norfolk] a tomb with a crest on it—a leek—and
the name Beaumont,” but it does not seem necessary to thus account for the
game.

Boss-out
A game at marbles. Strutt describes it as follows:—“One bowls a marble to
any distance that he pleases, which serves as a mark for his antagonist to
bowl at, whose business it is to hit the marble first bowled, or lay his own
near enough to it for him to span the space between them and touch both the
marbles. In either case he wins. If not, his marble remains where it lay, and
becomes a mark for the first player, and so alternately until the game be
won.”—Sports, p. 384.

Boss and Span
The same as “Boss-out.” It is mentioned, but not described, in Baker’s
Northamptonshire Glossary.

Boys and Girls
[Play]

—The Dancing Master, 1728, vol. ii., p. 138.

Boys, boys, come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day;
Come with a whoop, come with a call,
Come with a goodwill or don’t come at all;
Lose your supper and lose your sleep,
So come to your playmates in the street.
—Useful Transactions in Philosophy, p. 44.

This rhyme is repeated when it is decided to begin any game, as a general
call to the players. The above writer says it occurs in a very ancient MS.,
but does not give any reference to it. Halliwell quotes the four first lines,
the first line reading “Boys and girls,” instead of “Boys, boys,” from a
curious ballad written about the year 1720, formerly in the possession of
Mr. Crofton Croker (Nursery Rhymes). Chambers also gives this rhyme
(Popular Rhymes, p. 152).

Branks
A game formerly common at fairs, called also “Hit my Legs and miss my
Pegs.”—Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary.

Bridgeboard

A game at marbles. The boys have a board a foot long, four inches in depth,
and an inch (or so) thick, with squares as in the diagram; any number of
holes at the ground edge, numbered irregularly. The board is placed firmly
on the ground, and each player bowls at it. He wins the number of marbles
denoted by the figure above the opening through which his marble passes.
If he misses a hole, his marble is lost to the owner of the Bridgeboard.—
Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy). [The owner or keeper of the Bridgeboard
presumably pays those boys who succeed in winning marbles.]
See “Nine Holes.”

Broken-down Tradesmen
A boys’ game, undescribed.—Patterson’s Antrim and Down Glossary.

Brother Ebenezer

Ebenezer is sent out of the room, and the remainder choose one of
themselves. Two children act in concert, it being understood that the last
person speaking when Ebenezer goes out of the room is the person to be
chosen. The medium left in the room causes the others to think of this
person without letting them know that they are not choosing of their own
free will. The medium then says, “Brother Ebenezer, come in,” and asks
him in succession, “Was it William, or Jane,” &c., mentioning several
names before saying the right one, Ebenezer saying “No!” to all until the
one is mentioned who last spoke.—Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford).

Bubble-hole
A child’s game, undescribed.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.

Bubble-justice
The name of a game probably the same as “Nine Holes.”—Halliwell’s
Dictionary.

Buck, Buck
A boy stoops so that his arms rest on a table; another boy sits on him as he
would on a horse. He then holds up (say) three fingers, and says—

Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up?

The stooping boy guesses, and if he says a wrong number the other says—

[Two] you say and three there be;
Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up?

When the stooping boy guesses rightly the other says—

[Four] you say and [four] there be;
Buck, buck, rise up.

The boy then gets off and stoops for the other one to mount, and the game is
played again.—London (J. P. Emslie).

Similar action accompanies the following rhyme:—

Inkum, jinkum, Jeremy buck,
Yamdy horns do au cock up?
Two thà sès, and three there is,
Au’ll lea’n thee to la’ke at Inkum.
—Almondbury (Easther’s Glossary).

A different action occurs in other places. It is played by three boys in the
following way:—One stands with his back to a wall; the second stoops
down with his head against the stomach of the first boy, “forming a back;”
the third jumps on it, and holds up his hand with the fingers distended,
saying—

Buck shee, buck shee buck,
How many fingers do I hold up?

Should the stooper guess correctly, they all change places, and the jumper
forms the back. Another and not such a rough way of playing this game is
for the guesser to stand with his face towards a wall, keeping his eyes shut.
—Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 59).
In Nairn, Scotland, the game is called Post and Rider. One boy, the Post,
takes his stand beside a wall. Another boy stoops down with his head
touching the Post’s breast. Several other boys stoop down in the same way
behind the first boy, all in line. The Rider then leaps on the back of the boy
at the end of the row of stooping boys, and from his back to that of the one
in front, and so on from back to back till he reaches the boy next the Post.
He then holds up so many fingers, and says—

Buck, buck, how many fingers do I hold up?

The boy makes a guess. If the number guessed is wrong, the Rider gives the
number guessed as well as the correct number, and again holds up so many,
saying—

[Four] you say, but [two] it is;
Buck, buck, how many fingers do I hold up?

This goes on till the correct number is guessed, when the guesser becomes
the Rider. The game was called “Buck, Buck” at Keith. Three players only
took part in the game—the Post, the Buck, and the Rider. The words used
by the Rider were—

Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up?

If the guess was wrong, the Rider gave the Buck as many blows or kicks
with the heel as the difference between the correct number and the number
guessed. This process went on till the correct number was guessed, when
the Rider and the Buck changed places.—Rev. W. Gregor.
(b) Dr. Tylor says: “It is interesting to notice the wide distribution and long
permanence of these trifles in history when we read the following passage
from Petronius Arbiter, written in the time of Nero:—‘Trimalchio, not to
seem moved by the loss, kissed the boy, and bade him get up on his back.
Without delay the boy climbed on horseback on him, and slapped him on
the shoulders with his hand, laughing and calling out, “Bucca, bucca, quot
sunt hic”?’—Petron. Arbitri Satiræ, by Buchler, p. 84 (other readings are
buccæ or bucco).”—Primitive Culture, i. 67.

Buck i’ t’ Neucks
A rude game amongst boys.—Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary.

Buckerels
“A kind of play used by boys in London streets in Henry VIII.’s time, now
disused, and I think forgot” (Blount’s Glossographia, p. 95). Hall mentions
this game, temp. Henry VIII., f. 91.

Buckey-how
For this the boys divide into sides. One “stops at home,” the other goes off
to a certain distance agreed on beforehand and shouts “Buckey-how.” The
boys “at home” then give chase, and when they succeed in catching an
adversary, they bring him home, and there he stays until all on his side are

caught, when they in turn become the chasers.—Cornwall (Folk-lore
Journal, v. 60).

Buff
1st player, thumping the floor with a stick: “Knock, knock!”
2nd ditto: “Who’s there?”
1st: “Buff.”
2nd: “What says Buff?”
1st: “Buff says Buff to all his men,
And I say Buff to you again!”
2nd: “Methinks Buff smiles?”
1st: “Buff neither laughs nor smiles,
But looks in your face
With a comical grace,
And delivers the staff to you again” (handing it
over).
—Shropshire (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 526).

Same verses as in Shropshire, except the last, which runs as follows:—

Buff neither laughs nor smiles,
But strokes his face
With a very good grace,
And delivers his staff to you.
—Cheltenham (Miss E. Mendham).

Same verses as in Shropshire, except the last, which runs as follows:—

Buff neither laughs nor smiles,
But strokes his face for want of grace,
And sticks his staff in the right place.
—London (J. P. Emslie).

(b) Five or six children stand in a row. Another child comes up to the first of
the row, and strikes smartly on the ground with a stick. The child facing him

asks the first question, and the one with the stick answers. At “strokes his
face” he suits the action to the words, and then thumps with his stick on the
ground at the beginning of the last line. The object of all the players is to
make Buff smile while going through this absurdity, and if he does he must
pay a forfeit.
Another version is for one child to be blindfolded, and stand in the middle
of a ring of children, holding a long wand in his hand. The ring dance round
to a tune and sing a chorus [which is not given by the writer]. They then
stop. Buff extends his wand, and the person to whom it happens to be
pointed must step out of the circle to hold the end in his hand. Buff then
interrogates the holder of the wand by grunting three times, and is answered
in like manner. Buff then guesses who is the holder of the wand. If he
guesses rightly, the holder of the stick becomes Buff, and he joins the ring
(Winter Evening’s Amusements, p. 6). When I played at this game the ring
of children walked in silence three times only round Buff, then stopped and
knelt or stooped down on the ground, strict silence being observed. Buff
asked three questions (anything he chose) of the child to whom he pointed
the stick, who replied by imitating cries of animals or birds (A. B. Gomme).
(c) This is a well-known game. It is also called “Buffy Gruffy,” or “Indian
Buff.” The Dorsetshire version in Folk-lore Journal, vii. 238, 239, is the
same as the Shropshire version. Halliwell (Nursery Rhymes, cclxxxii.) gives
a slight variant. It is also given by Mr. Addy in his Sheffield Glossary, the
words being the same except the last two lines, which run—

But shows his face with a comely grace,
And leaves his staff at the very next place.

Buk-hid
This seems to be an old name for some game, probably “Blindman’s Buff,”
Sw. “Blind-bock,” q. “bock” and “hufwud head” (having the head
resembling a goat). The sense, however, would agree better with “Bo-peep”
or “Hide and Seek.”—Jamieson.

Bull in the Park

One child places himself in the centre of a circle of others. He then asks
each of the circle in turn, “Where’s the key of the park?” and is answered
by every one, except the last, “Ask the next-door neighbour.” The last one
answers, “Get out the way you came in.” The centre one then makes a dash
at the hands of some of the circle, and continues to do so until he breaks
through, when all the others chase him. Whoever catches him is then Bull.
—Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler).
“The Bull in the Barn” is apparently the same game. The players form a
ring; one player in the middle called the Bull, one outside called the King.
Bull: “Where is the key of the barn-door?”
Chorus: “Go to the next-door neighbour.”
King: “She left the key in the church-door.”
Bull: “Steel or iron?”
He then forces his way out of the ring, and whoever catches him becomes
Bull.—Berrington (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, pp. 519, 520).
Another version is that the child in the centre, whilst the others danced
around him in a circle, saying, “Pig in the middle and can’t get out,” replies,
“I’ve lost my key but I will get out,” and throws the whole weight of his
body suddenly on the clasped hands of a couple, to try and unlock them.
When he had succeeded he changed the words to, “I’ve broken your locks,
and I have got out.” One of the pair whose hands he had opened took his
place, and he joined the ring.—Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 50).
(b) Mr. S. O. Addy says the following lines are said or sung in a game
called “T’ Bull’s i’ t’ Barn,” but he does not know how it is played:—

As I was going o’er misty moor
I spied three cats at a mill-door;
One was white and one was black,
And one was like my granny’s cat.
I hopped o’er t’ style and broke my heel,
I flew to Ireland very weel,
Spied an old woman sat by t’ fire,

Sowing silk, jinking keys;
Cat’s i’ t’ cream-pot up to t’ knees,
Hen’s i’ t’ hurdle crowing for day,
Cock’s i’ t’ barn threshing corn,
I ne’er saw the like sin’ I was born.

Bulliheisle
A play amongst boys, in which, all having joined hands in a line, a boy at
one of the ends stands still, and the rest all wind round him. The sport
especially consists in an attempt to heeze or throw the whole mass on the
ground.—Jamieson.
See “Eller Tree,” “Wind up Jack,” “Wind up the Bush Faggot.”

Bummers
A play of children. “Bummers—a thin piece of wood swung round by a
cord” (Blackwood’s Magazine, Aug. 1821, p. 35). Jamieson says the word is
evidently denominated from the booming sound produced.

Bun-hole
A hole is scooped out in the ground with the heel in the shape of a small
dish, and the game consists in throwing a marble as near to this hole as
possible. Sometimes, when several holes are made, the game is called
“Holy.”—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary; Notes and Queries, xii. 344.

Bunch of Ivy
Played by children in pairs (one kneeling and one standing) in a ring. The
inner child of each pair kneels. The following dialogue begins with the
inner circle asking the first question, which is replied to by the outer circle.
“What time does the King come home?”
“One o’clock in the afternoon.”
“What has he in his hand?”

“A bunch of ivy.”
The rhyme is repeated for every hour up to six, the outer circle running
round the inner as many times as the number named. The children then
change places and repeat.—Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy).

Bung the Bucket
[Play]

—London (J. P. Emslie).

A number of boys divide themselves into two sides. One side, the Buckets,
stoop down, as for “Leap-frog,” arranging themselves one in front of the
other. The hindmost supports himself against the one in front of him, and
the front one supports himself against a wall (fig.). They thus make an even
and solid row of their backs. The other side, the Bungs, leap on to the backs
of the Buckets, the first one going as far up the row as possible, the second
placing himself close behind the first, and so on. If they all succeed in
getting a secure place, they cry out twice the two first lines—

Bung the Bucket,
One, two, three.
Off, off, off!

If no breakdown occurs, the Buckets count one in their favour, and the
Bungs repeat the process. When a breakdown occurs the Bungs take the

place of the Buckets.—Barnes, Surrey (A. B. Gomme).
(b) Mr. Emslie, to whom I am indebted for the tune to this game, gives me
the words as—

Jump a little nag-tail,
One, two, three.

He says, “I once heard this sung three times, followed by ‘Ha! ha! he!’ to
the tune of the last bar.” Mr. W. R. Emslie says the game is known at
Beddgelert as “Horses, Wild Horses,” he believes, but is not quite certain.
Northall (Rhymes, p. 401) describes a game very similar to this under
“Buck,” in which the rhyme and method of play is the same as in that game.
He continues, “This is closely allied to a game called in Warwickshire ‘Jack
upon the Mopstick.’ But in this there is no guessing. The leaping party must
maintain their position whilst their leader says—

Jack upon the mopstick,
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Count ’em off again.”

Bunting
Name for “Tip-cat.”—Cole’s S. W. Lincolnshire Glossary.

Burly Whush
A game played at with a ball. The ball is thrown up by one of the players on
a house or wall, who cries on the instant it is thrown to another to catch or
kep it before it falls to the ground. They all run off but this one to a little
distance, and if he fails in kepping it he bawls out “Burly Whush;” then the
party are arrested in their flight, and must run away no farther. He singles
out one of them then, and throws the ball at him, which often is directed so
fair as to strike; then this one at which the ball has been thrown is he who
gives “Burly Whush” with the ball to any he chooses. If the corner of a
house be at hand, as is mostly the case, and any of the players escape
behind it, they must still show one of their hands past its edge to the Burly

Whush man, who sometimes hits it such a whack with the ball as leaves it
dirling for an hour afterwards.—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
See “Ball,” “Keppy Ball,” “Monday.”

Buttons
Two or more boys take two buttons in their right hands, and try to throw
them both into a small hole in the ground about two yards off. The boy who
succeeds in getting both buttons in begins first next game, and takes a
button as prize. [This seems merely a mild form of marbles.]—Lincolnshire
(Rev. —— Roberts).
There were several games played with buttons—some on level ground, in a
ring or square; but the most approved was with a hole dug in the earth near
a wall, or near the trunk of a large tree. The hole should be about the cavity
of a small tea-cup, the players toeing a scratched line about four or five feet
from the hole, after tossing for first innings. Each of the players (mostly
two) contribute an equal number of buttons, say from two to ten, and of
equal value or quality. The one having first turn takes the whole of them in
his hand, and by an under-throw, or rather a pitch, endeavours to get the
whole, or as many as possible, into the hole. If all go clean into the hole, he
wins the game, and takes the whole of the buttons started with; but if one or
more of the buttons are left outside the hole, the non-player has then the
choice of selecting one which he considers difficult to be hit, and requesting
the player to hit it with his nicker. This is made of solid lead, about the size
of a florin, but twice its substance, and each player is provided with one of
his own. Much judgment is required in making this selection, the object
being to make it most difficult not only to hit it, but to prevent it being hit
without being knocked into the hole, or sending the nicker in, or sending
another button in, or even not striking one at all. In any one of these cases
the player loses the game, and the non-player takes the whole of the stakes.
In playing the next game, the previous non-player becomes the player.—
London (C. A. T. M.).
The following was the value of the buttons:—
(1.) The plain metal 3 or 4-holed flat button, called a Sinkie, say, value 1
point.

(2.) The same kind of button, with letters or inscription on the rim, valued at
2 points.
(3.) The small metal shank button, called a Shankie, without any
inscription, valued at 3 points; if with inscription, at 4 points; the large sizes
and corresponding description were valued relatively 4 and 5 points.
(4.) The small Shankies, with a crest (livery waistcoat buttons), 6 points,
and the large corresponding, 7 points.
(5.) The small Shankies, with coat of arms, value 8 points, and the large
corresponding, 9 points.
(6.) Ornamental and various other buttons, such as regimental, official,
mounted and engraved in flowers, and other designs according to
arrangement, up to 20 points.
See “Banger,” “Cots and Twisses.”

Buzz and Bandy
A local name for “Hockey,” which was formerly a very popular game
among the young men of Shrewsbury and Much Wenlock. Called simply
“Bandy” at Ludlow and Newport.—Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 525.

Cache-pole
The game of “Tennis.”—Jamieson.

Caiche
The game of “Handball.”

Thocht I preich nocht I can play at the caiche.
I wait thair is nocht ane among you all
Mair ferilie can play at the fute ball.
—Lyndsay’s S. P. Repr., ii. 243.

This language Lyndsay puts into the mouth of a Popish parson. The game
seems to be that of ball played with the hand, as distinguished from

“Football.”—Jamieson.
See “Ball.”

Call-the-Guse
This game is supposed by Jamieson to be equivalent to “Drive the Goose,”
and the game seems to be the same with one still played by young people in
some parts of Angus, in which one of the company, having something that
excites ridicule unknowingly pinned behind, is pursued by all the rest, who
still cry out, “Hunt the Goose!”—Jamieson.

Camp
A game formerly much in use among schoolboys, and occasionally played
by men in those parts of Suffolk on the sea coast—more especially in the
line of Hollesley Bay between the Rivers Orwell and Alde, sometimes
school against school, or parish against parish. It was thus played: Goals
were pitched at the distance of 150 or 200 yards from each other; these
were generally formed of the thrown-off clothes of the competitors. Each
party has two goals, ten or fifteen yards apart. The parties, ten or fifteen on
a side, stand in line, facing their own goals and each other, at about ten
yards distance, midway between the goals, and nearest that of their
adversaries. An indifferent spectator, agreed on by the parties, throws up a
ball, of the size of a common cricket-ball, midway between the confronted
players, and makes his escape. It is the object of the players to seize and
convey the ball between their own goals. The rush is therefore very great: as
is sometimes the shock of the first onset, to catch the falling ball. He who
first can catch or seize it speeds therefore home, pursued by his opponents
(thro’ whom he has to make his way), aided by the jostlings and various
assistances of his own sidesmen. If caught and held, or in imminent danger
of being caught, he throws the ball—but must in no case give it—to a less
beleaguered friend, who, if it be not arrested in its course, or be jostled
away by the eager and watchful adversaries, catches it; and he hastens
homeward, in like manner pursued, annoyed, and aided, winning the notch
(or snotch) if he contrive to carry, not throw, it between his goals. But this
in a well-matched game is no easy achievement, and often requires much
time, many doublings, detours, and exertions. I should have noticed, that if

the holder of the ball be caught with the ball in his possession, he loses a
snotch; if, therefore, he be hard pressed, he throws it to a convenient friend,
more free and in breath than himself. At the loss (or gain) of a snotch, a
recommence takes place, arranging which gives the parties time to take
breath. Seven or nine notches are the game—and these it will sometimes
take two or three hours to win. Sometimes a large football was used—and
the game was then called “Kicking Camp”—and if played with the shoes
on, “Savage Camp.”—Moor’s Suffolk Words.
(b) The sport and name are very old. The “Camping pightel” occurs in a
deed of the 30 Henry VI.—about 1486; Cullum’s Hawstead, p. 113, where
Tusser is quoted in proof, that not only was the exercise manly and salutary,
but good also for the pightel or meadow:

In meadow or pasture (to grow the more fine)
Let campers be camping in any of thine;
Which if ye do suffer when low is the spring,
You gain to yourself a commodious thing.
—P. 65.

And he says, in p. 56:

Get campers a ball,
To camp therewithall.

Ray says that the game prevails in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. The Rev. S.
Arnot, in Notes and Queries, 8th series, vol. ii. p. 138, who was rector of
Ilket’s Hall, in the county of Suffolk, says the ball was about the size of a
cricket-ball, and was driven through a narrow goal; and from the evidence
of the parish clerk it seems certain that it was not “Football.” See also
Spurden’s East Anglian Words, and County Folk-lore, Suffolk, pp. 57-59.
There are Upper Campfield and Lower Campfield at Norton Woodseats.
They are also called Camping fields. This field was probably the place
where football and other village games were played. These fields adjoin the
Bocking fields. In Gosling’s Map of Sheffield, 1736, Campo Lane is called
Camper Lane. The same map shows the position of the old Latin school, or
grammar school, and the writing school. These schools were at a very short

distance from Campo Lane, and it seems probable that here the game of
football was played (Addy’s Sheffield Glossary). “The camping-land
appropriated to this game occurs in several instances in authorities of the
fifteenth century” (Way’s Note in Prompt. Parv., p. 60). In Brinsley’s
Grammar Schoole, cited by Mr. Furnivall in Early English Meals and
Manners, p. lxii., is this passage: “By this meanes also the schollars may be
kept euer in their places, and hard to their labours, without that running out
to the Campo (as they tearme it) at school times, and the manifolde
disorders thereof; as watching and striuing for the clubbe and loytering then
in the fields.”
See “Football.”

Canlie
A very common game in Aberdeen, played by a number of boys, one of
whom is by lot chosen to act the part of Canlie. A certain portion of a street
or ground, as it may happen, is marked off as his territory, into which, if any
of the other boys presume to enter, and be caught by Canlie before he can
get off the ground, he is doomed to take the place of Canlie, who becomes
free in consequence of the capture. The game is prevalent throughout
Scotland, though differently denominated: in Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire
it is called “Tig,” and in Mearns “Tick.”—Jamieson.
See “Tig.”

Capie-Hole
A hole is made in the ground, and a certain line drawn, called a Strand,
behind which the players must take their stations. The object is at this
distance to throw the bowl into the hole. He who does this most frequently
wins. It is now more generally called “The Hole,” but the old designation is
not quite extinct. It is otherwise played in Angus. Three holes are made at
equal distances. He who can first strike his bowl into each of these holes
thrice in succession wins the game (Jamieson). It is alluded to in The Life of
a Scotch Rogue, 1722, p. 7.
See “Bun-hole.”

Carrick
Old name for “Shinty” in Fife.—Jamieson.

Carry my Lady to London
I. Give me a pin to stick in my thumb
To carry my lady to London.
Give me another to stick in my other
To carry her a little bit farther.
—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

II. London Bridge is broken,
And what shall I do for a token?
Give me a pin to stick in my thumb
And carry my lady to London.
—Notes and Queries, 4th series, xii. 479.

III.Give me a pin to stick in my chin (? cushion)
To carry a lady to London;
London Bridge is broken down
And I must let my lady down.
—Northall’s English Folk Rhymes, p. 353.

(b) In this game two children cross hands, grasping each other’s wrists and
their own as well: they thus form a seat on which a child can sit and be
carried about. At the same time they sing the verse.[Addendum]

Carrying the Queen a Letter
The King and Queen have a throne formed by placing two chairs a little
apart, with a shawl spread from chair to chair. A messenger is sent into the
room with a letter to the Queen, who reads it, and joins the King in a
courteous entreaty that the bearer of the missive will place himself between
them. When he has seated himself on the shawl, up jumps the King and
Queen, and down goes the messenger on the floor.—Bottesford and
Anderly (Lincolnshire), and Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock).
(b) This is virtually the same game as “Ambassador,” described by Grose as
played by sailors on some inexperienced fellow or landsman. Between the

two chairs is placed a pail of water, into which the victim falls.

Cashhornie
A game played with clubs by two opposite parties of boys, the aim of each
party being to drive a ball into a hole belonging to their antagonists, while
the latter strain every nerve to prevent this.—Jamieson.

Castles
A game at marbles. Each boy makes a small pyramid of three as a base, and
one on the top. The players aim at these from a distant stroke with balsers,
winning such of the castles as they may in turn knock down (Lowsley’s
Glossary of Berkshire Words). In London, the marble alluded to as “balser”
was called “bonsor” or “bouncer” (J. P. Emslie).
See “Cockly Jock,” “Cogs.”

Cat and Dog
An ancient game played in Angus and Lothian. Three play, and they are
provided with clubs. These clubs are called “dogs.” The players cut out two
holes, each about a foot in diameter, and seven inches in depth. The
distance between them is about twenty-six feet. One stands at each hole
with a club. A piece of wood about four inches long and one inch in
diameter, called a Cat, is thrown from the one hole towards the other by a
third person. The object is to prevent the Cat from getting into the hole.
Every time that it enters the hole, he who has the club at that hole loses the
club, and he who threw the Cat gets possession both of the club and of the
hole, while the former possessor is obliged to take charge of the Cat. If the
Cat be struck, he who strikes it changes places with the person who holds
the other club; and as often as these positions are changed one is counted in
the game by the two who hold the clubs, and who are viewed as partners.—
Jamieson.
(b) This is not unlike the “Stool-Ball” described by Strutt (Sports and
Pastimes, p. 76), but it more nearly resembles “Club-Ball,” an ancient
English game (ibid., p. 83). The game of “Cat,” played with sticks and a
small piece of wood, rising in the middle, so as to rebound when struck on

either side, is alluded to in Poor Robin’s Almanack for 1709, and by Brand.
Leigh (Cheshire Glossary) gives “Scute” as another name for the game of
“Cat,” probably from scute (O.W.), for boat, which it resembles in shape.
See “Cudgel,” “Kit-cat,” “Tip-cat.”

Cat-Beds
The name of a game played by young people in Perthshire. In this game,
one, unobserved by all the rest, cuts with a knife the turf in very unequal
angles. These are all covered, and each player puts his hand on what he
supposes to be the smallest, as every one has to cut off the whole surface of
his division. The rate of cutting is regulated by a throw of the knife, and the
person who throws is obliged to cut as deep as the knife goes. He who is
last in getting his bed cut up is bound to carry the whole of the clods,
crawling on his hands and feet, to a certain distance measured by the one
next to him, who throws the knife through his legs. If the bearer of the clods
let any of them fall, the rest have a right to pelt him with them. They
frequently lay them very loosely on, that they may have the pleasure of
pelting.—Jamieson.

Cat’s Cradle
One child holds a piece of string joined at the ends on his upheld palms, a
single turn being taken over each, and by inserting the middle finger of each
hand under the opposite turn, crosses the string from finger to finger in a
peculiar form. Another child then takes off the string on his fingers in a
rather different way, and it then assumes a second form. A repetition of this
manœuvre produces a third form, and so on. Each of these forms has a
particular name, from a fancied resemblance to the object—barn-doors,
bowling-green, hour-glass, pound, net, fiddle, fish-pond, diamonds, and
others.—Notes and Queries, vol. xi. p. 421.
The following forms are those known to me, with their names. They are
produced seriatim.
1. The cradle.
2. The soldier’s bed.
3. Candles.

4. The cradle inversed, or manger.
5. Soldier’s bed again, or diamonds.
6. Diamonds, or cat’s eyes.
7. Fish in dish.
8. Cradle as at first.
The different orders or arrangements must be taken from the hands of one
player by another without disturbing the arrangement.—A. B. Gomme.
(b) Nares suggests that the proper name is “Cratch Cradle,” and is derived
from the archaic word cratch, meaning a manger. He gives several
authorities for its use. The first-made form is not unlike a manger. Moor
(Suffolk Words) gives the names as cat’s cradle, barn-doors, bowling-green,
hour-glass, pound, net, diamonds, fish-pond, fiddle. A supposed
resemblance originated them. Britton (Beauties of Wiltshire, Glossary) says
the game in London schools is called “Scratch-scratch” or “Scratch-cradle.”

Cat’s Cradle “Taking off” Soldier’s Bed

“Taking off” Candles “Taking off”

Cat’s Cradle (upside
Cat’s Eyes Fish.
down)

The game is known to savage peoples. Professor Haddon noted it among
the Torres Straits people, who start the game in the same manner as we do,
but continue it differently (Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. xix. p. 361); and Dr.
Tylor has pointed out the significance of these string puzzles among savage
peoples in Journ. Anthrop. Inst., ix. 26.

Cat-gallows
A child’s game, consisting of jumping over a stick placed at right angles to
two others fixed in the ground.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
(b) In Ross and Stead’s Holderness Glossary this is called “Cat-gallas,” and
is described as three sticks placed in the form of a gallows for boys to jump
over. So called in consequence of being of sufficient height to hang cats
from. Also mentioned in Peacock’s Manley and Corringham Glossary and
Elworthy’s West Somerset Words, Brogden’s Provincial Words, Lincs.,
Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary, Atkinson’s Cleveland Glossary,
Brockett’s North Country Words, Evans’ Leicestershire Glossary, Baker’s
Northants Glossary, and Darlington’s South Cheshire Glossary. On one of
the stalls in Worcester Cathedral, figured in Wright’s Archæological Essays,
ii. 117, is a carving which represents three rats busily engaged in hanging a
cat on a gallows of this kind.

Cat i’ the Hole
A game well known in Fife, and perhaps in other counties. If seven boys are
to play, six holes are made at certain distances. Each of the six stands at a

hole, with a short stick in his hand; the seventh stands at a certain distance
holding a ball. When he gives the word, or makes the sign agreed upon, all
the six change holes, each running to his neighbour’s hole, and putting his
stick in the hole which he has newly seized. In making this change, the boy
who has the ball tries to put it into an empty hole. If he succeeds in this, the
boy who had not his stick (for the stick is the Cat) in the hole to which he
had run is put out, and must take the ball. There is often a very keen contest
whether the one shall get his stick, or the other the ball, or Cat, first put into
the hole. When the Cat is in the hole, it is against the laws of the game to
put the ball into it.—Jamieson.
(b) Kelly, in his Scottish Proverbs, p. 325, says, “‘Tine cat, tine game;’ an
allusion to a play called ‘Cat i’ the Hole,’ and the English ‘Kit-cat.’ Spoken
when men at law have lost their principal evidence.”
See “Cat and Dog,” “Cudgel,” “Kit-cat.”[Addendum]

Cat after Mouse
This game, sometimes called “Threading the Needle,” is played by children
forming a ring, with their arms extended and hands clasped; one—the
Mouse—goes outside the circle and gently pulls the dress of one of the
players, who thereupon becomes the Cat, and is bound to follow wherever
the Mouse chooses to go—either in or out of the ring—until caught, when
he or she takes the place formerly occupied in the ring by the Cat, who in
turn becomes Mouse, and the game is recommenced.—Dorsetshire (Folk-
lore Journal, vii. 214).
(b) Played at Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy); Clapham Middle-Class
School (Miss Richardson); and many other places. It is practically the same
game as “Drop Handkerchief,” played without words. It is described by
Strutt, p. 381, who considers “Kiss-in-the-Ring” is derived from this “Cat
and Mouse.”

Catchers
One bicken is required in this game, and at this a lad must stand with a bat
and ball in hand. He hits the ball away along the sand. Another boy picks it
up and asks the striker “How many?” who replies—

Two a good scat,
Try for the bat.

The ball is then thrown to the bicken, and if it does not come within the distance named—two bats—the striker
again sends the ball away, when the question is again asked—

Three a good scat,
Try for the bat.

And so on until the boy standing out throws the ball in to the required distance.—Old newspaper cutting without
date in my possession (A. B. Gomme).

Chacke-Blyndman
Scotch name for “Blindman’s Buff.”—Jamieson.

Chance Bone
In Langley’s abridgment of Polydore Vergile, f. 1., we have a description of this game: “There is a game also that
is played with the posterne bone in the hinder foote of a sheepe, oxe, gote, fallow, or redde dere, whiche in Latin is
called talus. It hath foure chaunces: the ace point, that is named Canis, or Canicula, was one of the sides; he that
cast it leyed doune a peny, or so muche as the gamers were agreed on; the other side was called Venus, that
signifieth seven. He that cast the chaunce wan sixe and all that was layd doune for the castyng of Canis. The two
other sides were called Chius and Senio. He that did throwe Chius wan three. And he that cast Senio gained four.
This game (as I take it) is used of children in Northfolke, and they cal it the Chaunce Bone; they playe with three or
foure of those bones together; it is either the same or very lyke to it.”
See “Dibs,” “Hucklebones.”

Change Seats, the King’s Come
In this game as many seats are placed round a room as will serve all the company save one. The want of a seat falls
on an individual by a kind of lot, regulated, as in many other games, by the repetition of an old rhythm. All the rest
being seated, he who has no seat stands in the middle, repeating the words “Change seats, change seats,” &c.,
while all the rest are on the alert to observe when he adds, “the king’s come,” or, as it is sometimes expressed,
change their seats. The sport lies in the bustle in consequence of every one’s endeavouring to avoid the misfortune
of being the unhappy individual who is left without a seat. The principal actor often slily says, “The king’s not
come,” when, of course the company ought to keep their seats; but from their anxious expectation of the usual
summons, they generally start up, which affords a great deal of merriment.—Brand’s Pop. Antiq., ii. 409.
(b) Dr. Jamieson says this is a game well-known in Lothian and in the South of Scotland. Sir Walter Scott, in Rob
Roy, iii. 153, says, “Here auld ordering and counter-ordering—but patience! patience!—We may ae day play at
Change seats, the king’s coming.”
This game is supposed to ridicule the political scramble for places on occasion of a change of government, or in
the succession.
See “Musical Chairs,” “Turn the Trencher.”

Checkstone
Easther’s Almondbury Glossary thus describes this game. A set of checks consists of five cubes, each about half an
inch at the edge, and a ball the size of a moderate bagatelle ball: all made of pot. They are called checkstones, and
the game is played thus. You throw down the cubes all at once, then toss the ball, and during its being in the air
gather up one stone in your right hand and catch the descending ball in the same. Put down the stone and repeat the
operation, gathering two stones, then three, then four, till at last you have “summed up” all the five at once, and
have succeeded in catching the ball. In case of failure you have to begin all over again.

(b) In Nashe’s Lenten Stuff (1599) occurs the following: “Yet towards cock-crowing she caught a little slumber,
and then she dreamed that Leander and she were playing at checkstone with pearls in the bottom of the sea.”
A game played by children with round small pebbles (Halliwell’s Dictionary). It is also mentioned in the early play
of Apollo Shroving, 1627, p. 49.
See “Chucks,” “Fivestones.”

Cherry Odds
A game of “Pitch and Toss” played with cherry-stones (Elworthy’s West Somerset Words). Boys always speak of
the stones as “ods.”

Cherry-pit
“Cherry-pit” is a play wherein they pitch cherry-stones into a little hole. It is noticed in the Pleasant Grove of New
Fancies, 1657, and in Herrick’s Hesperides. Nares (Glossary) mentions it as still practised with leaden counters
called Dumps, or with money.

Chicamy
Chicamy, chickamy, chimey O,
Down to the pond to wash their feet;
Bring them back to have some meat,
Chickamy, chickamy, chimey O.
—Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase).

The children sing the first line as they go round and round. At the second line they move down the road a little, and
turn round and round as they end the rhyme.

Chickidy Hand
Chickidy hand,
Chickidy hand,
The Warner, my Cock,
Crows at four in the morning.

Several boys, placing their clasped fists against a lamp-post, say these lines, after which they run out, hands still
clasped. One in the middle tries to catch as many as possible, forming them in a long string, hand in hand, as they
are caught. Those still free try to break through the line and rescue the prisoners. If they succeed in parting the line,
they may carry one boy pig-a-back to the lamp-post, who becomes “safe.” The boy caught last but one becomes
“it” in the next game.—Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).
See “Hunt the Staigie,” “Stag Warning,” “Whiddy.”

Chinnup
A game played with hooked sticks and a ball, also called “Shinnup.” Same as “Hockey.”

Chinny-mumps
A school-boys’ play, consisting in striking the chin with the knuckles; dexterously performed, a kind of time is
produced.—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.

Chock or Chock-hole
A game at marbles played by “chocking” or pitching marbles in a hole made for the purpose, instead of shooting at
a ring (Northamptonshire, Baker’s Glossary). Clare mentions the game in one of his poems.

Chow
A game played in Moray and Banffshire. The ball is called the Chow. The game is the same as “Shinty.” The
players are equally divided. After the Chow is struck off by one party, the aim of the other is to strike it back, that
it may not reach the limit or goal on their side, because in this case they lose the game, and as soon as it crosses the
line the other party cry Hail! or say that it is hail, as denoting that they have gained the victory. In the beginning of
each game they are allowed to raise the ball a little above the level of the ground, that they may have the advantage
of a surer stroke. This is called the “deil-chap,” perhaps as a contraction of “devil,” in reference to the force
expended on the stroke. It may, however, be “dule-chap,” the blow given at the “dule” or goal.—Jamieson.
See “Hockey.”

Chuck-farthing
Strutt says this game was played by boys at the commencement of the last century, and probably bore some
analogy to “Pitch and Hustle.” He saw the game thus denominated played with halfpence, every one of the
competitors having a like number, either two or four; a hole being made in the ground, with a mark at a given
distance for the players to stand, they pitch their halfpence singly in succession towards the hole, and he whose
halfpenny lies the nearest to it has the privilege of coming first to a second mark much nearer than the former, and
all the halfpence are given to him; these he pitches in a mass toward the hole, and as many of them as remain
therein are his due; if any fall short or jump out of it, the second player—that is, he whose halfpenny in pitching
lay nearest to the first goer’s—takes them and performs in like manner; he is followed by the others as long as any
of the halfpence remain (Sports, pp. 386, 387). There is a letter in the Spectator, supposed to be from the father of
a romp, who, among other complaints of her conduct, says, “I have catched her once at eleven years old at ‘Chuck-
farthing’ among the boys.”

Chuck-hole, Chuck-penny
Same game as “Chuck-farthing,” with this difference, that if the pennies roll outside the ring it is a “dead heat,”
and each boy reclaims his penny.—Peacock’s Manley and Corringham Glossary; and see Brogden’s Lincolnshire
Words.

Chucks
A game with marbles played by girls (Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia). A writer in Blackwood’s
Magazine, August 1821, p. 36, says “Chucks” is played with a bowl and chucks—a species of shells (Buccinum
lapillus) found on the sea-shore [“bowl” here probably means a marble]. Brockett (North Country Words) says this
game is played by girls with five sea-shells called chucks, and sometimes with pebbles, called chuckie-stanes.
Jamieson says a number of pebbles are spread on a flat stone; one of them is tossed up, and a certain number must
be gathered and the falling one caught by the same hand.
See “Checkstones,” “Fivestones.”[Addendum]

Church and Mice
A game played in Fifeshire; said to be the same with the “Sow in the Kirk.”—Jamieson.

Click
Two Homes opposite each other are selected, and a boy either volunteers to go Click, or the last one in a race
between the Homes does so. The others then proceed to one of the Homes, and the boy takes up his position
between them. The players then attempt to run between the Homes, and if the one in the middle holds any of them
while he says “One, two, three, I catch thee; help me catch another,” they have to stay and help him to collar the
rest until only one is left. If this one succeeds in getting between the Homes three times after all the others have
been caught, he is allowed to choose the one to go Click in the next game; if he fails, he has to go himself.—
Marlborough, Wilts (H. S. May).
See “Cock.”

Click, Clock, Cluck
A man called Click came west from Ireland,
A man called Click came west from Ireland,
A man called Click came west from Ireland,
Courting my Aunt Judy.

A man called Clock came west from Ireland,
A man called Clock came west from Ireland,
A man called Clock came west from Ireland,
Courting my Aunt Judy.

A man called Cluck came west from Ireland,
A man called Cluck came west from Ireland,
A man called Cluck came west from Ireland,
Courting my Aunt Judy.
—Isle of Man (A. W. Moore).

These verses and the game are now quite forgotten, both in English and Manx. It was sung by children dancing
round in a ring.

Clowt-clowt
“A kinde of playe called clowt-clowt, to beare about, or my hen hath layd.”—Nomenclator, p. 299.

Clubby
A youthful game something like “Doddart.”—Brockett’s North Country Words.

Coal under Candlestick
A Christmas game mentioned in Declaration of Popish Impostures, p. 160.

Cob
A game at marbles played by two or three boys bowling a boss marble into holes made in the ground for the
purpose, the number of which is generally four.—Baker’s Northamptonshire Glossary.

Cobbin-match
A school game in which two boys are held by the legs and arms and bumped against a tree, he who holds out the
longest being the victor.—Ross and Stead’s Holderness Glossary.

Cobble
A name for “See-saw.”—Jamieson.

Cobbler’s Hornpipe

This was danced by a boy stooping till he was nearly in a sitting posture on the ground, drawing one leg under him
until its toe rested on the ground, and steadying himself by thrusting forward the other leg so that the heel rested on
the ground; the arms and head being thrown forwards as far as possible in order to maintain a balance. The thrust-

out leg was drawn back and the drawn-in leg was shot out at the same time. This movement was repeated, each
bringing down to the ground of the toe and heel causing a noise like that of hammering on a lapstone. The arms
were moved backwards and forwards at the same time to imitate the cobbler’s sewing.—London (J. P. Emslie).

Cob-nut
The children in Yorkshire have a game which is probably an ancient English pastime. Numerous hazel-nuts are
strung like the beads of a rosary. The game is played by two persons, each of whom has one of these strings, and
consists in each party striking alternately, with one of the nuts on his own string, a nut of his adversary’s. The field
of combat is usually the crown of a hat. The object of each party is to crush the nuts of his opponent. A nut which
has broken many of those of the adversary is a Cob-nut.—Brand, ii. 411; Hunter’s Hallamshire Glossary.
(b) This game is played in London with chestnuts, and is called “Conquers.” In Cornwall it is known as “Cock-
haw.” The boys give the name of Victor-nut to the fruit of the common hazel, and play it to the words: “Cockhaw!
First blaw! Up hat! Down cap! Victor!” The nut that cracks another is called a Cock-battler (Folk-lore Journal, v.
61). Halliwell describes this game differently. He says “it consists in pitching at a row of nuts piled up in heaps of
four, three at the bottom and one at the top of each heap. The nut used for the pitching is called the Cob. All the
nuts knocked down are the property of the pitcher.” Alluding to the first described form, he says it “is probably a
more modern game,” and quotes Cotgrave sub voce “Chastelet” as authority for the earlier form in the way he
describes it (Dictionary). Addy says the nuts were hardened for the purpose. When a nut was broken it was said to
be “cobbered” or “cobbled” (Sheffield Glossary). Evans’ Leicestershire Glossary also describes it. Darlington
(South Cheshire Words) says this game only differs from “Cobblety-cuts” in the use of small nuts instead of
chestnuts. George Eliot in Adam Bede has, “Gathering the large unripe nuts to play at ‘Cob-nut’ with” (p. 30).
Britton’s Beauties of Wiltshire gives the Isle of Wight and Hants as other places where the game is known.
See “Conquerors.”

Cock
One boy is chosen Cock. The players arrange themselves in a line along one side of the playground. The Cock
takes his stand in front of the players. When everything is ready, a rush across the playground is made by the
players. The Cock tries to catch and “croon”—i.e., put his hand upon the head of—as many of the players as he
can when running from one side of the playground to the other. Those caught help the Cock in the rush back. The
rush from side to side goes on till all are captured. To “croon” was the essential point in capturing. When a boy
was being pursued to be taken prisoner, his great object was, when he came to close quarters with his pursuers, to
save his head from being touched on the crown by one of them.—Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor).
At Duthil, Strathspey, this game goes by the name of “Rexa-boxa-King.” When the players have ranged
themselves on one side of the playground, and the King has taken his stand in front of them, he calls out “Rexa-
boxa-King,” or simply “Rexa,” when all the players rush to the other side. The rush from side to side goes on till
all are captured. The one last captured becomes King in the next game.—Rev. W. Gregor.
See “Click.”

Cock-battler
Children, under the title of “Cock-battler,” often in country walks play with the hoary plantain, which they hold by
the tough stem about two inches from the head; each in turn tries to knock off the head of his opponent’s flower.—
Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 61).
In the North, and in Suffolk, it is called “Cocks,” “a puerile game with the tough tufted stems of the ribwort
plantain” (Brockett’s North Country Words). Moor (Suffolk Words) alludes to the game, and Holloway (Dictionary
of Provincialisms) says in West Sussex boys play with the heads of rib grass a similar game. Whichever loses the
head first is conquered. It is called “Fighting-cocks.”

Cock-fight
This is a boys’ game. Two boys fold their arms, and then, hopping on one leg, butt each other with their shoulders
till one lets down his leg. Any number of couples can join in this game.—Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor).

Cock-haw
See “Cob-nut.”

Cock-stride

One boy is chosen as Cock. He is blindfolded, and stands alone, with his legs as far apart as possible. The other
boys then throw their caps as far as they are able between the extended legs of the Cock (fig. 1). After the boys
have thrown their caps, and each boy has taken his stand beside his cap, the Cock, still blindfolded, stoops down
and crawls in search of the caps (fig. 2). The boy whose cap he first finds has to run about twenty yards under the
buffeting of the other boys, the blows being directed chiefly to the head. He becomes Cock at the next turn of the
game.—Rosehearty, Pitsligo (Rev. W. Gregor).

Cockertie-hooie
This game consists simply of one boy mounting on the neck of another, putting a leg over each shoulder and down
his breast. The boy that carries takes firm hold of the legs of the one on his neck, and sets off at a trot, and runs
hither and thither till he becomes tired of his burden. The bigger the one is who carries, the more is in the
enjoyment to the one carried.—Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
See “Cock’s-headling.”

Cockle-bread
Young wenches have a wanton sport, which they call moulding of Cocklebread; viz. they gett upon a Table-board,
and then gather-up their knees and their coates with their hands as high as they can, and then they wabble to and
fro with their Buttocks as if the[y] were kneading of Dowgh, and say these words, viz.:—

My Dame is sick and gonne to bed,
And I’le go mowld my cockle-bread.

In Oxfordshire the maids, when they have put themselves into the fit posture, say thus:—

My granny is sick, and now is dead,
And wee’l goe mould some cockle-bread.
Up with my heels, and down with my head,
And this is the way to mould cocklebread.
—Aubrey’s Remains, pp. 43, 44.

To make “Barley bread” (in other districts, “Cockley bread”) this rhyme is used in West Cornwall:—

Mother has called, mother has said,
Make haste home, and make barley bread.
Up with your heels, down with your head,
That is the way to make barley bread.
—Folk-lore Journal, v. 58.

The Westmoreland version is given by Ellis in his edition of Brand as follows:—

My grandy’s seeke,
And like to dee,
And I’ll make her
Some cockelty bread, cockelty bread,
And I’ll make her
Some cockelty bread.

The term “Cockelty” is still heard among our children at play. One of them squats on its haunches with the hands
joined beneath the thighs, and being lifted by a couple of others who have hold by the bowed arms, it is swung
backwards and forwards and bumped on the ground or against the wall, while continuing the words, “This is the
way we make cockelty bread.”—Robinson’s Whitby Glossary, p. 40.
The moulding of “Cocklety-bread” is a sport amongst hoydenish girls not quite extinct. It consists in sitting on the
ground, raising the knees and clasping them with the hand, and then using an undulatory motion, as if they were
kneading dough.

My granny is sick and now is dead,
And we’ll go mould some cocklety bread;
Up with the heels and down with the head,
And that is the way to make cocklety bread.
—Hunter’s MSS.; Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.

(b) The Times of 1847 contains a curious notice of this game. A witness, whose conduct was impugned as light and
unbecoming, is desired to inform the court, in which an action for breach of promise was tried, the meaning of
“mounting cockeldy-bread;” and she explains it as “a play among children,” in which one lies down on the floor
on her back, rolling backwards and forwards, and repeating the following lines:—

Cockeldy bread, mistley cake,
When you do that for our sake.

While one of the party so laid down, the rest sat around; and they laid down and rolled in this manner by turns.
These lines are still retained in the modern nursery-rhyme books, but their connection with the game of
“Cockeldy-bread” is by no means generally understood. There was formerly some kind of bread called “cockle-
bread,” and cocille-mele is mentioned in a very early MS. quoted in Halliwell’s Dictionary. In Peele’s play of the
Old Wives’ Tale, a voice thus speaks from the bottom of a well:—

Gently dip, but not too deep,
For fear you make the golden beard to weep.
Fair maiden, white and red,
Stroke me smooth and comb my head,
And thou shalt have some cockell-bread.

Cockly-jock
A game among boys. Stones are loosely placed one upon another, at which other stones are thrown to knock the
pile down.—Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary.
See “Castles.”

Cock’s-headling
A game where boys mount over each other’s heads.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
See “Cockertie-hooie.”

Cock-steddling

A boyish game mentioned but not described by Cope in his Hampshire Glossary. He gives as authority Portsmouth
Telegraph, 27th September 1873.

Codlings
A game among youngsters similar to “Cricket,” a short piece of wood being struck up by a long stick instead of a
ball by a bat. Also called “Tip and Go” or “Tip and Slash.”—Robinson’s Whitby Glossary.
See “Cudgel.”

Cogger
A striped snail shell. It is a common boyish pastime to hold one of these shells between the last joints of the bent
fingers, and forcibly press the apex against another held in a similar manner by an opponent, until one of them, by
dint of persevering pressure, forces its way into the other; and the one which in these contests has gained the most
victories is termed the Conqueror, and is highly valued (Northamptonshire, Baker’s Glossary). The game is known
as “Fighting Cocks” in Evans’ Leicestershire Glossary. In London it was played with walnut shells.

Cogs
The top stone of a pile is pelted by a stone flung from a given distance, and the more hits, or “cogglings off,” the
greater the player’s score.—Robinson’s Whitby Glossary.
Apparently the same game as “Cockly-jock.”

Common
A game played with a ball and crooked stick (cut from a tree or hedge), with a crook at the end (same game as
“Hurl”).—Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).
Mr. Patterson (Antrim and Down Glossary) mentions this as “Hockey;” the same as “Shinney.” “Called in some
districts,” he adds, “‘Comun’ and ‘Kamman,’ from the Irish name for the game.”

Conkers
The same game as “Cogger.” The game is more generally called “playin at sneel-shells.”—Ross and Stead’s
Holderness Glossary.

Conquerors or Conkers
I. Cobbly co!
My first blow!
Put down your black hat,
And let me have first smack!
—Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 531.

II. Obli, obli O, my first go;
And when the nut is struck,
Obli, obli onker, my nut will conquer.
—Notes and Queries, 5th series, x. 378.

III.Cobblety cuts,
Put down your nuts.
—Darlington’s Folk-speech of South Cheshire.

IV.Obbly, obbly onkers, my first conquers;
Obbly, obbly O, my first go.
—Lawson’s Upton-on-Severn Words and Phrases.

V. Hobley, hobley, honcor, my first conkor;

Hobbley, hobbley ho, my first go;
Hobley, hobley ack, my first crack. —Chamberlain’s West Worcestershire Glossary.

(b) This game is played with horse chestnuts threaded on a string. Two boys sit face to face astride of a form or a
log of timber. If a piece of turf can be procured so much the better. One boy lays his chestnut upon the turf, and the
other strikes at it with his chestnut; and they go on striking alternately till one chestnut splits the other. The
chestnut which remains unhurt is then “conqueror of one.” A new chestnut is substituted for the broken one, and
the game goes on. Whichever chestnut now proves victorious becomes “conqueror of two,” and so on, the
victorious chestnut adding to its score all the previous winnings. The chestnuts are often artificially hardened by
placing them up the chimney or carrying them in a warm pocket; and a chestnut which has become conqueror of a
considerable number acquires a value in schoolboys’ eyes; and I have frequently known them to be sold, or
exchanged for other toys (Holland’s Cheshire Glossary). The game is more usually played by one boy striking his
opponent’s nut with his own, both boys standing and holding the string in their hands. It is considered bad play to
strike the opponent’s string. The nut only should be touched. Three tries are usually allowed.
(c) For information on various forms of this game, see Notes and Queries, 1878. See also Elworthy’s West
Somerset Words. The boy who first said the rhyme has first stroke at Oswestry. The game is elsewhere called
“Cobbet” (Meole Brace) and “Cobbleticuts” (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 531). In “Conquer-nuts” “obbly”
was probably “nobbly” or “knobbly,” expressing the appearance of the string of nuts; and “onkers” was probably
invented as a rhyme to “conquers” (Upton-on-Severn Words and Phrases, by R. Lawson).

Contrary, Rules of
I. Here I go round the rules of contrary,
Hopping about like a little canary.
When I say “Hold fast,” leave go;
When I say “Leave go,” hold fast.
—Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 52).

II. Here we go round the rules of contrary,
When I say “Hold fast!” let go, and when I say “Let go!” hold fast.
—London (A. B. Gomme).

(b) A ring is formed by each child holding one end of a handkerchief. One child stands in the centre and acts as
leader. The ring moves round slowly. The leader says the words as above while the ring is moving round, and then
suddenly calls out whichever he chooses of the two sayings. If he says “Hold fast!” every one must immediately
let go the corner of the handkerchief he holds. They should all fall to the ground at once. When he says “Let go!”
every one should retain their hold of the handkerchief. Forfeits are demanded for every mistake.
This game, called “Hawld Hard,” is commonly played about Christmas-time, where a number hold a piece of a
handkerchief. One then moves his hand round the handkerchief, saying, “Here we go round by the rule of
Contrairy; when I say ‘Hawld hard,’ let go, and when I say ‘Let go,’ hawld hard.” Forfeits are paid by those not
complying with the order.—Lowsley’s Berkshire Glossary.

Cop-halfpenny
The game of “Chuck-farthing.”—Norfolk and Suffolk (Holloway’s Dict. of Provincialisms).

Corsicrown
A square figure is divided by four lines, which cross each other in the crown or centre. Two of these lines connect
the opposite angles, and two the sides at the point of bisection. Two players play; each has three men or flitchers.
Now there are seven points for these men to move about on, six on the edges of the square and one at the centre.
The men belonging to each player are not set together as at draughts, but mingled with each other. The one who
has the first move may always have the game, which is won by getting the three men on a line.—Mactaggart’s
Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
See “Kit Cat Cannio,” “Noughts and Crosses.”

Cots and Twisses
A flat stone is obtained called a Hob, upon which those who are playing place equal shares of Cots and Twisses.
Cots are brass buttons, and Twisses bits of brass—a Twiss of solid brass being worth many Cots. Each player
provides himself with a nice flat [key] stone, and from an agreed pitch tosses it at the Hob. If he knocks off any of
the Cots and Twisses nearer to the players than the Hob is, he claims them. The other players try to knock the Hob
away with their key-stones from any Cots and Twisses that may not have been claimed; and if any key-stone
touches Hob after all have thrown, the owner cannot claim any Cots and Twisses.—Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).
Each player selects a Cast or stone to pitch with; on another stone, called the Hob, the Cots and Twys are placed; at
some distance Scops are set in the ground. First the players pitch from the Hob to the Scop, and the one who gets
nearest goes first. He then pitches at the Hob, and if he knocks off the stakes he has them, provided his Cast is
nearer to them than the Hob is; in failure of this, the other player tries. In pitching up, one Cast may rest on
another, and if the boy whose stone is underneath can lift it up to knock the other Cast away, it has to remain at the
place to which it has been struck; if he does not succeed in doing this, the second player may lift off his Cast and
place it by the first. Whoever knocks off the stakes, they go to the boy whose Cast is nearest to them. The Hob and
Scop are usually three yards apart. The Cot was a button off the waistcoat or trousers, the Twy one off the coat,
and, as its name implies, was equal to two Cots. Formerly, when cash was much more rare than now it is amongst
boys, these formed their current coin. The game about 1820 seems to have been chiefly one of tossing, and was
played with buttons, then common enough. Now, metal buttons being rare, it is played with pieces of brass or
copper of any shape. The expression, “I haven’t a cot,” is sometimes used to signify that a person is without
money.—Easther’s Almondbury and Huddersfield Glossary.
See “Banger,” “Buttons.”

Course o’ Park
The game of “Course of the Park” has not been described, but is referred to in the following verse:—

“Buff”’s a fine sport,
And so’s “Course o’ Park.”
—The Slighted Maid, 1663, p. 50.

Crab-sowl, Crab-sow
A game played with a bung or ball struck with sticks (Brogden’s Provincial Words, Lincolnshire). This is played on
Barnes Common, and is apparently a form of “Hockey” (A. B. Gomme).

Crates
The game of “Nine Holes.” This is the game described by John Jones, M.D., in his book called The Benefit of the
Auncient Bathes of Buckstones, 1572, p. 12, as having been played by ladies at Buxton for their amusement in wet
weather. See Pegge’s Anonymiana, 1818, p. 126, and Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.

Cricket
A description of this game is not given here; its history and rules and regulations are well known, and many books
have been devoted to its study. The word “Cricket” is given in Lawson’s Upton-on-Severn Words and Phrases as a
low wooden stool. He continues, “The game of ‘Cricket’ was probably a development of the older game of ‘Stool-
ball,’ a dairymaid’s stool being used for the wicket.” Wedgwood (Etym. Dict.) suggests that the proper name for
the bat was “cricket-staff,” A.-S. criec, a staff.
See “Bittle-battle,” “Stool-ball.”

Crooky
An old game called “Crooky” was formerly played at Portarlington, Queen’s co., and Kilkee, co. Clare. Fifty years
ago it was played with wooden crooks and balls, but about twenty-five years ago, or a little more, mallets were

introduced at Kilkee; while subsequently the name was changed to “Croquet.” I have heard it stated that this game
was introduced by the French refugees that settled at Portarlington.—G. H. Kinahan (Folk-lore Journal, ii. 265).

Cross and Pile
The game now called “Heads and Tails” (Halliwell’s Dictionary). See Nomenclator, p. 299; Addy’s Sheffield
Glossary. Strutt points out that anciently the English coins were stamped on one side with a cross. See also
Harland’s Lancashire Legends, p. 139.

Cross-bars
A boys’ game.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.

Cross-questions
Nares (Glossary) mentions this game in a quotation from Wilson’s Inconstant Lady, 1614. “Cross Questions and
Crooked Answers” was a popular game at juvenile parties. The players sit in a circle, and each is asked in a
whisper a question by the one on his left, and receives also in a whisper an answer to a question asked by himself
of the person on his right. Each player must remember both the question he was asked and the answer he received,
which have at the conclusion of the round to be stated aloud. Forfeits must be given if mistakes are made.—A. B.
Gomme.

Cross Tig
One of the players is appointed to be Tig. He calls out the name of the one he intends to chase, and runs after him.
Another player runs across between Tig and the fugitive, and then Tig runs after this cross-player until another
player runs across between Tig and the fugitive; and so on. Each time a player crosses between Tig and the player
he is following he leaves the original chase and follows the player who has crossed. When he captures, or, in some
places, touches one of the players he is following, this player becomes Tig, and the game begins again.—Ireland
(Miss Keane).
This game is known in and near London as “Cross Touch.”

Cry Notchil
This is an old game where boys push one of their number into a circle they have made, and as he tries to escape
push him back, crying, “No child of mine!” (Leigh’s Cheshire Glossary). He adds, “This may be the origin of the
husband’s disclaimer of his wife when he ‘notchils’ her.” To “cry notchil” is for a man to advertise that he will not
be answerable for debts incurred by his wife.

Cuck-ball
A game at ball. The same as “Pize-ball.” It is sometimes called “Tut-ball.”—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.
See “Ball.”

Cuckoo
A child hides and cries “Cuckoo.” The seekers respond—

Cuckoo cherry-tree,
Catch a bird and bring it me.
—Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 222.

Halliwell calls this a game at ball, and the rhyme runs—

Cuckoo cherry tree,
Catch a bird and bring it me;
Let the tree be high or low,

Let it hail, rain or snow.
See “Hide and Seek.”

Cuddy and the Powks
Two boys join hands and feet over the back of a third, the which creeps away with them on hands and knees to a
certain distance; and if able to do this, he, the Cuddy, must have a ride as one of the powks on some other’s back.
—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.

Cudgel

Four or more boys can play this game, and sides are chosen. Two holes are made in the ground at a distance of
about eight or ten feet apart. A ring about a foot in diameter is made round each hole. A boy stands at each hole
with a stick, which he puts into the hole to guard it. Two other boys stand behind the holes, who act as bowlers.
One of these throws a small piece of wood shaped like a Cat, and tries to pitch it into the hole. The boy guarding
the hole tries to hit it with his stick. If he succeeds, he and the boy at the other hole run to each other’s places.
Should the boy who throws the piece of wood succeed in getting it into the hole, the batsmen are out. Should the
Cat fall into the ring or a span beyond, one of the bowlers picks it up, and both run to a hiding-place. They then
agree as to which of them should hold the Cat. This must be carried in such a way that it cannot be seen by the
batsmen, both boys assuming the same attitude. Both boys then resume their previous places. They kneel down,
still keeping the same attitudes. The batsmen, keeping their sticks in the holes, then agree which of the two holds
the Cat. One batsman runs across and puts his stick into the hole behind which the boy kneels whom they consider
has the Cat, the other then running to his place. If they are right in their guess, the holder of the Cat throws it
across the ground for the opposite bowler to put it in the hole before the second batsman reaches it. If they guess
wrongly, the holder of the Cat puts it into the hole as soon as the batsman runs, and they then become the batsmen
for the next game. If the batsmen leave their holes unguarded with the stick, the catsmen can at any time put them
“out,” by putting the Cat in a hole. If more than two boys on a side play, the others field as in “Cricket.”—Barnes
(A. B. Gomme).
See “Cat and Dog.”

Curcuddie
I. Will ye gang to the lea, Curcuddie,
And join your plack wi’ me, Curcuddie?
I lookit about and I saw naebody,
And linkit awa’ my lane, Curcuddie.
—Chambers’ Popular Rhymes, p. 139.

II. Will ye gang wi’ me, Curcuddie,
Gang wi’ me o’er the lea?
I lookit roun’, saw naebody;
Curcuddie, he left me.
—Biggar (William Ballantyne).

(b) This is a grotesque kind of dance, performed in a shortened posture, sitting on one’s hams, with arms akimbo,
the dancers forming a circle of independent figures. It always excites a hearty laugh among the senior bystanders;
but, ridiculous as it is, it gives occasion for the display of some spirit and agility, as well as skill, there being

always an inclination to topple over. Each performer sings the verse (Chambers; Mactaggart’s Gallovidian
Encyclopædia).
Mr. Ballantyne says that each one apart tried to dance by throwing out their feet and jumping sideways.
(c) The first syllable of this word is, says Jamieson, undoubtedly the verb curr, to sit on the houghs or hams. The
second may be from Teut. kudde, a flock; kudd-en, coire, convenire, congregari, aggregari; kudde wijs, gregatim,
catervatim, q. to curr together. The same game is called Harry Hurcheon in the North of Scotland, either from the
resemblance of one in this position to a hurcheon, or hedge-hog, squatting under a bush; or from the Belg. hurk-en
to squat, to hurkle.—Jamieson.
See “Cobbler’s Hornpipe,” “Cutch-a-Cutchoo.”

Curly Locks
[Play]

I. Curly locks, curly locks,
Wilt thou be mine?
Thou shalt not wash dishes
Nor yet feed the swine;
But sit on a fine cushion
And sew a fine seam,
And feed upon strawberries,
Sugar and cream.
—Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

II. Bonny lass, canny lass,
Wilta be mine?
Thou’s nowder wesh dishes
Nor sarra the swine:
But sit on thy crippy, &c.
—Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary.

(b) Two children, a girl and a boy, separate from their fellows, who are not particularly placed, the boy caressing
the girl’s curls and singing the verses.
(c) This game is evidently a dramatic representation of wooing, and probably the action of the game has never
been quite completed in the nursery. The verses are given as “nursery rhymes” by Halliwell, Nos. cccclxxxiii. and
ccccxciv. The tune is from Rimbault’s Nursery Rhymes, p. 70. The words given by him are the same as the Earls
Heaton version.

Currants and Raisins
Currants and raisins a penny a pound,
Three days holiday.

This is a game played “running under a handkerchief;” “something like ‘Oranges and Lemons.’”—Lincoln (Miss
M. Peacock).

Cushion Dance
[Play]

—Dancing Master, 1686.

This music is exactly as it is printed in the book referred to.

(b) The following is an account of the dance as it was known in Derbyshire amongst the farmers’ sons and
daughters and the domestics, all of whom were on a pretty fair equality, very different from what prevails in farm-
houses of to-day. The “Cushion Dance” was a famous old North-country amusement, and among the people of
Northumberland it is still commonly observed. The dance was performed with boisterous fun, quite unlike the
game as played in higher circles, where the conditions and rules of procedure were of a more refined order.
The company were seated round the room, a fiddler occupying a raised seat in a corner. When all were ready, two
of the young men left the room, returning presently, one carrying a large square cushion, the other an ordinary
drinking-horn, china bowl, or silver tankard, according to the possessions of the family. The one carrying the
cushion locked the door, putting the key in his pocket. Both gentlemen then went to the fiddler’s corner, and after
the cushion-bearer had put a coin in the vessel carried by the other, the fiddler struck up a lively tune, to which the
young men began to dance round the room, singing or reciting to the music:—

Frinkum, frankum is a fine song,
An’ we will dance it all along;
All along and round about,
Till we find the pretty maid out.

After making the circuit of the room, they halted on reaching the fiddler’s corner, and the cushion-bearer, still to
the music of the fiddle, sang or recited:—

Our song it will no further go!
The Fiddler: Pray, kind sir, why say you so?
The Cushion-bearer: Because Jane Sandars won’t come to.
The Fiddler: She must come to, she shall come to,
An’ I’ll make her whether she will or no.

The cushion-bearer and vessel-holder then proceeded with the dance, going as before round the room, singing
“Frinkum, frankum,” &c., till the cushion-bearer came to the lady of his choice, before whom he paused, placed
the cushion on the floor at her feet, and knelt upon it. The vessel-bearer then offered the cup to the lady, who put
money in it and knelt on the cushion in front of the kneeling gentleman. The pair kissed, arose, and the gentleman,
first giving the cushion to the lady with a bow, placed himself behind her, taking hold of some portion of her dress.
The cup-bearer fell in also, and they danced on to the fiddler’s corner, and the ceremony was again gone through
as at first, with the substitution of the name of “John” for “Jane,” thus:—

The Lady: Our song it will no further go!
The Fiddler: Pray, kind miss, why say you so?
The Lady: Because John Sandars won’t come to.
The Fiddler: He must come to, he shall come to,
An’ I’ll make him whether he will or no!

The dancing then proceeded, and the lady, on reaching her choice (a gentleman, of necessity), placed the cushion
at his feet. He put money in the horn and knelt. They kissed and rose, he taking the cushion and his place in front
of the lady, heading the next dance round, the lady taking him by the coat-tails, the first gentleman behind the lady,
with the horn-bearer in the rear. In this way the dance went on till all present, alternately a lady and gentleman, had
taken part in the ceremony. The dance concluded with a romp in file round the room to the quickening music of the
fiddler, who at the close received the whole of the money collected by the horn-bearer.
At Charminster the dance is begun by a single person (either man or woman), who dances about the room with a
cushion in his hand, and at the end of the tune stops and sings:—

Man: This dance it will no further go.
Musician: I pray you, good sir, why say you so?
Man: Because Joan Sanderson will not come to.
Musician: She must come to, and she shall come to,
And she must come whether she will or no.

Then the following words are sung as in the first example:—

Man: Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome.
Both: Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance,
And shall we go dance it once again,
And once again,
And shall we go dance it once again?
Woman: This dance it will no further go.
Musician: I pray you, madam, why say you so?
Woman: Because John Sanderson will not come to.
Musician: He must come to, and he shall come to,
And he must come whether he will or no.

And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing—

Welcome, John Sanderson, &c.

Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round singing as before; and this they do till the whole
company is taken into the ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman singing, “This
dance,” &c., as before, only instead of “come to,” they sing “go fro,” and instead of “Welcome, John Sanderson,”
&c., they sing “Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell,” &c., and so they go out one by one as they came in.—
Charminster (Notes and Queries, ii. 517, 518).
This description is almost the same as a seventeenth century version. The dance is begun by a single person (either
man or woman), who, taking a cushion in his hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the tune he stops and
sings:—

This dance it will no further go.

The Musician answers:

I pray you, good sir, why say you so?
Man: Because Joan Sanderson will not come to.
Musician: She must come to, and she shall come to,
And she must come whether she will or no.

Then he lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her, singing—

Welcom, Joan Sanderson, welcom, welcom.

Then he rises, takes up the cushion, and both dance, singing—

Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance,
And shall we go dance it once again,
Once again, and once again,
And shall we go dance it once again.

Then, making a stop, the wo(man) sings as before—

This dance, &c.
Musician: I pray you, madam, &c.
Woman: Because John Sanderson, &c.
Musician: He must, &c.

And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing—

Welcom, John Sanderson, &c.

Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round, singing as before. And thus they do till the whole
company are taken into the ring. And then the cushion is laid before the first man, the woman singing, “This
dance,” &c. (as before), only instead of “come to,” they sing “go fro,” and instead of “Welcom, John Sanderson,”
&c., they sing “Farewel, John Sanderson, farewel, farewel;” and so they go out one by one as they came in. Note,
that the woman is kiss’d by all the men in the ring at her coming in and going out, and the like of the man by the
woman.—The Dancing Master: London, printed by J. P., and sold by John Playford at his shop near the Temple
Church, 1686, 7th edition.
Another version gives the words as follows:—

We’ve got a new sister in our degree,
And she’s welcome into our companee, companee.
Mrs. Sargesson says she weänt come to,
We’ll make her whether she will or no,
Will or no, will or no,
We’ll maäke her whether she will or no.

Children form a ring with one in the middle, who lays a cushion on the ground. They sing the first two lines, and
the child in the centre points at one, and the others dance round singing the other lines, the centre child dragging
the imaginary Mrs. Sargesson on to the cushion by force, kissing her, and leaving her in the centre. Then Mrs.
Sargesson points at one in the ring, and the game begins again.—East Kirkby, Lincolnshire (Miss Maughan). The
tune sung is the same as the “Mulberry Bush.”
Miss Baker (Northamptonshire Glossary) says the Cushion Dance is still continued, with some variations, and
generally closes the evening’s amusements. One of the young men endeavours secretly to bring in a cushion, and
locks the doors, to prevent the escape of the young maidens; then all the party unite hands and dance round three
times to the left and three times to the right, after which the company all seat themselves, except the young man
who holds the cushion. He advances to the fiddler, and says—

This dance it will no further go.
Fiddler: Why say you so? why say you so?
Cushion-holder: Because the young women will not come to.
Fiddler: They must come to, they shall come to,
And tell them I say so.

The cushion-holder then goes to the girl he fancies most, and drops the cushion at her feet. She kneels down with
him on the cushion, and he salutes her, and they then rise and dance round and round to the fiddler. The girls then
go through the same thing, saying, “young men,” and then “a young man,” &c., until the whole company have
gone through the same ceremony, which concludes with all dancing round three times, as at the commencement.
The Norfolk and London versions are reduced to a simple “Kiss in the Ring” game, with the following verse:—

Round the cushion we dance with glee,
Singing songs so merrily;
Round the cushion we dance with glee,
Singing songs so merrily;
Yet the punishment you must bear
If you touch the cushion there.
—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

(c) Selden, in his Table Talk, thus refers to this game:—“The Court of England is much altered. At a solemn
dancing first you have the grave measures, then the Cervantoes and the Golliards, and this is kept up with
ceremony. At length to Trenchmore and the Cushion Dance; and then all the company dance, lord and groom, lady
and kitchen-maid, no distinction. But in King Charles’s time there has been nothing but Trenchmore and the
Cushion Dance,” &c. The “Whishin Dance” (an old-fashioned dance, in which a cushion is used to kneel upon),
mentioned by Dickinson (Cumberland Glossary), is probably the same game or dance, “whishin” meaning
cushion. Brockett (North Country Words) mentions “Peas Straw,” the final dance at a rustic party; something
similar to the ancient “Cushion Dance” at weddings. It is also recorded in Evans’ Leicestershire Glossary, and by
Burton in the following passage from the Anatomy of Melancholy: “A friend of his reprehended him for dancing
beside his dignity, belike at some cushen dance.” In the version from East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, the expression “in
our degree” in the first line of the verse is apparently meaningless, and it is probably a corruption of “highdigees,
highdegrees,” a dialect word for roystering, high spirits, merriment, dancing, romping. Elworthy (Somerset Words)
gives this word, and quotes the following line from Drayton:—

Dance many a merry round and many a highdegy.
—Polyolbion, Bk. xxv., l. 1162.

(d) The transition from a dance to a pure game is well illustrated by the different versions, and the connection of
the dance with the ceremony of marriage is obvious. A curious account of the merry-makings at marriages is given
in Coverdale’s Christen State of Matrimony, 1543: “After the banket and feast there beginneth a mad and
unmannerly fashion; for the bride must be brought into an open dauncing-place. Then is there such a running,
leaping, and flinging among them that a man might think all these dauncers had cast all shame behinde them, and
were become starke mad, and out of their wits, and that they were sworne to the devil’s daunce. Then must the
bride keep foote with all dauncers, and refuse none, how scabbed, foule, drunken, rude, and shameless soever he
be. . . . After supper must they begin to pipe and daunce again of anew. And though the young persons come once
towards their rest, yet can they have no quietness.”—1575 edit., fol. 59, rev. 60. Edward L. Rimbault, writing in
Notes and Queries, vi. 586, says it was formerly the custom at weddings, both of the rich as well as the poor, to
dance after dinner and supper. In an old Court masque of James I.’s time, performed at the marriage ceremony of
Philip Herbert and Lady Susan (MS. in the writer’s possession), it is directed that, at the conclusion of the
performance, “after supper” the company “dance a round dance.” This was “dancing the bride to bed.” William
Chappell (Notes and Queries, ii. 442) says, “I have a tune called ‘A round dance to dance the bride to bed.’ It dates
from about 1630, or earlier, and resembles that of ‘The Hunt is up.’” Dancing was considered so essential at
weddings (according to Grose) that if in a family the youngest daughter should chance to be married before her
elder sisters, they must dance at her wedding without shoes. May not the custom of throwing of old and worn-out
shoes after the bride have arisen from the practice of dancing? The danced-out shoes may have been the ones used.
It is curious that the cushion is used in the marriage ceremonies of the Brahmins. Mr. Kearns, in his Marriage
Ceremonies of the Hindoos of the South of India, p. 6, says that a stool or cushion is one of the preparations for the
reception of the bridegroom, who on entering the apartment sits down on the stool which is presented to him. He
says, “I step on this for the sake of food and other benefits, on this variously splendid footstool.” The bride’s father
then presents to him a cushion made of twenty leaves of cúsa grass, holding it up with both hands and exclaiming,
“The cushion! the cushion! the cushion!” The bridegroom replies, “I accept the cushion,” and taking it, places it on

the ground under his feet, while he recites a prayer. It is probable that we may have in the “Cushion Dance” the
last relics of a very ancient ceremony, as well as evidence of the origin of a game from custom.

Cutch-a-Cutchoo
Children clasp their hands under their knees in a sitting posture, and jump thus about the room. The one who keeps
up longest wins the game.—Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).
(b) In Notes and Queries, x. 17, “E. D.” says this amusement was fashionable sixty years ago, and from the low
dresses worn then by ladies he mentions its indecency. He gives extracts from a satire called Cutchacutchoo, or the
Jostling of the Innocents, 2nd ed., Dublin, in which the game and position are mentioned—

Now she with tone tremendous cries
Cutchacutchoo.
Let each squat down upon her ham,
Jump like a goat, puck like a ram.

“Uneda,” at same reference (x. 17), speaks of it as a known game in Philadelphia. The analogy which this game
has to some savage dances is curious; a correspondent in Notes and Queries, ix. 304, draws attention to the
illustration, in Richardson’s Expedition to Arctic Shores (vol. i. p. 397), of a dance by the “Kutchin-Kutcha”
Indians, a parallel to the name as well as the dance which needs some research in America.
See “Curcuddie,” “Hop-frog.”

Cutters and Trucklers
A remembrance of the old smuggling days. The boys divide into two parties; the Trucklers try to reach some given
point before the Cutter catches them.—Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 60).

Dab
Dab a prin in my lottery book;
Dab ane, dab twa, dab a’ your prins awa’.

A game in which a pin is put at random in a school-book, between the leaves of which little pictures are placed.
The successful adventurer is the person who puts the pin between two leaves including a picture which is the prize,
and the pin itself is the forfeit (Blackwood’s Magazine, Aug. 1821, p. 36). This was a general school game in West
London in 1860-1866 (G. L. Gomme).

Dab-an-thricker
A game in which the dab (a wooden ball) is caused to spring upwards by a blow on the thricker (trigger), and is
struck by a flat, bottle-shaped mallet fixed to the end of a flexible wand, the distance it goes counting so many for
the striker.—Ross and Stead’s Holderness Glossary.
This is the same as “Knur and Spell.”

Dab-at-the-hole
A game at marbles (undescribed).—Patterson’s Antrim and Down Glossary.

Dalies
A child’s game, played with small bones or pieces of hard wood. The dalies were properly sheep’s trotters.—
Halliwell’s Dictionary.
Evidently the same game as “Fivestones” and “Hucklebones.”

Davie-drap
Children amuse themselves on the braesides i’ the sun, playing at “Hide and Seek” with this little flower,
accompanying always the hiding of it with this rhyme, marking out the circle in which it is hid with the forefinger:
—

Athin the bounds o’ this I hap,
My black and bonny davie-drap;
Wha is here the cunning yin
My davie-drap to me will fin.
—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.

The davie-drap is a little black-topped field-flower.

Deadily
A school game, not described.—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.

Diamond Ring
My lady’s lost her diamond ring;
I pitch upon you to find it!

Children sit in a ring or in a line, with their hands placed together palm to palm, and held straight, the little finger
down-most between the knees. One of them is then chosen to represent a servant, who takes a ring, or some other
small article as a substitute, between her two palms, which are pressed flat together like those of the rest, and goes
round the circle or line placing her hands into the hands of every player, so that she is enabled to let the ring fall
wherever she pleases without detection. After this she returns to the first child she touched, and with her hands
behind her says the above words. The child who is thus addressed must guess who has the ring, and the servant
performs the same ceremony with each of the party. They who guess right escape, but the rest forfeit. Should any
one in the ring exclaim “I have it!” she also forfeits; nor must the servant make known who has the ring until all
have guessed under the same penalty. The forfeits are afterwards cried as usual.—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, p.
223.
(b) This game was a general favourite at juvenile parties years ago. The hands were held in the posture described
by Halliwell, but any child was pitched upon for the first finder, and afterwards the child in whose hands the ring
was found had to be finder. There was no guessing; the closed hands were looked into (A. B. Gomme). Mr. Addy
has collected a similar game called “My lady’s lost a gold ring,” and Mr. Newell (Games and Songs of American
Children, p. 150) has another, “Hold fast my gold ring.”[Addendum]

Dibbs
A game played with the small knuckle-bones taken from legs of mutton; these bones are themselves called “dibs”
(Lowsley’s Glossary of Berkshire Words). Holloway’s Dictionary says five of these bones are used by boys, with
which they play a game called “Dibs” in West Sussex.
See “Check-stones,” “Fivestones,” “Hucklebones.”

Dinah
[Play]

No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah,
No one in the house I know, I know;

No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah,
Playing on the old banjo.
A ring is formed, and a girl stands blindfolded inside. As the verse is sung and finished, Dinah goes to any one in
the ring, and, if successful in guessing her name, takes her place, the other taking the place of Dinah, the game
going on as before.—Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).
“Dinah” was a Christy Minstrel song in the “fifties.” It is probable that the game, which resembles “Buff,” has
been played to the tune of the song. Singing a chorus would soon follow.
See “Buff,” “Muffin Man.”

Dip o’ the Kit
A rustic game, undescribed and marked as obsolescent.—Peacock’s Manley and Corringham Glossary.

Dish-a-loof

A singular rustic amusement. One lays his hand down on a table, another clashes his upon it, a third his on that,
and so on (fig. 1). When all the players have done this, the one who has his hand on the board pulls it out and lays
it on the one uppermost (fig. 2): they all follow in rotation, and so a continual clashing and dashing is kept up;
hence the name “Dish.” Those who win the game are those who stand out longest—viz., those who are best at
enduring pain. Tender hands could not stand it a moment: one dash of a rustic “loof” would make the blood spurt
from the tip of every finger. It is a piece of pastime to country lads of the same nature as “Hard Knuckles”
(Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia). This is a well-known game for small children in London. After each
child’s hands have been withdrawn and replaced on top as many times as possible without deranging the order, a
general scramble and knocking of hands together ends the game (A. B. Gomme). Jamieson (Etymological Dict.)
gives this as a sport of children.
See “Dump,” “Green Grass,” “Hot Cockles.”

Doddart
A game played in a large level field with a bent stick called “doddart.” Two parties, headed by two captains,
endeavour to drive a wooden ball to their respective boundaries (Halliwell’s Dictionary). Brockett (North Country
Words) adds to this that the captains are entitled to choose their followers by alternate votes. A piece of globular
wood called an “orr” or “coit” is thrown down in the middle of the field and driven to one of two opposite hedges
—the alley, hail-goal, or boundary. The same game as “Clubby,” “Hockey,” “Shinney,” “Shinneyhaw.”

Doncaster Cherries
One boy kneels, holding a long rope, the other end of which is held by another boy; the other players stand round
about with handkerchiefs in hands, knotted. The one who holds the rope-end and standing cries out—

Doncaster cherries, ripe and sound;
Touch ’em or taste ’em—
Down, you dogs!
—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy).

This is evidently a version of “Badger the Bear,” with a different and apparently degraded formula.

Dools
A school game. The dools are places marked with stones, where the players always remain in safety—where they
dare neither be caught by the hand nor struck with balls. It is only when they leave these places of refuge that those
out of the doons have any chance to gain the game and get in; and leave the doons they frequently must—this is
the nature of the game. Now this game seems to have been often played in reality by our ancestors about their
doon-hills.—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.

Down in the Valley
I. Down in the valley where the green grass grows
Stands E—— H——, she blows like a rose.
She blows, she blows, she blows so sweet.
In came F—— S—— and gave her a kiss.
E—— made a pudding, she made it nice and sweet,
F—— took a knife and fork and cut a little piece.
Taste of it, taste of it, don’t say nay,
For next Sunday morning is our wedding day.
First we’ll buy a money box,
Then we’ll buy a cradle;
Rock, rock the bottom out,
Then we’ll buy another.
Bread and cheese all the week, cork on Sunday,
Half a crown on Saturday night, and a jolly good dance on Monday.
—Cowes, Isle of Wight (Miss E. Smith).

II. Down in the meadows where the green grass grows,
To see —— blow like a rose.
She blows, she blows, she blows so sweet.
Go out, ——; who shall he be?
—— made a pudding,
She made it so sweet,
And never stuck a knife in
Till —— came to eat.
Taste, love, taste, love, don’t say nay,
For next Monday morning is your wedding day.
He bought her a gown and a guinea gold ring,
And a fine cocked hat to be married in.
—West Haddon, Northamptonshire; Long Itchington, Warwickshire (Northants Notes and
Queries, ii. 105).

III.Down in the valley the violets grow.
Dear little ——, she blows like a rose.
She blows, she blows, she blows so sweet.
Come along in.
Buy a shawl, buy a new black shawl,
A bonnet trimmed with white and a new parasol.
Oh dear, oh dear, what can I do,
For next Monday morning is my wedding due.
—Shipley, Horsham; Notes and Queries, 8th series, i. 210 (Miss Busk).

(b) The children form a ring by joining hands, one child standing in the centre. They dance round. At the mention
of the second name one from the ring goes into the centre. The two kiss at the end of the verse, and the first child
takes the place in the ring, and the game begins again.
See “All the Boys,” “Oliver, Oliver, follow the King.”[Addendum]

Drab and Norr
A game similar to “Trippit and Coit.”—Halliwell’s Dict.

Draw a Pail of Water
[Play]

—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

I. Draw a pail of water
For my lady’s daughter;
My father’s a king and my mother’s a queen,
My two little sisters are dressed in green,
Stamping grass and parsley,
Marigold leaves and daisies.
One rush, two rush,
Pray thee, fine lady, come under my bush.
—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, Games, cclxxxvii.

II. Draw a pail of water,
Send a lady a daughter;
One o’ my rush, two o’ my rush,
Please, young lady, creep under the briar bush.
—Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler).

III.Draw, draw water,
For my lady’s daughter;
One in a rush,
Two in a bush,
Pretty my lady, pop under the bush.
—Berrington and Ellesmere (Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 521).

IV.Draw a bucket o’ water
For a lady’s daughter;
One and a hush, two and a rush,
Please, young lady, come under my bush.
—Fochabers (Rev. W. Gregor).

V. Draw a bucket of water
For a lady’s daughter;
One in a bush,
Two in a bush,
Three in a bush,
Four in a bush,
And out you go.
—Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase).

VI.Drawing a bucket of water
For my lady’s daughter;
Put it in a chestnut tree,
And let it stay an hour.
One of you rush, two may rush,
Please, old woman, creep under the bush;
The bush is too high, the bush is too low,

Please, old woman, creep under the bush. —Hampshire (Miss Mendham).

Draw a pail of water
VII.
For a lady’s daughter;
Give a silver pin for a golden ring—
Oh pray, young lady, pop under.
—Northants (Rev. W. D. Sweeting).

Draw a bucket of water
VIII.
For my lady’s daughter;
One go rush, and the other go hush,
Pretty young lady, bop under my bush.
—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

IX.Draw a bucket of water
For the farmer’s daughter;
Give a gold ring and a silver watch,
Pray, young lady, pop under.
—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

X.Draw a bucket of water
For my lady’s daughter;
A guinea gold ring
And a silver pin,
So pray, my young lady, pop under.
—Haydon (Herbert Hardy).

XI.Draw a bucket of water
To wash my lady’s garter;
A guinea gold ring
And a silver pin,
Please, little girl, pop under.
—Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

See-saw, a bucket of water,
XII.
To wash my lady’s garter.
One in a rush, and two in a bush,
To see a fine lady pop under a bush.
—Anderby, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire near the Trent (Miss Peacock).

One we go rush,
XIII.
Two we go push;
Lady come under the corner bush.
—Shepscombe, Gloucestershire (Miss Mendham).

Sift the lady’s oaten meal, sift it into flour,
XIV.
Put it in a chest of drawers and let it lie an hour.
One of my rush,
Two of my rush,
Please, young lady, come under my bush.
My bush is too high, my bush is too low,
Please, young lady, come under my bow.
Stir up the dumpling, stir up the dumpling.
—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

Sieve my lady’s oatmeal,
XV.
Grind my lady’s flour;
Put it in a chestnut,
Let it stand an hour.

One may rush, two may rush;
Come, my girls, walk under the bush. —Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, Games, cclxxxviii.

(b) The Berrington version of this game is played as follows:—Two girls face each other, holding each other by
both hands. Two others face each other, holding both hands across the other two. They see-saw backwards and
forwards, singing the lines (fig. 1). One girl gets inside the enclosing hands (fig. 2), and they repeat till all four
have “popped under” (fig. 3), when they “jog” up and down till they fall on the floor! (fig. 4). At Ellesmere only
two girls join hands, and as many “pop under” as they can encircle. The Lincolnshire and Norfolk versions are
played practically in the same way. In the Liphook version the children stand in two and two opposite to each
other; the children on one side of the square hold hands up at the third line, and the other two children run under
the hands of the first two. There is no pause, but the verse is sung time after time, so that the four children are
nearly always moving. In the other Hampshire version four girls stand in a square, each holding the hands of the
one opposite to her, pulling each other’s hands backwards and forwards singing the lines. Two arms are then
raised, and one girl comes under; this is repeated till all four girls have come under the arms, then their arms
encircle each other’s waists and they dance round. In the Scottish version there are only two girls who join hands
and pull each other backwards and forwards, repeating the words. Halliwell describes a different action to any of
these. A string of children, hand in hand, stand in a row. A child stands in front of them as leader; two other
children form an arch, each holding both of the hands of the other. The string of children pass under the arch, the
last of whom is taken captive by the two holding hands. The verses are repeated until all are taken.—Halliwell’s
Nursery Rhymes, cclxxxvii.
(c) The analysis of the game rhymes is as follows:—
Lincoln-
Focha-
Halli- shire
Liphook Shrop- bers Hamp- North- Norfolk Norfolk Earls Glouces-
No. well’s Haydon. and Belf
(Hants). shire. (Scot- shire. ants. (1). (2). Heaton. tershire.
Version. Notting-
land).
hamshire.
1. Draw a Draw a Draw, Draw a Drawing Draw a Draw a Draw a Draw a Draw a See saw, — —
pail of pail of draw bucket a bucket pail of bucket bucket bucket bucket a bucket
water. water. water. o’ water. of water. water. of water. of water. of water. of of water.
water.
2. — — — — — — — — — — — — Sift th
lady’
oatm

3. — — — — — — — — — — — — Sift it
flour.

4. For my Send a For my For a For my For a For my For the For my — — — —
lady’s lady a lady’s lady’s lady’s lady’s lady’s farmer’s lady’s
daughter. daughter. daughter. daughter. daughter. daughter. daughter. daughter. daughter.

5. — — — — — — — — — To To wash — —
wash my lady’s
my garter.
lady’s
garter.
6. — — — — Put it in — — — — — — — Put it
a chest
chestnut draw
tree.
7. — — — — Let it — — — — — — — Let it
stay an an ho
hour.
8. My — — — — — — — — — — — —
father’s a
king and
my
mother’s
a queen.
9. My two — — — — — — — — — — — —
little
sisters
are
dressed
in green.
10. Stamping — — — — — — — — — — — —
grass and
parsley.
11. Marigold — — — — — — — — — — — —
leaves
and
daisies.
12. One One o’ One in a One and One of — One go — — — One in a One we One o
rush, two my rush, rush, a hush, you rush and rush and go rush, my ru
rush. two o’ two in a two and rush, the other two in a two we two o
my rush. bush. a rush. two may go hush. bush. go push. my ru
rush.

13. — — — — — Give a — Give a A guinea A — — —
silver gold ring gold ring guinea
pin for a and a and a gold
golden silver silver ring
ring. watch. pin. and a
silver
pin.
14. Pray Please, Pretty Please, Please, Pray, Pretty Pray, Pray, Please, To see a Lady, Pleas
thee, fine young my lady, young old young young young young little fine lady come youn
lady, lady, pop lady, woman lady, pop lady, bop lady, pop lady, pop girl, pop under lady,
come creep under come man, under. under under. under. pop under a the come
under my under the bush. under creep my bush. under. bush. corner under
bush. the my bush. under bush. bush.
_briar_ the bush.
bush.
15. — — — — The bush — — — — — — — My b
is too is too
high, the high,
bush is bush
too low. too lo
16. — — — — Please, — — — — — — — Pleas
old youn
woman, lady,
creep come
under under
the bush. bow.
17. — — — — — — — — — — — — Stir u
the
dump
18. — — — — — — — — — — — — —

The analysis shows that the majority of the variants retain four principal incidents of what must have been the
original form of the game, and the fact of the Gloucestershire version having come down with only two of the
incidents, namely, the two most common to all the variants (12 and 14), shows that the game has been in a state of

decadence. The four principal incidents, Nos. 1, 4, 12, and 14, point distinctly to some water ceremonial; and if it
may be argued that the incidents which occur in only one or two of the variants may be considered to have
belonged to the original type, we shall be able to suggest that this game presents a dramatic representation of
ancient well-worship. The incidents which occur in one version only are those given by Mr. Halliwell, and
unfortunately the locality from which he obtained this variant is unknown. Still it is an earlier version than those
which are now printed for the first time, and may without doubt be looked upon as genuine. Taking all the
incidents of the various versions as the means by which to restore the earliest version, it would appear that this
might have consisted of the following lines:—

Draw a pail of water
For a lady’s daughter;
Her father’s a king, her mother’s a queen,
Her two little sisters are dressed in green,
Stamping grass and parsley, marigold leaves and daisies;
Sift the lady’s oatmeal, sift it into flour,
Put it in a chestnut tree, let it lie an hour;
Give a silver pin and a gold ring,
One and a hush! two and a rush!
Pray, young lady, pop under a bush;
My bush is too high, my bush is too low,
Please, young lady, come under my bow!

(d) This restoration of the words, though it probably is far from complete,
and does not make so good a game rhyme as the reduced versions,
nevertheless shows clearly enough that the incidents belong to a ceremonial
of primitive well-worship. The pulling of the hands backwards and
forwards may be taken to indicate the raising of water from a well. If this is
conceded, the incidents might be grouped as follows:—

(1.) Drawing of water from a well.
(2.) For a devotee at the well.
(3.) Collecting flowers for dressing the well.
(4.) Making of a cake for presentation.
(5.) Gifts to the well [the silver pin, gold ring, and probably the
garter].
(6.) Command of silence.
(7.) The presence of the devotee at the sacred bush.

All these are incidents of primitive well-worship (see Gomme’s Ethnology
and Folk-lore, pp. 82-103). Garland dressing is very general; cakes were
eaten at Rorrington well, Shropshire (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 433);
pins and portions of the dress are very general offerings; silence is strictly
enforced in many instances, and a sacred tree or bush is very frequently
found near the well.

The tune of the Hampshire game (Miss Mendham’s version) is practically
the same as that of the “Mulberry Bush.”
Newell (Games of American Children, p. 90) gives a version of this game.
[Addendum]

Drawing Dun out of the Mire
Brand, quoting from “an old collection of satires, epigrams, &c.,” says this
game is enumerated among other pastimes:

At shove-groat, venter-point, or crosse and pile,
At leaping o’er a Midsummer bone-fier,
Or at the drawing Dun out of the myer.

So in the Dutchesse of Suffolke, 1631:

Well done, my masters, lends your hands,
Draw Dun out of the ditch,
Draw, pull, helpe all, so, so, well done.
[They pull him out.]

They had shoved Bishop Bonner into a well, and were pulling him out.
We find this game noticed at least as early as Chaucer’s time, in the
Manciple’s Prologue:

Then gan our hoste to jape and to play,
And sayd, sires, what? Dun is in the mire.

Nares (Glossary) says this game was a rural pastime, in which Dun meant a
dun horse, supposed to be stuck in the mire, and sometimes represented by
one of the persons who played.
Gifford (Ben Jonson, vol. vii. p. 283), who remembered having played at
the game (doubtless in his native county, Devonshire), thus describes it:
—“A log of wood is brought into the midst of the room: this is Dun (the
cart horse), and a cry is raised that he is stuck in the mire. Two of the
company advance, either with or without ropes, to draw him out. After

repeated attempts they find themselves unable to do it, and call for more
assistance. The game continues till all the company take part in it, when
Dun is extricated of course; and the merriment arises from the awkward and
affected efforts of the rustics to lift the log, and sundry arch contrivances to
let the ends of it fall on one another’s toes.”

Drop Handkerchief
This is a game similar to Cat and Mouse, but takes its name from the use of
the handkerchief to start the pursuit. Various rhyming formulæ are used in
some places. In Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy), no rhyme is used.
The children stand in a ring. One runs round with a handkerchief and drops
it; the child behind whom it is dropped chases the dropper, the one who gets
home first takes the vacant place, the other drops the handkerchief again.
In Shropshire the two players pursue one another in and out of the ring,
running under the uplifted hands of the players who compose it: the pursuer
carefully keeping on the track of the pursued (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore,
p. 512).
The Dorsetshire variant is accompanied by a rhyme:

I wrote a letter to my love;
I carried water in my glove;
And by the way I dropped it—
I dropped it, I dropped it, I dropped it, &c.

This is repeated until the handkerchief is stealthily dropped immediately
behind one of the players, who should be on the alert to follow as quickly as
possible the one who has dropped it, who at once increases her speed and
endeavours to take the place left vacant by her pursuer. Should she be
caught before she can succeed in doing this she is compelled to take the
handkerchief a second time. But if, as it more usually happens, she is
successful in accomplishing this, the pursuer in turn takes the handkerchief,
and the game proceeds as before.—Symondsbury (Folk-lore Journal, vi.
212).

Jack lost his supper last night,

And the night before; if he does again to-night,
He never will no more—more—more—more.

I wrote a letter to my love,
And on the way I dropt it;
Some of you have picked it up,
And got it in your pocket—pocket—pocket—pocket.

I have a little dog, it won’t bite you—
It won’t bite you—it won’t bite you—
It will bite you. —Leicestershire (Miss Ellis).

The Forest of Dean version is the same as the Dorsetshire, except that the
child who is unsuccessful in gaining the vacant place has to stand in the
middle of the ring until the same thing happens to another child.—Miss
Matthews.
In Nottinghamshire the children form in a ring; one walks round outside the
ring singing and carrying a handkerchief:

I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropt it;
One of you has picked it up and put it in your pocket.
It isn’t you, it isn’t you, &c. &c.; it is you.

The handkerchief is then dropped at some one’s back, the one at whose
back the handkerchief was dropped chasing the other.
Or they say:

I lost my supper last night, I lost it the night before,
And if I lose it again to-night, I’ll knock at somebody’s door.
It isn’t you, it isn’t you, &c. &c.; it’s you.
—Miss Winfield.

At Winterton and Lincoln the children form a circle, standing arms-length
apart. A child holding a handkerchief occupies the centre of the ring and
sings:

Wiskit-a-waskit,

A green leather basket;
I wrote a letter to my love,
And on the way I lost it;
Some of you have picked it up,
And put it in your pocket.
I have a little dog at home,
And it shan’t bite you,
(Here the singer points to each child in turn)

Nor you, nor you, nor you;
But it shall bite you.

Then she drops the handkerchief before her chosen playmate, who chases
her in and out of the ring under the arms of the other children until she is
captured. The captor afterwards takes the place in the centre, and the
original singer becomes a member of the circle.—Miss M. Peacock.
The Deptford version of the verse is as follows:—

I had a little dog whose name was Buff,
I sent him up the street for a penny’orth of snuff,
He broke my box and spilt my snuff,
I think my story is long enough—
’Tain’t you, and ’tain’t you, and ’tis you!
—Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).

A Staffordshire and Sharleston version gives some altogether different
formulæ:—

What colour’s the sky?
Blue.
Look up again.
Like a W.
Follow me through every little hole that I go through.
—Staffordshire (Rev. G. T. Royds, Rector of Haughton).

At Sharleston the centre child says, “What colour is t’ sky?” The other
answers, “Blue.” Centre child says, “Follow me true.” Here the centre child

runs in and out between the others until the one who was touched catches
her, when they change places, the first joining the children in the ring.—
Sharleston (Miss Fowler).
At Beddgelert, Wales (Mrs. Williams), this game is called Tartan Boeth. It is
played in precisely the same manner as the English game, but the words
used are:

Tartan Boeth, Oh ma’en llosgi, Boeth iawn
Hot Tart. Oh, it burns! very hot!

At the words, “Very hot!” the handkerchief is dropped.
(b) In this game no kissing takes place, and that this is no mere accidental
omission may be shown by Mr. Udal’s description of the Dorsetshire game.
He was assured by several persons who are interested in Dorset Children’s
Games that the indiscriminate kissing (that is, whether the girl pursued runs
little or far, or, when overtaken, whether she objects or not) with which this
game is ordinarily associated, as played now both in Dorset and in other
counties, was not indigenous to this county, but was merely a pernicious
after-growth or outcome of later days, which had its origin in the various
excursion and holiday fêtes, which the facilities of railway travelling had
instituted, by bringing large crowds from the neighbouring towns into the
country. He was told that thirty years ago such a thing was unknown in the
country districts of Dorset, when the game then usually indulged in was
known merely as “Drop the Handkerchief” (Folk-lore Journal, vii. 212).
In other cases the rhymes are used for a purely kissing game, for which see
“Kiss in the Ring.”[Addendum] [Addendum] [Addendum]

Dropping the Letter
An undescribed Suffolk boys’ game.—Moor’s Suffolk Words, p. 238.

Duck under the Water
Each child chooses a partner, and form in couples standing one before the
other, till a long line is formed. Each couple holds a handkerchief as high as
they can to form an arch. The couple standing at the end of the line run

through the arch just beyond the last couple standing at the top, when they
stand still and hold their handkerchief as high as possible, which is the
beginning of the second arch; this is repeated by every last couple in
succession, so that as many arches as are wanted can be formed.—East
Kirkby, Lincolnshire (Miss K. Maughan).
Miss Baker (Northamptonshire Glossary) says the game is played in that
county. Formerly in the northern part of the county even married women on
May Day played at it under the May garland, which was extended from
chimney to chimney across the village street.

Duck at the Table
A boys’ game, played with round stones and a table-shaped block of stone.
—Patterson’s Antrim and Down Glossary.
Probably the same as Duckstone.

Duck Dance
[Play]

—London (A. B. Gomme).

I saw a ship a sailin’,
A sailin’ on the sea,
And oh, it was laden
With pretty things for me [thee].

There were comfits in the cabin,
And apples in the hold;
The sails were made of silk,
And the masts were made of gold.

Four and twenty sailors

That sat upon the deck,
Were four and twenty white mice
With chains about their necks.

The captain was a duck,
With a packet on his back;
And when the ship began to move,
The captain cried “Quack! quack!”
—Northamptonshire, Revue Celtique, iv. 200; Halliwell’s
Nursery Rhymes, No. ccclxxvii.

(b) A number of little girls join hands and form a ring. They all jump round
and sing the verses. The game ends by the girls following one of their
number in a string, all quacking like ducks.—Northamptonshire.
(c) Halliwell does not include it among his games, but simply as a nursery
paradox. The tune given is that to which I as a child was taught to sing the
verses as a song. We did not know it as a game. The “Quack, quack!” was
repeated as another line to the notes of the last bar given, the notes
gradually dying away (A. B. Gomme).

Duck Friar
The game of “Leap-frog.”—Apollo Shroving, 1627, p. 83.

Ducks and Drakes
A pastime in which flat stones or slates are thrown upon the surface of a
piece of water, so that they may dip and emerge several times without
sinking (Brockett’s North Country Words). “Neither cross and pile nor
ducks and drakes are quite so ancient as hand dandy” (Arbuthnot and Pope,
quoted in Todd’s Johnson).
Halliwell gives the words used in the game both formerly and at the present
day. If the stone emerges only once it is a duck, and increasing in the
following order:—

2. A duck and a drake,
3. And a halfpenny cake,
4. And a penny to pay the old baker,

5. A hop and a scotch is another notch,
6. Slitherum, slatherum, take her.
—Halliwell’s Dictionary.

Hen-pen,
Duck and mallard,
Amen.
—Somersetshire (Holloway’s Dict. of Provincialisms).

A duck and a drake
And a white penny cake.
—Hampshire (Holloway’s Dict. of Provincialisms).

A duck and a drake
And a penny white cake,
And a skew ball.
—Peacock’s Manley and Corringham Glossary.

Moor (Suffolk Words and Phrases) gives the names for the number of times
the stone emerges, as (1) “a duck;” (2) “a duck an’ a drake;” if thrice, “a
duck an’ a drake an’ a fi’epenny cake;” four times is “a duck an’ a drake an’
a fi’epenny cake, an’ a penny to pah the baker.” If more than four, “a duck,”
“a duck an’ a drake,” &c., are added. These distinctions are iterated quickly
to correspond in time as nearly as may be with the dips of the stone. A
flattish stone is evidently the best for this sport.
(b) This game is also given by Mr. Addy in his Sheffield Glossary, and by
Holland (Cheshire Glossary), Brogden (Provincial Words, Lincolnshire),
Lowsley (Berkshire Glossary), Nares’ Glossary, and Baker’s Northants
Glossary. Miss Courtenay gives “Scutter” and “Tic Tac Mollard” as
Cornish names for the game (West Cornwall Glossary). See also Halliwell’s
Nursery Rhymes, p. 139, and Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes, p. 326.
Butler, in his Hudibras (p. ii. canto iii. l. 302), makes it one of the important
qualifications of his conjurer to tell—

What figur’d slates are best to make
On wat’ry surface duck or drake.

The following description of this sport is given by Minucius Felix, ed.
1712, p. 28, which evinces its high antiquity: “Pueros videmus certatim
gestientes, testarum in mare jaculationibus ludere. Is lusus est, testam
teretem, jactatione fluctuum lævigatam, legere de litore: eam testam plano
situ digitis comprehensam, inclinem ipsum atque humilem, quantum potest,
super undas irrorare: ut illud jaculum vel dorsum maris raderet, vel enataret,
dum leni impetu labitur; vel summis fluctibus tonsis emicaret, emergeret,
dum assiduo saltu sublevatur. Is se in pueris victorem ferebat, cujus testa et
procurreret longius, et frequentius exsiliret.”
“From this pastime,” says Moor, “has probably arisen the application of the
term to a spendthrift—of whose approaching ruin we should thus speak:
‘Ah, he’ave made fine ducks and drakes of a’s money, that a’ have.’”—
Suffolk Words.

Duckstone
A large stone called the Duckstone or Duck-table is placed on the ground,
generally with a wall for a background, but this is of little consequence.
Several boys take a stone each, and a place pretty near the Duckstone is
chosen for “home.” One of the boys puts his stone on the Duckstone, and he
is called the Tenter. He has to guard the home and catch the other boys if he
can. Each boy in turn throws his stone at the stone on the Duck-table and
immediately runs home. The Tenter tries to catch him before he can touch
the wall or post or whatever is chosen for the home. If the Tenter can catch
him he becomes Tenter, and puts his stone on the Duckstone, and the
original Tenter takes his turn in throwing. One rule of the game is that the
Tenter’s stone must always be on the Duck-table when he is trying to catch
a boy, so if it is knocked off it must be replaced before he can try to catch
the boy running “home.” The chance of getting home is increased for the
boy who knocks it off.—North-West Lincolnshire (Rev. —— Roberts and
Miss Peacock).
(b) Similar versions are from Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy), Ireland (Folk-
lore Journal, ii. 265), Peacock (Mauley and Corringham Glossary). Addy
(Sheffield Glossary) gives this game with the following addition: If a duck
falls short of the Duckstone, and the one whose duck is on the stone sees
that he can wand or span with his hand the distance between the duck thus

thrown and the Duckstone, he shouts out “Wands,” and if he can wand or
span the distance he takes his duck off, and the duck thus thrown is put on.
Holland (Cheshire Glossary), Darlington (South Cheshire), Baker
(Northants Glossary), and Brogden (Provincial Words, Lincolnshire), also
give this game. Elworthy (West Somerset Words) calls it “Duck,” and
“Ducks off” and “Cobbs off” in Dorsetshire. In London the boy repeats the
words, “Gully, gully, all round the hole, one duck on,” while he is playing
(Strand Magazine, November 1891). Newell (Games, p. 188) calls it “Duck
on a Rock.”

Duffan Ring
Name for “Cat and Mouse” in Cornwall.—Folk-lore Journal, v. 57.

Dumb Crambo
An undescribed game mentioned in Moor’s Suffolk Words, p. 238.

Dumb Motions
Two sides are chosen, which stand apart from each other inside the line of
their den. One side chooses a trade, and goes to the opposite side imitating
working at the trade and giving the initial letters of it. If the opposite side
guesses the name of the trade, the players run to their own den, being
chased by their opponents. If any of the players are caught they must go to
the opposite side. In turn the opposite side chooses a trade, and imitates the
actions practised.—Cork, Ireland (Miss Keane).
This is called “An Old Woman from the Wood” in Dorsetshire. The children
form themselves into two ranks.
The first rank says:
Here comes an old ’oman from the wood.
The second party answers:
What cans’t thee do?
First Party: Do anythin’.
Second Party: Work away.

This the children proceed to do, some by pretending to sew, some to wash,
some to dig, some to knit, without any instruments to do it with. If the
opposite side guess what they are doing, they change sides. This game,
Miss Summers believes, is very old, and has been played by several
generations in the village of Hazelbury Bryan.—Dorsetshire (Folk-lore
Journal, vii. 230).
See “Trades.”

Dump
A boys’ amusement in Yorkshire, in vogue about half a century ago, but
now believed to be nearly obsolete. It is played in this manner. The lads
crowd round and place their fists endways, the one on the other, till they
form a high pile of hands. Then a boy, who has one hand free, knocks the
piled fists off one by one, saying to every boy as he strikes his fist away,
“What’s there, Dump?” He continues this process till he comes to the last
fist, when he exclaims:—

What’s there?
Cheese and bread, and a mouldy halfpenny!
Where’s my share?
I put it on the shelf, and the cat got it.
Where’s the cat?
She’s run nine miles through the wood.
Where’s the wood?
T’ fire burnt it.
Where’s the fire?
T’ waters sleekt (extinguished) it.
Where’s the water?
T’ oxen drank it.
Where’s the oxen?
T’ butcher killed ’em.
Where’s the butcher?
Upon the church tops cracking nuts, and you may go and eat the shells;
and them as speaks first shall have nine nips, nine scratches, and
nine boxes over the lug!

Every one then endeavours to refrain from speaking in spite of mutual
nudges and grimaces, and he who first allows a word to escape is punished
by the others in the various methods adopted by schoolboys. In some places
the game is played differently. The children pile their fists in the manner
described above; then one, or sometimes all of them, sing:

I’ve built my house, I’ve built my wall;
I don’t care where my chimneys fall!

The merriment consists in the bustle and confusion occasioned by the rapid
withdrawal of the hands (Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, p. 225). Compare
Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 529.
Northall (Folk Rhymes, p. 418) gives the following rhymes as said in
Warwickshire while the fists are being piled on one another:—

Here’s one hammer on the block,
My men, my men;
There’s one hammer, &c., my man John.
Dibble the can, blow bellows, blow,
Fire away, lads, for an hour or so.

See “Dish-a-loof,” “Sacks.”[Addendum]

Dumps
A game at marbles or taw, played with holes scooped in the ground
(Roxburgh, Jamieson). Grose gives dump as signifying “a deep hole of
water” (Provincial Glossary).

Dust-point
A game in which boys placed their points in a heap, and threw at them with
a stone. Weber and Nares give wrong explanations. It is alluded to in
Cotton’s Works, 1734, p. 184.

I’ll venter on their heads my brindled cow,
With any boy at dust-point they shall play.

—Peacham’s Thalia’s Banquet, 1620.

Nares (Glossary) suggests that this game and blow-point resembled the
game of Push-pin. See also Halliwell’s Dictionary.

Eller Tree
A number of young men and women stand in a line, a tall girl at one end of
the line representing the tree. They then begin to wrap round her, saying,
“The old eller tree grows thicker and thicker.” When they have all got round
her (the tree), they jump all together, calling out, “A bunch of rags, a bunch
of rags,” and try to tread on each other’s toes.—Sheffield, Yorks (S. O.
Addy).

(b) The tree is the alder. It abounds in the North of England more than in
any other part of the kingdom, and seems always to have been there held in
great respect and veneration. Many superstitions also attach to the tree. It is
possible from these circumstances that the game descends from an old
custom of encircling the tree as an act of worship, and the allusion to the
“rags” bears at least a curious relationship to tree worship. If this conclusion

is correct, the particular form of the game preserved by Mr. Addy may be
the parent form of all games in which the act of winding is indicated. There
is more reason for this when we consider how easy the notion of clock-
winding would creep in after the old veneration for the sacred alder tree had
ceased to exist.
See “Bulliheisle,” “Wind up the Bush Faggot,” “Wind up the Watch.”

Ezzeka
Old Ezzeka did one day stand
Upon a barrel top;
The bung flew out, and all at once
It went off with a pop.
—Dronfield (S. O. Addy).

This game is usually played in a house or schoolroom, by boys and girls. A
boy or girl is chosen who is considered to be able to stand a joke. He sits on
a chair. A stool is put behind, upon which a boy called “Ezzeka” stands.
Then the other boys and girls in the room sing the lines. As they are
finished, Ezzeka, who has a bottle of water in his hand, takes out the cork,
and pours the water upon his victim’s head. This game may be compared
with the game of “King Arthur” mentioned by Brand (Pop. Antiq., ii. 393).

Father’s Fiddle
This is a boys’ game. One boy says to another, “Divv (do) ye ken (know)
aboot my father’s fiddle?” On replying that he does not, the questioner
takes hold of the other’s right hand with his left, and stretches out the arm.
With his right hand he touches the arm gently above the elbow, and says,
“My father had a fiddle, an’ he brook (broke) it here, an’ he brook it here”
(touching it below the elbow), “an’ he brook it throw the middle,” and
comes down with a sharp stroke on the elbow-joint.—Keith, Fochabers
(Rev. W. Gregor).
This is probably the same game as that printed by Halliwell, No. cccxxxv.,
to which the following rhyme applied:—

My father was a Frenchman,
He bought for me a fiddle;
He cut me here, he cut me here,
He cut me right in the middle.

Feed the Dove
An undescribed game mentioned in an old poem called Christmas (i. 285),
quoted in Ellis’s Brand, i. 517: “Young men and maidens now at ‘Feed the
Dove’ (with laurel leaf in mouth) play.”

Find the Ring
O the grand old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men,
He marched them up the hill ago
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up they were up,
And when they were down they were down,
And when they were half-way up the hill
They were neither up nor down.
—Sheffield (S. O. Addy).

A ring of chairs is formed, and the players sit on them. A piece of string
long enough to go round the inner circumference of the chairs is procured.
A small ring is put upon the string, the ends of which are then tied. Then
one of the players gets up from his chair and stands in the centre. The
players sitting on the chairs take the string into their hands and pass the ring
round from one to another, singing the lines. If the person standing in the
centre can find out in whose hand the ring is, he sits down, and his place is
taken by the one who had the ring. The game is sometimes played round a
haycock in the hayfield.
Miss Dendy sends a similar rhyme from Monton, Lancashire, where it is
known simply as a marching game. For similar rhymes, see Halliwell’s
Nursery Rhymes, p. 3.
See “Paddy from Home,” “Tip it.”

Fippeny Morrell
“Twice three stones, set in a crossed square, where he wins the game that
can set his three along in a row, and that is fippeny morrell I trow.”—Apollo
Shroving, 1626.
See “Nine Men’s Morice,” “Noughts and Crosses.”

Fire, Air, and Water
The players seat themselves in a circle. One of the players has a ball, to
which a string is fastened. He holds the string that he may easily draw the
ball back again after it is thrown. The possessor of the ball then throws it to
one in the circle, calling out the name of either of the elements he pleases.
This player must, before ten can be counted, give the name of an inhabitant
of that element. When “Fire” is called, strict silence must be observed or a
forfeit paid.—Cork, Ireland (Miss Keane).
The players were seated in a half-circle, and the possessor of the ball faced
the others. There was no string attached to the ball, but it was necessary that
it should hit the child it was thrown to. When “Fire” was called,
“Salamander” and “Phœnix” were allowed to be said. The third time “Fire”
was called, silence was observed, and every player bowed the head. We
called it “Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.” A forfeit had to be paid for every
mistake.—London (A. B. Gomme).
It seems probable that a survival of fire-worship is shown by this game.

Fivestones
This game was played by a newspaper boy at Richmond Station for me as
follows:—He had five square pieces of tile or stone about the size of dice.
He took all five pieces in the palm of the hand first, then threw them up and
caught them on the back of the hand, and then from the back of the hand
into the palm. Four of the stones were then thrown on the ground; the fifth
was thrown up, one stone being picked up from the ground, and the
descending fifth stone caught in the same hand; the other three pieces were
next picked up in turn. Then two were picked up together in the same
manner twice, then one, then three, then all four at once, the fifth stone
being thrown up and caught with each movement. All five were then thrown

up and caught on the back of the hand, and then thrown from the back and
caught in the palm. When he dropped one, he picked it up between his
outstretched fingers while the other stones remained on the back of the
hand; then he tossed and caught it likewise. Then after throwing up the five
stones and catching them on the back of the hand and the reverse, all five
being kept in the palm, one was thrown up, and another deposited on the
ground before the descending stone was caught. This was done to the three
others in turn. Then with two at a time twice, then one and three, then all
four together, then from the palm to the back of the hand, and again to the
palm. This completed one game. If mistakes were made another player took
the stones. Marks were taken for successful play. This boy called the game
“Dabs.”—A. B. Gomme.
In South Notts this game was called “Snobs.” It was played with small
stones or marbles. There were nine sets of tricks. First One-ers (of which
there were five in the set), then Two-ers (two in set), Three-ers (three in
set), Four-ers (four in set), Four Squares (four in set), Trotting Donkeys
(eight in set, I believe), Fly-catchers (six or seven in set), Magic (five in
set), and Magic Fly-catchers (five in set). One-ers is played thus:—The five
stones are thrown into the air and caught on the back of the hand. If all are
caught they are simply tossed up again and caught in the hollow of the
hand, but if any are not caught they have to be picked up, one by one,
another stone being at the same time thrown into the air and caught with the
one picked up in the hand. Two-ers, Three-ers, and Four-ers, are played in
the same way, except that the stones not caught on the back of the hand
have to be arranged in twos, threes, and fours respectively by the hand on
which the caught stones are lying meanwhile, and then each lot has to be
picked up altogether. If the number that fall when the stones are first thrown
up won’t allow of this, the player has to drop the required number (but no
more) from his hand. In Magic the play is just the same as in One-ers,
except that instead of only throwing up a single stone and catching it as the
others are in turn picked up, the whole number, except those remaining to
be picked up, are thrown and caught. In Four Squares, four of the stones are
arranged in a square, each of them is then picked up, whilst the remaining
stone is flung upwards and caught; the one picked up is then tossed up, and
the one originally tossed up is put down in the place of the other, which is
caught as it descends, and the process repeated “all round the square.”

Trotting Donkeys is similarly played, except that the four stones are
arranged in a line—not in a square—and I believe there is some other slight
difference, but I forget what. Fly-catchers is played like One-ers, except that
the stone thrown into the air while the others are being picked up, is not
simply caught by being allowed to fall into the hand, but by an outward
movement of the hand is pounced on, hawk-fashion, from above. Magic
Fly-catchers is played in precisely the same way, except that as in simple
Magic, not one stone, but all are thrown up and caught—that is, if there are
four on the ground one only is thrown up for the first, two for the second,
three for the third, and so on until they are all picked up. This is, of course,
the most difficult part of all, and, in fact, only experts were expected to do
it. Every failure means “out,” and then your opponent has his turn. The
winner is the one who gets through first. Such is the game as I remember it,
but I have an uneasy suspicion that I have missed something out. I seem to
remember one trick in which all the stones on the ground had to be picked
up at once where they lay—scrambled up so to speak. Or it may be (and, in
fact, I think it was) that sometimes, to add to the difficulty of the game, we
picked up the groups of two, three, and four in Two-ers, Three-ers, and
Four-ers in this fashion, instead of first placing them together.—Epworth,
Doncaster (C. C. Bell).
In Wakefield the set of pot checks, which represents five hucklebones, now
consists of four checks and a ball about the size of a large marble. The
checks are something like dice, but only two opposite sides are plain, the
other four being fluted. The table played on is generally a doorstep, and it is
made ready by drawing a ring upon it with anything handy which will make
a mark. There are twelve figures or movements to be gone through as
follows. Some have special names, but I do not learn that all have.
1. The player, taking the checks and ball in the right hand, throws down the
checks, keeping the ball in the hand. If any check fall outside the ring the
player is “down.” There is skill needed in the throwing of the checks in this
and the following movements, so that they may be conveniently placed for
taking up in the proper order. The checks being scattered, the player throws
up the ball, takes up one check, and catches the ball as it comes down, or, as
it is sometimes played, after it has bounced once from the step. This is
repeated till all the checks are taken up.

2. As the last figure, but the checks are taken up two at a throw.
3. As the last, but at the first throw one check, called the Horse, is taken up,
and at the second the remaining three checks at once, called the Cart.
4. As before, but all the checks taken up together.
5. Called Ups and Downs. The checks are taken up at one throw, and set
down outside the ring at the next. This is done first with one, then with two,
and so on.
6. Each check is touched in turn as the ball is thrown.
7. The checks are separately pushed out of the ring.
8. Each check in turn is taken up and knocked against the ground.
9. Each check is taken up and tapped upon another.
10. The checks are first arranged three in a line, touching each other, and
the fourth placed at the top of that at one end of the row. This is called the
Cradle. It has to be taken down check by check, and if, in taking one,
another is moved, the player is out.
11. Like the last, but the checks are put one above another to make a
Chimney.
12. Called the Dish-clout—I know not why, unless it be that it wipes up the
game. The movement used in taking up the checks is thus described:
—“Take hold of the sleeve of the right hand with the left; throw up the ball,
and twist your right hand underneath and over your left, and catch the ball.
With the hand still twisted throw up the ball and untwist and catch it.” The
checks are picked up in the course of the twisting.
These I am told are the orthodox movements; and I do not doubt that in
them there is much of very old tradition, although the tenth and eleventh
must have been either added or modified since pot checks came into use,
for the figures could not be built up with the natural bones. Some other
movements are sometimes used according to fancy, as for example the
clapping of the ground with the palm of the hand before taking up the

checks and catching the ball.—J. T. Micklethwaite (Arch. Journ., xlix. 327-
28).
I am told that in the iron districts of Staffordshire, the round bits of iron
punched out in making rivet holes in boiler plates are the modern
representatives of hucklebones.—Ibid.
In Westminster four stones are held in the right hand, a marble is thrown up,
and all four stones thrown down, and the marble allowed to bounce on the
hearthstone or pavement, and then caught in the same hand after it has
rebounded. The marble is then thrown up again, and one of the four stones
picked up, and the marble caught again after it has rebounded. This is done
separately to the other three, bringing all four stones into the hand. The
marble is again bounced, and all four stones thrown down and the marble
caught. Two stones are then picked up together, then the other two, then
one, then three together, then all four together, the marble being tossed and
caught with each throw. An arch is then formed by placing the left hand on
the ground, and the four stones are again thrown down, the marble tossed,
and the four stones put separately into the arch, the marble being caught
after it has rebounded each time; or the four stones are separately put
between the fingers of the left hand in as straight a row as possible. Then
the left hand is taken away, and the four stones caught up in one sweep of
the hand. Then all four stones are thrown down, and one is picked up before
the marble is caught. This is retained in the hand, and when the second
stone is picked up the first one is laid down before the marble is caught; the
third is picked up and the second laid down, the fourth picked up and the
third laid down, then the fourth laid down, the marble being tossed and
caught again each time. The stones have different names or marks (which
follow in rotation), and in picking them up they must be taken in their
proper order, or it is counted as a mistake. The game is played throughout
by the right hand, the left hand only being used when “arches” is made. The
marble should be thrown up about the same height each toss, and there
should be little or no interval between the different figures.—Annie Dicker.
I saw this game played in Endell Street, London, W.C., by two girls. Their
game was not so long nor so complete as the above. They did not throw all
four stones down as a preliminary stage, but began with the second figure,
the four gobs being placed in a square ∷, nor were they particular as to

which stones they picked up. They knew nothing of numbering or naming
them. Their marble was called a “jack.” They had places chalked on the
pavement where they recorded their successful “goes,” and the game was
played in a ring.—A. B. Gomme.
An account sent me from Deptford (Miss Chase) is doubtless the same
game. It begins with taking two “gobs” at once, and apparently there are
eight stones or gobs to play with. The marble or round stone which is
thrown up is called a “tally.” The directions for playing are—

We take twoses,
We take threeses,
We take fourses,
We take sixes,
We take eights.

Chain eggs—i.e., to pick up one and drop it again until this has been done
to each stone. Arches—i.e., gobs in a row. This was described by the player
as “while the tally is up to sweep the whole row or line off the ground into
the arch of the finger and thumb before catching the tally.”
(b) These games are variants of one common original. It is the same game
as that described by F. H. Low in the Strand Magazine, ii. 514, as played in
the London streets. The marble there is called a “buck.” “Pegsy” was the
name of the No. 5 stage of the Wakefield version, and this varies too,
inasmuch as it was the same gob which is picked up and then laid down
before catching the buck.
Mr. Kinahan says, “‘Jackstones,’ played with three or four small stones that
are thrown up in the air and caught again, seems to have been a very ancient
game, as the stones have been found in the crannogs or lake-dwellings in
some hole near the fireplaces, similar to where they are found in a cabin at
the present day. An old woman, or other player, at the present time puts
them in a place near the hob when they stop their game and go to do
something else” (Folk-lore Journal, ii. 266). In the Græco-Roman saloon,
British Museum, is a statue originally composed of two boys quarrelling at
the game of “Tali” (see Townley Gallery, i. 305; Smith’s Dict. Greek and

Roman Antiq., s.v. Talus), and it is interesting to note that in the Deptford
game the marble is called a “Tally.”
Mr. Kinahan’s note suggests that “Fivestones” may be an independent
game, instead of a derivative from “Hucklebones.” If this is so, we have
interesting evidence of the spread or transmission of one game from at least
two centres. Professor Attwell, in Notes and Queries, 8th ser., iv. 201,
suggests that “Hucklebones” was introduced into Europe by the Romans,
and was spread throughout the countries which formed the empire by means
of Roman colonists and soldiers. Mr. Newell (Games, pp. 190-93) describes
a similar game to “Fivestones” played in Boston under the name of
“Otadama,” or “Japanese Jacks.” This game is of Japanese origin,
“Tedama” (that is, “Handballs”) being its proper name. He says there can be
no doubt that the two forms of this amusement are branches of the same
root; and we thus have an example of a game which, having preserved its
essential characteristics for thousands of years, has fairly circumnavigated
the globe, so that the two currents of tradition, westward and eastward, from
Europe and Asia, have met in America.
See “Checkstones,” “Dibs,” “Hucklebones,” “Jackstones.”[Addendum]

Flowers
Sides are chosen; each side must have a “home” at the top and bottom of
the ground where the children are playing. One side chooses a flower and
goes over to the other side, the members of which stand in a row facing the
first side. The first side states the initial letters of the flower it has chosen,
and when the second side guesses the right flower they run and try to catch
as many of the opposite side as they can before they reach their home. The
captives then become members of the side which captured them.—Bitterne,
Hants (Mrs. Byford).

Follow my Gable
[Play]

—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire.

[Play]

—Redhill, Surrey.

I. Follow my gable ’oary man,
Follow my gable ’oary man,
I’ll do all that ever I can
To follow my gable ’oary man.

We’ll borrow a horse and steal a gig,
And round the world we’ll have a jig,
And I’ll do all that ever I can
To follow my gable ’oary man.
—Earls Heaton, Yorks (Herbert Hardy).

II. Holy Gabriel, holy man,
Rantum roarum reeden man,
I’ll do all as ever I can
To follow my Gabriel, holy man.[3]
—Redhill, Surrey (Miss G. Hope).

III.I sell my bat, I sell my ball,
I sell my spinning-wheel and all;
And I’ll do all that ever I can
To follow the eyes of the drummer man.
—Luton, Bedfordshire (Mrs. Ashdown).

(b) In the Yorkshire version a ring is formed with one child in the middle as
the ’Oary Man. Whatever he, or she, does, all in the ring must mimic, going
round and singing at the same time. Any one found late in changing the
action or idle in obeying the caperings of the central child becomes the
’Oary Man in place of the child taking that part. Both girls and boys play. In
the Redhill version, Holy Gabriel kneels in the middle of the circle. He acts
as leader, and always had the fiddle as his instrument, though he now
usually plays the pianoforte as his first instrument. The other children
choose any instrument they like. Holy Gabriel pretends to play the fiddle,
and all the other children play their own instruments until Holy Gabriel
changes his to one of theirs, when that one must immediately begin to play
the fiddle, and continue until Holy Gabriel takes another instrument or
returns to the fiddle. This is done in vigorous pantomime. In the Luton
variant the children sit in a semicircle, the Drummer faces them. He plays
the drum; all the other children play on any other instrument they like. If the
other players do not at once change their instrument, or neglect to sing the
lines, a forfeit is demanded.
(c) Mr. Hardy says some sing this game, “Follow my game an holy man.”
Mr. Hardy once thought it was the remnant of a goblin story of a hoary man
of the gable or house-roof, who presided over the destinies of poor
cottagers, and he had begun to make out the folk tale. The fairy would
sometimes come down, and, playing his antics, compel whomsoever
observed him to follow him in a mimicking procession. Miss Hope writes
of “Holy Gabriel” that the game is played at Mead Vale, a small village in
Surrey, but is unknown at larger villages and towns a few miles off. Some
of the women who played it in their youth say that it began in the Primitive
Methodist school at Mead Vale. It is played at Outword, also a remote
village, and was introduced there by a stonemason, who stated that he had
learned it from a cousin who had been in America. Further inquiry by Miss
Hope elicited the fact that the cousin had learned the game, when a boy, in
his native place in Lancashire. He did not know whether it was a well-
known game there. This information points perhaps to a modern origin, but
in such cases it must be borne in mind that people are very fond of
suggesting recent circumstances as the cause of the most ancient traditions
or customs. The obvious analogy to the incident in the myth of the Pied
Piper, and to the Welsh custom at St. Almedha Church, near Brecknock,

recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis, where the imitation of a frenzied leader
is carried out as a religious ceremony, rather suggests that in this game we
may have a survival of a ceremonial so common among early or uncultured
people, the chief incident of which is the frenzied dancing of a god-
possessed devotee.

[3] A variant of the second line is, “Ranting, roaring, heely man.” “I suppose he was Irish,”
said my informant, “as he was named ‘Healey’” (Miss G. Hope).

Follow my Leader
This is a boys’ game. Any number can take part in it. It requires a good
extent of country to play it well. The boy who is the swiftest runner and the
best jumper is chosen as Leader. He sets out at a good speed over the fields,
tries to jump as many ditches or burns, jumping such from one side to the
other again and again, to scramble over dykes, through hedges, over
palings, and run up braes. The others have to follow him as they can. This
steeplechase continues till the followers are all tired out.—Keith (Rev. W.
Gregor).
This is a very general game among schoolboys, but in Hereford it was a
town custom occurring once in seven years on 11th October (Folk-lore
Journal, v. 75).

Fool, Fool, come to School
This game is played under the name of “Foolie, Foolie” at Duthil,
Strathspey. The players are placed in a row, either standing or sitting. Two
are chosen, the one as Namer and the other as Foolie. Foolie withdraws, if
not out of sight, at least out of range of hearing. The Namer then gives a
name secretly to each player. When this is done, he calls on Foolie—Foolie,
Foolie, come to your schoolie.
Foolie pays no attention to this call. It is again repeated, but with the same
results. This goes on for several times. At last the Namer calls out—

Foolie, Foolie, come to your schoolie;
Your bannocks are burnin’ an’ ready for turnin’.

Foolie always obeys this call, comes and stations himself beside the Namer.
A little chaffing generally goes on against Foolie. The Namer says, “Come
chise me oot, come chise me in, tae” so and so, naming one by the assumed
fancy name. Foolie makes choice of one. If the choice falls right, the one so
chosen steps from the line and stands beside Foolie. If the choice falls
wrong, the one named remains in the line. All the players’ names are called
out in this way. If any stand unchosen by Foolie, the Namer then goes up to
each and asks if he wants, e.g., “an aipple,” “an orange,” “a kirk,” “a
cottage,” &c. Each one whispers what he wants. The same question is put to
Foolie. If he answers, e.g., “orange,” the one so named steps out and stands
beside Foolie. All not first chosen are gone over in this way. Those left
unchosen take their stand beside the Namer. There is then a tug-of-war, with
the Namer and Foolie as the leaders.—Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
In Hants the children stand vis-à-vis, as in a country dance. One of the
number is sent out of earshot, and the others decide with the Captain as to
the name of the bird each wishes to personate. The Captain then calls to the
child who is out, “Tom Fool, Tom Fool, come home from school, and pick
me out a blackbird,” “cuckoo,” or other bird. If Tom Fool is wrong in his
guessing after three trials, he is condemned to run the gauntlet, being pelted
with gloves or handkerchiefs not too mercifully.—Bitterne, Hants (Miss
Byford).
In Sussex there is the same action with the following words, but there is no
chasing or hitting—

Of all the birds in the air,
Of all the fishes in the sea,
You can pick me out [ ]

If the children fail to do so, they say—

Poor fool, been to school,
Learn more in a week;
Been there seven years
And hasn’t learnt a bit.
—Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase).

The same game is played indoors in Cornwall, the reply being—

Fool, fool, go back to school
And learn your letters better.
—Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 99-80).

See “Namers and Guessers.”[Addendum] [Addendum]

Foot and Over
One boy out of a number stoops in the position for “Leap-frog” at an agreed
fixed line. From the players he chooses a Leader and a Foot. The Leader
first leaps over the stooping boy at a foot from the line; the other players
then leap in turn each at a foot further from the line, the stooping boy
moving forward from the line for each player; finally the Foot leaps as far
as the distance leapt by the last boy. If this is accomplished, the Leader hops
from the line and then leaps; the followers hop and leap each a foot further
than each other; finally the Foot hops and leaps as far as the distance
covered by the last boy. If this is accomplished, the Leader hops twice and
then leaps; the same process going on until one of the boys fails, who then
takes the place of the stooping boy, and the game begins again. If the Foot
covers any longer distance than the Leader, the Leader stoops down.—Earls
Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy).

1st position 2nd position 3rd position

This game is general. Mr. Emslie describes the London version somewhat
differently. After all the boys had jumped over the first boy’s back, a cry of
“Foot it” was raised, and the boy who had given the back placed one of his
feet at a right angle to the other, and in this way measured a “foot’s length”
from the starting-place. All the boys then “overed” his back from the
original line, the last one crying “Foot it,” and then the measuring ceremony
was again gone through, and the game commenced again, and continued in
the same manner until one of the boys failed to “over” the back, when he
became Back.[Addendum]

Football
The modern game of “Football” is too well known to need description here,
and, like “Cricket,” it has become no longer a children’s game. As to its
origin, there are many ball games, such as “Camping,” which have been
suggested as the original form of “Football.” Every school almost had some
peculiarity in the method of playing, and Eton, Winchester, Uppingham,
and Rugby are well-known examples. It is not a little interesting to note,
now that “Football” has settled down into a national game organised by
county committees, that one of the forms of play officially recognised is the
old Rugby game, the other form, known as the “Association,” being arrived
at by agreement of those interested in the game.
To illustrate the ancient origin of the game, and its serious import as a local
contest rather than a sport, some examples may be given. It is still (1877)
keenly contested at Workington on Easter Tuesday on the banks of, and not
unfrequently in, the river Derwent (Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary). At
Derby there was a football contest between the parishes of All Saints’ and
St. Peter’s. The ball was thrown into the market-place from the Town Hall.

The moment it was thrown the “war cries” of the rival parishes began, and
the contest, nominally that of a football match, was in reality a fight
between the two sections of the town; and the victors were announced by
the joyful ringing of their parish bells (Dyer’s Popular Customs, p. 75). At
Chester-le-Street the game was played between what were termed “up-
streeters” and “down-streeters,” one side endeavouring to get the ball to the
top of the town, whilst their opponents tried to keep it near the lower or
north end. At one o’clock the ball was thrown out from near the old
commercial hotel, the Queen’s Head, in the centre of the town, and it has
often been received by over three and four hundred people, so great was the
interest taken in this ancient sport. At Asborne the struggle was between the
“up’ards” and “down’ards.” At Dorking the divisions were between the east
and west ends of the town, and there was first a perambulation of the streets
by the football retinue composed of grotesquely dressed persons. At
Alnwick the divisions were the parishes of St. Michael’s and St. Paul’s. At
Kirkwall the contest was on New Year’s Day, and was between “up the
gates” and “down the gates,” the ball being thrown up at the Cross. At
Scarborough, on the morning of Shrove Tuesday, hawkers paraded the
streets with parti-coloured balls, which were purchased by all ranks of the
community. With these, and armed with sticks, men, women, and children
repaired to the sands below the old town and indiscriminately commenced a
contest. The following graphic account of Welsh customs was printed in the
Oswestry Observer of March 2, 1887: “In South Cardiganshire it seems that
about eighty years ago the population, rich and poor, male and female, of
opposing parishes, turned out on Christmas Day and indulged in the game
of ‘Football’ with such vigour that it became little short of a serious fight.
The parishioners of Cellan and Pencarreg were particularly bitter in their
conflicts; men threw off their coats and waistcoats and women their gowns,
and sometimes their petticoats. At Llanwenog, an extensive parish below
Lampeter, the inhabitants for football purposes were divided into the Bros
and the Blaenaus. A man over eighty, an inmate of Lampeter Workhouse,
gives the following particulars:—In North Wales the ball was called the Bêl
Troed, and was made with a bladder covered with a Cwd Tarw. In South
Wales it was called Bél Ddu, and was usually made by the shoe-maker of
the parish, who appeared on the ground on Christmas Day with the ball
under his arm. The Bros, it should be stated, occupied the high ground of
the parish. They were nicknamed ‘Paddy Bros,’ from a tradition that they

were descendants from Irish people who settled on the hills in days long
gone by. The Blaenaus occupied the lowlands, and, it may be presumed,
were pure-bred Brythons. The more devout of the Bros and Blaenaus joined
in the service at the parish church on Christmas morning. At any rate, the
match did not begin until about mid-day, when the service was finished.
Then the whole of the Bros and Blaenaus, rich and poor, male and female,
assembled on the turnpike road which divided the highlands from the
lowlands. The ball having been redeemed from the Crydd, it was thrown
high in the air by a strong man, and when it fell Bros and Blaenaus
scrambled for its possession, and a quarter of an hour frequently elapsed
before the ball was got out from among the struggling heap of human
beings. Then if the Bros, by hook or by crook, could succeed in taking the
ball up the mountain to their hamlet of Rhyddlan they won the day; while
the Blaenaus were successful if they got the ball to their end of the parish at
New Court. The whole parish was the field of operations, and sometimes it
would be dark before either party scored a victory. In the meantime many
kicks would be given and taken, so that on the following day some of the
competitors would be unable to walk, and sometimes a kick on the shins
would lead the two men concerned to abandon the game until they had
decided which was the better pugilist. There do not appear to have been any
rules for the regulation of the game; and the art of football playing in the
olden time seems to have been to reach the goal. When once the goal was
reached, the victory was celebrated by loud hurrahs and the firing of guns,
and was not disturbed until the following Christmas Day. Victory on
Christmas Day, added the old man, was so highly esteemed by the whole
countryside, that a Bro or Blaenau would as soon lose a cow from his cow-
house as the football from his portion of the parish.”
(b) In Gomme’s Village Community, pp. 241-44, the position of football
games as elements in the traditions of race is discussed, and their
relationship to a still earlier form of tribal games, where the element of clan
feuds is more decidedly preserved, is pointed out.

Forfeits
Forfeits are incurred in those games in which penalties are exacted from
players for non-compliance with the rules of the game; “Buff,” “Contrary,”
“Crosspurposes,” “Fire, Air, and Water,” “Follow my Gable,” “Genteel

Lady,” “Jack’s Alive,” “Old Soldier,” “Twelve Days of Christmas,” “Turn
the Trencher,” “Wadds,” and others. These games are described under their
several titles, and the formula for forfeits is always the same. Small articles
belonging to the players must be given by them every time a forfeit is
incurred, and these must be redeemed at the close of the game. They are
“cried” in the following manner:—One of the players sits on a chair having
the forfeits in her lap. A child kneels on the ground and buries his face in his
hands on the lap of the person who holds the forfeits. The “crier” then takes
up indiscriminately one of the forfeits, and holding it up in the sight of all
those who have been playing the games (without the kneeling child seeing
it), says—

Here’s a very pretty thing and a very pretty thing,
And what shall be done to [or, by] the owner of this very pretty thing?

The kneeling child then says what the penance is to be. The owner of the
forfeit must then perform the penance before the other players, and then
another forfeit is “cried.”
The more general penances imposed upon the owners of the forfeits are as
follows, but the list could be very much extended:—

Bite an inch off the poker.
Kneel to the prettiest, bow to the wittiest, and kiss the one you love
best.
Stand in each corner of the room, sigh in one, cry in another, sing in
another, and dance in the other.
Put yourself through the keyhole.
Place two chairs in the middle of the room, take off your shoes, and
jump over them.
Measure so many yards of love ribbon.
Postman’s knock.
Crawl up the chimney.
Spell Opportunity.

Miss Burne mentions one penance designed to make the victim ridiculous,
as when he is made to lie on his back on the floor with his arms extended,
and declare—

Here I lie!
The length of a looby,
The breadth of a booby,
And three parts of a jackass!
—Shropshire Folk-lore, pp. 526-27.

(c) Halliwell gives, in his Nursery Rhymes, pp. 324-26, some curious
verses, recorded for the first time by Dr. Kenrick in his Review of Dr.
Johnson’s Shakespeare, 1765, on “rules for seemly behaviour,” in which the
forfeits imposed by barbers as penalties for handling razors, &c., are set
forth. Although “barbers’ forfeits” are not of the same nature as the nursery
forfeits, it is possible that this general custom among so important a class of
the community in early times as barbers may have suggested the game.
Both Forby in his Vocabulary of East Anglia and Moor in his Suffolk Words
bear testimony to the general prevalence of barbers’ forfeits, and it must be
borne in mind that barbers were also surgeons in early days. A curious
custom is also recorded in another East Anglian word-list, which may throw
light upon the origin of the game from popular custom. “A forfeit is
incurred by using the word ‘water’ in a brew-house, where you must say
‘liquor;’ or by using the word ‘grease’ in a chandlery, where it is ’stuff’ or
‘metal.’ The forfeit is to propitiate the offended genius loci” (Spurden’s
East Anglian Vocabulary). The element of divination in the custom is
perhaps indicated by a curious note from Waldron, in his Description of the
Isle of Man (Works, p. 55), “There is not a barn unoccupied the whole
twelve days, every parish hiring fiddlers at the public charge. On Twelfth
Day the fiddler lays his head on some of the wenches’ laps, and a third
person asks who such a maid or such a maid shall marry, naming the girls
then present one after another; to which he answers according to his own
whim, or agreeable to the intimacies he has taken notice of during this time
of merriment. But whatever he says is as absolutely depended on as an
oracle; and if he happen to couple two people who have an aversion to each
other, tears and vexation succeed the mirth. This they call cutting off the
fiddler’s head; for after this he is dead for the whole year.” Redeeming the
forfeits is called “Crying the Weds,” in Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p.
526. See “Wadds.”[Addendum]

Fox

Fox, a fox, a brummalary
How many miles to Lummaflary? Lummabary?
Eight and eight and a hundred and eight.
How shall I get home to-night?
Spin your legs and run fast.

Halliwell gives this rhyme as No. ccclvii. of his Nursery Rhymes, but
without any description of the game beyond the words, “A game of the
fox.” It is probably the same game as “Fox and Goose.”

Fox and Goose (1)
In Dorsetshire one of the party, called the Fox, takes one end of the room or
corner of a field (for the game was equally played indoors or out); all the
rest of the children arrange themselves in a line or string, according to size,
one behind the other, the smallest last, behind the tallest one, called Mother
Goose, with their arms securely round the waist of the one in front of them,
or sometimes by grasping the dress.
The game commences by a parley between the Fox and Goose to this effect,
the Goose beginning.
“What are you after this fine morning?”
“Taking a walk.”
“With what object?”
“To get an appetite for a meal.”
“What does [will] your meal consist of?”
“A nice fat goose for my breakfast.”
“Where will you get it?”
“Oh, I shall get a nice morsel somewhere; and as they are so handy, I shall
satisfy myself with one of yours.”
“Catch one if you can.”

A lively scene follows. The Fox and Mother Goose should be pretty evenly
matched; the Mother with extended arms seeking to protect her Brood,
while the Fox, who tries to dodge under, right and left, is only allowed in
case of a successful foray or grasp to secure the last of the train. Vigorous
efforts are made to escape him, the Brood of course supplementing the
Mother’s exertions to elude him as far as they are able, but without breaking
the link. The game may be continued until all in turn are caught.—Folk-lore
Journal, vii. 217-18.
In Lancashire the children stand in line behind each other, holding each
other by the waist. One stands facing them and calls out—

My mother sits on yonder chimney,
And she says she must have a chicken.

The others answer—

She can’t have a chicken.

The one then endeavours to catch the last child of the tail, who when caught
comes behind the captor; repeat until all have changed sides.—Monton,
Lancashire (Miss Dendy).
A version of this game played at Eckington, Derbyshire, is played as
follows:—A den is chalked out or marked out for the Fox. A larger den,
opposite to this, is marked out for the Geese. A boy or a girl represents the
Fox, and a number of others the Geese. Then the Fox shouts, “Geese,
Geese, gannio,” and the Geese answer, “Fox, Fox, fannio.” Then the Fox
says, “How many Geese have you to-day?” The Geese reply, “More than
you can catch and carry away.” Then the Geese run out of the den, and the
Fox tries to catch them. He puts as many as he catches into his den (S. O.
Addy).
(b) This game is a very general one at Christmas time. It is practically the
same as “Gled Wylie,” and “Hen and Chickens,” and the “Hawk and
Chickens” of Mr. Newell’s Games and Songs of American Children, pp.
155-56. By referring to these games it will be seen that the whole group are
mimic representatives of farmyard episodes, though the animal characters
are giving way to more domestic affairs, as shown in the Pins and Needles

version of “Hen and Chickens.” It is possible that the different animals
which are victims to the Fox appearing in the different games may arise
from local circumstances, and that in this case a real distinction exists
between the various names by which this game is known. A game called
“Wolf and Deer,” similar to “Fox and Geese,” is given in Winter Evening
Amusements, by R. Revel. The last one at the end of the tail may, if she has
no other chance of escape, try and place herself before the Deer or Hen. She
is then no longer to be hunted; all the others must then follow her example
until the deer becomes the last of the line. The game then terminates by
exacting a forfeit for each lady whom the Wolf has suffered to escape his
clutches (pp. 64, 65).
See “Gled Wylie,” “Hen and Chickens,” “Old Dame.”[Addendum]

Fox and Geese (2)
A game known by this name is played with marbles or pegs on a board on
which are thirty-three holes, or on the pavement, with holes scraped out of
the stones. To play this game there are seventeen pieces called Geese, and
another one either larger or distinguished from the Geese by its colour,
which is called the Fox. The Fox occupies the centre hole, and the Geese
occupy nine holes in front, and four on each side of him. The vacant holes
behind are for the Geese and Fox to move in. The game is for the Geese to
shut up the Fox so that he cannot move. All the pieces can be moved from
one spot to another in the direction of the lines, but cannot pass over two
holes at once. The Geese are not permitted to take the Fox. The Fox’s
business is to take all, or as many of the Geese as will prevent him from
being blockaded. The Fox can take the Geese whenever there is a vacant
space behind them, which he passes to, then occupies.
This game has been very popular among schoolboys in all ages. Mr.
Micklethwaite, in a paper on the Indoor Games of School Boys in the
Middle Ages (Arch. Journ. xlix. 322), gives instances of finding figures of
this game cut “in the cloister benches of Gloucester Cathedral and
elsewhere, and there are several on the twelfth century tomb at Salisbury,
miscalled Lord Stourton’s,” and also at Norwich Castle. For the date of
these boards, Mr. Micklethwaite says for the last three centuries and a half
cloisters everywhere in England have been open passages, and there have

generally been schoolboys about. It is therefore not unlikely that they
should have left behind them such traces as these play-boards. But if they
are of later date they would not be found to be distributed in monastic
cloisters with respect to the monastic arrangement, and we do find them so.
Strutt describes the game (Sports, p. 319).
See “Nine Men’s Morris,” “Noughts and Crosses.”

Fox in the Fold
“The Tod (Fox) i’ the Faul (Fold).” This game is commonly played by boys.
Any number of boys join hands and stand in a circle to form the Faul. The
boy that represents the Tod is placed within the circle. His aim is to escape.
To effect this he rushes with all his force, increased by a run, against the
joint hands of any two of the players. If the rush does not unloose the grasp,
he hangs on the two arms with all his weight, pressing and wriggling. If he
fails he makes a rush at another two, always selecting those players he
thinks weakest. When he does break through he rushes off at the top of his
speed, with all the players in full cry, till he is caught and brought back. The
game begins anew with another boy as Tod.—Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
See “Bull in the Park,” “Frog in the Middle.”

Fox in the Hole
All the players are armed with handkerchiefs. One of the players is chosen
for Fox, who has his den marked out. The Fox hops out on one leg, with his
handkerchief ready to strike. The players gather round him and attack him.
If he can strike one of his assailants without putting his foot to the ground
from his hopping position, the player so struck is chased by the others into
the den, and he then becomes the Fox for another round of the game.—Cork
(Miss Keane).
Halliwell (Nursery Rhymes, p. 228) describes the game in practically the
same manner, but adds that when the Fox is coming out he says—

The Fox gives warning
It’s a cold and frosty morning,

after which he is at liberty to hop out and use his handkerchief.
(b) This game is alluded to in Soliman and Perseda, 1599; Florio, p. 480;
Herrick, i. 176. See Halliwell’s Dictionary. Professor Mayor communicated
to the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1848 (ii.), p. 147, the following early
allusions to the game from old dictionaries:—
Gouldman, London, MDCLXIV.—“Ascoliasmus, Empusæ ludus: a kind of
play wherein boys lift up one leg and hop with the other, where they beat
one another with bladders tied to the end of strings. Fox to thy hole.”
Holyoke, MDCLXXVII.—“Empusa. παρὰ τὸ ἑνἱ ποδἱζειν, quòd uno incedat
pede. Hence empusam agere is used for a play, hopping on one leg; with us,
Fox to his hole.”
Id. “Ascoliasmus. A kind of play that children use when they hop on one
leg, called Fox to thy hole.”
Cambridge Dict. MDCXCIII.—“Ascol. A kind of play wherein boys hopping
on one leg beat one another with gloves or pieces of leather, and is called
Fox to thy hole.”
Coles, 7th ed. 1711.—“Ascol. The play called Fox to the hole.—Empus.
Ludus Empusæ. Scotch hoppers, or Fox in the hole.”
A similar game to this is played at Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Mr. Hardy), and
called “Goose and Gander.” Two players, the Goose and the Gander, stand
in a ring, each on one leg. They hop out in turn, and try to catch one of the
other players without letting their other leg touch the ground. If they fail in
this they get “strapped” back to the ring. When either are successful, the
player who is caught takes the place of either Goose or Gander in turn. The
game is also mentioned in Useful Transactions in Philosophy, 1708-9.

French Jackie
This game is played either by boys or girls or by both together. One is
chosen to stand alone; the other players join hands and form a circle. The
one outside the circle goes round it and touches on the back one of the
circle. He then runs off round the circle, and the one who was touched runs
off in the opposite direction round the circle. The aim of each player is to

reach the vacant place in the circle first. The one left out has to repeat the
same action. The game may go on for any length of time.—Keith (Rev. W.
Gregor).
At Barnes this game is called “Gap.” It is known as “French Tag” in the
Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (Miss Matthews), and “Tap-back” at
Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Adam).

French and English
The children choose sides under a leader, and a boundary line is made in the
middle of the ground dividing the French and English territory. A
handkerchief is then placed in the back part of each territory to represent a
flag. The object is to obtain as many flags from the opposite side as
possible. If a person is captured before having seized a flag, he is taken
prisoner, and must be rescued by one of his own side. Thus, for instance, an
Englishman enters the French territory and tries to reach the flag. If he is
seen by the French before he reaches the flag, he is taken prisoner and is
placed near the flags, and the next Englishman rescues him instead of
taking a flag. As soon as the flag is taken, one of the party must put another
handkerchief in its place. A player cannot be taken prisoner after having
obtained the handkerchief or flag. The winning side is decided by counting
the flags and prisoners.—Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford).
This is a very general game, and is known as “Scotch and English” in the
north, where some interesting details occur, for which see “Scotch and
English.”

French Blindman’s Buff
The children kneel in a circle, one standing blindfolded in the middle. The
kneeling children shout, “Come point to me with your pointer.”—Monton,
Lancashire (Miss Dendy).
See “Buff,” “Dinah,” “Muffin Man.”

Friar-rush

A Christmas game, mentioned in the Declaration of Popish Impostures,
1603.

Frincy-francy
A game played between the dances at balls in farm-houses. A chair was
placed in the middle of the barn or room; the master of the ceremonies led
to the chair a young woman, who sat down and named the young man
whom she was willing should kiss her. This he did, and then took the seat
which the lady vacated. He then called out the name of some favourite girl,
who was led up to him; there was another kiss. The girl then took the seat,
and so on (county of Down). The same game is called “Frimsey-framsey”
in parts of the county of Antrim.—Patterson’s Antrim and Down Glossary.
Compare “Cushion Dance.”

Frog-lope
Name for “Leap-frog.”—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.

Frog in the Middle
One child is seated on the ground with his legs under him; the other players
form a ring round. They then pull or buffet the centre child or Frog, who
tries to catch one of them without rising from the floor. The child who is
caught takes the place of the centre child. Another method of playing the
game is similar to “Bull in the Park.” The child in the centre tries to break
out of the ring, those forming it keeping the Frog in the ring by any means
in their power, while still keeping their hands clasped. They sometimes sing
or say—

Hey! hey! hi! Frog in the middle and there shall lie;
He can’t get out and he shan’t get out—hey! hey! hi!

They dance round when saying this, all keeping a watch on the Frog, who
suddenly makes a rush, and tries to break through the ring.—London (A. B.
Gomme).

Strutt describes this game, and gives an illustration from a fourteenth
century MS. which is here reproduced from the original (Sports, p. 303).
Newell (Games of American Children, p. 171) also mentions it, and gives
the rhyme as—

Frog in the sea, can’t catch me!

Gap
The same as “French Jackie.” This game is called “Tap-back” or “Tat-back”
at Bitterne, Hants.

Garden Gate
Children join hands and form a ring. One child stands inside the ring; this
child walks round and asks one of the circle, called the Keeper—

Have you the key of the garden gate?
Open and let me go through.

The Keeper replies—

My next-door neighbour’s got the key;
Ask him and he’ll give it to you.

This is repeated by each one in the circle. Then the inside child comes again
to the Keeper and says—

None of the neighbours have got the key,
So you must let me go through.

The Keeper answers—

I’ve lost the key of the garden gate,
And cannot let you through.

Then all the ring say—

You must stop all night within the gate,
Unless you have strength to break through.

The child inside then attempts to break through, and if he succeeds in
breaking any of the clasped hands the one who first gives way has to take
the place in the centre.—Roxton, St. Neots (Miss Lumley).
See “Bull in the Park.”

Gegg
“To smuggle the Gegg,” a game played by boys in Glasgow, in which two
parties are formed by lot, equal in number, the one being denominated the
Outs, the other Ins. The Outs are those who go out from the den or goal,
where those called the Ins remain for a time. The Outs get the Gegg, which
is anything deposited, as a key, a penknife, &c. Having received this, they
conceal themselves, and raise the cry, “Smugglers!” On this they are
pursued by the Ins; and if the Gegg (for the name is transferred to the
person who holds the deposit) be taken, they exchange situations—the Outs
become Ins and the Ins Outs. This play is distinguished from “Hy-spy” only
by the use of the Gegg. One of the Ins who is touched by one of the Outs is
said to be taken, and henceforth loses his right to hold the Gegg. If he who
holds the Gegg gets in the den, the Outs are winners, and have the privilege
of getting out again. The Outs, before leaving the den, shuffle the Gegg, or
smuggle it so between each other that the Ins do not know which person has
it. He who is laid hold of, and put to the question, is supposed to deny that
he has the Gegg: if he escapes with it, he gets out again.—Jamieson.

Genteel Lady
A player begins thus:—“I, a genteel lady (or gentleman) came from that
genteel lady (or gentleman) to say that she (or he) owned a tree.” The other
players repeat the words in turn, and then the leader goes over them again,
adding, “with bronze bark.” The sentence goes round once more, and on the
next repetition the leader continues, “with golden branches.” He afterwards
adds, “and silver leaves,” “and purple fruit,” “and on the top a milk-white
dove,” and, finally, “mourning for the loss of his lady-love.”
If a player should fail in repeating the rigmarole, there is a fine to pay. A
“pipe-lighter” is stuck in her hair, and she must say “one-horned lady”
instead of “genteel lady.” When a second horn is added, of course she says
“two-horned,” and so forth. Some players wear half-a-dozen before the
conclusion of the game. The game is called “The Wonderful Tree.”—
Anderby, Lincolnshire (Miss M. Peacock).
In some parts of Yorkshire it is customary to say “no-horned lady” instead
of “genteel lady” at the beginning of the game.
When we played this game we said “always genteel” after “genteel lady,”
and varied the formula. For instance, the first player would say, “I, a genteel
lady, always genteel, come from a genteel lady, always genteel, to say she
lives in a house with twelve windows,” or words were used beginning with
the letter A. Each player must repeat this, and add something else in
keeping with a house; or sentences had to be made in which words
beginning with the letter A must be said, the other players doing the same
alphabetically.—London (A. B. Gomme).
Mr. Newell, in writing of this game, says that the “lamp-lighter” or “spill”
was lighted when placed in the hair of the players who made mistakes. He
does not mention forfeits being exacted.—Games, p. 139.

Ghost at the Well
One of the party is chosen for Ghost (if dressed in white so much the
better); she hides in a corner; the other children are a mother and daughters.
The eldest daughter says:—
“Mother, mother, please give me a piece of bread and butter.”

M. “Let me (or ‘leave me’) look at your hands, child. Why, they are very
dirty.”
E. D. “I will go to the well and wash them.”
She goes to the corner, the Ghost peeps up, and she rushes back, crying out
—
“Mother! mother! I have seen a Ghost.”
M. “Nonsense, child! it was only your father’s nightshirt I have washed and
hung out to dry. Go again.”
The child goes, and the same thing happens. She returns, saying—
“Yes! mother! I have seen a ghost.”
M. “Nonsense, child! we will take a candle, and all go together to search for
it.”
The mother picks up a twig for a candle, and they set off. When they come
near to the Ghost, she appears from her hiding-place, mother and children
rush away in different directions, the Ghost chases them until she has
caught one, who in her turn becomes Ghost.—West Cornwall (Miss
Courtney, Folk-lore Journal, v. 55).
This game was “Ghost in the Copper” in London. It was played in the same
way as above. Chairs formed the copper, and the ghost crouched down
behind. The “Mother” was “washing” at a tub, also formed with two chairs.
The eldest daughter was told she could not go to school to-day; she must
stop at home and help hang up the clothes. The other children go to play.
The Mother said, “Here, Jane, take this (pretending to give her a garment
out of the wash-tub) and put it in the copper, and push it down well with the
stick.” Jane goes to the copper and pretends to take off the lid. When she
puts the washed garment in, and pokes down with the stick, the Ghost
jumps up. She cries out as above, the Mother saying, “Nonsense, child! it’s
only some of the boiling clothes.” The child goes again, and the game
proceeds as above. It is generally played now as “Ghost.”—A. B. Gomme.
It is mentioned by Newell (Games, p. 223).[Addendum]

Giants
A Giant is chosen, and he must be provided with a cave. A summer-house
will do, if there is no window for the Giant to see out of. The others then
have to knock at the door with their knuckles separately. The Giant rushes
when he thinks all the children have knocked, and if he succeeds in
catching one before they reach a place of safety (appointed beforehand) the
captured one becomes Giant.—Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford). See “Wolf.”

Giddy
Giddy, giddy, gander,
Who stands yonder?
Little Bessy Baker,
Pick her up and shake her;
Give her a bit of bread and cheese,
And throw her over the water.
—Warwickshire.

(b) A girl being blindfolded, her companions join hands and form a ring
round her. At the word “Yonder” the blindfolded girl points in any direction
she pleases, and at line three names one of the girls. If the one pointed at
and the one named be the same, she is the next to be blinded; but, curiously
enough, if they be not the same, the one named is the one. Meanwhile, at
line four, she is not “picked up,” but is shaken by the shoulders by the still
blindfolded girl; and at line five she is given by the same “bread and
cheese,” i.e., the buds or young leaves of what later is called “May”
(Cratægus oxyacantha); and at line six she is taken up under the blinded
girl’s arm and swung round.—Warwickshire (Notes and Queries, 6th Ser.,
viii. 451).

Gilty-galty (or gaulty)
A boy’s game. One boy is chosen, who says:—

Gilty-galty four-and-forty,
Two tens make twenty.

He then counts one, two, three, four, &c., up to forty, having his eyes
covered by his hands, and the others hide while he is saying the “nominy.”
At the conclusion he uncovers his eyes, and if he sees any boys not yet
hidden they have to stand still. He seeks the rest, but if he moves far away
from his place, called the “stooil” (stool), one of the hidden boys may rush
out and take it, provided he can get there first. Should he fail in this he also
has to stand aside; but if any one succeeds, then all run out as before, and
the same boy has to say the “nominy” again. On the other hand, if he finds
all the boys without loosing his “stooil,” the boy first caught has to take his
place and say the “nominy.” The game was thus played in 1810, and is so
still, both here and at Lepton.—Easther’s Almondbury and Huddersfield
Glossary.

Gipsy
I charge my children, every one,
To keep good house while I am gone.
You, and you [points], but specially you
[or sometimes, but specially Sue],
Or else I’ll beat you black and blue.

One child is selected for Gipsy, one for Mother, and one for Daughter Sue.
The Mother says the lines, and points to several children to emphasise her
words. During her absence the Gipsy comes in, entices a child away, and
hides her. This process is repeated till all the children are hidden, when the
mother has to find them.—Halliwell (Nursery Rhymes, p. 228).
See “Mother, Mother, the Pot Boils Over,” “Witch.”

Gled-wylie
The name of a singular game played at country schools. One of the largest
of the boys steals away from his comrades, in an angry-like mood, to some
dykeside or sequestered nook, and there begins to work as if putting a pot
on a fire. The others seem alarmed at his manner, and gather round him,
when the following dialogue takes place:—
They say first to him—

What are ye for wi’ the pot, gudeman?
Say what are ye for wi’ the pot?
We dinna like to see ye, gudeman,
Sae thrang about this spot.

We dinna like ye ava, gudeman,
We dinna like ye ava.
Are ye gaun to grow a gled, gudeman?
And our necks draw and thraw?

He answers—

Your minnie, burdies, ye maun lae;
Ten to my nocket I maun hae;
Ten to my e’enshanks, and or I gae lye,
In my wame I’ll lay twa dizzen o’ ye by.

The mother of them, as it were, returns—

Try’t than, try’t than, do what ye can,
Maybe ye maun toomer sleep the night, gudeman;
Try’t than, try’t than, Gled-wylie frae the heugh,
Am no sae saft, Gled-wylie, ye’ll fin’ me bauld and teugh.

After these rhymes are said the chickens cling to the mother all in a string.
She fronts the flock, and does all she can to keep the kite from her brood,
but often he breaks the row and catches his prey.—Mactaggart’s
Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
Evidently denominated from the common mode of designating the kite
among the vulgar (Jamieson). “The Greedy Gled’s seeking ye,” is one of
the lines of a rhyme used in “Hide and Seek” in Edinburgh. Glead, or Gled,
is also a Yorkshire and Cheshire name for a kite. “As hungry as a Glead”
(Glossary, by an Old Inhabitant).—Leigh (Cheshire Glossary).
See “Fox and Goose,” “Hen and Chickens,” “Hide and Seek.”

Glim-glam

The play of “Blind Man’s Buff.”—Banffshire, Aberdeen (Jamieson).

Gobs
A London name for the game of “Hucklebones.”
See “Fivestones.”

Green Grass
[Play]

—Middlesex (Miss Collyer).

[Play]

—London (A. B. Gomme).

[Play]

—Congleton (Miss A. E. Twemlow).

I. A dis, a dis, a green grass,
A dis, a dis, a dis;
Come all you pretty fair maids
And dance along with us.

For we are going roving,
A roving in this land;
We’ll take this pretty fair maid,
We’ll take her by the hand.

Ye shall get a duke, my dear,
And ye shall get a drake;
And ye shall get a young prince,
A young prince for your sake.

And if this young prince chance to die,
Ye shall get another;

The bells will ring, and the birds will sing,
And we’ll clap hands together.
—Chamber’s Popular Rhymes, pp. 137-38.

II. A-diss, a-diss, a-green grass,
A-diss, a-diss, a-dass;
Come, my pretty fair maid,
And walk along with us.

For you shall have a dik-ma-day,
You shall have a drāgon;
You shall have a nice young man
With princes for his thēgan (or sēgan).
—Lanarkshire (W. G. Black).

III.A dish, a dish, a green grass,
A dish, a dish, a dish,
Come all you pretty maidens
And dance along wi’ us.

For we are lads a roving,
A roving through the land,
We’ll take this pretty fair maid
By her lily white hand.

Ye sall get a duke, my dear,
An ye sall get a drake,
An ye sall get a bonny prince
For your ain dear sake.

And if they all should die,
Ye sall get anither;
The bells will ring, the birds will sing,
And we’ll clap our hands together.
—Biggar (W. Ballantyne).

IV.Dissy, dissy, green grass,
Dissy, dissy, duss,
Come all ye pretty fair maids

And dance along with us.

You shall have a duck, my dear,
And you shall have a drake,
And you shall have a nice young man
To love you for your sake.

If this young man should chance to die
And leave the girl a widow,
The birds shall sing, the bells shall ring,
Clap all your hands together.
—Yorkshire (Henderson’s Folk-lore, Northern Counties, p.
27).

V.

Dossy, dossy green grass,
Dossy, dossy, doss,
Come all ye pretty fair maids
And dance upon the grass.

I will give you pots and pans,
I will give you brass,
I will give you anything
For a pretty lass.

I will give you gold and silver,
I will give you pearl,
I will give you anything
For a pretty girl.

Take one, take one, the fairest you can see.

You shall have a duck, my dear,
You shall have a drake,
You shall have a young man
Apprentice for your sake.

If this young man shall wealthy grow
And give his wife a feather,
The bells shall ring and birds shall sing
And we’ll all clap hands together.
—Roxton, St. Neots (Miss Lumley).

VI.Walking up the green grass,
A dust, a dust, a dust!
We want a pretty maiden
To walk along with us.

We’ll take this pretty maiden,
We’ll take her by the hand,
She shall go to Derby,
And Derby is the land!

She shall have a duck, my dear,
She shall have a drake,
She shall have a nice young man
A-fighting for her sake!

Suppose this young man was to die,
And leave the poor girl a widow;
The bells would ring and we should sing,
And all clap hands together!
—Berrington (Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 511).

Tripping up the green grass,
VII.
Dusty, dusty, day,
Come all ye pretty fair maids,
Come and with me play.

You shall have a duck, my dear,
And you shall have a swan,
And you shall have a nice young man

A waiting for to come.

Suppose he were to die
And leave his wife a widow,
Come all ye pretty fair maids,
Come clap your hands together!

Will you come?
No!

Naughty man, he won’t come out,
He won’t come out, he won’t come out,
Naughty man, he won’t come out,
To help us in our dancing.

Will you come?
Yes!

Now we’ve got our bonny lad,
Our bonny lad, our bonny lad,
Now we’ve got our bonny lad,
To help us in our dancing. —Middlesex (Miss Collyer).

Stepping on the green grass
VIII.
Thus, and thus, and thus;
Please may we have a pretty lass
To come and play with us?
We will give you pots and pans,
We will give you brass,

No!

We will give you anything
For a bonny lass.

No!

We will give you gold and silver,
We will give you pearl,
We will give you anything
For a pretty girl.

Yes!

You shall have a goose for dinner,
You shall have a darling,
You shall have a nice young man
To take you up the garden.

But suppose this young man was to die
And leave this girl a widow?
The bells would ring, the cats would sing,
So we’ll all clap together.
—Frodingham and Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock).

IX.Stepping up the green grass,
Thus, and thus, and thus;
Will you let one of your fair maids

Come and play with us?
We will give you pots and pans,
We will give you brass,
We will give you anything
For a pretty lass.

No!

We won’t take your pots and pans,
We won’t take your brass,
We won’t take your anything
For a pretty lass.

Stepping up the green grass,
Thus, and thus, and thus;
Will you let one of your fair maids
Come and play with us?
We will give you gold and silver,
We will give you pearl,
We will give you anything
For a pretty girl.

Yes!

Come, my dearest [Mary],
Come and play with us,
You shall have a young man
Born for your sake.
And the bells shall ring
And the cats shall sing,
And we’ll all clap hands together. —Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.

X.Up and down the green grass,
This, and that, and thus;
Come all you fair maids
And walk along with us.

Some will give you silver,
Some will give you gold,
Some will give you anything
For a pretty lass.

Don’t you think [boy’s name]
Is a handsome young man?
Don’t you think Miss [child who has been choosing]
Is as handsome as he?

Then off with the glove
And on with the ring;
You shall be married
When you can agree.

Take hold of my little finger,
Maycanameecan,
Pray tell me the name
Of your young man.
—Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase).

XI.Here we come up the green grass,
Green grass, green grass,
Here we come up the green grass,
Dusty, dusty, day.

Fair maid, pretty maid,
Give your hand to me,
I’ll show you a blackbird,
A blackbird on the tree.

We’ll all go roving,
Roving side by side,
I’ll take my fairest ——,
I’ll take her for my bride.

Will you come?
No!

Naughty miss, she won’t come out,
Won’t come out, won’t come out,
Naughty miss, she won’t come out,
To help us with our dancing.

Will you come?
Yes!

Now we’ve got our bonny lass,
Bonny lass, bonny lass,
Now we’ve got our bonny lass,
To help us with our dancing.
—London (A. B. Gomme).

Here we go up the green grass,
XII.
The green grass, the green grass;
Here we go up the green grass,
So early in the morning.

Fair maid, pretty maid;
Give your hand to me,
And you shall see a blackbird,
A blackbird on the tree;
All sorts of colours
Lying by his side,
Take me, dearest [——],
For to be my bride—

Will you come?
No!

Naughty old maid, she won’t come out,
She won’t come out,
To help us with our dancing—

Will you come?
Yes!

Now we’ve got the bonny lass,
Now we’ve got the bonny lass,

To help us with our dancing. —Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler).

Trip trap over the grass,
XIII.
If you please, will you let one of your [eldest] daughters come,
Come and dance with me?
I will give you pots and pans,
I will give you brass,
I will give you anything
For a pretty lass—

No!

I will give you gold and silver,
I will give you pearl,
I will give you anything
For a pretty girl.

Take one, take one, the fairest you may see.

The fairest one that I can see
Is pretty [Nancy], come to me;

You shall have a duck, my dear,
And you shall have a drake,
And you shall have a young man,
Apprentice for your sake.

If this young man should happen to die,
And leave this poor woman a widow,
The bells shall all ring and the birds shall all sing,
And we’ll clap hands together.
—Halliwell’s Popular Nursery Rhymes, cccxxxii.

Will you take gold and silver, or will you take brass,
XIV.
Will you take anything for a pretty lass?

No! we’ll not take gold and silver, no! we’ll not take brass;
We’ll not take anything for a pretty lass.

Will you take the keys of school, or will you take brass?
Will you take anything for a pretty lass?

Yes! we’ll take the keys of school; yes! we will take brass;
We will take anything for a pretty lass.

Come, my dear [Mary Anne], and give me your right hand,

And you shall have a duck, my dear,
You shall have a drake;
You shall have a nice young man
To fiddle for your sake.

The birds will sing, the bells will ring,
And we’ll all clap hands together.
—Congleton Workhouse School (Miss A. E. Tremlow).

(c) The popular version of this game is played by the greater number of the children forming a line on one side
with joined hands, and one child (sometimes two or more) facing them, advancing and retiring while singing the

verses. When he asks the question, “Will you come?” one girl on the opposite side answers “No!” and afterwards
“Yes!” When this is said, she goes to the opposite side, and the two dance round together while singing the next
verse. The game begins again by the two singing the verses, and thus getting a third child to join them, when the
game proceeds for a fourth, and so on.
The Congleton and London versions are played by two lines of children of about equal numbers. In the
Lincolnshire version the above description answers, except that when the last line is sung every one claps hands. In
the Sussex version the child at the end of the line is taken over by the child who sings the verses, and they lock
their little fingers together while singing the remainder.
Addy (Sheffield Glossary) says:—“Two children advance and retire on one side. When the opposite side says
‘Yes!’ the two take the first child in the row and dance round with her, singing the remaining verse. This is called
‘the wedding.’”
The Lanarkshire version is quite a different one, and contains rather remarkable features. Mr. Black says that the
game was played entirely by girls, never by boys, and generally in the months of May or June, about forty years
ago. The children sang with rather mincing and refined voices, evidently making an effort in this direction. They
walked, with their hands clasped behind their backs, up and down the road. Each child was crowned with rushes,
and also had sashes or girdles of rushes.
Mr. Ballantyne says in his boyhood it was played by a row of boys on one side and another of girls opposite. The
boys selected a girl when singing the third verse.
In the Roxton version, one child at the end of the line of children acts as “mother.” One child advances as “suitor,”
and says the three first verses. The “mother” replies with the next line. The “suitor” chooses a girl and says the
next verse, and then all the children sing the last verse. This is the same action as in Halliwell’s version.
(d) The analysis of the game-rhymes is on pp. 164-67. This analysis presents us with a very good example of the
changes caused by the game-rhymes being handed down by tradition among people who have forgotten the
original meaning of the game. The first line in the Scotch version contains the word “dis,” which is not known to
the ordinary vocabulary. Another word, of similar import, is “dik-ma-day” in the Lanarkshire version. Two other
words occur, namely, “thegan” in the Lanarkshire, and “maycanameecan” in the Sussex versions, which are also
not to be found in ordinary vocabularies. The two last words appear only once, and cannot, therefore, be used for
the purpose of tracing out an original form of the game-rhyme, because on the system of analysis adopted they
may be arbitrary introductions and totally unconnected with the original rhymes. This, however, is not the case
with the two first-mentioned words, and I am inclined to consider them as forming part of the earliest version. The
word “dis” is carried through no less than ten out of the fourteen variants, the gradation in the forms being as
follows:—

dis
dass
dish
diss[y]—duss
dossy
this —thus
—dust
—dust[y]

[164-
167]

Scot- Lincoln-
Sussex,
land Lanark- York- Shrop- shire, Middle- Hants, Halli- S
No. Biggar. Roxton. Hurst- London.
(Cham- shire. shire. shire. Froding- sex. Liphook. well. fi
monceux.
bers). ham.
1. A-dis, A-dis, A dish, Dissy, Dossy, — — — — — — —
a-dis, a a-dis, a a dish, a dissy, dossy,
green green green green green
grass. grass. grass. grass. grass.

2. — — — — — Walking Stepping Up and Tripping Here we Here we Trip, trap, Ste
up the up the down the up the come up go up the over the up
green green green green the green green grass. gre
grass. grass. grass. grass. grass. grass. gra
3. A-dis, A-dis, A dish, Dissy, Dossy, A dust, Thus, This, and — — — — Thu
a-dis, a- a-dis, a dish, a dissy, dossy, a dust, a and thus, that, and and
das. a-dass. dish. duss. doss. dust. and thus. thus. and
4. — — — — — — — — Dusty, On a — —
dusty dusty,
day. dusty
day.
5. — — — — — — — — — — So early —
in the
morning.
6. Come Come Come Come Come all We Please Come all Come Fair Fair Please let Wil
all ye my all ye all ye ye pretty want a may we ye fair all ye maid, maid, one of let
pretty pretty pretty pretty maids. pretty have a maids. pretty pretty pretty your of y
maids. fair maids. maids. maiden. pretty maids. maid. maid. daughters fair
maid. lass. come. ma
7. And And And And Dance To walk To come And walk Come — — Come and Com
dance walk dance dance upon the along and play along and with dance with and
along along along along grass. with us. with us. with us. us play. me. wit
with us. with with us. with us.
us.
8. For we — For we — — — — — — [See — —
are are lads below.]
going a- a
roving. roving.
9. We’ll — We’ll — — We’ll — — — Give your Give your Take one,
take this take this take her hand to hand to take the
maid by pretty by the me. me. fairest you
the fair hand. can see.
hand. maid by
the
hand.
10. — — — — — — — — — — — Pretty [ ]
come to
me.
11. — — — — — She — — — — — —
shall go
to
Derby.
12. You You Ye sall You You shall She — — You — — You shall
shall shall get a shall have a shall shall have a
have a have a duke. have a duck. have a have a duck, my
duke, dik-ma- duck. (after No. duck, duck. dear.
my dear. day. 19) my dear.
13. — — — — I will give — We will — — — — I will give We
pots and give you you pots giv
pans. pots and and pans. pot
pans. pan
14. — — — — ..... brass. — ..... — — — — ..... brass. .....
brass. bra
15. — — — — ..... gold — ..... gold Some — — — ..... gold .....
and silver. and will give and silver. and
silver. us silver silv
..... gold.
16. — — — — ..... pearl. — ..... pearl. — — — — ..... pearl. .....
17. — — — — ..... — ..... — — — — ..... .....
anything. anything. anything. any
18. — — — — — — — — — I’ll show You shall —
you a see a
blackbird. blackbird.
19. — — — — For a — For a — — — — For a For
pretty lass. pretty pretty girl. pre
lass. lass
20. You You Ye sall You You shall She You — You — — You shall
shall shall get a shall have a shall shall shall have a
have a have a drake. have a drake. have a have a have a drake.
drake. dragon. drake. drake. goose for swan.
dinner.
21. — — — — — — — Take hold — — — —
of my

finger.
22. — — — — — — — Maycana- — — — —
meecan.
23. — — — — — — — — — — All sorts —
of colours
lying by
his side.
[8.] — — — — — — — — — We’ll all — —
go
roving.
24. And ye You Ye sall You You shall She You — You — — You shall You
shall get shall get a shall have a shall shall shall have a sha
a young have a bonny have a young have a have a have a young hav
prince. nice prince. nice man. nice nice nice man. nic
young young young young young you
man. man. man. man. man. ma
25. — — — — — — — Pray tell — — — —
me the
name of
your
young
man.
26. — — — — — — — — — I’ll take Take [ ] —
[ ] for for my
my bride. bride.
27. A young — For To love — A — — A — — —
prince your ain you for fighting waiting
for your sake. your for her for to
sake. sake. sake. come.
28. — — — — Apprentice — — — — — — Apprentice Bor
for your for your you
sake. sake. sak
29. — — — — — — To take — — — — —
you up
the
garden.
30. If this — If they If this — Suppose Suppose — Suppose — — If this
young all young this this he were young
prince should man young young to die. man
should die. should man man was should
die. chance was to to die. happen to
to die. die. die.
31. — — — — If this — — — — — — —
young
man
should
wealthy
grow.
32. Ye shall — Ye sall — — — — — — — — —
get get
another. anither.
33. — — — And — And And — And — — And leave
leave leave leave the leave the poor
the girl the girl girl a his wife woman a
a a widow. a widow.
widow. widow. widow.
34. — — — — And give — — — — — — —
his wife a
feather.
35. Bells — The Birds Bells shall Bells Bells — — — — Bells shall Bel
will ring bells shall ring and ring and would ring, birds sha
and will sing and birds sing. we shall ring, cats shall sing. ring
birds ring, bells sing. would sha
sing. birds ring. sing. sing
will
sing.
36. — — — — — — — — Come — — —
all ye
pretty
fair
maids.
37. We’ll all — We’ll Clap all We’ll all And all So we’ll — Come — — We’ll all We
clap clap your clap hands clap all clap clap clap hands clap
together. your together.

hands hands hands hands hands hands han
together. together. together. together. together. together. tog
38. — With — — — — — — — — — —
princes
for his
thegan.
39. — — — — — — — Don’t — — — —
you think
[ ] a nice
young
man?
40. — — — — — — — Don’t — — — —
you think
[ ] as
handsome
as he?
41. — — — — — — — Then off — — — —
with the
glove, on
with the
ring.
42. — — — — — — — You shall — — — —
be
married
when you
can agree.
43. — — — — — — — — — Naughty Naughty —
miss, she old maid,
won’t she won’t
come out. come out.
44. — — — — — — — — — To help To help —
us with us with
our our
dancing. dancing.
45. — — — — — — — — — Now Now —
we’ve got we’ll get
our our
bonny bonny
lass. lass.
46. — — — — — — — — — To help To help —
us with us with
our our
dancing. dancing.

What the meaning of this word is it may be impossible to ascertain, though probably Mr. Newell may be correct in
his suggestion that it represents the old English word “adist,” the opposite of “ayont,” meaning “this way,” “come
hither” (Games of American Children, p. 51). But the point really is, that the version which contains the oldest
word-forms would probably be the purest in other respects. The analysis of the whole game confirms this view, as
the Scottish and Yorkshire versions are nearly parallel, while the discrepancies begin to creep in with the
Shropshire version, reaching their last stage in the versions recorded by Halliwell and from Congleton. Following
this line of argument, “dik-ma-day” becomes first “duke, my dear,” and then “duck, my dear.” Turning next to the
import of the rhymes, apart from special words used, it is curious to note that “dis” is only converted into “dusty,”
and hence into “dusty day,” in two versions out of the fourteen. The Lincolnshire version agrees with Halliwell’s
version in making some curious offers for a pretty lass, but these rhymes are probably an innovation. In the same
way the incidents numbered 39-40, occurring in the Sussex version, and 43-46 occurring in the London and Hants
versions, are borrowings from other games, and not original portions of this. The Congleton version is evidently
incomplete.
(e) Henderson, in describing the curious rites accompanying the saining or blessing of a corpse in the Scottish
Lowlands, states that empty dishes are arranged on the hearth as near as possible to the fire, and after certain
ceremonies in connection therewith have been performed, the company join hands and dance round the dishes,
singing this burden:—

A dis, a dis, a dis,
A green griss;
A dis, a dis, a dis.
—Folk-lore of Northern Counties, p. 54.

This rhyme is, it will be seen, the same as the first two lines of the game, the word “griss” in the burial-rhyme
becoming “grass” in the game-rhyme, “grisse” being the old form for “grass” or herb (Halliwell, Provincial
Glossary, quotes a MS. authority for this). This identification of the game-rhyme would suggest that the game
originally was a child’s dramatic imitation of an old burial ceremony, and it remains to be seen whether the
signification of the words would carry out this idea.
In the first place, the idea of death is a prominent incident in the game, appearing in seven out of the fourteen
versions. In all these cases the death is followed by the clapping of hands and bell-ringing, and in five cases by the
singing of birds. Clapping of hands occurs in two other cases, and bell-ringing in one other case, not accompanied
by the death incident. Now it is singular that the burial-rite which has just been quoted is called Dish-a-loof; and a
reference to the game of “Dish-a-loof” [under that title], will show that it derives its name from the clapping of
hands. In the ceremony, as described by Henderson, although songs and games are part of the burial-ceremony,
there is no specific mention of hand-clapping; but it is conceivable that the action at one time formed part of the
ceremony, and hence the name “Dish-a-loof.” This would not account for the promise of a duck, drake, &c., as in
incidents Nos. 12 and 20; nor for the promise of a young prince or young man; but these incidents might very well
be variants of some earlier forms which are not now discoverable, especially as love-games were played at
funerals, and as the tendency, in the less complete forms of the game as they have come down to us, is in the
direction of transposing the game into a complete love-game. The use of rushes in the Lanarkshire game might
indicate the funeral garland (Aubrey’s Remaines, pp. 109, 139). For clapping of hands to indicate bell-tolling or
bell-ringing at times of death see Napier’s Folklore, p. 66. Henderson (p. 63) says the “passing bell” was supposed
in former times to serve two purposes: it called on all good Christians within hearing to pray for the departing
spirit, and it scared away the evil spirits who were watching to seize it, or at least to scare and terrify it.
On the whole evidence from the rhymes, therefore, I should be disposed to class this game as originally belonging
to burial, and not love, rites.[Addendum]

Green Gravel
[Play]

—Madeley, Shropshire (Miss Burne).

[Play]

—Earls Heaton (H. Hardy).

[Play]

—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

[Play]

—Redhill, Surrey (Miss G. Hope).

[Play]

—Lancashire (Mrs. Harley).

[Play]

—Derbyshire (Mrs. Harley).

I. Green gravel, green gravel, your grass is so green,
The fairest young damsel that ever was seen;
We washed her, we dried her, we rolled her in silk,
And we wrote down her name with a glass pen and ink.
Dear Annie, dear Annie, your true love is dead,
And we send you a letter to turn round your head.
—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

II. Green gravel, green gravel, the grass is so green,
The fairest young lady that ever was seen;
I’ll wash you in milk,
And I’ll clothe you with silk,
And I’ll write down your name with a gold pen and ink.
O Sally, O Sally, your true love is dead,
He sent you a letter to turn round your head.
—Berrington, Oswestry (Shropshire Folk-lore p. 510).

III.Around the green gravel the grass is so green,
All the pretty fair maids are plain to be seen;
Wash them in milk, and clothe them in silk,
Write their names down with a gold pen and ink.
All but Miss “Jenny,” her sweetheart is dead;
She’s left off her wedding to turn back her head.

O mother, O mother, do you think it is true?
O yes, child! O yes, child!
Then what shall I do?
We’ll wash you in milk, and dress you in silk,
And write down your name with a gold pen—Derbyshire
and ink. and Worcestershire (Mrs. Harley).

IV.Green gravel, green gravel,
The grass is so green,
Such beautiful flowers
As never were seen.
O Annie [or any name], O Annie,
Your sweetheart is dead!
He has sent you a letter
To turn back your head.
—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy).

V. Green gravel, green gravel,
The grass is so green,
The fairest young damsels
As ever were seen.
O ——, O ——, your true love is dead;
He sent you a letter
To turn round your head.

Green gravel, green gravel,
The grass is so green,
The dismalest damsels
As ever were seen.
O ——, O ——, your true love’s not dead;
He sends you a letter
To turn back your head.
—Lincoln, Winterton, and Wakefield (Miss Fowler and Miss Peacock).

VI.Green gravel, green gravel, the grass is so green,
The fairest young lady [damsel] that ever was seen.
O ——, O ——, your true love is dead;
He’s sent you a letter to turn round your head.
—Redhill, Surrey (Miss G. Hope); Lancashire (Mrs. Harley).

Green meadows, green meadows, your grass is so green,
VII.
The fairest young damsel that ever was seen;
O Mary, O Mary, your sweetheart is dead;
We’ve sent you a letter to turn back your head.

Or,Green gravel, green gravel, the grass is so green, and following on as above.
—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

Green grover, green grover, your grass is so green,
VIII.
The prettiest young lady that ever was seen.
O ——, O ——, your true love is dead;
I send you this letter, so turn round your head.
—Gainford, Durham (Miss Eddleston).

IX.Green gravels, green gravels,
The grass is so green,
And all the pretty maidens
Are not to be seen,
Except —— (said twice),

And she’s not [?] to be seen,
So I send you a letter to turn round your head.
—Hampshire (Miss E. Mendham).

X.Green gravels, green gravels, the grass is so green,
Fine pencils, fine pencils, as ever were seen.
O Mary! O Mary! your true love is dead,
And he’s sent you a letter to turn round your head.
—Wales (Byegones, 1890).

XI.Yellow gravel, yellow gravel,
The grass is so green,
The fairest young lady
That ever was seen.
O ——, O ——,
Your true love is dead;
I send you a letter to turn round your head.
—Cowes, Isle of Wight (Miss E. Smith).

Green gravel, green gravel, the grass is so green,
XII.
Said the fairest young damsel that ever I’ve seen.
O mother, O mother, my true-love is dead,
He sent me this letter to turn round my head.
O mother, O mother, do you think this is true?
O yes, love! O yes, love!
And what shall I do?
I’ll wash you in butter-milk, I’ll dress you in silk,
I’ll write down your name with my gold pen and ink.
—Isle of Man (A. W. Moore).

Green gravel, green gravel, the grass is so green,
XIII.
The flowers are all faded and none to be seen.
O [Dolly], O [Dolly], your sweetheart is dead,
He’s sent you a letter to turn back your head.

Wallflowers, wallflowers, growing up so high,
We are but little, and we shall have to die!
Excepting [Dolly Turner], she’s the youngest girl.
O for shame, and fie for shame, and turn your back to home again.
—Madeley, Shropshire (Miss Burne).

Green gravel, green gravel, the grass is so green,
XIV.
The fairest young lady that ever was seen.
As I went up Miss Betsey’s stairs to buy a frying-pan,
There sat Miss Betsey a-kissing her young man.

She pulled off her glove and showed me her ring,
And the very next morning the bells did ring.
Dear Betsey, dear Betsey, your true love is dead,
He’s sent you a letter to turn back your head.
—Summertown, Oxford (A. H. Franklin, Midland Garner, vol. ii. p. 32).

Round the green gravel the grass grows green,
XV.
All pretty fair maids are fit to be seen;
Wash them in milk, and clothe them in silk,
And write down their names with pen and black ink—
Choose one, choose two, choose the fairest daughter.

Now, my daughter, married to-day,

Like father and mother they should be,
To love one another like sister and brother—
I pray you now to kiss one another.

Now my daughter Mary’s gone,
With her pockets all lined with gold;
On my finger a gay gold ring—
Good-bye, Mary, good-bye.

Now this poor widow is left alone,
Nobody could marry a better one;
Choose one, choose two—
Choose the fairest daughter. —Sheffield (S. O. Addy).

Round the green gravel the grass is so green,
XVI.
And all the fine ladies that ever were seen;
Washed in milk and dressed in silk,
The last that stoops down shall be married.

[Johnnie Smith] is a nice young man,
And so is [Bessie Jones] as nice as he;
He came to the door with his hat in his hand,
Inquiring for [Miss Jones].

She is neither within, she is neither without,
She is up in the garret a-walking about.
Down she came, as white as milk,
With a rose in her bosom as soft as silk.

Silks and satins be ever so dear,
You shall have a kiss [gown?], my dear,
So off with the glove and on with the ring—
To-morrow, to-morrow, the wedding begins.
—Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (Miss Matthews).

Around a green gravill
XVII.
The grass is so green,
And all the fine ladies
Ashamed to be seen.
They wash ’em in milk
And dress ’em in silk—
We’ll all cou’ don’ together.

My elbow, my elbow,
My pitcher and my can;
Isn’t ——
A nice young gell?
Isn’t ——
As nice as her—
They shall be married with a guinea-gold ring.

I peep’d through the window,
I peep’d through the door,
I seed pretty ——
A-dancin on the floor;
I cuddled her an’ fo’dled her,
I set her on my knee;

I says pretty ——
Won’t [ëe?] you marry me.

A new-swept parlour,
An’ a new-made bed,
A new cup and saucer
Again we get wed.
If it be a boy, he shall have a hat,
To follow with his mammy to her na’, na’, na’;
If he be a gell, she shall have a ring,
To follow with her mammy to her ding, ding, ding. (Miss Fowler).
—Wakefield

(c) The more general way of playing this game is to form a ring of children simply. The children walk round
singing the verse as in the Belfast version, and when the last line is sung, the child whose name is mentioned turns
round, facing the outside of the ring and having her back to the centre. She continues to hold hands with the others,
and dances round with them in that position. This is repeated until all the children have “turned” their backs to the
inside of the ring. Here the game ends in many cases, but another verse is sung in the Lincoln, Winterton, and
Wakefield versions from Miss Peacock, and this was sung also in the London version. The second verse thus
terminates the game, with the players one by one reversing their position and facing the centre of ring as at first. In
the Forest of Dean and Wakefield versions the action of the game is somewhat different. A child stands in the
centre of the ring of children, without apparently taking much part in the game, except to name the children in turn.
In the Wakefield version, however (Miss Fowler, No. xvii.), a little boy stands in the middle of a circle of girls who
sing the first verse. At “We’ll all cou’ don’ together,” all crouch down, as if in profound respect, then rising slowly,
sing the next verse. After “My pitcher and my can,” each child mentions her own name. At “Isn’t —— as nice as
her?” each mentions her sweetheart’s name, and the child thus chosen goes into the circle. At the end of the fourth
verse they all clap hands, and the one that is sweetheart to him in the middle kisses him. The “crouching down” is
also done in the Forest of Dean version when singing the fourth line. The last one to stoop has to name her
sweetheart. When this is done, the children all dance round and sing the other lines.
(d) The analysis of the game-rhymes is on pp. 178-181. The most constant formulæ of this game-rhyme are shown
by this analysis to be Nos. 1, 6, 7, 13, 15, 18, 23, and the variants, though important, are not sufficient to detract
from the significance of the normal version. It is evidently a funeral game. The green gravel and the green grass
indicate the locality of the scene; “green,” as applied to gravel, may mean freshly disturbed, just as green grave
means a freshly made grave. The tenant of the new grave is the well-loved lady of a disconsolate lover, and
probably the incidents of washing and dressing the corpse, and putting an inscription on the place where it is laid,
are indicated by Nos. 13 and 15. The dirge, or singing to the dead, is indicated by Nos. 18, 23, and 26, and the
beauty of the first line is in complete accord with the mournful music. That No. 26 occurs in only two variants,
Derbyshire and the Isle of Man, is curious, as the pathos of this appeal is very apparent in the movement of the
game. The communion with the dead which is indicated by No. 23 is by no means considered impossible by the
peasantry. In confirmation of this being a representation of an old funeral ceremony, it may be pointed out that the
action of turning backwards during the singing of the dirge is also represented in the curious funeral ceremony
called “Dish-a-loof,” which is described in Henderson’s Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 53. Henderson’s
words are: “All the attendants, going out of the room, return into it backwards, repeating this rhyme of ’saining.’”
The additional ceremony of marriage in four of the games is clearly an interpolation, which may have arisen from
the custom of playing love and marriage games at funerals and during the watching with the corpse, or may be a
mere transition to the more pleasant task of love-making as the basis of a game. The Derbyshire incident (No. 24)
may indicate indeed that the funeral is that of a young bride, and in that case the tendency to make the game
wholly a marriage game is accounted for. The decay which has set in is apparent by the evident attempt to alter
from “green gravel” to “green grover” and “yellow gravel” (Nos. 4 and 5), and to introduce pen and black ink (No.
17). The addition of the incongruous elements from other games (Nos. 27-31) is a frequent occurrence in modern
games, and is the natural result of decadence in the original form of the game. Altogether this game-rhyme affords
[178-
a very good example of the condition of traditional games among the present generation of children. 181]
Earls Lin-
Shrop- Derby- Redhill, Sporle, Gainford, Isle of Isle of Made- Oxford
No. Belfast. Heaton, coln- Hants. Wales.
shire. shire. Surrey. Norfolk. Durham. Wight. Man. ley. shire.
Yorks. shire.
1. Green Green — Green Green Green — — Green Green — Green Green Green
gravel. gravel. gravel. gravel. gravel. gravels. gravel. gravel. gravel. gravel.

2. — — Around — — — — — — — — — — —
the
green
gravel.
3. — — — — — — Green — — — — — — —
meadows.
4. — — — — — — — Green — — — — — —
grover.
5. — — — — — — — — — — Yellow — — —
gravel.
6. Your The The The The The Your Your The The The The — —
grass is grass grass is grass is grass grass is grass is grass is grass is grass grass grass is
so is so so so is so so so green. so green. so is so is so so
green. green. green. green. green. green. green. green. green. green.
7. The — — — Fairest Fairest Fairest — — — — Fairest — —
fairest damsel damsel damsel damsel
damsel ever ever ever seen. ever
ever seen. seen. I’ve
seen. seen.
8. — The — — — — — Prettiest — — Fairest — — Fairest
fairest young young young
young lady ever lady lady
lady seen. ever ever
ever seen. seen.
seen.
9. — — All — — — — — — — — — — —
pretty
maids
are
plain to
be seen.
10. — — — Such — — — — — — — — Flowers —
beautiful all
flowers faded,
ever none to
seen. be seen.
11. — — — — — — — — All — — — — —
pretty
maidens
are
_not_ to
be seen.
12. — — — — — — — — — Fine — — — —
pencil
as
ever
was
seen.
13. Washed — — — — — — — — — — — — —
her,
dried
her,
rolled
her in
silk.
14. — Wash Wash — — — — — — — — [Wash — —
you in them in you in
milk, milk, butter-
clothe clothe milk,
in silk. in silk. dress in
silk.]
(After
No.
26.)
15. Wrote — — — — — — — — — — — — —
name
in glass
pen and
ink.
16. — Write Write — — — — — — — — [Write — —
name names name
in in gold with
gold pen and my
pen ink. gold

and pen and
ink. ink.]
(After
No.
26.)
17. — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

18. Your True Her Sweet- True True Sweet- True love — True True True Sweet- True
true love is sweet- heart is love is love is heart is is dead. love is love is love is heart is love is
love is dead. heart is dead. dead. dead. dead. dead. dead. dead. dead. dead.
dead. dead. (After
No.
25.)
19. — — — — — — — — Except — — — — —
——
she’s
not to
be seen.
20. — — — — — — — — — — — — — Betsy
kissing
her
young
man.
21. — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

22. — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

23. He sent He — He sent He He sent We sent I send I send He’s I send He sent I’ve [He
letter to sent letter to sent letter to letter to letter to letter to sent you this sent sent
turn letter turn letter turn turn your turn your turn letter letter letter to letter to letter to
your to turn your to turn your head. head. round to turn to turn turn my turn turn
head. your head. your head. your head. round head. your back
head. head. head. your head. your
head. head.]
(After
No.
25.)
24. — — She’s — — — — — — — — — — —
left off
her
wedding
to turn
back her
head.
25. — — — — — — — — — — — — — She
showed
her ring
and
bells
did
ring.

26. — — Mother, — — — — — — — — Mother, — —
is it is it
true; true?
What What
shall I shall I
do? do?

[Then
repeat
Nos. 14
& 16.]
27. — — — — True — — — — — — — — —
love
not
dead,
he
sends
letter
to turn
your
head.
28. — — — — — — — — — — — — [Wall- —
flowers
verses
follow.]
29. — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

30. — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

31. — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

32. — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

(e) Other versions, actually or practically identical with the Redhill (Surrey) version, have been sent by Miss Blair
(South Shields); Mr. H. S. May, Ogbourne and Manton (Wilts); Mrs. Haddon (Cambridge); Mrs. Harley
(Lancashire); and Miss Burne, Platt, near Wrotham (Kent). There are also similar printed versions in Folk-lore
Journal, vi. 214 (Dorsetshire); Folk-lore Record, v. 84 (Hersham, Surrey). Northall prints a version in his Folk
Rhymes, 362-3, identical with No. 17. The tune of the Platt version sent by Miss Burne, and the Ogbourne and
Manton (H. S. May), are almost identical, except the termination. This seems to be the most general tune for the
game. The Lancashire tune is the same as the London version.
Miss Burne says of the Madeley version: “I never knew ‘Green Gravel’ and ‘Wallflowers’ played together as in
this way elsewhere (I had not got this variant when I wrote Shropshire Folk-lore), except at Much Wenlock, where
they reverse the two verses, and only sing one line (the last) of ‘Green Gravel.’ But I feel sure they must have been
meant to go together (see my note in Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 510), and I can explain them, I think. The ring of
girls are dancing on the green grass plot in the middle of an old-fashioned sixteenth-century walled garden: each
gets the news of her lover’s death, and ‘turns her face to the wall,’ the old token of hopeless sorrow. Then they
apostrophise the wallflowers in the border surrounding the grass plot against the old high wall; and here another
variant explains the lament (second line)—

Wallflowers, wallflowers, growing up so high,
We shall all be maidens [and so], we shall all die;

Except the youngest (who will meet with another lover), whether as an
instance of the proverbial luck of the ‘youngest born,’ or as a piece of
juvenile giddiness and inconstancy, I cannot say; but considering the value
set on true love and hopeless constancy in the ballad-lore, and the special
garland which distinguished the funerals of bereaved but constant maidens,
and the solemnity of betrothal in old days, the latter seems probable,
especially considering the ‘for shame.’”
The incidents of washing a corpse in milk and dressing it in silk occur in
“Burd Ellen,” Jamieson’s Ballads, p. 125.

“Tak up, tak up my bonny young son,
Gar wash him wi’ the milk;
Tak up, tak up my fair lady,
Gar row her in the silk.”
[Addendum]

Green Grow the Leaves (1)
[Play]

—Earls Heaton (Mr. Hardy).

I. Green grow the leaves (or grows the ivy) round the old oak tree,
Green grow the leaves round the old oak tree,
Green grow the leaves round the old oak tree,
As we go marching on.

Bless my life I hardly knew you,
Bless my life I hardly knew you,

Bless my life I hardly knew you,
As we go marching on. —Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire (Miss Peacock).

II. Green grow the leaves on the old oak tree,
I love the boys and the boys love me,
As we go marching on.
—Sharleston (Miss Fowler).

III.I love the boys and the boys love me,
I love the boys and the boys love me,
I love the boys and the boys love me,
As we go marching home.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
As we go marching home.

The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf,
The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf,
The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf,
As we go marching home.
—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert).

(b) In Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire the game is played by the children
forming a circle and dancing round, singing. The first and third lines are
sung three times. Partners are chosen during the singing of the last line.
Miss Peacock adds, “The rest wanting, as my informant had forgotten the
game.” In the Sharleston version the children march round two by two, in a
double circle, with one child in the centre, singing the verse. At the
conclusion, the children who are marching on the inner side of the circle
leave their partners and take the place of one in front of them, while the
centre child endeavours to get one of the vacant places, the child turned out
taking the place of the one in the centre, when the game begins again. In the
Earls Heaton version there is the circle of children, with one child in the
centre, who chooses a partner after the lines have been sung.

(c) From this it would seem that while the Lincolnshire and
Nottinghamshire words appear to be the most complete, the action has been
preserved best at Sharleston. The acting of this version is the same as that of
“The Jolly Miller.” The third variant is evidently an imitation of the song,
“John Brown.”

Green Grow the Leaves (2)
[Play]

—Northants (R. S. Baker).

Green grow the leaves on the hawthorn tree,
Green grow the leaves on the hawthorn tree,
We jangle and we wrangle and we never can agree,
But the tenor of our song goes merrily, merrily, merrily,
The tenor of our song goes merrily.
—R. S. Baker (Northants Notes and Queries, ii. 161).

(b) One couple is chosen to lead, and they go off, whither they will,
followed by a long train of youths and maidens, all singing the refrain.
Sometimes the leaders part company, and branch off to the right or left; the
others have to do the same, and not until the leaders meet can they join
again. They march arm in arm.
(c) Mr. R. S. Baker, who records this, says a Wellingborough lady sent him
the tune and words, and told him the game was more like a country dance
than anything else, being a sort of dancing “Follow My Leader.”

Gully
A sink, or, failing that, a particular stone in the pavement was the “Gully.”
Some boy chosen by lot, or one who volunteered in order to start the game,
laid his top on the ground at some distance from the “Gully.” The first
player then spun his top, pegging at the recumbent top, so as to draw it
towards the “Gully.” If he missed the top, he stooped down and took up his
own top by pushing his hand against it in such a manner that the space
between his first and second finger caught against the peg and forced the
top into the palm of his hand. He then had “a go” at the recumbent top (I
forget what this was called), and sent his own top against it so as to push it
towards the “Gully.” If he missed, he tried again and again, until his own
top could spin no longer. If he did not hit the top with his own while it was
spinning, his top had to be laid down and the other one taken up, and its
owner took his turn at pegging. When a spinning-top showed signs of
exhaustion, and the taking it up might kill it, and it was not very far from
the down-lying top, its owner would gently push it with his finger, so as to
make it touch the other top, and so avoid putting it into the other’s place.
This was called “kissing,” and was not allowed by some players. When one
player succeeded in sending the top into the “Gully,” he took it up and fixed
it by its peg into a post, mortar of a wall, or the best place where it could be
tolerably steady. Holding it by one hand, he drove the peg of his own top as
far as he could into the crown of the victim top. This was called “taking a
grudge.” He then held either his own or the victim top and knocked the
other against the wall, the object being to split the victim. He was allowed
three “grudges.” If the top did not give way, the other players tried in turn.
If the top did not split, it was returned to its owner, but any boy who
succeeded in splitting it through the middle, so that the peg fell out, took
possession of the peg. I have seen a top split at the side in such a way as to
be quite useless as a top, though no peg was gained. I remember, too, a
schoolfellow of mine drawing from his pocket some seven or eight pegs,
the trophied memorials of as many tops.—London (J. P. Emslie).
See “Hoatie,” “Hoges,” “Peg-top.”

Hairry my Bossie
This is a game of chance. The players are two, and may be boys or girls, or
a boy and a girl. The stakes may be pins, buttons, marbles, or anything for

which children gamble. One player puts a number, one, two, three or more,
of the articles to be gambled for into the hollow of the closed hand, and
says, “Hairry my bossie;” the other answers, “Knock ’im down,” upon
which he puts his closed hands down with a blow on his knees, and
continues to strike them upwards and downwards on the knee, so as to give
the opponent in play an idea of the number of objects concealed by the
sound given forth. He then says, “How many blows?” and gets the reply,
“As many’s goes.” A guess is then made. If the guess is correct the guesser
gets the objects. If the guess is incorrect the guesser has to make up the
difference between the number guessed and the real number. The players
play alternately. This game was played for the most part at Christmas.—
Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
(b) Hairry = “rob,” Bossie = “a wooden bowl,” commonly used for making
the leaven in baking oat-cakes, and for making “brose.”
This is a very general game amongst schoolboys.

Half-Hammer
The game of “Hop-step-and-jump,” Norfolk. This game is played in the
west of Sussex, but not in the east. It is played thus by two or more boys.
Each boy in his turn stands first on one leg and makes a hop, then strides or
steps, and lastly, putting both feet together, jumps. The boy who covers the
most ground is the victor.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.

Han’-and-Hail
A game common in Dumfries, thus described by Jamieson. Two goals
called hails, or dules, are fixed on at about a distance of four hundred yards.
The two parties then place themselves in the middle between the goals or
dules, and one of the players, taking a soft elastic ball, about the size of a
man’s fist, tosses it into the air, and, as it falls, strikes it with his palm
towards his antagonists. The object of the game is for either party to drive
the ball beyond the goal which lies before them, while their opponents do
all in their power to prevent this. As soon as the ball is gowf’t, that is,
struck away, the opposite party endeavour to intercept it in its fall. This is
called keppan’ the ba’. If they succeed in this attempt, the player who does

so is entitled to throw the ball with all his might towards his antagonists. If
he kep it in the first bound which it makes off the ground, called a stot, he is
allowed to haunch, that is, to throw the ball by bringing his hand with a
sweep past his thigh, to which he gives a stroke as his hand passes, and
discharging the ball at the moment when the stroke is given. If the ball be
caught in the second bounce, the catcher may hoch the ball, that is, throw it
through below one of his houghs. If none of the party catch the ball, it must
be gowf’t in the manner before described. As soon as either of the parties
succeed in driving the ball, or, as it is called, hailin’ the dules, the game then
begins by one of the party which was successful throwing the ball towards
the opposing goal and the other party striving to drive it back.

Hand in and Hand out
A game played by a company of young people who are drawn up in a circle,
when one of them, pitched upon by lot, walks round the band, and, if a boy,
hits a girl, or, if a girl, she strikes a boy whom she chooses, on which the
party striking and the party struck run in pursuit of each other till the latter
is caught, whose lot it then becomes to perform the same part. A game so
called was forbidden by statute of Edward IV.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
See “Drop Handkerchief.”

Handy-Croopen
A game in which one of the players turns his face to the wall, his hand
resting upon his back. He must continue in position until he guesses who
struck his hand, when the striker takes his place.—Orkney and Shetland
(Jamieson’s Dictionary).
See “Hot Cockles.”

Handy Dandy
I. Handy dandy,
Sugary candy—
Top or bottom?

Handy spandy,

Jack a dandy—
Which good hand will you have?
—Halliwell’s Dictionary: Nursery Rhymes, p. 216.

II. Handy dandy riddledy ro—
Which will you have, high or low?
—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, p. 216.

III.Handy pandy,
Sugary candy,
Which will you have—
Top or bottom?
—London (A. B. Gomme).

IV.Handy pandy, Jack a dandy,
Which hand will you have?
—Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 530.

(b) The hands are closed, some small article is put in one of them behind the
back of the player. The closed fists are then turned rapidly round one
another while the rhyme is being said, and they are then placed one on top
of the other. A guess is then made by any one of the players as to which
hand the object is in. If correct, the guesser obtains the object; if incorrect,
the player who performs “Handy dandy” keeps it.
(c) This game is mentioned in Piers Plowman, p. 69 of Wright’s edition.
Douce quotes an ancient MS. which curiously mentions the game as “men
play with little children at ‘handye-dandye,’ which hand will you have” (ii.
167). Johnson says: “‘Handy dandy,’ a play in which children change hands
and places: ‘See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief! Hark, in thine
ear: change places, and, handy dandy, which is the justice, which is the
thief?” (King Lear, iv. 6). Malone says, “‘Handy dandy’ is, I believe, a play
among children, in which something is shaken between two hands, and then
a guess is made in which hand it is retained.” See Florio’s Italian
Dictionary, 1598: “Bazzicchiare, to shake between the hands; to play
‘Handy dandy.’” Pope, in his Memoirs of Cornelius Scriblerus, in
forbidding certain sports to his son Martin till he is better informed of their
antiquity, says: “Neither cross and pile, nor ducks and drakes, are quite so
ancient as ‘Handy dandy,’ though Macrobius and St. Augustine take notice

of the first, and Minutius Foelix describes the latter; but ‘Handy dandy’ is
mentioned by Aristotle, Plato, and Aristophanes.” Browne, in Britannia’s
Pastorals (i. 5), also alludes to the game.
See “Neiveie-nick-nack.”

Hap the Beds
A singular game, gone through by hopping on one foot, and with that foot
sliding a little flat stone out of an oblong bed, rudely drawn on a smooth
piece of ground. This bed is divided into eight parts, the two of which at the
farther end of it are called the Kail-pots. If the player then stands at one end,
and pitches the smooth stone into all the divisions one after the other,
following the same on a foot (at every throw), and bringing it out of the
figure, this player wins not only the game, but is considered a first-rate daub
at it; failing, however, to go through all the parts so, without missing either
a throw or a hop, yet keeping before the other gamblers (for many play at
one bed), still wins the curious rustic game.—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian
Encyclopædia.
A game called “The Beds,” mentioned by a writer in Blackwood’s
Magazine, August 1821, p. 36, as played in Edinburgh when he was a boy
by girls only, is described as a game where a pitcher is kicked into chalked
divisions of the pavement, the performer being on one leg and hopping.
See “Hop-scotch.”

Hard Buttons
Several boys place one button each close together on a line. The game
consists in hitting a particular button out of this line with the nicker without
touching the others. This is generally played in London streets, and is
mentioned in the Strand Magazine, ii. 515.
See “Banger,” “Buttons.”

Hare and Hounds

A boys’ game. One boy is chosen as the Hare. He carries with him a bag
filled with strips of paper. The rest of the boys are the Hounds. The Hare
has a certain time (say fifteen minutes) allowed him for a start, and he goes
across country, scattering some paper on his way in order to indicate his
track. He may employ any manœuvre in order to deceive his pursuers, but
must keep up the continuity of his paper track-signs. The Hounds follow
him and try to catch him before he gets home, which is a place agreed upon
beforehand.—London (G. L. Gomme).
In Cornwall the leader, when at fault, says—

Uppa, uppa, holye! If you don’t speak
My dogs shan’t folly.
—Courtney (Folk-lore Journal, v. 73).

Other versions of this holloa are—

Whoop, whoop, and hollow!
Good dogs won’t follow
Without the hare cries, Peewit.
—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, p. 66.

Sound your holler,
Or my little dog shan’t foller.
—Northall’s English Folk Rhymes, p. 357.

This game is played in Wales under the name of “Hunt the Fox.” The Fox
has a certain time given him for a start, the other players then go after him.
—Beddgelert (Mrs. Williams).

Harie Hutcheon
A game among children, in which they hop round in a ring, sitting on their
hams.—Jamieson.
See “Curcuddie,” “Cutch-a-cutchoo,” “Hirtschin Hairy.”

Hark the Robbers

[Play]

—Tong, Shropshire (Miss R. Harley).

I. Hark the robbers coming through,
Coming through,
Hark the robbers coming through,
My fair lady.

What have the robbers done to you,
Done to you,
What have the robbers done to you,
My fair lady?

You have stole my watch and chain,
Watch and chain,
You have stole my watch and chain,
My fair lady.

Half-a-crown you must pay,
You must pay,
Half-a-crown you must pay,
My fair lady.

Half-a-crown we cannot pay,
Cannot pay,
Half-a-crown we cannot pay,
My fair lady.

Off to prison you must go,
You must go,
Off to prison you must go,
My fair lady.
—Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).

II. Here are the robbers coming through,
Coming through, coming through,
Here are the robbers coming through,
My fair lady.

What will the robbers do to you,
Do to you, do to you,
What will the robbers do to you,
My fair lady?

Steal your watch and break your chain,
Break your chain, break your chain,
Steal your watch and break your chain,
My fair lady.

Then they must go to jail,
Go to jail, go to jail,
Then they must go to jail,
My fair lady.
—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

III.Hark the robbers
Coming through, coming through,
My fair lady.

They have stolen my watch and chain,
Watch and chain, watch and chain.

Off to prison they shall go,
They shall go, they shall go,
My fair lady.
—Wolstanton, Stoke-on-Trent (Miss A. A. Keary).

IV.Hark the robbers coming through,
Coming through, coming through,
Hark the robbers coming through,
My fair lady.

What’s the robbers done to you,

Done to you, done to you,
What’s the robbers done to you,
My fair lady?

They have stole my watch and chain,
Watch and chain, watch and chain,
They have stole my watch and chain,
My fair lady.

What’s the price will set you free,
Set you free, set you free,
What’s the price will set you free,
My fair lady?

Half-a-guinea will set me free,
Will set me free, will set me free,
Half-a-guinea will set me free,
My fair lady.

Half-a-guinea you shall not have,
Shall not have, shall not have,
Half-a-guinea you shall not have,
My fair lady.

Let’s join hands, it is too late,
’Tis too late, ’tis too late,
Let’s join hands, it is too late,
My fair lady. —Tong, Shropshire (Miss R. Harley).

V. Hark at the robbers going through,
Through, through, through; through, through, through;
Hark at the robbers going through,
My fair lady.

What have the robbers done to you,
You, you, you; you, you, you?
What have the robbers done to you,
My fair lady?

Stole my gold watch and chain,
Chain, chain, chain; chain, chain, chain;
Stole my gold watch and chain,
My fair lady.

How many pounds will set us free,
Free, free, free; free, free, free?
How many pounds will set us free,
My fair lady?

A hundred pounds will set you free,
Free, free, free; free, free, free;
A hundred pounds will set you free,
My fair lady.

We have not a hundred pounds,
Pounds, pounds, pounds; pounds, pounds, pounds;
We have not a hundred pounds,
My fair lady.

Then to prison you must go,
Go, go, go; go, go, go;
Then to prison you must go,
My fair lady.

To prison we will not go,
Go, go, go; go, go, go;
To prison we will not go,
My fair lady. —Shipley, Horsham (Notes and Queries, 8th Series, i. 210,
Miss Busk).

VI.See the robbers coming through,
Coming through, coming through,
See the robbers coming through,
A nice young lady.

Here’s a prisoner we have got,
We have got, we have got,

Here’s a prisoner we have got,
A nice young lady.

How many pounds to set her free,
Set her free, set her free,
How many pounds to set her free,
A nice young lady?

A hundred pounds to set her free,
Set her free, set her free,
A hundred pounds to set her free,
A nice young lady.

A hundred pounds we cannot give,
We cannot give, we cannot give,
A hundred pounds we cannot give,
A nice young lady.

Then to prison she must go,
She must go, she must go,
Then to prison she must go,
A nice young lady.

If she goes we’ll go too,
We’ll go too, we’ll go too,
If she goes we’ll go too,
A nice young lady.

Round the meadows we will go,
We will go, we will go,
Round the meadows we will go,
A nice young lady. —Settle, Yorks. (Rev. W. S. Sykes).

O what has this poor prisoner done,
VII.
Poor prisoner done, poor prisoner done?
O what has this poor prisoner done,
So early in the morning?

She stole my watch and lost my key,
Lost my key, lost my key,
She stole my watch and lost my key,
So early in the morning.

How many pounds to set her free,
Set her free, set her free?
How many pounds to set her free,
So early in the morning?

Five hundred pounds to set her free,
Set her free, set her free,
Five hundred pounds to set her free,
So early in the morning.

Five hundred pounds we have not got,
Have not got, have not got,
Five hundred pounds we have not got,
So early in the morning.

So off to prison she must go,
She must go, she must go,
So off to prison she must go,
So early in the morning.

If she go then I’ll go too,
I’ll go too, I’ll go too,
If she go then I’ll go too,
So early in the morning.

So round the meadows we must go,
We must go, we must go,
So round the meadows we must go,
So early in the morning. —Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

(b) In the Deptford version two girls join hands, holding them up as an arch
for the other players to tramp through. The first two verses are sung first by
one and then by the other of the two girls. At the finish of these the girl then

going through the arch is stopped, and the third, fourth, and fifth verses are
sung by the two girls alternately. Then finally both girls sing the last verse,
and the child is sent as prisoner behind one or other of the two girls. The
verses are then begun again, and repeated afresh for each of the troop
marching through the arch until all of them are placed behind one or other
of the two girls. The two sides thus formed then proceed to tug against each
other, and the strongest side wins the game.
The Belfast version is practically the same, except that the verses are not
sung as a dialogue, but by all the players together, and the prisoner, when
caught, has the choice of sides, by being asked, “Which will you have, a
golden apple or golden pear?” and according to the answer given is sent
behind one of the leaders. The Norfolk and Shropshire games are different.
Miss Matthews thus describes the Norfolk game: “Two girls take hold of
hands, and another, the prisoner, stands between them. The rest form
themselves into a line opposite, and advance and retreat while singing the
first verse, the gaolers singing the next verse, and so on alternately. [At the
end of the last verse but one] the children break the line, form themselves
into a ring, and dance round the prisoner, singing the final verse.” Miss
Harley describes the Shropshire version as follows: “The first six verses are
sung by the alternate parties, who advance and retire, tramping their feet, at
first, to imitate the robbers. The last verse is sung altogether going round in
a ring.” In the Shipley version, Miss Busk says: “The children form
themselves into two lines, while two or three, representing the robbers,
swagger along between them. When the robbers sing the last verse they
should have attained the end of the lines [of children], as during the parley
they were safe; having pronounced the defiance they run away. The children
in the lines rush after them, and should catch them and put them in prison.”
(c) The analysis of this game is easy. The Deptford, Belfast, and Wolstanton
versions are clearly enough dramatic representations of the capture of a
robber, and probably the game dates from the period of the prevalence of
highway robbery. The Wolstanton version shows us that the game is
breaking up from its earlier form, while the Norfolk and Shropshire
versions show a fresh development into the mere game for children, apart
from its original significance. The action of the game confirms this view.
The Norfolk action seems to be the most nearly perfect in its dramatic
significance, and the Shropshire action comes next. The action of the other

games seems to have been grafted on to the superior form of “Oranges and
Lemons.” It is probable that this fact has preserved the words more
completely than in the other cases, where the force of the robber action
would become less and less as actual experience of robbers and robbery
died out. Altogether, this game supplies a very good example of the change
produced in games by changes in the actual life which gave rise to them. It
is singular that the verses of this game also enter into the composition of
“London Bridge is broken down.” It is probable, therefore, that it may be an
altered form of the game of “London Bridge.” The refrain, “My fair lady,”
occurs in both games.
See “London Bridge.”

Hats in Holes
A boys’ game. The players range their hats in a row against the wall, and
each boy in turn pitches a ball from a line at some twenty-five feet distance
into one of the hats. The boy into whose hat it falls has to seize it and throw
it at one or other of the others, who all scamper off when the ball is “packed
in.” If he fails to hit he is out, and takes his cap up. The boy whose cap is
left at the last has to “cork” the others, that is, to throw the ball at their bent
backs, each in turn stooping down to take his punishment.—Somerset
(Elworthy’s Dialect).
See “Balls and Bonnets.”

Hattie
A game with preens, pins, on the crown of a hat. Two or more may play.
Each lays on a pin, then with the hand they strike the side of the hat time
about, and whoever makes the pins by a stroke cross each other, lifts those
so crossed.—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.

Hawkey
A game played by several boys on each side with sticks called “hawkey
bats,” and a ball. A line is drawn across the middle of the ground from one
side to the other; one party stands on one side of the line and the opposite
party on the other, and neither must overstep this boundary, but are allowed