CORNISH GAMES.
Many old games worth recording are still played by Cornish children, out of doors in summer, indoors in winter, and at their numerous school-treats. To those common elsewhere, other names in Cornwall are often given, and different words sung. Some well known thirty-five years ago, now (1890) live only in the memory of those who were children then, or linger in a very fragmentary state in some remote country districts. Such as
“Here come three dukes a-riding.”
To play this the children were divided into two parties. In the first were only the three dukes; in the second the other players, who stood in a long line, linked hand in hand, facing them,—the mother in the middle, with her daughters ranged according to size on each side of her. One duke was chosen as spokesman, and he began the following dialogue, which was sung; the party singing advanced and retreated, whilst the others stood still:—
“Here ‘comes’ three dukes a-riding, a-riding—
Here ‘comes’ three dukes a-riding, to court your daughter Jane.”
“My daughter Jane is yet too young
To bear your silly, flattering tongue.”
“Be she young or be she old,
She for her beauty must and shall be sold.”
“So fare thee well, my lady gay,
We’ll take our horse and ride away,
And call again another day.”
“Come back! come back! you Spanish knight,
And clean your spurs, they are not bright.”
“My spurs are bright as ‘rickety rock’ (and richly wrought),
And in this town they were not bought,
And in this town they shan’t be sold,
Neither for silver, copper, nor gold.
So fare thee well,” etc.
“Come back! come back! you Spanish Jack (or coxcomb).”
“Spanish Jack (or coxcomb) is not my name,
I’ll stamp my foot (stamps) and say the same.
So fare thee well,” etc.
“Come back! come back! you Spanish knight,
And choose the fairest in your sight.”
The dukes retired, consulted together, and then selected one, singing—
“This is the fairest I can see,
So pray young damsel walk with me.”
When all the daughters had been taken away, they were brought back to their mother in the same order, the dukes chanting:—
“We’ve brought your daughter, safe and sound,
And in her pocket a thousand pound,
And on her finger a gay gold ring,
We hope you won’t refuse to take her in.”
“I’ll take her in with all my heart,
For she and ‘me’ were loth to part.”
The Rev. S. Rundle, vicar of Godolphin, near Helston, saw some children lately in his neighbourhood playing a portion of this game, when to “Here comes three dukes a-riding” they added—“My rancy, dancy dukes.” Mr. Halliwell Phillips, in his Nursery Rhymes and Tales of England, has published three versions of it, but the game as played in Cornwall has some additional couplets.