MONEY RHYMES.
"How a lass gave her lover three slips for a tester,
And married another a week before Easter."
"Little Mary Esther sat upon a tester,
Eating curds and whey;
There came a big spider, and sat down beside her,
And frightened little Mary Esther away!"
"Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four-and-twenty blackbirds,
Baked in a pie.
"When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing,
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the king?
"The king was in his counting-house,
Counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour
Eating bread and honey.
"The maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes,
Then came a little blackbird
And snapped off her nose."
In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Sir Toby alludes to the "Sing a Song a Sixpence," Act II., Sc. 3:—
"Come on, there is a sixpence for you; let's have a song."
In Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca it is also quoted.
"There was an old man in a velvet coat,
He kiss'd a maid and gave her a groat;
The groat was cracked and would not go,
Ah, old man, d'ye serve me so?"
"See-saw a penny a day, Tommy must have a new master.
Why must he have but a penny a day?
Because he can work no faster."
"One a penny, two a penny, hot-cross buns,
If your daughters do not like them give them to your sons;
But if you should have none of these pretty little elves
You cannot do much better if you eat them all yourselves."
Written about 1608:—
"There's never a maiden in the town but she knows that malt's come down;
Malt's come down, malt's come down from an old angel to a French crown.
The greatest drunkards in the town are very, very glad that malt's come down."
In New York the children have a common saying when making a swop or change of one toy for another, and no bargain is supposed to be concluded between boys and girls unless they interlock fingers—the little finger on the right hand—and repeat the following doggerel:—
"Pinky, pinky bow-bell,
Whoever tells a lie
Will sink down to the bad place,
And never rise up again."
NUMERICAL NURSERY RHYME.
"One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, shut the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks;
Seven, eight, lay them straight;
Nine, ten, a good fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, who will delve?
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting;
Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen;
Seventeen, eighteen, maids a-waiting;
Nineteen, twenty, my stomach's empty."
BAKER'S MAN.
"Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man.
Yes, I will, master, as fast as I can.
Prick it and prick it, and mark it with B,
And toss it in the oven for baby and me."