SCRAPS.
"Oh, slumber, my darling, thy sire is a knight;
Thy mother a lady so lovely and bright.
The hills and the dales and the towers which you see,
They all shall belong, my dear baby, to thee."
"Bye, baby bumpkin, where's Tony Lumpkin?
My lady's on her death-bed, with eating half a pumpkin."
"Nose, nose, jolly red nose.
And who gave thee this jolly red nose?
Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves,
And they gave me this jolly red nose."
Story-telling in the Reformation period was so prevalent that the wonderful tales were satirised in the following rhyme, dated 1588:—
"I saw a man in the moon. Fie, man, fie.
I saw a hare chase a hound. Fie, man, fie.
Twenty miles above the ground. Fie, man, fie.
Who's the fool now?"
"I saw a goose ring a hog,
And a snail bite a dog!
I saw a mouse catch a cat,
And a cheese eat a rat. Fie, man, fie.
Who's the fool now?"
A Henry VIII. rhyme:—
"My pretty little one, my pretty honey one,
She is a jolly one, and as gentle as can be;
With a beck she comes anon,
With a wink and she is gone."
"Peg, Peg, with a wooden leg,
Her father was a miller;
He tossed a dumpling at her head,
And swore that he would kill her."
"Round about, round about
Maggotty pie (magpie),
My father loves good ale,
And so do I."
"Old father long-legs will not say his prayers,
Take him by the left leg and throw him downstairs."
"Half a pound of twopenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle,
Stir it up and make it nice,
Pop goes the weasel."
In 1754 mothers used to say to their children—
"Come when you're called,
Do what you're bid,
Shut the door after you,
Never be chid."
A GAME.
"A great big wide-mouth waddling frog,
Two pudding ends would choke a dog."
"Little Nanny Natty Coat
Has a white petticoat,
The longer she lives
The shorter she grows."
Answer—A candle.
"As I was going down Sandy Lane I met a man who had seven wives; each wife had a bag, each bag held a cat, each cat a kit. Now riddle-me-ree, how many were going down Sandy Lane?"
Answer—One going down; the others were going up.
"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread,
And whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed."
"Robert Rowley rolled a round roll round,
A round roll Robert Rowley rolled round;
Round rolled the round roll Robert Rowley rolled round."
"Little General Monk
Sat upon a trunk
Eating a crust of bread;
There fell a hot coal
And burnt into his clothes a hole,
Now little General Monk is dead.
Keep always from the fire,
If it catch your attire
You too, like General Monk, will be dead."
MORE FRAGMENTS.
"With hartshorn in his hand
Came Doctor Tom-tit,
Saying, 'Really, good sirs,
It's only a fit.'"
"Cowardly, cowardly custard,
Eats his mother's mustard."
"Tommy Trot, a man of law,
Sold his bed and lay on straw,
Sold the straw and slept on grass
To buy his wife a looking-glass."
"Goosey, goosey, gander,
Whither shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs,
In my lady's chamber?"
"Dilly, dilly, dilly, dilly,
Come here and be killed."
A nursery-tale rhyme of Henry VIII.'s time:—
"The white dove sat on the castell wall,
I bend my bow and shoote her I shall;
I put hir in my cloue, both fethers and all;
I layd my bridle on the shelfe.
If you will any more sing it yourself."
"This little pig went to market,
This one stayed at home,
This one had a sugar-stick,
This one had none,
And this one cried out wee, wee, wee,
I'll tell my mother when I get home."
"Little Bo Peep she lost her sheep,
And could not tell where to find them;
Let them alone and they'll come home,
Carrying their tails behind them."
"See-saw, Margery Daw, sold her bed and lay in the straw;
Was not she a dirty slut to sell her bed and lie in the dirt?"
"Four-and-twenty tailors went to kill a snail,
The best man among them dare not touch her tail;
She put out her horns like a little Kyloe cow,
Run, tailors, run, or she'll kill you all e'en now."
"I had a little moppet, I put it in my pocket,
And fed it on corn and hay,
There came a proud beggar
And swore he would wed her, and stole my little moppet away."
"Hub-a-dub dub,
Three men in a tub,
The butcher, the baker, the candle-stick maker,
They all jumped out of a rotten potato."
"Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John
Went to bed with his stockings on;
One shoe off, one shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John."
"Jack and Jyll went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jyll came tumbling after."
"Hi diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog laughed to see such fine sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon."
"Baa! baa! black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes, sir; yes, sir, three bags full,
One for the master, another for the maid,
And one for the little child that cried in the lane."
"Here comes a poor duke out of Spain,
He comes to court your daughter Jane."
"Ride to the market to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, jiggerty-jig.
Ride to the market to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggerty-jog."
"Cross-patch, draw the latch,
Sit by the fire and spin;
Take a cup and drink it up,
And call your neighbours in."
"The man of the South[I] he burnt his mouth
By eating cold plum porridge,
The man in the moon came down too soon
To ask the way to Norwich."
A LANCASHIRE FRAGMENT.
"Dance a babby diddy,
What'll th' mammy do wi' thee?
Come sit on her lap, theart rosy and fat,
Dance a babby diddy."
"Dickery, dickery, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Dickery, dickery, dock.
The clock struck three,
The mouse ran away,
Dickery, dickery, dock.
The clock struck ten,
The mouse came again,
Dickery, dickery, dock."
"There was an old woman toss'd up in a blanket
Ninety-nine times as high as the moon,
But where she was going no mortal could tell,
For under her arm she carried a broom.
'Old woman, old woman, old woman,' said I,
'Whither, ah! whither, whither so high?'
'Oh, I'm sweeping the cobwebs off the sky,
And I'll be with you by-and-by!'"
The wildest idea is suggested by the rhyme of—
"We're all in the dumps, for diamonds are trumps,
And the kittens are gone to St. Paul's;
All the babies are bit, and the moon's in a fit,
And the houses are built without walls."
The economy of the little boy who lived all alone is seen in—
"When I was a little boy I lived by myself,
All the bread and cheese I got I put upon the shelf."
"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 up in green."
The baby game of tickling the palm of the hand will be remembered in—
"Round about, round about, runs the little hare,
First it runs that way, then it runs up there."
A PROVERB.
"Needles and pins, needles and pins,
When you get married your trouble begins;
Trouble begins, trouble begins,
When you get married your trouble begins."
A COMPLIMENT.
"The rose is red, the violet's blue,
Pinks are sweet, and so are you."
THE REVERSE.
"The rose is red, the violet's blue,
The grass is green, and so are you."
"Little Tommy Tupper, waiting for his supper,
What must he have?
Some brown bread and butter."