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.