How many miles to Barney Bridge?
Three score and ten.
Will I be there by Candlemass?
Yes, and back again.
A curtsey to you, another to you,
And pray, fair maids, will you let us through?
Thro’ and thro’ shall you go for the king’s sake,
But take care the last man does not meet a mistake.
—Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).
How many miles to Burslem?
Three score and ten.
Can we get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
Open the gates so wide, so wide,
And let King George aside, aside;
The night is so dark we cannot see,
Thread the needle and go through.
—Isle of Man (A. W. Moore).
How many miles to Banbury Cross?
Three score and ten.
Shall we get there by midnight?
Yes, if you run well.
Then open your gates as wide as the sky,
And let King George and his men pass by.
It is so dark we cannot see, so thread the needle Nancy,
Thread the needle Nancy.
One, two, three.
—Warwick (from a little girl living near Warwick, through Mr. C. C. Bell).