Elizabella, Farewell!
Last night as we parted
She left me broken-hearted,
And on a green mountain
She looked like a dove.
Choose your loved one,
Choose your loved one,
Choose your loved one, Farewell!
Go to church, love, Farewell!
Say your prayers, love, Farewell!
In the ring, love, Farewell!
Shake hands, loves,
Shake hands, loves, Farewell!
Give a kiss, loves,
Give a kiss, loves, Farewell!
—Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler).
Last night when we parted
She was nigh broken-hearted,
To-morrow we gather
And a bright welcome be.
Then give me your hand, love,
Your hand, love, your hand, love,
Then give me your hand, love,
Isabella for me.
Isabella, Isabella,
Isabella for me.
—North Derbyshire (S. O. Addy).
(b) In the [Enborne, Newbury, version] (Miss Kimber) a ring is formed by the children (boys and girls) joining hands. Another child stands in the centre. The ring of children walk round while singing the verses. The singing is confined to the ring. When the centre child is told to “choose,” she selects a boy from the ring, who goes into the centre and they stand together. At the next verse these two children walk out of the ring arm-in-arm. When the next verse is sung they return, and again stand in the centre. At the next verse the boy pretends to put a ring on the girl’s finger. They walk out of the ring when told to go to church (two children in the ring unclasping hands to let them walk out, and again clasping hands after they return), and kiss each other and shake hands when the two next verses are sung. The child who was first in the centre then joins the ring, and the game proceeds in the same way with the second child, who chooses in his turn. All the other versions follow the same rules, suiting their actions to the words, except [Ogbourne, Wilts], in which the two children in the centre sing the verse, “roast beef and plum pudding.” They stand face to face, take hold of each other’s hands, and sway their arms from side to side. The ring then sing the concluding verse. In those versions where “say your prayers” and “kneel down” occur, the two centre children kneel, and hold their open hands together in front of them to imitate a book. In the [London version] (A. B. Gomme) a handkerchief was laid on the ground, and the two children stood on each side of it and clasped hands across it. In the [Fernham and Longcot version] the one child leads the other out of the ring at “go to church,” with a graceful half-dancing motion, and back again in the same way. The first child joins the ring while the refrain is sung. In the [Hanbury version] the centre child pretends to be weeping; another child stands outside the ring and goes into it; when the two meet they kiss. In the [North Derbyshire version] (Mr. S. O. Addy) a ring is formed of young men and women, a young man being in the centre. He chooses a young woman at the singing of the fifth line, and then joins the ring, the girl remaining in the centre.