The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2) / With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.

by Alice Bertha Gomme

—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

I.

I’m come to court Janet jo,
Janet jo, Janet jo,
I’m come to court Janet jo,
How’s she the day?

She’s up the stair washin’,
Washin’, washin’,
She’s up the stair washin’,
Ye canna see her the day.

[Then follow verses, the words of which are not given by Chambers, representing Jenny as bleaching, drying, and ironing clothes. At last they say—]

Janet jo’s dead and gane,
Dead and gane, dead and gane;
Janet jo’s dead and gane,
She’ll never come hame!

—Chambers’ Popular Rhymes, pp. 140-41.