No.Cornwall, Penzance.Kent, Crockham Hill.Herts, Stevenage.Yorks, Earls Heaton.N. Staffordshire, Tean.Surrey, Clapham.Lincolnshire.
1.——————Three jolly sailor boys.
2.Walking round the village.Go round and round the village.Round about the village.All round the village.All round the village.Round and round the village.—
3.———————
4.———————
5.——————We go round and round and round.
6.———————
7.As we have done before.As we have done before.As you have done before.As we have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.As we have done before.
8.——————And this a girl and a very pretty girl.
9.——————A kiss for kneeling here.
10.In and out the windows.Go in and out the windows.In and out of the windows.In and out of the window.In and out the window.In and out the window.Go in and out the window.
11.———————
12.As you have done before.As we have done before.As you have done before.As we have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.As we have done before.
13.Stand and face your lover.—Stand before my lover.Stand and face your lover.Stand and face your lover.Stand and face your lover.—
14.—Come in and face your lover.—————
15.——————Go back and face your lover.
16.As you have done before.As we have done before.As I have done before.As we have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.As we have done before.
17.Now they go off courting.——————
18.—I measure my love to show you.—————
19.———Kiss her if you love her.———
20.—————Shake hands with your lover.—
21.———————
22.———————
23.As they have done before.As we have done before.—As we have done before.—As you have done before.—
24.—I kneel because I love you.—————
25.—As we have done before.—————
26.Chase her back to Scotland.——————
27.—Follow me to London.Follow me to London.—Follow her to London.—Follow me to London.
28.———Take her off to London.———
29.As you have done before.As we have done before.As you have done before.As we have done before.As you have done before.—As we have done before.
30.———————
31.—Back again to Westerham.—————
32.——Dance away to fairyland.————
33.———————
34.—As we have done before.As we have done before.————
No.Surrey, Barnes.Norfolk, Sporle.Staffordshire, Hanbury.Belfast.Wakefield.Lincolnshire, Winterton.
1.—Come gather again on the old village green.————
2.Round and round the village.Round about the village.——Round and round the village.Round and round the village.
3.——————
4.——————
5.——————
6.———Marching round the ladies.——
7.As we have done before.As you have done before.—As you have done before.——
8.——————
9.——————
10.In and out the windows.In and out the windows.In and out of the windows.In and out the windows.In and out of the window.In and out of the window.
11.——————
12.As we have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.——
13.Stand and face your lover.—Stand and face your lover.Stand and face your lover.Stand and face your lover.Stand and face your lover.
14.——————
15.——————
16.As we have done before.—As you have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.
17.——————
18.——————
19.Kiss her before you leave her.—————
20.——————
21.—Soon we will get married.————
22.——Give me a kiss, my darling.———
23.As we have done before.—As you have done before.———
24.——————
25.——————
26.——————
27.Follow her to London.—Follow me to London.Follow me to London.Follow me to London.Follow me to London.
28.—Take her off to London.————
29.As we have done before.—As you have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.
30.——————
31.——————
32.——————
33.———Bring me back to Belfast.——
34.———As you have done before.——
No.Deptford.Cullen.Roxton.Fraserburgh.Settle.West Grinstead.
1.——————
2.Round and round the village.—Round and round the village.———
3.————Up and down the valley.—
4.—Out and in the villages.————
5.——————
6.——————
7.As you have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.—As I have done before.—
8.——————
9.——————
10.In and out the windows.Out and in the windows.In and out the windows.Out and in the windows.In and out the window.In and out the windows.
11.——————
12.As you have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.As you have done before.As I have done before.As you have done before.
13.Stand and face your lover.Stand before your lover.Stand and face your lover.Stand before your lover.Stand and face your lover.Stand and face your lover.
14.——————
15.——————
16.As you have done before.——As you have done before.As I have done before.As you have done before.
17.——————
18.——————
19.——————
20.——————
21.——————
22.——————
23.——————
24.——————
25.——————
26.——————
27.——Follow me to London.Follow her to London.Follow me to London.Follow me to London.
28.——————
29.————As I have done before.As you have done before.
30.———Before the break of day.——
31.——————
32.——————
33.——————
34.——————

The next incident, No. 10 of the analysis, goes through all the games except one (West Grinstead), where the very obvious corruption of “willows” for “windows” occurs. This incident takes us to the houses of the village; and thus the two lines show us a procession, first, going round outside the boundary of the village, and, secondly, proceeding in serpentine fashion through the houses. Incident 13 has a few variations which do not point to anything more than verbal alteration, due to the changes which have occurred in the conception of the game. Incidents 17 to 22 are not constant to all the versions, and their variations are of an unimportant character. Incident 27 is an important element in the game. The prevalence of London as the place of assignation is probably due to the influence of that city in the popular mind; but the real significance seems to be that the lover-husband follows his bride to her own village. In only two versions is this incident varied (No. 28) to indicate that the husband took his wife with him, and only three versions have dropped out the incident altogether.

Abnormal incidents occur in only seven versions, and they are not of great significance. The [Lincolnshire] and [Sporle versions] have a line of general introduction (No. 1) before the game proper begins. Incidents 8 and 9 occur only in the [Lincolnshire version], and do not disturb the general movement beyond indicating that the game has become, or is becoming, an indoor game. Incident 21 is obviously a modern line. Nos. 26 and 31 suggest a chase after a fugitive pair which, as they do not occur in other versions, must be considered as later introductions, belonging, however, to the period when runaway marriages were more frequent than they are now, and thus taking us back to, at least, the beginning of this century; while the significant and pretty variant No. 32 shows that the game has lost touch with the actual life of the people. No. 30 in the [Fraserburgh version] has a suspicious likeness to a line in the American song “I’m off to Charlestown,” but as it occurs only in this one version it cannot count as an important element in the history of the game.

(e) Miss Matthews notes a Forest of Dean version. The children form a ring, singing, “Round and round the valley, where we have been before,” while one child walks round the outside. Then they stand with uplifted hands, joined together, and sing, “In and out of the windows, as we have done before,” while the child threads her way in and out of the ring. Then they sing, “Stand and face your lover, as we have done before;” the child then stands in the centre of the ring and faces some one, whom she afterwards touches, and who succeeds her. A version from North Derbyshire (Mr. S. O. Addy) is practically the same as the [Tean, North Staffs. version], except that the third verse is “Run to meet your lover,” instead of “Stand and face your lover.” The first child, during the singing of the third verse, walks round outside the ring, and touches one she chooses, who then runs away. While the fourth verse is being sung she is chased and caught, and the game begins again with the second child walking round the village. So far as Lancashire is concerned, Miss Dendy says, “I have no good evidence as yet that it is a Lancashire play. I think it has been imported here by board-school mistresses from other counties.”

(f) The burden of this game-rhyme is undoubtedly the oldest part that has been preserved to modern times. It runs through all the versions without exception, though variations in the other lines is shown by the analysis to occur. The words of the line, “As we have done before,” convey the idea of a recurring event, and inasmuch as that event is undoubtedly marriage, it seems possible to suggest that we have here a survival of the periodical village festival at which marriages took place. If the incidents in the game compare closely with incidents in village custom, the necessary proof will be supplied, and we will first examine how far the words of the rhyme and the action of the game supply us with incidents; and, secondly, how far these incidents have been kept up in the village custom.

There is nothing in the words to suggest that the incidents which the game depicts belong to a fixed time, but it is an important fact that they are alluded to as having previously taken place. If, then, we have eventually to compare the game with a fixed periodical custom, we can at least say that the rhymes, though not suggesting this, do not oppose it.

This game belongs to the group of “custom games.” The first characteristic which suggests this is that the children, who join hands and form a circle, are always stationary, and do not move about as in dance games. To the minds of the children who play the game, each child in the circle represents something other than human beings, and this “something” is indicated in the first and second verses, which speak of the “windows,” of houses, and a journey round “a village.” In this game, too, the children, who thus represent a village, also act as “chorus,” for they describe in the words they sing the various actions of those who are performing their parts, as in the game of “[Old Roger].”