This is a famous song for a young child, the nurse dancing it on her knee, and gradually increasing the ascent of the foot. Similar songs, but differing considerably from the above, are given in the Swedish nursery ballads of Arwidsson, iii. 489-91; the Danish of Thiele, iii. 130-2, iv. 176-7; and the German Wunderhorn, iii. 60-1. The following pretty Swedish version is given from Mr. Stephens's MS. collections:

Hvem är det som rider?

Det är en fröken som rider:

Det går i sakta traf,

I sakta traf!


Hvem är det som rider?

Det är en Herre som rider:

Det går jo i galopp,

I galopp!


Hvem är det som rider?

Det är en Bonde som rider:

Det går så lunka på,

Lunka på!


And pray, who now is riding?

A lady it is that's riding:

And she goes with a gentle trot,

A gentle trot!


And pray, who now is riding?

A gentleman it is that's riding:

And he goes with a gallop-away,

A gallop-away!


And pray, who now is riding?

A farmer it is that's riding:

And he goes with a jog along,

A jog along!

There are a great number of English variations of the above song, differing very materially from one another. A second version may be worth giving:

Here goes my lord,

A trot! a trot! a trot! a trot!


Here goes my lady,

A canter! a canter! a canter! a canter!


Here goes my young master,

Jockey-hitch! jockey-hitch! jockey-hitch! jockey-hitch!


Here goes my young miss,

An amble! an amble! an amble! an amble!


The footman lags behind to tipple ale and wine,

And goes gallop, a gallop, a gallop, to make up his time.

Here are other knee-songs:

Little Shon a Morgan,

Shentleman of Wales,

Came riding on a nanny-goat,

Selling of pigs' tails.


Chicky, cuckoo, my little duck,

See-saw, sickna downy;

Gallop a trot, trot, trot,

And hey for Dublin towny!

[BO-PEEP.]

The children's game of bo-peep is as old as the hills, hiding from each other, and saying,—

Bo-Peep, Little Bo-Peep:

Now's the time for hide and seek.

But in ancient times the amusement appears to have been even of a simpler character, and adopted by nurses before children are capable of seeking recreation for themselves. Sherwood describes bo-peep as a child's game, in which the nurse conceals the head of the infant for an instant, and then removes the covering quickly. The Italians say far bau bau, or baco, baco, which Douce thinks is sufficient to show a connexion between the nurse's boggle or buggy-bo, and the present expression. Shakespeare has condescended to notice the game, unless, indeed, we suppose the term to have passed into a proverb. The reader will recollect what Butler says of Sir Edward Kelly, the celebrated conjuror,—