This is the universal bird-shooer's song in the midland counties.
[THE GNAT.]
In the eastern counties of England, and perhaps in other parts of the country, children chant the following lines when they are pursuing this insect:
Gnat, gnat, fly into my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon!
[THE TROUT.]
In Herefordshire the alder is called the aul, and the country people use the following proverbial lines:
When the bud of the aul is as big as the trout's eye,
Then that fish is in season in the river Wye.
[TOBACCO.]
Tobacco hic,
Will make you well
If you be sick.
Tobacco was formerly held in great esteem as a medicine. Sickness was the old term for illness of any kind, and is no doubt the more correct expression.