Several short nursery rhymes are taken from this, or other versions of this poem. Among the pieces printed by Chambers we read—
Tam o' the Lin and his bairns,
Fell i' the fire in others' arms!
Oh, quo' the bunemost, I ha'e a hot skin!!
It's hotter below, quo' Tam o' the Lin!!!
(1870, p. 33.)
Sir Walter Scott in Redgauntlet cites a catch on Sir Thom o' Lyne.
In some nursery collections the adventures of Tommy Lin, the Scotchman, are appropriated to Bryan O'Lin, the Irishman.
Bryan O'Lin had no watch to put on,
So he scooped out a turnip to make himself one:
He caught a cricket and put it within,
And called it a ticker, did Bryan O'Lin.
Bryan O'Lin had no breeches to wear,
So he got a sheepskin to make him a pair:
With the skinny side out and the woolly side in,
Oh! how nice and warm, cried Bryan O'Lin.
(1842, p. 212.)
Many nursery rhymes which dwell on cats are formed on the model of these verses. A rhyme that comes from America is as follows:—
[Pg 54] Kit and Kitterit and Kitterit's mother,
All went over the bridge together.
The bridge broke down, they all fell in,
"Good luck to you," says Tom Bolin.
A modern collection of rhymes (1873, p. 136) gives this as follows:—
The two grey cats and the grey kits' mother,
All went over the bridge together;
The bridge broke down, they all fell in,
May the rats go with you, sings Tom Bowlin.