Another clue to the date of certain rhymes is afforded by their mention of historical persons, in a manner which shows that the rhyme in this form was current at the time when the individual whom they mention was prominently before the eyes of the public. Halliwell recorded from oral tradition the following verse:—
Doctor Sacheverel
Did very well,
But Jacky Dawbin
Gave him a warning.
(1849, p. 12.)
The verse refers to Dr. Sacheverel, the nonconformist minister who preached violent sermons in St. Paul's, pointing at the Whig members as false friends and real enemies of the Church. John Dolben (1662-1710) called attention to them in the House of Commons, and they were declared "malicious, scandalous, and seditious libels."
Again there is the rhyme:—
Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Kitty Fisher found it,
But the devil a penny was there in it,
Except the binding round it.
(1849, p. 48.)
This is said to preserve the names of two celebrated courtesans of the reign of Charles II (1892, p. 330).
The first name in the following rhyme is that of a famous border hero who was hanged between 1529 and 1530:—
Johnny Armstrong killed a calf;
Peter Henderson got half;
Willy Wilkinson got the head,—
Ring the bell, the calf is dead.
(1890, p. 358.)
Among the pieces collected by Halliwell, and told in cumulative form, one begins and ends with the following line, which recurs at the end of every verse:—
John Ball shot them all.