"There was an old man in a velvet coat,
He kiss'd a maid and gave her a groat;
The groat was cracked and would not go,
Ah, old man, d'ye serve me so?"
"See-saw a penny a day, Tommy must have a new master.
Why must he have but a penny a day?
Because he can work no faster."
"One a penny, two a penny, hot-cross buns,
If your daughters do not like them give them to your sons;
But if you should have none of these pretty little elves
You cannot do much better if you eat them all yourselves."
Written about 1608:—
"There's never a maiden in the town but she knows that malt's come down;
Malt's come down, malt's come down from an old angel to a French crown.
The greatest drunkards in the town are very, very glad that malt's come down."
In New York the children have a common saying when making a swop or change of one toy for another, and no bargain is supposed to be concluded between boys and girls unless they interlock fingers—the little finger on the right hand—and repeat the following doggerel:—
"Pinky, pinky bow-bell,
Whoever tells a lie
Will sink down to the bad place,
And never rise up again."