Ma grand’-mère est au païsson
S’ al’en a j’en airon
S’ a n’en a poiut, j’ nous en passerons.”
—From John de Garis, Esq., of the Rouvets.
[240] Editor’s Note.—This rhyme is repeated, bringing in “mère,” “oncle,” “tante,” etc., till all the relations have been named.
Dancing Rhymes.
Mon Beau Laurier.
It was formerly customary on holidays for the youth of both sexes to assemble in some tavern or private house to amuse themselves with dancing to the enlivening strains of the fiddle or rote, called in the local dialect the “chifournie.” These assemblies were termed “sons,” and were generally attended also by some of the older portions of the community, whose presence was a guarantee for the orderly conduct of the meeting. Things are now much changed. The presence of a large garrison during the wars that arose out of the first French Revolution, and the influx of a mixed population since the peace, altered the character of these assemblies in town. They came to be regarded with disfavour; parents discouraged their children from attending them; the prejudice against them extended to the country parishes, and the puritanical feeling that grew up with the rapid spread of dissent among the labouring classes was entirely opposed to any species of amusement. Whether the cause of morality has gained much by this over strictness is questionable.
The dances at these meetings were of a very primitive character, consisting almost entirely of a species of jig, by two performers, or in joining hands and moving round at a quick pace in a circle. When a musician was not to be procured, recourse was had to the united voices of the dancers, and an ancient roundelay or “ronde,” no doubt originally imported from France, where such dances are still common among the peasantry, helped to carry on the amusement of the evening. It is still danced occasionally by young people and children, and, as the sole remaining specimen of this kind of diversion, deserves to be recorded.
The performers, who must consist of an equal number of either sex placed alternately, join hands in a circle. They then dance round, singing in chorus:—