The following time-honoured rhyme is still sung, and varies in different parts of the country:
“Pray remember
The Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
For I know no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Hollo boys! Hollo boys! Hurrah.”
In Poor Robin’s Almanack for the year 1677 is the following:
“Now boys with
Squibs and crackers play,
And bonfire’s blaze
Turns night to-day.”
In some parts of the north of England the following song is sung:
“Happy was the man,
And happy was the day,
That caught Guy
Going to his play,
With a dark lanthorn
And a brimstone match
Ready for the prime to touch.
As I was going through the dark entry
I spied the devil.
Stand back! Stand back!
Queen Mary’s daughter.
Put your hand in your pocket,
And give us some money
To kindle our bonfire. Hurrah.”
Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 398.
Derbyshire.
The rhyme formerly sung in many parts of this county is as below: