- un.
- dau.
- tri.
- pedwar.
- pump.
- chwech.
- saith.
- wyth.
- nau.
- deg.
- un ar deg.
- deuddeg.
- tri ar deg.
- pedwar ar deg.
- pymtheg.
- un ar bymtheg.
- dau ar bymtheg.
- tri ar bymtheg.
- pedwar ar bymtheg.
- ugain.
The numbers 4, 5, 15, and combinations 1+15, 2+15, 3+15, 4+15, seem to make the connection unmistakable; but 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 appear to have been arbitrarily affected by rhyme and alliteration.
[126] This verse is used as a counting rhyme by children in the state mentioned.
XV.
MYTHOLOGY.
In the olde dayes of the Kyng Arthour,
Of which that Britouns speken gret honour,
Al was this land fulfilled of fayrye.
The Wife of Baths Tale.
No. 150.
London Bridge.
No game has been more popular with children than this, and any summer evening, in the poorer quarters of the cities, it may still be seen how six years instructs three years in the proper way of conducting it. Two players, by their uplifted hands, form an arch, representing the bridge, under which passes the train of children, each clinging to the garments of the predecessor, and hurrying to get safely by. The last of the train is caught by the lowered arms of the guardians of the bridge, and asked, "Will you have a diamond necklace or a gold pin?" "a rose or a cabbage?" or some equivalent question. The keepers have already privately agreed which of the two each of these objects shall represent, and, according to the prisoner's choice, he is placed behind one or the other. When all are caught, the game ends with a "Tug of War," the two sides pulling against each other; and the child who lets go, and breaks the line, is pointed at and derided. The words of the rhyme sung while the row passes under the bridge are now reduced to two lines,
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady!