COMPARISONS AND REFERENCES.
The object of the following notes is to exhibit, in a clear manner, the extent of the correspondence between the games of American children and those belonging to children in other countries. This volume is not intended to include all games of children, but (with some exceptions in favor of certain amusements which possess interest as folk-lore) only such as are played with words or quaint formulas. Of games of this class, we find in the collections very few known to children in Great Britain, and possessing European diffusion, which are not represented in this series by independent American versions (see No. 160, note, end). With these exceptions, the British game-formulas to which American usage does not offer equivalents are local and of trifling interest. The references given below may, therefore, be considered as a comparative account of English children's games in general.
The coincidence which this comparison shows to exist between English and German games is very close. Taking three German collections—belonging respectively to Switzerland (Rochholz), to Suabia (Meier), and to Schleswig-Holstein (Handelmann)—and leaving out of account songs and ballads, we have about eighty games played with rhymes or formulas. Of this number, considering only cases of obvious identity, we estimate that forty-five have equivalents in the present series, and thirty-three are not so paralleled. But of the latter class, six are known to have been played in Great Britain, while thirteen others appear to be variations of types represented in this collection. Of the small number remaining, few seem to be ancient, it being impossible to point out more than three or four really curious games which are not played also in an English form. This agreement cannot be explained by inheritance from a common stock, a theory which research has also discredited in other branches of folk-lore. The relationship is only a degree less near in other countries; thus, in a collection of Spanish games belonging to Catalonia (Maspons y Labrós), we find that, out of thirty-eight games, twenty-five have English equivalents.
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION.
Carol, p. [9]. Middle Latin Choraula, from choreola. The word coraula is still used to denote the ring-dance in Switzerland; also coreihi, to leap (choreare), Rochholz, p. 371. Russian chorom, a round of children, Bezsonoff, p. 190.
May-games, pp. [16]-[19]. Tarbé, "Romancero de Champagne," ii. 61. Puymaigre, p. 201, "Trimazos." A. Rivinus, "De Majumis," etc., in Graevius, Syntagma (Utrecht, 1702).
Games Cited by Froissart (pp. [34], [35]).—The passage here rendered (with the omission of two or three obscure names of amusements) is from "L'Espinette Amoureuse," l. 143-338, 35-47. Many of the games mentioned cannot now be recognized from the titles given. Others, however, can be identified; thus, Queue loo loo (keuve leu leu) is No. 106 of the present collection; Oats (avainne), No. 21; Scorn or Derision (risées), perhaps No. 61; King who does not lie, perhaps No. 55; Grasses (erbelette), No. 42; Cligne-musette (Cluignette), No. 105; Pince-merine, according to Menagier de Paris, lxxvii., the same as Pince-sans-rire, No. 77, C. Playing with nuts, No. 144; Throwing pence, etc., No. 144, B. Pebbles (pierettes), No. 137, or No. 148. Hook (havot), perhaps Hockey, No. 136. Mule, a kind of leapfrog, still played in Italy, Salta-muletta, Gianandrea, No. 30. A species of this game in Philadelphia is now called Saults. Replies (réponniaux), a sort of Hide and seek, No. 105, in which the concealed person indicates his whereabouts in answer to a call; see same poem, l. 2653. Astonishment (esbahi), a game which consisted in imitating that emotion; thus, when the horses of a party have given out unexpectedly—"I should think we were playing at Astonishment," says one of the cavaliers, looking at the faces of the rest (Dict. of La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, art. "Esbahi"). On the whole, the impression which the catalogue gives us, is that the sports of a child in the Middle Ages were very similar to those of to-day, or, perhaps we should rather say, of yesterday.
Love-games (p. [39]).—This is an old name for games representing or offering opportunity for courtship, as "love-songs" is for ballads. We have heard both expressions in New England, from the lips of aged persons, in whose youth they were current. See the Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. 1738.