_Rowley Powley._--As generally inclined to the belief that everything is
older than anybody knows of, I am rather startled by "Rowley Powley" not
being as old as myself. I remember seeing mentioned somewhere, without any
reference to this chorus, that _rowley powley_ is a name for a plump fowl,
of which both "gammon and spinach" are posthumous connexions. I cannot help
thinking that this may be a clue to some prior occurrence of the chorus,
with or without {75} the song. If "derry down," which has been said to be
druidical, were judged of by the last song it went with, how old would be
the Druids?