"This is the fairest I can see,
So pray young damsel walk with me."
When all the daughters had been taken away, they were brought back
to their mother in the same order, the dukes chanting:--
"We've brought your daughter, safe and sound,
And in her pocket a thousand pound,
And on her finger a gay gold ring,
We hope you won't refuse to take her in."
"I'll take her in with all my heart,
For she and 'me' were loth to part."
The Rev. S. Rundle, vicar of Godolphin, near Helston, saw some
children lately in his neighbourhood playing a portion of this game,
when to "Here comes three dukes a-riding" they added--"My rancy, dancy
dukes." Mr. Halliwell Phillips, in his Nursery Rhymes and Tales of
England, has published three versions of it, but the game as played
in Cornwall has some additional couplets.