"As the boys play by skimming a flat stone along the surface of
the water; so as to cause it to make as many bounds or ricochets
as the skimmer's strength and dexterity can enforce. The
superiority, in the play, is decided by the greatest number of
times the stone touches and bounds upon the surface, in
consequence of the way it is slung from the hand of the performer.
_D'hach's aen der reyckes_ q.e. _the hazard_ [_event_] _is upon
the touches_; the issue of the game depends upon the number of
bounds [separate touchings] made on the surface of the water. When
we say, _he has made ducks and drakes of his money_, it is merely
in the sense of, he has thrown it away childishly and hopelessly;
and the stone is the boy's throw for a childish purpose, and sinks
at the end of its career, to be lost in the water."--_Essay on the
Archæology of our Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes_, vol. ii.,
p. 140.