RHYMES AND COUNTRY DANCES
Many true nursery rhymes go back to traditional dancing and singing
games which are now relegated to the playground, but which were danced
by rustics within the memory of man, and which are heirs to the choral
dances of our heathen forefathers. For dancing in its origin was no idle
and unmeaning pastime. Dances were undertaken for serious purposes, such
as warding off evil and promoting agricultural growth, conceptions which
hang closely together. These dances formed part of festivities that took
place at certain times of the year. They were accompanied by expressive
words, and by actions which were suited to the words, and which gave the
dance a dramatic character. Our carol is related to the _caraula_ that
was prohibited among heathen customs by Bishop Eligius of Noyon (d.
659), in the north of France in the seventh century, and has the same
origin as the _Choreia_ of the Greeks, the _reihe_ or _reigen_ of
Germany, the _karol_ of Brittany, and the _caraula_ of eastern
Switzerland. In course of time the religious significance of the choral
dance was lost and its practice survived as a sport. At a later stage
still, it became a pastime of children and a diversion of the ballroom.
Among the dances that can be traced back through several stages, is the
one which in its latest survival is known as the _Cotillon_. This is
mentioned in England as far back as the year 1766. Burns in _Tam o'
Shanter_ speaks of it as "brand new from France." The peculiar features
of the Cotillon as it is danced nowadays, include free choice of
partners, the women being at liberty in one figure to choose the men,
the drawing into the dance of the assembled company, and the presence of
a cushion which is put to a variety of uses. The Cotillon usually
concludes the ball.
In an earlier form the Cotillon is represented by the dance which was
known in the seventeenth century as _Joan Saunderson or the Cushion
Dance_. The way of dancing _Joan Saunderson_ is described in _The
Dauncing Master, a collection of dances with tunes for young people_,
published by H. Playford. Of this the first volume was issued in 1650,
which was enlarged in subsequent editions, when further volumes were
added. _The Dauncing Master_ of Playford shows how traditional country
dances were appropriated to the ballroom, for many of these dance tunes,
such as _Mulberry Bush_, and _Green Sleeves_, correspond with the names
of traditional dancing and singing games.
In _Joan Saunderson or the Cushion Dance_ as described by Playford,[29]
a cushion and a drinking-horn were brought in by two dancers to the
sound of a fiddle. The cushion-bearer locked the door and pocketed the
key, and danced round the room alone. Then he exchanged words with the
fiddler as to the need of finding a maid and pressing her into the
dance. The name Joan Saunderson being proposed, the cushion-bearer
placed the cushion before the woman of his choice, and knelt upon it.
She did the same, and drank from the horn. They kissed and danced
together. The same ceremony was then gone through by the girl, who, when
the name John Saunderson was proposed, approached the man of her choice
bearing the cushion, the first dancer accompanying her. The ceremony was
repeated again and again, alternately by man and woman, and as each
dancer chose a partner, the number of those following the cushion-bearer
increased. Finally the whole assembled company were drawn into the ring.
[29] Playford, _The Dauncing Master_, 1686, p. 206.
A scene in _Joan Saunderson_ is said to be represented in a Dutch
engraving of the year 1624 (1876, p. 254). _Joan Saunderson_ is still
danced in different parts of the country under the same or some similar
name. In Derbyshire it is known as the _Cushion Dance_, and those who
are drawn into the ring are addressed as John Sanders and Jane Sanders.
In the Lowlands the dance is known as _Babbity Bowster_, bowster
standing for bolster; in the north it is the _Whishin Dance_, whishin
standing for cushion (1894, I, pp. 9, 87). The Cushion Dance was the
last dance that was danced at a wedding,[30] and at Northampton it came
at the conclusion of the May-Day festival (1876, p. 253).
[30] Murray's Dictionary: _Cushion Dance_.
In the Cotillon of the ballroom, the ring finally breaks up and the
company dances in couples; the Cushion Dance leads up to the withdrawal
of the married pair, and concludes with a romp. A later edition of _The
Dauncing Master_ (1698, p. 7), perhaps with a view to forestalling this,
adds a sequel to the dance, according to which the game, after it had
been wound, was unwound, that is, each dancer in turn bade farewell to
his partner, and after doing so left the room.
The points of likeness between the Cotillon and the Cushion Dance are
such as to favour the belief that they are connected. The free choice of
partners, the presence of the cushion, the drawing in of the whole
assembled company, and the fact that the dance terminates the ball, are
peculiar to them both. The Cushion Dance being the older sport,
preserves the association with weddings and with the May-Day festival,
which at one time was the occasion for mating and marriage.
The associations with mating and marriage are preserved also in a
traditional game that is still played throughout the greater part of
England, which is generally known as _Sally Waters_. The verses recited
in playing it render it probable that the Cushion Dance is a later
development of the game known as _Sally Waters_.
In playing _Sally Waters_ the players stand in a ring, a boy and a girl
alternately choose a partner and seal the bond by joining hands, or by
kneeling, or by a kiss. The verses recited in playing the game were
first recorded by Halliwell (1849, p. 133). Forty-nine further
variations, used in different parts of the kingdom in playing the game,
have been printed by Mrs. Gomme, who classed this among marriage games,
(1894, II, 461). In the book of Playford the Cushion Dance is called
also _Joan Saunderson_, and those who are pressed into the dance are
designated as Joan Saunderson and John Saunderson, or as Jane Sanders
and John Sanders. In playing the game of _Sally Waters_ similar names
are used. Thus the children in Penzance stand in a ring and sing the
following verse:--
Little Sally Sander sitting in the Sander,
Weeping and crying for her young man. (1894, No. 26.)
In playing the game in Liverpool they begin:--
Little Polly Sanders sits on the sand, etc. (_Ibid._, No. 42.)
The verses used in Yorkshire begin:--
Little Alice Sander sat upon a cinder, etc. (_Ibid._, No. 31.)
These names Sally Sander, Polly Sanders, etc., must be derived from the
same source as Saunderson and Sanders of the Cushion Dance. A host of
other rhymes current in the nursery deal with the same theme, and are
formed on the same model. There is one step only from _little Sally
Sander_ of Penzance, _little Polly Sanders_ of Liverpool, and _little
Alice Sander who sat upon a cinder_, to the following rhymes which are
included in different nursery collections. All these rhymes describe a
person sitting and waiting, and most of them dwell on the idea of a seat
or a cushion, while the allusion to matters matrimonial, being
unsuitable to children, is altogether dropped.
Little Polly Flinders sat among the cinders,
Warming her pretty toes;
Her mother came and caught her, and scolded her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes. (1846, p. 212.)
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating of curds and whey,
There came a great spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.[31]
Little Mary Ester sat upon a tester
Eating of curds and whey;
There came a little spider and sat down beside her,
And frightened Mary Ester away. (1842, p. 61.)
[31] _Songs for the Nursery_, published by Darton & Co., 1812. The
verses included in this collection were altered with a view to
rendering them more suitable for children.
Tuffet and tester are words for a footstool.
Little Miss Mopsey sat in the shopsey,
Eating of curds and whey;
There came a great spider who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Mopsey away. (1842, p. 37.)
Little Tom Tacket sits upon his cracket,
Half a yard of cloth will make him a jacket,
Make him a jacket and breeches to the knee,
And if you will not have him, you may let him be. (1842, p. 199.)
Little Tom Tucker sings for his supper,
What shall he eat, but white bread and butter;
How will he cut it, without e're a knife
And how will he be married without e're a wife.
(1744, p. 10; _c._ 1783, p. 56.)
Little Jack Horner sat in the corner,
Eating a [of] Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb, and he took [pulled] out a plum,
And said [cried] "What a good boy am I!"
_Chorus_: And what a good boy am I! (_c._ 1783, p. 55.)
These verses as they here stand arranged, show an increasing deviation
from the words used in playing the game of Sally Waters.
Tom Tucker and Jack Horner are names that go some way back in history.
For Brand states that at the revels kept at St. John's College, 1
November, 1607, a Christmas Lord of the Revels was chosen as Thomas
Tucker.[32] A dance tune of the _Dauncing Master_ was called _Tom
Tucker_ also.[33]
[32] Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, I, 219.
[33] _The Dauncing Master_, 1686, p. 130.
The name of Jacky Horner was familiar to Carey about the year 1720, as
mentioned above. _Little Jack Horner_ was a well-known tune, and there
is a direction in the Grub Street opera that the chorus shall be sung
to this melody.[34] A chapbook of the latter half of the eighteenth
century bears the title, _The Pleasant History of Jack Horner,
containing his Witty Tricks_, etc. It cites the familiar rhyme, and
further describes the pranks that the hero played upon women. This
association and the name recall the expressions _hornified_, that is a
cuckold;[35] _horning_, a mock serenade "without which no wedding would
be complete"; and _Horn Fair_, a time of unusual licence, kept up in
Kent: "all was fair at Horn Fair" (1876, p. 387).
[34] Whitmore, loc. cit., p. 27.
[35] Murray's Dictionary: _Horning_.