"Oh, what a beautiful choice you've made!
Don't you wish you'd longer stayed?
[Give her a kiss, and send her away,
And tell her she can no longer stay."[49]]
_Salem, Mass._
The "green carpet" is, of course, the grass, on which the village dance
proceeds in the summer-time,[50] and the remains of an ancient "carol"
appear in the corrupt rhyme.
(3.) To the game of _Marriage_, as played in France and Italy, the
following closely corresponds:
A boy and girl having been chosen by singing our No. 17, and standing
in the centre of the ring, the game proceeds, with imitative motion and
gesture--
"Row the boat! Row the boat!
Let the boat stand!
I think ---- ---- is a handsome young man;
I think ---- ---- is as handsome as he,
And they shall be married, if they can agree."[51]
Such short rhymes are not used independently, but joined to some
fragment of a ballad, which they serve to turn into a game, as may be
seen in our No. 12.
(4.) We take this opportunity to give one or two other familiar
examples of kissing rounds:
Had I as many eyes as the stars in the skies,
And were I as old as Adam,
I'd fall on my knees, and kiss whom I please,
Your humble servant, madam.