XVIII. On the carpet you shall kneel,
As the grass grows in the field;
Stand up, stand up on your feet,
And shew me the girl you love so sweet.
Now Sally's married I hope she'll enjoy,
First with a girl and then with a boy;
Seven years old and seven years young,
Pray, young lady, walk out of your ring.
--Derbyshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, i. 385).
XIX. On the carpet you shall kneel,
Where the grass grows fresh and green;
Stand up, stand up on your pretty feet,
And show me the one you love so sweet.
--Berrington (Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 509).
[Same ending as Eccleshall version.]
XX. On the carpitt you shall kneel,
While the grass grows in the field;
Stand up, stand up on your feet,
Pick the one you love so sweet.
--Wakefield, Yorks. (Miss Fowler).
XXI. King William was King David's son,
And all the royal race is run;
Choose from the east, choose from the west,
Choose the one you love the best.[5]
Down on this carpet you shall kneel,
While the grass grows in yond field;
Salute your bride and kiss her sweet,
Rise again upon your feet.
--Hanging Heaton, Yorks. (Herbert Hardy).
XXII. On the carpet you shall kneel, while the grass grows at your
feet;
Stand up straight upon your feet, and choose the one you
love so sweet.
Now Sally is married, life and joy, first a girl and then a
boy;
Seven years after, seven years ago, three on the carpet,
kiss and go.
--Hanbury, Staffordshire (Miss Edith Hollis).
XXIII. I had a bonnet trimmed wi' blue.
Why dosn't wëare it? Zo I do;
I'd wëare it where I con,
To tëake a walk wi' my young mon.
My young mon is a-gone to sea,
When he'd come back he'll marry me.
Zee what a purty zister is mine,
Doan't 'e think she's ter'ble fine?
She's a most ter'ble cunnèn too,
Just zee what my zister can do.
On the carpet she can kneel,
As the grass grow in the fiel'.
Stand upright upon thy feet,
And choose the prettiest you like, sweet.
--Hazelbury Bryan, Dorset (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 208).
XXIV. Kneel down on the carpets, we shall kneel;
The grass grows away in yonder fiel',
Stand up, stand up upon your feet,
And show me the one you love so sweet.
Now they get married, I wish they may joy
Every year a girl or a boy;
Loving together like sister and brother,
Now they are coupled to kiss together.
--Galloway, N.B. (J. G. Carter).
(_c_) This game is played in the same way in all the different variants
I have given, except a slight addition in the Suffolk (Mrs. Haddon). A
ring is formed by the children joining hands--one child stands in the
centre. The ring dances or moves slowly round, singing the verses. The
child in the centre kneels down when the words are sung, rises and
chooses a partner from the ring, kisses her when so commanded, and then
takes a place in the ring, leaving the other child in the centre. In
those cases where the marriage formula is not given, the kissing would
probably be omitted.
(_d_) Of the twenty-four versions given there are not two alike, and
this game is distinguished from all others by the singular diversity of
its variants; although the original structure of the verses has been
preserved to some extent, they seem to have been the sport of the
inventive faculty of each different set of players. Lines have been
added, left out, and altered in every direction, and in the example from
Hazelbury Bryan, in Dorsetshire (No. xxiii.), a portion of an old song
or ballad has been added to the game rhyme. These alterations occur not
only in different counties, but in the same counties, as may be seen by
the Dorset, Hants, Staffordshire, and Northants examples. Mr. Carter
says of the Galloway game that the kissing match sometimes degenerates
into a spitting match, according to the temper of the parties concerned.
In the Suffolk version (Mrs. Haddon), at the words "Lean across the
water," the two in the centre lean over the arms of those forming the
ring. These words and action are probably an addition. They belong to
the "Rosy Apple, Lemon and Pear" game.
These peculiar characteristics of the game do not permit of much
investigation into the original words of the game-rhyme, but they serve
to illustrate, in a very forcible manner, the exactly opposite
characteristics of nearly all the other games, which preserve, in almost
stereotyped fashion, the words of the rhymes. It appears most probable
that the verses belonged originally to some independent game like
"Sally, Sally Water," and that, when divorced from their original
context, they lent themselves to the various changes which have been
made. The minute application of modern ideas is seen in the version from
Gambledown, where "A bottle of wine and a guinea, too," becomes "A
bottle of wine and a biscuit, too;" and at West Haddon, in
Northamptonshire, a variant of the marriage formula is given in
_Northants Notes and Queries_, ii. 106, as--
Now you're married, we wish you joy,
First a girl and then a boy;
Cups and saucers, sons and daughters,
Now join hands and kiss one another.
Another version from Long Itchington, given in _Notes and Queries_, 7th
series, x. 450, concludes with--
Up the kitchen and down the hall,
Choose the fairest of them all;
Seven years now and seven years then,
Kiss poor Sally and part again.
[2] Matron is _not_ a word in common use among Lancashire people.
[3] _d_ not sounded.
[4] Another version has "pree," which means in Scotch, _taste_, hence
_kiss_.
[5] At Earls Heaton two verses or lines are added, viz.:--
"If she is not here to take her part,
Choose another with all your heart."
Pretty Miss Pink
Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out,
Will you come out, will you come out?
Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out,
To see the ladies dancing?
No, I won't.
Pretty Miss Pink, she won't come out,
Won't come out, won't come out, &c.
She will come out.
Pretty Miss Pink, she has come out, &c.
--Winterton, Lincs and Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock.)
(_b_) The children place themselves in a row. They each choose a colour
to represent them. One player must be _pink_. Another player stands
facing them, and dances to and fro, singing the first four lines. The
dancer then sings the next two lines, and Miss Pink having answered
rushes forward, catches hold of the dancer's hand, and sings the next
verse. Each colour is then taken in turn, but Miss Pink must always be
first.
(_c_) This is clearly a variant of "Pray, Pretty Miss," colours being
used perhaps from a local custom at fairs and May meetings, where girls
were called by the colours of the ribbons they wore.
Prick at the Loop
A cheating game, played with a strap and skewer at fairs, &c, by persons
of the thimble-rig class, probably the same as the game called "Fast and
Loose."
Prickey Sockey
Christmas morning is ushered in by the little maidens playing at the
game of "Prickey Sockey," as they call it. They are dressed up in their
best, with their wrists adorned with rows of pins, and run about from
house to house inquiring who will play at the game. The door is opened
and one cries out--
Prickey sockey for a pin,
I car not whether I loss or win.
The game is played by the one holding between her two forefingers and
thumbs a pin, which she clasps tightly to prevent her antagonist seeing
either part of it, while her opponent guesses. The head of the pin is
"sockey," and the point is "prickey," and when the other guesses she
touches the end she guesses at, saying, "this for prickey," or "this for
sockey," At night the other delivers her two pins. Thus the game is
played, and when the clock strikes twelve it is declared up; that is, no
one can play after that time.--_Mirror_, 1828, vol. x. p. 443.
See "Headicks and Pinticks."
Prickie and Jockie
A childish game, played with pins, and similar to "Odds or
Evens,"--Teviotdale (Jamieson), but it is more probable that this is the
game of "Prickey Sockey," which Jamieson did not see played.
Priest-Cat (1)
See "Jack's Alive."
Priest-Cat (2)
A peat clod is put into the shell of the crook by one person, who then
shuts his eyes. Some one steals it. The other then goes round the circle
trying to discover the thief, and addressing particular individuals in a
rhyme--
Ye're fair and leal,
Ye canna steal;
Ye're black and fat,
Ye're the thief of my priest-cat!
If he guesses wrong he is in a wadd, if right he has found the
thief.--Chambers' _Popular Rhymes_, p. 128.
This is an entirely different game to the "Priest-Cat" given by
Mactaggart (see "Jack's Alive"), and seems to have originated in the
discovery of stolen articles by divination.
Priest of the Parish
William Carleton describes this game as follows:--"One of the boys gets
a wig upon himself, goes out on the floor, places the boys in a row,
calls on his man Jack, and says to each, 'What will you be?' One
answers, 'I'll be Black Cap,' another, 'Red Cap,' and so on. He then
says, 'The priest of the parish has lost his considering-cap. Some says
this, and some says that, but I say my man Jack.' Man Jack then, to put
it off himself, says, 'Is it me, sir?' 'Yes you, sir.' 'You lie, sir.'
'Who then, sir?' 'Black Cap.' If Black Cap then doesn't say, 'Is it me,
sir?' before the priest has time to call him he must put his hand on his
ham and get a pelt of the brogue. A boy must be supple with the tongue
in it."--_Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry_, p. 106 (Tegg's
reprint).
This game is no doubt the original form of the game imperfectly played
under the name of "King Plaster Palacey" (see _ante_, i. 301).
Prisoner's Base or Bars
The game of "The Country Base" is mentioned by Shakespeare in
"Cymbeline"--
"He, with two striplings (lads more like to run
The country base, than to commit such slaughter),
Made good the passage."--Act v., sc. 3.
Also in the tragedy of Hoffman, 1632--
"I'll run a little course
At _base_, or barley-brake."
Again, in the Antipodes, 1638--
"My men can runne at _base_."
Also, in the thirtieth song of Drayton's "Polyolbion"--
"At hood-wink, barley-brake, at tick, or _prison-base_."
Again, in Spenser's "Faerie Queen," v. 8--
"So ran they all as they had been at _bace_."
Strutt (_Sports and Pastimes_, p. 78), says, "This game was much
practised in former times. The first mention of this sport that I have
met with occurs in the Proclamations at the head of the Parliamentary
proceedings, early in the reign of Edward III., where it is spoken of as
a childish amusement; and prohibited to be played in the avenues of the
palace at Westminster during the Sessions of Parliament, because of the
interruption it occasioned to the members and others in passing to and
fro. . . . The performance of this pastime requires two parties of equal
number, each of them having a base or home, as it is usually called to
themselves, at the distance of about twenty or thirty yards. The players
then on either side taking hold of hands extend themselves in length and
opposite to each other, as far as they conveniently can, always
remembering that one of them must touch the base; when any one of them
quits the hand of his fellow and runs into the field, which is called
giving the chase, he is immediately followed by a second from the former
side, and he by a second opponent; and so on alternately, until as many
are out as choose to run, every one pursuing the man he first followed
and no other; and if he overtake him near enough to touch him, his party
claims one toward their game, and both return home. Then they run forth
again and again in like manner, until the number is completed that
decides the victory; this number is optional. It is to be observed that
every person on either side who touches another during the chase, claims
one for his party."
Strutt describes the game in Essex as follows:--"They play this game
with the addition of two prisons, which are stakes driven into the
ground, parallel with the home boundaries, and about thirty yards from
them; and every person who is touched on either side in the chase is
sent to one or other of these prisons, where he must remain till the
conclusion of the game, if not delivered previously by one of his
associates, and this can only be accomplished by touching him, which is
a difficult task, requiring the performance of the most skilful players,
because the prison belonging to either party is always much nearer to
the base of their opponents than to their own; and if the person sent to
relieve his confederate be touched by an antagonist before he reaches
him, he also becomes a prisoner, and stands in equal need of
deliverance."--_Sports and Pastimes_, p. 80.
[Illustration]
But this is not quite the same as it is played in London. There the
school ground is divided in the following manner:-- The boys being
divided into equal sides, with a captain for each, one party takes up
its quarters in A, the other in B. Lots are chosen as to which side
commences. Then one member of the side so chosen (say B) starts off for
the middle of the playground and cries out "Chevy, Chevy Chase, one,
two, three;" thereupon it becomes the object of the side B to touch him
before reaching home again. If unsuccessful one from side B goes to the
middle, and so on until a prisoner is secured from one of the sides.
Then the struggle commences in earnest, after the fashion described by
Strutt as above. If a boy succeeds in getting to the prison of his side
without being touched by an opponent, he releases a prisoner, and brings
him back home again to help in the struggle. The object of the
respective sides is to place all their opponents in prison, and when
that is accomplished they rush over to the empty home and take
possession of it. The game then begins again from opposite sides, the
winning side counting one towards the victory.--London (G. L. Gomme).
This was once a favourite game among young men in North Shropshire (and
Cheshire). It was played yearly at Norton-in-Hales Wakes, and the
winning party were decorated with ribbons. Men-servants, in the last
century, were wont to ask a day's holiday to join or witness a game of
"Prison-bars," arranged beforehand as a cricket-match might be (see
_Byegones_, 2nd May 1883). A form of the game still survives there among
the school-children, under the name of "Prison Birds." The Birds arrange
themselves in pairs behind each other, facing a large stone or stump
placed at some little distance. Before them, also facing the stone,
stands one player, called the Keeper. When he calls, "Last pair out!"
the couple next behind him run to the stone and touch hands over it. If
they can do so without being touched by the Keeper, they are free, and
return to a position behind the other birds; but any one whom he touches
must remain behind the stone "in prison."--Ellesmere (Burne's
_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 524).
The Ellesmere inhabitants were formerly accustomed to devote their
holiday occasions to the game, and in the year 1764 the poet laureate of
the town (Mr. David Studley) composed some lines on the game as it was
played by the Married _v._ Single at Ellesmere. They are as follows:--
"Ye lovers of pleasure, give ear and attend,
Unto these few lines which here I have penned,
I sing not of sea fights, of battles nor wars,
But of a fine game, which is called 'Prison Bars.'
This game was admired by men of renown,
And played by the natives of fair Ellesmere town;
On the eighth day of August in the year sixty-four,
These nimble heel'd fellows approached on the moor.
Twenty-two were the number appear'd on the green,
For swiftness and courage none like them were seen;
Eleven were married to females so fair,
The other young gallants bachelors were.
Jacob Hitchen the weaver commands the whole round,
Looks this way, and that way, all over the ground,
Gives proper directions, and sets out his men,
So far go, my lads, and return back again.
Proper stations being fixed, each party advance,
And lead one another a many fine dance.
There's Gleaves after Ellis, and Platt after he,
Such running before I never did see.
Huzza! for the young men, the fair maids did say,
May heaven protect you to conquer this day,
Now, my brave boys, you're not to blame,
Take courage, my lads, nine and eight is the game.
Now behold the Breeches makers, master and man,
Saddlers, Slaters, and Joiners, do all they can;
The Tailor so nimble, he brings up the rear,
Cheer up, my brave boys, you need not to fear.
Alas! poor old Jacob, thy hopes are in vain,
Dick Chidley is artful, and spoils all thy schemes.
The Barber is taken, the Currier is down,
The Sawyer is tired, and so is the Clown."
The moor referred to in the last line of the second verse was the
Pitchmoor. The Clown was a nickname for one of the players, who, on
hearing the song repeated in the presence of the author, became so
exasperated, that, to appease him, the words "the game is our'n" were
substituted for the words "so is the Clown "in the last line of the
concluding verse.
Puff-the-Dart
A game played with a long needle inserted in some worsted, and blown at
a target through a tin tube.--Halliwell's _Dictionary_. This game is
also mentioned in Baker's _Northamptonshire Glossary_.
Pun o' mair Weight
A rough play among boys, adding their weight one upon another, and all
upon the one at the bottom.--Dickinson's _Cumberland Glossary_.
Punch Bowl
I. Round about the punch bowl,--
One, two, three;
If anybody wants a bonnie lassie,
Just take me.
Another form of words is--
The fillan o' the punch bowl,
That wearies me;
The fillan o't up, an' the drinkan' o't doon,
An' the kissan o' a bonnie lass,
That cheeries me.
--Fochabers (Rev. W. Gregor).
II. Round about the punch bowl,
Punch bowl, punch bowl;
Round about the punch bowl, one, two, three.
First time never to fall,
Never to fall, never to fall;
First time never to fall, one, two, three.
Second time, the catching time,
Catching time, catching time;
Second time, the catching time, one, two, three.
Third time, the kissing time,
Kissing time, kissing time,
Third time, the kissing time, one, two, three.
--Belfast (W. H. Patterson).
III. Round about the punch bowl,--one, two, three;
Open the gates and let the bride through.
Half-a-crown to know his name, to know his name, to know his
name,
Half-a-crown to know his name,
On a cold and frosty morning.
Ah! (Michael Matthews) is his name, is his name, is his
name;
(Michael Matthews) is his name,
On a cold and frosty morning.
Half-a-crown to know her name, to know her name, to know her
name,
Half-a-crown to know her name,
On a cold and frosty morning.
(Annie Keenan) is her name, is her name, is her name,
(Annie Keenan) is her name,
On a cold and frosty morning.
They'll be married in the morning,
Round about the punch bowl, I [? Hi!].
--Annaverna, Ravensdale, Co. Louth, Ireland (Miss R. Stephen).
(_b_) The Fochabers' game is played by girls only. The players join
hands and form a ring. They dance briskly round, singing the verse. The
last word, "me," is pronounced with strong emphasis, and all the girls
jump, and if one falls she has to leave the ring. The game is carried on
until all the players fall. In the Belfast game, at the words "one, two,
three," the players drop down in a crouching position for a few seconds.
In the Louth (Ireland) game the players all curtsey after the first
line, and the one who rises last is the bride. She is led outside the
ring by another, and asked to whom she is engaged. She tells without
letting those in the ring hear, and the two return to the ring saying
the second line. Then all the ring sing the next three lines, and then
the girl who has been told the name tells it to the ring, who thereupon
sing or say the remaining lines of the verse.
(_c_) The Louth version has more detail in its movements, and probably
represents the oldest form. At all events, it supplies the reason for
the words and movements, which are not quite so obvious in the other
versions. Many ancient monoliths are known as "Punch Bowls," and it may
be that this game is the relic of an old marriage ceremony, "at the
stones."
Purposes
A kind of game. "The prettie game which we call purposes" (Cotgrave in
_v._ "Opinion").--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.
Push in the Wash Tub
A ring of girls is formed. Two go in opposite directions outside the
ring, and try to get back first to the starting-point; the one
succeeding stops there, rejoining the ring, the other girl _pushes_
another girl into the ring, or _wash tub_, with whom the race is
renewed.--Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase).
Push-pin, or Put-pin
A child's play, in which pins are pushed with an endeavour to cross
them. So explained by Ash, but it would seem, from Beaumont and
Fletcher, vii. 25, that the game was played by aiming pins at some
object.--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.
"To see the sonne you would admire,
Goe play at push-pin with his sire."
--_Men's Miracles_, 1656, p. 15.
"Love and myselfe, beleeve me on a day,
At childish push-pin for our sport did play."
--Herrick's _Works_, i. 22.
There is an allusion to it under the name of put-pin in Nash's
_Apologie_, 1593--
"That can lay down maidens bedds,
And that can hold ther sickly heds;
That can play at put-pin,
Blow poynte and near lin."
Two pins are laid upon a table, and the object of each player is to push
his pin across his opponent's pin.--Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_.
See "Hattie," "Pop the Bonnet."
Push the Business On
I. I hired a horse and borrowed a gig,
And all the world shall have a jig;
And I'll do all 'at ever I can
To push the business on.
To push the business on,
To push the business on;
And I'll do all 'at ever I can
To push the business on.
--North Kelsey, Anderby, and near the Trent, Nottinghamshire (Miss M.
Peacock).
II. Beeswax and turpentine make the best of plaster,
The more you try to pull it off, it's sure to stick the
faster.
I'll buy a horse and hire a gig,
And all the world shall have a jig;
And you and I'll do all we can
To push the business on,
To push the business on;
And we'll do all that ever we can
To push the business on.
--Brigg, Lincolnshire (Miss Barker, from a Lincolnshire friend).
III. I'll buy a horse and steal a gig,
And all the world shall have a jig;
And I'll do all that ever I can
To pass the business on.
To pass the business on,
To pass the business on;
And I'll do all that ever I can
To pass the business on.
--Wolstanton, North Staffs. (Miss Bush, Schoolmistress)
IV. We'll borrow a horse and steal a gig,
And round the world we'll have a jig;
And I'll do all that ever I can
To push the business on.
--Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).
V. I'll hire a horse and steal a gig,
And all the world shall have a jig;
And I'll do all that ever I can
To push the business on,
To push the business on, to push the business on,
And I'll do all that ever I can to push the business on.
--Settle, Yorkshire (Rev. W. S. Sykes).
(_b_) The players stand in a circle, boy and girl alternately, and sing
the lines. At the fourth line they all clap their hands, keeping time
with the song. When singing the seventh line each boy takes the girl on
his left hand,--dances round with her and places her on his right hand.
This is done till each girl has been all round the circle, and has been
turned or danced with by each boy. In the Wolstanton version (Miss
Bush), after singing the first four lines, the children fall behind one
another, march round, clapping their hands and singing; at the seventh
line they all join in couples and gallop round very quickly to the end.
When they finish, the girls stand at the side of the boys in couples,
and change places every time they go round until each girl has partnered
each boy. At Hexham there is rather more of the regular dance about the
game at the beginning. At the fourth line they set to partners and swing
round, the girls changing places at the end, and continuing until they
have been all round each time with a different partner.
(_c_) This game seems of kin to the old-fashioned country dances. Miss
Bush writes that this game was introduced into the school playground
from Derbyshire a few years ago, and is sung to a simple tune.
Puss in the Corner
The children stand at fixed points: one stands in the middle and chants,
"Poor puss wants a corner." The others beckon with the fore-finger, and
calling, "Puss, puss," run from point to point. Puss runs also to one of
the vacant spaces. The one left out becomes puss.--Monton, Lancashire
(Miss Dendy).
[Illustration]