_Lent Crocking._--The children in this neighbourhood have a custom of
going round to the different houses in the parish, on the Monday before
Shrove Tuesday, generally by twos and threes, and chanting the following
verses, by way of extracting from the inmates sundry contributions of
eggs, flour, butter, halfpence, &c., to furnish out the Tuesday's feast:
"Lent Crock, give a pancake,
Or a fritter, for my labour,
Or a dish of flour, or a piece of bread,
Or what you please to render.
I see by the latch,
There's something to catch;
I see by the string,
There's a good dame within.
Trap, trapping throw,
Give me my mumps, and I'll be go" [gone].
The above is the most popular version, and the one indigenous to the
place; but there is another set, which was introduced some few years ago
by a late schoolmistress, who was a native of another part of the
county, where her version was customary:
"Shrove-tide is nigh at hand,
And we are come a-shroving;
Pray, Dame, give something,
An apple, or a dumpling,
Or a piece of crumple cheese,
Of your own making;
Or a piece of pancake.
Trip, trapping, throw;
Give me my mumps, and I'll be go."