"Indian Buff." The Dorsetshire version in _Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 238,
239, is the same as the Shropshire version. Halliwell (_Nursery
Rhymes_, cclxxxii.) gives a slight variant. It is also given by Mr. Addy
in his _Sheffield Glossary_, the words being the same except the last
two lines, which run--
But shows his face with a comely grace,
And leaves his staff at the very next place.
Buk-hid
This seems to be an old name for some game, probably "Blindman's Buff,"
Sw. "Blind-bock," q. "bock" and "hufwud head" (having the head
resembling a goat). The sense, however, would agree better with
"Bo-peep" or "Hide and Seek."--Jamieson.
Bull in the Park
One child places himself in the centre of a circle of others. He then
asks each of the circle in turn, "Where's the key of the park?" and is
answered by every one, except the last, "Ask the next-door neighbour."
The last one answers, "Get out the way you came in." The centre one then
makes a dash at the hands of some of the circle, and continues to do so
until he breaks through, when all the others chase him. Whoever catches
him is then Bull.--Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler).
"The Bull in the Barn" is apparently the same game. The players form a
ring; one player in the middle called the Bull, one outside called the
King.
Bull: "Where is the key of the barn-door?"
Chorus: "Go to the next-door neighbour."
King: "She left the key in the church-door."
Bull: "Steel or iron?"
He then forces his way out of the ring, and whoever catches him becomes
Bull.--Berrington (Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, pp. 519, 520).
Another version is that the child in the centre, whilst the others
danced around him in a circle, saying, "Pig in the middle and can't get
out," replies, "I've lost my key but I will get out," and throws the
whole weight of his body suddenly on the clasped hands of a couple, to
try and unlock them. When he had succeeded he changed the words to,
"I've broken your locks, and I have got out." One of the pair whose
hands he had opened took his place, and he joined the ring.--Cornwall
(_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 50).
(_b_) Mr. S. O. Addy says the following lines are said or sung in a game
called "T' Bull's i' t' Barn," but he does not know how it is played:--
As I was going o'er misty moor
I spied three cats at a mill-door;
One was white and one was black,
And one was like my granny's cat.
I hopped o'er t' style and broke my heel,
I flew to Ireland very weel,
Spied an old woman sat by t' fire,
Sowing silk, jinking keys;
Cat's i' t' cream-pot up to t' knees,
Hen's i' t' hurdle crowing for day,
Cock's i' t' barn threshing corn,
I ne'er saw the like sin' I was born.
Bulliheisle
A play amongst boys, in which, all having joined hands in a line, a boy
at one of the ends stands still, and the rest all wind round him. The
sport especially consists in an attempt to heeze or throw the whole mass
on the ground.--Jamieson.
See "Eller Tree," "Wind up Jack," "Wind up the Bush Faggot."
Bummers
A play of children. "Bummers--a thin piece of wood swung round by a
cord" (_Blackwood's Magazine_, Aug. 1821, p. 35). Jamieson says the word
is evidently denominated from the booming sound produced.
Bun-hole
A hole is scooped out in the ground with the heel in the shape of a
small dish, and the game consists in throwing a marble as near to this
hole as possible. Sometimes, when several holes are made, the game is
called "Holy."--Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_; _Notes and Queries_, xii.
344.
Bunch of Ivy
Played by children in pairs (one kneeling and one standing) in a ring.
The inner child of each pair kneels. The following dialogue begins with
the inner circle asking the first question, which is replied to by the
outer circle.
"What time does the King come home?"
"One o'clock in the afternoon."
"What has he in his hand?"
"A bunch of ivy."
The rhyme is repeated for every hour up to six, the outer circle running
round the inner as many times as the number named. The children then
change places and repeat.--Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy).
Bung the Bucket
[Music]
--London (J. P. Emslie).
[Illustration]
A number of boys divide themselves into two sides. One side, the
Buckets, stoop down, as for "Leap-frog," arranging themselves one in
front of the other. The hindmost supports himself against the one in
front of him, and the front one supports himself against a wall (fig.).
They thus make an even and solid row of their backs. The other side, the
Bungs, leap on to the backs of the Buckets, the first one going as far
up the row as possible, the second placing himself close behind the
first, and so on. If they all succeed in getting a secure place, they
cry out twice the two first lines--
Bung the Bucket,
One, two, three.
Off, off, off!
If no breakdown occurs, the Buckets count one in their favour, and the
Bungs repeat the process. When a breakdown occurs the Bungs take the
place of the Buckets.--Barnes, Surrey (A. B. Gomme).
(_b_) Mr. Emslie, to whom I am indebted for the tune to this game, gives
me the words as--
Jump a little nag-tail,
One, two, three.
He says, "I once heard this sung three times, followed by 'Ha! ha! he!'
to the tune of the last bar." Mr. W. R. Emslie says the game is known at
Beddgelert as "Horses, Wild Horses," he believes, but is not quite
certain.
Northall (_Rhymes_, p. 401) describes a game very similar to this under
"Buck," in which the rhyme and method of play is the same as in that
game. He continues, "This is closely allied to a game called in
Warwickshire 'Jack upon the Mopstick.' But in this there is no guessing.
The leaping party must maintain their position whilst their leader
says--
Jack upon the mopstick,
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Count 'em off again."
Bunting
Name for "Tip-cat."--Cole's _S. W. Lincolnshire_ Glossary.
Burly Whush
A game played at with a ball. The ball is thrown up by one of the
players on a house or wall, who cries on the instant it is thrown to
another to catch or kep it before it falls to the ground. They all run
off but this one to a little distance, and if he fails in kepping it he
bawls out "Burly Whush;" then the party are arrested in their flight,
and must run away no farther. He singles out one of them then, and
throws the ball at him, which often is directed so fair as to strike;
then this one at which the ball has been thrown is he who gives "Burly
Whush" with the ball to any he chooses. If the corner of a house be at
hand, as is mostly the case, and any of the players escape behind it,
they must still show one of their hands past its edge to the Burly Whush
man, who sometimes hits it such a whack with the ball as leaves it
dirling for an hour afterwards.--Mactaggart's _Gallovidian
Encyclopædia_.
See "Ball," "Keppy Ball," "Monday."
Buttons
Two or more boys take two buttons in their right hands, and try to throw
them both into a small hole in the ground about two yards off. The boy
who succeeds in getting both buttons in begins first next game, and
takes a button as prize. [This seems merely a mild form of
marbles.]--Lincolnshire (Rev. ---- Roberts).
There were several games played with buttons--some on level ground, in a
ring or square; but the most approved was with a hole dug in the earth
near a wall, or near the trunk of a large tree. The hole should be about
the cavity of a small tea-cup, the players toeing a scratched line about
four or five feet from the hole, after tossing for first innings. Each
of the players (mostly two) contribute an equal number of buttons, say
from two to ten, and of equal value or quality. The one having first
turn takes the whole of them in his hand, and by an under-throw, or
rather a pitch, endeavours to get the whole, or as many as possible,
into the hole. If all go clean into the hole, he wins the game, and
takes the whole of the buttons started with; but if one or more of the
buttons are left outside the hole, the non-player has then the choice of
selecting one which he considers difficult to be hit, and requesting the
player to hit it with his _nicker_. This is made of solid lead, about
the size of a florin, but twice its substance, and each player is
provided with one of his own. Much judgment is required in making this
selection, the object being to make it most difficult not only to hit
it, but to prevent it being hit without being knocked into the hole, or
sending the nicker in, or sending another button in, or even not
striking one at all. In any one of these cases the player loses the
game, and the non-player takes the whole of the stakes. In playing the
next game, the previous non-player becomes the player.--London (C. A. T.
M.).
The following was the value of the buttons:--
(1.) The plain metal 3 or 4-holed flat button, called a Sinkie, say,
value 1 point.
(2.) The same kind of button, with letters or inscription on the rim,
valued at 2 points.
(3.) The small metal shank button, called a Shankie, without any
inscription, valued at 3 points; if with inscription, at 4 points; the
large sizes and corresponding description were valued relatively 4 and 5
points.
(4.) The small Shankies, with a crest (livery waistcoat buttons), 6
points, and the large corresponding, 7 points.
(5.) The small Shankies, with coat of arms, value 8 points, and the
large corresponding, 9 points.
(6.) Ornamental and various other buttons, such as regimental, official,
mounted and engraved in flowers, and other designs according to
arrangement, up to 20 points.
See "Banger," "Cots and Twisses."
Buzz and Bandy
A local name for "Hockey," which was formerly a very popular game among
the young men of Shrewsbury and Much Wenlock. Called simply "Bandy" at
Ludlow and Newport.--_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 525.
Cache-pole
The game of "Tennis."--Jamieson.
Caiche
The game of "Handball."
Thocht I preich nocht I can play at the caiche.
I wait thair is nocht ane among you all
Mair ferilie can play at the fute ball.
--Lyndsay's _S. P. Repr_., ii. 243.
This language Lyndsay puts into the mouth of a Popish parson. The game
seems to be that of ball played with the hand, as distinguished from
"Football."--Jamieson.
See "Ball."
Call-the-Guse
This game is supposed by Jamieson to be equivalent to "Drive the
Goose," and the game seems to be the same with one still played by young
people in some parts of Angus, in which one of the company, having
something that excites ridicule unknowingly pinned behind, is pursued by
all the rest, who still cry out, "Hunt the Goose!"--Jamieson.
Camp
A game formerly much in use among schoolboys, and occasionally played by
men in those parts of Suffolk on the sea coast--more especially in the
line of Hollesley Bay between the Rivers Orwell and Alde, sometimes
school against school, or parish against parish. It was thus played:
Goals were pitched at the distance of 150 or 200 yards from each other;
these were generally formed of the thrown-off clothes of the
competitors. Each party has two goals, ten or fifteen yards apart. The
parties, ten or fifteen on a side, stand in line, facing their own goals
and each other, at about ten yards distance, midway between the goals,
and nearest that of their adversaries. An indifferent spectator, agreed
on by the parties, throws up a ball, of the size of a common
cricket-ball, midway between the confronted players, and makes his
escape. It is the object of the players to seize and convey the ball
between their own goals. The rush is therefore very great: as is
sometimes the shock of the first onset, to catch the falling ball. He
who first can catch or seize it speeds therefore home, pursued by his
opponents (thro' whom he has to make his way), aided by the jostlings
and various assistances of his own _sidesmen_. If caught and held, or in
imminent danger of being caught, he _throws_ the ball--but must in no
case give it--to a less beleaguered friend, who, if it be not arrested
in its course, or be jostled away by the eager and watchful adversaries,
catches it; and he hastens homeward, in like manner pursued, annoyed,
and aided, winning the notch (or snotch) if he contrive to _carry_, not
_throw_, it between his goals. But this in a well-matched game is no
easy achievement, and often requires much time, many doublings, detours,
and exertions. I should have noticed, that if the holder of the ball be
caught with the ball in his possession, he loses a _snotch_; if,
therefore, he be hard pressed, he _throws_ it to a convenient friend,
more free and in breath than himself. At the loss (or gain) of a
_snotch_, a recommence takes place, arranging which gives the parties
time to take breath. Seven or nine notches are the game--and these it
will sometimes take two or three hours to win. Sometimes a large
football was used--and the game was then called "Kicking Camp"--and if
played with the shoes on, "Savage Camp."--Moor's _Suffolk Words_.
(_b_) The sport and name are very old. The "Camping pightel" occurs in a
deed of the 30 Henry VI.--about 1486; Cullum's _Hawstead_, p. 113, where
Tusser is quoted in proof, that not only was the exercise manly and
salutary, but good also for the _pightel_ or meadow:
In meadow or pasture (to grow the more fine)
Let campers be camping in any of thine;
Which if ye do suffer when low is the spring,
You gain to yourself a commodious thing.
--P. 65.
And he says, in p. 56:
Get campers a ball,
To camp therewithall.
Ray says that the game prevails in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. The Rev.
S. Arnot, in _Notes and Queries_, 8th series, vol. ii. p. 138, who was
rector of Ilket's Hall, in the county of Suffolk, says the ball was
about the size of a cricket-ball, and was driven through a narrow goal;
and from the evidence of the parish clerk it seems certain that it was
not "Football." See also Spurden's _East Anglian Words_, and _County
Folk-lore, Suffolk_, pp. 57-59.
There are Upper Campfield and Lower Campfield at Norton Woodseats. They
are also called Camping fields. This field was probably the place where
football and other village games were played. These fields adjoin the
Bocking fields. In Gosling's Map of Sheffield, 1736, Campo Lane is
called _Camper Lane_. The same map shows the position of the old Latin
school, or grammar school, and the writing school. These schools were at
a very short distance from Campo Lane, and it seems probable that here
the game of football was played (Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_). "The
camping-land appropriated to this game occurs in several instances in
authorities of the fifteenth century" (Way's Note in _Prompt. Parv._, p.
60). In Brinsley's _Grammar Schoole_, cited by Mr. Furnivall in _Early
English Meals and Manners_, p. lxii., is this passage: "By this meanes
also the schollars may be kept euer in their places, and hard to their
labours, without that running out to the Campo (as they tearme it) at
school times, and the manifolde disorders thereof; as watching and
striuing for the clubbe and loytering then in the fields."
See "Football."
Canlie
A very common game in Aberdeen, played by a number of boys, one of whom
is by lot chosen to act the part of Canlie. A certain portion of a
street or ground, as it may happen, is marked off as his territory, into
which, if any of the other boys presume to enter, and be caught by
Canlie before he can get off the ground, he is doomed to take the place
of Canlie, who becomes free in consequence of the capture. The game is
prevalent throughout Scotland, though differently denominated: in
Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire it is called "Tig," and in Mearns
"Tick."--Jamieson.
See "Tig."
Capie-Hole
A hole is made in the ground, and a certain line drawn, called a Strand,
behind which the players must take their stations. The object is at this
distance to throw the bowl into the hole. He who does this most
frequently wins. It is now more generally called "The Hole," but the old
designation is not quite extinct. It is otherwise played in Angus. Three
holes are made at equal distances. He who can first strike his bowl into
each of these holes thrice in succession wins the game (Jamieson). It is
alluded to in _The Life of a Scotch Rogue_, 1722, p. 7.
See "Bun-hole."
Carrick
Old name for "Shinty" in Fife.--Jamieson.
Carry my Lady to London
I. Give me a pin to stick in my thumb
To carry my lady to London.
Give me another to stick in my other
To carry her a little bit farther.
--Belfast (W. H. Patterson).
II. London Bridge is broken,
And what shall I do for a token?
Give me a pin to stick in my thumb
And carry my lady to London.
--_Notes and Queries_, 4th series, xii. 479.
III. Give me a pin to stick in my chin (? cushion)
To carry a lady to London;
London Bridge is broken down
And I must let my lady down.
--Northall's _English Folk Rhymes_, p. 353.
(_b_) In this game two children cross hands, grasping each other's
wrists and their own as well: they thus form a seat on which a child can
sit and be carried about. At the same time they sing the verse.
Carrying the Queen a Letter
The King and Queen have a throne formed by placing two chairs a little
apart, with a shawl spread from chair to chair. A messenger is sent into
the room with a letter to the Queen, who reads it, and joins the King in
a courteous entreaty that the bearer of the missive will place himself
between them. When he has seated himself on the shawl, up jumps the King
and Queen, and down goes the messenger on the floor.--Bottesford and
Anderly (Lincolnshire), and Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock).
(_b_) This is virtually the same game as "Ambassador," described by
Grose as played by sailors on some inexperienced fellow or landsman.
Between the two chairs is placed a pail of water, into which the victim
falls.
Cashhornie
A game played with clubs by two opposite parties of boys, the aim of
each party being to drive a ball into a hole belonging to their
antagonists, while the latter strain every nerve to prevent
this.--Jamieson.
Castles
A game at marbles. Each boy makes a small pyramid of three as a base,
and one on the top. The players aim at these from a distant stroke with
balsers, winning such of the castles as they may in turn knock down
(Lowsley's _Glossary of Berkshire Words_). In London, the marble alluded
to as "balser" was called "bonsor" or "bouncer" (J. P. Emslie).
See "Cockly Jock," "Cogs."
Cat and Dog
An ancient game played in Angus and Lothian. Three play, and they are
provided with clubs. These clubs are called "dogs." The players cut out
two holes, each about a foot in diameter, and seven inches in depth. The
distance between them is about twenty-six feet. One stands at each hole
with a club. A piece of wood about four inches long and one inch in
diameter, called a Cat, is thrown from the one hole towards the other by
a third person. The object is to prevent the Cat from getting into the
hole. Every time that it enters the hole, he who has the club at that
hole loses the club, and he who threw the Cat gets possession both of
the club and of the hole, while the former possessor is obliged to take
charge of the Cat. If the Cat be struck, he who strikes it changes
places with the person who holds the other club; and as often as these
positions are changed one is counted in the game by the two who hold the
clubs, and who are viewed as partners.--Jamieson.
(_b_) This is not unlike the "Stool-Ball" described by Strutt (_Sports
and Pastimes_, p. 76), but it more nearly resembles "Club-Ball," an
ancient English game (ibid., p. 83). The game of "Cat," played with
sticks and a small piece of wood, rising in the middle, so as to rebound
when struck on either side, is alluded to in _Poor Robin's Almanack_ for
1709, and by Brand. Leigh (_Cheshire Glossary_) gives "Scute" as another
name for the game of "Cat," probably from _scute_ (O.W.), for boat,
which it resembles in shape.
See "Cudgel," "Kit-cat," "Tip-cat."
Cat-Beds
The name of a game played by young people in Perthshire. In this game,
one, unobserved by all the rest, cuts with a knife the turf in very
unequal angles. These are all covered, and each player puts his hand on
what he supposes to be the smallest, as every one has to cut off the
whole surface of his division. The rate of cutting is regulated by a
throw of the knife, and the person who throws is obliged to cut as deep
as the knife goes. He who is last in getting his bed cut up is bound to
carry the whole of the clods, crawling on his hands and feet, to a
certain distance measured by the one next to him, who throws the knife
through his legs. If the bearer of the clods let any of them fall, the
rest have a right to pelt him with them. They frequently lay them very
loosely on, that they may have the pleasure of pelting.--Jamieson.
Cat's Cradle
One child holds a piece of string joined at the ends on his upheld
palms, a single turn being taken over each, and by inserting the middle
finger of each hand under the opposite turn, crosses the string from
finger to finger in a peculiar form. Another child then takes off the
string on his fingers in a rather different way, and it then assumes a
second form. A repetition of this man[oe]uvre produces a third form,
and so on. Each of these forms has a particular name, from a fancied
resemblance to the object--barn-doors, bowling-green, hour-glass, pound,
net, fiddle, fish-pond, diamonds, and others.--_Notes and Queries_, vol.
xi. p. 421.
The following forms are those known to me, with their names. They are
produced seriatim.
1. The cradle.
2. The soldier's bed.
3. Candles.
4. The cradle inversed, or manger.
5. Soldier's bed again, or diamonds.
6. Diamonds, or cat's eyes.
7. Fish in dish.
8. Cradle as at first.
The different orders or arrangements must be taken from the hands of one
player by another without disturbing the arrangement.--A. B. Gomme.
(_b_) Nares suggests that the proper name is "Cratch Cradle," and is
derived from the archaic word _cratch_, meaning a manger. He gives
several authorities for its use. The first-made form is not unlike a
manger. Moor (_Suffolk Words_) gives the names as cat's cradle,
barn-doors, bowling-green, hour-glass, pound, net, diamonds, fish-pond,
fiddle. A supposed resemblance originated them. Britton (_Beauties of
Wiltshire_, Glossary) says the game in London schools is called
"Scratch-scratch" or "Scratch-cradle."
[Illustration: Cat's Cradle "Taking off" Soldier's Bed
"Taking off" Candles "Taking off"
Cat's Cradle (upside down) Cat's Eyes Fish.]
The game is known to savage peoples. Professor Haddon noted it among the
Torres Straits people, who start the game in the same manner as we do,
but continue it differently (_Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, vol. xix. p. 361);
and Dr. Tylor has pointed out the significance of these string puzzles
among savage peoples in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, ix. 26.
Cat-gallows
A child's game, consisting of jumping over a stick placed at right
angles to two others fixed in the ground.--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.
(_b_) In Ross and Stead's _Holderness Glossary_ this is called
"Cat-gallas," and is described as three sticks placed in the form of a
gallows for boys to jump over. So called in consequence of being of
sufficient height to hang cats from. Also mentioned in Peacock's _Manley
and Corringham Glossary_ and Elworthy's _West Somerset Words_, Brogden's
_Provincial Words, Lincs._, Dickinson's _Cumberland Glossary_,
Atkinson's _Cleveland Glossary_, Brockett's _North Country Words_,
Evans' _Leicestershire Glossary_, Baker's _Northants Glossary_, and
Darlington's _South Cheshire Glossary_. On one of the stalls in
Worcester Cathedral, figured in Wright's _Archæological Essays_, ii.
117, is a carving which represents three rats busily engaged in hanging
a cat on a gallows of this kind.
Cat i' the Hole
A game well known in Fife, and perhaps in other counties. If seven boys
are to play, six holes are made at certain distances. Each of the six
stands at a hole, with a short stick in his hand; the seventh stands at
a certain distance holding a ball. When he gives the word, or makes the
sign agreed upon, all the six change holes, each running to his
neighbour's hole, and putting his stick in the hole which he has newly
seized. In making this change, the boy who has the ball tries to put it
into an empty hole. If he succeeds in this, the boy who had not his
stick (for the stick is the Cat) in the hole to which he had run is put
out, and must take the ball. There is often a very keen contest whether
the one shall get his stick, or the other the ball, or Cat, first put
into the hole. When the Cat _is in the hole_, it is against the laws of
the game to put the ball into it.--Jamieson.