game;' an allusion to a play called 'Cat i' the Hole,' and the English
'Kit-cat.' Spoken when men at law have lost their principal evidence."
See "Cat and Dog," "Cudgel," "Kit-cat."
Cat after Mouse
This game, sometimes called "Threading the Needle," is played by
children forming a ring, with their arms extended and hands clasped;
one--the Mouse--goes outside the circle and gently pulls the dress of
one of the players, who thereupon becomes the Cat, and is bound to
follow wherever the Mouse chooses to go--either in or out of the
ring--until caught, when he or she takes the place formerly occupied in
the ring by the Cat, who in turn becomes Mouse, and the game is
recommenced.--Dorsetshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 214).
(_b_) Played at Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy); Clapham Middle-Class
School (Miss Richardson); and many other places. It is practically the
same game as "Drop Handkerchief," played without words. It is described
by Strutt, p. 381, who considers "Kiss-in-the-Ring" is derived from this
"Cat and Mouse."
Catchers
One bicken is required in this game, and at this a lad must stand with a
bat and ball in hand. He hits the ball away along the sand. Another boy
picks it up and asks the striker "How many?" who replies--
Two a good scat,
Try for the bat.
The ball is then thrown to the bicken, and if it does not come within
the distance named--two bats--the striker again sends the ball away,
when the question is again asked--
Three a good scat,
Try for the bat.
And so on until the boy standing out throws the ball in to the required
distance.--Old newspaper cutting without date in my possession (A. B.
Gomme).
Chacke-Blyndman
Scotch name for "Blindman's Buff."--Jamieson.
Chance Bone
In Langley's abridgment of _Polydore Vergile_, f. 1., we have a
description of this game: "There is a game also that is played with the
posterne bone in the hinder foote of a sheepe, oxe, gote, fallow, or
redde dere, whiche in Latin is called _talus_. It hath foure chaunces:
the ace point, that is named Canis, or Canicula, was one of the sides;
he that cast it leyed doune a peny, or so muche as the gamers were
agreed on; the other side was called Venus, that signifieth seven. He
that cast the chaunce wan sixe and all that was layd doune for the
castyng of Canis. The two other sides were called Chius and Senio. He
that did throwe Chius wan three. And he that cast Senio gained four.
This game (as I take it) _is used of children in Northfolke_, and they
cal it the Chaunce Bone; they playe with three or foure of those bones
together; it is either the same or very lyke to it."
See "Dibs," "Hucklebones."
Change Seats, the King's Come
In this game as many seats are placed round a room as will serve all the
company save one. The want of a seat falls on an individual by a kind of
lot, regulated, as in many other games, by the repetition of an old
rhythm. All the rest being seated, he who has no seat stands in the
middle, repeating the words "Change seats, change seats," &c., while all
the rest are on the alert to observe when he adds, "the king's come,"
or, as it is sometimes expressed, change their seats. The sport lies in
the bustle in consequence of every one's endeavouring to avoid the
misfortune of being the unhappy individual who is left without a seat.
The principal actor often slily says, "The king's _not_ come," when, of
course the company ought to keep their seats; but from their anxious
expectation of the usual summons, they generally start up, which affords
a great deal of merriment.--Brand's _Pop. Antiq._, ii. 409.
(_b_) Dr. Jamieson says this is a game well-known in Lothian and in the
South of Scotland. Sir Walter Scott, in _Rob Roy_, iii. 153, says, "Here
auld ordering and counter-ordering--but patience! patience!--We may ae
day play at _Change seats, the king's coming_."
This game is supposed to ridicule the political scramble for places on
occasion of a change of government, or in the succession.
See "Musical Chairs," "Turn the Trencher."
Checkstone
Easther's _Almondbury Glossary_ thus describes this game. A set of
checks consists of five cubes, each about half an inch at the edge, and
a ball the size of a moderate bagatelle ball: all made of pot. They are
called checkstones, and the game is played thus. You throw down the
cubes all at once, then toss the ball, and during its being in the air
gather up one stone in your right hand and catch the descending ball in
the same. Put down the stone and repeat the operation, gathering two
stones, then three, then four, till at last you have "summed up" all the
five at once, and have succeeded in catching the ball. In case of
failure you have to begin all over again.
(_b_) In Nashe's _Lenten Stuff_ (1599) occurs the following: "Yet
towards cock-crowing she caught a little slumber, and then she dreamed
that Leander and she were playing at checkstone with pearls in the
bottom of the sea."
A game played by children with round small pebbles (Halliwell's
_Dictionary_). It is also mentioned in the early play of _Apollo
Shroving_, 1627, p. 49.
See "Chucks," "Fivestones."
Cherry Odds
A game of "Pitch and Toss" played with cherry-stones (Elworthy's _West
Somerset Words_). Boys always speak of the stones as "ods."
Cherry-pit
"Cherry-pit" is a play wherein they pitch cherry-stones into a little
hole. It is noticed in the _Pleasant Grove of New Fancies_, 1657, and in
Herrick's _Hesperides_. Nares (_Glossary_) mentions it as still
practised with leaden counters called Dumps, or with money.
Chicamy
Chicamy, chickamy, chimey O,
Down to the pond to wash their feet;
Bring them back to have some meat,
Chickamy, chickamy, chimey O.
--Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase).
The children sing the first line as they go round and round. At the
second line they move down the road a little, and turn round and round
as they end the rhyme.
Chickidy Hand
Chickidy hand,
Chickidy hand,
The Warner, my Cock,
Crows at four in the morning.
Several boys, placing their clasped fists against a lamp-post, say these
lines, after which they run out, hands still clasped. One in the middle
tries to catch as many as possible, forming them in a long string, hand
in hand, as they are caught. Those still free try to break through the
line and rescue the prisoners. If they succeed in parting the line, they
may carry one boy pig-a-back to the lamp-post, who becomes "safe." The
boy caught last but one becomes "it" in the next game.--Deptford, Kent
(Miss Chase).
See "Hunt the Staigie," "Stag Warning," "Whiddy."
Chinnup
A game played with hooked sticks and a ball, also called "Shinnup." Same
as "Hockey."
Chinny-mumps
A school-boys' play, consisting in striking the chin with the knuckles;
dexterously performed, a kind of time is produced.--Addy's _Sheffield
Glossary_.
Chock or Chock-hole
A game at marbles played by "chocking" or pitching marbles in a hole
made for the purpose, instead of shooting at a ring (Northamptonshire,
Baker's _Glossary_). Clare mentions the game in one of his poems.
Chow
A game played in Moray and Banffshire. The ball is called the Chow. The
game is the same as "Shinty." The players are equally divided. After the
Chow is struck off by one party, the aim of the other is to strike it
back, that it may not reach the limit or goal on their side, because in
this case they lose the game, and as soon as it crosses the line the
other party cry Hail! or say that it is hail, as denoting that they have
gained the victory. In the beginning of each game they are allowed to
raise the ball a little above the level of the ground, that they may
have the advantage of a surer stroke. This is called the "deil-chap,"
perhaps as a contraction of "devil," in reference to the force expended
on the stroke. It may, however, be "dule-chap," the blow given at the
"dule" or goal.--Jamieson.
See "Hockey."
Chuck-farthing
Strutt says this game was played by boys at the commencement of the last
century, and probably bore some analogy to "Pitch and Hustle." He saw
the game thus denominated played with halfpence, every one of the
competitors having a like number, either two or four; a hole being made
in the ground, with a mark at a given distance for the players to stand,
they pitch their halfpence singly in succession towards the hole, and he
whose halfpenny lies the nearest to it has the privilege of coming first
to a second mark much nearer than the former, and all the halfpence are
given to him; these he pitches in a mass toward the hole, and as many of
them as remain therein are his due; if any fall short or jump out of it,
the second player--that is, he whose halfpenny in pitching lay nearest
to the first goer's--takes them and performs in like manner; he is
followed by the others as long as any of the halfpence remain (_Sports_,
pp. 386, 387). There is a letter in the _Spectator_, supposed to be from
the father of a romp, who, among other complaints of her conduct, says,
"I have catched her once at eleven years old at 'Chuck-farthing' among
the boys."
Chuck-hole, Chuck-penny
Same game as "Chuck-farthing," with this difference, that if the pennies
roll outside the ring it is a "dead heat," and each boy reclaims his
penny.--Peacock's _Manley and Corringham Glossary_; and see Brogden's
_Lincolnshire Words_.
Chucks
A game with marbles played by girls (Mactaggart's _Gallovidian
Encyclopædia_). A writer in _Blackwood's Magazine_, August 1821, p. 36,
says "Chucks" is played with a bowl and chucks--a species of shells
(_Buccinum lapillus_) found on the sea-shore ["bowl" here probably means
a marble]. Brockett (_North Country Words_) says this game is played by
girls with five sea-shells called chucks, and sometimes with pebbles,
called chuckie-stanes. Jamieson says a number of pebbles are spread on a
flat stone; one of them is tossed up, and a certain number must be
gathered and the falling one caught by the same hand.
See "Checkstones," "Fivestones."
Church and Mice
A game played in Fifeshire; said to be the same with the "Sow in the
Kirk."--Jamieson.
Click
Two Homes opposite each other are selected, and a boy either volunteers
to go Click, or the last one in a race between the Homes does so. The
others then proceed to one of the Homes, and the boy takes up his
position between them. The players then attempt to run between the
Homes, and if the one in the middle holds any of them while he says
"One, two, three, I catch thee; help me catch another," they have to
stay and help him to collar the rest until only one is left. If this one
succeeds in getting between the Homes three times after all the others
have been caught, he is allowed to choose the one to go Click in the
next game; if he fails, he has to go himself.--Marlborough, Wilts (H. S.
May).
See "Cock."
Click, Clock, Cluck
A man called Click came west from Ireland,
A man called Click came west from Ireland,
A man called Click came west from Ireland,
Courting my Aunt Judy.
A man called Clock came west from Ireland,
A man called Clock came west from Ireland,
A man called Clock came west from Ireland,
Courting my Aunt Judy.
A man called Cluck came west from Ireland,
A man called Cluck came west from Ireland,
A man called Cluck came west from Ireland,
Courting my Aunt Judy.
--Isle of Man (A. W. Moore).
These verses and the game are now quite forgotten, both in English and
Manx. It was sung by children dancing round in a ring.
Clowt-clowt
"A kinde of playe called clowt-clowt, to beare about, or my hen hath
layd."--_Nomenclator_, p. 299.
Clubby
A youthful game something like "Doddart."--Brockett's _North Country
Words_.
Coal under Candlestick
A Christmas game mentioned in _Declaration of Popish Impostures_, p.
160.
Cob
A game at marbles played by two or three boys bowling a boss marble into
holes made in the ground for the purpose, the number of which is
generally four.--Baker's _Northamptonshire Glossary_.
Cobbin-match
A school game in which two boys are held by the legs and arms and bumped
against a tree, he who holds out the longest being the victor.--Ross and
Stead's _Holderness Glossary_.
Cobble
A name for "See-saw."--Jamieson.
Cobbler's Hornpipe
This was danced by a boy stooping till he was nearly in a sitting
posture on the ground, drawing one leg under him until its toe rested on
the ground, and steadying himself by thrusting forward the other leg so
that the heel rested on the ground; the arms and head being thrown
forwards as far as possible in order to maintain a balance. The
thrust-out leg was drawn back and the drawn-in leg was shot out at the
same time. This movement was repeated, each bringing down to the ground
of the toe and heel causing a noise like that of hammering on a
lapstone. The arms were moved backwards and forwards at the same time to
imitate the cobbler's sewing.--London (J. P. Emslie).
[Illustration]
Cob-nut
The children in Yorkshire have a game which is probably an ancient
English pastime. Numerous hazel-nuts are strung like the beads of a
rosary. The game is played by two persons, each of whom has one of these
strings, and consists in each party striking alternately, with one of
the nuts on his own string, a nut of his adversary's. The field of
combat is usually the crown of a hat. The object of each party is to
crush the nuts of his opponent. A nut which has broken many of those of
the adversary is a Cob-nut.--Brand, ii. 411; Hunter's _Hallamshire
Glossary_.
(_b_) This game is played in London with chestnuts, and is called
"Conquers." In Cornwall it is known as "Cock-haw." The boys give the
name of Victor-nut to the fruit of the common hazel, and play it to the
words: "Cockhaw! First blaw! Up hat! Down cap! Victor!" The nut that
cracks another is called a Cock-battler (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 61).
Halliwell describes this game differently. He says "it consists in
pitching at a row of nuts piled up in heaps of four, three at the bottom
and one at the top of each heap. The nut used for the pitching is called
the Cob. All the nuts knocked down are the property of the pitcher."
Alluding to the first described form, he says it "is probably a more
modern game," and quotes Cotgrave _sub voce_ "Chastelet" as authority
for the earlier form in the way he describes it (_Dictionary_). Addy
says the nuts were hardened for the purpose. When a nut was broken it
was said to be "cobbered" or "cobbled" (_Sheffield Glossary_). Evans'
_Leicestershire Glossary_ also describes it. Darlington (_South Cheshire
Words_) says this game only differs from "Cobblety-cuts" in the use of
small nuts instead of chestnuts. George Eliot in _Adam Bede_ has,
"Gathering the large unripe nuts to play at 'Cob-nut' with" (p. 30).
Britton's _Beauties of Wiltshire_ gives the Isle of Wight and Hants as
other places where the game is known.
See "Conquerors."
Cock
One boy is chosen Cock. The players arrange themselves in a line along
one side of the playground. The Cock takes his stand in front of the
players. When everything is ready, a rush across the playground is made
by the players. The Cock tries to catch and "croon"--_i.e._, put his
hand upon the head of--as many of the players as he can when running
from one side of the playground to the other. Those caught help the Cock
in the rush back. The rush from side to side goes on till all are
captured. To "croon" was the essential point in capturing. When a boy
was being pursued to be taken prisoner, his great object was, when he
came to close quarters with his pursuers, to save his head from being
touched on the crown by one of them.--Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor).
At Duthil, Strathspey, this game goes by the name of "Rexa-boxa-King."
When the players have ranged themselves on one side of the playground,
and the King has taken his stand in front of them, he calls out
"Rexa-boxa-King," or simply "Rexa," when all the players rush to the
other side. The rush from side to side goes on till all are captured.
The one last captured becomes King in the next game.--Rev. W. Gregor.
See "Click."
Cock-battler
Children, under the title of "Cock-battler," often in country walks play
with the hoary plantain, which they hold by the tough stem about two
inches from the head; each in turn tries to knock off the head of his
opponent's flower.--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 61).
In the North, and in Suffolk, it is called "Cocks," "a puerile game with
the tough tufted stems of the ribwort plantain" (Brockett's _North
Country Words_). Moor (_Suffolk Words_) alludes to the game, and
Holloway (_Dictionary of Provincialisms_) says in West Sussex boys play
with the heads of rib grass a similar game. Whichever loses the head
first is conquered. It is called "Fighting-cocks."
Cock-fight
This is a boys' game. Two boys fold their arms, and then, hopping on one
leg, butt each other with their shoulders till one lets down his leg.
Any number of couples can join in this game.--Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor).
Cock-haw
See "Cob-nut."
Cock-stride
One boy is chosen as Cock. He is blindfolded, and stands alone, with his
legs as far apart as possible. The other boys then throw their caps as
far as they are able between the extended legs of the Cock (fig. 1).
After the boys have thrown their caps, and each boy has taken his stand
beside his cap, the Cock, still blindfolded, stoops down and crawls in
search of the caps (fig. 2). The boy whose cap he first finds has to
run about twenty yards under the buffeting of the other boys, the blows
being directed chiefly to the head. He becomes Cock at the next turn of
the game.--Rosehearty, Pitsligo (Rev. W. Gregor).
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
Cockertie-hooie
This game consists simply of one boy mounting on the neck of another,
putting a leg over each shoulder and down his breast. The boy that
carries takes firm hold of the legs of the one on his neck, and sets off
at a trot, and runs hither and thither till he becomes tired of his
burden. The bigger the one is who carries, the more is in the enjoyment
to the one carried.--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
See "Cock's-headling."
Cockle-bread
Young wenches have a wanton sport, which they call moulding of
Cocklebread; viz. they gett upon a Table-board, and then gather-up their
knees and their coates with their hands as high as they can, and then
they wabble to and fro with their Buttocks as if the[y] were kneading of
Dowgh, and say these words, viz.:--
My Dame is sick and gonne to bed,
And I'le go mowld my cockle-bread.
In Oxfordshire the maids, when they have put themselves into the fit
posture, say thus:--
My granny is sick, and now is dead,
And wee'l goe mould some cockle-bread.
Up with my heels, and down with my head,
And this is the way to mould cocklebread.
--Aubrey's _Remains_, pp. 43, 44.
To make "Barley bread" (in other districts, "Cockley bread") this rhyme
is used in West Cornwall:--
Mother has called, mother has said,
Make haste home, and make barley bread.
Up with your heels, down with your head,
That is the way to make barley bread.
--_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 58.
The Westmoreland version is given by Ellis in his edition of Brand as
follows:--
My grandy's seeke,
And like to dee,
And I'll make her
Some cockelty bread, cockelty bread,
And I'll make her
Some cockelty bread.
The term "Cockelty" is still heard among our children at play. One of
them squats on its haunches with the hands joined beneath the thighs,
and being lifted by a couple of others who have hold by the bowed arms,
it is swung backwards and forwards and bumped on the ground or against
the wall, while continuing the words, "This is the way we make cockelty
bread."--Robinson's _Whitby Glossary_, p. 40.
The moulding of "Cocklety-bread" is a sport amongst hoydenish girls not
quite extinct. It consists in sitting on the ground, raising the knees
and clasping them with the hand, and then using an undulatory motion, as
if they were kneading dough.
My granny is sick and now is dead,
And we'll go mould some cocklety bread;
Up with the heels and down with the head,
And that is the way to make cocklety bread.
--Hunter's MSS.; Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_.
(_b_) The _Times_ of 1847 contains a curious notice of this game. A
witness, whose conduct was impugned as light and unbecoming, is desired
to inform the court, in which an action for breach of promise was tried,
the meaning of "mounting cockeldy-bread;" and she explains it as "a play
among children," in which one lies down on the floor on her back,
rolling backwards and forwards, and repeating the following lines:--
Cockeldy bread, mistley cake,
When you do that for our sake.
While one of the party so laid down, the rest sat around; and they laid
down and rolled in this manner by turns.
These lines are still retained in the modern nursery-rhyme books, but
their connection with the game of "Cockeldy-bread" is by no means
generally understood. There was formerly some kind of bread called
"cockle-bread," and _cocille-mele_ is mentioned in a very early MS.
quoted in Halliwell's _Dictionary_. In Peele's play of the _Old Wives'
Tale_, a voice thus speaks from the bottom of a well:--
Gently dip, but not too deep,
For fear you make the golden beard to weep.
Fair maiden, white and red,
Stroke me smooth and comb my head,
And thou shalt have some _cockell-bread_.
Cockly-jock
A game among boys. Stones are loosely placed one upon another, at which
other stones are thrown to knock the pile down.--Dickinson's _Cumberland
Glossary_.
See "Castles."
Cock's-headling
A game where boys mount over each other's heads.--Halliwell's
_Dictionary_.
See "Cockertie-hooie."
Cock-steddling
A boyish game mentioned but not described by Cope in his _Hampshire
Glossary_. He gives as authority _Portsmouth Telegraph_, 27th September
1873.
Codlings
A game among youngsters similar to "Cricket," a short piece of wood
being struck up by a long stick instead of a ball by a bat. Also called
"Tip and Go" or "Tip and Slash."--Robinson's _Whitby Glossary_.
See "Cudgel."
Cogger
A striped snail shell. It is a common boyish pastime to hold one of
these shells between the last joints of the bent fingers, and forcibly
press the apex against another held in a similar manner by an opponent,
until one of them, by dint of persevering pressure, forces its way into
the other; and the one which in these contests has gained the most
victories is termed the Conqueror, and is highly valued
(Northamptonshire, Baker's _Glossary_). The game is known as "Fighting
Cocks" in Evans' _Leicestershire Glossary_. In London it was played with
walnut shells.
Cogs
The top stone of a pile is pelted by a stone flung from a given
distance, and the more hits, or "cogglings off," the greater the
player's score.--Robinson's _Whitby Glossary_.
Apparently the same game as "Cockly-jock."
Common
A game played with a ball and crooked stick (cut from a tree or hedge),
with a crook at the end (same game as "Hurl").--Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).
Mr. Patterson (_Antrim and Down Glossary_) mentions this as "Hockey;"
the same as "Shinney." "Called in some districts," he adds, "'Comun' and
'Kamman,' from the Irish name for the game."
Conkers
The same game as "Cogger." The game is more generally called "playin at
sneel-shells."--Ross and Stead's _Holderness Glossary_.
Conquerors or Conkers
I. Cobbly co!
My first blow!
Put down your black hat,
And let me have first smack!
--Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 531.
II. Obli, obli O, my first go;
And when the nut is struck,
Obli, obli onker, my nut will conquer.
--_Notes and Queries_, 5th series, x. 378.
III. Cobblety cuts,
Put down your nuts.
--Darlington's _Folk-speech of South Cheshire_.
IV. Obbly, obbly onkers, my first conquers;
Obbly, obbly O, my first go.
--Lawson's _Upton-on-Severn Words and Phrases_.
V. Hobley, hobley, honcor, my first conkor;
Hobbley, hobbley ho, my first go;
Hobley, hobley ack, my first crack.
--Chamberlain's _West Worcestershire Glossary_.