(_c_) Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers to this game:_The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2) With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.

of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing first you have the grave

measures, then the Cervantoes and the Golliards, and this is kept up

with ceremony. At length to Trenchmore and the _Cushion Dance_; and then

all the company dance, lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no

distinction. But in King Charles's time there has been nothing but

Trenchmore and the Cushion Dance," &c. The "Whishin Dance" (an

old-fashioned dance, in which a cushion is used to kneel upon),

mentioned by Dickinson (_Cumberland Glossary_), is probably the same

game or dance, "whishin" meaning cushion. Brockett (_North Country

Words_) mentions "Peas Straw," the final dance at a rustic party;

something similar to the ancient "Cushion Dance" at weddings. It is also

recorded in Evans' _Leicestershire Glossary_, and by Burton in the

following passage from the _Anatomy of Melancholy_: "A friend of

his reprehended him for dancing beside his dignity, belike at some

cushen dance." In the version from East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, the

expression "in our degree" in the first line of the verse is apparently

meaningless, and it is probably a corruption of "highdigees,

highdegrees," a dialect word for roystering, high spirits, merriment,

dancing, romping. Elworthy (_Somerset Words_) gives this word, and

quotes the following line from Drayton:--

Dance many a merry round and many a highdegy.

--_Polyolbion_, Bk. xxv., l. 1162.

(_d_) The transition from a dance to a pure game is well illustrated by

the different versions, and the connection of the dance with the

ceremony of marriage is obvious. A curious account of the merry-makings

at marriages is given in Coverdale's _Christen State of Matrimony_,

1543: "After the banket and feast there beginneth a mad and unmannerly

fashion; for the bride must be brought into an open dauncing-place. Then

is there such a running, leaping, and flinging among them that a man

might think all these dauncers had cast all shame behinde them, and were

become starke mad, and out of their wits, and that they were sworne to

the devil's daunce. Then must the bride keep foote with all dauncers,

and refuse none, how scabbed, foule, drunken, rude, and shameless soever

he be. . . . After supper must they begin to pipe and daunce again of

anew. And though the young persons come once towards their rest, yet can

they have no quietness."--1575 edit., fol. 59, rev. 60. Edward L.

Rimbault, writing in _Notes and Queries_, vi. 586, says it was formerly

the custom at weddings, both of the rich as well as the poor, to dance

after dinner and supper. In an old Court masque of James I.'s time,

performed at the marriage ceremony of Philip Herbert and Lady Susan (MS.

in the writer's possession), it is directed that, at the conclusion of

the performance, "after supper" the company "dance a round dance." This

was "dancing the bride to bed." William Chappell (_Notes and Queries_,

ii. 442) says, "I have a tune called 'A round dance to dance the bride

to bed.' It dates from about 1630, or earlier, and resembles that of

'The Hunt is up.'" Dancing was considered so essential at weddings

(according to Grose) that if in a family the youngest daughter should

chance to be married before her elder sisters, they must dance at her

wedding without shoes. May not the custom of throwing of old and

worn-out shoes after the bride have arisen from the practice of dancing?

The danced-out shoes may have been the ones used. It is curious that the

cushion is used in the marriage ceremonies of the Brahmins. Mr. Kearns,

in his _Marriage Ceremonies of the Hindoos of the South of India_, p. 6,

says that a stool or cushion is one of the preparations for the

reception of the bridegroom, who on entering the apartment sits down on

the stool which is presented to him. He says, "I step on this for the

sake of food and other benefits, on this variously splendid footstool."

The bride's father then presents to him a cushion made of twenty leaves

of cúsa grass, holding it up with both hands and exclaiming, "The

cushion! the cushion! the cushion!" The bridegroom replies, "I accept

the cushion," and taking it, places it on the ground under his feet,

while he recites a prayer. It is probable that we may have in the

"Cushion Dance" the last relics of a very ancient ceremony, as well as

evidence of the origin of a game from custom.

Cutch-a-Cutchoo

Children clasp their hands under their knees in a sitting posture, and

jump thus about the room. The one who keeps up longest wins the

game.--Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).

(_b_) In _Notes and Queries_, x. 17, "E. D." says this amusement was

fashionable sixty years ago, and from the low dresses worn then by

ladies he mentions its indecency. He gives extracts from a satire called

_Cutchacutchoo, or the Jostling of the Innocents_, 2nd ed., Dublin, in

which the game and position are mentioned--

Now she with tone tremendous cries

Cutchacutchoo.

Let each squat down upon her ham,

Jump like a goat, puck like a ram.

"Uneda," at same reference (x. 17), speaks of it as a known game in

Philadelphia. The analogy which this game has to some savage dances is

curious; a correspondent in _Notes and Queries_, ix. 304, draws

attention to the illustration, in Richardson's _Expedition to Arctic

Shores_ (vol. i. p. 397), of a dance by the "Kutchin-Kutcha" Indians, a

parallel to the name as well as the dance which needs some research in

America.

See "Curcuddie," "Hop-frog."

Cutters and Trucklers

A remembrance of the old smuggling days. The boys divide into two

parties; the Trucklers try to reach some given point before the Cutter

catches them.--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 60).

Dab

Dab a prin in my lottery book;

Dab ane, dab twa, dab a' your prins awa'.

A game in which a pin is put at random in a school-book, between the

leaves of which little pictures are placed. The successful adventurer is

the person who puts the pin between two leaves including a picture which

is the prize, and the pin itself is the forfeit (_Blackwood's Magazine_,

Aug. 1821, p. 36). This was a general school game in West London in

1860-1866 (G. L. Gomme).

Dab-an-thricker

A game in which the _dab_ (a wooden ball) is caused to spring upwards by

a blow on the _thricker_ (trigger), and is struck by a flat,

bottle-shaped mallet fixed to the end of a flexible wand, the distance

it goes counting so many for the striker.--Ross and Stead's _Holderness

Glossary_.

This is the same as "Knur and Spell."

Dab-at-the-hole

A game at marbles (undescribed).--Patterson's _Antrim and Down

Glossary_.

Dalies

A child's game, played with small bones or pieces of hard wood. The

_dalies_ were properly sheep's trotters.--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.

Evidently the same game as "Fivestones" and "Hucklebones."

Davie-drap

Children amuse themselves on the braesides i' the sun, playing at "Hide

and Seek" with this little flower, accompanying always the hiding of it

with this rhyme, marking out the circle in which it is hid with the

forefinger:--

Athin the bounds o' this I hap,

My black and bonny davie-drap;

Wha is here the cunning yin

My davie-drap to me will fin.

--Mactaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_.

The davie-drap is a little black-topped field-flower.

Deadily

A school game, not described.--Mactaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_.

Diamond Ring

My lady's lost her diamond ring;

I pitch upon you to find it!

Children sit in a ring or in a line, with their hands placed together

palm to palm, and held straight, the little finger down-most between the

knees. One of them is then chosen to represent a servant, who takes a

ring, or some other small article as a substitute, between her two

palms, which are pressed flat together like those of the rest, and goes

round the circle or line placing her hands into the hands of every

player, so that she is enabled to let the ring fall wherever she pleases

without detection. After this she returns to the first child she

touched, and with her hands behind her says the above words. The child

who is thus addressed must guess who has the ring, and the servant

performs the same ceremony with each of the party. They who guess right

escape, but the rest forfeit. Should any one in the ring exclaim "I have

it!" she also forfeits; nor must the servant make known who has the ring

until all have guessed under the same penalty. The forfeits are

afterwards cried as usual.--Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 223.

(_b_) This game was a general favourite at juvenile parties years ago.

The hands were held in the posture described by Halliwell, but any child

was pitched upon for the first finder, and afterwards the child in whose

hands the ring was found had to be finder. There was no guessing; the

closed hands were looked into (A. B. Gomme). Mr. Addy has collected a

similar game called "My lady's lost a gold ring," and Mr. Newell (_Games

and Songs of American Children_, p. 150) has another, "Hold fast my gold

ring."

Dibbs

A game played with the small knuckle-bones taken from legs of mutton;

these bones are themselves called "dibs" (Lowsley's _Glossary of

Berkshire Words_). Holloway's _Dictionary_ says five of these bones are

used by boys, with which they play a game called "Dibs" in West Sussex.

See "Check-stones," "Fivestones," "Hucklebones."

Dinah

[Music]

No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah,

No one in the house I know, I know;

No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah,

Playing on the old banjo.

A ring is formed, and a girl stands blindfolded inside. As the verse is

sung and finished, Dinah goes to any one in the ring, and, if successful

in guessing her name, takes her place, the other taking the place of

Dinah, the game going on as before.--Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

"Dinah" was a Christy Minstrel song in the "fifties." It is probable

that the game, which resembles "Buff," has been played to the tune of

the song. Singing a chorus would soon follow.

See "Buff," "Muffin Man."

Dip o' the Kit

A rustic game, undescribed and marked as obsolescent.--Peacock's _Manley

and Corringham Glossary_.

Dish-a-loof

A singular rustic amusement. One lays his hand down on a table, another

clashes his upon it, a third his on that, and so on (fig. 1). When all

the players have done this, the one who has his hand on the board pulls

it out and lays it on the one uppermost (fig. 2): they all follow in

rotation, and so a continual clashing and dashing is kept up; hence

the name "Dish." Those who win the game are those who stand out

longest--viz., those who are best at enduring pain. Tender hands could

not stand it a moment: one dash of a rustic "loof" would make the blood

spurt from the tip of every finger. It is a piece of pastime to country

lads of the same nature as "Hard Knuckles" (Mactaggart's _Gallovidian

Encyclopædia_). This is a well-known game for small children in London.

After each child's hands have been withdrawn and replaced on top as many

times as possible without deranging the order, a general scramble and

knocking of hands together ends the game (A. B. Gomme). Jamieson

(_Etymological Dict._) gives this as a sport of children.

[Illustration: Fig. 1. Fig. 2.]

See "Dump," "Green Grass," "Hot Cockles."

Doddart

A game played in a large level field with a bent stick called "doddart."

Two parties, headed by two captains, endeavour to drive a wooden ball to

their respective boundaries (Halliwell's _Dictionary_). Brockett (_North

Country Words_) adds to this that the captains are entitled to choose

their followers by alternate votes. A piece of globular wood called an

"orr" or "coit" is thrown down in the middle of the field and driven to

one of two opposite hedges--the alley, hail-goal, or boundary. The same

game as "Clubby," "Hockey," "Shinney," "Shinneyhaw."

Doncaster Cherries

One boy kneels, holding a long rope, the other end of which is held by

another boy; the other players stand round about with handkerchiefs in

hands, knotted. The one who holds the rope-end and standing cries out--

Doncaster cherries, ripe and sound;

Touch 'em or taste 'em--

Down, you dogs!

--Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy).

This is evidently a version of "Badger the Bear," with a different and

apparently degraded formula.

Dools

A school game. The dools are places marked with stones, where the

players always remain in safety--where they dare neither be caught by

the hand nor struck with balls. It is only when they leave these places

of refuge that those out of the doons have any chance to gain the game

and get in; and leave the doons they frequently must--this is the nature

of the game. Now this game seems to have been often played in reality by

our ancestors about their doon-hills.--Mactaggart's _Gallovidian

Encyclopædia_.

Down in the Valley

I. Down in the valley where the green grass grows

Stands E---- H----, she blows like a rose.

She blows, she blows, she blows so sweet.

In came F---- S---- and gave her a kiss.

E---- made a pudding, she made it nice and sweet,

F---- took a knife and fork and cut a little piece.

Taste of it, taste of it, don't say nay,

For next Sunday morning is our wedding day.

First we'll buy a money box,

Then we'll buy a cradle;

Rock, rock the bottom out,

Then we'll buy another.

Bread and cheese all the week, cork on Sunday,

Half a crown on Saturday night, and a jolly good dance on

Monday.

--Cowes, Isle of Wight (Miss E. Smith).

II. Down in the meadows where the green grass grows,

To see ---- blow like a rose.

She blows, she blows, she blows so sweet.

Go out, ----; who shall he be?

---- made a pudding,

She made it so sweet,

And never stuck a knife in

Till ---- came to eat.

Taste, love, taste, love, don't say nay,

For next Monday morning is your wedding day.

He bought her a gown and a guinea gold ring,

And a fine cocked hat to be married in.

--West Haddon, Northamptonshire; Long Itchington, Warwickshire

(_Northants Notes and Queries_, ii. 105).

III. Down in the valley the violets grow.

Dear little ----, she blows like a rose.

She blows, she blows, she blows so sweet.

Come along in.

Buy a shawl, buy a new black shawl,

A bonnet trimmed with white and a new parasol.

Oh dear, oh dear, what can I do,

For next Monday morning is my wedding due.

--Shipley, Horsham; _Notes and Queries_, 8th series, i. 210 (Miss Busk).

(_b_) The children form a ring by joining hands, one child standing in

the centre. They dance round. At the mention of the second name one from

the ring goes into the centre. The two kiss at the end of the verse, and

the first child takes the place in the ring, and the game begins again.

See "All the Boys," "Oliver, Oliver, follow the King."

Drab and Norr

A game similar to "Trippit and Coit."--Halliwell's _Dict._

Draw a Pail of Water

[Music]

--Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

I. Draw a pail of water

For my lady's daughter;

My father's a king and my mother's a queen,

My two little sisters are dressed in green,

Stamping grass and parsley,

Marigold leaves and daisies.

One rush, two rush,

Pray thee, fine lady, come under my bush.

--Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, Games, cclxxxvii.

II. Draw a pail of water,

Send a lady a daughter;

One o' my rush, two o' my rush,

Please, young lady, creep under the briar bush.

--Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler).

III. Draw, draw water,

For my lady's daughter;

One in a rush,

Two in a bush,

Pretty my lady, pop under the bush.

--Berrington and Ellesmere (_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 521).

IV. Draw a bucket o' water

For a lady's daughter;

One and a hush, two and a rush,

Please, young lady, come under my bush.

--Fochabers (Rev. W. Gregor).

V. Draw a bucket of water

For a lady's daughter;

One in a bush,

Two in a bush,

Three in a bush,

Four in a bush,

And out you go.

--Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase).

VI. Drawing a bucket of water

For my lady's daughter;

Put it in a chestnut tree,

And let it stay an hour.

One of you rush, two may rush,

Please, old woman, creep under the bush;

The bush is too high, the bush is too low,

Please, old woman, creep under the bush.

--Hampshire (Miss Mendham).

VII. Draw a pail of water

For a lady's daughter;

Give a silver pin for a golden ring--

Oh pray, young lady, pop under.

--Northants (Rev. W. D. Sweeting).

VIII. Draw a bucket of water

For my lady's daughter;

One go rush, and the other go hush,

Pretty young lady, bop under my bush.

--Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

IX. Draw a bucket of water

For the farmer's daughter;

Give a gold ring and a silver watch,

Pray, young lady, pop under.

--Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

X. Draw a bucket of water

For my lady's daughter;

A guinea gold ring

And a silver pin,

So pray, my young lady, pop under.

--Haydon (Herbert Hardy).

XI. Draw a bucket of water

To wash my lady's garter;

A guinea gold ring

And a silver pin,

Please, little girl, pop under.

--Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

XII. See-saw, a bucket of water,

To wash my lady's garter.

One in a rush, and two in a bush,

To see a fine lady pop under a bush.

--Anderby, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire near the Trent (Miss

Peacock).

XIII. One we go rush,

Two we go push;

Lady come under the corner bush.

--Shepscombe, Gloucestershire (Miss Mendham).

XIV. Sift the lady's oaten meal, sift it into flour,

Put it in a chest of drawers and let it lie an hour.

One of my rush,

Two of my rush,

Please, young lady, come under my bush.

My bush is too high, my bush is too low,

Please, young lady, come under my bow.

Stir up the dumpling, stir up the dumpling.

--Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

XV. Sieve my lady's oatmeal,

Grind my lady's flour;

Put it in a chestnut,

Let it stand an hour.

One may rush, two may rush;

Come, my girls, walk under the bush.

--Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, Games, cclxxxviii.

(_b_) The Berrington version of this game is played as follows:--Two

girls face each other, holding each other by both hands. Two others face

each other, holding both hands across the other two. They see-saw

backwards and forwards, singing the lines (fig. 1). One girl gets inside

the enclosing hands (fig. 2), and they repeat till all four have "popped

under" (fig. 3), when they "jog" up and down till they fall on the

floor! (fig. 4). At Ellesmere only _two_ girls join hands, and as many

"pop under" as they can encircle. The Lincolnshire and Norfolk versions

are played practically in the same way. In the Liphook version the

children stand in two and two opposite to each other; the children on

one side of the square hold hands up at the third line, and the other

two children run under the hands of the first two. There is no pause,

but the verse is sung time after time, so that the four children are

nearly always moving. In the other Hampshire version four girls stand in

a square, each holding the hands of the one opposite to her, pulling

each other's hands backwards and forwards singing the lines. Two arms

are then raised, and one girl comes under; this is repeated till all

four girls have come under the arms, then their arms encircle each

other's waists and they dance round. In the Scottish version there are

only two girls who join hands and pull each other backwards and

forwards, repeating the words. Halliwell describes a different action to

any of these. A string of children, hand in hand, stand in a row. A

child stands in front of them as leader; two other children form an

arch, each holding both of the hands of the other. The string of

children pass under the arch, the last of whom is taken captive by the

two holding hands. The verses are repeated until all are

taken.--Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, cclxxxvii.

[Illustration: Fig. 1.]

[Illustration: Fig. 2.]

[Illustration: Fig. 3.]

[Illustration: Fig. 4.]

(_c_) The analysis of the game rhymes is as follows:--

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

| 2.| -- | -- | -- |

| 3.| -- | -- | -- |

| 5.| -- | -- | -- |

| 6.| -- | -- | -- |

| 7.| -- | -- | -- |

| 8.|My father's a king and| -- | -- |

| 9.|My two little sisters | -- | -- |

|10.|Stamping grass and | -- | -- |

|11.|Marigold leaves and | -- | -- |

|13.| -- | -- | -- |

|15.| -- | -- | -- |

|16.| -- | -- | -- |

|17.| -- | -- | -- |

|18.| -- | -- | -- |

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

| 2.| -- | -- | -- |

| 3.| -- | -- | -- |

| 5.| -- | -- | -- |

| 6.| -- |Put it in a chestnut | -- |

| 7.| -- |Let it stay an hour. | -- |

| 8.| -- | -- | -- |

| 9.| -- | -- | -- |

|10.| -- | -- | -- |

|11.| -- | -- | -- |

|12.|One and a hush, two |One of you rush, two | -- |

|13.| -- | -- |Give a silver pin for |

|15.| -- |The bush is too high, | -- |

|16.| -- |Please, old woman, | -- |

|17.| -- | -- | -- |

|18.| -- | -- | -- |

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

| 2.| -- | -- | -- |

| 3.| -- | -- | -- |

| 5.| -- | -- | -- |

| 6.| -- | -- | -- |

| 7.| -- | -- | -- |

| 8.| -- | -- | -- |

| 9.| -- | -- | -- |

|10.| -- | -- | -- |

|11.| -- | -- | -- |

|12.|One go rush and the | -- | -- |

|13.| -- |Give a gold ring and a|A guinea gold ring and|

|15.| -- | -- | -- |

|16.| -- | -- | -- |

|17.| -- | -- | -- |

|18.| -- | -- | -- |

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

| 1.|Draw a bucket of |See saw, a bucket of | -- |

| 2.| -- | -- | -- |

| 3.| -- | -- | -- |

| 4.| -- | -- | -- |

| 5.|To wash my lady's |To wash my lady's | -- |

| 6.| -- | -- | -- |

| 7.| -- | -- | -- |

| 8.| -- | -- | -- |

| 9.| -- | -- | -- |

|10.| -- | -- | -- |

|11.| -- | -- | -- |

|12.| -- |One in a rush and two |One we go rush, two we|

|13.|A guinea gold ring and| -- | -- |

|15.| -- | -- | -- |

|16.| -- | -- | -- |

|17.| -- | -- | -- |

|18.| -- | -- | -- |

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

| | | (No. 2). | |

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

| 1.| -- | -- |Draw a bucket of |

| 2.|Sift the lady's |Sieve my lady's | -- |

| 3.|Sift it into flour. |Grind my lady's flour.| -- |

| 4.| -- | -- |For a lady's daughter.|

| 5.| -- | -- | -- |

| 6.|Put it in a chest of |Put it in a chestnut. | -- |

| 7.|Let it lie an hour. |Let it stand an hour. | -- |

| 8.| -- | | -- |

| 9.| -- | -- | -- |

|10.| -- | -- | -- |

|11.| -- | -- | -- |

|13.| -- | -- | -- |

|14.|Please, young lady, |Come, my girls, walk | -- |

|15.|My bush is too high, | -- | -- |

|16.|Please, young lady, | -- | -- |

|17.|Stir up the dumpling. | -- | -- |

|18.| -- | -- |And out you go. |

+---+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2) With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc. · 第 7 / 29 段

(_c_) Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers to this game:--"The Court