Now we dance looby, looby, looby;

Shake your right hand a little,

Shake your left hand a little,

Shake your right foot a little,

And turn you round about.

Now we dance looby, looby, looby;

Shake your right hand a little,

Shake your left hand a little,

Shake your right foot a little,

Shake your left foot a little,

And turn you round about.

Now we dance looby, looby, looby;

Shake your right hand a little,

Shake your left hand a little,

Shake your right foot a little,

Shake your left foot a little,

Shake your head a little,

And turn you round about.

--Halliwell (_Popular Rhymes_, p. 226).

III. Fal de ral la, fal de ral la,

Hinkumbooby round about.

Right hands in and left hands out,

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, fal de ral la,

Hinkumbooby round about.

Left hands in and right hands out,

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, fal de ral la,

Hinkumbooby round about.

Right foot in and left foot out,

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, fal de ral la,

Hinkumbooby round about.

Left foot in and right foot out,

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, &c.

Heads in and backs out,

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, &c.

Backs in and heads out,

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, &c.

A' feet in and nae feet out,

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, &c.

Shake hands a', shake hands a',

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, &c.

Good night a', good night a',

Hinkumbooby round about;

Fal de ral la, &c.

--Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, pp. 137-139).

IV. This is the way we wash our hands,

Wash our hands, wash our hands,

To come to school in the morning.

This is the way we wash our face,

Wash our face, wash our face,

To come to school in the morning.

Here we come dancing looby,

Lewby, lewby, li.

Hold your right ear in,

Hold your right ear out,

Shake it a little, a little,

And then turn round about.

Here we come dancing lewby,

Lewby, lewby, li, &c.

--Eckington, Derbyshire (S. O. Addy).

V. How do you luby lue,

How do you luby lue,

How do you luby lue,

O'er the Saturday night?

Put your right hand in,

Put your right hand out,

Shake it in the middle,

And turn yourselves about.

--Lady C. Gurdon's Suffolk _County Folk-lore_, p. 64.

[Repeat this for "left hand," "right foot," "left foot," "heads," and

"put yourselves in."]

VI. Can you dance looby, looby,

Can you dance looby, looby,

Can you dance looby, looby,

All on a Friday night?

You put your right foot in,

And then you take it out,

And wag it, and wag it, and wag it,

Then turn and turn about.

--Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_.

VII. Here we dance luby, luby,

Here we dance luby light,

Here we dance luby, luby,

All on a Wednesday night.

--Ordsall, Nottinghamshire (Miss Matthews).

VIII. Here we go lubin loo,

Here we go lubin li,

Here we go lubin loo,

Upon a Christmas night.

--Epworth, Doncaster (C. C. Bell).

IX. Here we go looby loo,

Here we go looby li,

Here we go looby loo,

All on a New-Year's night.

--Nottingham (Miss Winfield).

X. Here we come looby, looby,

Here we come looby light,

Here we come looby, looby,

All on a Saturday night.

--Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

XI. Here we come looping, looping [louping?],

Looping all the night;

I put my right foot in,

I put my right foot out,

I shake it a little, a little,

And I turn myself about.

--Hexham (Miss J. Barker).

XII. Christian was a soldier,

A soldier, a soldier,

Christian was a soldier, and a brave one too.

Right hand in, right hand out,

Shake it in the middle, and turn yourself about.

--Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

XIII. Friskee, friskee, I was and I was

A-drinking of small beer.

Right arms in, right arms out,

Shake yourselves a little, and little,

And turn yourselves about.

--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. p. 49).

XIV. I love Antimacassar,

Antimacassar loves me.

Put your left foot in,

Put your right foot out,

Shake it a little, a little, a little,

And turn yourself about.

--Dorsetshire (Miss M. Kimber).

(_b_) A ring is formed and the children dance round, singing the first

verse. They then stand till, sing the next verse, and, while singing,

suit the action to the word, each child turning herself rapidly round

when singing the last line. The first verse is then repeated, and the

fourth sung in the same way as the second, and so on.

Another way of playing is that the children do not dance round and

round. They form a ring by joining hands, and they then all move in one

direction, about half way round, while singing the first line, "lubin;"

then back again in the opposite direction, while singing the second

line, "light," still keeping the ring form, and so on for the third and

fourth lines. In each case the emphasis is laid upon the "Here" of each

line, the movement being supposed to answer to the "Here."

The Dorsetshire version (Miss M. Kimber) is played by the children

taking hands in pairs, forming a ring, and dancing round. At Eckington

(S. O. Addy) the children first pretend to wash their hands, then their

face, while singing the words; then comb their hair and brush their

clothes; then they join hands and dance round in a ring singing the

words which follow, again suiting their actions to the words sung.

In the Scottish version a ring is formed as above. One sings, and the

rest join, to the tune of "Lillibullero," the first line. As soon as

this is concluded each claps his hand and wheels grotesquely, singing

the second line. They then sing the third line, suiting the action to

the word, still beating the time; then the second again, wheeling round

and clapping hands. When they say "A' feet in, and nae feet out," they

all sit down with their feet stretched into the centre of the ring.

(_c_) The other variants which follow the Halliwell version are limited

to the first verse only, as the remainder of the lines are practically

the same as those given in Miss Fowler's version which is written at

length, and three or four of these apparently retain only the verse

given. A London version, collected by myself, is nearly identical with

that of Miss Fowler, except that the third line is "Shake your ---- a

little, a little," instead of as printed. This is sung to the tune

given.

The incidents in this game are the same throughout. The only difference

in all the versions I have collected being in the number of the

different positions to be performed, most of them being for right hands,

left hands, right feet, left feet, and heads; others, probably older

forms, having "ears," "yourselves," &c. One version, from Eckington,

Derbyshire, curiously begins with "washing hands and face," "combing

hair," &c., and then continuing with the "Looby" game, an apparent

"mix-up" of "Mulberry Bush" and "Looby." Three more versions, Sporle,

Cornwall, and Dorsetshire, also have different beginnings, one

(Dorsetshire) having the apparently unmeaning "I love Antimacassar."

(_d_) The origin and meaning of this game appears somewhat doubtful. It

is a choral dance, and it may owe its origin to a custom of wild antic

dancing in celebration of the rites of some deity in which animal

postures were assumed. The Hexham version, "Here we come louping

[leaping]" may probably be the oldest and original form, especially if

the conjecture that this game is derived from animal rites is accepted.

The term "looby," "lubin," or "luby" does not throw much light on the

game. Addy (_Sheffield Glossary_) says, "Looby is an old form of the

modern 'lubber,' a 'clumsy fellow,' 'a dolt.'" That a stupid or

ridiculous meaning is attached to the word "looby" is also shown by one

of the old penances for redeeming a forfeit, where a player has to lie

stretched out on his back and declare,

Here I lie

The length of a looby,

The breadth of a booby,

And three parts of a jackass.

The Scottish forms of the game bear on the theory of the game being

grotesque. The fact of the players having both their arms extended at

once, one behind and one in front of them, and the more frequent

spinning round, suggest this. Then, too, there is the sudden "sit down"

posture, when "all feet in" is required.

In the version given by Halliwell there is more difficulty in the game,

and possibly more fun. This version shows the game to be cumulative,

each player having to go through an additional antic for each verse

sung. This idea only needs to be carried a little further to cause the

players to be ridiculous in their appearance. This version would be more

difficult to perform, and they would be exhausted by the process, and

the constant motion of every member of the body. Attention, too, might

be drawn to the word "Hinkumbooby" occurring in Chambers's version.

Newell (_Games_, p. 131) mentions that some sixty years ago the game was

danced deliberately and decorously, as old fashion was, with slow

rhythmical movement.

Lug and a Bite

A boy flings an apple to some distance. All present race for it. The

winner bites as fast as he can, his compeers _lugging_ at his ears in

the meantime, who bears it as well as he can, and then he throws down

the apple, when the sport is resumed (Halliwell's _Dictionary_).

Brogden's _Lincolnshire Provincial Words_ says "Luggery-bite" is a game

boys play with fruit. One bites the fruit, and another pulls his hair

until he throws the fruit away. The game is also played in Lancashire

(_Reliquary_).

See "Bob-Cherry."

Luggie

A boys' game. In this game the boys lead each other about by the

"lugs," _i.e._, ears; hence the name (Patterson's _Antrim and Down

Glossary_). Jamieson says that the leader had to repeat a rhyme, and if

he made a mistake, he in turn became Luggie. The rhyme is not recorded.

Luking

The West Riding name for "Knor and Spell." Playing begins at

Easter.--Henderson's _Folk-lore_, p. 84.

See "Nur and Spell."

Mag

A game among boys, in which the players throw at a stone set up on

edge.--Barnes (_Dorset Glossary_).

Magic Whistle

All the players but three sit on chairs, or stand in two long rows

facing each other. One player sits at one end of the two rows as

president; another player is then introduced into the room by the third

player, who leads him up between the two rows. He is then told to kneel

before the one sitting at the end of the row of players. When he kneels

any ridiculous words or formula can be said by the presiding boy, and

then he and those players who are nearest to the kneeling boy rub his

back with their hands for two or three minutes. While they are doing

this the boy who led the victim up to the president fastens a string, to

which is attached a small whistle, to the victim's coat or jacket. It

must be fastened in such a way that the whistle hangs loosely, and will

not knock against his back. The whistle is then blown by the player who

attached it, and the kneeling boy is told to rise and search for the

Magic Whistle. The players who are seated in the chairs must all hold

their hands in such a way that the victim suspects it is in their

possession, and proceeds to search. The whistle must be blown as often

as possible, and in all directions, by those players only who can do so

without the victim being able to either see or feel that he is carrying

the whistle with him.--London (A. B. Gomme).

This game is also called "Knight of the Whistle." The boy who is to be

made a Knight of the Order of the Whistle, when led up between the two

rows of players, has a cloak put round his shoulders and a cap with a

feather in it on his head. The whistle is then fastened on to the cloak.

This is described by the Rev. J. G. Wood (_Modern Playmate_, p. 189).

Newell (_Games_, p. 122) gives this with a jesting formula of initiation

into knighthood. He says it was not a game of children, but belonged to

an older age.

See "Call-the-Guse."

Magical Music

A pleasant drawing-room evening amusement.--Moor's _Suffolk Words_.

Probably the same as "Musical Chairs."

Malaga, Malaga Raisins

A forfeit game. The players sat in a circle. One acquainted with the

trick took a poker in his right hand, made some eccentric movements with

it, passed it to his left, and gave it to his next neighbour on that

side, saying, "Malaga, Malaga raisins, very good raisins I vow," and

told him to do the same. Should he fail to pass it from right to left,

when he in his turn gave it to his neighbour, without being told where

the mistake lay, he was made to pay a forfeit.--Cornwall (_Folk-lore

Journal_, v. 50).

"Malaga raisins are very good raisins, but I like Valencias better," is

the saying used in the London version of this game, and instead of using

a poker a paper-knife is used, and it is played at the table. Other

formulæ for games of this kind are, "As round as the moon, has two eyes,

a nose, and a mouth." These words are said while drawing on a table with

the forefinger of the _left_ hand an imaginary face, making eyes, nose,

and mouth when saying the words. The fun is caused through those players

who are unacquainted with the game drawing the imaginary face with the

right hand instead of the left. Another formula is to touch each finger

of the right hand with the forefinger of the left hand, saying to each

finger in succession, "Big Tom, Little Tom, Tommy, Tom, Tom." The secret

in this case is to say, "Look here!" before commencing the formula. It

is the business of those players who know the game to say the words in

such a way that the uninitiated imagine the saying of the words

correctly with particular accents on particular words to be where the

difficulty lies. If this is well done, it diverts suspicion from the

real object of these games.--A. B. Gomme.

Marbles

Brand considers that marbles had their origin in bowls, and received

their name from the substance of which the bowls were formerly made.

Strutt (_Sports_, p. 384) says, "Marbles have been used as a substitute

for bowls. I believe originally nuts, round stones, or any other small

things that could easily be bowled along were used as marbles." Rogers

notices "Marbles" in his _Pleasures of Memory_, l. 137:--

"On yon gray stone that fronts the chancel-door,

Worn smooth by busy feet, now seen no more,

Each eve we shot the marble through the ring."

Different kinds of marbles are alleys, barios, poppo, stonies.

Marrididdles are marbles made by oneself by rolling and baking common

clay. By boys these are treated as spurious and are always rejected. In

barter, a bary = four stonies; a common white alley = three stonies.

Those with pink veins being considered best. Alleys are the most

valuable and are always reserved to be used as "taws" (the marble

actually used by the player). They are said to have been formerly made

of different coloured alabaster. See also Murray's _New English Dict._

For the different games played with marbles, see "Boss Out,"

"Bridgeboard," "Bun-hole," "Cob," "Hogo," "Holy Bang," "Hundreds,"

"Lag," "Long-Tawl," "Nine Holes," "Ring Taw."

Mary Brown

I. Here we go round, ring by ring,

To see poor Mary lay in the ring;

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,

To see your dear mother go through the town.

I won't rise, I won't rise [from off the ground],

To see my poor mother go through the town.

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,

To see your dear father go through the town.

I won't rise, I won't rise [from off the ground],

To see my dear father go through the town.

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,

To see your dear sister go through the town.

I won't rise, I won't rise from off the ground,

To see my dear sister go through the town.

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,

To see your dear brother go through the town.

I won't rise, I won't rise up from off the ground,

To see my dear brother go through the town.

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,

To see your dear sweetheart go through the town.

I will rise, I will rise up from off the ground,

To see my dear sweetheart go through the town.

--Barnes, Surrey (A. B. Gomme).

II. Rise up, rise up, Betsy Brown,

To see your father go through the town.

I won't rise up upon my feet,

To see my father go through the street.

Rise up, rise up, Betsy Brown,

To see your mother go through the town.

I won't rise up upon my feet,

To see my mother go through the street.

[Then follow verses for sister, brother, and lover. When this last is

sung, she says--]

I will rise up upon my feet,

To see my lover go through the street.

--Ninfield, Sussex, about sixty years ago (Charles Wise).

III. Rise daughter, rise daughter, off of your poor feet,

To see your dear mother lie dead at your feet.

I won't rise, I won't rise off of my poor feet,

To see my dear mother lie dead at my feet.

Rise daughter, rise daughter, off of your poor feet,

To see your poor father lie dead at your feet.

I won't rise, I won't rise off of my poor feet,

To see my poor father lie dead at my feet.

Rise daughter, rise daughter, off of your poor feet,

To see your dear sister lie dead at your feet.

I won't rise, I won't rise off of my poor feet,

To see my poor sister lie dead at my feet.

Rise daughter, rise daughter, off of your poor feet,

To see your poor brother lie dead at your feet.

I won't rise, I won't rise off of my poor feet,

To see my poor brother lie dead at my feet.

Rise daughter, rise daughter, off of your poor feet,

To see your dear sweetheart lie dead at your feet.

I will rise, I will rise off of my poor feet,

To see my dear sweetheart lie dead at my feet.

--Barnes, Surrey (A. B. Gomme).

IV. Rise daughter, rise daughter,

Rise from off your knees,

To see your poor father lie

Down at yonder trees.

I won't rise, I won't rise,

From off my knees,

To see my poor father lie

Down at yonder trees.

[The verses are then repeated for mother, sister, brother, and

sweetheart. When this is said the girl sings--]

I will rise, I will rise,

From off my knees,

To see my sweetheart lie

Down at yonder trees.

--Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase).

V. Here we all stand round the ring,

And now we shut poor Mary in;

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,

And see your poor mother go through the town.

[Then follow verses the same as in the Barnes version, No. 1, and

then--]

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,

To see the poor beggars go through the town.

I will not stand up upon my feet

To see the poor beggars go through the street.

[Two other verses are sometimes added, introducing gentleman and ladies.

All versions, however, conclude with the girl saying--]

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown,

And see your poor sweetheart go through the town.

I will get up upon my feet,

To see my sweetheart go through the street.

--Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 218.

(_b_) The children form a ring, one child laying or kneeling down in the

centre. The ring sing the first, third, fifth, and alternate verses; the

girl in the middle answers with the second, fourth, and so on

alternately. At the last verse the girl jumps up and breaks through the

ring by force; another girl takes her place in the ring, and the game

begins again. The Sussex version of "Mary Brown" (Chas. Wise) is played

by the children standing in line and advancing and retiring towards the

lying or kneeling child. The Barnes version of "Rise, Daughter" is also

played in this way. The "daughter" lays down, and at the end of the game

joins the line, and another lays down. In the Hurstmonceux version, when

the last verse is sung, the girl in the middle rises and picks a boy out

of the ring; he goes in the middle with her, and they kiss. The version

given by Halliwell is played in the same way as the Barnes version.

(_c_) Halliwell (_Game Rhymes_, p. 219) gives a version of a Swedish

ballad or ring dance-song, entitled "Fair Gundela," he considers this

may be a prototype of the English game, or that they may both be

indebted to a more primitive original. The Swedish game rather gives the

idea of a maiden who has sought supernatural assistance from a wise

woman, or witch, to ask after the fate of those dear to her, and the

English versions may also be dramatic renderings of a ballad of this

character. Mr. Jacobs' _More English Fairy Tales_, p. 221, considers

this game to have originated from the Tale of the "Golden Ball."

Mary mixed a Pudding up

Mary mixed a pudding up,

She mixed it very sweet,

She daren't stick a knife in

Till John came home at neet [ = night].

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

Perhaps to-morrow morning will be our wedding-day.

The bells shall ring and we shall sing,

And all clap hands together (round the ring).

Up the lane and down,

It's slippery as a glass,

If we go to Mrs. ----

We'll find a nice young lass.

Mary with the rosy cheeks,

Catch her if you can;

And if you cannot catch her,

We'll tell you her young man.

--Hanging Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

A ring is formed by the children joining hands, one child in the centre.

The first verse is sang. Two children from the ring go to the one in the

centre and _ask_ her who is her love, or as they say here [Yorks.], "who

she goes with;" after that the rest is sung.

See "All the Boys."

Merrils

See "Nine Men's Morris."

Merritot, or the Swing

This sport, which is sometimes called "Shuggy-shew" in the North of

England, is described as follows by Gay:--

"On two near elms the slackened cord I hung,

Now high, now low, my Blouzalinda swung."

So Rogers, in the _Pleasures of Memory_, l. 77:--

"Soar'd in the swing, half pleas'd and half afraid,

Through sister elms that wav'd their summer shade."

Speght, in his _Glossary_, says, "'Meritot,' a sport used by children by

swinging themselves in bell-ropes, or such like, till they are giddy."

In _Mercurialis de Arte Gymnastica_, p. 216, there is an engraving of

this exercise.

Halliwell quotes from a MS. _Yorkshire Glossary_, as

follows:--"'Merrytrotter,' a rope fastened at each end to a beam or

branch of a tree, making a curve at the bottom near the floor or ground

in which a child can sit, and holding fast by each side of the rope, is

swung backwards and forwards."

Baker (_Northamptonshire Glossary_) calls "Merrytotter" the game of

"See-saw," and notes that the antiquity of the game is shown by its

insertion in Pynson, "Myry totir, child's game, oscillum."

Chaucer probably alludes to it in the following lines of the _Miller's

Tale_--

"What eileth you? some gay girle (God it wote)

Hath brought you thus on the merry tote."

Merry-ma-tansa

[Music]

--Biggar (Wm. Ballantyne).

I. Here we go round by jingo-ring,

Jingo-ring, and jingo-ring,

Here we go round by jingo-ring,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

Come name the lad you like the best,

Like the best, like the best,

Come name the lad you like the best,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

Guess ye wha's the young gudeman,

The young gudeman, the young gudeman,

Come guess ye wha's the young gudeman

About the merry-ma-tansa.

Honey's sweet and so is he,

So is he, so is he,

Honey's sweet and so is he,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

[Or--

Crab-apples are sour and so is he,

So is he, so is he,

Crab-apples are sour and so is he,

About the merry-ma-tansa.]

Can she bake and can she brew?

Can she shape and can she sew,

'Boot a house can a' things do?

About the merry-ma-tansa?

She can bake and she can brew,

She can shape and she can sew,

'Boot a house can a' things do,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

This is the way to wash the clothes,

Wash the clothes, wash the clothes,

This is the way to wash the clothes,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

[Then follows verses for wringing clothes, ironing, baking bread,

washing hands, face, combing hair, washing and sweeping the house, and a

number of other things done in housekeeping. The boy then presents the

girl with a ring, and they all sing--]

Now she's married in a goud ring,

A gay goud ring, a gay goud ring,

Now she's married in a goud ring,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

A gay goud ring is a dangerous thing,

A cankerous thing, a cankerous thing,

A gay goud ring is a dangerous thing,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

Now they're married we wish them joy,

Wish them joy, wish them joy,

Now they're married we wish them joy,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

Father and mother they must obey,

Must obey, must obey,

Father and mother they must obey,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

Loving each other like sister and brother,

Sister and brother, sister and brother,

Loving each other like sister and brother,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

We pray this couple may kiss thegither,

Kiss thegither, kiss thegither,

We pray this couple may kiss thegither,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

[If any lad was left without a partner, the ring sing--]

Here's a silly auld man left alone,

Left alone, left alone,

He wants a wife and can't get none,

About the merry-ma-tansa.

--Biggar (William Ballantyne).

II. Here we go the jingo-ring,

The jingo-ring, the jingo-ring,

Here we go the jingo-ring,

About the merry-ma-tansie.