If your heels are nimble and light You may get there by candle-light.”—AW. 157 Another version of this is Jump, jump, little horse, Jump, jump again, sir, How many miles to London? Three score and ten, sir, Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again, sir. See "How many miles to Barley Bridge," etc., OUTDOOR GAMES, ante. "Little Shon a Morgan, Shentleman of Wales, Came riding on a nanny goat, selling of pig's tails.” "Ride a cock horse to Ban- Ride, etc. bury Cross, To see what Tommy can buy, To see an old woman get up A penny white loaf, A penny on her horse, white cake, Rings on her fingers, and bells And a twopenny apple pie. —Id. at her toes, And so she makes music wherever she goes." Gammer Gurton's Garland. In Warwickshire they say-rhyme 1. "A fine lady upon a white horse," and conclude " She shall have music,” etc. In the Eastern Counties "A fine lady ride on a grey horse." In CI. iii. 441 the rhymes commences "Hight a cock horse," and resembles the Warwickshire version save that it has will for "shall." It is extracted from Infant Institutes, by the Rev. Baptist Noel Turner, London, 1797. In Northamptonshire they say― Hight O, cock horse, To Banbury Cross, To buy a new nag, And a nimble horse.-D. 132. Other versions are Ride a cock horse, etc. To buy little Johnny a galloping horse; It trots behind and it ambles before, And Johnny shall ride till he can ride no more. AW. 114. Banbury Cross seems to be the proper form, or one might imagine the rhyme to have reference to Lady Godiva and Coventry. It is worthy of remark that in AW. 114, occurs Ride, etc., to Coventry cross, A penny white cake I'll buy for her sake, "Highty cock O! to London we go, To York we ride; And Edward has pussy cat He shall have a little dog tied see his grandmother." AW. 125. Ride, baby, ride, pretty baby And have little puppy dog, etc. And AW. 150. In the following verses it is usual to vary the motion as suggested by the rhymes "The ladies go to market nim, To market ride the gentlemen, nim, nim, The gentlemen. . . jim, So do we, so do we; jim, jim, Then comes the country Then after comes the country Hobbledy-gee, hobbledy-gee. clown, clown, And brings his horses to the town, AW. 114. With a hobbledy-gee, hobbledy gee, hobbledy-gee, Gallop-te, gallop-te, gallop." Northamptonshire. D. ii. 56. In Warwickshire the rhyme is similar to rhyme 1, but the reduplicated phrase is different The ladies they go, nim, nim, nim, The gentlemen they, etc. The farmers they go hobbledy-gobbledy, hobbledy-gobbledy. Other versions This is the way the ladies ride, Here goes my lord, atrot, Tri, tre, tre, tree (repeat); atrot, atrot, atrot, ... etc. gentlemen, gallop-a-trot, . . . lady, a canter, a canter, . . farmers, hobbledy-hoy, etc. AV. 107. I imagine the following, given in AX. 217, to be a sort of knee verse which accompanies a pretended beating "Whiskum, whaskum over the knee, Thank you, mama, for slapping of me." In Gammar Gurton's Garland (1783), reprint 1866, p. 47, is a dandling rhyme which is common in most counties, now, the "baby-phrase" differing slightly with the dialect. “Danty, baby, diddy, What can mammy do wid 'e, And give un a pap, Sing danty, etc." In some parts of Gloucestershire they say “Dinky (or dinks-a) dinky dolly, What shall mammy do fo' e," in other parts, the rhyme as given above. In West Somerset they say Dancy, dancy, Daisy, What sh'll I do to plazee 'ee, Take thee on my lap, And gi' thee a sop, And that's what I'll do to plaze 'ee.-Z. 182. The following version is evidently modern Dance, little baby, dance up high, Never mind, baby, mother is nigh, There, little baby, there you go; Up to the ceiling, down to the ground, With the merry coral, ding, ding, ding.-AW. 152. Similar to the above is Hey, my kitten, my kitten, And hey, my kitten, my deary, Such a sweet pet as this Was neither far nor neary. Here we go up, up, up, And here we go down, down, downy, And here we go backwards and forwards, And here we go round, round, roundy.-AX. 127. The above series may fitly conclude with a collection of LULLABIES. "Bee baw babby low, on a tree-top, When the wind blows the cradle will rock, Down come baby and cradle and all." A corruption of the French nurse's threat in the fable: He bas! la le loup. "Hush! there's the wolf." CR. 17. This is a doubtful explanation,* although in most early cradle * It is only just to observe that "babby low" of the verse is most likely a corruption of "bally loo" or "low," and this is nearer, in sound at least, to bas de loup. The original phrase is most frequently abbreviated into "balow "" "ba-loo-loo." In Ane Compendious Book of Godly and Spiritual Songs, published by Andro Hart in 1621, we meet with a variant of the phrase, in four syllables or "Oh my deir hert, young Jesus sweit, But I sall praise thee evermoir, songs there is an exclamation seemingly intended to frighten away some bugbear or malevolent sprite.* In the Warwickshire version of the above we get Hush! a bee bo, on a tree top, When the wind, etc., When the bough bends the cradle will fall, Down came cradle, etc. In CE. viii. 452, the rhyme commences "Hush-a-by, baby, on the green bough," and bog or bock, early Saxon, is suggested as the correct form. Bee baw bunting, Daddy's gone a hunting, To get a little lamb's skin, To lap his little baby in.-CR. 17. In Warwickshire the rhyme commences, "Bye, baby bunting," and has rabbit for "lamb." Bye, baby bumpkin, Where's Tony Lumpkin, It is more than probable that the resemblance is merely a chance one, however. * The Talmudists say that Adam had a wife before Eve, whose name was Lilis [or Lilith]. Refusing to submit to Adam, she left Paradise for a region of the air. She still haunts the night as a spectre, and is specially hostile to new-born infants. Some superstitious Jews still put in the chamber occupied by their wife four coins, with labels on which the names of Adam and Eve are inscribed with the words, "Avaunt thee, Lilith!" According to the Cyclopædia Metropolitana, our word lullaby is a corruption of " Lilla, abi!" (Lilith, avaunt !). Brewer, Dict. Phrase and Fable, art. LILIS. There was a fairy called Elaby Gathon, invoked by nurses to watch over sleeping babes that they might not be changed by the elves, and some think that lullaby is a corruption of L'Elaby. Id. art. LULLABY. More likely the word is formed from two roots, the first of which gives us also lull and its congeners; and the second, by-by, the nursery sleepland. In the Glossary to Sharp's Coventry Pageants and Dramatic Mysteries, 1825, p. 123, there is a note on Lully-lulla" (it will be noticed that "by" does not help to make up the phrase), and it is stated that the following example, copied from Harl. MS. 913, fo. 30, is probably the oldest extant "Lollai l[ollai] litil child whi wepiston so sore. . . . Refrain. Lollai [lollai] litil child child lolai lullow," etc. See also the song sung by the women in the "Taylors and Shearemens Pagant," p. 113. Id. |
