My lady's on her death-bed,

With eating half a pumpkin.-AY. 207.

Bye O my baby,

When I was a lady

O then my poor baby didn't cry;

But my baby is weeping,

For want of good keeping,

OI fear my poor baby will die.-CR. 18.

Hush-a-bye, baby,
Nurse is away,

Sisters and brothers are gone out to play,

But I by your cradle,

Dear baby, will keep,

To guard you from danger and sing you to sleep.

Hush-a-bye, a ba-lamb,

Hush-a-bye, a milk cow,
You shall have a little stick,
To beat the naughty bow-wow.

AW. 103.

Hush a bye, be still and sleep, It grieves me sore to see thee weep,

For when thou weep'st thou wearies me,

Hush-a-bye, lie still and bye. The last word is pronounced bee. A favourite lullaby in the north of England, fifty years ago, and perhaps still heard. AY.

211.

The first two lines very closely follow the song known as "Lady Ann Bothwell's Lament"-a Scottish song, which is given in Percy's Reliques, and Allan Ramsay's Miscellany

"Balow, my babe, lye still and sleipe,

It grieves me sair to see thee weipe," etc.

Hush baby, my doll, I pray

you don't cry,

And I'll give you some bread and some milk, by-and-bye; Or, perhaps you like custard, or maybe a tart,

Hush, my dear, and don't you cry,

Dadda's coming by-and-by, When he comes he'll come in a gig,

Then to either you're welcome Over the roadway, jig, jig, jig.

with all my whole heart.

AW. 102.

Gloucestershire.

Hush thee, my babby,

Lie still with thy daddy,

Thy mammy has gone to the mill,

To grind thee some wheat,

To make thee some meat,

And so, my dear babby, lie still.—AW. 103.

"I'll buy you a tartan bonnet, And some feathers to put on it, Tartan trews and a phillibeg, Because you are so like your daddy."-AY. 212.

Tom shall have a new bonnet,
With blue ribands to tie on it,
With a hush-a-bye and a
lullaby,

Who so like to Tommy's
daddy.-AY. 207.

"My dear cockadoodle, my jewel, my joy,
My darling, my honey, my pretty sweet boy,
Before I do rock thee with soft lullaby,

Give me thy dear lips to be kiss'd, kiss'd, kiss'd.”—AY. 210.

2.

Sleep, baby, sleep,

Down where the woodbines creep;
Be always like the lamb so mild,

A kind, and sweet, and gentle child-
Sleep, baby, sleep!

"Where was a sugar and pretty?

And where was a jewel and spicy?
Hush-a-bye, babe in a cradle,

And we'll go away in a tricy!"—AY. 212.

THE ALMANAC.

It must be remembered that many apparent inaccuracies in dates, etc., arise from our correction of the calendar in 1752. Pope Gregory first made the change in Italy in 1582. Each year having been reckoned about eleven minutes too long, he suppressed ten days. When we adopted the change of style, the error amounted to eleven days, so the third of September, 1752, was called September 14th. To prevent further irregularity, it was resolved that, as the error amounts to about three days in four centuries, three out of every four century years should not be leap years,— thus 1800, 1900 are not leap years; 2000 is: 2100, 2200, 2300 are not leap years; 2400 is. Did the old style continue-as it does to the present day in Russia-January 1st new style would be represented by January 13th old style.

But the statements are not given in order to prove the infallibility of the old rhymes-which, owing to natural changes, as well as the mere alteration of dates, are not now reliable. At the same time, it is hard to imagine our ancestors deliberately framing such saws without certain data.

The rhymes given in the two summaries following are probably centuries older.

A kindly good Janiueere
Freezth pot by the feere;
February fill the dike,
With what thou dost like;
March dust to be sold,
Worth ransom of gold;
Sweet April showers
Do spring May flowers;
Cold May and windy
Barne filleth up finely;
Calme weather in June
Corne sets in tune;

Janiver

Freeze the pot by the fire;
If the grass grow in Janiveer
It grows the worse for't all the
year;

The Welshman 'ud rather see

his dam on the beir
Than to see a fair Februeer;
March wind and May sun
Makes clothes white and maids

dun ;

When April blows his horn,

A January spring
Is worth naething.-M. 22.

* In CI. xi. 405, a contributor gives a Yorkshire verse made up of