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

Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round singing as before; and this they do till the whole company is taken into the ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman singing, “This dance,” &c., as before, only instead of “come to,” they sing “go fro,” and instead of “Welcome, John Sanderson,” &c., they sing “Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell,” &c., and so they go out one by one as they came in.—Charminster (Notes and Queries, ii. 517, 518).

This description is almost the same as a seventeenth century version. The dance is begun by a single person (either man or woman), who, taking a cushion in his hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the tune he stops and sings:—

The Musician answers:

Then he lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her, singing—

Then he rises, takes up the cushion, and both dance, singing—

Then, making a stop, the wo(man) sings as before—

And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing—

Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round, singing as before. And thus they do till the whole company are taken into the ring. And then the cushion is laid before the first man, the woman singing, “This dance,” &c. (as before), only instead of “come to,” they sing “go fro,” and instead of “Welcom, John Sanderson,” &c., they sing “Farewel, John Sanderson, farewel, farewel;” and so they go out one by one as they came in. Note, that the woman is kiss’d by all the men in the ring at her coming in and going out, and the like of the man by the woman.—The Dancing Master: London, printed by J. P., and sold by John Playford at his shop near the Temple Church, 1686, 7th edition.

Another version gives the words as follows:—

Children form a ring with one in the middle, who lays a cushion on the ground. They sing the first two lines, and the child in the centre points at one, and the others dance round singing the other lines, the centre child dragging the imaginary Mrs. Sargesson on to the cushion by force, kissing her, and leaving her in the centre. Then Mrs. Sargesson points at one in the ring, and the game begins again.—East Kirkby, Lincolnshire (Miss Maughan). The tune sung is the same as the “Mulberry Bush.”

Miss Baker (Northamptonshire Glossary) says the Cushion Dance is still continued, with some variations, and generally closes the evening’s amusements. One of the young men endeavours secretly to bring in a cushion, and locks the doors, to prevent the escape of the young maidens; then all the party unite hands and dance round three times to the left and three times to the right, after which the company all seat themselves, except the young man who holds the cushion. He advances to the fiddler, and says—

The cushion-holder then goes to the girl he fancies most, and drops the cushion at her feet. She kneels down with him on the cushion, and he salutes her, and they then rise and dance round and round to the fiddler. The girls then go through the same thing, saying, “young men,” and then “a young man,” &c., until the whole company have gone through the same ceremony, which concludes with all dancing round three times, as at the commencement.

The Norfolk and London versions are reduced to a simple “Kiss in the Ring” game, with the following verse:—

—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

(c) Selden, in his Table Talk, thus refers to this game:—“The Court 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:—

—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

See “Curcuddie,” “Hop-frog.”

Cutters and Trucklers

Dab

Dab-an-thricker

This is the same as “Knur and Spell.”

Dab-at-the-hole

Dalies

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:—

—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.

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

Deadily

Diamond Ring

(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.”[Addendum]

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

[Play]

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

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.

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

—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy).

This is evidently a version of “Badger the Bear,” with a different and apparently degraded formula.

Dools

Down in the Valley

—West Haddon, Northamptonshire; Long Itchington, Warwickshire (Northants Notes and Queries, ii. 105).

III.

—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.”[Addendum]

Drab and Norr

A game similar to “Trippit and Coit.”—Halliwell’s Dict.

Draw a Pail of Water

[Play]

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

—Hampshire (Miss Mendham).

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

—Anderby, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire near the Trent (Miss Peacock).

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

(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.

(c) The analysis of the game rhymes is as follows:—

The analysis shows that the majority of the variants retain four principal incidents of what must have been the original form of the game, and the fact of the Gloucestershire version having come down with only two of the incidents, namely, the two most common to all the variants (12 and 14), shows that the game has been in a state of decadence. The four principal incidents, Nos. 1, 4, 12, and 14, point distinctly to some water ceremonial; and if it may be argued that the incidents which occur in only one or two of the variants may be considered to have belonged to the original type, we shall be able to suggest that this game presents a dramatic representation of ancient well-worship. The incidents which occur in one version only are those given by Mr. Halliwell, and unfortunately the locality from which he obtained this variant is unknown. Still it is an earlier version than those which are now printed for the first time, and may without doubt be looked upon as genuine. Taking all the incidents of the various versions as the means by which to restore the earliest version, it would appear that this might have consisted of the following lines:—