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

ERRATA.

On page 15, line 12, for “Eggatt” read “Hats in Holes.”

On pp. 24, 49, 64, 112, for “Folk-lore Journal, vol. vi.” read “vol. vii.”

On page 62, last line, insert “vol. xix.” after “Journ. Anthrop. Inst.”

On page 66, line 4, delete “Move All.”

On page 224, fig. 3 of “Hopscotch” should be reversed.

On page 332, diagram of “London” omitted.

CHILDREN’S GAMES.

Accroshay

See “Leap-frog.”

All-hid

“A meere children’s pastime” (A Curtaine Lecture, 1637, p. 206). This is no doubt the game of “Hide and Seek,” though Cotgrave apparently makes it synonymous with “Hoodman Blind.” See Halliwell’s Dictionary. It is alluded to in Dekker’s Satiromastix, “Our unhansomed-fac’d Poet does play at Bo-peepes with your Grace, and cryes All-hidde, as boyes doe.” Tourneur, Rev. Trag., III., v. 82, “A lady can at such Al-hid beguile a wiser man,” is quoted in Murray’s Dictionary as the first reference.

All a Row

(b) Halliwell gives the first two lines only (Nursery Rhymes, No. dxv., p. 101), and there is apparently no other record of this game. It is probably ancient, and formerly of some significance. It refers to days of bows and arrows, and the allusion to the killing of the wren may have reference to the Manx and Irish custom of hunting that bird.

All in the Well

All the Birds in the Air

A Suffolk game, not described (Moor’s Suffolk Glossary). Jamieson also gives it without description. Compare the rhyme in the game “Fool, fool, come to School,” “Little Dog, I call you.”[Addendum]

All the Boys in our Town

I.

—Hampshire (from friend of Miss Mendham).

II.

—Deptford (Miss Chase).

III.

IV.

—Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

(b) A full description of this game could not be obtained in each case. The Earls Heaton game is played by forming a ring, one child standing in the centre. After the first verse is sung, a child from the ring goes to the one in the centre. Then the rest of the verses are sung. The action to suit the words of the verses does not seem to have been kept up. In the Hampshire version, after the line “As a bird upon a tree,” the two children named pair off like sweethearts while the rest of the verse is being sung.

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

It appears by the analysis that all the incidents of the Hants version of this game occur in one or other of the versions, and these incidents therefore may probably be typical of the game. This view would exclude the important incidents of bride capture in the Earls Heaton version; the bride having a baby in the Belfast version, and the two minor incidents in the Deptford version (Nos. 13 and 15 in the analysis), which are obviously supplemental. Chambers, in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland, pp. 119, 137, gives two versions of a courtship dance which are not unlike the words of this game, though they do not contain the principal incidents. Northall, in his English Folk Rhymes, p. 363, has some verses of a similar import, but not those of the game. W. Allingham seems to have used this rhyme as the commencement of one of his ballads, “Up the airy mountain.”

(d) The game is clearly a marriage game. It introduces two important details in the betrothal ceremony, inasmuch as the “huddling and cuddling” is typical of the rude customs at marriage ceremonies once prevalent in Yorkshire, the northern counties, and Wales, while the making of the pudding by the bride and the subsequent eating together, are clearly analogies to the bridal-cake ceremony. In Wales, the custom known as “bundling” allowed the betrothing parties to go to bed in their clothes (Brand, ii. 98). In Yorkshire, the bridal cake was always made by the bride. The rudeness of the dialogue seems to be remarkably noticeable in this game.

See “Mary mixed a Pudding up,” “Oliver, Oliver, follow the King.”[Addendum] [Addendum]

All the Fishes in the Sea

A Suffolk game, not described.—Moor’s Suffolk Glossary. See “Fool, fool, come to School,” “Little Dog, I call you.”

All the Soldiers in the Town

[Play version 1, version 2]

—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

The children form into a ring and sing the above words. They “bop down” at the close of the verse. To “bop” means in the Suffolk dialect “to stoop or bow the head.”—Moor.

Allicomgreenzie

A little amusing game played by young girls at country schools. The same as “Drop Handkerchief,” except that the penalty for not following exactly the course of the child pursued is to “stand in the circle, face out, all the game afterwards; if she succeed in catching the one, the one caught must so stand, and the other take up the cap and go round as before” (Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia). No explanation is given of the name of this game.

See “Drop Handkerchief.”

Alligoshee

V.

—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, p. 121.

(b) The children form pairs, one pair following the other, with their arms linked behind. While the first four lines are repeated by all, they skip forward, and then skip back again. At the end of the last line they turn themselves about without loosing hands.

(c) Miss Burne includes this among obscure and archaic games, and Halliwell-Phillips mentions it as a marching game. The three first versions have something of the nature of an incantation, while the fourth and fifth versions may probably belong to another game altogether. It is not clear from the great variation in the verses to which class the game belongs.

Almonds and Reasons

Angel and Devil

See “Fool, fool, come to School.”

Auntieloomie

Babbity Bowster

[Play]

—Biggar (W. H. Ballantyne).

(b) Mr. Ballantyne describes the dance as taking place at the end of a country ball. The lads all sat on one side and the girls on the other. It began with a boy taking a handkerchief and dancing before the girls, singing the first verse (fig. 1). Selecting one of the girls, he threw the handkerchief into her lap, or put it round her neck, holding both ends himself. Some spread the handkerchief on the floor at the feet of the girl. The object in either case was to secure a kiss, which, however, was not given without a struggle, the girls cheering their companion at every unsuccessful attempt which the boy made (fig. 2). A girl then took the handkerchief, singing the next verse (fig. 3), and having thrown the handkerchief to one of the boys, she went off to her own side among the girls, and was pursued by the chosen boy (fig. 4). When all were thus paired, they formed into line, facing each other, and danced somewhat like the country dance of Sir Roger.

The tune of this song is always played to the dance, says Mactaggart, but he does not record the tune. To bab, in Lowland Scottish, is defined by Jamieson to mean “to play backward and forward loosely; to dance.” Hence he adds, “Bab at the bowster, or Bab wi’ the bowster, a very old Scottish dance, now almost out of use; formerly the last dance at weddings and merry-makings.” Mr. Ballantyne says that a bolster or pillow was at one time always used. One correspondent of N. and Q., ii. 518, says it is now (1850) danced with a handkerchief instead of a cushion as formerly, and no words are used, but later correspondents contradict this. See also N. and Q., iii. 282.

(d) Two important suggestions occur as to this game. First, that the dance was originally the indication at a marriage ceremony for the bride and bridegroom to retire with “the bowster” to the nuptial couch. Secondly, that it has degenerated in Southern Britain to the ordinary “Drop Handkerchief” games of kiss in the ring. The preservation of this “Bab at the Bowster” example gives the clue both to the origin of the present game in an obsolete marriage custom, and to the descent of the game to its latest form. See “Cushion Dance.”

Bad

Baddin

The game of “Hockey” in Cheshire.—Holland’s Glossary.

Badger the Bear

The first one he strikes becomes the Craw. When the Guard wants a respite, he calls out—

(b) Jamieson defines “Badger-reeshil” as a severe blow; borrowed, it is supposed, from the hunting of the badger, or from the old game of “Beating the Badger.”

—MS. Poem.

Mr. Emslie says he knows it under the name of “Baste the Bear” in London, and Patterson (Antrim and Down Glossary) mentions a game similarly named. It is played at Marlborough under the name of “Tom Tuff.”—H. S. May.

See “Doncaster Cherries.”

Bag o’ Malt

See “Weigh the Butter.”

Ball

(c) I have heard other rhymes added to this, to determine whether the players shall marry or not, the future husband’s calling, dress to be worn, method of going to church, &c. (A. B. Gomme). Strutt describes a handball game played during the Easter holidays for Tansy cakes (Sports, p. 94). Halliwell gives rhymes for ball divination (Popular Rhymes, p. 298) to determine the number of years before marriage will arrive. Miss Baker (Northamptonshire Glossary) says, “The May garland is suspended by ropes from the school-house to an opposite tree, and the Mayers amuse themselves by throwing balls over it. A native of Fotheringay, Mr. C. W. Peach,” says Miss Baker, “has supplied me with the reminiscences of his own youth. He says the May garland was hung in the centre of the street, on a rope stretched from house to house. Then was made the trial of skill in tossing balls (small white leather ones) through the framework of the garland, to effect which was a triumph.”

See “Cuck Ball,” “Keppy Ball,” “Monday.”

Ball and Bonnets

This is a boys’ game. The players may be of any number. They place their caps or bonnets in a row. One of the boys takes a ball, and from a fixed point, at a few yards’ distance from the bonnets, tries to throw it into one of the caps (fig. 1). If the ball falls into the cap, all the boys, except the one into whose cap the ball has fallen, run off. The boy into whose cap the ball has been thrown goes up to it, lifts the ball from it, and calls out “Stop!” The other boys stop. The boy with the ball tries to strike one of the other boys (fig. 2). If he does so, a small stone is put into the cap of the boy struck. If he misses, a stone is put into his own cap. If the boy who is to pitch the ball into the cap misses, a stone is put into his own cap, and he makes another trial. The game goes on till six stones are put into one cap. The boy in whose cap are the six stones has to place his hand against a wall, when he receives a certain number of blows with the ball thrown with force by one of the players. The blows go by the name of “buns.” The game may go on in the same way till each player gets his “buns.”—Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor).

See “Hats in Holes.”

Ball in the Decker

Ball of Primrose

[Play]

—Epworth, Doncaster; and Lossiemouth, Yorkshire (Charles C. Bell).

(b) The children form a ring, joining hands, and dance round singing the two first lines. Then loosing hands, they waltz in couples, singing as a refrain the last line. The game is continued, different coloured ribbons being named each time.

(c) This game was played in 1869, so cannot have arisen from the political movement.

Baloon

Bandy-ball

Bandy Cad or Gad

A game played with a nurr and crooked stick, also called “Shinty,” and much the same as the “Hockey” of the South of England. “Cad” is the same as “cat” in the game of “Tip-cat;” it simply means a cut piece of wood.—Nodal and Milner’s Lancashire Glossary.

Bandy-hoshoe

A game at ball common in Norfolk, and played in a similar manner to “Bandy” (Halliwell’s Dictionary). Toone (Etymological Dictionary) says it is also played in Suffolk, and in West Sussex is called “Hawky.”

Bandy-wicket

The game of “Cricket,” played with a bandy instead of a bat (Halliwell’s Dictionary). Toone mentions it as played in Norfolk (Dict.), and Moor as played in Suffolk with bricks usually, or, in their absence, with bats in place of bails or stumps (Suffolk Words).

Banger

Each boy provides himself with a button. One of the boys lays his button on the ground, near a wall. The other boys snap their buttons in turn against the wall. If the button drops within one span or hand-reach of the button laid down, it counts two (fig. 2); if within two spans, it counts one. When it hits the button and bounces within one span, it counts four (fig. 1); within two spans, three; and above three spans, one. Each player snaps in turn for an agreed number; the first to score this number wins the game.—Deptford, Kent, and generally in London streets (Miss Chase).