This player goes to the chair to look for the shirt, and is tickled or touched by the one hiding. She rushes back and calls out—
The Mother then goes to see herself. The second time she is scratched and chased. When caught she takes the Mouse’s place.—Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase).
This is evidently the same game as “Ghost in the Garden” and “Ghost in the Copper,” in a decaying stage. There is no raison d’etre for either mouse or cobbler. Probably these words are a corruption of the older “Ghost in the Copper.”
[Play]
[Play]
—Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy).
—N. W. Lincolnshire (Rev. —— Roberts).
—Congleton Workhouse School (Miss A. E. Twemlow).
—Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 571.
—Holmfirth (H. Hardy).
(b) A ring is formed by the players joining hands; one child, who is blindfolded and holds a stick, stands in the centre. The ring dance round, singing the verse. They then stand still, and the centre child holds out the stick and touches one of the ring. This player must take hold of the stick. Then the Muffin Man asks this player any questions he pleases, “Is the morn shining?” “Is ink white?” &c. The child who holds the stick answers “Yes” or “No” in a disguised voice, and the Muffin Man then guesses who it is. He is allowed three tries. If he guesses right he joins the ring, and the child who was touched takes his place in the centre. In the Yorkshire versions no questions are asked; the blindfolded child goes to any one he can touch, and tries to guess his or her name. The other version, sent by Mr. Hardy, is played in the same way, and sung to the same tune. In the Congleton version (Miss Twemlow), the blindfolded child tries to catch one of those in the ring, when the verse is sung. The lines, with an additional four from Shropshire Folk-lore, are given by Miss Burne among nursery rhymes and riddles.
See “Buff with a Stick,” “Dinah.”
[Play]
—Miss Harrison.
—Liphook, Hants (Miss Fowler).
(b) The children form a ring, all joining hands and dancing round while singing the first verse. When singing the last line they unclasp their hands, and each one turns rapidly round. They then sing the next verse, suiting their actions to the words they sing, again turning round singly at the last line. This is done with every alternate verse, the first verse being always sung as a chorus or dance in between the different action-verses. The verses may be varied or added to at pleasure. The actions generally consist of washing and dressing oneself, combing hair, washing clothes, baking bread, sweeping the floor, going to and returning from school, learning to read, cleaning boots, and lacing stays. When “going to school,” the children walk two by two in an orderly manner; when “coming home from school,” jumping and running is the style adopted; “lacing stays,” the hands are put behind and moved first one and then the other, as if lacing; “this is the way the ladies walk,” holding up skirts and walking primly; “gentlemen walk,” walking with long strides and sticks. The dressing process and cleaning boots preceded “school.”
(c) This game is well known, and played in almost all parts of England. It is always played in the same way. There is so little variety in the different versions that it appears unnecessary to give more than one here. In the many versions sent the only variants are: In Sporle, Norfolk, Miss Matthews says the game is sometimes called “Ivy Bush,” or “Ivory Bush;” and Mr. C. C. Bell, of Epworth, sends a version, “Here we go round the Mulberry Tree” In Notts it is called “Holly Bush” (Miss Winfield). A version given in the Folk-lore Record, iv. 174, is called the “Gooseberry Bush,” and Halliwell (Popular Nursery Rhymes, p. 224) records a game, the “Bramble Bush.” “The bush,” he says, “is often imaginative, but is sometimes represented by a child in the centre.” Chambers (Popular Rhymes, pp. 134, 135) gives the game as a form of the “Merry-ma-tanzie”—a kind of dance. They sing while moving round to the tune of “Nancy Dawson,” and stopping short with courtesy at the conclusion.
Disjoining hands, they then begin, with skirts held daintily up behind, to walk singly along, singing—
At the last line they reunite, and again wheel round in a ring, singing as before—
After which, they perhaps simulate the walk of gentlemen, the chief feature of which is length of stride, concluding with the ring dance as before. Probably the next movement may be—
After which there is, as usual, the ring dance. They then represent washing, ironing clothes, baking bread, washing the house, and a number of other familiar proceedings.
Chambers quotes a fragment of this “little ballet,” as practised at Kilbarchan, in Renfrewshire, which contains the following lines similar to those in this game:—
This game originated, no doubt, as a marriage dance round a sacred tree or bush. As it now exists it appears to have no other character than the performance of duties such as those enumerated in the description. In no version that I am acquainted with do the elements of love and marriage or kissing occur, otherwise the resemblance it bears to the Scotch “Merry-ma-tanzie” would suggest that it is a portion of that game. This game possesses the centre tree, which is not preserved in “Merry-ma-tansa.” Trees were formerly sacred to dancing at the marriage festival, as at Polwarth in Berwickshire, where the custom once prevailed, which is not unworthy of notice. “In the midst of the village are two thorn trees near to each other; round these every newly-married pair were expected to dance with all their friends; from hence arose the old song, ‘Polwarth on the Green’” (New Statistical Account of Scotland, Polwarth, Berwickshire, ii. 234). Holland (Cheshire Glossary), under “Kissing Bush,” says, “A bush of holly, ivy, or other evergreens, which is hung up in farm kitchens at Christmas, and serves the purpose of mistletoe. The kissing bushes are usually prepared by the farm lads on Christmas Eve, and they are often tastefully decorated with apples, oranges, and bits of gay-coloured ribbon. I have occasionally seen them made upon a framework of hoop iron something in the form of a crown, with a socket at the bottom to hold a lighted candle.” Brand (ii. 15) also describes how in Ireland men and women dance round about a bush in a large ring on the Patron Day. Newell (Games, p. 86), gives this game, and also mentions one in which “barberry bush” is named. The tune in all versions is the same. See “Merry ma-tansa,” “Nettles.”
Is played by two boys as follows:—One of the boys remains “at home,” and the other goes out to a prescribed distance. The boy who remains “at home” makes a small hole in the ground, and holds in his hand a stick about three feet long to strike with. The boy who is out at field throws a stick in the direction of this hole, at which the other strikes. If he hits it, he has to run to a prescribed mark and back to the hole without being caught or touched with the smaller stick by his playfellow. If he is caught, he is “out,” and has to go to field. And if the boy at field can throw his stick so near to the hole as to be within the length or measure of that stick, the boy at home has to go out to field. A number of boys often play together; for any even number can play. I am told that the game was common fifty years ago. In principle it resembles cricket, and looks like the rude beginning of the game.—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.
See “Cat,” “Cudgel,” “Kit-cat,” “Tip-cat.”
A line of chairs is placed in a row down a room (one chair less than the number of children who are playing) in such a way that every alternate chair only is available on either side for the players to seat themselves. The children walk or dance round the chairs, keeping quite close to them. The piano or other musical instrument is played while they are dancing round. The music is continued for any length of time the player pleases, the children running round the chairs as long as the music goes on. The player stops the music suddenly, when all the children endeavour to take seats. One will be unable to find a seat, and this player remains “out.” A chair is then taken away, and the music and dancing round begins again. There should always be one chair less than the number of players.—A. B. Gomme.
In Ellesmere, Miss Burne says, “Snap-tongs,” called in other circles “Magic Music” or “Musical Chairs,” is thus played. Five players take part; four chairs are set in the middle, and one of the players, who holds a pair of tongs, desires the others to dance round them till the clock strikes a certain hour, which is done by snapping the tongs together so many times. While they dance, a chair is taken away, and the player who cannot find a seat has to become the “snap-tongs” next time.—Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 525.
A game in which pegs of wood play a similar part to the well-known object “Aunt Sally.”—Robinson’s Mid Yorkshire Glossary.
Any number of players can play this game. Two are chosen, the one to be Namer, and the other Guesser or Witch. The rest of the players range themselves in a row. The Guesser retires out of sight or to a distance. The Namer then gives each player a secret name. When names have been given to all the players, the Namer calls on the Guesser to come, by saying—
Whereupon he approaches, and the Namer says—
(naming one by the assumed name). The players all shout, “Tack me, tack me,” repeatedly. The Witch points to one. If the guess is correct the player goes to the Witch’s side, but if it is incorrect he goes to the Namer’s side. This goes on till all the players are ranged on the one side or the other. The two parties then come to a tug, with the Namer and Guesser as leaders. The gaining party then ranges itself in two lines with a space between the lines, each boy holding in his hand his cap or his handkerchief tightly plaited. The boys of the conquered side have then to run between the two lines, and are pelted by the victors. This is called, “Throuw the Muir o’ Hecklepin.”—Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).
This game is practically the same as “Fool, Fool, come to School,” but the secret naming may indicate that this belongs to an earlier form.
See “Fool, Fool,” “Hecklebirnie.”[Addendum]
There is a game called “Neighbour, I torment thee,” played in Staffordshire, “with two hands, and two feet, and a bob, and a nod as I do.”—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
A fireside game. A person puts a little trifle, such as a button, into one hand, shuts it close, the other hand is also shut; then they are both whirled round and round one another as fast as they can, before the nose of the one who intends to guess what hand the prize is in; and if the guesser be so fortunate as to guess the hand the prize is in, it becomes his property; the whirling of the fists is attended with the following rhyme—
—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
The Rev. W. Gregor says at Keith this game is played at Christmas, and by two. The stakes are commonly pins. One player conceals a pin, or more if agreed on, in one of his (her) hands. He then closes both hands and twirls them over each other, in front of the other player, and repeats the words—
The other player chooses. If he chooses the hand having the stake, he gains it. If he does not, he forfeits the stake. Another form of words is—
And—
Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary describes this as a boyish mode of casting lots. The boy says—
Mr. W. H. Patterson (Antrim and Down Glossary) gives the rhyme as—
Chambers (Popular Rhymes, p. 117) gives the rhyme the same as that given by Mr. Patterson. In Notes and Queries, 6th Series, vii. 235, a North Yorkshire version is given as—
Jamieson (Supp., sub voce) adds: “The first part of the word seems to be from neive, the fist being employed in the game.” A writer in Notes and Queries, iii. 180, says: “The neive, though employed in the game, is not the object addressed. It is held out to him who is to guess—the conjuror—and it is he who is addressed, and under a conjuring name. In short (to hazard a wide conjecture, it may be) he is invoked in the person of Nic Neville (Neivi Nic), a sorcerer in the days of James VI., who was burnt at St. Andrews in 1569. If I am right, a curious testimony is furnished to his quondam popularity among the common people.” It will be remembered that this game is mentioned by Scott in St. Ronan’s Well—“Na, na, said the boy, he is a queer old cull. . . . He gave me half-a-crown yince, and forbade me to play it awa’ at pitch and toss.” “And you disobeyed him, of course?” “Na, I didna disobey him—I played it awa’ at ‘Nievie, nievie, nick-nack.’”
See “Handy-dandy.”
—Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes, 227.
(b) The children dance round, singing the first three lines, turning round and clapping hands for the fourth line. They curtsey while saying, “This is the way the lady goes,” and again turn round and clap hands for the last line. The same process is followed in every verse, only varying what they act—thus, in the third verse, they bow for the gentleman—and so the amusement is protracted ad libitum, with shoemaking, washing clothes, ironing, churning, milking, making up butter, &c., &c.
(c) This game is practically the same as the “Mulberry Bush.” The action is carried on in the same way, except that the children clap their hands at the fourth line, instead of each turning themselves round, as in “Mulberry Bush.” The “High, ho, ham!” termination may be the same as the “I, O, OM” of Mr. Addy’s version of “Milking Pails.”
See “Mulberry Bush,” “When I was a Young Girl.”
A ring is made by marking the ground, and a tin placed in the middle of it. One boy acts as keeper of the tin, the other players also stand outside the ring. One of these kicks the tin out of the ring, the others then all run to hide or squat out of sight. The keeper has to replace the tin before looking for the boys. If, after that, he can spy a boy, that boy must come out and stand by the ring. When another boy is spied, he endeavours to reach the ring before the keeper does so, and kick out the tin. If he is successful, any one of the boys who is standing by, having been previously spied, is released from the keeper, and again hides. The object of the keeper is to successfully spy all the boys. When this is accomplished the last boy becomes the keeper.—Earls Heaton, Yorks. (Herbert Hardy).
See “Mount the Tin.”
Nine round holes are made in the ground, and a ball aimed at them from a certain distance; or the holes are made in a board with a number over each, through one of which the ball has to pass.—Forby’s Vocabulary.
“A rural game,” says Nares, “played by making nine holes in the ground, in the angles and sides of a square, and placing stones and other things upon, according to certain rules.” Moor (Suffolk Words and Phrases) says: “This is, I believe, accurate as far as it goes, of our Suffolk game. A hole in the middle is necessary.” In Norfolk, Holloway (Dict. Prov.) says that nine round holes are made in the ground, and a ball aimed at them from a certain distance. A second game is played with a board having nine holes, through one of which the ball must pass. Nares quotes several authors to show the antiquity of the game. He shows that the “Nine Men’s Morris” of our ancestors was but another name for “Nine Holes.” Nine, a favourite and mysterious number everywhere, prevails in games.
Strutt (Sports, p. 384) also describes the game as played in two ways—a game with bowling marbles at a wooden bridge; and another game, also with marbles, in which four, five, or six holes, and sometimes more, are made in the ground at a distance from each other, and the business of every one of the players is to bowl a marble, by a regular succession, into all the holes, and he who completes in the fewest bowls obtains the victory. In Northamptonshire a game called “Nine Holes,” or “Trunks,” is played with a long piece of wood or bridge with nine arches cut in it, each arch being marked with a figure over it, from one to nine, in the following rotation—VII., V., III., I., IX., II., IIII., VI., VIII. Each player has two flattened balls which he aims to bowl edgeways under the arches; he scores the number marked over the arch he bowls through, and he that attains to forty-five first wins the game (Baker’s Northamptonshire Glossary). In Arch. Journ., xlix. 320, in a paper by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, this game is described, and diagrams of the game given which had been found by him cut in a stone bench in the church of Ardeley, Hertfordshire, and elsewhere. He has also seen the game played in London. It is evidently the same game as described by Nares and Moor above.
See “Bridgeboard,” “Nine Men’s Morris.”
In the East Riding this game is played thus: A flat piece of wood about eight inches square is taken, and on it twenty-four holes are bored by means of a hot skewer or piece of hot iron.
Each of the two players has nine wooden pegs, which are either coloured or shaped differently, and the object of each player is to get three of his own pegs in a straight line (fig. 1). It is called “Merrils.”—Sheffield (S. O. Addy).
Cotgrave’s Dictionarie, 1632, says: “Merelles, le jeu de merelles, the boyish game called merrils, or fiue-pennie morris. Played here most commonly with stones, but in France with pawns or men made of purpose, and termed merelles.” Strutt (Sports, p. 317) says: “This was why the game received this name. It was formerly called ‘Nine Men’s Morris’ and ‘Five-penny Morris,’ and is a game of some antiquity. It was certainly much used by the shepherds formerly, and continues to be used by them and other rustics to the present hour.” An illustration of the form of the merelle table and the lines upon it, as it appeared in the fourteenth century, is given by him, and he observes that the lines have not been varied. The black spots at every angle and intersection of the lines are the places for the men to be laid upon. The men are different in form and colour for distinction’s sake, and from the moving these men backwards and forwards, as though they were dancing a morris, I suppose the pastime received the name of “Nine Men’s Morris,” but why it should have been called “Five-penny Morris” I do not know. The manner of playing is briefly thus:—Two persons, having each of them nine pieces or men, lay them down alternately, one by one, upon the spots, and the business of either party is to prevent his antagonist from placing three of his pieces so as to form a row of three without the intervention of an opponent piece. If a row be formed, he that made it is at liberty to take up one of his competitor’s pieces from any part he thinks most to his own advantage, excepting he has made a row, which must not be touched, if he have another piece upon the board that is not a component part of that row. When all the pieces are laid down they are played backwards and forwards in any direction that the lines run, but can only move from one spot to another at one time. He that takes off all his antagonist’s pieces is the conqueror. The rustics, when they have not materials at hand to make a table, cut the lines in the same form upon the ground and make a small hole for every dot. They then collect stones of different forms or colours for the pieces, and play the game by depositing them in the holes in the same manner that they are set over the dots on the table. Hence Shakespeare, describing the effects of a wet and stormy season, says—
—Midsummer Nights Dream, act ii. sc. 2.
Miss Baker (Northamptonshire Glossary), in describing “Merell” or “Morris,” says:—“On the inclosing of open fields this game was transferred to a board, and continues a fireside recreation of the agricultural labourer. It is often called by the name of ‘Mill’ or ‘Shepherd’s Mill.’” She says the mode of playing now observed is this. Each of the players has nine pieces, or men, differing in colour, or material, from his adversary, for distinction’s sake; which they lay down on the spots alternately, one by one, each endeavouring to prevent his opponent from placing three of his pieces in a line, as whichever does so is entitled to take off any one of his antagonist’s men where he pleases, without breaking a row of three, which must not be done whilst there is another man on the board. After all the pieces are placed on the board, they are moved alternately backwards and forwards along the lines; and as often as either of the players succeeds in accomplishing a row of three, he claims one of his antagonist’s men, which is placed in the pound (the centre), and he who takes the most pieces wins the game. It is played on a board whereon are marked three squares, one being denominated the pound. It is sometimes played with pegs, bits of paper, or wood, or stone. It is called “Peg Morris” by Clare, the Northamptonshire poet.
The ancient game of “Nine Men’s Morris” is yet played by the boys of Dorset. The boys of a cottage, near Dorchester, had a while ago carved a “Marrel” pound on a block of stone by the house. Some years ago a clergyman of one of the upper counties wrote that in the pulling down of a wall in his church, built in the thirteenth century, the workmen came to a block of stone with a “Marrel’s” pound cut on it. “Merrels” the game was called by a mason.—Barnes’ Additional Glossary; Folk-lore Journal, vii. 233.
“‘Nine Men’s Morris,’ in Gloucestershire called ‘Ninepenny Morris,’ was,” says a correspondent in the Midland Garner, “largely practised by boys and even older people over thirty years ago, but is now, as far as I know, entirely disused. Two persons play. Each must have twelve pegs, or twelve pieces of anything which can be distinguished. The Morris was usually marked on a board or stone with chalk, and consists of twenty-four points. The pegs are put down one at a time alternately upon any point upon the Morris, and the first person who makes a consecutive row of three impounds one of his opponent’s pegs. The pegs must only be moved on the lines. The game is continued until one or other of the players has only two pegs left, when the game is won” (1st ser., i. 20). Another correspondent in the same journal (ii. 2) says, “The game was very generally played in the midland counties under the name of ‘Merrilpeg’ or ‘Merelles.’ The twelve pieces I have never seen used, though I have often played with nine. We generally used marbles or draught pieces, and not pegs.”
The following are the accounts of this game given by the commentators on Shakespeare:—
“In that part of Warwickshire where Shakespeare was educated, and the neighbouring parts of Northamptonshire, the shepherds and other boys dig up the turf with their knives to represent a sort of imperfect chess-board. It consists of a square, sometimes only a foot diameter, sometimes three or four yards. Within this is another square, every side of which is parallel to the external square; and these squares are joined by lines drawn from each corner of both squares, and the middle of each line. One party, or player, has wooden pegs, the other stones, which they move in such a manner as to take up each other’s men, as they are called, and the area of the inner square is called the pound, in which the men taken up are impounded. These figures are by the country people called nine men’s morris, or merrils; and are so called because each party has nine men. These figures are always cut upon the green turf, or leys as they are called, or upon the grass at the end of ploughed lands, and in rainy seasons never fail to be choked up with mud” (Farmer). “Nine men’s morris is a game still played by the shepherds, cow-keepers, &c., in the midland counties, as follows:—A figure (of squares one within another) is made on the ground by cutting out the turf; and two persons take each nine stones, which they place by turns in the angles, and afterwards move alternately, as at chess or draughts. He who can play three in a straight line may then take off any one of his adversary’s, where he pleases, till one, having lost all his men, loses the game” (Alchorne).
The following is the account of this game given by Mr. Douce in the Illustrations of Shakespeare and of Ancient Manners, 1807, i. 184:—“This game was sometimes called the nine mens merrils from merelles, or mereaux, an ancient French word for the jettons, or counters, with which it was played. The other term, morris, is probably a corruption suggested by the sort of dance which, in the progress of the game, the counters performed. In the French merelles each party had three counters only, which were to be placed in a line in order to win the game. It appears to have been the tremerel mentioned in an old fabliau. See Le Grand, Fabliaux et Contes, ii. 208. Dr. Hyde thinks the morris, or merrils, was known during the time that the Normans continued in possession of England, and that the name was afterwards corrupted into three men’s morals, or nine men’s morals. If this be true, the conversion of morrals into morris, a term so very familiar to the country people, was extremely natural. The Doctor adds, that it was likewise called nine-penny or nine-pin miracle, three-penny morris, five-penny morris, nine-penny morris, or three-pin, five-pin, and nine-pin morris, all corruptions of three-pin, &c., merels” (Hyde’s Hist. Nederluddi, p. 202). Nares says the simpler plan here represented (fig. 2), which he had also seen cut on small boards, is more like the game than the one referred to in the variorem notes of Shakespeare.
Forby has, “Morris, an ancient game, in very common modern use. In Shakespeare it is called ‘nine men’s morris,’ from its being played with nine men, as they were then, and still are called. We call it simply morris. Probably it took the name from a fancied resemblance to a dance, in the motions of the men. Dr. Johnson professes that he knew no more of it than that it was some rustic game. Another commentator speaks of it as common among shepherds’ boys in some parts of Warwickshire. It cannot well be more common there than here, and it is not particularly rustic. Shepherds’ boys and other clowns play it on the green turf, or on the bare ground; cutting or scratching the lines, on the one or the other. In either case it is soon filled up with mud in wet weather. In towns, porters and other labourers play it, at their leisure hours, on the flat pavement, tracing the figure with chalk. It is also a domestic game; and the figure is to be found on the back of some draught-boards. But to compare morris with that game, or with chess, seems absurd; as it has a very distant resemblance, if any at all, to either, in the lines, or in the rules of playing. On the ground, the men are pebbles, broken tiles, shells, or potsherds; on a table, the same as are used at draughts or backgammon. In Nares it is said to be the same as nine-holes. With us it is certainly different.” Cope (Hampshire Glossary) says that “Nine Men’s Morrice” is a game played with counters. He does not describe it further. Atkinson (Glossary of Cleveland Dialect) says under “Merls,” the game of “Merelles,” or “Nine Men’s Morris.” Toone (Etymological Dictionary) describes it as a game played on the green sward, holes being cut thereon, into which stones were placed by the players. Stead’s Holderness Glossary calls it “Merrils,” and describes it as a game played on a square board with eighteen pegs, nine on each side, called in many parts “Nine Men’s Morrice.” See also Sussex Arch. Collections, xxv. 234, and a paper by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite (Arch. Journ., xlix. 322), where diagrams of this game are given which have been found cut in several places on the benches of the cloisters at Gloucester, Salisbury, and elsewhere.
See “Noughts and Crosses.”
A children’s game, in which nuts, pence, gingerbread, &c., are squandered.—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.
Children cut a number of slices from an apple, extending from the eye to the tail, broader on the outside than on the inner, which reaches nearly to the core; one piece has a part cut out, making a notch—this is called “Notch;” another is not cut at all—this is called “No-Notch;” while a third has an incision made on it, but not cut out—this is called “Nitch.” The pieces when thus marked are replaced, and the game consists in one child holding the apple, and pointing to one of the pieces, asking another child which he will have, “Nitch, Notch, or No-Notch;” if he guesses right, he has it and eats it; if wrong, the other eats it.—Sussex (Holloway’s Dict. of Provincialisms).
A game where the parties, ranged on opposite sides, with each a bat in their hands, endeavour to strike a ball to opposite goals. The game is called “Not,” from the ball being made of a knotty piece of wood.—Gloucestershire (Holloway’s Dict. of Provincialisms).
See “Hawkey.”