CLXXXVII.

OLD Betty Blue

Lost a holiday shoe,

What can old Betty do?
Give her another

To match the other,

And then she may swagger in two.

CLXXXVIII.

[The following is part of a comic song called 'Success to the Whistle and Wig,' intended to be sung in rotation by the members of a club.]

THERE was an old woman had three sons, Jerry, and James, and John:

Jerry was hung, James was drowned,

John was lost and never was found,
And there was an end of the three sons,
Jerry, and James, and John!

CLXXXIX.

[The first two lines of the following are the same with those of a song in D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy,' vol. v, p. 13.] THERE was an old woman

Lived under a hill,
She put a mouse in a bag,

And sent it to mill;

The miller did swear,

By the point of his knife,

He never took toll

Of a mouse in his life!

CXC.

[The tale on which the following story is founded is found in a MS. of the fifteenth century in the Chetham Library at Manchester, and printed in the Reliq. Antiq. vol. ii, p. 196.]

THERE was an old man, who lived in a wood, As you may plainly see;

He said he could do as much work in a day,
As his wife could do in three.

With all my heart, the old woman said,
If that you will allow,

To-morrow you'll stay at home in my stead,
And I'll go drive the plough :

But you must milk the Tidy cow,
For fear that she go dry;
And you must feed the little pigs
That are within the sty;

And you must mind the speckled hen,

For fear she lay away;

And you must reel the spool of yarn
That I spun yesterday.

The old woman took a staff in her hand,
And went to drive the plough:
The old man took a pail in his hand,
And went to milk the cow;
But Tidy hinched, and Tidy flinched,
And Tidy broke his nose,

And Tidy gave him such a blow,

That the blood ran down to his toes

High! Tidy! ho! Tidy! high!
Tidy do stand still;
If ever I milk you, Tidy, again,

"Twill be sore against my will !
He went to feed the little pigs,
That were within the sty;
He hit his head against the beam,
And he made the blood to fly.

He went to mind the speckled hen,
For fear she'd lay astray,
And he forgot the spool of yarn
His wife spun yesterday.

So he swore by the sun, the moon, and the stars,
And the green leaves on the tree,

If his wife didn't do a day's work in her life, She should ne'er be ruled by he.

CXCI.

THERE was an old man of Tobago,
Who lived on rice, gruel, and sago;
Till, much to his bliss,

His physician said this

"To a leg, sir, of mutton you may go."

CXCII.

Он, dear, what can the matter be?

Two old women got up in an apple tree;

One came down,

And the other staid till Saturday.

TENTH CLASS-GAMES.

CXCIII.

[Rhymes used by children to decide who is to begin a game.]

ONE-ERY, two-ery,

Ziccary zan;

Hollow bone, crack a bone,

Ninery, ten:

Spittery spot,

It must be done;

Twiddleum twaddleum,

Twenty-one.

Hink spink, the puddings stink,
The fat begins to fry,
Nobody at home, but jumping Joan,
Father, mother, and I.

Stick, stock, stone dead,

Blind man can't see,

Every knave will have a slave,
You or I must be he.

CXCIV.

[From Bracebridge Hall,' 8vo, London, 1822, vol. ii, p. 37.

A Fox.

In a children's game, where all the little actors are seated in a circle, the following stanza is used as question and answer:]

WHO goes round my house this night?

None but bloody Tom!

Who steals all the sheep at night?

None but this poor one.

CXCV.

GAY go up and gay go down,
To ring the bells of London town.

Bull's eyes and targets,

Say the bells of St. Marg'ret's.

Brickbats and tiles,

Say the bells of St. Giles'.

Halfpence and farthings,

Say the bells of St. Martin's.