Chapter 20
"THERE WAS A MAID CAME OUT OF KENT."
"There was a maid came out of Kent, Dangerous be, dangerous be; There was a maid came out of Kent, Fayre, propre, small, and gent As ever upon the ground went, For so should it be."
Of authentic currency in Mary's time.
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"Martin Smart and his man, fodledum, fodledum; Martin Smart and his man, fodledum, bell."
Same date.
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"I see the moon, and the moon sees me; God bless the moon, and God bless me."
Child's saying.
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"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, I caught a hare alive; 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, I let her go again."
Counting-out rhyme.
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"Great | A was a | larm'd at | B's bad be | haviour, Be | cause C | D, E, F de | nied G a | favour; H had a | husband with | I, J, | K and L; M married | Mary, and | taught | her scholars | how to spell A B C, D E F G, H I J K L M, N O P Q, R S T U, V W X Y Z, Z, Z."
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"Hush-a-by, baby, on a green bock (Saxon for bough); When the wind blows the cradle will rock."
A NURSERY TALE.
"I saddled my sow with a sieve of butter-milk, put my foot into the stirrup, and leaped up nine miles beyond the moon into the land of temperance, where there was nothing but hammers and hatchets and candlesticks, and there lay bleeding Old Noll. I let him lie and sent for Old Hipper Noll, and asked him if he could grind green steel five times finer than wheat flour. He said he could not. Gregory's wife was up a pear tree gathering nine corns of buttered beans to pay St. James's rent. St. James was in a meadow mowing oat cakes; he heard a noise, hung his scythe to his heels, stumbled at the battledore, tumbled over the barn door ridge, and broke his shins against a bag of moonshine that stood behind the stairs-foot door; and if that isn't true, you know as well as I all about it."
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"A duck, a drake, a barley cake, A penny to pay the baker; A hop, a scotch, another notch-- Slitherum, slitherum, take her."
A verse repeated when playing at skimming shells or stones on the water of a pond or lake.
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"Hark! hark! the dogs do bark, The beggars are coming to town. There are some in rags, There are some in tags, And one in a velvet gown."
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"Bow-wow-wow, Whose dog art thou? I'm Tommy Tucker's dog, Bow-wow-wow!"
Pope wrote an epigram which he had engraved on the collar of a dog, and gave it to H.R.H.:--
"I am his Highness' dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?"
A B C JINGLES.
"A was an Archer that shot at a frog, B was a Butcher--he had a big dog, C was a Captain all covered with lace, D was a Dunce with a very long face."
"A was an apple pie; B bit it, C cut it, D danced for it, E eat it, F fought for it, G got it, H hid it," etc. etc.
A CATCH RHYME.
"Tottle 'em, bottle 'em, bother aboo, Who can count from one to two?" "I can, I can!" "Do, do." "One and two----" "See, calf, see, That's not two, but three, three." "Three or two's all one to me."