Pretty Miss Pink

Now you’re married, we wish you joy,First a girl and then a boy;Cups and saucers, sons and daughters,Now join hands and kiss one another.

Another version from Long Itchington, given inNotes and Queries, 7th series, x. 450, concludes with—

Up the kitchen and down the hall,Choose the fairest of them all;Seven years now and seven years then,Kiss poor Sally and part again.

[2]Matron isnota word in common use among Lancashire people.[3]dnot sounded.[4]Another version has “pree,” which means in Scotch,taste, hencekiss.[5]At Earls Heaton two verses or lines are added, viz.:—“If she is not here to take her part,Choose another with all your heart.”

[2]Matron isnota word in common use among Lancashire people.

[3]dnot sounded.

[4]Another version has “pree,” which means in Scotch,taste, hencekiss.

[5]At Earls Heaton two verses or lines are added, viz.:—

“If she is not here to take her part,Choose another with all your heart.”

Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out,Will you come out, will you come out?Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out,To see the ladies dancing?No, I won’t.Pretty Miss Pink, she won’t come out,Won’t come out, won’t come out, &c.She will come out.Pretty Miss Pink, she has come out, &c.

Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out,Will you come out, will you come out?Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out,To see the ladies dancing?

No, I won’t.

Pretty Miss Pink, she won’t come out,Won’t come out, won’t come out, &c.She will come out.Pretty Miss Pink, she has come out, &c.

—Winterton, Lincs and Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock.)

(b) The children place themselves in a row. They each choose a colour to represent them. One player must bepink. Another player stands facing them, and dances to and fro, singing the first four lines. The dancer then sings the next two lines, and Miss Pink having answered rushes forward,catches hold of the dancer’s hand, and sings the next verse. Each colour is then taken in turn, but Miss Pink must always be first.

(c) This is clearly a variant of “Pray, Pretty Miss,” colours being used perhaps from a local custom at fairs and May meetings, where girls were called by the colours of the ribbons they wore.

A cheating game, played with a strap and skewer at fairs, &c., by persons of the thimble-rig class, probably the same as the game called “Fast and Loose.”

Christmas morning is ushered in by the little maidens playing at the game of “Prickey Sockey,” as they call it. They are dressed up in their best, with their wrists adorned with rows of pins, and run about from house to house inquiring who will play at the game. The door is opened and one cries out—

Prickey sockey for a pin,I car not whether I loss or win.

The game is played by the one holding between her two forefingers and thumbs a pin, which she clasps tightly to prevent her antagonist seeing either part of it, while her opponent guesses. The head of the pin is “sockey,” and the point is “prickey,” and when the other guesses she touches the end she guesses at, saying, “this for prickey,” or “this for sockey,” At night the other delivers her two pins. Thus the game is played, and when the clock strikes twelve it is declared up; that is, no one can play after that time.—Mirror, 1828, vol. x. p. 443.

See “Headicks and Pinticks.”

A childish game, played with pins, and similar to “Odds or Evens,”—Teviotdale (Jamieson), but it is more probable that this is the game of “Prickey Sockey,” which Jamieson did not see played.

See “Jack’s Alive.”

A peat clod is put into the shell of the crook by one person, who then shuts his eyes. Some one steals it. The other then goes round the circle trying to discover the thief, and addressing particular individuals in a rhyme—

Ye’re fair and leal,Ye canna steal;Ye’re black and fat,Ye’re the thief of my priest-cat!

If he guesses wrong he is in a wadd, if right he has found the thief.—Chambers’Popular Rhymes, p. 128.

This is an entirely different game to the “Priest-Cat” given by Mactaggart (see “Jack’s Alive”), and seems to have originated in the discovery of stolen articles by divination.

William Carleton describes this game as follows:—“One of the boys gets a wig upon himself, goes out on the floor, places the boys in a row, calls on his man Jack, and says to each, ‘What will you be?’ One answers, ‘I’ll be Black Cap,’ another, ‘Red Cap,’ and so on. He then says, ‘The priest of the parish has lost his considering-cap. Some says this, and some says that, but I say my man Jack.’ Man Jack then, to put it off himself, says, ‘Is it me, sir?’ ‘Yes you, sir.’ ‘You lie, sir.’ ‘Who then, sir?’ ‘Black Cap.’ If Black Cap then doesn’t say, ‘Is it me, sir?’ before the priest has time to call him he must put his hand on his ham and get a pelt of the brogue. A boy must be supple with the tongue in it.”—Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, p. 106 (Tegg’s reprint).

This game is no doubt the original form of the game imperfectly played under the name of “King Plaster Palacey” (seeante, i. 301).

The game of “The Country Base” is mentioned by Shakespeare in “Cymbeline”—

“He, with two striplings (lads more like to runThe country base, than to commit such slaughter),Made good the passage.”—Act v., sc. 3.

Also in the tragedy of Hoffman, 1632—

“I’ll run a little courseAtbase, or barley-brake.”

Again, in the Antipodes, 1638—

“My men can runne atbase.”

Also, in the thirtieth song of Drayton’s “Polyolbion”—

“At hood-wink, barley-brake, at tick, orprison-base.”

Again, in Spenser’s “Faerie Queen,” v. 8—

“So ran they all as they had been atbace.”

Strutt (Sports and Pastimes, p. 78), says, “This game was much practised in former times. The first mention of this sport that I have met with occurs in the Proclamations at the head of the Parliamentary proceedings, early in the reign of Edward III., where it is spoken of as a childish amusement; and prohibited to be played in the avenues of the palace at Westminster during the Sessions of Parliament, because of the interruption it occasioned to the members and others in passing to and fro. . . . The performance of this pastime requires two parties of equal number, each of them having a base or home, as it is usually called to themselves, at the distance of about twenty or thirty yards. The players then on either side taking hold of hands extend themselves in length and opposite to each other, as far as they conveniently can, always remembering that one of them must touch the base; when any one of them quits the hand of his fellow and runs into the field, which is called giving the chase, he is immediately followed by a second from the former side, and he by a second opponent; and so on alternately, until as many are out as choose to run, every one pursuing the man he first followed and no other; and if he overtake him near enough to touch him, his party claims one toward their game, and both return home. Then they run forth again and again in like manner, until the number is completed that decides the victory; this number is optional. It is to be observed that every person on either side who touches another during the chase, claims one for his party.”

Strutt describes the game in Essex as follows:—“They playthis game with the addition of two prisons, which are stakes driven into the ground, parallel with the home boundaries, and about thirty yards from them; and every person who is touched on either side in the chase is sent to one or other of these prisons, where he must remain till the conclusion of the game, if not delivered previously by one of his associates, and this can only be accomplished by touching him, which is a difficult task, requiring the performance of the most skilful players, because the prison belonging to either party is always much nearer to the base of their opponents than to their own; and if the person sent to relieve his confederate be touched by an antagonist before he reaches him, he also becomes a prisoner, and stands in equal need of deliverance.”—Sports and Pastimes, p. 80.

Prisoner's Base Playing Field

But this is not quite the same as it is played in London. There the school ground is divided in the following manner:— The boys being divided into equal sides, with a captain for each, one party takes up its quarters ina, the other inb. Lots are chosen as to which side commences. Then one member of the side so chosen (sayb) starts off for the middle of the playground and cries out “Chevy, Chevy Chase, one, two, three;” thereupon it becomes the object of the sidebto touch him before reaching home again. If unsuccessful one from sidebgoes to the middle, and so on until a prisoner is secured from one of the sides. Then the struggle commences in earnest, after the fashion described by Strutt as above. If a boy succeeds in getting to the prison of his side without being touched by an opponent, he releases a prisoner, and brings him back home again to help in the struggle. The object of the respective sides is to place all their opponents in prison, and when that is accomplished they rush over to the empty home and take possession of it. The game then begins again from opposite sides, the winning side counting one towards the victory.—London (G. L. Gomme).

This was once a favourite game among young men in North Shropshire (and Cheshire). It was played yearly at Norton-in-Hales Wakes, and the winning party were decorated with ribbons. Men-servants, in the last century, were wont to ask a day’s holiday to join or witness a game of “Prison-bars,” arranged beforehand as a cricket-match might be (seeByegones, 2nd May 1883). A form of the game still survives there among the school-children, under the name of “Prison Birds.” The Birds arrange themselves in pairs behind each other, facing a large stone or stump placed at some little distance. Before them, also facing the stone, stands one player, called the Keeper. When he calls, “Last pair out!” the couple next behind him run to the stone and touch hands over it. If they can do so without being touched by the Keeper, they are free, and return to a position behind the other birds; but any one whom he touches must remain behind the stone “in prison.”—Ellesmere (Burne’sShropshire Folk-lore, p. 524).

The Ellesmere inhabitants were formerly accustomed to devote their holiday occasions to the game, and in the year 1764 the poet laureate of the town (Mr. David Studley) composed some lines on the game as it was played by the Marriedv.Single at Ellesmere. They are as follows:—

“Ye lovers of pleasure, give ear and attend,Unto these few lines which here I have penned,I sing not of sea fights, of battles nor wars,But of a fine game, which is called ‘Prison Bars.’This game was admired by men of renown,And played by the natives of fair Ellesmere town;On the eighth day of August in the year sixty-four,These nimble heel’d fellows approached on the moor.Twenty-two were the number appear’d on the green,For swiftness and courage none like them were seen;Eleven were married to females so fair,The other young gallants bachelors were.Jacob Hitchen the weaver commands the whole round,Looks this way, and that way, all over the ground,Gives proper directions, and sets out his men,So far go, my lads, and return back again.Proper stations being fixed, each party advance,And lead one another a many fine dance.There’s Gleaves after Ellis, and Platt after he,Such running before I never did see.Huzza! for the young men, the fair maids did say,May heaven protect you to conquer this day,Now, my brave boys, you’re not to blame,Take courage, my lads, nine and eight is the game.Now behold the Breeches makers, master and man,Saddlers, Slaters, and Joiners, do all they can;The Tailor so nimble, he brings up the rear,Cheer up, my brave boys, you need not to fear.Alas! poor old Jacob, thy hopes are in vain,Dick Chidley is artful, and spoils all thy schemes.The Barber is taken, the Currier is down,The Sawyer is tired, and so is the Clown.”

“Ye lovers of pleasure, give ear and attend,Unto these few lines which here I have penned,I sing not of sea fights, of battles nor wars,But of a fine game, which is called ‘Prison Bars.’

This game was admired by men of renown,And played by the natives of fair Ellesmere town;On the eighth day of August in the year sixty-four,These nimble heel’d fellows approached on the moor.

Twenty-two were the number appear’d on the green,For swiftness and courage none like them were seen;Eleven were married to females so fair,The other young gallants bachelors were.

Jacob Hitchen the weaver commands the whole round,Looks this way, and that way, all over the ground,Gives proper directions, and sets out his men,So far go, my lads, and return back again.

Proper stations being fixed, each party advance,And lead one another a many fine dance.There’s Gleaves after Ellis, and Platt after he,Such running before I never did see.

Huzza! for the young men, the fair maids did say,May heaven protect you to conquer this day,Now, my brave boys, you’re not to blame,Take courage, my lads, nine and eight is the game.

Now behold the Breeches makers, master and man,Saddlers, Slaters, and Joiners, do all they can;The Tailor so nimble, he brings up the rear,Cheer up, my brave boys, you need not to fear.

Alas! poor old Jacob, thy hopes are in vain,Dick Chidley is artful, and spoils all thy schemes.The Barber is taken, the Currier is down,The Sawyer is tired, and so is the Clown.”

The moor referred to in the last line of the second verse was the Pitchmoor. The Clown was a nickname for one of the players, who, on hearing the song repeated in the presence of the author, became so exasperated, that, to appease him, the words “the game is our’n” were substituted for the words “so is the Clown “in the last line of the concluding verse.

A game played with a long needle inserted in some worsted, and blown at a target through a tin tube.—Halliwell’sDictionary. This game is also mentioned in Baker’sNorthamptonshire Glossary.

A rough play among boys, adding their weight one upon another, and all upon the one at the bottom.—Dickinson’sCumberland Glossary.

Round about the punch bowl,—One, two, three;If anybody wants a bonnie lassie,Just take me.

Another form of words is—

The fillan o’ the punch bowl,That wearies me;The fillan o’t up, an’ the drinkan’ o’t doon,An’ the kissan o’ a bonnie lass,That cheeries me.

—Fochabers (Rev. W. Gregor).

II.

Round about the punch bowl,Punch bowl, punch bowl;Round about the punch bowl, one, two, three.First time never to fall,Never to fall, never to fall;First time never to fall, one, two, three.Second time, the catching time,Catching time, catching time;Second time, the catching time, one, two, three.Third time, the kissing time,Kissing time, kissing time,Third time, the kissing time, one, two, three.

Round about the punch bowl,Punch bowl, punch bowl;Round about the punch bowl, one, two, three.

First time never to fall,Never to fall, never to fall;First time never to fall, one, two, three.

Second time, the catching time,Catching time, catching time;Second time, the catching time, one, two, three.

Third time, the kissing time,Kissing time, kissing time,Third time, the kissing time, one, two, three.

—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

III.

Round about the punch bowl,—one, two, three;Open the gates and let the bride through.Half-a-crown to know his name, to know his name, to know his name,Half-a-crown to know his name,On a cold and frosty morning.Ah! (Michael Matthews) is his name, is his name, is his name;(Michael Matthews) is his name,On a cold and frosty morning.Half-a-crown to know her name, to know her name, to know her name,Half-a-crown to know her name,On a cold and frosty morning.(Annie Keenan) is her name, is her name, is her name,(Annie Keenan) is her name,On a cold and frosty morning.They’ll be married in the morning,Round about the punch bowl, I [? Hi!].

Round about the punch bowl,—one, two, three;Open the gates and let the bride through.

Half-a-crown to know his name, to know his name, to know his name,Half-a-crown to know his name,On a cold and frosty morning.

Ah! (Michael Matthews) is his name, is his name, is his name;(Michael Matthews) is his name,On a cold and frosty morning.

Half-a-crown to know her name, to know her name, to know her name,Half-a-crown to know her name,On a cold and frosty morning.

(Annie Keenan) is her name, is her name, is her name,(Annie Keenan) is her name,On a cold and frosty morning.

They’ll be married in the morning,Round about the punch bowl, I [? Hi!].

—Annaverna, Ravensdale, Co. Louth, Ireland (Miss R. Stephen).

(b) TheFochabers’ gameis played by girls only. The players join hands and form a ring. They dance briskly round, singing the verse. The last word, “me,” is pronounced with strong emphasis, and all the girls jump, and if one falls she has to leave the ring. The game is carried on until all the players fall. In theBelfast game, at the words “one, two, three,” the players drop down in a crouching position for a few seconds. In theLouth (Ireland) gamethe players all curtsey after the first line, and the one who rises last is the bride. She is led outside the ring by another, and asked to whom she is engaged. She tells without letting those in the ring hear, and the two return to the ring saying the second line. Then all the ring sing the next three lines, and then the girl who has been told the name tells it to the ring, who thereupon sing or say the remaining lines of the verse.

(c) TheLouth versionhas more detail in its movements, and probably represents the oldest form. At all events, it supplies the reason for the words and movements, which are not quite so obvious in the other versions. Many ancient monoliths are known as “Punch Bowls,” and it may be that this game is the relic of an old marriage ceremony, “at the stones.”

A kind of game. “The prettie game which we call purposes” (Cotgrave inv.“Opinion”).—Halliwell’sDictionary.

A ring of girls is formed. Two go in opposite directions outside the ring, and try to get back first to the starting-point; the one succeeding stops there, rejoining the ring, the other girlpushesanother girl into the ring, orwash tub, with whom the race is renewed.—Crockham Hill, Kent (Miss Chase).

A child’s play, in which pins are pushed with an endeavour to cross them. So explained by Ash, but it would seem, from Beaumont and Fletcher, vii. 25, that the game was played by aiming pins at some object.—Halliwell’sDictionary.

“To see the sonne you would admire,Goe play at push-pin with his sire.”

—Men’s Miracles, 1656, p. 15.

“Love and myselfe, beleeve me on a day,At childish push-pin for our sport did play.”

—Herrick’sWorks, i. 22.

There is an allusion to it under the name of put-pin in Nash’sApologie, 1593—

“That can lay down maidens bedds,And that can hold ther sickly heds;That can play at put-pin,Blow poynte and near lin.”

Two pins are laid upon a table, and the object of each player is to push his pin across his opponent’s pin.—Addy’sSheffield Glossary.

See “Hattie,” “Pop the Bonnet.”

I hired a horse and borrowed a gig,And all the world shall have a jig;And I’ll do all ’at ever I canTo push the business on.To push the business on,To push the business on;And I’ll do all ’at ever I canTo push the business on.

—North Kelsey, Anderby, and near the Trent, Nottinghamshire (Miss M. Peacock).

II.

Beeswax and turpentine make the best of plaster,The more you try to pull it off, it’s sure to stick the faster.I’ll buy a horse and hire a gig,And all the world shall have a jig;And you and I’ll do all we canTo push the business on,To push the business on;And we’ll do all that ever we canTo push the business on.

—Brigg, Lincolnshire (Miss Barker, from a Lincolnshire friend).

III.

I’ll buy a horse and steal a gig,And all the world shall have a jig;And I’ll do all that ever I canTo pass the business on.To pass the business on,To pass the business on;And I’ll do all that ever I canTo pass the business on.

—Wolstanton, North Staffs. (Miss Bush, Schoolmistress)

IV.

We’ll borrow a horse and steal a gig,And round the world we’ll have a jig;And I’ll do all that ever I canTo push the business on.

—Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy).

I’ll hire a horse and steal a gig,And all the world shall have a jig;And I’ll do all that ever I canTo push the business on,To push the business on, to push the business on,And I’ll do all that ever I can to push the business on.

—Settle, Yorkshire (Rev. W. S. Sykes).

(b) The players stand in a circle, boy and girl alternately, and sing the lines. At the fourth line they all clap their hands, keeping time with the song. When singing the seventh line each boy takes the girl on his left hand,—dances round with her and places her on his right hand. This is done tilleach girl has been all round the circle, and has been turned or danced with by each boy. In theWolstanton version(Miss Bush), after singing the first four lines, the children fall behind one another, march round, clapping their hands and singing; at the seventh line they all join in couples and gallop round very quickly to the end. When they finish, the girls stand at the side of the boys in couples, and change places every time they go round until each girl has partnered each boy. At Hexham there is rather more of the regular dance about the game at the beginning. At the fourth line they set to partners and swing round, the girls changing places at the end, and continuing until they have been all round each time with a different partner.

(c) This game seems of kin to the old-fashioned country dances. Miss Bush writes that this game was introduced into the school playground from Derbyshire a few years ago, and is sung to a simple tune.

Playing Puss in the Corner

The children stand at fixed points: one stands in the middle and chants, “Poor puss wants a corner.” The others beckon with the fore-finger, and calling, “Puss, puss,” run from point to point. Puss runs also to one of the vacant spaces. The one left out becomes puss.—Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy).

The players place themselves each in some “coign of vantage,” as the play place allows; one player in the middle is “out.” Those in the corners change places with each other at choice, calling, “Puss, puss, puss,” to attract each other’s attention. The one who is out watches his opportunity to slip into a vacant corner, and oblige some one else to be “out.” A favourite gamein the streetsof Market Drayton.—Burne’sShropshire Folk-lore, p. 523.

When we played this game, the child who was to be “Puss” was invariably decided upon by a counting-out rhyme. He or she being the last of the five players “not he.” The words we used when wishful to change corners were, “Puss, puss, give me a drop of milk.” The players in the corners beckoned with the finger to an opposite player in another corner (A. B. Gomme).

The game in Scotland is called “Moosie in the Corner,” and is played by boys or girls, or by both together, either outside or in a room. Each player takes a corner, and one stands in the middle. On a given signal, usually by calling out the word “Change,” a rush is made from the corners. The aim of the one standing in the middle is to reach a vacant corner. If the game is played in a room, as many chairs, or other seats, are placed as there are players, less one. Each takes a seat, and one is left standing. On the word “Change” being called out, each jumps from the seat and makes for another. The one standing strives to get a seat in the course of the change.—Nairn and Macduff (Rev. W. Gregor).

Name forTom Tiddler’s Groundin Norfolk.

See “Tom Tiddler’s Ground.”

A circle of about two feet in diameter is made on the ground, in the centre of which a pyramid is formed by several marbles. Nine are placed as the base, then six, then four, and then one on the top. The keeper of the pyramid then desires the other players to shoot. Each player gives the keeper one marble for leave to shoot at the pyramid, and all that the players can strike out of the circle belong to them.—London streets (A. B. Gomme), andBook of Sports.

See “Castles.”

Men and women stand alternately in a circle, and one man begins by placing his left hand on his left knee, and saying, “There was an old Quaker and he went so.” This is repeated all round the circle; the first man then says the same thingagain, but this time he places hisrighthand on hisrightknee. Then he places his hand on the girl’s shoulder, then round her neck, and on her far shoulder, then looks into her face, and, lastly, kisses her.—Sharleston, Yorks (Miss Fowler).

Hast thou ever been to a Quaker’s wedding?Nay, friend, nay.Do as I do; twiddle thy thumbs and follow me.

The leader walks round chanting these lines, with her eyes fixed on the ground. Each new comer goes behind till a long train is formed, then they kneel side by side as close together as possible. The leader then gives a vigorous push to the one at the end of the line [next herself, and that one to the next], and the whole line tumble over.—Berkshire (Miss Thoyts in theAntiquary, xxvii. 194).

See “Obadiah,” “Solomon.”

Lady Queen Ann she sits in her stand,And a pair of green gloves upon her hand,As white as a lily, as fair as a swan,The fairest lady in a’ the land;Come smell my lily, come smell my rose,Which of my maidens do you choose?I choose you one, and I choose you all,And I pray, Miss ( ), yield up the ball.The ball is mine, and none of yours,Go to the woods and gather flowers.Cats and kittens bide within,But we young ladies walk out and in.

—Chambers’Pop. Rhymes, p. 136.

II.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, who sits on her throne,As fair as a lily, as white as a swan;The king sends you three letters,And begs you’ll read one.I cannot read one unless I read all,So pray ( ) deliver the ball.The ball is mine and none of thine,So you, proud Queen, may sit on your throne,While we, your messengers, go and come.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, who sits on her throne,As fair as a lily, as white as a swan;The king sends you three letters,And begs you’ll read one.

I cannot read one unless I read all,So pray ( ) deliver the ball.

The ball is mine and none of thine,So you, proud Queen, may sit on your throne,While we, your messengers, go and come.

(Or sometimes)—

The ball is mine, and none of thine,You are the fair lady to sit on;And we’re the black gipsies to go and come.

—Halliwell’sPop. Rhymes, p. 230.

III.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, you sit in the sun,As fair as a lily, as white as a wand,I send you three letters, and pray read one.You must read one, if you can’t read all,So pray, Miss or Master, throw up the ball.

—Halliwell’sPop. Rhymes, p. 64.

IV.

Here we come a-piping,First in spring and then in May.The Queen she sits upon the sand,Fair as a lily, white as a wand:King John has sent you letters three,And begs you’ll read them unto me.We can’t read one without them all,So pray, Miss Bridget, deliver the ball.

—Halliwell’sPop. Rhymes, p. 73.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne,She sot in the sun;So fair as a lily,So white as a nun;She had a white glove on,She drew it off, she drew it on.Turn, ladies, turn.The more we turn, the more we may,Queen Anne was born on Midsummer Day;We have brought dree letters from the Queen,Wone of these only by thee must be seen.We can’t rëade wone, we must rëade all,Please ( ) deliver the ball.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne,She sot in the sun;So fair as a lily,So white as a nun;She had a white glove on,She drew it off, she drew it on.

Turn, ladies, turn.

The more we turn, the more we may,Queen Anne was born on Midsummer Day;We have brought dree letters from the Queen,Wone of these only by thee must be seen.We can’t rëade wone, we must rëade all,Please ( ) deliver the ball.

—Dorsetshire (Folk-lore Journal, vii. 229).

VI.

Here come we to Lady Queen Anne,With a pair of white gloves to cover our hand;As white as a lily, as fair as the rose,But not so fair as you may suppose.Turn, ladies, turn.The more we turn the more we may,Queen Anne was born on Midsummer Day.The king sent me three letters, I never read them all,So pray, Miss ——, deliver the ball.The ball is yours, and not ours,You must go to the garden and gather the flowers.The ball is ours, and not yours,We go out and gather the flowers.

Here come we to Lady Queen Anne,With a pair of white gloves to cover our hand;As white as a lily, as fair as the rose,But not so fair as you may suppose.

Turn, ladies, turn.

The more we turn the more we may,Queen Anne was born on Midsummer Day.

The king sent me three letters, I never read them all,So pray, Miss ——, deliver the ball.

The ball is yours, and not ours,You must go to the garden and gather the flowers.

The ball is ours, and not yours,We go out and gather the flowers.

—Cornwall (Folk-lore Journal, v. 52-53).

VII.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, she sits in the sun,As fair as a lily, so white and wan;A pair of kid gloves she holds in her hand,There’s no such a lady in all the fair land.Turn all.The more we turn the better we are,For we’ve got the ball between us.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, she sits in the sun,As fair as a lily, so white and wan;A pair of kid gloves she holds in her hand,There’s no such a lady in all the fair land.

Turn all.

The more we turn the better we are,For we’ve got the ball between us.

—North Kelsey, Lincolnshire (Miss M. Peacock).

VIII.

Lady Queen Anne she sits on a stand [sedan],She is fair as a lily, she is white as a swan;A pair of green gloves all over her hand,She is the fairest lady in all the land.Come taste my lily, come smell my rose,Which of my babes do you choose?I choose not one, but I choose them all,So please, Miss Nell, give up the ball.The ball is ours, it is not yours,We will go to the woods and gather flowers;We will get pins to pin our clothes,You will get nails to nail your toes.

The ball is ours, it is not yours,We will go to the woods and gather flowers;We will get pins to pin our clothes,You will get nails to nail your toes.

—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

IX.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, she sits in the sun,As fair as a lily, as brown as a bun;We’ve brought you three letters, pray can you read one?I can’t read one without I read all,So pray —— deliver the ball.You old gipsy, sit in the sun,And we fair ladies go and come;The ball is mine, and none o’ thine,And so good-morning, Valentine.

You old gipsy, sit in the sun,And we fair ladies go and come;The ball is mine, and none o’ thine,And so good-morning, Valentine.

—Swaffham. Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, she sits in the sun,As fair as a lily, as brown as a bun.Turn, fair ladies, turn.We bring you three letters, and pray you read one.I cannot read one without I read all,So please ( ) give up the ball.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, she sits in the sun,As fair as a lily, as brown as a bun.

Turn, fair ladies, turn.

We bring you three letters, and pray you read one.I cannot read one without I read all,So please ( ) give up the ball.

[If the wrong guess is made the girls say—]

The ball is ours, and none of yours,And we’ve the right to keep it.

[If the right child is named, they say—]

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