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V.

My father he died, but I can't tell you how,
He left me six horses to drive in my plough:
With my wing wang waddle oh,
Jack sing saddle oh,

Blowsey boys bubble oh,

Under the broom.

I sold my six horses and I bought me a cow,
I'd fain have made a fortune, but did not know how :
With my, &c.

I sold my cow,

and I bought me a calf;

I'd fain have made a fortune, but lost the best half: With my, &c.

I sold my calf, and I bought me a cat;
A pretty thing she was, in my corner sat:
With my, &c.

I sold my cat, and I bought me a mouse;

He carried fire in his tail, and burnt down my house. With my, &c.

VI.

[The same song as the preceding, dictated by a lady now living in the Isle of Man, but a far better version.]

My daddy is dead, but I can't tell you how;
But he left me six horses to follow the plough:
With my whim wham waddle ho!

Strim stram straddle ho!

Bubble ho! pretty boy,

Over the brow.

I sold my six horses to buy me a cow,

And wasn't that a pretty thing to follow the plough? With my, &c.

I sold my cow to buy me a calf,

For I never made a bargain, but I lost the best half. my, &c.

With

I sold my calf to buy me a cat,

To sit down before the fire, to warm her little back: With my, &c.

I sold my cat to buy me a mouse,

But she took fire in her tail, and so burnt up my house:

With my, &c.

VII.

[THERE is an old proverb which says that “a cat may look at a king." Whether the same adage applies equally to a female sovereign, and is referred to in the following nursery song, or whether it alludes to the glorious Queen Bess, is now a matter of uncertainty.]

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?
I've been to London to see the Queen.
Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?
I frighten'd a little mouse under the chair.

VIII.

THE rose is red, the grass is green,
Serve Queen Bess our noble queen!

Kitty the spinner

Will sit down to dinner,

And eat the leg of a frog:

All good people

Look over the steeple,

And see the cat play with the dog.

IX.

[Taken from MS. Douce, 357, fol. 124.

See Echard's History of

England, book iii. chap. 1.]

SEE saw, sack-a-day;

Monmouth is a pretie boy,

Richmond is another,

Grafton is my onely joy,

And why should I these three destroy,
To please a pious brother?

X.

[Written in 1641, on the occasion of the marriage of Mary, the eldest daughter of Charles I, with the young Prince of Orange.]

WHAT is the rhyme for porringer?
The king he had a daughter fair,
And gave the Prince of Orange her.

XI.

[The following nursery song alludes to William III, and George, Prince of Denmark.]

WILLIAM and Mary, George and Anne,
Four such children had never a man:

They turn'd their father out of door,

And call'd their brother the son of a whore.

XII.

OVER the water, over the lee,
Over the water to Charley.

Charley loves good ale and wine,
Charley loves good brandy,

Charley loves a little girl,

As sweet as sugar-candy.

XIII.

[The following may possibly allude to King George and the Pretender.]

JIM and George were two great Lords,

They fought all in a churn;

And when that Jim got George by the nose,
Then George began to gern.

XIV.

POOR old Robinson Crusoe !

Poor old Robinson Crusoe !

They made him a coat,

Of an old nanny goat,

I wonder how they could do so!

With a ring a ting tang,

And a ring a ting tang,

Poor old Robinson Crusoe !

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